How the world view Donald Trump - Financial Times

In this installment of our special election series on Donald J. Trump, OZY reports on how the rest of the worldviews the Republican front-runner. Hint: It’s probably not what you think. Stay tuned for more pieces as the billionaire continues his march to the GOP nomination and, perhaps, the Oval Office.

Erick Rhesa just can’t get enough of his political idol. The 30-year-old farmer stays up till the wee hours to watch primary results and, when the Donald reigns supreme — as he did on Super Tuesday — Rhesa can sometimes be heard gleefully shouting: “Trump for president!” In Rhesa’s eyes, like many others, Trump’s the only candidate deserving of the big gig in the Oval Office, because he’s brave enough to speak out against migration: “He is right about Mexicans or Syrians,” says Rhesa. “We have the same problem in Kenya; we have let thousands of Somali refugees in, and now we have terrorism!”

Trump mania has officially gone global. From the streets of Mumbai to matatus in Nairobi, where OZY’s Laura Secorun Palet caught up with Rhesa, a conservative Kenyan, Trump’s message is resonating with a surprising number of people. Not only has the blustery billionaire developed a keen sense of the American electorate’s mood, experts say, but he’s also finding a kind of global constituency: pockets of discontented people around the world who agree with some of his nationalistic stances on trade agreements, battling “radical Islamic terrorism” and curbing the flow of certain migrants. 

Sure, not everyone’s a fan, or totally sold on the reality-TV king yet. Sebastian Rivas, a Chilean reporter, says his countrymen are worried about the type of relationship they might have with the U.S. given Trump’s anti-immigrant speeches, while Natchapol Praditpetchara, a 23-year-old researcher at the Thailand Development Research Institute, is much more blunt: “His rhetoric is poisonous and is tearing away the soul of the country.” 

What else do people around the world think about the GOP’s front-runner? Here’s what our global team of reporters found in…

ITALY

Trump’s views on immigration, border control and family values have resonated with parts of conservative, Catholicism-steeped Italy, says Marco Perduca, a former Italian senator and current U.N. representative for the Nonviolent Radical Party. And young Italians don’t seem all that surprised by Trump’s rise; rather, it feels like déja vù all over again. After all, notes our Paris-based reporter Fiona Zublin, the orange-tanned and often gauche media mogul Silvio Berlusconi trod this trail long before Trump did. Berlusconi got pretty far too: Prime Minister Bunga Bunga took his own political party, Forza Italia (“Go, Italy!”), named for a popular football chant, to the record books, getting elected three times and becoming Italy’s longest-serving prime minister since World War II.

ELSEWHERE IN EUROPE

Trump’s polarizing effect on the GOP has occurred against a backdrop of the similar splintering and polarization across Europe. Nationalists took power in Poland and made strides in French elections, for instance, while far-left parties gained votes in Spain and Greece — so America’s Trumpian trajectory seems par for the global course. Even so, Zublin says that while many young Europeans don’t think Trump will actually be elected, they’re worried about the pervasiveness of populist rhetoric; they believe it encourages hypernationalist thinking and allows people to become inured to racism, for example.

ISRAEL 

Many in Israel are on the lookout for a stronger advocate than President Obama — perhaps Marco Rubio, with his vociferous pro-Israel stance. Certainly it’s early, so those who are paying attention are often following the primaries for their entertainment value. Which is high. When it comes to Trump, the consensus seems to be that his foreign-affairs policies aren’t well enough outlined — something that’s concerning to locals such as Opher Rom, a tour guide for celebrities when they visit Israel.

INDIA

Few of the names peppering the 2016 primaries are on the tips of everyday people’s tongues here. But two names are generating buzz, as Mumbai-based Sanjena Sathian has discovered. Hillary Clinton, with her familiar name, is the one many Indians figure will lead America. She’s perhaps not beloved but is certainly trusted. Yet Trump, inevitably, has burst out of U.S. borders and into the minds of locals here, perhaps confirming his constant assertion of the power of his surname. Many discuss Trump with an air of casual observation: He’s entertaining, maybe a bit threatening, but his presence doesn’t loom large here — yet. 

