Kazakh government resigns after violent protests

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev accepted the government's resignation on Wednesday, his office said, and appointed Alikhan Smailov, previously first deputy PM, as acting prime minister.

The move followed violent protests on Tuesday, which prompted Tokayev to declare a state of emergency in the Central Asian nation's biggest city, Almaty, and the oil-producing western Mangistau province.