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IAEA: Evidence of Secret Nuclear Experiments in Egypt (AP/New York Times)
    The International Atomic Energy Agency has found evidence of secret nuclear experiments in Egypt that could be used in weapons programs, diplomats said Tuesday.
    The agency also was examining evidence that suggested some work was performed as recently as a year ago.
    The Egyptians "tried to produce various components of uranium" without declaring it to the IAEA, as they were required to under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, one of the diplomats said.
    The products included several pounds of uranium metal and uranium tetrafluoride.

    See also Former Mossad Head Queries "Elements of Nuclear Capabilities" in Neighboring Arab Countries - David Horovitz (Jerusalem Post)
    Former Mossad head Ephraim Halevy said in a recent interview:
    "I want to draw your attention to a very interesting article that appeared in the New York Times on the programs of A.Q. Khan in Pakistan."
    "It raises question marks about how many countries in the world were recipients of elements of nuclear capabilities: Syria, question mark; Saudi Arabia, question mark; Egypt, question mark."

    See also Nuke Trader Khan Gave Major Boost to Arab State - Arieh O'Sullivan (Jerusalem Post)
    Days after former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy expressed fears that Syria, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia might have acquired some kind of nuclear capability via an illicit weapons trafficking network run by A.Q. Khan, the chief architect of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, Israeli military sources have said that, thanks to Khan, one of those three Arab states now has the potential to achieve a "significant nuclear leap."
    The sources said that Israel is aware of Khan's contacts with all three countries, but that he had provided to one of them expertise and material to manufacture nuclear bombs.
    They would not specify which country.

Britons Rank Israel "Worst Country" - Atarah Haber (Jerusalem Post)
    British people rate Israel as the country least deserving of international respect, as well as one of the world's "least democratic countries," according to a recent survey.
    The Telegraph asked Britons to rate almost two-dozen countries on the basis of 12 different criteria. Israel was ranked the number one country where British people would least like to live or visit on holiday.
    Israel gained the title of the world's least beautiful country, and was rated the most unfriendly country after France and Germany.
    In response to the poll, Zvi Hefetz, Israel's ambassador to England, said, "Other polls show that 49% of Britons wouldn't even like to live in their own country."
    Israel's Tourism Ministry said some 131,000 Britons visited Israel in 2004, a 44% increase from 2003.

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Dangers Awaiting Israel from the Road Map Process - Interview with Former Mossad Head Ephraim Halevy - David Horovitz (Jerusalem Post)

• If Abu Mazen succeeds, with the help of the Egyptians and others, in bringing down the level of violence over a period of time - a period of several months - it will be very difficult for Israel to say that this is unacceptable. There will be pressure on Israel to begin negotiating within the confines of the road map - even though, technically speaking, the steps that were taken in order to [reduce violence] were not exactly the steps which were outlined in the road map.
• I have maintained from the outset that the road map was an aberration. It is based not only on UN Resolutions 242 and 338, it also mentions the Saudi initiative and other resolutions. The road map itself was approved by the Security Council....It is not only accepted by the parties, but is the official document which is the basis for the future. And the fact that Israel has reservations on "14 points" is immaterial. The 14 points were not accepted even by the United States.
• The ultimate judgment of whether Stage A or Stage B [of the road map] has been obtained is in the hands of the Quartet, not in the hands of the parties. This is the beginning of an imposed solution. The whole structure of the road map creates an international forum which sort of adjudicates, it doesn't just monitor, the situation.
• The concept of the unilateral disengagement as it was presented was that unilateral disengagement would create a new situation which would last for some time, the assumption being that the parties were not ripe for final status negotiations.