Tony Blair set the stage for a potential political comeback last night with the shock announcement that he is shutting down his secretive money-making empire.

There is nothing special about Taraz, who runs in a 0-80 handicap at Pontefract (5.40) but there's plenty out of the ordinary about the four-year-old's owner, Nurlan Bizakov, all the way from Kazakhstan.

The Opec and IEA reports this week pretty much buried any remaining hopes of substantial market rebalancing this year.

Prime Minister Karim Massimov has been ousted by Kazakhstan’s leader after a flurry of social media activity. There is more to this than meets the eye.

A weakening economy has triggered top-level changes in oil-rich Kazakhstan by President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The latest shift in Kazakhstan’s highest echelons of state power has almost immediately led to speculations concerning the eventuality that the head of state, now 76, but apparently still in good health as opposed to his ailing peer in Uzbekistan, is preparing the ground for his succession.