Congress flips dimmer switch on light bulb law (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Republicans in Congress are flipping the dimmer switch on a law that sets new energy-savings standards for light bulbs.

They've reached a deal to delay until October enforcement of standards that some fear will bring about the end of old-style 100-watt bulbs. GOP lawmakers say they're trying to head off more government interference in people's lives.

But environmentalists and the light bulb industry say the move is not too bright.

Language postponing enforcement of the light bulb law ? it was set to take effect Jan. 1 ? was included in a massive spending bill that funds the government through September. The House passed the measure on Friday, with approval expected Saturday in the Senate.

Rep. Fred Upton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the light bulb delay shows Congress is listening to the American people.

"We heard the message loud and clear," said Upton, R-Mich. "Americans don't want government standards determining how they light their homes."

Upton said he was not opposed to the more efficient ? and expensive_ curlicue fluorescents that have become increasingly familiar in recent years. But he said government should not penalize those who prefer traditional, incandescent bulbs.

"New lighting options are great news for the public, but the lesson is that markets and consumer demand are the best drivers of innovation and new choices," Upton said.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the move would have little practical consequence, since it does not affect a 2007 law that requires manufacturers to produce or import more efficient bulbs. The five largest light bulb manufacturers have already switched to making and selling the more efficient bulbs, Bingaman said, so the enforcement delay only serves to confuse the public.

"Blocking funds to enforce minimum standards works against our nation getting the full benefits of energy efficiency," said Bingaman, D-N.M., a key sponsor of the 2007 law, which was signed by President George W. Bush.

A group representing light bulb manufacturers spoke out against the delay, which applies only to 100-watt bulbs. Tighter standards for 75-watt bulbs take effect in 2013, and lower wattage bulbs must be more efficient by 2014.

"American manufacturers have invested millions of dollars in energy-efficient light bulbs," said Joseph Higbee, a spokesman for the National Electric Manufacturers Association, which represents 95 percent U.S. light bulb makers.

Delaying enforcement of the standards "undermines those investments and creates regulatory uncertainty and consumer confusion," he said, adding that a lack of federal enforcement "allows bad actors to sell noncompliant products" to consumers who may be unable to tell the difference between an energy-efficient bulb and one that isn't.

The new law blocks the Energy Department from enforcing efficiency standards, but it does not prevent states from enforcing their own standards.

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, called the light-bulb provision "an early Christmas present for all Americans" and said it strikes a blow against expensive fluorescents that he said are not as reliable as the old-style incandescents that have changed little since Thomas Edison's day.

"This means Americans can continue to flip the switch on an affordable and reliable product, instead of turning to one that costs five times more and may not live up to manufacturers' promises," said Barton, a former House Energy chairman who opposed the 2007 law and has worked to overturn it ever since.

Jim Presswood, federal energy policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, called the GOP-backed delay dimwitted.

"It's just a completely ridiculous move by Congress," Presswood said. "It undermines the ability of the Energy Department to enforce standards that are going to give consumers tremendous savings as well as reduce pollution."

___

Follow Matthew Daly's energy coverage at http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_light_bulbs

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The Iraq War and the Steep Price of American Bravado (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | President Obama marked the end of the war in Iraq on Wednesday, December 14, but his salute of returning troops was no declaration of victory. Obama's low-key wrap-up of the war contrasts starkly with President George W. Bush's infamous "mission accomplished" celebration. That celebration, which marked the end of major combat operations, was full of the self-assured bravado that led us into the Iraq War.

Where is that bravado now?

Now, a decade past the "shock and awe" bombardment meant to lead to the Iraqi forces' quick collapse, it's fair to ask whether America's achievements were worth their steep cost.

The Iraq War did produce some desired results. America might not have found the weapons of mass destruction it insisted justified invasion, but it did -- along with its allies -- depose a ruthless dictator whose unpredictability destabilized the Persian Gulf. Connections between Al-Qaeda and Iraq now appear to have been largely puffery, manufactured to justify military action to the ordinary Americans who bore the cost, both economic and human, of the war and occupation. But America made clear to the world the lengths to which it would go to protect its security interests.

But do those achievements justify the 4,500 lost and 32,000 wounded Americans? Perhaps. The better question might be, do they justify the loss of 100,000 Iraqi lives and the possibly irreparable damage to America's status as global beacon for freedom and justice?

I recall sharing dinner with a friend shortly after the war's start. "This war will be the first crack in America's foundation," my friend told me. "One day we'll look back and see [the Iraq War] as the beginning of America's end."

