JIM LEHRER: Wall Street slumped today after scoring huge gains on Tuesday. It started with commodities dropping sharply on new jitters about recession. Crude oil closed under $104.50 a barrel, down 4.5 percent. Energy stocks and the broader market followed suit.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 293 points to close at 12,099. The Nasdaq fell 58 points to close just below 2,210.
The nation marked the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq today. President Bush told a Pentagon audience it's been "noble, necessary and just." And he warned a sudden pullout would jeopardize "hard-fought gains."
The war has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 American troops since March of 2003. It's believed at least 90,000 Iraqis have died. And in financial terms, it has cost the U.S. government roughly $500 billion.
Mr. Bush acknowledged the sacrifice today, but he insisted it's not in vain.
GEORGE W. BUSH, president of the United States: War critics can no longer credibly argue that we're losing in Iraq, so they now argue the war costs too much.
In recent months, we've heard exaggerated amounts of the costs of this war. No one would argue that this war has not come at a high cost in lives and treasure, but those costs are necessary when we consider the cost of a strategic victory for our enemies in Iraq.
JIM LEHRER: The U.S. presence in Iraq will drop to 140,000 troops this summer. The president indicated it might hold there until fall.
As he spoke, war protesters demonstrated across the country. They marched and held vigils in Washington and other cities. Student walkouts took place at universities.
In a statement, House Speaker Pelosi vowed Democrats will keep pushing to end the war. She said, "Americans are rightly concerned about how much longer our nation must continue to sacrifice for an Iraqi government that is unwilling or unable to secure its own future."
Iraq's presidential council approved a law today to organize provincial elections. It set the stage for a national vote in October. The three-member panel had initially rejected the law. U.S. officials have said new elections could give Sunnis greater representation; that, in turn, could foster unity and weaken the insurgency.
In the U.S. presidential campaign today, Democrat Barack Obama argued he is more likely to end the war because he opposed it from the outset. He said, "The judgment that matters most on Iraq is the judgment made first."
Hillary Clinton challenged Obama to agree to new primaries in Michigan and Florida. She said it would be "un-American" not to count their delegates. We'll have more on the campaign right after this news summary.
Chinese soldiers and police intensified a crackdown today on Tibetan protesters. They moved to lock down towns across western China, but demonstrations continued. We have a report from Lindsey Hilsum of Independent Television News.
LINDSEY HILSUM, ITV News correspondent: Tibetan horsemen, war cries ringing, gallop into a village in Gansu province yesterday afternoon. The villagers joined them, shouting that they want freedom from Chinese rule and the return of the Dalai Lama.
Tear gas stings, but the Chinese paramilitaries do not shoot. Tibetans haven't rebelled en masse like this in 50 years. They know they can't fight the Chinese, but they can make a symbolic protest, so they tear down the Chinese flag above the local school and hoist their own illegal Tibetan flag.
On Tibetan television, the local Communist Party boss is shown meeting government officials. Once again, the blame for the unrest is laid at the feet of the Dalai Lama, "a jackal in Buddhist monk's robes," he says, "an evil spirit with a human face and the heart of a beast."
The Chinese government is handing out video of last Friday's disturbances. They hope such images will convince the world that it was mobs of Tibetans who were attacking innocent Chinese and the security forces responded with restraint. The Tibetan youths committed acts of vandalism, wreaking huge damage across the city, so now the authorities must round up those they've identified as responsible.
In the Gansu village of Podama, the horsemen stayed about an hour. Then they started to leave, back to their nomadic pastures, or maybe onto another village, trying to foment a Tibetan rebellion against their Chinese rulers.
JIM LEHRER: Despite the unrest, Chinese officials said the Olympic torch will proceed through Tibet as planned. It will be carried to the top of Mount Everest in May, ahead of the summer games in Beijing.
Severe flooding across the central U.S. left at least 13 people dead today. It followed heavy rain on Monday. The National Weather Service posted flood and flash flood warnings in a string of states from Texas to Pennsylvania.
High waters forced hundreds of people to leave their homes in Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana and Ohio. Some places were inundated with up to a foot of rain. And the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport tried to recover today. Storms grounded more than half of yesterday's flights.
The U.S. Supreme Court today threw out a death sentence and conviction in a Louisiana murder case. The justices cited racial prejudice. The defendant was a black man convicted of killing a man he found with his wife. Blacks were kept off the jury, and the prosecutor referred to it as his "O.J. Simpson case." The defendant will get a new trial.
The federal government moved today to make more money available for home loans and refinancing. An oversight agency loosened the rules on how much capital Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must hold. It lets the two mortgage giants inject $200 billion into the housing market.
The president and CEO of Fannie Mae said it's a much-needed step.
DANIEL MUDD, president and CEO of Fannie Mae: Ultimately, we hope it means that home buyers get a lower-cost mortgage to buy a home. We hope it means borrowers facing payment spikes can refinance into a safer loan and thereby avoid losing their homes.
We hope it means that working families living in jumbo loan markets can get a mortgage at lower conforming rates. We hope it means that families that are least able to buy a home can find an affordable place to rent. We hope it will help restart the housing engine that powers our economy.
JIM LEHRER: Between them, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hold or guarantee nearly $5 trillion in home loan debt.
