WASHINGTON (AP) — A global finance leader asserts that as much as $2 trillion, or 2 percent of the global economy, in bribe money courses through developing and developed countries each year, undermining economic growth and diminishing basic services most needed by the poor.
"Corruption has a pernicious effect on the economy," the International Monetary Fund's managing director, Christine Lagarde, wrote in an essay published Wednesday by the global lending agency, one day before an anti-corruption summit in London.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump brushed off his Capitol Hill critics on Wednesday, declaring he doesn't need House Speaker Paul Ryan or other leery Republican leaders, even as he prepared to sit down with them. His defiant message came amid new signs that he might be right, with GOP voters becoming more willing to embrace him.
"If we make a deal, that will be great," Trump told Fox News Network when asked about Thursday's meeting with Ryan, who has so far refused to endorse him. "And if we don't, we will trudge forward like I've been doing and winning all the time."