Those comments still strike me as overstatements. But it's true that, due in large part to the Iraq War, America's reality has shifted. We fought a war we couldn't really afford, for a people whose allegiances we misjudged, based on tragically mistaken justifications, with an ill-formed exit strategy. Our actions at Abu Ghraib revealed to the world that Americans, too, are capable of cruelty. The deaths of 100,000 Iraqis will stain our political relations in the Gulf for generations to come.

The chief consequence of the war for Americans is that we have been forced to confront the reality that America is fallible, our security depends on international cooperation, and until we tend to our own democracy's blemishes, we have no business defining democracy for others.

I can't imagine that the destruction of so many lives was unavoidable. But if these are the tough lessons we've learned, I'm glad such painful losses won us something.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111216/pl_ac/10685165_the_iraq_war_and_the_steep_price_of_american_bravado

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Elated, last US troops leave Iraq, ending war (AP)

KHABARI CROSSING, Kuwait ? The last U.S. soldiers rolled out of Iraq across the border into neighboring Kuwait at daybreak Sunday, whooping, fist bumping and hugging each other in a burst of joy and relief. Their convoy's exit marked the end of a bitterly divisive war that raged for nearly nine years and left Iraq shattered and struggling to recover.

The war cost nearly 4,500 American and well more than 100,000 Iraqi lives and $800 billion from the U.S. Treasury. The question of whether it was worth it all ? or whether the new government the Americans leave behind will remain a steadfast U.S. ally ? is yet unanswered.

The 5-hour drive by the last convoy of MRAPS, heavily armored personnel carriers, took place under cover of darkness and under strict secrecy to prevent any final attacks on the withdrawing troops. The 500 soldiers didn't even tell their Iraqi partners they were leaving before they slipped out of the last American base and started down the barren desert highway to the Kuwaiti border before dawn Sunday.

The atmosphere was subdued inside one of the vehicles as it streamed down the highway, with little visible in the blackness outside through the MRAP's small windows. Along the road, a small group of Iraqi soldiers waved to the departing American troops.

"My heart goes out to the Iraqis," said Warrant Officer John Jewell, acknowledging the challenges ahead. "The innocent always pay the bill."

But after crossing the berm at the Kuwaiti border, lit with floodlights and ringed with barbed wire, the troops from the 3rd brigade of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division were elated. They cheered, pumped fists in the air and gave each other chest bumps and bear hugs. "We're on top of the world!" shouted one soldier from the turret of his vehicle.

"It's just an honor to be able to serve your country and say that you helped close out the war in Iraq," said Spc. Jesse Jones, a 23-year-old who volunteered to be in the last convoy. "Not a lot of people can say that they did huge things like that that will probably be in the history books."

The quiet withdrawal was a stark contrast to the high-octane start of the war, which began before dawn on March 20, 2003, with an airstrike in southern Baghdad where Saddam Hussein was believed to be hiding, the opening shot in the famed "shock and awe" bombardment. U.S. and allied ground forces then stormed from Kuwait across the featureless deserts of southern Iraq toward the capital.

Saddam and his regime fell within weeks, and the dictator was captured by the end of the year ? to be executed by Iraq's new Shiite rulers in 2006. But Saddam's end only opened the door to years more of conflict as Iraq was plunged into a vicious sectarian war between its Shiite and Sunni communities. The near civil war devastated the country, and its legacy includes thousands of widows and orphans, a people deeply divided along sectarian lines and infrastructure that remains largely in ruins.

In the past two years, violence has dropped dramatically, and Iraqi security forces that U.S. troops struggled for years to train have improved. But the sectarian wounds remain unhealed. Even as U.S. troops were leaving, the main Sunni-backed political bloc announced Sunday it was suspending its participation in parliament to protest the monopoly on government posts by Shiite allies of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

President Barack Obama stopped short of calling the U.S. effort in Iraq a victory in an interview taped Thursday with ABC News' Barbara Walters.

"I would describe our troops as having succeeded in the mission of giving to the Iraqis their country in a way that gives them a chance for a successful future," Obama said.

In the final days, U.S. officials acknowledged the cost in blood and dollars was high, but tried to paint a picture of victory ? for both the troops and the Iraqi people now freed of a dictator and on a path to democracy. But gnawing questions remain: Will Iraqis be able to forge their new government amid the still stubborn sectarian clashes? And will Iraq be able to defend itself and remain independent in a region fraught with turmoil and still steeped in insurgent threats?

