Four Indian Navy ships, INS Rana, Shakti, Shivalik and Kurmak are currently scudding across the South China Sea on their way to Shanghai, where they will arrive for a goodwill visit in a couple of weeks. This week, two of the four ships — INS Rana and Shakti — have been saying hello to the Philippines navy in Subic Bay. Two others, Shivalik and Kurmak, are calling at Haifong in Vietnam. Philippines and China have been on a faceoff in the past few weeks over territorial rights over Scarborough Shoal, in an area that is believed to be energy-rich.

Meanwhile, on May 28, officials from ONGC Videsh (OVL) will meet their counterparts from Petro Vietnam in Hanoi to look at energy cooperation after OVL pulled out from Block 128 in South China Sea. The joint cooperation committee was set up as part of the energy agreement during the visit of Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang to India in October 2011.

The Indians have paid a $15 million exit fee to Petro Vietnam for getting out of the block. The energy body was initially intended to explore ways of getting OVL the BP stake in South China Sea. As it turned out, the stake went to BP’s Russia arm.

But sources said India continues to have a strong interest in South China Sea, because this is key to India’s Look East policy. In July, Indian and US officials will hold discussions on a key project in southeast Asia — an East-West Mekong connectivity corridor. Envisaged as a trilateral project with Japan, this project intends to set up a multi-modal transport and trade corridor from India, traversing Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, ending in Vietnam. Japan has recently stepped up its funding commitments to this corridor.

However, China is much ahead with its own connectivity plans — although these run north-south — and has done much to put a grid of connectivity in the Mekong region in southeast Asia.

Apart from naval exercises, India and China are stepping on the gas diplomatically as well. On June 6, foreign minister S M Krishna will travel to Beijing to represent India as an observer at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting. This year, with the prospective presence of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad at the conference, India will have a chance to interact with China on Iran. The Times of India

“It would be preferable to solve this diplomatically and through the use of pressure, than to use military force,” Shapiro told representatives of Israel’s Bar Association on Tuesday.

“But that doesn’t mean that option isn’t fully available. Not just available, it’s ready. The necessary planning has been done to ensure that it’s ready,” he said.

The comments come just days before nuclear talks are due to take place in Baghdad between Iran and the so-called P 5+1 countries: the U.S., United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany.

An embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv declined to elaborate on the comments, which aired on Israeli radio and television.

“We believe that there is some time, not an unlimited amount of time — in practice, this is a brief window in which we can still use diplomacy to achieve our goals,” Shapiro also said, according to Makor Rishon newspaper, which published some of Shapiro’s remarks.

“At a certain stage we are going to have to decide whether diplomacy isn’t going to work,” he added. “We want to give it every chance of succeeding.”

Shapiro pointed to President Barack Obama’s increase of troop levels in Afghanistan and his order to kill Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last year as examples of Obama’s readiness to use force.

Israel and the United States agree that Iran is working towards a nuclear bomb but hasn’t yet entered the “breakout” phase of development. Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak often warns of a “zone of immunity” he believes is rapidly approaching, after which Iran could not be prevented from developing a nuclear weapon.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month that Iran is “feverishly working to develop atomic weapons to achieve” the destruction of Israel. He and others in the country’s civilian and military leadership have long warned that Israel would resort to a military strike against Iran if it becomes clear diplomatic pressure and sanctions aren’t working. The result has been harsh international sanctions against Iran’s financial and oil industries that are having a devastating impact on Iran’s economy.

But despite some indications that Iran could make concessions in next week’s talks, there is no evidence that the pressure has had an effect on its nuclear program. Israel says the international talks are evidence of Iran’s stalling tactics and says that that unless Iran stop enriching altogether, ships in enriched uranium out of the country and shuts down its underground enrichment facility near the city of Qom, the diplomatic measures and sanctions have failed.

Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes — that it enriches to 3.5 percent for power and to 20 percent for medical isotopes at the Tehran Research Reactor. But analysts say going from 20 percent to weapons-grade 90 percent enrichment is a relatively simple process.

