Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday that Israel could not and would not reconcile with an Iran that had nuclear weapons.

"From our point of view, we are talking about an intolerable situation, one with which we cannot reconcile ourselves," Olmert told the Israeli parliament, ahead a of an historic address by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

He added however that Iran was not just a menace for Israel, but a "global threat."

Jerusalem - Ehud Olmert's lawyers began a fourth day Monday of cross-examining a key witness in a corruption investigation, who has alleged that the Israeli premier over years accepted tens of thousands of US dollars in cash from him. 

On the third day of the cross-examination Sunday, US Jewish fundraiser Morris Talansky said police had placed him under pressure during past interviews in which they confronted him with the suspicions that Olmert used his donations and contributions for personal purposes and not only for campaigning. 

Jerusalem - Ehud Olmert's lawyers Friday began a second day of cross-examining a key state witness, whose allegations that Olmert accepted cash-stuffed envelopes from him are threatening the Israeli premier's political future.

The lawyers managed to expose some inaccurate details in Morris Talansky's account on the first day of the crucial cross-examination Thursday, but Israeli commentators agreed there had been no great surprises during that first-seven hour session.

Talansky conceded that he may have misremembered some details, but countered he could not be expected to remember every single one and insisted he was telling the truth.

Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert planned to convene his cabinet Tuesday morning to get final authorization for a prisoner exchange deal with Lebanon's Hezbollah, scheduled for the ne