Summary Box: Gold, Silver Fall on Greek News

Gold near $1,500/oz as eurozone crisis simmers

Gold held near USD 1,500 an ounce on Monday as concerns over heavily indebted Greece helped the precious metal recover from its lowest in nearly six weeks, which it hit earlier amid broad-based selling of commodities.
Simmering worries over this week's Greek parliamentary vote on austerity measures and its impact on a European Union bailout package are preventing a steeper fall in prices, analysts said.
Spot gold was bid at USD 1,500.36 an ounce at 0931 GMT, against USD 1,499.53 late in New York on Friday. US gold futures for August delivery rose 30 cents an ounce to USD 1,501.20.
"In the short term, it is the usual story. Gold gets caught up as a commodity, and rallies as a currency," said Simon Weeks, head of precious metals at the Bank of Nova Scotia.
Gold fell as low as USD 1,490.90 an ounce in early trade as oil and industrial metals extended last week's hefty falls. US crude oil futures fell towards USD 90 a barrel after the International Energy Agency said it would release emergency reserves, and copper, zinc and lead prices also slipped.
Commodities are coming under pressure from gains in the dollar and concerns that eurozone debt problems could cause further ructions in the currency markets.
But worries over eurozone debt are continuing to underpin gold, even as they weigh on the euro.
A Greek minister warned on Monday of "catastrophe" if parliament blocked a 28 billion-euro (USD 40 billion) package of tax increases and spending cuts in a parliamentary ballot expected on Wednesday.
Investors have been selling the euro and buying dollars to minimise risk. Germany's deputy finance minister said on Monday the euro is in danger of losing credibility.

Commodities sold heavily
Worries over sovereign risk contagion on the eurozone were a key factor pushing gold prices to record highs earlier this year, though they were not enough to prevent the precious metal being caught up in heavy selling of commodities last week.
"We do not expect the price to retreat much further," Commerzbank said in a note. "This week sees the debate and vote on the austerity measures in Greece, with ratification a condition for additional financial support. It is still uncertain whether parliament will give its approval."
Money managers raised bullish bets in COMEX gold futures and options to the highest level since the week of April 24 in the week ended June 21, as bullion climbed to within USD 20 of its record peak, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday.
Speculators in silver futures and options also upped their net long positions, as safe-haven demand for precious metals grew in response to disappointing economic data from the United States and persistent concerns surrounding Europe's debt crisis.
Physical gold demand, especially from Asian buyers, picked up as prices fell towards multi-month lows, but this is unlikely to put the brakes on gold's correction for long, traders said.read more.

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French banks to pay price in US for Greek deal

France will back Athens in bid to halt euro crisis

Last updated at 10:13 PM on 27th June 2011

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French banks yesterday agreed to help bail out debt-ridden Greece amid fears that Europe faces a bigger crisis than the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, said his country’s banks would give Greece 30 years to repay its debts by extending loans.
German banks also voiced interest in the so-called ‘French model’ following talks between international bankers and eurozone leaders in Rome.

'French model': Nicolas Sarkozy said France's banks would give Greece 30 years to repay its debts by extending loans

However, the plan could be branded a default by credit rating agencies and financial markets – sparking a new crisis for the single currency bloc.

Deutsche Bank chief executive Josef Ackermann said a Greek default could cause havoc in other debt-ridden countries.

‘If it is Greece alone, that’s already big,’ he said. ‘But if other countries are drawn in through contagion, it could be bigger than Lehman.’
It came as a Greek minister warned the country faces ‘catastrophe’ if politicians block £25billion of tax rises and spending cuts in a crucial vote this week.

The European Union and International Monetary Fund have warned that if the austerity package is rejected, Greece will not get the next £11billion instalment of its £98billion bailout.

Athens needs the cash to pay its bills next month and avert the eurozone’s first sovereign default.
Greek defence minister Panos Beglitis said: ‘I believe the austerity plan will pass. Voting against the plan would lead the country into big difficulties the next day, bankruptcy and default.’
It is thought that even if the package is passed, Greece will need a second bailout worth around £100billion.
The German government has led calls for banks and other private sector lenders to be involved this time around. The French plan would see banks relend, or roll over, 70 per cent of the loans they hold

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Qaddafi Charges Raise Stakes for U.S. Leadership on Libya: View

Libya won’t go from ‘Gadhafi to Thomas Jefferson,’ Baird concedes

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says he's pleasantly surprised at the calibre of Libya's rebel council members after taking a secret trip to meet them Monday.
Mr. Baird said the group preparing to take power once the country's dictator, Colonel Moammar Gadhafi, is ousted has a strong dedication to democracy, but he added no one should expect that transition to take place overnight.

