Briefly

KYRGYZSTAN

President accepts prime minister's resignation

Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov signed an order dismissing Prime Minister Kubatbek Boronov and his Cabinet on Friday, his office said in a statement. Kyrgyz members of Parliament said Boronov tendered his resignation after opposition groups on Tuesday seized government buildings. The president later ordered troops to be deployed in the capital Bishkek as he declared a state of emergency. His order did not say how many troops must be deployed but instructed them to use military vehicles, set up checkpoints, and prevent armed clashes.

RUSSIA

Talks set between Armenia, Azerbaijan

Armenia and Azerbaijan have confirmed their foreign ministers will come for talks in Moscow, the RIA news agency cited Russia's foreign ministry as saying on Friday. With President Vladimir Putin calling for a halt to military actions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Kremlin extended the invitation to Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and his Armenian counterpart Zohrab Mnatsakanyan. The latest outburst of fighting began on Sept 27 and marked the biggest escalation of the decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

MALI

Politician, 3 European hostages freed

Freed Malian politician Soumaila Cisse and three Europeans arrived in Bamako on Thursday aboard a Malian military transport plane, ending their captivity in the hands of Islamist insurgents. Cisse, 70, a politician who served as finance minister in the 1990s, was kidnapped by gunmen while campaigning for legislative elections in the northern region of Timbuktu in March. The release of the hostages follows a tense few days as reports that Malian authorities had freed scores of suspected militants over the weekend fueled expectations of an imminent prisoner swap.

INDIA

Economy to contract by 9.5% in current year

India's economy is likely to contract by 9.5 percent in the current fiscal year 2020-21, said the governor of the Reserve Bank of India Shaktikanta Das on Friday. He said that both private investment and exports are likely to be subdued, especially as external demand is still anemic. For the year as a whole, real GDP is expected to decline by 9.5 percent. However, despite the grim economic scenario, the bank kept its repo rate unchanged at 4 percent for the second consecutive time.

Agencies - Xinhua