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Top Palestinian meets Egyptian intelligence chief amid reports of progress over a deal for prisoner exchangeKhaled Meshal, the leader of Hamas, has made a dramatic visit to Cairo amid a new diplomatic effort to secure the release of an Israeli soldier captured near Gaza more than three years ago.Meshal was to meet Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian intelligence chief, who has been the most important mediator between israel and the Palestinian Islamist group in the case of Gilad Shalit. The Israeli soldier, now 23, is believed to be still alive, held somewhere in Gaza by Hamas.Since mid-July, officers from Germany's foreign intelligence agency, the BND, have been leading a new attempt to broker his release. German officials have made 11 visits to Gaza in the past month, a Hamas spokesman said.A new offer of a prisoner exchange that would see the release of hundreds of Palestinians from Israeli jails is reportedly on the table.The manoeuvring comes ahead of a critical moment in Israeli-Palesti

Prime minister's leadership under renewed attack after party's 'astonishing failure' to exploit Tory in-fightingGordon Brown faces a new assault on his leadership this week when one of Labour's most influential figures will accuse the party of being 'paralysed' by defeatism and of an 'astonishing' failure to attack the Tories.The criticism from Jon Cruddas, seen by many on Labour's centre-left as a leadership contender, is bound to re-ignite speculation over whether Brown should lead the party into the next general election. In a speech to the Compass pressure group on Tuesday, Cruddas will argue that Labour has failed completely to exploit the Tories' difficulties during a summer in which David Cameron's party has been hit by internal rows over the NHS, MPs' expenses and Europe.The MP for Dagenham will argue that the economic downturn has exposed the Tories' 'Thatcherite' instincts and presented Labour with a 'golden opportunity' to expose Cameron's claim to the political centre groun

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Group health Cooperative was created in Washington state more than six decades ago, started up by members of local granges, unions and cooperatives who were inspired by a physician who had established America's first cooperative hospital in Elk City, Oklahoma.

An Austrian research group has investigated how ultracold quantum gases behave in lower spatial dimensions. They successfully realized an exotic state, where, due to the laws of quantum mechanics, atoms align along a one-dimensional structure. A stable many-body phase with new quantum mechanical states is thereby produced even though the atoms are usually strongly attracted which would cause the system to collapse.

Hamburg - Russia stayed on Germany's heels with a 3-0 win over Liechtenstein in their World Cup qualifying group on Saturday. First-half goals from defender Vasili Berezutski (17th minute) and two penalties from Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko (...

Brazilian-born Liedson kept alive Portugal's slender World Cup qualifying hopes with a late equalizer against Group 1 leaders Denmark in Copenhagen.

LONDON (AP) -- Authorities arrested 90 people after racially charged violence erupted between a group protesting Islamic extremism and counter-demonstrators in the central English city of Birmingham, police said Sunday....

The Group of 20 rich and developing countries have pledged to carry on with measures to boost the global economy, despite signs ...

NEW YORK (AP) -- american international Group Inc. said Saturday it reached a deal to sell a portion of its asset management business to a Hong Kong-based investment firm for $500 million....

Finance ministers from the Group of 20 rich and developing countries have pledged to carry on with measures to boost the global economy, despite signs of a fledgling recovery.