Israel has suggested they would free some Palestinian prisoners if the Israeli soldier kidnapped two weeks ago is returned. The release would not be a prisoner swap, they say, but a “goodwill gesture.” Hamas says the soldier, 19-year-old Cpl. Gilad Shalit, is alive and safe. Today was the most violent day of fighting since Shalit was captured.

Israel has suggested that they would free some Palestinian prisoners if the Israeli soldier kidnapped two weeks ago is released. The release would not be a prisoner swap, they say, but a “goodwill gesture.” Hamas says the soldier, 19-year-old Cpl. Gilad Shalit is alive and safe.

South Korea will suspend food aid to the North until the missile “problem” is resolved, a top official says. President Bush announced in Chicago that he will rally world support to confront the missile tests, but he added that “the problem with diplomacy is it takes a while.”

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will be tried for tax fraud, false accounting and embezzlement, a judge ruled today. Berlusconi says the country’s judiciary is acting out a vendetta against him.

Colin Powell returned to the Aspen Ideas Festival after being briefly hospitalized. "I started hyperventilating a little and was feeling a little altitude sickness, I think,” he told reporters.

Atlantic City Casinos are on the verge of reopening after the budget compromise made yesterday. The Legislature must vote on the budget before they can reopen. "We're a little disappointed," said Joan Snedeker, 50, of Westerville, Ohio, who came to gamble at the Trump Taj Mahal. "We've had a great time, but it's not what we expected."

What may have been the oldest crow in the world, 59-year-old Tata, died on Long Island today. A cemetery caretaker found the bird when he fell out of his nest as a fledging and injured himself, losing his ability to fly. He brought him to a local family. Crow experts agree that, as far as anyone knows, there is no older crow.