Bill Clinton defends giving paid speeches

Former President Bill Clinton said Monday he would continue to give paid speeches while his wife, Hillary Clinton, runs for president amid criticism of the income her family draws from people, including foreigners, with business before the U.S. government.

The Clintons’ political opponents have criticized the Clinton Foundation for accepting funding from foreign governments for its endowment and for its charitable work abroad.

“I gotta pay our bills,” Clinton told NBC News from Kenya when asked about his speeches, for which he sometimes charges more than $500,000, in an interview taped over the weekend. “We do our best to vet them.” digging through snow and ice for signs of dozens more missing, officials said Monday.

The government began asking foreign teams to wrap up search and rescue operations, as hope of finding people alive in the rubble receded.

The trekkers’ bodies were recovered Saturday and Sunday at Langtang village, 40 miles north of Katmandu, which is on a trekking route popular with Westerners.

The entire village was wiped out by the avalanche, officials said.

It was not clear how many people were in Langtang at the time of the avalanche.

The death toll from the April 25 earthquake in the Himalayan nation has reached 7,557, the government said.