2008 Woodie Awards
News From Around the World
Christian Savage
Issue date: 4/6/05 Section: News
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As reported on Thursday, 31 March, investment bank giant Goldman Sachs speculated in a research report from its headquarters in London, England that oil markets have herald into a "super-spike" period that could see double-digit inflationary price surges.
The investment bank giant inflated the bank's 2005 and 2006 New York Mercantile Exchange crude price projections to $50 and $55 respectively, from $41 and $40.
"We believe oil markets may have entered the early stages of what we have referred to as a 'super spike' period - a multi-year trading band of oil prices high enough to meaningfully reduce energy consumption and recreate a spare capacity cushion only after which will lower energy prices return," a Goldman Sachs' analyst and representative explained in a statement.
Resilient demand led them to revise their super-spike range to $50-$105 per barrel from $50-$80 previously due to resounding strength in oil demand and economic growth in the United States and China, specifically.
Crude Oil futures climbed more than $1 a barrel Thursday on the backs of rising prices of gasoline and heating oil futures the previous Wednesday. In specific, light sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $1.21 to $55.20 a barrel in morning trading while heating oil rose nearly 3 cents to $1.636 a gallon and unleaded gasoline rose about 3 cents to $1.627 a gallon.
Source: FoxNews.com
ZIMBABWE'S ELECTIONS MARKED BY LONG LINES
On Thursday, 31 in Harare, Zimbabwe, polls closed in parliamentary elections after being subjected with intense international criticism by the U.S. and European Union for its undue characteristics of long lines at ballot stations and accusation of voter fraud.
Despite hassles, voters were persistent and stayed the course to form orderly queues at polling stations in the capital of Harare just hours before voting got under way 7 a.m. Thursday. The scene was basically similar in suburban towns and rural areas, where the majority of those voters came on bicycles or in donkey-drawn carts.
Long-time President Robert Mugabe assured his Zimbabweans that the election would be free and fair, but insisted that the outcome would confirm voters' faith in his ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF).
"I have just voted to increase the number of winning votes for ZANU-PF. My wife and I have just voted ... The people are behind us. We are going to win, by how much, that is what we are going to see," Mugabe told reporters in Harare.
His primary opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai, disagreed wholeheartedly and with a spirit of confidence and vigor, stating, "We are not happy with the way the electoral playing field has been organized, and I think we all agree on all benchmarks this is not going to be a free and fair election."
Source: CNN.com
BOMBING KILLS EIGHT IN IRAQ
On Thursday, 31 March, in Baghdad, Iraq, a suicide bomber destroyed an Islamic holy site on a major religious holiday. This most recent attack is the latest in a series aimed at Shiite Muslim pilgrims.
The unfortunate escapade occurred in Tuz Khormato, 55 miles south of Kirkuk, killing three civilians, and wounding sixteen.
The day's largest gathering was in the holy city of Karbala, where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims visited the two shrines and gallantly paraded in honor of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and one of Shiites' most important saints, while banging their chests with their fists in a sign of mourning.
Fighters from the Sunni Muslim-led uprising coordinated a string of attacks on Shiite pilgrims in the days leading up to the festival, which marks the end of a 40-day mourning period for Muslim icon. In an effort to head off the attacks, police forces in Karbala closed streets to vehicles, set up checkpoints, and frisked people for weapons.
Source: Foxnews.com