Citizen Cartwright

Volcker: Momentum for U.S. financial regulations

The former Federal Reserve chairman is expressing confidence that Congress will pass a financial regulatory overhaul this year, possibly before Congress' August recess.

“I feel more optimistic than I would have felt a month or two ago,” he said in a speech Tuesday at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

Meanwhile, when White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about reports that the Senate might act on the legislation by the end of May, he said, “I don’t think that’s an unrealistic timetable at all.”

IMF chief: Lack of momentum on global financial regulations

The international effort to impose new regulations in the wake of the financial crisis is fading, says International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

"I am sure it will be impossible to ask taxpayers to pay again (to save banks)," he says, citing the need for nations to work together and limit the risks.

He also says Europe is at risk of joining the "second league" of economic powers, behind the United States and Asia.

The European Union, he says, must be able "to enhance the institutions ... go back to innovation, go back to competitiveness and go back, at the end of the day, to growth, which is not exactly what we see in the aftermath of this crisis."

Obama signs last piece of health care bill, with student loan provisions

The president signed the reconciliation bill on Tuesday at Northern Virginia Community College, where he touted the student loan overhaul attached to the measure.

Under the new law, the government will lend money directly to college students, eliminating the banks that have been "unnecessary middlemen" in what Obama called a "sweetheart deal" giving them billions in interest payments.

Here's a Q and A of the student loan changes.

On health care, Republicans may repel repeal

GOP leaders are increasingly concerned that Republican candidates could get burned by demands from the conservative base for repeal of the health care overhaul law, The Associated Press says.

There are two main risks, AP says. First, since repeal is unlikely, activists could become disillusioned. And a candidate's repeal position may be much less popular in the general election than in a conservative-dominated Republican primary.

Obama wants Iran sanctions 'within weeks'

The president said on Tuesday that "the long-term consequences of a nuclear armed Iran are unacceptable," but he acknowledged that "we need to work on" getting unanimity in the international community on the issue.

Also in the news

Obama to open some offshore areas to oil, gas drilling The Washington Post

Iraqi prime minister fights to retain power, risks sectarian war The Associated Press

At Large Hadron Collider, an atom-smashing success TechNewsWorld

Risks seen in cholesterol drug Crestor's use in healthy people The New York Times

Study: A square of dark chocolate a day keeps the doctor away BBC News

Could what happened at Lehman happen at your bank?

The Securities and Exchange Commission says it wants detailed information from nearly two dozen big financial and insurance firms about repurchase agreements after recent revelations that Lehman Brothers allegedly used them to mask about $50 billion in debt before it collapsed in 2008.

The House Oversight Committee is planning to hold a hearing on Lehman's accounting practices, and Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., has asked the Justice Department to investigate.

FDA under pressure to go after 'food fraud'

As more foods are imported and, at the same time, new high-tech testing tools make it easier to detect fraud, the Food and Drug Administration is being petitioned to set standards for some foods that would make it possible for companies to sue competitors selling adulterated products.

Top 100 hospitals

Reuters has put out its 17th annual list of the top hospitals in the country.

If all Medicare inpatients received the same level of care as those in the top 100 hospitals, Reuters says, more than 98,000 more patients would survive each year, more than 197,000 patient complications would be avoided and $5.5 billion would be saved.

Man arrested for alleged threats to Republican lawmaker

Norman Leboon, 38, of Philadelphia, has been charged with threatening the life of House Republican Whip Eric Cantor, Va., and his family in a YouTube video.

Leboon's brother said he had notified the FBI after Leboon put an antigovernment rant on YouTube and that he had tried several times to have Leboon committed to a mental institution.