Palestinian security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas confiscated $817,000 from a high-profile Hamas official who tried to smuggle it in from Egypt on Friday, a European Union spokesman said, in a possible sign of how desperate the cash-starved Hamas government is for money. Earlier Friday, a gunbattle erupted for the first time between police loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and a new security force the Hamas government deployed in defiance of Abbas’ ban, edging the rivals closer to a wider spasm of violence. Full Story