In passing the rule, the agencies rejected criticism that the plan was too lax on the derivatives industry.
Those cases subjected the lending agency to criticism in Congress.
Recently, the agency drew criticism from a federal judge after allowing Citigroup to settle a fraud case without conceding wrongdoing.
"We were surprised at what we can call a media mania in Egypt last night," Mr. Abdel Razeq said, singling out the official Middle East News Agency for criticism.
Later in the hearing, Patrick Wood III, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, defended the agency against criticism that it had failed to do its job.
The audit agency's criticism will sting the E.U. authorities — in particular Catherine Ashton, the bloc's foreign policy chief, and Stefan Fule, its commissioner for the neighborhood policy — at a time when they and their colleagues are under unprecedented pressure to justify their effectiveness amid rising disenchantment with the European Union.
A7 Welfare Appointee Under Fire Gov. Jeb Bush's appointee to head Florida's troubled child welfare agency, faces criticism over a 1989 religious essay that supported the spanking of children and denounced abortion, parenting by gays and women in the workforce.
The chief flu scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO) today defended his agency against criticism that the H1N1 swine flu pandemic was "fake," that its threat to human health was hyped, and that WHO's policies were influenced by vaccine manufacturers who benefited from the pandemic virus.
The emergency designation was recommended by a committee of independent experts to the United Nations agency following criticism of a hesitant response so far.
Ronald Maiorana, a HIP spokesman, said the health plan had accepted most of the agency's criticisms and agreed to tighten its controls.
