Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas held a long-overdue summit today, reviving hope that peace talks can resume after years of fighting, hostility and distrust.

Israelis voted today in a historic election seen as a referendum on the future of the West Bank, with the leading candidate, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, promising to pull back from most of the territory and draw Israel’s final borders by 2010.

IMCLONE SYSTEMS founder Sam Waksal was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison yesterday for an insider-trading scandal that ensnared his family and threatens US home and style guru Martha Stewart and her home decorating empire.