A passenger jet carrying 90 people, including a Kyrgyz high school basketball team, crashed shortly after takeoff today near the Kyrgyz capital, killing at least 65, government officials said.

Tens of thousands of angry demonstrators rallied outside the Kyrgyz president’s headquarters today, demanding he resign in a dispute over proposed political reforms that would cut his powers.

Russian politicians were to vote today on a motion fiercely condemning Georgia’s pro-Western leadership as an anti-Georgia campaign gathered steam after Moscow imposed sweeping sanctions on the small neighbouring state.

KYRGYZSTAN’S new president has said the Central Asian country will pursue an independent foreign policy, and will not be “a place for the fulfilment of someone else’s geopolitical interests”.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld won assurances from top government officials today that American forces face no near-term deadline for withdrawing from an air base near the Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek that they use to support combat and humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.

REFUGEES who fled a crackdown by Uzbek troops said yesterday they dared not return home, and the UN turned up the volume on its demands for an inquiry into deaths believed to have run into hundreds.

Kyrgyzstan’s parliament today set June 26 as the date for elections to replace President Askar Akayev, who was ousted two days ago when demonstrators stormed government headquarters, the legislature’s press service said.

Seven people were killed and 26 were injured today when a container of fireworks exploded, detonating a gas tank in a crowded market in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.