Politics In a marathon session of more than 21 hours, legislators agreed to a rewrite of Wall Street rules that may crimp the industry’s profits and subject it to tougher oversight and tighter restrictions. To secure agreement, lawmakers reached deals in the final hours on the most controversial sections which restrict derivatives dealing by banks and curb their proprietary trading to shield taxpayer-backed deposits from more risky activities. Banks will be allowed to keep most swaps dealing activity in-house, although the riskiest trading would be pushed out.
Politics The decision is fraught with risk for Obama, who faces the difficult choice of shaking up command of an unpopular and costly war just six months after ordering 30,000 more troops into the fight against the Taliban. McChrystal, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan and architect of Obama’s war strategy, was summoned back to Washington to explain his “enormous mistake” to the president, the White House said.
