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A Tbilisi appeal court swaps a 5-year sentence in the '4 October' case for 1 year and a plea; Kobakhidze says repentance is the price of release
The Tbilisi Court of Appeal on Friday approved a procedural agreement between prosecutors and Nikoloz Gventsadze, a marketing specialist and former lecturer at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs who was convicted in May of attempting to seize a strategic facility and of group violence during the 4 October 2025 attempt to storm the presidential palace: his 5-year sentence becomes 1 year in prison and 3 suspended, and he leaves prison in early October, NewsGeorgia reported. The same afternoon Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told journalists in Batumi that Georgia has no prisoners of conscience and that the state is ready to forgive "each of them, if there is repentance and admission on their part".
The World Bank offers Mongolia a non-binding 'Country Compact' for its mines as the stock exchange signs up London for dual listings
The World Bank has proposed drawing up a 'Country Compact' for Mongolia's mining and minerals sector, a document the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources describes as a declaration of goals, priorities, timelines and results, carrying no legally binding obligations, and neither a contract nor a memorandum, Montsame reported on Friday. A day earlier the Mongolian Stock Exchange and the Central Securities Depository announced a 'Mongolia Capital Market 2.0' roadmap with the London Stock Exchange Group covering trading, settlement and custody systems and dual listings for Mongolian companies, ikon.mn reported.
Kazakhstan's army will clear mines from a Caspian seabed block for the pipelines of a Lukoil project that KazMunayGas paused in March
A draft law amending Kazakhstan's Tax Code, on public discussion until 25 September, states that the Ministry of Defence will demine area No. 200 of the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea, through which the planned subsea oil pipelines of the Kalamkas-More and Khazar project are to run, Prime and Lada.kz reported on Thursday. The operator, Kalamkas-Khazar Operating LLP, a 50-50 venture of Lukoil and KazMunayGas, is to buy the equipment and transfer it to the ministry's ownership; KazMunayGas said in March that the project was suspended because of the sanctions imposed on Lukoil.
Tokayev reappoints the heads of the Constitutional Court, the election commission and the audit chamber, and tells 8 new ambassadors Kazakhstan has to hold together
President Tokayev signed decrees on Friday appointing Elvira Azimova chairwoman of the Constitutional Court, Nurlan Abdirov chairman of the Central Election Commission and Alikhan Smailov chairman of the Higher Audit Chamber, the posts all 3 already held, Akorda's releases carried by Tengrinews and Zakon.kz show. In the afternoon he received the credentials of 8 ambassadors at the Palace of Independence and told them the doors of the state would stay open to them "because we need to hold together in this very restless and turbulent world".
Pashinyan's government drafts the Trump route company's charter the day after the court's ruling; Iran's ambassador asks Yerevan for a standing channel on the route
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan chaired a meeting on Thursday on the legal and contractual package of the TRIPP Development Company, its charter and the draft shareholder agreement, his office said, and discussions in that format will continue. The same evening Iran's ambassador, Khalil Shirgholami, said in remarks Armenia Today and NEWS.am reported that a joint institutionalised mechanism with Armenia's government would be the best way to address Tehran's concern about an American presence on the Armenia-Iran border.
Oyu Tolgoi's revenue runs $1.9 billion ahead of plan in 8 months; the copper dividend is still dated 2027
Oyu Tolgoi LLC earned $5.5 billion in January to August against a plan of $3.6 billion, ikon.mn reported on Thursday from the company's quarterly report, with copper output at 276,000 tonnes against 251,700 planned and gold at 339,000 ounces against 286,000. Taxes, fees and other payments to the state stood at ₮834 billion as of the second quarter, about $232 million at the central bank's rate posted for Thursday.
Uzbekistan's asset agency puts $145 million of privatisation money in the budget and an $851 million Mobiuz deal on a year-end clock
The deputy director of the State Assets Management Agency, Alisher Miraliev, told Spot at the Cbonds capital-market conference on Thursday that the $65 million paid for Humo and the $80 million paid for SamAuto have reached the budget in full, that the consortium which won Mobiuz is negotiating a contract to close by the end of 2026, and that Asakabank may be the first state bank sold, though not this year.
Kyrgyzstan widens its fuel export ban to petroleum gases; the Chinese-owned Junda refinery gets a 4,800-tonne exception
The cabinet has added customs headings 2711 and 2901 to the temporary ban on exports of oil and petroleum products it imposed in July, 24.kg reported on Friday, so that petroleum gases, LPG among them, and acyclic hydrocarbons join the petrol and diesel that may not leave. Heating oil made by China Petrol Company Junda LLC may leave, up to 4,800 tonnes.
Pashinyan calls the “Western Azerbaijan” narrative a threat to the peace and puts Kyarki inside 29,743 square kilometres; Shoigu declares Moscow’s crisis with Baku over
At a security conference in Yerevan on Thursday the Armenian prime minister named the “Western Azerbaijan” narrative a serious challenge and a threat to Armenia’s security, and drew the state’s border by the Soviet republic’s 29,743 square kilometres, with the Azerbaijani enclaves outside it and Artsvashen inside. In Moscow the same day Russia’s Security Council secretary said the crisis with Baku had been overcome by joint effort and that Russia “is not ready and will not finance” Armenia’s European integration.
