Politics Senate confirmation appeared assured for General David Petraeus, who became one of the U.S. military’s biggest stars after helping turn around the war in Iraq
World Shares climbed in Europe and Asia, led by banks, after the U.S. Congress adopted a landmark financial regulation package on Friday, removing uncertainty, and the G20 dropped a 2012 deadline for more stringent risk-provisioning rules. “We welcome the fact that the G20 has stepped away from imposing an arbitrary timeline for the implementation of new measures and has instead agreed to phase-in requirements agreements as and when national economic conditions allow,” the International Banking Federation said in a statement.
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.
Politics With final negotiations on the reform bill bogged down amid partisan bickering, Democrats who control the process neared consensus on an element that has drawn furious opposition from the Wall Street banks that could lose billions in profits. The deal would require banks to isolate their swaps desks in separate affiliates, which would require the banks to raise new capital and deprive them of profits they get from dealing
