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• GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- On the day of his induction, Baraa Rantisi was told to wait near a mosque.
• At the appointed time, a white car drove up. Baraa and the driver exchanged passwords -- the name and nickname of an early Muslim leader -- and Baraa got in.
• Then a man in a sparsely furnished room instructed Baraa and two other recruits on the values of Islam. Baraa placed his hand on the Quran, the Muslim holy book, and swore "unwavering loyalty and obedience."
• With that oath 10 years ago, Baraa joined the Muslim Brotherhood, an exclusive movement that sees itself on a divine mission to establish Islamic rule.
• The story of Baraa, 24, and his extended family shows how the Brotherhood's cohesion and discipline have built it up into a successful movement that seized power in the Arab Spring. But some argue that the same closeness and authoritarian nature has worked against the Brotherhood, which now faces challenges in Egypt, Gaza and Tunisia.
• ___

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate leaders are optimistic about forging an eleventh-hour bipartisan deal preventing a possible federal default and ending the partial government shutdown after Republican divisions forced GOP leaders to drop efforts to ram their own version through the House.
• Pressured by the calendar, financial markets and public opinion polls, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., were hoping to shake hands on an agreement Wednesday and, if possible, hold votes later in the day.
• Driving their urgency were oft-repeated Obama administration warnings that the government would exhaust its borrowing authority Thursday and risk a federal default that could unhinge the world economy. Lawmakers feared that spooked financial markets would plunge unless a deal was at hand and that voters would take it out on incumbents in next year's congressional elections -- though polls show the

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