The United States and Britain are preparing drafts for a punishing new UN resolution against Iran that could impose sweeping travel bans on the country’s top military and security officials, require inspections on its cargo flights and ships, forbid all import and export of arms shipments, and freeze the assets …

The bloody takeover of Gaza by Hamas was a “coup against legitimacy”, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Saturday, two days before he hosts a regional summit seen as an attempt to isolate the Islamist group.

Iraqi officials say a US-backed draft oil law will soon be returned to the Cabinet for approval after Kurds agreed to a compromise revenue-sharing measure. But they said many key sticking points remain unresolved — and not even addressed — in the watered-down legislation.