Today’s A.M. News Roundup

The price of oil rose to $117 Friday over fears that Tropical Storm Gustav could threaten the U.S. oil and gas output.

The stock-index futures declined Friday due to the rise in the price of oil and Dell’s pessimism on the technology market.

General Motors Vice Chairman Robert Lutz told the New York Times that the U.S. government should provide car companies with up to $50 billion in loan guarantees in order to stimulate the production of fuel-efficient cars.

Dell has fallen 12 percent in European trading today, a day after reporting a 17-percent second-quarter drop in net income. The company said that the “continued conservatism” of consumers in the slumping U.S. economy has spread to Europe and parts of Asia.

Japan announced an $18 billion (2 trillion yen) stimulus package targeted towards medium and small businesses. Leaders hope it will help an economy hurt by rising fuel and food prices, but the chief economist at Tokyo’s Macquarie Securities calls it “pointless other than for political good will.”

Microsoft is buying German Web-based survey company Greenfield and its comparison shopping site Ciao.com for $486 million in order to improve its European business.

Russian Foreign Ministry struck back at G7 leaders who criticized the country's actions in Georgia, accusing the G7 of making “baseless assertions about Russia undermining Georgia's territorial integrity.”

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic will appear before a UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague to respond to 11 charges. He is expected to plead not guilty or refuse to enter a plea.

Thousands of Christians in eastern India are living in government shelters after being forced from their homes in a week of religious violence. Hindu mobs burned churches and attacked Christians after a Hindu leader was killed, but the violence appears to be waning.

The blast in the side of a Qantas jet last month was the result of an oxygen tank explosion, according to a report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. They have not determined what caused the tank to explode and warned it may happen again.

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is suing to prevent Gov. Jennifer Granholm from holding a hearing Wednesday in which she could remove the disgraced mayor from power.

Louisiana officials are bracing for the potential arrival of Tropical Storm Gustav, which may hit the state five days from now as a Category 3 hurricane. The storm is currently over Jamaica after killing over 50 people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Ill. State Sen. James Meeks said that he will lead a boycott of the first day of school next Tuesday in protest of unequal school funding. Meeks will be taking students and parents from Chicago schools to suburban schools that get more funding.

Sen. John McCain has chosen Alaska Gov. Sarah Plain as his running mate. “Sarah Heath Palin is currently the Governor of Alaska and assumed office in 2006,” says McCainPalin.com. “In addition to being the first female Governor of Alaska, she has made history again as the first female Republican Vice Presidential running mate.”

Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for president Thursday in front of 80,000 people in Denver’s Invesco Field. Obama presented specific policy goals and was critical of McCain in his speech. For more about the Democratic National Convention, visit the findingDulcinea Convention News Roundup.

The salmonella outbreak that hospitalized hundreds and created fears about tomatoes and peppers is over according to government health agencies.

In possibly the biggest upset in U.S. Open history, women’s top seed Ana Ivanovic lost in the second round to qualifier Julie Coin, a 25-year-old who had never even played a tour event before. In a post-match interview, when asked if she believed before the match that she could win, Coin replied, “No.”