"We are glad to see the last U.S. soldier leaving the country today. It is an important day in Iraq's history, but the most important thing now is the future of Iraq," said 25-year-old Said Hassan, the owner of money exchange shop in Baghdad.

"The Americans have left behind them a country that is falling apart and an Iraqi army and security forces that have a long way ahead to be able to defend the nation and the people."

Some Iraqis celebrated the exit of what they called American occupiers, neither invited nor welcome in a proud country. Others said that while grateful for U.S. help ousting Saddam, the war went on too long. A majority of Americans would agree, according to opinion polls.

Iraq's military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Babaker Zebari said Sunday that his troops were up to the task of uprooting militant groups. Sunni militants continue to carry out bombing and shooting against police, soldiers and civilians, and Shiite militias continue to operate.

"There are only scattered terrorists hiding here and there and we are seeking intelligence information to eliminate them," Zebari said. "We are confident that there will be no danger."

The U.S. convoys Sunday were the last of a massive operation pulling out American forces that has lasted for months to meet the end-of-the-year deadline agreed with the Iraqis during the administration of President George W. Bush.

As of Thursday, there were two U.S. bases and less than 4,000 U.S. troops in Iraq ? a dramatic drop from the roughly 500 military installations and as many as 170,000 troops during the surge ordered by Bush in 2007, when violence was at its worst. As of Saturday night, that was down to one base ? Camp Adder ? and the final 500 soldiers.

On Saturday evening at Camp Adder, near Nasiriyah, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, the vehicles lined up in an open field to prepare and soldiers went through last-minute equipment checks to make sure radios, weapons and other gear were working.

Gen. Lloyd Austin, the commanding general for Iraq, walked through the rows of vehicles, talking to soldiers over the low hum of the engines. He thanked them for their service and reminded them to stay vigilant on their final mission.

"I wanted to remind them that we have an important mission left in the country of Iraq. We want to stay focused and we want to make sure that we're doing the right things to protect ourselves," Austin said.

The commander of the Special Troops Battalion, Lt. Col. Jack Vantress told his soldiers, "We are closing the book on an operation that has brought freedom to a country that was repressed. When the sun comes up, we'll be across the berm."

He added a warning to watch out for any final attacks. "Laser focus. Laser focus. You've got time, hours of road to go. There are people out there who still want to hurt you."

Early Saturday morning, the brigade's remaining interpreters made their routine calls to the local tribal sheiks and government leaders that the troops deal with, so that they would assume that it was just a normal day.

"The Iraqis are going to wake up in the morning and nobody will be there," said Spc. Joseph, an Iraqi American who emigrated from Iraq in 2009 and enlisted. He asked that his full name be withheld to protect his family.

In a guard tower overlooking a now empty checkpoint at the base, Sgt. Ashley Vorhees and another soldier talked about what they looked forward to most in getting home. The 29-year-old Vorhees planned to go for Mexican food at Rosa's, a restaurant in Killeen, Texas. Another joy of home, she said: you don't have to bring your weapon when you go to the bathroom.

At its height, Camp Adder boasted a Taco Bell, a KFC, an Italian restaurant and two Green Beans coffee shops. On Saturday, it felt empty, with abandoned volleyball and basketball courts and a gym called "House of Pain." Hundreds of vehicles ? trucks, buses ? waited in a lot to be handed over to the Iraqi military, which is taking over the site. With the Americans gone, the base reverts to its former name, Imam Ali Air Base.

Despite Obama's earlier contention that all American troops would be home for Christmas, at least 4,000 forces will remain in Kuwait for some months. The troops could also be used as a quick reaction force if needed.

The U.S. plans to keep a robust diplomatic presence in Iraq, hoping to foster a lasting relationship with the nation and maintain a strong military force in the region. Obama met in Washington with Prime Minister al-Maliki last week, vowing to remain committed to Iraq as the two countries struggle to define their new relationship.

U.S. officials were unable to reach an agreement with the Iraqis on legal issues and troop immunity that would have allowed a small training and counterterrorism force to remain. U.S. defense officials said they expect there will be no movement on that issue until sometime next year.

Capt. Mark Askew, a 28-year-old from Tampa, Florida who was among the last soldiers to leave, said the answer to the question of whether the Iraq war was worth the cost will depend on what type of country and government Iraq ends up with years from now, whether they are democratic, respect human rights and are considered an American ally.

