IN THE COURTS

JURY BEGINS DELIBERATIONS IN ENRON CASE A federal jury began deliberating fraud and conspiracy charges against Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling after prosecutors told the panel the former executives conspired to “cook the books” of Enron Corporation. U.S. prosecutor Sean Berkowitz told jurors that lawyers for Mr. Lay, 64, and Mr. Skilling, 52, seek to mislead them into believing that the two men engaged in normal business practices and that fraud allegations are myths. The jury left the courtroom to begin deliberating the case at about 10:40 a.m. Houston time. “This isn’t Hollywood. We didn’t weave together a story.” Mr. Berkowitz said at one point.” We followed where the evidence led us and it led us to these two men,” he argued later on. Mr. Lay, Enron’s founder and former chairman, and Mr. Skilling, its former chief executive officer, each face at least 25 years in prison if convicted of charges that they used off-the-books partnerships to manipulate Enron’s finances.

– Bloomberg News

ENERGY

OIL PRICES FALL BELOW $69 A BARREL Oil prices fell below $69 a barrel yesterday after government data showed the domestic supply of gasoline rising for the third straight week amid stagnating demand. “Perhaps the higher prices are having an effect on demand,” BNP Paribas Commodity Futures broker, Tom Bentz, said. Lending to the weakness in oil prices was a monthly report from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which slightly reduced its demand forecast for 2006 and predicted that the world’s crude-oil supply cushion would rise significantly by the end of the year.

– Associated Press