Gabe Sherman argues that Dodd-Frank has already ended Wall Street as we know it. So how did MF Global go up in flames last year? The brokerage firm’s bankruptcy was mostly the outcome of failed, risky bets it placed through complex derivatives, and it lost an estimated $1.2 billion of its customers’ money in the process. After raising this issue on Monday, I got a call from Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who argued that MF Global’s demise wasn’t a sign that Dodd-Frank had failed to regulate derivatives in a comprehensive way. Read full article > >

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Barney Frank: MF Global bankruptcy wasn’t Dodd-Frank’s fault

The General Medical Council launches guidelines on assisted suicide to help it decide if doctors should face a disciplinary panel on the issue.

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GMC guidance on assisted suicide

Samuel Mullet Sr. said he would allow an electronic monitor, but prosecutors said the issue in his continued custody was the danger he posed to the community, not his aversion to electricity.

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Amish Man in Beard Attacks Would Allow Electronic Monitor

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the company’s changes “should address the issue” of possible fire risks of the Volt but that its investigation remained open.

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G.M. to Reinforce Battery in Chevrolet Volt, a Hybrid

The Federal Aviation Administration doesn’t allow Kindles and iPads to be on during takeoffs and landings over the issue of possible interference with aircraft navigation or communication systems. A visit to a testing lab shed light on whether a hazard really exists.

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Disruptions: Tests Cast Doubt on F.C.C. Restrictions on Kindle and iPad

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday called on House Republicans to pass a short-term deal to extend the payroll tax cut while talks continue over how to pay for a year-long cut. In his first statement on the issue since Sunday, McConnell (R-Ky.) urged his counterparts in the House to pass an extension to prevent “any disruption the payroll tax holiday or other expiring provisions, and allows Congress to work on a solution for the longer extensions.” Read full article > >

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McConnell: House should pass short-term extension of payroll tax cut

The Obama administration will give states broad latitude to define the minimum benefits that many health insurance policies will be required to offer under the 2010 health-care law, officials announced Friday. The plan sparked criticism from interest groups on all sides of the issue. Consumer advocates worried that millions of Americans could end up with insurance substantially less comprehensive than the law’s drafters intended. Representatives of employers and insurers warned of an opposite scenario: A state could make the benefits package so comprehensive that the resulting plans would be prohibitively expensive. Read full article > >

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Minimum essential health benefits will be largely set by states

At a hospital full of survivors of a series of suicide bombings, the Afghan president promised to pursue the issue with Pakistan, but stopped short of accusing them of involvement.

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Karzai Seeks to Discuss Attacks on Shiites With Pakistan

Thousands of demonstrators march in Durban demanding faster action on climate change, as the annual UN summit on the issue reaches its half-way point.

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Protests at climate change summit

Australia’s governing Labor party votes to support same-sex marriage, although its MPs will be allowed a free vote on the issue in parliament.

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Australia Labor for gay marriage

Several lawmakers expressed support Wednesday for a controversial bill aimed at curbing online piracy as lobbying over the issue reached a fever pitch. In a House Judiciary Committee hearing on a bill proposed by committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), a bipartisan group of lawmakers said new laws are needed to help media outlets, software makers and retailers fight the illegal distribution of movies, songs and software. Read full article > >

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SOPA, controversial online piracy bill, gains support as lobbying intensifies

The U.S. Navy is confronting any number of strategic challenges as it seeks to rein in costs and cope with an aging fleet of ships and planes. And, then, on a new ship, there’s the issue of the toilets. The USS George H.W. Bush , built at a cost of $6.2 billion and deployed on its first combat mission only last spring, has experienced chronic plumbing problems for months, with the faltering of its vacuum-based system repeatedly leading to toilet outages. Read full article > >

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Naval ship faces chronic toilet outages at sea

A New Jersey congressman wrote directly to Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta two months ago to raise questions about the Dover Air Force Base mortuary’s longtime practice of dumping troops’ cremated body parts in a landfill , but says he never received a reply. The congressman’s letter raises questions about when Panetta learned that the mortuary disposed of cremated portions of remains at the King George County, Va., landfill between 2003 and 2008. His spokesman, George Little, said Panetta was first briefed on the issue Wednesday. Read full article > >

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Pentagon was warned about landfill issue

Even as other countries take action, the issue is fading from the American agenda.

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News Analysis: Whatever Happened to Global Warming?

Scottish and UK ministers meet to discuss proposed new financial powers for Holyrood, amid an ongoing row over the issue.

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Tax issues focus of power group