"It depends on what Iraq does after we leave," he said, speaking before the final convoy departed. "I don't expect them to turn into South Korea or Japan overnight."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111218/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq

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Panetta becomes first defense chief to visit Libya (AP)

TRIPOLI, Libya ? Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has arrived in Tripoli, making history as the first Pentagon chief to ever set foot on Libyan soil.

Panetta's visit Saturday comes just after an eight-month civil war ousted Moammar Gadhafi and set the country on a rocky path to democracy.

The United Nations, the United States and Great Britain announced Friday they are lifting sanctions and unfreezing about 80 billion dollars in assets blocked during Gadhafi's reign.

Panetta will meet with members of the transitional government, and make an emotional visit to what historians believe is the gravesite of 13 U.S. sailors killed in 1804. Those deaths were caused by the explosion of the U.S. ship Intrepid, which was slipping into the Tripoli harbor to destroy pirate ships that had captured an American frigate.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111217/ap_on_re_eu/eu_us_libya

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EU, IMF halt talks with Hungary over central bank (AP)

BUDAPEST, Hungary ? The European Union and the International Monetary Fund broke off preliminary talks Friday with Hungary on a financial aid package because of concerns that the government aimed to curtail the independence of the country's central bank.

Hungary said last month it would seek to work out a deal for unspecified aid from the IMF and the EU, a "security net" to reassure investors about its creditworthiness and financial stability.

Both institutions, as well as international observers, have been critical of steps taken by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government to gain greater influence over the National Bank of Hungary, led by Andras Simor.

A new law regulating the central bank is being debated in Parliament, and on Wednesday, it was revealed that the government is also laying the legal groundwork for the possible merger of the central bank and Hungary's financial regulator.

"The European Commission is concerned about the intention of the Hungarian authorities to push forward with the adoption of laws that can potentially undermine the independence of the central bank," said a statement from Amadeu Altafaj Tardio, spokesman for EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn.

"Given that the government did not inform the EU/IMF mission of any change in their intention to push for the adoption of the contested central bank law, the Commission, in close coordination with the IMF, has decided to interrupt the preparatory mission," the statement said.

Formal talks between Hungary and the IMF and EU were supposed to begin in January. It was not clear yet how Friday's move would affect those talks.

Relations between the government and Simor have been rocky since Orban was swept into power in a landslide victory in April 2010. Simor was criticized for having owned a company registered in Cyprus ? which he sold before taking on the role of central bank president ? to avoid Hungarian taxes.

Fidesz, Orban's party, has a two-thirds majority in Parliament and can pass legislation practically at will. In March, the government already gained greater control over the central bank's Monetary Council, which sets interest rates. The newly proposed changes are seen as granting the government an even tighter rein over Hungary's monetary policy while setting the stage for Simor's dismissal.

In late 2008, Hungary's previous Socialist government was given a standby loan of euro20 billion ($26 billion) to avoid bankruptcy by the IMF, the EU and the World Bank.

Last year, Orban decided not to renew the IMF deal but in a spectacular policy U-turn, said in November that it would seek new IMF-EU support.

Hungary has been an EU member since 2004, but does not use the euro.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_hungary_eu_imf

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Automotive Wholesale Company ? Sellers Needed | Home Page ...

Posted in ipiai on December 17, 2011 ? 11:33 pm

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Source: http://www.ipiai.org/2011/12/automotive-wholesale-company-sellers-needed/

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Sony Tablet S update lets you play with PS3 controllers, cable adapter required

We've got some good news for gamers that were willing to plunge into the PlayStation-certified world of Sony's tablets. The latest update to the company's divisive Tablet S will let you connect your PS3 controllers with those 32-bit games of yesteryear. The update is available now in Sony's homeland of Japan and the company is also rewarding its tablet faithful with a free download; an Ape Escape-themed mini-game collection. It's not all good news, however. The clamshelled Tablet P doesn't get the controller hook-up and you'll need to buy an additional USB adapter cable to connect a controller to the monoscreened Tablet S. A briefly worded, vaguely translated release awaits after the break.

Continue reading Sony Tablet S update lets you play with PS3 controllers, cable adapter required

Sony Tablet S update lets you play with PS3 controllers, cable adapter required originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 04:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/4SkJ4xcQgMA/

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Mexican city to begin countdown for Dec. 21, 2012 (AP)

MEXICO CITY ? A city in southern Mexico wants to live each moment as if it were the last.

