As the annual assembly approaches the end of its first week, Mr Ahmadinejad appears to be stealing the show. He has appeared on CBS and CNN television, had a bilateral meeting with Romano Prodi, Italy's prime minister, and addressed the august thinktank, the Council on Foreign Relations. If the White House was hoping he would come to New York, deliver his 15-minute speech to the assembly on Tuesday and then quietly go, they hoped wrong.

Iran's president began the substantial part of the press conference by adopting George Bush's technique. On Tuesday Mr Bush spoke to the people of Iran, ignoring the delegation from Tehran in the assembly chamber. Mr Ahmadinejad spoke to the people of America, saying he regretted that he had not had the chance to meet and talk to them directly.

He was quick to point out the failings of the US administration towards its own people. "My country offered help to the victims of Katrina," he said, "when we saw bodies floating in the water and the homeless." Asked about political prisoners in Iran, he replied: "There are 219 million people in the US and 68 million people in Iran. There are 3 million prisoners in the US and 130,000 in Iran. The percentage is much higher."

At the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday night, Mr Ahmadinejad proved to be a formidable interlocutor for some of America's most experienced minds on international affairs. He ended the session by asking whether the thinktank's members were speaking for the Bush administration. The decision to invite him to speak to the institution caused some of its members to refuse to attend.

With Iran's nuclear programme dominating the backstage diplomacy at the UN this week, Mr Ahmadinejad consistently denied that Tehran was involved in developing the bomb. "The bottom line is we don't need the bomb. Some people think you can deal with problems through the bomb, and they are wrong," he said.

He accused America of being hostile towards his country for 27 years and said Washington's stance was hypocritical, "coming from the country which has an immense stockpile of nuclear bombs and even today is developing a new, more frightening, generation of bombs".

Only once did he raise his voice a little. "We will stand up when we are oppressed and when people try and impose their will on us. We will never permit that, never permit that," he said.

He spoke of his belief in "love and peace" and dismissed the portrayal of him in the west, even slipping into the third person. "Even if Ahmadinejad, even if I were a person who would keep my silence, do you think injustice would go unnoticed?" he asked. He offered conciliatory words for Israel. "We love everybody around the world: Jews, Christians, Muslims ..." Minutes later he qualified his words: "Zionists are not Jews. Zionists are Zionists," he said.

"Our lions are so powerful that they can strike the enemy like lightning and destroy him," he added.

The comments of Davoodi -- standing in for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has yet to return from a visit to the United Nations in New York -- come at a time of mounting tension over Tehran's contested nuclear programme.

The United States has never ruled out using force to make Iran comply over its atomic drive that Washington charges is aimed at making nuclear weapons. Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for civilian energy purposes only.

Iran has also never been shy of warning it would retaliate if the Islamic republic was attacked and the parade included its longest-range missile, the Shahab-3, which has the range to hit Israel and US installations in the Middle East.

"Are you not proud to see the Shahab-3, a missile with a range of 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles)?" boomed the commentator over the loudpeakers as two green Shahab-3s were driven past the parade ground on the back of a truck.

The missile was up until last year believed to have a range of 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) but Iran has worked on extending its range.

However the missiles appeared to lack the anti-Israeli and anti-US slogans that were daubed on the weapon at last year's event and caused European diplomats present to stage a walk-out in protest.

A succession of other missiles were also on display, including the short-range Fajr and the medium-range Nazeat, Shahab-1, Shahab-2 and Zelzal.

Thousands of soldiers clutching their rifles marched past Davoodi and other dignitaries to the sound of martial music in an event that has become Iran's most significant annual display of its military might.

The parade, which marks the anniversary of the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980, took place just opposite the mausoleum built for Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on the outskirts of Tehran.

"Our armed forces have no need for their power to be based on atomic weapons, this power is based on our convictions," said Davoodi, restating Tehran's denial of US allegations it is seeking nuclear weapons.

While Iran remains at loggerheads with the West over its nuclear programme, it has been engaged in talks with the European Union to find a solution and in New York Ahmadinejad said that discussions were on the "right path".

Davoodi also played up the importance of major war games that Iran has staged in the past month which have seen it claim the development of new missiles and warplanes.

"In the recent manoeuvres the armed forces showed their power, notably in the areas that were once the monopoly of the great powers," said Davoodi.

"We will resist until the end," proclaimed a slogan on the main grandstand erected for the parade, which coincided with a march to Beirut by supporters of Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah to mark its resistance against Israel.

Among the thousands of armed forces personnel marching past the main grandstand were ethnic minority members of Iran's Basij militia in their national dress, including Kurds, Baluch, and for the first time Arabs.

"I call for a serious debate (in Egypt), taking into consideration what nuclear tecnology can provide by way of clean, inexpensive energy sources," he said.

He said Egypt was "not starting from zero. We have knowledge of this technology, enabling us to move forward with it."

US Ambassador to Egypt, Francis Ricciardone, said the United States had no problem with an Egyptian nuclear program and is ready to supply technology to help.

