JERUSALEM (AP) – In seven hours of testimony and intense questioning, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday defended his much-criticized actions during the war in Lebanon before a commission whose findings could determine his political fate.

A long-awaited National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, presented to President Bush by the intelligence community yesterday, outlines an increasingly perilous situation in which the United States has little control and there is a strong possibility of further deterioration, according to sources familiar with the document.

CAIRO. — German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday on means of reviving the Mideast peace process and boosting bilateral co-operation, Germany ambassador to Cairo Bernd Erbel said here yesterday.