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“Our vision is a strong, prosperous Libya, living in freedom and living peacefully with its neighbours,” Mr. Baird said after meeting with anti-Gadhafi rebels and delivering trauma kits to help their cause.
“I was frankly surprised– pleasantly” at the capabilities of the rebel council members, he said. “I was very impressed with them.”
But, he added, “I don't think we're going to move from Gadhafi to Thomas Jefferson.” The post-Gadhafi regime, he cautioned, “won't be perfect.”
It's Mr. Baird's first big trip as Foreign Affairs Minister, aside from a jaunt to the G8 summit in France last month, and it came as a stalemate between Libyan dissident groups and Gadhafi forces prompted questions about whether the NATO-led bombing campaign in Libya is working.
“It was important to me to come here and get the facts for myself,” Mr. Baird told The Canadian Press. “We are doing our due diligence because that is what Canadians expect and the Libyan people require.”
Canada recently joined European and Arab countries in recognizing the National Transitional Council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people.
Mr. Baird boarded a military transport aircraft in Rome about 9 a.m. local time, along with security, ministerial staff and the Canadian ambassador to Libya, Sandra McCardell.
He spent some of his air time up front in the cockpit, with a clear view of the length of Italy and the expansive Mediterranean Sea.
The aircraft landed about two hours later in Benghazi, well away from the front lines and now considered safe from the forces of long-time dictator Gadhafi.
Met by council officials, Mr. Baird spent half a day in the rebel-held city, travelling by motorcade past walls plastered with anti-Gadhafi graffiti. He met for 30 minutes with the coalition leader, Mahmoud Jibril, followed by a meeting with council board members.
“I was incredibly, incredibly moved by the courage and determination,” Mr. Baird said of rebels who gave him their firsthand accounts of battles with Gadhafi forces and subsequent escape to the safe haven of Benghazi. “It is a remarkable accomplishment.”
The group is setting itself up as an alternative to Col. Gadhafi. But some of Canada's allies fear the council's military strength and political know-how are too thin to do the job.
Behind closed doors, Mr. Baird presented Mr. Jabril with a letter from Prime Minister Stephen Harper inviting him to Canada to meet with officials and parliamentarians. He later met with his council counterpart, Ali Isawi, who denied reports that council members had discussed a peace deal with Col. Gadhafi’s representatives.
“We have no direct contact with the Gadhafi regime,” Mr. Isawi told reporters afterward. “But anything that can bring to an end the bloodshed, we will certainly look at it.”
Outside the meeting room, 12-year-old Retaj, who was wearing a traditional long burgundy gown adorned with silver, spoke about seeing her neighbours shot in battle.
She still had an enormous smile for the Canadian visitors and did not hide her enthusiasm for her people's revolution, nor her delight at receiving foreign recognition.
“We will win. Soon, “ she predicted in an interview.more.

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WORLD FOREX: French Banks' Proposal For Greece Boosts Euro

Greece faces general strike ahead of austerity vote

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Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is seen during a meeting at his office in the Greek Parliament in Athens, Monday, June 27, 2011. (AP / Thanassis Stavrakis)