Israel’s leadership calls Iran an existential threat, but a large majority of Israelis are against a strike if it’s carried out by Israel alone. Most analysts agree that an Israeli strike could not end Iran’s nuclear program, only set it back. And some argue an attack would cement Iran’s determination to develop a nuclear weapon which could start an arms race in the region.

The biggest critic of Israel’s threats of a strike has been Meir Dagan, the former head of Israel’s foreign security service, Mossad. He has argued that Iran is not an existential threat and that its leadership is rational. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Thursday, he and other former international intelligence and military officials argued that more comprehensive “total sanctions” can get Iran to change course.

“It’s common sense that before undertaking military action against a country, we should first try to dissuade it from its current course by applying decisive economic pressure,” they write. “Doing so will show the regime that the world is serious and committed, willing to do whatever it takes to stop Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.”  By Alexander Marquardt, ABC News

The grey hairs would be sprouting, the wrinkles showing. It has been an extraordinarily tumultuous time here.

This country has overcome so much in its long and rich history. But even Greeks are bewildered by what has happened in the last fortnight.

Roll back to 6 May: election day beneath a beautiful early summer sun. As predicted, an austerity-weary nation seized the chance to punish the much-reviled political establishment.

The two main parties that had together previously garnered about 80% of votes, now reduced to barely 30%; a virulently anti-immigrant, neo-Nazi party grabbing 21 seats in parliament for the first time; huge support for parties wanting to tear up Greece’s international bailout.

The election was inconclusive and Greece was left without a government during the worst financial crisis in its modern history. Days of political wrangling began.

Extreme far-right Golden Dawn party’s supporters hold flares during the elections results in the northern Greek port city of Thessaloniki, Sunday, May 6, 2012 The neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party garnered an unprecedented 21 seats in parliament in May’s election

Three party leaders were successively given the mandate to form a coalition. Three failed. The politicians seemed unable to agree on whether to adhere to – or reject – the bailout and further austerity.

And so Greece’s president had one final try, summoning party leaders to call for an emergency government. A man who had fought the Nazis in the Greek resistance during the Second World War was forced to receive the head of the neo-Nazi party in his presidential office as part of the consultations.

But then, the inevitable: the negotiations collapsed amidst a barrage of acrimony. Fresh elections were announced for 17 June.

Greek tragedy

The country has been left in a perilous power vacuum, a limp caretaker government providing a thin veneer of leadership.

University professors and businessmen are among those in the unconventional cabinet. The foreign ministry has been given to an 83-year-old former diplomat.

The 300 MPs elected on 6 May had just 24 hours to enjoy the trappings of office: sworn in last Thursday, the parliament was dissolved a day later to prepare for the second election. For the new faces in the chamber, it might just be the shortest political career in history.

It could all read like a script from an Aeschylus tragedy – but the drama is real and the consequences potentially severe. For this country’s membership of the euro is at stake.

European leaders maintain that Greece cannot hope to secure its place in the Eurozone unless it sticks to the bailout and cost-cutting.

“Financial recovery and market stability are based on confidence. And there is none of that here for now.”

Any deviation, say Brussels and Berlin, would lead Greece’s loan to be withheld. That would force the country to default on its debt and probably leave the euro.

On the face of it, the carrot should work. Polls show the vast majority of Greeks want to keep the euro. But it is more complex than that. For most here are also deeply opposed to the austerity measures that have pushed a third of Greeks below the poverty line and led unemployment to record highs of 21% – or 54% among the youth.

And if it came down to a choice between years more punishing austerity or an exit from the euro and a leap into the unknown, it’s still unclear how many would jump.

The leftwing party Syriza came second in the election, pledging to revoke the bailout and reject further spending cuts, despite the threat from Brussels that it could mean Greece kisses the euro goodbye.