Tourism officials in Tapachula have installed a digital clock to count down the time left before the Dec. 21, 2012, solstice, when some believe the world will end.

The clock starts Dec. 21, a year before the supposed apocalypse.

Chiapas state tourism regional director Manolo Alfonso Pinot said Friday that Mayan priests will perform a ceremony at the nearby archaeological site of Izapa.

Maya experts say the doomsday fears are a misreading of Maya stone inscriptions that mention the date, saying the Mayans only considered it the end of one calendar cycle and the beginning of another.

Pinot said he doesn't believe the world will end, but looks at it as a sort of beginning, in the business sense at least.

"A lot of people know they can fill their body with energy if they come to these exceptional sites," he said. "If people are interested, we have to take advantage of this."

Tapachula, best known as a gritty border town crossed by Central American migrants en route to the United States, is not a popular Mayan tourism destination. But nearby Izapa is a place where many stelae have been found, including the "Tree of Life" stone discovered in the 1950s and thought to convey an ancient Mayan tale.

At Izapa, close to the Tajumulco volcano, Pinot says a Mesoamerican ball court, a carved stone and the throne of the Izapa ruler face a straight line that on Dec. 21, 2012 is expected to align with the planets.

"It is hard to say what you will be able to see that day," he said.

The doomsday theories stem from a pair of tablets that describe the return of a Mayan god at the end of a 13th period of 400 years, which falls on Dec. 21, 2012.

Experts say the date marks the end of a 5,125-year cycle that began in 3113 B.C., and the start of another.

___

Follow Adriana Gomez Licon on Twitter at http://twitter.com/agomezlicon

Associated Press writer Mark Stevenson contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_apocalypse2012

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'Tame' gibbon severely injures boy in Malaysia

Lai Seng Sin / AP

A siamang like this one photographed in a cage at the National Zoo in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, attacked two children Tuesday.

By msnbc.com staff

MALACCA, Malaysia ? A 3-year-old boy was seriously injured in the right thigh when he was attacked by an 83-pound gibbon at the Malacca Zoo, zoo officials said Thursday.

The boy, identified as Afiq Haziq Kamarul, underwent a three-hour operation at Malacca Hospital after the incident, which occurred Tuesday afternoon, the New Straits Times reports.

Read the full story at New Straits Times

Afiq's mother, Anita Sulaiman, told the paper that the gibbon ? specifically, a siamang, a tailless variety with black fur ? appeared tame and was allowed to move freely among visitors.


"Suddenly, the group of people who were standing near the gibbon started running away from it and shouted for help," she said.

The gibbon let go only when another visitor kicked its stomach, she said.

More monkeys in the news:

Agence France-Presse reported that the gibbon had earlier bitten a 5-year-old visitor on her right ankle. She also received medical treatment, according to Ahmad Azhar Mohammed, the zoo's director.

Mohammad said zoo officials subsequently caught the gibbon and have quarantined the animal. The zoo is investigating how it jumped out of its enclosure, he said, adding that the animal could have been provoked by the visitors.

A spokesman for the zoo told the Daily News of Malacca that zoo officials had apologized to the family and would help pay Afiq's medical costs.

Read more content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/15/9472336-tame-gibbon-severely-injures-boy-at-malaysian-zoo

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Europe's troubled banks face a growing squeeze

(AP) ? Europe's banks are being squeezed from all sides.

They're holding risky government debt. They're struggling to get loans to operate. They're paying higher rates when they do borrow. And regulators want them to build bigger cushions against bad loans.

The banks share the blame for Europe's debt crisis. They enabled governments to pile up too much debt. But they also provide the grease that keeps an economy running. Without them, there can be no recovery.

A flurry of ominous news for Europe's banks has fueled fears about the ability of some to survive the crisis. Many are also concerned that the banks will choke off money to the continent's economy just as it's struggling to eke out growth.

The credit ratings of five large European banks were downgraded this week. Speculation is rising that Commerzbank, Germany's second-largest bank, might need to be nationalized. Others, like UBS and Credit Agricole, are preparing waves of layoffs.

Last week, leaders from more than two dozen European countries crafted an agreement that would force countries to submit their budgets for review and limit the deficits they could run. The goal is to prevent another debt crisis.

Yet since then, doubts have grown over whether that deal will be effective ? or even enacted. European stocks have slid 2 percent. Borrowing costs for Italy and Spain remain at levels considered unsustainable.

The rising uncertainty about whether the crisis can be resolved is having a direct impact on the banks: They're lending less to one another for fear of never being repaid.

