Kazakhstan, China, Niger.

Today's three stories you should know.

Kazakhstan

Absolute chaos in Kazakhstan today. Police fired tear gas and stun grenades as thousands of people demonstrated in every city in the country. What started as a protest over spiralling fuel prices has widened into anger at the authorities over myriad issues. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev responded by firing his entire government and declaring a state of emergency, but the protests have continued.

More from Al Jazeera here.

China

China today reported a significant drop in Covid cases in Xi’an, a city of 13 million people that has been under strict lockdown for the last two weeks. Under China’s zero-Covid strategy, cities can be locked down after a relatively small number of cases, with residents unable to leave their homes even for essential supplies. The government provides food in such situations but Xi’an residents complained on social media that they had no food. Videos of people shouting for food from balconies of high rise buildings also went viral. Beijing has reported less than 5,000 Covid deaths so far.

More from AP here.

Niger

A local mayor and his driver in Niger have been arrested in the desert as they drove towards Libya with more than 440 lbs of cocaine in their car. Police said it was the biggest cocaine seizure in the history of the state, and that it would have been worth about $19m on the streets of Europe, which is where they believe it was headed.

More from BBC here.