Now polls show the party could come first next time: a scenario that sends the fear of God into European leaders.

Hopes fading

Ultimately, both sides will count on brinkmanship. Germany knows that most Greeks like the Euro. Greeks know Germany fears that one country leaving could lead the whole European project to unravel. Which side will blink first?

Not Mrs Merkel, it seems, who – according to the Greek government spokesman – suggested that Greece even hold a referendum on the euro, though her office denies the claim.

A man casts his vote during Greece’s general elections in Athens on May 6, 2012. Weary voters dealt a blow to the two mainstream parties in Greece’s May election

It would be an astonishing suggestion if true – and a high-stakes gamble that she could come to regret.

Amidst it all, any hope remaining that Greece might pull itself out of the quagmire has crumbled. News that hundreds of millions of euros were withdrawn from Greek accounts with the present uncertainty sparked rumours of a bank run.

It is not happening, but if it were to come about, it could send this country under. A Twitter message that Greek banks had limited individual withdrawals to fifty euros prompted yet more panic. Again it was untrue. But financial recovery and market stability are based on confidence. And there is none of that here for now.

And so Greece limps on towards its second election in six weeks.

It will inevitably be framed here as a referendum on euro membership: the message from the pro-bailout parties and Europe’s leaders being that Greece must vote for cost-cutting to keep the currency.

But this is a nation that feels pushed around by Berlin and beaten by austerity. It has battled to stay in the Euro throughout this recession. Maybe it is just too exhausted to keep on fighting. By Mark Lowen, BBC News

It may seem peculiar to suggest that the US dollar is lacking for fundamental drive considering the burn of risk aversion and speculative deleveraging is so obvious across other assets. Most prominent is the S&P 500’s tumble this past week. The benchmark equity indexes are the best measures of risk appetite given the strong correlation between Fed-based stimulus and the US stock market’s performance. Having assumed the role of global safety net years ago, the US central bank has acclimatized the investors to expect a shot of support (additional stimulus) every time the perception of wealth fades. All that said, the S&P 500 dropped 12 of the past 15 trading days to a four-month low. Furthermore, Friday’s plunge was highlighted with the largest swell in volume (the second largest this year).

In risk aversion, traders will first unwind positions deemed excessively risky and then start to move into true safe havens. These are two distinct stages – and subsequently, it is a primary reason USDJPY has shown its consistent decline these past months. While the greenback offers safety, it does not offer a competitive yield. In fact, most low-risk or risk-free assets (the only academically risk-free is Treasuries) have negative, real interest rates – adjusted for inflation. If there is no return on the investment – and you may even lose money on it if you stick with the entire holding period – the market must be strongly motivated to buy into the US. And, nothing motivates better than panic.

We have certainly seen risk aversion to this point, but outright fear has been held in check. We can see this in various measures of financial stability. Credit markets are healthy, there are few signs that Europe’s troubles pose an imminent threat to the US system and even the capital market slide has been orderly to this point. On the other hand, implied volatility measures for the equity, currency and commodity markets are starting to pick up. Default risk premiums are starting to rise. There is a notable shift to shorter-term maturity debt. These are early and lower-impact signs of trouble ahead.

As we move forward, to support the dollar’s push to a serious bull trend, we need to fall within a specific band of sentiment. We certainly need risk aversion to keep the currency on the bid. There is an ‘anti-euro reserve’ quality to the greenback, but that isn’t active enough to keep leverage the heights are already scaling. Alternatively, if risk aversion grows too intense, we risk rousing the attention of the Fed and fellow global policy groups. Though stimulus programs have shown a diminish impact on source currencies (for the Fed, it is the dollar), the short-term impact would certainly be detrimental. We have a G8 meeting this weekend, but conditions are not likely volatility enough. By John Kicklighter, The Street

Currently, Brazil is the world’s most intensive user of bioethanol as an alternative to gasoline for powering transport. There are questions about whether the mass production of bioethanol using sugarcane is sustainable in the long-term. Bioethanol generates carbon dioxide and agricultural waste. However, creating clean hydrogen from waste not only uses that waste but provides a fuel that is emission free and can also be generated sustainably.

