VIENNA — Iran is almost certain not to heed a UN call for it to stop nuclear fuel work by next Saturday, setting the stage for a showdown on what the United States says is a secret Iranian drive to make atom bombs. “New York is the key now,” a …

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — A lethal arrest raid, a suicide bombing, fresh land expropriations, a threatening Hamas video: So far, that’s the follow-up to Israel’s historic Gaza pullout. Rather than seize the moment to jump-start negotiations, Israelis and Palestinians appear to be falling into a familiar pattern of violence and rhetoric. …

CAIRO — Five years ago, sociologist and activist Saadeddin Ibrahim broke a taboo by publicly criticising Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Hours later, he was in jail. “Everybody said that was the red line I crossed,” said Ibrahim, who wrote in a magazine article that leaders of Arab republics, including Egypt, …