Gold: Beyond the eurozone debt crisis

Gold price have continued to fall from their mid year highs of over $1900/oz, with Thursday morning seeing a further 2% easing to $1,608.40 as the Eurozone debt crisis heads towards the weekend unveiling of a comprehensive plan by EU leaders.

But analysts say that Eurozone concerns aren’t alone.This week’s release of Chinese 3Q 2011 GDP data showing a fall to 9.1% from 9.5% in 2Q has also helped to undermine sentiment about gold. Ira Harris, from Praxis Trading, says that while very sensitive to developments out of Europe gold prices are also waiting for news from elsewhere.
“The price ofthe precious metalis highly dependant on the cost ofhigh-yieldassets thatareresponsive to thecommentsby European politiciansfor a resolutionof the debt crisis. But other macroeconomic statistics may have an impactprecious metal prices,in particular, the figures from the housing marketandthe consumer price indexinthe U.S. in September.”
But Harris adds that the gold prices could still be pushed higher depending on attempts by major economies to deal with debt issues or weak economic growth.
"Right now many factors contribute to growing of gold prices. The problems of banks and government debt in Europe are potentially going to be solved with injections of liquidity, with the zero interest rate policy applied in the U.S. and Japan, and Switzerland.”
MichaelVerdyan from Forex, adds that the US data could be particularly critical, against a backdrop of EU events dominating market focus.
“If U.S statistics are moderately positive it will support gold. In addition, if data on U.S consumer price inflation is higher than forecast – 3.8% in annual terms, precious metal may resume its moderate growth. Iif economicstatistics from the U.S.are not as strong asexpected, and Europe debt problems remain in focus,goldmay continue todecline.”
Verdyan added that contradictory comments being released in the media by political figures in the Eurozone ahead of the weekend summit are likely to see a risk off environment underpin gold.
“The new wave of negative sentiment came with the latest news from German Finance Minister, WolfgangSchauble, who said that, no bailout game plan is to be announcedduring the coming October, 23 EU summit. Investors began toclose long positionsin assetswith high risk: equity and commodityassets, opting for U.S. dollar.”
Robert Mantse, Metals and Mining analyst at Otkritie, said gold prices have grown significantly, and then retraced, but have further growth ahead.He says the outlook is very fragile with downside risks in focus, with sovereign debt concerns and continued long term low interest rates in developed economies positive for the metal.

Steve Jobs was preparing for thermonuclear war with Google

Apple CEO Steve Jobs delivers the keynote address at the 2011 Apple World Wide Developers Conference at the Moscone Center on June 6, 2011 in San Francisco, California

Before he passed away earlier this month, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was unable to carry out his last and perhaps biggest plan ever: a war with Google.
According to a copy of Walter Isaacson’s upcoming biography of the Silicon Valley superstar obtained by The Associated Press, Jobs was out to destroy the search engine giant who in recent years had unleashed Android, the main competitor to Apple’s iPhone operating system.
"I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong," Jobs is quoted as saying in the forthcoming book. "I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product,” he says.
Think Jobs was bluffing? How’s this for harsh: “I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this."
Those are big words directed at a friend turned foe; Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt sat on the board of Apple up until 2009, shortly before the Android became a worth adversary in the smart phone industry.
When Schmidt helped release the Android O/S, Jobs reportedly sent him an expletive-laced rant accusing Google of "grand theft."
Following a meeting between the two parties, Isaacson attests that Jobs said, "I don't want your money. If you offer me $5 billion, I won't want it. I've got plenty of money. I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that's all I want."
Among the other dirt dug up in Isaacson’s expose, he claims that the author turned sour during a meeting with President Barack Obama — a meeting that he refused until the commander-in-chief issued a personal invitation himself. When the two finally did come head to head, Isaacson says Jobs told Obama, "You're headed for a one-term presidency.”
Another opponent of Jobs: unions. He said that "union work rules" were crippling the American education system, and insisted that reform was futile until the union was squashed.

Syria unrest: 'At least 13' die in protests

Protesters have been holding regular protests since March, despite a government crackdown

At least 13 people were killed across Syria after protesters returned to the streets following Friday prayers, activists said.