CANADA

My fellow Canucks let out a collective sigh when Trump, during the latest GOP debate, dismissed the idea of building a wall between Canada and the U.S. — and instead doubled down on his pitch to erect a border along Mexico. Overall, a nationwide Insights West poll released last month found that 67 percent of Canadians say Trump would be “bad” for their country. And while Republican candidates normally fare well among conservative voters, Trump was regarded a poor choice by well over half of those who voted for our right-wing party in last year’s federal election.

Meanwhile, our prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has been asked about whether he’d condemn Trump’s hateful rhetoric — to which the Liberal Party leader first replied at a town hall hosted by Maclean’s that it would be “important for Canadians, for Canadian jobs, for Canadian prosperity, to be able to have a positive relationship with whoever Americans choose as their president.” Then came the “however,” where he added, “If we allow politicians to succeed by scaring people, we don’t actually end up any safer.”

Still, that doesn’t mean we lost our sense of humor with the goings-on south of the border. The “Move to Cape Breton if Donald Trump Wins” campaign, for one, has gained national attention — traction we haven’t seen since, well, Sarah Palin nearly became veep in ’08. 

*Nick Fouriezos, Laura Secorun Palet, Sanjena Sathian, Fiona Zublin, Libby Coleman, Leslie Nguyen-Okwu and Taylor Mayol contributed reporting. 

Why Tesla’s New Battery Is So Important - Fortune

Why Tesla’s New Battery Is So Important Posted: 24 Aug 2016 10:16 AM PDT Tesla Motors announced a breakthrough on Tuesday that was the stuff of energy nerds: a new battery pack for its performance cars that packed more energy into it. The not-so-geeky result of that new 100 kilowatt-hour battery pack are cars that can accelerate more quickly and can drive for longer on a single charge. This milestone isn’t just another notch on Tesla’s belt. It shows how as Tesla continues to innovate, how it’s leading the auto industry, and how far it is ahead of competitors when it comes to developing electric car battery technology. According to Tesla, the new Model S P100D—thanks to the new battery pack—is the third fastest accelerating production car ever produced (including traditional gas-powered cars). And at 315 miles, it has the longest range ever for a production electric vehicle. It was only six or so years ago that Tesla’s first car, the $100,000 Roadster, was enabling its early customers to travel a little over 200 miles on a single charge. Then came the Model S, which kicked up the range closer to 300 miles on a single charge, followed by an optional upgrade to a 90 kilowatt-hour battery pack last year. Thanks to Tesla’s engineers, the company has now crammed even more energy into the same size pack, using the same battery cells. Tesla’s battery packs contain thousands of lithium-ion battery cells that discharge energy to power the car. Customers can upgrade to the 100-kilowatt hour battery pack from the 90-kilowatt hour battery pack for a charge. Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk said during a call with reporters on Tuesday that the 100-kilowatt battery pack is coming close to reaching the theoretical limit of how much energy density the company can pack into that size and shape battery pack using those specific batteries. For Tesla to achieve a higher energy density for future battery packs, it would need to improve the battery chemistry itself by adding new materials or tweaking the battery cell design. If Tesla wanted to create an even more powerful battery, it would have to make the battery pack bigger, but that would add on weight to and change the shape of the cars. Instead of changing the external pack shape or size or cell chemistry for the 100 kilowatt-hour battery pack, Tesla created a whole new battery cell cooling system and rearranged the battery cell architecture and electronics, explained Tesla’s CTO JB Straubel on the call. It’s likely Tesla added in more battery cells to the same shape pack, but it was able to still place the cells in a position where they could be adequately cooled while charging and discharging. (Batteries heat up when they charge and discharge.) The big fear is that the more energy-dense a battery pack is, the bigger the risk that there could be a fire if there’s an accident. Tesla needs to be careful, because—like with internal combustion cars—cars can catch on fire and Tesla needs to assure its customers that its cars are safe. “It’s been quite a challenging development,” Musk said. The 100-kilowatt hour battery pack will only be sold to Tesla’s high-end cars for now, and will only represent maybe 10% of production, said Musk. But down the road, Tesla will eventually offer the 100 kilowatt-hour battery pack for all versions of the Model S and Model X. The 100-kilowatt hour battery pack will help differentiate the Model S and Model X from the less expensive Model 3, which is supposed to cost $35,000 and start shipping at the end of 2017. The range of the Model 3 isn’t supposed to be any more than 250 miles per charge, according to analysts. The Model 3 will have new lithium-ion batteries made at Tesla’s Gigafactory outside of Reno, Nevada. Those batteries will be bigger (wider and longer) than the traditional ones, packing more materials into each battery. They’ll also use the latest in battery chemistry, including using silicon in the anode part of the battery. A battery has an anode and a cathode, as well as an electrolyte medium that shuttles lithium ions between the anode and cathode. Battery technology is meaningless unless it’s delivering a better electric car. Tesla’s 100-kilowatt hour battery pack is an auto industry breakthrough that shows what a company can do with current battery technology and car design. No other company is producing electric cars on a production basis with a 315-mile range. That milestone will also help set the bar for what customers will expect from other automakers like GM, Ford, and Nissan. And Tesla’s move will push these automakers to try to get close to or match Tesla’s new features. This article originally appeared on Fortune.com

