BAGHDAD – Iraq’s oil minister said a helicopter from the U.S.-led coalition caused a blaze on Tuesday that shut the major Shuaiba refinery near the southern oil hub of Basra, but an industry official blamed a mortar attack.

LONDON – Russia and Britain traded threats and recrimination on Tuesday as a diplomatic feud over the role of the British government’s cultural arm worsened.

MOSCOW – Mothers of children seized by rebels at a southern Russia school in 2004 threatened on Tuesday to use a legal action brought by authorities against them to expose President Vladimir Putin’s role in the bungled rescue.