Nation, world briefs 8/26/2015

Deficit shrinks, may be short-lived

WASHINGTON -- Unforeseen revenue is shrinking federal deficits to the lowest level of President Barack Obama's tenure, Congress' nonpartisan budget adviser said Tuesday. But analysts also warned perilously high shortfalls will roar back unless lawmakers act. The Congressional Budget Office said it expects this year's federal deficit to fall to $426 billion. That's $60 billion less than it expected in March, thanks to greater-than-expected individual and corporate income tax collections and less than a third of the record $1.4 trillion gap of 2009 as the government tried fighting off the recession. An aging population and swelling health-care costs likely will ignite shortfalls past $1 trillion in 2025, the budget office said. That would push the government's accumulated debt that year to $21 trillion, or 77 percent the size of the country's economy.

Hezbollah backs Lebanon protests

BEIRUT -- The Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah threw its weight Tuesday behind mass protests calling for the government's resignation, deepening a crisis that started over piles of uncollected garbage in the streets of the capital but has tapped into a deeper malaise. The protests targets corruption, hapless government and sectarian divisions of a country once torn by civil war and struggling with a wave of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. A grassroots youth movement calling itself "You Stink" mobilized thousands of people in two rallies over the weekend and has called for another large protest Saturday. The Hezbollah announcement of support for the protests likely will fuel concerns the Iranian-backed group will try to hijack the nonpolitical movement.

Migrants flood into Hungary

BUDAPEST, Hungary -- The latest surge of migrants crossing the Balkans has brought a record number to Hungary despite government efforts to build a 13-foot-high fence on the Serbian border to stop them. According to police data, 2,093 migrants were detained Monday, the highest figure this year. The surge comes after nearly 10,000 people, including many women with babies and small children mostly from Syria, rushed across the Macedonian border into Serbia over the weekend. About 140,000 migrants have reached Hungary this year, over three times as many as in all of 2014.

Big Ben's bongs lag in accuracy

LONDON -- Don't set your watch by Big Ben. Officials say the famous clock at Britain's Parliament -- used by Londoners for decades to check the time -- recently has been slow by as much as six seconds. The 156-year-old clock chimes every 15 minutes and emits deep bongs to mark the hour. Its inaccuracy was noticed by staff at BBC radio, which broadcasts the bongs live at 6 p.m. Ian Westworth, one of Parliament's three clocksmiths, said the clock had become "a little temperamental" with age. Officials said Tuesday mechanics had corrected the clock to "normal parameters" -- within 2 seconds of the right time. They will continue to adjust it by placing pennies on the pendulum to fine-tune its speed.

-- From wire reports