Most of the deaths were in the central city of Homs, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The death of Libya's Col Gaddafi was said to help galvanise activists, who regularly protest after Friday prayers.
Protesters are demanding an end to the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a transition to democracy.
More than 3,000 people - mostly unarmed demonstrators - have been killed since the revolt began in March, the UN says.
'Your turn' The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 of the deaths took place in Syria's third city, Homs, according to AFP news agency.
"Ten martyrs were killed in Homs, the revolutionary capital of Syria, including eight who took part in mass protests across the majority of the city's neighbourhoods," the group said in a statement cited by AFP.
Two civilians were shot dead ahead of the protest by security forces manning a checkpoint in Bab al-Sibaa, it said.
Homs, a city of one million, has been a focal point for unrest since demonstrations began.
Others were reportedly killed in Deraa and Hama, AFP cited the group as saying.
There has been no independent confirmation of the latest deaths.
Foreign journalists are severely restricted in Syria and information is tightly controlled by the government.
"Gaddafi is finished. It's your turn now Bashar!" shouted demonstrators in the town of Maaret al-Numaan in the northwestern province of Idlib, one witness told Reuters news agency.
In the town of Qusair near the Lebanese border, Syrian forces closed all mosques to prevent people from gathering, AP reports.
Syria has faced mounting international condemnation for its violent response to protesters, including being the subject of US and EU sanctions.
On Sunday, the Arab League called for talks between the Syrian government and opposition forces to take place within 15 days.
Arab foreign ministers at an emergency meeting in Egypt decided not to suspend Syria from the organisation.
Damascus has expressed reservations about the plan although correspondents say it is beginning to feel the pressure as criticism increases.
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states have already withdrawn their ambassadors from Syria in protest.

Turkey and Iran 'collaborating against Kurdish rebels

Turkey and Iran have vowed to co-operate to defeat separatist Kurdish militants, on the third day of a Turkish offensive on its Iraq border.

The Kurdish militants posed a "common problem" for Turkey and Iran, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on an unscheduled trip to Ankara.
Turkey vowed jointly to "totally eliminate" the "terrorist threat".
Turkey's latest offensive was triggered by rebel attacks which killed 24 Turkish soldiers on Tuesday.
Turkish warplanes and helicopter gunships flew bombing sorties against the main base of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels in Iraq, the Qandil Mountain on the Iraq-Iran border, local media reports said.
Hundreds of Turkish soldiers - said to include commandos and special forces - were hunting PKK fighters around the Zap river a few kilometres inside Iraqi territory, Reuters news agency quoted Turkish security officials as saying.

Rising Violence

• 19 Oct: At least 26 soldiers killed in attacks on police and army posts in Hakkari province, triggering military incursion into northern Iraq
• 18 Oct: Five soldiers and three civilians killed in roadside bomb in Bitlis
• 17 Aug: Nine Turkish troops killed and 14 injured in attack in Cukurca, Hakkari province - sparking series of retaliatory air strikes that Turkish officials say kill up to 160 rebels
• 14 July: 13 soldiers die in rebel ambush in south-eastern Turkey; seven rebels also die
• 12 June: Parliamentary elections: Turkish Kurd nationalists do well but success sours as one deputy stripped of seat over terrorism charge, and others delayed from taking up seats
• 4 May: PKK attack PM Erdogan's election bus, killing policeman
• Early May 2011: Army ambushes kill seven PKK fighters in south-eastern Tunceli, then 12 more just over the Iraq border; no military casualties

Local media reported bombing sorties in the same area.

But the Turkish military said most of the operations being undertaken by its 10,000-strong force were confined to the Turkish side of the border, in its Kurdish-dominated south-east - including in Cukurca, one of the sites of Tuesday's bloody rebel raids on Turkish soldiers.
"The air and ground offensives mostly concentrate within Turkey and in the Cukurca area, while air and ground operations are under way in a few areas across the border in northern Iraq," the military said in a statement Friday.
Journalists in Cukurka reported only military aircraft overhead and, overnight, the sound of gunshots.
Tuesday's attacks, in Hakkari province, are thought to have inflicted the biggest loss on Turkish forces since 1993 and President Abdullah Gul has vowed to avenge them.
They were another ratcheting-up of a conflict in which tens of thousands of people have died since 1984.
'Joint struggle' Mr Salehi told reporters in Ankara that the PKK and its Iranian offshoot, the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) were "common problems for Turkey and Iran".
"Our determination continues, we should fight them with a more serious co-ordination," Mr Salehi said.
His Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, said the two countries' "joint determination to struggle against the PKK and the PJAK will continue in the strongest way".
"From now on, we will work together in a joint action plan until this terrorist threat is totally eliminated."
It was not immediately clear what measures the two countries would take - and observers say the window for action is shrinking as winter looms and snow begins to fall in the border zone.
In the past, Iran has shelled targets in the Qandil Mountain and reports suggest Tehran has been carrying out a major offensive against PJAK since July.
Analysts say Turkey's decision to host a radar system for a Nato missile defence shield soured relations with Iran.
Risks of action

