JIM LEHRER: A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court today issued a landmark decision on gun rights. By 5-4, the justices struck down the District of Columbia's strict ban on handguns, even in the home.
The court allowed the city to license guns, and it noted the right to bear arms is not unlimited. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote, "It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose."
The decision drew praise and criticism from those on both sides of the argument.
ALAN GURA, lawyer for plaintiffs: We're extremely pleased. Washington, D.C., will now become a safer place, as well as a more free place. We also fully expect that this will put an end to other attempts, perhaps, to read rights out of the Constitution by having all kinds of inventive theories. The fact is that the Bill of Rights today is in full effect and that much has been reinforced.
ADRIAN FENTY, mayor, Washington, D.C.: As mayor of the District of Columbia, I think I speak for the near unanimous population here in the city when we say we're disappointed. We wish the ruling had gone the other way, but that we stand here and we respect the Court's power to make this ruling and their deliberations that got them to this point.
JIM LEHRER: The four dissenting justices complained there was no basis for today's decision. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote, "There simply is no untouchable constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment to keep loaded handguns in the house in crime-ridden urban areas."
The decision also drew reactions from the presidential candidates. Democrat Barack Obama said he favors an individual's right to bear arms, but also the government's right to regulate them. He spoke in Pittsburgh.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), Ill.: I believe in the Second Amendment as being an individual right and have said that consistently. I also think that that individual right is constrained by the rights of the community to maintain issues with public safety.
I don't think those two principles are contradictory. And, in fact, what I've been saying consistently is what the Supreme Court essentially said today.
JIM LEHRER: Republican John McCain welcomed the court's decision. He spoke on his campaign bus outside Cincinnati, and he said Obama initially backed the gun ban. He said it's part of a pattern of flip-flops.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), Ariz.: Whether it be on his pledge on public financing, or his position on the Second Amendment, or many other issues, he is changing his positions. So it's not surprising.
JIM LEHRER: We'll have more on the Supreme Court's guns decision right after this news summary.
In another 5-4 decision today, the court struck down the so-called "millionaire's amendment" to the campaign finance law. The measure allowed political candidates to accept larger donations when wealthy opponents spend their own money. The justices ruled that violates the First Amendment.
A barrage of bad news left Wall Street reeling today. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 358 points to close at 11,453, the lowest in 21 months. The Nasdaq fell nearly 80 points to close at 2,321.
Oil was a major factor. It gained more than $5 to finish just under $140 a barrel, after OPEC's president said it could hit $170 this summer. We'll have more on the economy later in the program tonight.
A suicide bomber in Iraq today killed three U.S. Marines and at least 20 Iraqis. The bomber attacked tribal sheiks opposed to al-Qaida as they met just west of Baghdad.
To the north, at least 18 Iraqis died in a car bombing in Mosul; 60 more were wounded.
At least 13 Americans and scores of Iraqis have been killed in bombings this week.
The United States and North Korea made major moves today in a longstanding nuclear standoff. The North Korean government handed over an accounting of its nuclear work involving plutonium.
In turn, President Bush announced he's lifting trade sanctions and taking North Korea off a list of nations that sponsor terror. But the president said he's "under no illusions" about trusting the communist rulers in Pyongyang.
GEORGE W. BUSH, president of the United States: If North Korea continues to make the right choices, it can repair its relationship with the international community.
If North Korea makes the wrong choices, the United States and our partners in the six-party talks will respond accordingly. If they do not fully disclose and end their plutonium, their enrichment, and their proliferation efforts and activities, there will be further consequences.
JIM LEHRER: The North Korean document omitted any information on the country's uranium program or its suspected nuclear aid to Syria.
But conservative opponents of the deal condemned it. Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton called it "shameful." He said, "This represents the final collapse of Bush's foreign policy." We'll have more on North Korea later in the program tonight.
Violence surged in Afghanistan today. Militants killed three coalition troops and an Afghan interpreter near Kabul. It was the latest sign of escalating violence there.
In Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Gates blamed cease-fire deals between militants and the government of Pakistan.
ROBERT GATES, secretary of defense: The ability of the Taliban and other insurgents to cross that border and not being under any pressure from the Pakistani side of the border is clearly a concern. I think that's the area that needs to be addressed with the Pakistani government.
JIM LEHRER: A top U.S. general reported this week that attacks in eastern Afghanistan are up 40 percent this year.
The president of Zimbabwe said today he's open to talks with the opposition party. Robert Mugabe spoke a day before a run-off presidential election.
The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has withdrawn from the run-off, saying his followers faced a campaign of terror. At a rally today, Mugabe said again he will not postpone the vote, but he insisted he is willing to talk.
ROBERT MUGABE, president, Zimbabwe: We will remain open to discussion. If there are any proposals that the other parties would want to make to us, in good spirit we will listen to those proposals, discuss them with them, but not because we are being dictated to by the outside world. The moment the outside world starts dictating to us, we will not proceed.
JIM LEHRER: Tsvangirai has said, if Mugabe declares himself the winner after the run-off, then there is nothing to negotiate.
Thunderstorms plagued the flood zone in the U.S. Midwest today. Forecasts called for more rain across parts of Missouri, Illinois and Iowa. The storms raised new concerns about levees along the Mississippi River in a series of towns above St. Louis.
And wildfires raged on in northern California. One threatened 500 homes near the town of Big Sur.
