Aktau - The leaders of the five states bordering the resource-rich Caspian Sea signed a landmark deal on its legal status on Sunday in the Kazakh city of Aktau, easing regional tensions and potentially facilitating lucrative oil and gas projects.

Aktau - The leaders of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan are meeting in the Kazakh port city of Aktau on Sunday to sign a landmark deal on the Caspian Sea.

Aktau - The leaders of the five states bordering the resource-rich Caspian Sea signed a landmark deal Sunday on the legal status of the inland sea which boasts a wealth of oil and gas reserves and sturgeon.

Zharkent - A Kazakh court on Wednesday freed a Chinese citizen who gave testimony on a secretive network of Chinese "re-education camps" during her explosive immigration trial.

Astana - Kazakh figure skater Denis Ten, who won bronze at the Sochi Olympics in 2014, died on Thursday aged 25 after being stabbed, Kazakhstan's culture and sports ministry told AFP.

- Secretive "re-education camps" allegedly holding hundreds of thousands of people in a Muslim-majority region in western China are the focus of an explosive court case in Kazakhstan, testing the country's ties with Beijing.

Astana - Kazakhstan on Friday marked 20 years since steppe city Astana became the country's capital with pomp and ceremony, as calls for protests by an exiled critic of the country's authoritarian leader fell flat.

Almaty - Police detained dozens of opposition protesters in Kazakhstan's largest city on Saturday after the exiled nemesis of long-time leader Nursultan Nazarbayev called for rallies across the country.

Baikonur - A relatively inexperienced crew of two astronauts and a cosmonaut blasted off Wednesday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a five-month mission on the International Space Station.

Astana - Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov made it back to Earth Sunday along with an official match football that could be used later this month in the opening game of the World Cup in Moscow.

Astana - Kazakhstan's parliament on Wednesday passed a bill that would cement its veteran ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev's status as the country's top power broker even if he decides to retire as president.

Astana - Talks on Syria spearheaded by Russia in Astana failed to edge the seven-year conflict closer to a political settlement Tuesday and cast the future of diplomatic efforts to end the crisis into uncertainty.

Astana - Russian chief negotiator Alexander Lavrentyev on Monday upbraided the United States for not sending a delegation to observe the latest round of Syria peace talks in Kazakhstan.

Baikonur - Two astronauts, a cosmonaut and a ball set to be used in the forthcoming football World Cup in Russia blasted off Wednesday for a two-day flight to the International Space Station.

Astana - Moscow will expel British diplomats in response to London's move to kick out 23 Russian officials over the poisoning of ex-double agent Sergei Skripal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.

Astana - The foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey were locked in talks on Syria in Kazakhstan Friday, almost a month after the Moscow and Tehran-backed regime began pounding an opposition enclave just outside of Damascus.

Dzhezkazgan - Two NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut returned to Earth on Wednesday, rounding off a mission of more than five months aboard the International Space Station.

Astana - Fifty-two people were killed Thursday when the Russia-bound bus they were travelling on caught fire in Kazakhstan, the central Asian nation's emergency services ministry said."On January 18 at 10:30 am (0430 GMT), a bus caught fire ...

Astana - Major powerbrokers agreed Friday to hold a peace congress for Syria in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi in late January after previous attempts to hold the conference collapsed.

Astana - The main powerbrokers in Syria's nearly seven-year conflict were heading towards a second day of negotiations in Astana as uncertainly loomed Thursday over a Moscow-driven plan to quickly reach a political settlement.