"It makes the most sense, especially in these economic times," Allen Park athletics director Ken Stephens says. "Where can you save money? You can cut down on transportation."

Saudi engineers have been working on several big projects that could boost the nation's output by 1.3 million barrels a day--more than the expected increase in global demand next year--but the secretive nation is "likely to keep its political tool, excess production capacity, close to its chest until it has a new U.S. president to win over," Morse writes.

"We were just working to pay for gas," says Camisha Champ, a hospital scheduler. They keep their Lincoln Navigator in the garage because it costs too much to drive.

The world was remarkably resilient to a series of record prices in 2007, but a roughly 30 percent rise since the end of last year, with predictions of more to come, is harder to absorb.

At Dollar Foods on Commercial Drive, manager Quoc On is busy in the back supervising the arrival of a food shipment. The aisles are jammed with hungry customers, the lineup at the cashier is deep, and outside the front door boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables are piled high on the sidewalk, the fresh produce sparkling in the warm springtime sun. The scene is one of affluence and abundance, yet behind this facade a crisis is brewing that may signal the end of the Age of Endless Abundance. At the very least, the days of cheap food imported from all around the world at very low prices may be about to end.

On Friday, The Wall Street Journal published a report that suggested closer ties between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and rebels attempting to overthrow Colombia's government. Chavez has been linked to Colombian rebels previously, but the paper reported it had reviewed computer files indicating concrete offers by Venezuela's leader to arm guerillas. That appears to heighten the chances that the U.S. could impose sanctions on one of its biggest oil suppliers.

They drive tractors up and down row after row of field after field to plow, seed and tend to their crops. That means they shell out big bucks for gas and diesel, which set its own record Friday at $4.269 a gallon - and there's no end in sight.

As prices near — or in some places top — $4 a gallon, most Americans say they are cutting back on other household spending, seriously considering buying more fuel-efficient cars and consolidating their daily errands to save fuel.

Now they are urging members of the public to help stem the current trends of metal thefts.

Fifty-five percent of 372 petroleum industry executives surveyed by KPMG LLP said they think the price of a barrel of crude will drop below $100 by the end of the year. Twenty-one percent of respondents predicted a barrel of oil will end the year between $101 and $110, while 15 percent forecast the year-end price to be between $111 and $120 a barrel.

North Yorkshire Police say there have already been 27 such thefts across the county so far this year, compared with only six in the same period last year.

Of the 77 thermal stations in the country, 25 have now been bracketed as having “critical stocks”, of which 13 are reported to be “super critical”, with precariously low levels of coal stocks of under four days, according to the Government’s latest data on coal stock positions at power stations (up to May 5).

Yet the population-environment link is clear. Our environmental impact, as gauged by total resource consumption for a country or the world, is the product of population size and the average person's consumption.

Driven by surging demand and continuing supply concerns, US light crude touched $124.70 a barrel in Asian exchanges, up $1.01 from Thursday's close. Meanwhile, London's Brent crude was up 85 cents to $123.69 from Thursday's record $122.84 close.

Chairman Antonio Llarden told a gas industry convention that Enagas expected consumption to rise to 449,580 gigawatt-hours in 2008, on top of a 4.3 percent rise in 2007. "Our projections have risen for one simple reason: there's no water," Llarden said.