News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said his situation in the latest corruption probe is similar to that of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and former Prime Minister Tony Blair, the London Times reported. "I look at the manner in which my friends Tony Blair and Silvio Berlusconi were in a similar situation," Prime Minister Olmert said. "They were accused in similar ways, one of trading contributions for titles and one for trying to bribe a judge. They were cleared entirely and didn't stop taking care of the state."
 
He also said he has talked with Avram Grant, the Israeli coach of a British soccer team, to learn "how it is to deal with the pressure when a head coach [has] 50,000 fans who are expressing their opinion momentarily, without waiting, just as it happens, and you are just by yourself."

Prime Minister Olmert added, "You know when you get into this job that you're not going to have fun. You're going to have tough months and difficult years."