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The Associated Press

Date: Mon. Jun. 27 2011 4:58 PM ET

ATHENS, Greece — Greece's beleaguered government is bracing for a 48-hour general strike as lawmakers debate a new round of austerity reforms designed to win the country additional rescue loans needed avoid bankruptcy.
More than 5,000 police are to guard Athens' city centre Tuesday, with union protest rallies due to start at 10:00 a.m. (0700 GMT) and head to Parliament.
The strike is set to disrupt or halt most public services, with doctors, ambulance drivers, journalists and even actors at a state-funded theatre joining the protest, which is to continue Wednesday.
Flights will be grounded both days during stoppages by air traffic controllers between 8:00 a.m. and midday and between 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. (0500-0900 GMT and 1500-1900 GMT).
Unions are angry at a new C28 billion ($40 billion) austerity program that would slap taxes on minimum wage earners and other struggling Greeks, following months of other cuts that have seen unemployment surge to more than 16 per cent.
The package and implementation law must be passed in parliamentary votes this week so the European Union and the International Monetary Fund release the next installment of Greece's C110 billion ($156 billion) bailout loan. Without it, Greece faces the prospect next month of becoming the first eurozone country to default on its debts -- a potentially disastrous event that could drag down European banks and affect other financially troubled European countries.
"These measures are a massacre for workers' rights. It will truly be hell for the working man. The strike must bring everything to a standstill," said Thanassis Pafilis, a lawmaker with the Greek Communist Party that will lead one of Tuesday's main rallies.
A three-day debate on the new austerity measures got under way in parliament Monday, with Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou buoyed by a word that French banks are willing to defer Greek debt claims and ease pressure on Athens.
"I call on you to vote for survival, growth, justice, and a future for the citizens of this country," Papandreou told lawmakers.
Greece remains frozen out of bond markets and is surviving on the C110 billion in promised bailout loans. Rescue creditors have set parliamentary approval of the tough new Greek measures as a strict condition for further assistance to cover a 2012 financing gap.
Papandreou said he hoped the terms of a second bailout would be better than the first, which was agreed last year.
"I call on Europe, for its part, to give Greece the time and the terms it needs to really pay off its debt, without strangling growth, and without strangling its citizens," he said.
Papandreou's new finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, said the government acknowledged the new cuts were "unfair." He said Greece wants to conclude negotiations for a second bailout by the end of the summer "at the latest," and he urged opposition parties to abandon their opposition to the austerity program.
"These measures will take us from running budget deficits to achieving primary surpluses. It's a difficult but necessary step," Venizelos said.
The Socialists, with traditionally strong ties to the striking unions, have struggled to contain a party revolt against austerity.
Papandreou has a majority of five seats in parliament, but at least one Socialist lawmaker has said he will vote against the government on Wednesday, with another dissenter undecided -- prompting dire warnings from senior government officials.read more.

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Casey Anthony Trial: Jurors Smell Trash From Trunk That Reeked of Death

Casey Anthony Trial: Judge Dismisses Court

Jurors in the Casey Anthony murder trial were handed pieces of trash today to sniff.
The trash came from Casey Anthony's car, the car that prosecutors claim reeked of death from the decaying remains of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee. Defense lawyers argued the foul smell came from garbage left in the trunk.
Prosecutor Jeff Ashton asked the judge for permission to let the jurors smell for themselves, handing them a Velveeta box and other bits of garbage that had been found in Anthony's car in the summer of 2008.
Anthony, 25, is accused of murdering her daughter Caylee and could face the death penalty if convicted.
The defense attempted to poke holes in the testimony of the prosecution's star witness, Arpad Vass. Vass collected the controversial air samples that he says contains five chemicals that are signatures of human decomposition's odor.
Forensic and analytic chemist Kenneth Furton told jurors that there is "no instrumental method" that is scientifically valued for a chemical signature of human decomposition, a direct blow to Vass. Vass said that five chemical compounds including chloroform showed that there was human decomposition in the trunk.
Evidence photos in Casey Anthony murder trial
Today, Furton argued that a variety of products, including some of Anthony's trash, could exhibit the same compounds.

Red Huber/AP Photo

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Upon cross examination, an exasperated Ashton began taking out pieces of trash asking Furton if each piece of trash could have produced all five chemicals found by Vass. Furton said that not one of the products could have created the odor alone but could have contributed to it.
Ashton then passed those pieces of trash to jurors. Some of the jurors sniffed the trash, while others chose not to examine it.
Furton also questioned the standards that Vass used in the air samples he collected from the trunk of Anthony's car. Vass works at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee at what is called the "Body Farm" where he studies the odor of human decomposition. He collected controversial air samples from Anthony's Pontiac Sunfire. Vass testified that the car contained an abundance of chloroform, a chemical found in human decomposition and also had the presence of fatty acids typically attributed to a decaying body.
Today, Furton said that chloroform can found in household cleaners like bleach and fatty acids could be found in animal products like milk and salami. A salami wrapper was found in the trunk of Anthony's car.more

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