It's a dangerous trend. Once credit between banks dries up, fewer loans would flow to businesses and households. Economies would struggle to grow.

Lending is particularly important to European companies, which are more reliant on banks than their counterparts in the United States are. U.S. companies can more easily raise money by issuing bonds. Europe's so-called junk bond market is only a third the size of America's.

And stock-market declines could even increase European companies' dependence on banks. They would make it harder to raise money by issuing stock.

On Thursday, the rates banks charge one another to borrow dollars remained at its highest level since September. That overnight market is vital to banks. Regulators require them to hold a set level of cash at day's end, to satisfy customers who want to withdraw their money. To pay those customers, banks often have to borrow from one another overnight.

A tightening of overnight credit tends to rattle regulators and investors. It was Lehman Brothers' inability to access short-term loans that sped its collapse into bankruptcy in September 2008. Global credit froze as banks feared that others might be vulnerable too.

The rates that banks charge each other for overnight loans has been ticking up. On Thursday, the rate known as LIBOR was 0.1505 percent ? the highest since September.

The European Central Bank has stepped in to lend to banks when no one else has. It supplied banks with euro615.3 billion ($801 billion) to operate their businesses averaged over the three months ending Nov. 8. That's up euro99.1 billion ($129 billion) from what banks needed in the previous three months.

Government bonds of wealthy European countries were long considered safe assets. But as the debt loads of European countries grew, investors began to doubt whether their governments could repay the loans. So they began charging more to lend to those countries.

That fed a vicious circle. The more that governments had to pay to borrow, the more difficulty they had paying it back. Eventually, Greece had to admit it couldn't repay all its loans. That eroded confidence in other eurozone countries. Would Italy renege? Would Spain? France?

Since then, European leaders have struggled to reassure investors that they'll repay their debts and never again succumb to a debt crisis. The ECB has tried to calm markets by offering unlimited loans to banks for up to three years.

But the ECB has so far resisted the one step that many say it must take to prevent a catastrophe: buy government bonds aggressively, to drive down their yields so governments can borrow more cheaply.

The bank's president, Mario Draghi, again rebuffed that idea Thursday. He said governments must take the tough steps to balance budgets.

In the meantime, the value of government bonds keeps sliding. And much of them sit in Europe's banks.

"European banks remain the nexus of most European problems," analyst Huw Van Steenis wrote in a Morgan Stanley research note.

Van Steenis noted that the pressure on the banks ripples through economies. Until the debt crisis erupted, banks used government debt ? traditionally considered their safest assets ? to secure their loans. Now that debt is considered the shakiest assets on their books.

That's making it hard for banks to borrow from each other and lend to homeowners, consumers, businesses. The ECB's October survey showed that banks expected to further tighten lending to businesses through year's end.

Draghi explained this week that the central bank's new offer of three-year loans was meant to encourage lending to the wider economy.

It's unclear whether it will. If nothing else, the move to make credit available to the banks for up to for three years reflected the extraordinary pressure the banks are under. The central banks of the world's wealthiest countries also said this month that they'd make it cheaper for banks to borrow dollars.

That step, though helpful in the short run, hardly provides a long-term solution.

"The systemic support doesn't replace the normal operation of the banking system and the interbank market," said Nicolas Veron, a senior fellow at the Brussels-based economic think tank, Bruegel.

Banks must still produce collateral to secure a loan from the ECB. And while the central bank has relaxed its rules, some banks might be unable to qualify, Veron said.

European regulators want banks to raise more cash and clean up their balance sheets so they can better withstand an economic downturn. The problem is that banks' balance sheets consist mainly of government bonds.

The uncertainty about eurozone governments has sent their bond prices falling and their borrowing costs surging. Few expect the countries to actually default on that debt. But the mere threat of default reduces the value of these assets. So banks are forced to build a bigger cushion of cash. Ultimately, they can't lend as much.

The new rules also force the banks to account for the lower prices on the bonds they hold in determining how much more safe capital they must raise. Veron says this has led banks to sell their bonds cheaply, thereby further driving down their prices. The cycle can then repeat itself.

"What do we see now? Pretty much a repeat" of the buildup to the Lehman collapse, said Christian Hellwig, a professor at the Toulouse School of Economics.

___

Pallavi Gogoi reported from New York. David McHugh in Frankfurt contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-15-EU-Europe-Banks/id-335cb196f217410a85f976d3921aab49

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