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When goods arrive in Houston, they may come in containers stacked high on huge ships or strung out on long lines of rail cars. But to get to the customer, those goods need to be put on trucks and driven to their final destinations.

And now with the oil and gas sectors booming, the demand for truckers is soaring. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says oil delivered to refineries by trucks shot up 38 percent between 2011 and 2012.

But while the need for truckers is growing, the ranks of well-trained drivers are shrinking as baby boomers hit retirement age.

"The driver pool is aging, and there are not enough young drivers coming out of truck-driving school to replace those drivers, at the same time that the demand for freight is increasing," said Brian Fielkow, president of Jetco Delivery, a Houston-based trucking company.

The American Trucking Association says about 3 million truckers are on the nation's roads today, but companies need about 30,000 more. And that shortage may balloon in coming years as the boomer-retirement wave slams into the energy-sector surge.

The trade association's latest figures show competition for drivers has become ferocious, causing truckers to flip from one employer to another. The most recent report shows the annual turnover rate among truckers is 97 percent.

With competition intense, earnings have been improving for truckers. James Stone, who has spent the past decade servicing firefighting equipment, wants to get into the field. He is studying for his commercial truck driver's license at San Jacinto College in Pasadena, Texas.

Economy

A Labor Mismatch Means Trucking Jobs Go Unfilled

Egypt's top prosecutor has referred ousted President Mohammed Morsi to trial on charges of inciting deadly violence against his opponents.

State television said Sunday that Morsi, senior Muslim Brotherhood leader Essam el-Erian, former presidential aides and advisors Assad Sheikha and Ahmed Abdel-Ati were among those charged in connection with clashes Dec. 5, 2012 at the presidential palace.

In all, 14 individuals have been referred to a Cairo criminal court, according to Sky News.

Morsi, who was ousted in a July coup and has been in custody without charge until now, is accused of inciting allies to commit premeditated murder, use of force, use of firearms and knives and illegal attacks on demonstrations, the prosecutor says. Morsi is alleged to have asked his then-Minister of Interior and chief of the Republican Guard to violently disperse sit-ins.

Since Morsi was forced from power, Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sissi's military-backed government has conducted a widespread crackdown on Morsi supporters and his Muslim Brotherhood.

Syrian state media on Sunday reacted to President Obama's decision to ask Congress for authorization to strike the Damascus regime, calling the move the start of a U.S. retreat.

"Whether the Congress gives the red or green light for an aggression, and whether the prospects of war have been enhanced or faded, President Obama has announced yesterday, by prevaricating or hinting, the start of the historic American retreat," Al-Thawra said.

The newspaper, seen as an official mouthpiece, also said the U.S. president's decision to go to Congress was due to a "sense of implicit defeat and the disappearance of his allies."

Apparently weary of the long British involvement in Iraq, the House of Commons issued Prime Minister David Cameron a stinging defeat last week when it voted not to sign on with Washington in a military strike on Syria.

Meanwhile, Syria's opposition coalition called on U.S. lawmakers to approve military action against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad to punish him for his use of chemical weapons against the rebels, including the more than 1,400 people the White House says were killed in an Aug. 21 nerve agent attack on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus.

"The Syrian Coalition believes any possible military action should be carried out in conjunction with an effort to arm the Free Syrian Army. This will be vital in restraining Assad and ending the killing," the coalition said in a statement.

A liquid ammonia leak at an industrial refrigeration unit in Shanghai has killed at least 15 people and left six others in critical condition.

NPR's Frank Langfitt says the leak occurred before noon on Saturday at a cold storage facility in the city's northern Baoshan district, which handles seafood.

Besides the six in critical condition, 20 others were injured, according to the Shanghai government.

The Associated Press reports that the government identified the plant as Weng's Cold Storage Industrial Co. Ltd., but gave no further details.

The cause of the leak was not immediately known, the AP said.

As of the end of last month, more than 27,000 people had been killed or had gone missing in workplace accidents in China, according to the government. Officials said that marked a drop of nearly 14 percent from a year ago.