Britain will hold its referendum on whether to leave or stay in the European Union a week from Thursday (23 June). It will be a very significant vote, and current polls suggest that the “Leave” voters are in the majority right now. But the Pew Research Center has conducted a survey of European attitudes toward domestic and foreign policy. Not surprisingly, there was a range of attitudes among the European states, but it is safe to say that most Europeans are turning inward. In many respects, the trend of opinion in Britain on a Brexit mirrors that point of view.
German sovereign debt ventured into negative yield territory today: the bonds sold for a negative interest rate of -0.0020 percent. Investors buy sovereign debt because they believe that no sovereign government would default on the debt. A negative interest rate indicates that investors are willing to lose money as long as they are assured that their money is absolutely safe. Typically, one buys a negative yielding bond only for a short period of time, hoping that the rates will not go up and might even go down. The risk is that for some unforeseeable reason rates might in fact go up, in which case the investor will find it very difficult to find a buyer for the bond. The short end of this story is that the negative interest rates suggest that investors are anticipating that economic growth will remain slow or non-existent and therefore interest rates will not rise.
In an interview with Fox News, Donald Trump made the following comments:
“[W]e’re led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he’s got something else in mind…..[T]he something else in mind, you know, people can’t believe it.”
“People cannot — they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can’t even mention the words radical Islamic terrorism…..There’s something going on. It’s inconceivable. There’s something going on.”
These statements are not mere political rhetoric–they are an accusation that President Obama is working in support of terrorists. International observers were aghast at the accusation. The Trump campaign subsequently issued a clarifying statement. If Mr. Trump wishes to make the accusation, then let him do so openly and with the evidence that supports the accusation. No one can allow such innuendo to persist.
World Politics News 
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