Barack Obama's off-again-on-again trip to Asia

• BARACK OBAMA is set for a trip to Asia, beginning with a stop at his boyhood home of Indonesia. But the visit, originally set to start on Thursday March 18th, will be delayed until Sunday 21st so Mr Obama can be present to give health-reform a final push before a crucial congressional vote. America’s president says that he is looking forward to visiting old haunts in the most populous Muslim country. He is certain to discuss counter-terrorism efforts with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and is expected to reiterate the message of a speech in Cairo last year that sought to strengthen ties between America and the Muslim world. He is also set to visit Australia, too.

• THE head of the Senate banking committee, Christopher Dodd, will unveil a long-awaited proposal on reforming regulation of America’s financial industry on Monday March 15th. Attempts at molding a bipartisan bill foundered after Republicans insisted that a new consumer-protection agency should have few powers. The bill is likely to insist on central clearing for more over-the-counter derivatives and propose setting up a body to grab control of and wind-down financial companies that show signs of breeding systemic failure. ...

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Shining a harsh light on Lehman’s bankruptcy

IT SOUNDS distinctly unpromising. A nine-volume, 2,200-page report by a court-appointed examiner into the causes of Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy, published on Thursday March 11th, has a table of contents that lasts for 38 pages. Its most exciting finding relates to an off-balance-sheet accounting gimmick. But the work of Anton Valukas, the chairman of Jenner & Block, a law firm, is crisp, clear and explosive.

Mr Valukas and his team took more than a year to research their report. They collected more than 5m documents and reviewed an estimated 34m pages of information. Looking at Lehman’s IT systems was a particular challenge. The firm had a rat’s nest of more than 2,600 systems and applications at the time it went bust; Mr Valukas boiled that down to the 96 most relevant ones, some of which are now operated by Barclays (the buyer of Lehman’s American arm after the holding company failed). He also conducted more than 250 informal interviews, many of them with Lehman’s directors and most senior executives. ...