MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin brushed aside a demand by the Communist Party to sack Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin on Thursday, saying now was not the time to discuss mistakes made by economic authorities.

An Iraqi MP from the bloc of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has died in a roadside bombing in Baghdad.

At least three police officers and a civilian have been killed in an attack in Diyarbakir in south-eastern Turkey. Unidentified assailants reportedly opened fire on a police bus on the ouskirts of the mainly Kurdish city. 22 other people, mainly trainee officers, have been injured.