Presenting this research at a collaborative bioenergy workshop in São Paulo today, Professor Lynne Macaskie, Professor of Applied Microbiology at the University of Birmingham, said “Fuel cells need clean energy to run them. If you provide bacteria with a supply of sugary waste from, for example, chocolate production, the bacteria can produce hydrogen. At the moment manufacturers pay to dispose of waste but with our technique they could convert it to clean electricity instead.”

“Bioethanol is the current biofuel of choice in Brazil but our research shows the huge potential for biohydrogen to be the fuel for the future. Biohydrogen could even be made from the wastes from bioethanol production – two biofuels for the price of one. More work from focused teams, however, is needed, as agricultural wastes are tougher for bacteria to digest.” PhysOrg

The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded dropped nearly a penny overnight to $3.455 on Wednesday, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

Prices have plunged in recent weeks. This time a month ago the average in metropolitan Knoxville was $3.76, the auto club reported.

Memphis has the lowest average among Tennessee’s largest cities at $3.412, followed by Chattanooga at $3.416. Nashville has the highest average in the state at $3.486.

Meanwhile, the price of oil continues to decline on the expectation that world markets will be flush with extra supplies this year.

Benchmark U.S. crude on Wednesday fell by $1.17 to finish at a seven-month low of $92.81 per barrel in New York. Oil is down nearly 13 percent since the beginning of May.

Brent crude, which helps set the price of oil imported into the U.S., fell by 53 cents to finish at $111.71 per barrel in London.

Prices fell as a report showed that U.S. crude supplies had climbed to the highest level in 22 years. Supplies grew last week by 2.1 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration. That’s a bigger increase than analysts expected, and more could be on the way.

Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported that the U.S. will ask other countries to release spare oil reserves when the Group of Eight meets this Friday. The report follows rumors earlier this year that Western nations were planning a coordinated release of spare supplies.

The White House wouldn’t comment about the report.

Peter Donovan, a broker at Vantage Trading, said oil fell sharply in the afternoon as the Kyodo headline was passed around the New York Mercantile Exchange, where futures are traded.

Kyodo said President Obama will ask leaders of other G-8 countries — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia — to make spare supplies available to refineries this summer. The release would be geared toward keep prices in check in July, when the European Union begins a ban on oil imports from Iran.

The U.S. and other industrialized countries tried a similar tactic last summer after the Libyan rebellion shut down that country’s oil fields. The move had only limited success, however. Oil prices fell temporarily but ended 2011 higher than they started.

Oil prices have been falling on signs that demand is cooling while supplies are building. Major oil producers like Saudi Arabia delivered more supplies to the world market. Meanwhile, data from the U.S. and China suggest economic growth is moderating, while Europe is teetering on recession.

If the eurozone cannot solve its debt problems, it will weaken an economy that consumes 18 percent of the world’s oil. It also could contribute to a global banking crisis that would hurt the U.S., China and other countries.

“It’s making a lot of guys nervous around here,” Donovan said.

At the pump, U.S. retail gasoline prices were flat at a national average of $3.73 per gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. The price of a gallon of regular has held steady since Friday, though experts say the average pump price could fall as low as $3.50 per gallon by the Fourth of July.

In other energy futures trading, heating oil lost 3.54 cents to finish at $2.8976 per gallon, while wholesale gasoline fell dropped by 2.32 cents to end at $2.9209 per gallon. Natural gas rose by 11.8 cents to end at $2.618 per 1,000 cubic feet. Knox News

Some workers at Chesapeake Energy are experiencing that pain now.

Overall, 38 percent of Chesapeake Energy’s Savings & Incentive Stock Bonus Plan – the only 401(k) plan available to the majority of the firm’s employees – is in company stock, far above the 10 percent many plan consultants advise.

