Azerbaijan strongman appoints wife vice president

Baku (AFP) – Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on Tuesday appointed his glamorous wife as first vice president, the latest move seen as tightening the family’s iron grip on the oil-rich Caspian nation.
The elevation of Mehriban Aliyeva — a prominent socialite and lawmaker — sees her now become the country’s second most senior official after her husband.
“She is professional, educated, experienced, principled, and magnanimous,” Aliyev told a Nati