JUDY WOODRUFF: The price of oil today dropped to its lowest point in three months. It was driven down again partly by falling demand. The closing price in New York was near $121.40 a barrel, off nearly 3 percent. It's down 18 percent from July's peak.
The drop sent energy stocks lower. And the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 42 points to close at 11,284. The Nasdaq fell 25 points to close at 2,285.
The presidential candidates focused their energy on energy today. In Lansing, Michigan, Democrat Barack Obama dropped his opposition to tapping the strategic oil reserve. He also said again that he would agree to limited off-shore drilling as part of a broader compromise.
But Obama charged that Republican John McCain would go too far.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), Illinois: And now, after years of inaction in the face of public frustration over rising gas prices, the only energy proposal he's really promoting is more off-shore drilling, a position he recently adopted that's become the centerpiece of his plan and one that will not make a real dent in current gas prices or meet the long-term challenge of energy independence.
JUDY WOODRUFF: McCain answered in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania. He urged Congress to call off its August recess and return to Washington to pass major energy legislation. And he asked for Obama's help in making that happen.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), Arizona: I call on Senator Obama to call on Congress to come back into town and come back to work, come off their recess, come off their vacation, and address this energy challenge to America, and don't leave until we do, Republican and Democrat joining together.
And a very vital part of that is nuclear power, and another vital part of that is off-shore drilling. We have to drill here and drill now.
JUDY WOODRUFF: We'll have more on the campaign energy debate right after this news summary.
Former President Clinton today denied making racist remarks about Barack Obama during the Democratic primaries. He spoke to ABC's "Good Morning America." Mr. Clinton also said that his wife, Senator Hillary Clinton, faced a "different standard" and tougher coverage than Obama in their contest.
Questions about the long-running anthrax investigation kept coming today. The prime suspect, Bruce Ivins, committed suicide last week, as federal prosecutors were ready to charge him in the 2001 attacks. News accounts today told of doubts about the evidence and about Ivins working at an Army lab even as investigators focused on him.
The Justice Department was said to be near closing the case, allowing the release of key documents. We'll have more on this story later in the program tonight.
A military jury began deliberating the case against Osama bin Laden's former driver today. Salim Hamdan is accused of conspiracy and aiding al-Qaida in the trial at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He could get life in prison if he's convicted.
Two American soldiers were killed in Iraq today. They died in a roadside bombing in eastern Baghdad.
On the political front there, a top member of parliament reported a tentative deal to let provincial elections take place this fall. It could be voted on tomorrow.
An attack in western China killed 16 border police officers today, four days before the Summer Olympics open in Beijing. It happened in the city of Kashgar in Xinjiang province. Police said that two men drove a dump truck into the officers, and then threw grenades.
We have a report from Lindsey Hilsum of Independent Television News.
LINDSEY HILSUM: Chinese television mentioned the incident only briefly. Although the government has long said terrorism is the greatest threat to the Olympics, it's reluctant to draw attention to bad news.
Last week, a video emerged from a group claiming to have carried out recent small bombings in China and threatening attacks against the Olympics. The turbaned man, who called himself Commander Seyfullah, said he represented a Uyghur group called the Turkestan Islamic Party.
The last major terrorist attacks in Xinjiang were in the 1990s, when the separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement killed several dozen people in bomb attacks. Some terrorism experts say the two groups are linked.
In June, the Olympic torch was taken to Kashgar amidst heightened security. Many Uyghurs resent Chinese rule. And such is the government's fear of separatist attacks that shops were shut and only specially vetted people allowed to watch the torch as it passed.
Today, the local public security department said it had intelligence that Uyghur separatists planned to attack just ahead of the Olympic Games.
The government is taking extreme security measures: 110,000 troops, police and security volunteers have been posted to Beijing, with extra checks on aircraft arrivals, especially from Xinjiang.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Chinese President Hu Jintao made no mention of the attack in a speech today. Instead, he said the Olympics will show that China wants to join the world in building a bright future.
A top Syrian general close to President Bashar Assad was assassinated over the weekend. Arabic newspapers and Web sites reported a sniper killed Brigadier General Mohammed Suleiman at a beach resort. The Syrian government refused all comment on the reports.
The U.S. and five other world powers agreed today to seek more U.N. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. The Iranians failed to meet a weekend deadline for responding to a package of incentives. Instead, they said today that they will have a written response tomorrow.
Two Dutch climbers were rescued alive today from an avalanche disaster in Pakistan. At least 11 other mountaineers were feared dead on the world's second-tallest peak. The weekend incident happened on K2, located near Pakistan's northern border with China. Bad weather forced helicopter crews to delay rescuing a third climber until tomorrow.
Tropical Storm Edouard closed on the Gulf Coast today. It was crossing warm water off Texas and Louisiana, and forecasters predicted it could grow into a hurricane. Emergency teams were activated, and landfall was expected sometime Tuesday morning.
Tributes to famed Russian writer and dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn poured in today. He died of heart failure on Sunday in Moscow.
Solzhenitsyn was himself a political prisoner in the Soviet Union. Later, he exposed the system, most famously in "The Gulag Archipelago." He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970. The author was exiled in 1974 and lived in the U.S. until the fall of the Soviet Union.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was 89 years old.
