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MANAMA (Reuters) - Israel and the Palestinians have reached an agreement to swap the Israeli soldier held hostage in Gaza with imprisoned Palestinians, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was quoted on Tuesday as saying. Abbas told Bahrain's Akhbar al-Khaleej newspaper soldier Gilad Shalit would first be handed over to Egypt. "An agreement has been reached about exchanging prisoners that is based on Egypt taking the soldier as a deposit, and after that the number of Palestinian prisoners-of-wa ...

KABUL (Reuters) - NATO said on Tuesday its major offensive to crush a revitalised Taliban in southern Afghanistan is pushing the guerrillas into a corner as heavy fighting continues. "We are closing the circle on the Taliban -- we have got the Taliban in a bit of a trap," NATO spokesman Major Quentin Innes said. NATO launched Operation Medusa, its biggest ground offensive against an increasingly active Taliban, last weekend in Kandahar province, the hardline Islamist group's spiritual heartlan ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Ian Huntley, the man convicted of the double murder of schoolgirls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, was found unconscious in his prison cell in northern England on Tuesday after a suspected drugs overdose, the Home Office said. "Resuscitation was attempted and an ambulance was called and he was taken to hospital," a spokeswoman said. Huntley was convicted in December 2003 of t ...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will seek a summit with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas if gunmen in the Gaza Strip release a captive Israeli soldier, Olmert's senior deputy said on Tuesday. "When this situation is resolved, it (meeting) will take place," Vice Premier Shimon Peres told Israel's Army Radio.