Hamas: Abbas, Mashaal meeting won't happen today

A senior Hamas official said Sunday the crucial meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas top leader Khaled Mashaal would not take place and blamed the moderate Fatah president for the breakdown of the talks. "The possibility of a meeting today has become nonexistent," Abou Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas' politburo, told The Associated Press. Hamas had shown a lot of "flexibility" in trying to resolve disputes between the two factions, but "external factors ... caused this latest crisis," he said.