Fed Chair Janet Yellen Says Case for Interest Rate Hike Stronger - TIME

Fed Chair Janet Yellen Says Case for Interest Rate Hike Stronger

Posted: 26 Aug 2016 07:17 AM PDT

(JACKSON HOLE, Wyo.) — The case for raising U.S. interest rates has strengthened in recent months because of improvements in the labor market and expectations for moderate economic growth, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said on Friday.
Yellen did not indicate when the U.S. central bank might raise rates, but her comments reinforced the view that such a move could come later this year. The Fed has policy meetings scheduled in September, November and December.
Speaking at a three-day international gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Yellen said the “U.S. economy was nearing the Federal Reserve’s statutory goals of maximum employment and price stability.”
“In light of the continued solid performance of the labor market and our outlook for economic activity and inflation, I believe the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened in recent months,” Yellen said in prepared remarks.
She added that the Fed still thinks future rate increases should be “gradual.”
The Fed raised rates in December, its first hike in nearly a decade, but it has held off further increases so far this year due to a global growth slowdown, financial market volatility and generally tepid U.S. inflation data.
Investors currently see an 18 percent probability the Fed will raise rates at its September policy meeting and a 53 percent chance of an increase in December, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
Yellen’s comments, by failing to lay out a clear roadmap for what the Fed needs to see to raise rates, will likely not convince some investors that a rate increase is imminent, in part because Fed policymakers are seen as sharply divided over whether to increase rates soon or take a more cautious approach.
Yellen was speaking on Friday at a Fed conference on designing new monetary policy frameworks, with central bankers eager to find new ways to stimulate economies even after they have cut rates to near zero and flooded banks with money.
She devoted much of her speech to outlining how the Fed may deal with future recessions now that many economists and Fed officials believe that an aging population and other dynamics appear to be slowing U.S. economic growth over the long term.
Because slower growth means future U.S. interest rates will likely also need to be lower on average, some analysts have suggested that the Fed will have less room to fight future recessions because there will be less room to cut rates.
Such a view is “exaggerated,” Yellen said, because the Fed will be able to use bond purchases and forward guidance to ease conditions. It may also want to explore other options, including broadening the range of assets it can purchase, raising the inflation target, or targeting nominal GDP, she said. (Reporting by Jason Lange and Ann Saphir; Additional reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir in Washington; Editing by Paul Simao)

