Kazakhstan’s President Steps Down After Three Decades in Power

Kazakhstan’s longtime authoritarian leader has announced he’ll step down as president after three decades in power. Nursultan Nazarbayev has led the Central Asian nation since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, ruling it as a one-party state. Nazarbayev’s government says it will rename Kazakhstan’s capital from Astana to Nursultan to honor the 78-year-old leader, whose 55-year-old daughter Dariga was just elected speaker of the upper house of parliament, making her a possible successor.