Chesapeake stock, hit by revelations about Chief Executive Aubrey K. McClendon’s business dealings, had fallen nearly 40 percent from highs of $25.58 in March to Monday’s close. The shares were down another 7 percent in Tuesday afternoon trading to $14.41.

Even after scandals at Enron and MCI WorldCom derailed the retirement plans of employees who had large stakes of their assets invested in company stock, U.S. workers continue to put their retirement money into the same places where they draw their paychecks.

Financial advisers say employees like to invest in their employers for several reasons, including loyalty, hopes to profit from their work and a sense that they have a better read on the company than ordinary investors. But many advisers say that the practice increases the risk of losing your job and your retirement savings at the same time if your employer fails.

We spoke with David Kudla, the CEO and chief investment strategist at Grand Blanc, Michigan-based Mainstay Capital Management, about loading up on company stock.

Q: How popular is it for your clients to invest in company stock in their 401(k) plans?

A: We don’t see it as often as we used to. There are a lot of companies that, for fiduciary reasons, have taken the option of company stock out of plans. What’s happened to almost every company I know of that had a bunch of company stock in their plan (is that) a bunch of lawyers got together when it went down 40 percent or more and filed a class action lawsuit. That said, we still do see clients with 50 to 100 percent of their assets in company stock.

Q: What should be considered too much when it comes to company stock?

A: We need to get that position to be less than 10 percent of the portfolio. If the company is growing and doing well, 5 to 10 percent could be fine — as long as it’s part of a portfolio with broadly diversified mutual funds. But if the company is under financial distress, then it should be closer to none.

Q: Say a client comes in with 50 percent of assets in the shares of company where he or she works. What’s your process?

A: Let’s take Ford as an example. People came to us with a considerable amount of Ford stock in their portfolios in the fourth quarter. We specifically didn’t sell it aggressively and instead said: “Let’s let the price improve a little bit.”

We use what we call value averaging, which is essentially looking for intermediate tops in the stock as chances to sell. Not that we can call all of them. But people who came in with Ford at $9 were able to wait and sell it for $12 a few months later. We think it’s important to get out of the position in weeks or months, not days.

Q: What kind of pushback do you get from clients?

A: Many of them feel like their company is the one investment they know pretty well. For some people, they’ve used their 401(k) for years as a trading vehicle. They’ve been doing things like going in and out of the company stock fund, selling on a Friday and buying it again on Monday. Their thought is that if you’re doing it in a 401(k), not only are you not paying capital gains but you’re doing it commission-free.

If we’re managing that account, then they’re coming to us to take over. If all you want to do is trade your company stock, then you don’t need us. We don’t want any part of that. We want to build to build diversified, long-term portfolios that will last. By David K. Randall, Reuters

According to LiveScience, the discovery was made in 2010 by one of Saturno’s undergraduate students during a field study of Xultun, an ancient Mayan city in Gautemala. The student noticed black and red paint in a trench that was most likely dug by looters. Saturno decided to investigate the room that the looters had failed to penetrate.

Saturno was pleasantly surprised to find a well-preserved painting of a Mayan king and his subjects. On the east wall of the room was a set of hieroglyphs that would later be analyzed as a new Mayan calendar. It’s been suggested than an ancient Mayan scribe must have used this room to work and wrote the calender on the wall as a reference.

The Mayans split their year into 13, 400-year sections called baktuns. However, the newly discovered wall calendar shows that Mayan’s conceptualized time in up to cycles of 17 baktuns. Mayan scholars have known for a while that the Mayan calendar doesn’t end but rather begins anew after the 13th baktuns. This new discover confirms that Mayans believed that the world would still exist long after the 13th baktun ends in December 2012.