Analysts also point out that previous Turkish efforts to take on Kurdish rebels militarily have had short-lived results. Turkey launched a major ground offensive in northern Iraq in 2008, but PKK fighters were able to regroup and continue to stage attacks.
They also suggest such military campaigns risk destabilising the region, with US troops due to depart from Iraq later in the year and neighbouring Syria struggling to suppress a pro-democracy movement within its own borders.
But Turkish leaders have been under pressure from many ordinary Turks to respond to Tuesday's attacks, with the normally measured President Ali Abdullah Gul vowing to exact "great revenge" for the bloodshed.
Tens of thousands of people, including school students, took to the streets in Turkey on Tuesday demanding action against the rebels.
Many have male relatives serving in Turkey's conscript army.

Exclusive Video:Gaddafi moment out of the bunker, a new neighborhood is very

Families condemn 'false hope'

The Free Patriotic Union political group, created by wealthy Tunisians, is accused of using photos of sick and wounded Tunisians for political gain

The Free Patriotic Union (UPL by its French acronym) was created by a group of Tunisian businessmen who have lived abroad for years without any involvement in politics.

What it lacks in history, the UPL compensates for in exposure. The UPL has resources that few of Tunisia's longstanding opposition parties can match. It has outspent every other party in advertising. Its extensive resources have been used to run a campaign reaching out to the country's most marginalised areas, promising investment and job opportunities.
It is now being accused of exploiting the stories and photographs of sick and wounded Tunisians for its own political benefit.

Loujain Ghazouani is a three year old with a serious tumour. She first became sick in June, and now the tumour is attacking her spine.
She is undergoing chemotherapy to threat the tumour, but doctors have warned that without an operation, chances are high that the cancer will spread to her bones.
Her parents Neila and Nejib are desperate to save their daughter, but the operation must be performed overseas. It will cost $40,000, well beyond their means.
They were approached by Nour Chaine, a woman working for Riahi, in early September, who promised them that the generous businessman would take care of everything.
“She came to our home and said Slim Riahi would take care of everything,” Neila Ghazouani says.
She also took photos of Loujain, but promised her mother they would never be used for political propaganda.
Neila, who does not have access to the internet, did not realise that the photos where posted on the UPL’s website and Facebook page.
Riahi’s team booked Loujain in for a consultation at the Gustave Roussy Cancerology Institute in Paris for October 12. Chaine took Neila and Loujain’s passports to apply for French visas.
On October 6, less than a week before the operation, Imed Belkacem, one of the cofounders of the UPL, came to tell the family that they would have to cover the cost of the operation themselves.
Riahi would pay for the flights and hotel, Belkacem said, but not for the id="mce_marker"40,000 operation.
Riahi told Al Jazeera that he had never promised to cover the cost of the operation and that he believed there had been political manipulation in Ghazouani’s case.
“It’s not true. I’m start[ing] to believe it’s a dirty game now,” he said.
 
Mohammed Jendoubi was one of hundreds of protesters who were shot by Tunisian security forces in the last days of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s regime.
The Jendoubi family lives in Ariana. An hour before Ben Ali gave his final speech to the nation, on January 13, Mohammed Jendoubi was demonstrating nearby, in the poor suburb of El Kram.
“I went out on the streets like many other Tunisians, for freedom,” he says.