"There is no comparison between Iran and Egypt in this field. Iran has a nuclear weapons program, but using nuclear power for peaceful means is a totally different matter," he told the Egyptian TV station El-Mehwar.

"If Egypt, after detailed study on this subject, decides that nuclear power is a positive thing and important for Egypt, we can cooperate in this field. Why not?" he said.

The 42-year-old Gamal Mubarak made the nuclear proposal during a speech on Tuesday at a conference of the ruling National Democratic Party, where he is the deputy secretary general.

Egypt has conducted nuclear experiments on a very small scale for the past four decades, but they have not included the key process of uranium enrichment, according to the UN's nuclear watchdog.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a 2005 report that the program did not appear to be aimed at developing weapons.

Katsav's attorney Zion Amir called the second complainant's testimony "a shocking story bordering on fantasy."

"The evidence that we have in our hands completely disproves this woman's testimony," he said, adding, "she was fired from her job and swore to seek revenge."

The team investigating President Moshe Katsav for alleged rape and other charges presented its intermim findings to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz on Tuesday.

Investigators believe the material collected so far contains enough evidence for at least three charges in the affair.

Based on the evidence it appears highly likely that at the end of the investigation, the team will recommend indicting Katsav, apparently on three charges.

While the evidence is strong regarding the charges of sexual harassment, in the other matters, improper conduct in the granting of pardons and wiretapping of President's Residence employees, more evidence is needed. But police sources said there is some evidence on which to base these charges.

Most of the investigation, which started about two months ago, has been completed, and sources close to the investigation said the probe could end within a few weeks after which a decision could be made on an indictment. Contrary to rumors over the past few days, it was not decided in the meeting to hold a confrontation between the former staff member known as A., who claimed Katsav raped her, and the president.

Investigators said it would be enough for Katsav to take a polygraph test to prove his version of events.

At the end of Tuesday's meeting attended by State Prosecutor Eran Shendar, his assistant Shuki Lamberger, other senior Justice Ministry officials, and the head of the police investigation, Brigadier General Yoav Segelovitch, Mazuz instructed the investigators to requestion a number of individuals. Katsav is not expected to be questioned again.

Haaretz has also learned that the detectives on the case are expected to question individuals who have not yet given testimony next week. The team has been instructed to complete the investigation as soon as possible due to Mazuz's decision not to publish an interim report. Mazuz is expected to render a decision in two to three months.

Haniyeh said Hamas is ready to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War, and to honor a long-term truce with Israel.

"We support establishing a Palestinian state in the land of 1967 at this stage, but in return for a cease-fire, not recognition," Haniyeh said.

At the United Nations on Thursday, Abbas indicated that the planned national unity government between Hamas and his Fatah Party would recognize the Jewish state.

But Haniyeh's political adviser, Ahmed Yousef, told The Associated Press on Friday that "there won't be a national unity government if Hamas is asked to recognize Israel." Instead, he reiterated Hamas' offer of a long-term truce.

Abbas was still in New York on Friday, and couldn't be immediately reached for comment on Yousef's remarks. A close adviser, Nabil Amr, clarified that the Palestinian president would not ask Hamas to explicitly recognize Israel, but to abide by Palestine Liberation Organization agreements that recognize the Jewish state.

"We expect Hamas to agree to this," Amr said.

Hamas, which swept Palestinian parliamentary elections in January, currently rules alone. But Abbas, elected separately last year, has been toiling for months to broaden the government in the hope of easing crushing international sanctions imposed on the Hamas-led government to force it to soften its violent anti-Israel ideology.

Last week, the two sides announced they would govern together, and strive to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel - an objective that implies recognition of the Jewish state.

But coalition talks have faltered because the West and Israel have balked at restoring hundreds of millions of dollars in funding until Hamas clearly states its willingness to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept existing peace agreements between Israel and the Palestinians.

Abbas told a U.N. forum on Thursday that the national unity government would commit to all past agreements between the Palestinians and Israel, including letters exchanged by the two sides in 1993 that call for mutual recognition and the renunciation of violence.

Officials from both Fatah and Hamas said privately Friday that it wasn't clear whether Abbas' speech was meant to solicit international support for the planned government, or a new condition to forming a coalition with Hamas.

In deciding to form a coalition with Fatah, Hamas had agreed to "respect" past agreements, but didn't commit to them, calling into question Abbas' ability to maneuver in any future peacemaking. Hamas is afraid that committing to past agreements would be tantamount to recognizing Israel, which it is sworn to destroy.

Yousef said instead of recognizing Israel, Hamas was prepared to agree to a "long-term truce for five or 10 years, until the occupation withdraws."

In the past, Hamas has offered a long-term truce in exchange for an Israeli commitment to withdraw from all of the West Bank and east Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel rejects that demand.

Yousef said renouncing violence was a clause of the agreement underlying the planned coalition government. He was unclear on what Hamas would do if coalition talks break down.

A spokesman for the Hamas-led government, Ghazi Hamad, said the group would ask Abbas to clarify his remarks after he returns from his trip.

Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin reiterated Israel's demand that any Palestinian government yield to the demands the international community has imposed.