Facebook’s Plan for WhatsApp Data Poses Legal Risks - Fortune

Facebook’s Plan for WhatsApp Data Poses Legal Risks Posted: 25 Aug 2016 08:05 PM PDT When WhatsApp announced on Thursday that it would start sharing data with its corporate parent, Facebook, some of its fans howled that the popular messaging service was betraying long-held promises to protect their privacy. But for the companies, angry users may pose less of a problem than the Federal Trade Commission, which serves as the country’s top privacy regulator. Recall that in 2014, after Facebook GOOG -0.03% announced it would acquire WhatsApp, the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection sent a stern letter to the companies warning them to honor their promises to consumers or face an investigation into unfair trade practices. That letter also pointed to specific pledges from the companies including one by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg who insisted that, “We are absolutely not going to change plans around WhatsApp and the way it uses user data.” The result is that WhatsApp, which has over 1 billion users, will have to tread very carefully as it implements its plan to share information such as phone numbers and analytics data with Facebook. (While WhatsApp users will have an option to block Facebook from using certain data for advertising, they will be unable to block Facebook from linking the accounts internally to get a better picture about who its users are and, possibly, an even better idea about who they know). For Facebook, the task of carrying out all this in a lawful manner is more challenging still since the company is under a 20-year consent decree related to earlier complaints about its privacy policies: If @facebook & @WhatsApp didn't consult @FTC before making this privacy policy change, they could be in hot water. https://t.co/VsMo2YWQtp — William McGeveran (@BillMcGev) August 25, 2016 The FTC, as is its custom, declined to comment on how or if it will scrutinize Facebook’s plan to integrate the WhatsApp data. Since the FTC acts as a law enforcement agency, it does not actively tell companies what is or is not acceptable, but instead requires them to be familiar with its rules and act accordingly. In this case, the answer to whether the Facebook data plan is legal is likely turn on just how WhatsApp goes about obtaining permission to implement the changes. As the 2014 letter from the agency noted: Finally, if you choose to change how you collect, use, and share newly-collected WhatsApp data, we recommend that you offer consumers an opportunity to opt out of such changes or, at least, that you make clear to consumers that they have an opportunity to stop using the WhatsApp service In practice, this means Facebook could face extra scrutiny if it puts the new WhatsApp changes deep in a pile of legal mumbo-jumbo. As for the opt-out, here is what WhatsApp says it would look like:  Screen shot from Fortune: Facebook Plan For WhatsApp Data Poses Legal RisksSo the outcome will likely turn on whether the FTC agrees that the opportunity to uncheck that box amounts to a fair opt-out procedure. In response to a question about the FTC rules, Facebook provided the following statement from a WhatsApp spokesperson: “WhatsApp complies with applicable laws. As always, we consider our obligations when designing updates like this … We’ve made our terms and privacy policy easily accessible, provided an overview of the key updates, and empowered people to make decisions that are right for them, including offering a control for existing users over how their data can be used.” For Facebook, the data integration plan is important since WhatsApp, which it acquired for $22 billion, has yet to generate any real revenue for the company. This article originally appeared on Fortune.com

China & US still in trade talks despite challenges - Reuters

China and the United States are still in frequent discussion about a bilateral trade pact, despite a challenging global trade environment, a Chinese commerce official said on Thursday. 

China is keen to maintain open markets for its goods as its economy grows at its slowest pace in 25 years, but it faces rising trade tensions as its imports deteriorate faster than exports, setting it up for another record trade surplus. 

Last year, the U.S. trade deficit with China was $336.2 billion, according to the U.S. Trade Representative's office. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday to slap tariffs on Chinese products to show Beijing the United States is "not playing games anymore".

The United States - China's second-largest trade partner after the European Union - has imposed anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Chinese products and also brought cases against China at the World Trade Organization. 

"The global economy has not emerged from its difficulties, which has led a lot of countries to adopt trade protectionist policies," China's Ministry of Commerce spokesman Shen Danyang said in a rare conversation with reporters over coffee in a Starbucks cafe near Tiananmen Square. 

Chinese steel exports have surged this year even as global growth remains weak, prompting complaints that China was dumping excess capacity. 

"There is no evidence China is dumping steel products. Growth in exports is due to greater competitiveness of Chinese firms, as costs have fallen," Shen said.

In response to claims by the head of the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) Chairman Fred Hochberg that China gave its exporters 10 times more financing than the United States did in 2015, Shen said there are disagreements on what constitutes subsidies. 

If there are disputes, the two sides can take it to the WTO, he said. 

Shen did not offer any details on plans announced on Tuesday to open more sectors to foreign investment, but said foreign companies are not investing in China as much as before because competition from Chinese companies is increasing. 

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China is not part of the U.S.-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) accord involving 12 Pacific Rim countries. TPP members have said the pact is not meant to target China, which does not feel it is targeted. Beijing is separately pursuing a regional framework with its trade partners that omits the United States. 

