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The world's strongest bank certainly had humble beginnings. Bloomberg takes a look at the origins of Hang Seng Bank and how it made it to where it is today.

Iraq's capital Baghdad may -- for now -- be safe from the militants that overran the northern city of Mosul last week in a lightning fast advance. But after large-scale defections from an Iraqi Army that the U.S. largely built from scratch, Bloomberg's Willem Marx looks into America's spending on other country's militaries, in today's Big Question. Video by: Brian Kartagener

Pollution is rarely big news these days. You're more likely to hear about it in a history lesson on the Industrial Revolution. But many European cities are suffering as air pollution is becoming a serious problem. Bloomberg's Tom Gibson reports.

A look at the pipeline battle between the East and West and how the South Stream Pipeline project could cripple the Western regime.

By the end of this century, around half of the world's population will suffer from water scarcity. All according to UN estimates. The vital resource will become a main driver of regional and global conflicts, as demand for fresh water tripled over the past 5 decades. Watch to learn more.

In today’s “Global Outlook,” Helima Croft, a former strategist at the CIA, and Bloomberg's John Walcott discuss what the recent violence in Iraq means for the global economy. They speak with Trish Regan on Bloomberg Television's "Street Smart."

In Iraq, radical Islamist militants linked to al-Qaeda are reportedly planning to take Baghdad, after successfully advancing in the north. It's thought the governments now asked the US to carry out drone strikes against the insurgents. Marina Portnaya explains how that might mean Washington engaging against its own military hardware.

President Barack Obama is hoping Europe will come to rely on American and not Russian natural gas, but some experts are calling into question whether this is possible. Warning that the US's surge in fracking and horizontal drilling is only a bubble, the path towards energy independence, they argue, may not be as easy as some believe. RT's Marina Portnaya takes a deeper look into the fracking economy.

Hard assets are often used to create paper assets. Here is a look at Commodity Finance Deals and how non-existent metals are used to borrow money.

Vladimir Putin faced a barrage of tricky questions in France from the media ahead of his meeting with world leaders at the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings. Here are his best replies on key issues: Ukraine, Crimea, relations with the US, and others. Here is the full interview.

Median CEO pay now tops $10 million, the first time the figure has reached eight digits. With their wages rising 50 percent in the last four years, CEO's made 257 times the average worker's pay in 2013. While wages for top business executives continue rising, middle class job growth and pay still struggle. Most new jobs are on the lowest end of the wage spectrum. RT's Lindsay France takes a deeper look at the figures and the widening income gap.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is returning home to the US after five years as a prisoner-of-war. The US secured his release from the Taliban by agreeing to transfer five Guantanamo Bay detainees into Qatari custody. Politicians, especially those on the right, are reacting negatively to the decision, saying it sets a dangerous new precedent. Captured in 2009 by the Taliban, Bergdahl was the lone US POW in the war in Afghanistan. RT's Lindsay France has more details on the reactions to the surprise move.