RAY SUAREZ: Presidential contenders began their final push for votes in Iowa today, just three days before Republicans and Democrats hold their caucuses. Two polls showed Democrat John Edwards in a virtual three-way tie for the lead with Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
On the Republican side, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee battled former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for first place. We'll have more on this story right after this news summary.
In Kenya today, post-election riots rocked the country, leaving at least 135 people dead. The opposition, led by Raila Odinga, rejected election results and accused President Mwai Kibaki of stealing his re-election. In Nairobi, police fired tear gas and water cannons on thousands of demonstrators as they ran through the streets.
Opposition supporters also blocked a road into the city center by lighting a fire. We'll have more on this story later in the program.
Electoral officials in Pakistan today put off deciding when parliamentary elections will be held in the wake of Benazir Bhutto's death. The decision will be announced tomorrow. The vote was originally scheduled for January 8th, but there were indications a delay of up to six weeks could be expected.
Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif threatened street protests if that happened, and he made a strong public attack against President Musharraf.
NAWAZ SHARIF, Former Prime Minister of Pakistan: Musharraf must go immediately. He is the primary and principal source of discord in the country. He is a one-man calamity. He is responsible for all the trouble in Pakistan. The country is burning.
RAY SUAREZ: Questions also mounted today over how exactly Benazir Bhutto died. New video released yesterday showed the moment shots rang out and Bhutto's hair and shawl jerking upward. That was in direct conflict with a government analysis that said she died after hitting her head on the sunroof of her car. We'll have more on this story later in the program tonight.
2007 was the deadliest year so far for U.S. troops in Iraq, but for the month of December the death toll dropped, with 21 U.S. troops killed. For the year, there were 899 American deaths compared to 822 in 2006.
In the latest violence in Iraq, a suicide truck bomb struck a checkpoint north of Baghdad. At least 12 people were killed.
A U.S. Marine will face reduced charges for his role in leading the killing of Iraqi civilians in 2005. The U.S. Marine Corps announced today it's charging Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich with voluntary manslaughter instead of the more serious murder charges.
Twenty-four unarmed Iraqi civilians were killed at Haditha, and prosecutors said it was revenge for a roadside bombing. Of the eight Marines implicated in the case, none will face murder charges.
Sarah Jane Moore, the woman who took a shot at President Gerald Ford, was released from prison today. Now 77 years old, she served 32 years of a life sentence at a federal prison just east of San Francisco. In 1975, she fired on President Ford outside a San Francisco hotel, but her arm was pushed when she fired the shot, and the bullet flew over Ford's head.
On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 101 points to close at 13,264. The Nasdaq fell 22 points to close at 2,652.
But the markets finished a volatile year in the black, despite lagging problems from the housing downturn and the credit crunch. The Dow gained more than 6 percent. The Nasdaq rose nearly 10 percent. And the wider S&P 500 index advanced 3.5 percent.
