News You Can Use for Friday

Hurricane season goes easy on USA The 2007 hurricane season, with a month to go, is on track to leave the coastal USA relatively unscathed for a second straight year. Read the rest HERE.

As Oil Price Sets New High, Stress Hits Developing Nations One of the biggest forces behind the near-quadrupling of oil prices this decade has been voracious fuel demand in China and other developing nations. But with crude closing in on $100 a barrel, shortages and price spikes are sparking economic and social tensions from Beijing to Tehran. That stress could signal a turning point in the long-running energy boom.

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Without China's growing thirst for oil, world oil demand would be growing only moderately. Over the past five years, Chinese oil consumption has grown at an 8.7% annual rate. The rest of the world has grown at an annualized rate of 1.5%. China's current consumption of 7.6 million barrels of oil a day represents 9% of world oil output, according to the International Energy Agency, the Paris-based energy watchdog for industrialized countries. Five years ago, China consumed just 6.4% of world output.

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