Crude oil hits $100/barrel; Justice launches criminal investigation of CIA destruction of videotapes; Pakistan asks UK to head Bhutto investigation...

2 January :: Crude oil prices hit record $100, before falling to $99, amid claims of high demand, violence in oil producing countries, driving prices higher; the rapidly weakening dollar is also considered to be a factor in the rising prices... US Justice Dept. launches criminal probe of CIA destruction of hundreds of hours of videotape, allegedly showing use of harsh or banned interrogation techniques; tapes had been concealed during previous inquiries, Congress also investigating... Pakistan pres. Pervez Musharraf has requested UK's Scotland Yard head investigation into assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto; gov't has also said it will consider exhuming body to perform autopsy, after it was alleged gov't agents threatened doctors attempting to perform autopsy... Pakistan's parliamentary elections, slated for next week, will be postponed till 2nd half of February, with gov't saying security situation has made it impossible to hold free and fair polls... US intelligence officials have said they are not convinced that Pakistan's official explanation of Benazir Bhutto's killing is definitive, call for broader investigation with international assistance... Gray wolves in western US to lose endangered species protected status, meaning ranchers in Wyoming, or surrounding states may feel emboldened to 'cull' at will to prevent further spread of reintroduced species... On eve of Iowa caucuses, WSJ hosting "predictive" market community where users can "trade" on probability of candidates' winning; WSJ reports "On New Year's Eve, markets ranked each of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards at least a 30% chance of winning", while "they have upgraded Mr. Obama's chances of winning (he's now a better than 50-50 bet), while Ms. Clinton is a clear second-favorite, with a just-under one-in-three chance of winning"; there is no clear track-record for this sort of predictive matrix in electoral politics...