A Turkish shipowner takes the Black Sea drone war to the ICC over a bosun killed off Novorossiysk; Russia claims 3 more freighters hit in Chornomorsk
The owner of the Turkish-flagged Reyhan Sari, 12 of its crew and the family of Savas Cakar, the 54-year-old bosun killed when a drone hit the ship off Novorossiysk on 22 July, have lodged a complaint at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, DenizHaber reported on Thursday morning. Twenty-two minutes later Russia’s defence ministry said its drones had struck 3 dry-cargo ships and a ferry in the port of Chornomorsk.
Kyrgyzstan raises its 2027 quota for foreign workers to 120,000, up from 100,000 this year and 42,000 in 2025
The cabinet's new order does not say which countries or sectors get the places. China, India, Turkey and Pakistan lead the requests, 24.kg reported; Kaktus.media says the workers go mainly to construction and sewing. The foreign ministry has distributed the quota since 2025.
Ashgabat lists 16 more Korean documents, from the Turkmenbashi refinery to the Balkan shipyard; its own summit readout is stamped 23:55
The government press service's list pairs the refinery complex with YUHANTECH, the auto-transport ministry with Hyundai Corporation, the communications ministry with LS Cable & System and the water committee with Daewoo E&C. None carries a sum. The state site's post on the Seoul summit names six documents and the four other presidents.
A Chinese bidder's 100 MW solar plant opens at Pirsaat; Baku's agencies call it the first project awarded by auction
Universal International Holdings Limited won the site in 2024. The plant in Baku's Garadagh district is to produce about 200 million kilowatt-hours a year and save 45 million cubic metres of gas. Azeri Light printed at $128.03 the same morning.
A Tbilisi court gives Georgia's former security chief 13 years for bribes as parliament seats the fourth head of his old service
Grigol Liluashvili, who ran the State Security Service from October 2019 to April 2025, was convicted of taking bribes in an especially large amount as a group on all four episodes of the indictment, under article 338 of the Criminal Code, which carries 11 to 15 years. He denies the charges.
The tenge closes at 444.88 to the dollar, its strongest since May 2024, while the budget law is written at 540
The dollar's weighted average at the close of day trading on KASE was 444.88 tenge on Wednesday, down 2.8, its lowest since May 2024, Tengrinews reported at 15:44. For the day the National Bank's official rate is 447.88. The 2026 budget law assumes 540 tenge to the dollar and $60 oil.
Georgia's parliament confirms Tamaz Borashvili as its fourth security chief in 18 months, 83 votes to none
Parliament approved Tamaz Borashvili as head of the State Security Service on Wednesday, Interpressnews reported at 12:36: 83 deputies voted for, none against, for a term the law sets at six years. He is the fourth holder of the post since April 2025. Anri Okhanashvili took it on 4 April 2025 and left on 23 August; Mamuka Mdinaradze was confirmed on 3 September 2025 and resigned on 21 April 2026; Gela Geladze followed and announced his resignation on Monday.
Mongolia's budget committees vote to strike the spending ceiling and the base balance from the fiscal rule's 9 indicators
A joint sitting of the State Great Khural's budget and economic standing committees on Wednesday backed, with 56.7% of members present, a bill that removes two of the nine indicators from the Budget Stability Law's framework statement, the consolidated budget's base expenditure ceiling and its base balance, and replaces them with a total expenditure growth rate and a capital expenditure amount, Montsame reported at 15:25. First deputy prime minister Zh. Enkhbayar presented it. The committees' conclusion goes to the plenary.
Russia's refiners keep their diesel at home to the end of October, Vedomosti and RBC report; the intergovernmental exemption that feeds Dushanbe stands
The Russian government has decided to extend the export ban on diesel for producers to the end of October 2026, Interfax reported at 08:10 on Wednesday, citing Vedomosti and RBC on the outcome of Alexander Novak's meeting of 14 September. The ban was due to lapse on 30 September. No resolution has been published; Interfax carried the decision as media reports of the government's plans.
Zijin, building a $600 million gold plant at Raygorodok, tells Kazakhstan's first deputy prime minister it wants the Shalkiya zinc deposit
Nurlybek Nalibayev met representatives of Zijin Mining Group on Tuesday, the government's site reported at 20:35 Astana time. The Chinese company, which produced more than 1 million tonnes of copper and 90 tonnes of gold in 2025, is putting more than $600 million into a new gold-extraction plant at Raygorodok in Akmola oblast and 'expressed interest' in the Shalkiya lead-zinc deposit in Kyzylorda oblast, a state asset whose own project page still shows a schedule that ended in 2022.
Mongolia's prime minister removes his justice minister 2 days after the prisons chief accused him in public over his driver's relatives
Prime Minister Uchral relieved Justice and Interior Minister S. Amarsaikhan of his post on Wednesday, the government's press office said, because the branch responsible for the country's internal security 'has become unable to operate normally'. On Monday the head of the Court Decision Enforcement General Office, A. Namsamand, had told the media that the minister had his driver's wife and a younger sibling appointed as heads and threatened over other appointments.