Israeli and Palestinian leaders agree to work for draft treaty with fortnightly meetings

Mr Netanyahu and Mr Abbas will meet on Sep 14 and 15 at a location in the Middle East
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, held what was described as a "long and productive discussion" in which they concurred that they would start striving for a draft treaty.

Elephants 'scared of ants'

 

Any elephant foolish enough to approach an ant-protected tree is liable to find swarms of the angry insects crawling up its trunk Photo: CORBIS
Ants are getting the better of nature's biggest land beast on the African savannah, scientists have discovered.

Osteoporosis drug 'doubles cancer risk'

Doctors often prescribe bisphosphonates as a preventative measure for those who might be at a higher risk of osteoporosis
Those who have taken oral bisphosphonates for five years or more are twice as likely to develop the cancer than those who have not, the analysis of medical records found. Every year almost 8,000 people in Britain are diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus, or gullet cancer, and ...

Winston Churchill 'ordered assassination of Mussolini to protect compromising letters’

 

Churchill chose to holiday under a false name only a few miles from the spot Mussolini was seized
Pierre Milza, an expert on fascist Italy, theorizes that the wartime prime minister may have wanted Mussolini dead to prevent the letters, in which Churchill expressed his admiration for his Italian counterpart before the outbreak of the Second World War, coming to light.

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Hurricane Earl: Obama declares emergency as storm nears east coast

Barack Obama has declared an emergency as hurricane Earl approaches North Carolina. Photograph: Pool/Getty Images
States along the eastern coast of the United States were today preparing evacuation plans to be put in to operation if hurricane Earl moves inland instead of glancing the shoreline.

Dublin gangland boss John Traynor arrested in Netherlands

Veronica Guerin, who was shot dead shot dead by the pillion passenger on a motorbike as she stopped at traffic lights in Naas, just outside Dublin, in June 1996 Photograph: PA/PA Archive/PA Photos
A convicted Dublin criminal who fled the Irish Republic after the murder of investigative journalist Veronica Guerin by another gangland boss has been arrested in the Netherlands.

Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi banned from Venice film festival

'An attack on art' ... Juliette Binoche protests against the imprisonment of Iranian director Jafar Panahi earlier this year. Photograph: Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images
The Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi has been denied the right to attend this year's Venice international film festival. Due to open the short film section of the festival with The Accordion, his request was refused by officials in Tehran.

Middle East peace talks - live

Middle East peace talks get underway at the State Department in Washington, with Hillary Clinton flanked by Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas (right). Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP
3.20pm ET: Here's a first look at an article on the peace talks by Chris McGreal that will be appearing in tomorrow's Guardian print edition:For many diplomats though the...

To Kosovans, Blair is a true hero

Nine Kosovo Albanian children named after Tony Blair pose in front of his picture during an official welcoming ceremony in Pristina on 9 July 2010. Photograph: Kushtrim Ternava/EPA
"The king is dead, long live the king" is an expression about monarchy, but it rings true in modern democracy. Some in Britain appear to have forgotten that Tony Blair led their country on the world stage for 10 ....