Most UK dailies report yesterday’s sentencing in the Jerusalem District Court of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, after he was convicted in July of breach of trust charges over the allocation of government contracts. The Evening Standard, Financial Times, Independent, Metro, Telegraph, Times and Independent i all cover the court’s decision to fine Olmert the equivalent of £11,000 and hand him a suspended 12-month prison sentence. Olmert was forced to resign as Prime Minister in 2009 in the wake of a series of corruption allegations. However, he was acquitted of most of the eventual charges and it is believed that yesterday’s sentencing could pave the way for his return to politics.

Meanwhile, significant coverage is also given to comments made yesterday in New York by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Having arrived in the United States ahead of this week’s United Nations General Assembly, at which he is scheduled to make a speech on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad conducted a series of interviews. The Daily Mirror, Financial Times and Telegraph all report Ahmadinejad’s comments. Not for the first time, Ahmadinejad questioned Israel’s legitimacy to exist in the region. He also claimed that Iran does not take the prospect of an Israeli military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities seriously.

The Financial Times online reports the arrest in Iran of Mehdi Hashemi, the son of the country’s former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is viewed as a relative pragmatist on the Iranian political scene. Hashemi’s arrest comes just days after his sister was sentenced to a six-month prison sentence for alleged anti-state propaganda. The arrests of Rafsanjani’s children are believed to be evidence of political infighting within the regime and the Financial Times report suggests that they could even serve as a warning to president Ahmadinejad, who wants an ally to succeed him when he steps down next year.

The Guardian online reports a decision by the supreme leader of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, to step down from his position, once a successor has been chosen. Mashaal has led Hamas since 1996 and rules from afar, formerly from the Syrian capital Damascus and more recently Qatar. The report speculates that Mashaal’s decision was influenced by disagreements with the Hamas leadership in Gaza.

Also online, the Independent reports on the ruling of an American court to order the BBC to hand over tapes of unused footage collected for the documentary ‘Arafat Investigated’, aired almost a decade ago. The material is being requested by lawyers representing the victims and families of those killed by suicide bombings in Jerusalem in the early 2000s. It is believed that two men interviewed in the footage describe the Al Aqsa Brigades, which claimed responsibility for numerous attacks, as being under the control of former Palestinian Authority (PA) President Yasser Arafat, making the PA liable for damages under US law.

The headlines in the Israeli media are dominated by the sentencing of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, which is the main story in Yediot Ahronot, Haaretz and Israel Hayom. Both Yediot Ahronot and Israel Hayom speculate that the state prosecutor is set to appeal Olmert’s acquittal on other charges earlier this summer. Meanwhile, commentator Nahum Barnea offers an analysis in Yediot Ahronot, arguing that quick decisions by either the state prosecutor or Olmert on his political future would be premature.

Meanwhile, both Maariv and Makor Rishon give prominence to developments ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Makor Rishon focuses on the latest hostile comments towards Israel from Iranian President Ahamadinejad, while Maariv reports on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s preparation for his speech to the gathering, in which he is expected to present his own red lines over the Iranian nuclear programme. Haaretz also carries a prominent report, which claims that US President Obama will make a speech at the General Assembly this evening which will send an assertive message to Iran, but stop short of issuing an ultimatum over nuclear development.