Mohammed Jendoubi was among hundreds of protesters shot by security forces

The bullet pierced his right side, and became lodged in his spine. With an operation to remove it and proper therapy,
there is a good chance he could walk again.
The longer the operation is delayed, the less chance Mohammed has of recovering the movement in the lower part of his body.
Even covering the costs of basic healthcare is a battle for his father, Mouldi, who is supporting the whole family on his retirement benefit of $560.
He’s already scrapped together $2100, and borrowed $2800 from friends and family, to cover hospital fees. He doesn’t know where he’s going to get the money to cover medicine for his son, let alone the vital operation.
“I can’t just leave my son to die, I need money to save my child,” Mouldi says.
The family thought its prayers were answered when a representative of the UPL paid a visit in September, promising that Slim Riahi would find a leading international surgeon to perform the operation. In the meantime, the UPL official told the family, Riahi would send a helicopter to move Mohammed to a private hospital with decent facilities.
Riahi’s aides told the family to apply for passports, which they did.
In late September, Mohammed Jendoubi’s mother gave an interview on national television about her son’s situation. She made no mention of Slim Riahi or the UPL.
The next day, Mohammed received a text message from Riahi’s employee:
“We’re the ones supporting you, call us and mention us in the media”.
After that, Riahi’s team made no more contact with the Jendoubi family.
“Why did they give us false hope?” Mouldi says.

Al-Shabab claims peacekeepers' killings

Somalia's al-Shabab fighters have put on display the dead bodies of more than 70 African Union peacekeepers they say they killed in the country's capital, Mogadishu.
The troops, reportedly Burundian soldiers, were killed on Thursday following a battle with al-Shabab, according to Abu Omar, a commander of the anti-government Islamist group.
"We can confirm that more than 150 Burundian soldiers were killed in the battle. We can confirm to you that 76 of the bodies are currently in our custody and the battle lasted for about six hours," he told Al Jazeera.
Displaying the bodies in the dust to reporters, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, an al-Shabab spokesman, said: "We have killed more than 70 of the enemy soldiers today ... We have inflicted heavy losses on them and you can see their dead bodies."
The bodies were put on display in the al-Shabab-controlled El-Maan area, 18km from Mogadishu.
Witnesses say the bodies were not Somalis and most were dressed in military uniforms.
"I have seen the largest number of soldiers killed in a battle, I have counted 63 Burundian soldiers, all of them dead, the Shabab brought them on trucks to Alamada," Hasan Yunus, a witness, said.
"Some of the dead bodies were dragged along by angry residents."
Photographs showed long lines of at least 20 bodies dressed in military uniform laid out in the sand, surrounded by a large crowd with their faces covered.
'Fell into an ambush'
Al-Shabab's Omar told Al Jazeera that the battle started when "the Burundian crusaders supported by some of the militia from the regime attacked an area in Dayniile which also has a large population of innocent civilians".
"First the Burundian troops began by indiscriminately shelling the area with mortars and rockets whereby dozens of innocent civilians lost their lives as a result and hundreds more were injured. Shortly after the shelling had stopped, the Burundian troops began to move towards the district of Dayniile.
"We were informed of their preparations and movements by our reconnaissance teams, so the mujahideen [al-Shabab] was laying in wait for them. And when they advanced, along with their tanks and armoured personnel carriers, they fell into an ambush and that's where the battle began," he added.
Heavy fighting was reported in the northwest Dayniile district throughout Thursday, but Somali government officials had earlier said they were moving alongside AU troops "towards the final strongholds of the terrorist militants".
Battles began before dawn in Mogadishu as AU-backed Somali forces advanced on holdout al-Shabab positions, officials and witnesses said.
African Union Mission for Somalia (AMISOM) troops and government forces have been pushing into remaining al-Shabab areas in Mogadishu, after the bulk of the fighters abandoned their fixed positions in August.
Burundian troops with the 9,000 strong AMISOM force control the sector closest to the fighting and are believed to have led the assault. Ugandan soldiers make up the bulk of the AU force and control other sections of Mogadishu.
Despite their pullout from much from the capital, al-Shabab has not wavered from its aim to topple the government. The fighters still control large swathes of southern and central Somalia, and remain a serious security threat.
Meanwhile, al-Shabab fighters in southern Somalia are also facing assaults from Kenyan troops and tanks backed by air strikes since Kenya declared war on the group and confirmed it had moved its forces into Somalia on Sunday.