The biggest challenge facing China's economy is the need to effectively implement supply-side reform to improve the structure of the economy, he said. 

"There is demand for quality products, but that has to be met with effective supply. It requires innovation, which is difficult," Shen said. 

"In the past, when facing slowing growth, we would stimulate demand - loosen monetary policy, use fiscal measures. Now we are focusing primarily on using structural supply-side reform. This is the right direction, but it's not easy."

(Reporting by Elias Glenn; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

US voters have right to know presidential candidates's health - Forbes

The American public has a right to know about the health of anyone who wants to be president of our great nation. It’s foolish for us to expect any candidate to be in perfect health, but it is equally foolish for us to assume that a candidate’s health is irrelevant. That is why both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trumpshould immediately release their full and unaltered medical records.

In my opinion as a doctor, it is especially important that we see Mrs. Clinton’s medical records. The media has speculated about her health in recent weeks, for a variety of reasons. The general consensus has been: We don’t know enough to draw any conclusions.

can’t make educated guesses based on the evidence we already have. After all, that’s my job, and my medical specialty deals directly with the issues that we already know Mrs. Clinton has.

Let’s start with what we know for sure–the limited information provided by the Clinton camp. Mrs. Clinton has a right transverse venous sinus thrombosis–otherwise known as a blood clot–in her brain.  This is a serious problem that was unrelated to the head injury that caused her concussion several years ago. It turns out that Mrs. Clinton is predisposed to such clots–she already had two prior spontaneous blood clots in her legs.

All blood clots are serious, but especially so with the brain one. If the leg clots end up blocking a vein, there are other veins that can generally pick up the slack. Not so with the brain clot. There are no alternative veins large enough to bypass it. The result is the accumulation of extra fluid in the skull, which in turn puts pressure on the brain and the nerves coming from it.  The pressure inside the skull–intracranial pressure, as it is known–increases.

To be clear: The clot does not dissolve or disappear as the Clinton camp has inferred. About half of patients will continue to have a blocked vein, and half will have partial reopening of the vein, but either way, there will always be some insufficiency in drainage for someone in this position. It is not a question of whether the intracranial pressure increases. It is a question of how severe and how bad are the symptoms that follow. Among several symptoms that follow, the most common are headaches, visual problems and dizziness/balance problems.

I have treated numerous patients for this very issue, and the consequences can lead to significant disability. I have helped NASA research for the identification of increased intracranial pressure, leading to the use of a non-invasive means of measuring intracranial pressure on the International Space Station. This is of special interest to NASA since increased intracranial pressure is one of the biggest health threats for our astronauts.  Of the approximately 80 astronauts who have traveled to the space station, half have demonstrated visual changes and a couple have permanent visual loss due to this.

This bears directly on Mrs. Clinton. Given the medical history that we know, we can know for a fact that increased intracranial pressure is a problem that she will have to deal with for the rest of her life. We also know that she has exactly the same symptoms that accompany intracranial pressure. She has had headaches, vision and balance problems on numerous occasions. From my perspective as a physician, this is more than correlation; it strongly indicates causation.

This leads me to ask a simple question: If the effects of increased intracranial pressure can be so profound in a group of young astronauts who have been highly vetted for medical problems, what do you think the effects are in a 68-year-old woman who is not nearly as healthy?

I have seen patients with similar problems and similar symptoms all too often, and it deeply concerns me that one of the two leading presidential candidates may have such serious health issues. I sincerely hope that this isn’t the case. But the only way to be sure is for Hillary to give the American people the fullest possible picture of her health by releasing her full and unaltered medical records.

Donald Trump should do the same thing, for that matter. Unlike Mrs. Clinton, he has had no public diagnoses, so I cannot provide my expert opinion on the state of his health. It is certainly possible that he has medical issues of his own–issues that the public has a right to know about.

At the end of the day, the American people deserve to know the health of the man and the woman who want to be President of the United States.

Dr. Gianoli is also a clinical associate professor at Tulane University School of Medicine.

