This story just broke on slashdot. Apparently a researcher at HP has submitted a paper for peer review that has claimed proof that P != NP.
A preliminary non-peer-reviewed paper is available for download at the researcher's site:
hp labs : research : SIMPL : people
It will be interesting if his proof is found to be valid. For me: I tried to sieve through the 100 page paper, but couldn't get through the abstract