[JURIST] A month-long conference at the United Nations to review the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty [UN backgrounder] ended Friday with no consensus. Ambassador Sergio Duarte of Brazil, President of the 2005 NPT Review Conference [official website] told a press briefing that although the conference had accomplished very little, there had been some progress "in the ways issues were discussed and the interest that delegations had shown in those discussions and…documents presented." The conference was aimed at curtailing the spread of nuclear weapons [JURIST news archive], and was slowed by arguments among the United States, Iran and Egypt in particular. Throughout the conference the United States was criticized [JURIST report] for trying to keep the focus on alleged nuclear threats from Iran and North Korea. Egypt blocked any progress after its demands that Israel be sanctioned for possessing nuclear weapons and not signing the treaty were rejected. The Los Angeles Times has more.