Is the Clinton foundation the same thing as the Clinton Global Initiative? - CNN

Washington (CNN)The Clinton Foundation is under intensifying scrutiny as Republicans accuse it of being a corrupt and opaque institution.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/24/politics/clinton-foundation-explainer/index.html?sr=twCNN082416clinton-foundation-explainer/1115AMStoryLink&linkId=27996095

GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump is calling for a special prosecutor to investigate the foundation and charged Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton engaged in "criminality" for connections between the family organization's donors and her actions as secretary of state. On Tuesday, he seized on an Associated Press report on the high number of foundation contributors she received in meetings at Foggy Bottom.

The sprawling, complex structure of the foundation, its history of contributions from foreign power brokers and its attractiveness as a Republican line of attack mean it's likely to stay in the spotlight.

But the glare of public attention hasn't always been so enlightening about the nature of the foundation and its activities. Here's a closer look.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, vice-chair of the Clinton Global Initiative Chelsea Clinton and founder of the Clinton Global Initiative Bill Clinton onstage during the fourth day of the Clinton Global Initiative's 10th Annual Meeting at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers on September 24, 2014 in New York City. 

Bill Clinton set up the public charity after he wrapped up his presidency in 2001 with the idea of bringing government, businesses and social groups together to tackle big problems. It was kind of a new idea at the time. On Monday, Clinton wrote in a post on Medium that the foundation is about "creating opportunities and solving problems faster, better, at lower cost so that more people are empowered to build better futures for themselves, their families and their communities." 

Trump, RNC seize on new report to attack Clinton Foundation

But ... what is it?

The foundation is made up of 11 non-profit groups that work on four major issues: global health and wellness, climate change, economic development and improving opportunities for girls and women. 

How does it work?

It's what philanthropists call an operating foundation, which means it doesn't give much money to outside groups to fulfill its mission. In 2014, the foundation gave less than 3% of revenue to other non-profits. Instead, the foundation does its own work, with staff and partners around the world.

What kind of work? 

Health is a big focus. In more than 70 countries, according to the foundation, it helps 11.5 million people, including 800,000 children, with HIV/AIDS get their medication at 90% lower cost -- more than half the adults and three-quarters of the children getting treatment in the world today. 

But it does all kinds of other work as well. For instance, it helps East African farmers get better seeds and fertilizers. It supported Nepal's reconstruction after the 2015 earthquakes. And it has connected more than 500,000 Latin Americans to job training and entrepreneurship opportunities.

Okay. So it's an international do-good group?

Yes. And no. The Clinton Foundation does tons of work in the US, too. Some examples: It has a school program that operates in every state, affecting more than 31,000 schools and 18 million students by its count. That program is to improve physical education, child nutrition, health education and staff wellness programs. They also work on prescription drug addiction. The foundation wants to halve the number of opioid overdoses -- right now those drugs kill more Americans than car accidents.

Foundation becomes campaign issue

Is the foundation the same thing as the Clinton Global Initiative?

The Clinton Global Initiative is part of the foundation. Bill Clinton started CGI in 2005. In contrast to other parts of the organization, it doesn't fund or manage projects, or handle any of the money involved. Instead, it's like the OKCupid of the charity world, matching funders with good causes. They do this at events throughout the year, including a big annual meeting in New York every September that's a who's who of global movers-and-shakers. (Bono? Check.) 

So ... lots of charity hook-ups? 

Since the first annual meeting in 2005, CGI says it has helped make more than 3,500 pledges, or "commitments," between funders and projects. In real-life terms, that means more than 430 million people in more than 180 countries have had their lives touched. 

Carville: People will die if the Clinton Foundation is shut down

More than 46 million children have gotten access to a better education, the foundation calculates. CGI says it has raised more than $313 million to research and develop new vaccines, medicines and diagnostics. And it has helped more than 27 million people have better access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

If the Clinton Foundation is doing all this good, why the suspicion?

Because of concerns about transparency and -- especially after Hillary Clinton became secretary of state -- concerns that some donors, especially foreign governments, may have been trying to buy influence.

Meet Huma Abedin: Hillary Clinton's right-hand woman

The AP reported Tuesday that during her time as secretary, more than half of Clinton's meetings with people outside government were with donors to the Clinton Foundation. These included executives at Estee Lauder, which was working with the State Department on a gender violence project in South Africa, and the founder of a non-profit bank who was asking for help because the government of Bangladesh pressured him to resign.

