Moscow / AFP President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday appointed former prime minister and long-term nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko to the key position of deputy head of his presidential administration. The appointment is the latest in a broader reshuffle by the Russian leader that has seen some of his top allies shifted. The Kremlin published a decree on the appointment …

  United Nations / AFP The race to become the next UN chief takes a decisive turn on Wednesday when the big powers at the Security Council will for the first time indicate which candidates they are prepared to block. During the sixth straw poll to pick the new secretary-general, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States will use pink …

  Ankara / AFP Iraq and Turkey on Wednesday were summoning their respective ambassadors in an increasingly acrimonious dispute between the two neighbours ahead of a planned operation to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from extremists. Ankara called in the Iraqi ambassador while Baghdad said it had decided to summon the Turkish envoy following bitter verbal exchanges, the two …