Ten Words from The New York Times - May 1, 2013

“The notion that we’re going to keep 100 individuals in no man’s land in perpetuity,” he added, makes no sense.

Mr. Obama was ambiguous about one of the most difficult problems raised by Guantánamo: what to do with dozens of detainees deemed too risky to release but not feasible to prosecute.

Mr. Obama’s remarks about the prison came in an otherwise sedate news conference, and at times he appeared almost anguished.

“This is a lingering problem that is not going to get better,” he said.

The effort — centered on oversight of the $700 trillion marketplace of the financial instruments known as derivatives — is just one front in the battle still being waged nearly three years after Congress passed the Dodd-Frank law, which revamped financial regulations in the United States in hopes of curtailing the risky trading practices blamed for the global financial crisis in 2008.

Industry players have spent tens of millions of dollars to avert, delay or weaken new rules that are being drafted as part of the law.

Members of Congress from both parties have joined in the effort, directed at an obscure but increasingly powerful agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which has written and must approve some of the most contentious provisions.

Backing off from Mr. Gensler’s demands has led to some important industry victories, including one that avoided higher collateral standards for all but the biggest banks or hedge funds.

Since 1988, the 100-renminbi note, graced by Mao Zedong’s visage, has been the largest note in circulation, even though the economy has grown fiftyfold.

The government responds by trying to penetrate a vast underground economy, where off-the-books transactions are conducted almost entirely in cash, because it is harder for the authorities to trace and tax.