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Oil prices are soaring to levels never anticipated – nearly $100 a barrel. The price of oil affects just about everything that is made, transported, eaten and sold in the United States. But the cost hasn't had the impact on the economy many analysts expected.

Pharmaceutical giant Merck will pay $4.85 billion to end thousands of lawsuits over its painkiller Vioxx. The amount, to be paid into a settlement fund, is believed to be the largest drug settlement ever. Claims must meet certain criteria to qualify for payment as the settlement is not a class action.

Next week, the African National Congress will choose its next leader. An intense rift between the candidates — South African President Thabo Mbeki and his one-time deputy Jacob Zuma — is causing many to question the party's future.

What new information could lead 16 intelligence agencies to change their conclusions on Iran? New York Times reporter Mark Mazzetti talks with Melissa Block about how the NIE came together — and what the new estimate says about changes in the intelligence community.

The National Endowment for the Arts has released a study on reading trends in the U.S. The study shows "startling declines" in "how much and how well" Americans are reading.

The sudden rise is blamed on violence in Nigeria and new warnings that OPEC will have problems meeting global demand for oil in the next two decades.

A tape of a September shootout in Baghdad involving Blackwater USA leaves Iraqis unable to distinguish between U.S. military personnel and private security contractors. The Blackwater shootout left 17 Iraqis dead.

Nearly 20,000 people convicted of drug offenses could find out Tuesday if they'll be spending less time in prison. The U.S. Sentencing Commission may reduce the extra punishment that's given for crimes involving crack, as compared to powdered, cocaine. The Supreme Court ruled that federal judges may give lighter sentences to crack cocaine defendants than has been required.

Hundreds of people have died in post-election ethnic violence in Kenya. A hospital in Eldoret has received more than 70 bodies since election results were announced, including 17 burned alive in a church. Raila Odinga, who narrowly lost the presidential election, has called for protests Thursday.

Last September, 17 Iraqis died in a controversial shooting involving the security firm Blackwater USA. Several Iraqis involved in the incident have sued in U.S. courts. They recall that day in videotaped testimonies, and their accounts differ from Blackwater's.