Astana - The political insider who replaced long-reigning Nursultan Nazarbayev as president of Kazakhstan on Wednesday is a somewhat unusual figure in Kazakhstan's elite.

Almaty - Kazakhstan's parliament on Wednesday voted to rename the country's capital in honour of long-time ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev, a day after he resigned as president.

Almaty - People under 30 in Kazakhstan have only known one leader -- Nursultan Nazarbayev, who announced his resignation this week after shepherding the country from the Soviet era.

Almaty - Kazakhstan's new president was sworn in Wednesday following the shock resignation of the country's long-time ruler and in his first official act renamed the capital after his predecessor.

Astana - The head of Kazakhstan's senate was sworn in as interim president in a pomp-filled ceremony Wednesday, and immediately proposed renaming the country's capital after his predecessor.

Almaty - Nursultan Nazarbayev may have resigned as president of Kazakhstan but analysts say the longest-serving post-Soviet leader will hardly be easing into retirement.

Astana - Nursultan Nazarbayev ruled Kazakhstan for almost 30 years and turned the Central Asian country into an energy powerhouse while governing with little tolerance for opposition.

Astana - Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced his shock resignation on Tuesday, 29 years after taking office."I have taken the decision to resign from the post of presidency," the 78-year-old said in a speech broadcast on state television.

Baikonur - A Russian cosmonaut and two US astronauts arrived Friday at the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, five months after the failed launch of a rocket carrying two of the passengers.

Baikonur - Astronauts who survived an abortive Soyuz launch said Wednesday they were confident about their upcoming flight to the International Space Station despite some last-minute malfunctions.

Almaty - Kazakh police on Sunday arrested an activist who has campaigned for victims of China's re-education drive in Xinjiang, sealing his informal group's office and taking its computers.

Almaty - As Gulzira Auelkhan toiled stitching gloves in a factory in China's troubled Xinjiang region, her managers made no secret of where her production would be sold.

Astana - Kazakhstan's long-ruling President Nursultan Nazarbayev appointed a new prime minister on Monday, his office said, after dismissing the government over a lack of economic development.

Almaty - Kazakhstan on Thursday sentenced two men accused of killing Denis Ten, a figure skater who won bronze at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, to 18 years in a penal colony.

Almaty - Kazakhstan on Wednesday said dozens of its citizens, including children, had been evacuated from Syria after being held "hostage" in the country.

Almaty - The trial of two men accused of murdering a male figure skater who won bronze at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 has begun in Kazakhstan, two local news agencies reported Thursday.

Baikonur - A Soyuz rocket carrying Russian, American and Canadian astronauts took off from Kazakhstan and reached orbit on Monday, the first manned mission since a failed launch in October.

Baikonur - Astronauts set to board the first manned space mission since an unprecedented accident aboard Russia's Soyuz, on Sunday brushed aside safety concerns, saying they were ready to take risks.

Astana - The United Nations envoy on Syria signed off from his posting Thursday ruing "a missed opportunity" to help end the country's long conflict at talks in Kazakhstan's capital Astana.

Astana - Negotiators from Iran, Russia and Turkey met in Kazakhstan's capital Astana on Wednesday, the Kazakh foreign ministry said, for two days of talks aiming to preserve a fragile 10-week-old truce in northern Syria.