As Anthony Aveni of Colgate University said, reports the Associated Press, “Why would they go into those numbers if the world is going to come to an end this year? You could say a number that big at least suggests that time marches on.” Aveni has a point: the calendar suggests that Earth will still be around for at least 6,000 years after 2012. By Kevin Lewis, Celebrity Cafe

Spot gold hit a session low at $1559,81 an ounce, its lowest since late December 2011, before recovering slightly to trade at $1561,81 an ounce at 10am GMT, down 1,1% from $1578,30 late in New York on Friday.

Gold has moved in tandem with riskier assets this year as the turmoil in Europe sent the euro to multi-month lows and investors turned to the safety of the dollar, analysts said.

“Gold is under severe pressure. The US dollar is being seen as a safe haven at the moment and as long as the dollar is appreciating against the euro this is clearly weighing on the gold price,” said Daniel Briesemann, analyst at Commerzbank.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we test the December low of around $1520 an ounce and if we don’t stop here we could go below $1500.”

Concerns about the euro-zone crisis resurfaced after coalition talks in Greece hit an impasse on Sunday and Greece’s radical leftist leader spurned an invitation from the president for a final round of talks on Monday, all but ensuring another election next month.

The euro fell to a near four-month low against the dollar, which rose against a basket of currencies. A strong dollar makes commodities priced in the US unit more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Also weighing on sentiment for the precious metal, money managers in gold futures and options cut their net long positions by 20% to the lowest level since December 2008, as investors aggressively unwound their bullish bets in the precious metal after a sharp price pullback.

US gold for June slipped 1,4% to $1561,90 an ounce.

Reflecting risk aversion in financial markets, European shares fell to their lowest levels in more than four months, while safe haven German bund futures hit record highs.

Investors had turned to gold as a safe haven during the debt crisis last year, sending prices to an all-time high of around $1920 an ounce. But this year, gold is trading more in line as a commodity that moves in the opposite direction to the US dollar.

PLATINUM, PALLADIUM TO RISE

Spot platinum fell 0,8% to $1446,75 an ounce, while spot palladium fell 0,6% to $593,50 an ounce.

Prices of platinum and palladium are expected to end the year well above current levels, a Reuters poll conducted for Platinum Week showed, as constraints on supply and improving demand tighten the market.

Spot silver fell 1,5% to $28,40.

Sentiment was also dampened by China’s move on Saturday to loosen monetary policy which underscored how Europe’s plight is hampering global growth.

The People’s Bank of China cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves on Saturday, freeing an estimated 400bn yuan ($63,5bn) for lending to add to the roughly 800 billion injected in two previous 50 bps cuts since the government tilted its policy stance towards growth in October.

In the physical market, jewellery makers and speculators took advantage of last week’s drop in prices.

“We’ve seen physical buying interest. But people are still bearish about the market because of the strong dollar and worries that Greece won’t be able to solve its problems,” said a dealer in Hong Kong.

“Investors are not so aggressive, and I think the jeweller sector is more important. Supply is a bit tight in the physical market.” By Harpreet Bhal, Business Day

Some big name billionaires have announced that they are starting a company to mine asteroids, but is that business idea feasible? Is there an opportunity waiting to be taken in outer space? Stephen Dattels, with over 25 years of experience in the mining exploration and resources financing industry, weighs in on the subject.

Any minerals mined in space would not be economically feasible for use in our planet’s factories due to the immense cost of transporting them back to the earth’s surface. Stephen Dattels still finds an abundance of terrestrial opportunities for mining and financing, which is why he founded Polo Resources Limited: to find and invest in the numerous undervalued resource companies and projects waiting for intelligent investment.

Stephen Dattels On The Opportunities Available On Earth

Stephen Dattels has a proven record as a chief executive in mineral exploration. For example, as the CEO of West African Minerals Limited, Stephen Dattels is overseeing the exploration of over 6,000 square kilometers of mineral rich ground. Why should investment dollars be chasing opportunities in space when they exist on Earth?

While celebrity billionaires look to the stars for mineral exploration and financing, Stephen Dattels continues to make sound investments on Earth that increase value for his shareholders.