Secrecy surrounds Canadian charity
WASHINGTON – A charity affiliated with the Clinton Foundation failed to reveal the identities of its 1,100 donors, creating a broad exception to the foundation’s promise to disclose funding sources as part of an ethics agreement with the Obama administration.
The number of undisclosed contributors to the charity, the Canada-based Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership, signals a larger zone of secrecy around foundation donors than was previously known.
Details of the organization’s fundraising were disclosed this week by a spokeswoman for the Canadian group’s founder, mining magnate Frank Giustra.
The Canadian group has received attention in recent days as a potential avenue for anonymous Clinton Foundation donations from foreign business executives, including some who had interests before the U.S. government while Hillary Rodham Clinton was secretary of state.
Iran official warns Congress on deal
Iran’s foreign minister issued a stern warning to Congress on Wednesday, saying the United States will isolate itself if lawmakers act to nullify a nuclear deal the administration is working to finalize with Iran.
Mohammad Javad Zarif, speaking at an event at New York University, dismissed assertions by some members of Congress and presidential candidates that they would not necessarily be bound by any deal agreed to by President Obama.
“I believe the United States will risk isolating itself in the world if there is an agreement, and it decides to break it,” said Zarif, who earlier this month returned to a hero’s welcome in Tehran after reaching a temporary framework agreement in Switzerland with the United States and five other world powers.
“Whether you have a Democratic of Republican president, the United States is bound by international law, whether some senators like it or not,” he said. “And international law requires the United States live up to the terms of an agreement it enters into.”
Vermont’s Sanders: ‘I am running’
MONTPELIER, Vt. – Promising to fight what he deems “obscene levels” of income disparity and a campaign-finance system that is a “real disgrace,” independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Wednesday he will run for president as a Democrat.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Sanders confirmed his plans to formally join the race Thursday.
The self-described “democratic socialist” enters the race as a robust liberal alternative to Hillary Rodham Clinton, and he pledged to do more than simply raise progressive issues or nudge the former secretary of state to the left in a campaign in which she is heavily favored.
“People should not underestimate me,” Sanders said. “I’ve run outside of the two-party system, defeating Democrats and Republicans, taking on big-money candidates and, you know, I think the message that has resonated in Vermont is a message that can resonate all over this country.”
Snail-mail moves ever more slowly
The U.S. mail is slowing down.
In January, the Postal Service eliminated overnight delivery for local first-class letters. From 20 percent to 50 percent of the rest of the first-class mail sent every day now takes an extra day of delivery time.
Service standards have been relaxing since 2012, when the volume of first-class overnight mail decreased and that of two- and three-day mail grew. The changes are in response to declining mail volume and the resulting excess capacity in processing plants. They have allowed the financially strapped Postal Service to save $865 million with the closure of a first round of 150 plants and another $750 million by shuttering 82 more that started in January.
The Postal Service calls the delivery changes “Network Rationalization.” To limit the damage for customers and mailers, officials have played down the longer delivery times. Asked about the plant closings in a speech at the National Press Club a few weeks before his retirement, former postmaster general Patrick Donahoe said that consolidating mail operations into fewer plants would save money and increase efficiency.
Washington Post, Associated Press