What did the State Department have to say about that? 

The deputy spokesman, Mark Toner, said in a statement Tuesday that "individuals, including those who have donated to political campaigns, non-profits, or foundations -- including the Clinton Foundation -- may contact or have meetings with officials in the administration. A wide range of outside individuals and organizations contact the State Department. Meeting requests, recommendations and proposals come to the department through a variety of channels both formal and informal." 

What's the issue with transparency? 

Who the foundation was getting money from, basically. When Clinton took the State Department job in 2008, she promised President Barack Obama that the foundation would publish all its donors every year. And ... that didn't happen.

State Department ordered to review 15,999 new Clinton emails

Reuters discovered that from 2010 to 2013, the foundation's health arm wasn't disclosing all of its donors -- leaving out countries like Switzerland and lumping together individuals as one big group. And the foundation didn't tell the State Department that countries such as Australia and the UK doubled and tripled their donations between 2009 and 2012 while Clinton was secretary.

What do Clinton's opponents have to say about all this, you ask?

No surprise, Trump has been hitting this theme hard, trying to use the foundation to undermine Clinton. This week in Akron, Ohio, he reeled off accusations without offering proof, saying that, "No issue better illustrates how corrupt my opponent is than her pay-for-play scandals as secretary of state." 

He's calling for a special prosecutor to investigate the foundation. 

Is it only Republicans who rap the foundation?

No. There's been a lot of media coverage of possible "pay-for-play" deals while Clinton was at state. So far, though, there are no smoking guns. The Wall Street Journal has said that the foundation has benefitted Clinton friends. And Fox News raised questions about the State Department's consideration of a Nigerian land purchase in March 2013 from two Lebanese-Nigerian brothers who donated heavily to the Clinton Foundation. Clinton left the State Department on February 1, 2013, and the real estate deal never took place.

Any Democratic critics?

In a June interview with CNN's Jake Tapper during primary season, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clinton's only remaining Democratic challenger, said that foundation donors like Saudi Arabia created the appearance of a conflict of interest. "Do I have a problem when a sitting secretary of state ... collects millions of dollars from foreign governments ... dictatorships," Sanders said. "Do I have a problem with that? Yeah, I do."

Is it weird that the Clinton Foundation has foreign donors?

It turns out that foreign donations to US foundations and charities are common.

"Like other nonprofits, the Clinton Foundation is chasing after grant money from the real foundations that have it, like Gates and Rockefeller, as well as foreign governments, most of which also donate to other major nonprofits," Inside Philanthropy's editor in chief David Callahan has written.

What do the Clintons say in response to all these accusations? 

The foundation has always rejected the "pay-for-play" accusations. The health arm of the foundation said there were various reasons for not disclosing all its donors. Bill Clinton said The Wall Street Journal story about the foundation benefitting his friends wasn't accurate. And foundation spokesman Craig Minassian has said that Clinton's friends are involved in CGI commitments because they also care about making a positive impact. 

So what happens if Clinton becomes the next president? 

"The process of determining the Clinton Foundation's future if Hillary becomes President has not been easy," Bill Clinton wrote in his Monday Medium post. "It's an unprecedented situation, so there's no blueprint to follow."

If Clinton wins, foundation says it won't take foreign money

That said, he laid out some steps the foundation will take if his wife wins. It will only accept donations from US citizens, legal residents and US-based independent foundations, he wrote. Bill Clinton will step down from the board and stop fundraising. 

Because a lot of the international work the foundation does is partially funded by foreign governments' aid programs, they'll move those programs to other organizations so they can continue. And, Clinton added, this September will mark the last annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative.

How does the philanthropic world see the Clinton Foundation?

They're rock stars. There are watchdog groups that judge charities on how they're run, how transparent they are and how much they spend on programs -- some charities raise a ton of money, but spend a large percentage on salaries and bonuses instead of their actual cause. 

Charity Watch gave the Clinton Foundation an A grade, while GuideStar gave it a platinum rating.

Daniel Borochoff of Charity Watch noted that in 2014, 87.2% of the foundation's funding went to its programs, "which is really high." The foundation, he said, does "really important, valuable work that saves lives of lots of people."

For a while, another group called Charity Navigator had the Clinton Foundation on a watch list because of media reports about possible conflicts of interest. It didn't judge the merit of the reports but wanted to flag for donors that others were raising questions. 

How does the charity world see the political brouhaha over the foundation?

"It's unfortunate that it's become this punching bag, this political punching bag," Borochoff said. "There's a lot of things that are said that are false. If Hillary Clinton wasn't running for president, the Clinton Foundation would be seen as one of the great humanitarian charities of our generation."

Who owns most of US national debt ? - CNN Money

Donald Trump says he can "make a deal" on America's debt.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/10/news/economy/us-debt-ownership/index.html?iid=EL

Last week, he implied that he could negotiate with America's creditors to get them to accept a lower rate of repayment, such as 85 cents for every dollar. 

It sounds shrewd, until you think about who would get hurt under this scenario. Who exactly owns the $19 trillion-plus of U.S. debt? 

There's been a lot of attention in recent years over China rising to become one of the largest holders of U.S. debt. China's share of the debt is sizable -- about 7% -- but it's hardly the largest holder of U.S. government bonds. 

The top holder by far is U.S. citizens and American entities, such as state and local governments, pension funds, mutual funds, and the Federal Reserve. Together they own the vast majority -- 67.5% -- of the debt. 

Foreign nations only hold 32.5% of the total.

Trump's proposal stunned the financial world. The U.S. government is the world's safety net. Lenders expect the U.S. Treasury to always make good on its payments. 

"The global financial system is built on the notion that U.S. Treasuries are absolutely safe assets," economist Doug Holtz-Eakin told CNN's Jake Tapper Monday. "If he were to put a crack in that foundation, the global financial system would crater and we would have a global economic recession." 

Renegotiating debt terms is a common practice among companies in financial trouble. Creditors are willing to accept lower payments because that's preferable to getting nothing. However, the U.S. government isn't a "junk bond" company.

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Trump walked back his debt deal making comments when he appeared on CNN's "New Day" show Monday morning as the outrage grew. 

Related: Foreign governments dump U.S. debt at record rate

What's important to remember is that any debt negotiation is really a deal with U.S. citizens. 

For years, grandmas and grandpas gave their children and grandchildren U.S. bonds to encourage them to save and grow their money. Retirees buy bonds because they are safer than stocks and provide more stable monthly income. Investors of all ages hold U.S. bonds to make their retirement and investment portfolios less risky. 

"A lot of people who own the debt are in the U.S. Why would I want to get paid less on my debt than when I bought it?" says Maya MacGuineas, an expert on government debt and budgets. She is president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. 

Of the $12.9 trillion chunk of debt owned by Americans, $5.3 trillion is held by government trust funds such as Social Security, $5.1 trillion is held by individuals, pension funds and state and local governments and the remaining $2.5 trillion is held by the Federal Reserve. 

Outside the U.S., China is the largest foreign holder of the debt, with $1.25 trillion. It is followed closely by Japan, which holds $1.13 trillion.

Giant pearl – biggest in the world worth $100m (£76m) found in Philippines - Independent

A giant pearl – believed to be the biggest in the world and possibly worth over $100m (£76m) – has been discovered in the Philippines after a fisherman’s family handed it in to authorities.

The huge pearl is confirmed to have come from a giant clam. It measures at 30.5cm in width and 2.2ft in length, and weighs a staggering 34kg.

It was discovered nearly a decade ago by the local fisherman but was kept hidden under his bed as a good luck charm until recently.

Puerto Princesa City Tourism Officer Aileen Amurao said the gigantic pearl was handed in by a relative of the fisherman.

“We were amazed when he brought it to us,” Palawan tourism official Aileen Amurao told local media, the BBC reports.

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Ms Amurao put out a plea on Facebook for gemologists to visit Puerto Princesa and help certify the pearl’s authenticity and officials are currently waiting on confirmation of the gem’s status as the largest pearl in the world.

Prior to this discovery, the world’s largest pearl was known to be the Pearl of Lao Tzu, also found in the Philippines, and weighing 6.4kg.