January frosts often bring frequent weather reports of blizzards and snowdrifts. They also mark one of the most active seasons for photography and video, capturing the striking beauty of landscapes transformed by snow. In Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, temperatures fell to minus 17 degrees Celsius last week. Still, one user…
The Mongolian National Olympic Committee has officially presented the ceremonial uniform for the country’s national team for the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympic Games, hosted by Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. The ceremonial and casual uniforms were designed by Mongolia’s brand Goyol Cashmere. The attire is inspired by the clothing of the…
Kazakhstanis were moved by the story of a couple from Karaganda who celebrated a second wedding a decade after their original ceremony. The couple married in 2014, but a technical failure left them without professional photos or video. Only cellphone snapshots taken by friends remained. A joke that became a…
Maison Henry Jullien, a luxury eyewear brand, received unexpected global attention after French President Emmanuel Macron was seen wearing one of its sunglasses. After his appearance, interest in the brand rose sharply, with many people looking to buy the same pair, according to the Guardian. Maison Henry Jullien makes the…
CCTV cameras in Shymkent captured one of the strangest thefts. Two men attempted to steal… a snowman. The footage shows them calmly walking past a coffee shop until they are drawn to a snowman standing on a bench. Apparently, considering Shymkent’s nearly snowless winters, the «thieves» thought the find was…
Italian luxury fashion house Gucci has announced a partnership with the world’s top-ranked tennis player Aryna Sabalenka. The athlete officially joined Gucci as the brand’s ambassador, according to the fashion house’s social media. «Welcome to the Gucci family, Aryna,» the caption read. In her debut video, Sabalenka appears in an…
A Turkish man opened his home to dozens of stray cats when severe cold weather hit his city. To save the animals from the bitter cold, he decided to provide the cats in his neighborhood with temporary shelter in his own home. Footage reportedly filmed in Kahramanmaraş shows more than…
As more people adopt short-form consumption habits, the market has responded accordingly. TikTok has launched its own «Netflix,» but in a vertical format with episode durations of around one minute, Business Insider reported. PineDrama — the name of the app — was launched quietly, without an official announcement. It offers…
Kazakhstani superstar singer Dimash Qudaibergen was caught in a humorous interaction with his fans. A video uploaded by a fan community of the singer showed Qudaibergen at Shanghai airport, waiting for his flight while browsing shops with a crowd of fans nearby. At one point, Qudaibergen offered to buy a…
Videos showing massive snowdrifts in Russia’s Kamchatka Krai emerged following one of the most powerful snow cyclones on the peninsula in the past 30 years. The region’s largest city, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, has been under an emergency declaration since Jan. 15. The footage is striking, with snowdrifts as high as nine-story apartment…
Kazakhstan consumes more alcohol per capita than any other country in Central Asia, according to global statistics published by World Population Review (WPR). The website recently released comparative data on alcohol consumption across countries worldwide, measured in liters of pure alcohol consumed per person annually. Regional comparisons In Kazakhstan, annual…
Prominent Spanish travel magazine Viajar featured Almaty among five destinations located at the foot of the mountains, offering easy access to ski slopes directly from the city center. The outlet placed Kazakhstan’s largest city alongside Innsbruck in Austria, Chamonix in France, Whistler in Canada and Zermatt in Switzerland. Describing Almaty…
In a company blog post, YouTube announced a new feature for parents, enabling them to set a time limit on how long children and teenagers can watch Shorts. Parents will be able to determine the amount of time their child is allowed to scroll through short videos. There is also…
The winter season is the most severe for stray animals, especially for cats, due to freezing temperatures. However, a resident of Almaty has come up with a simple idea to help them get through the winter. In a viral Threads post, the user proposed that people sympathetic to stray cats…
A new old-fashioned recipe for ice cream is going viral on social media. Kursiv LifeStyle explains how users are reinventing a common dessert. As snowfall and frost covered most of Kazakhstan, creators on social media embraced the trend dubbed «Ice Cream in a Snowdrift.» Despite the freezing cold, people are…
Meta’s social network Threads has surpassed Elon Musk’s X in daily active users on mobile devices worldwide, TechCrunch reported, citing data from market intelligence firm Similarweb. According to the analytics firm, in early January, Threads recorded about 141.5 million daily active users on iOS and Android, compared with 125 million…
The Korean martial art taekwondo could be added to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as a joint heritage of both North and South Korea, Yonhap reported. According to media reports, North Korea applied to register taekwondo in 2024, while South Korea’s Cultural Heritage Committee has…
According to the Ministry of Health, the Almaty Multidisciplinary Clinical Hospital has successfully carried out a complex multi-organ donation procedure. The donation became possible after the family of a patient born in 1979, who had been diagnosed with brain death, gave consent for posthumous organ donation. «The Republican Center for…
Iconic mobile game “Subway Surfers” is getting a sequel — “Subway Surfers City,” scheduled for release on Feb. 26 on iOS and Android. Pre-registration is available now. The developer is studio SYBO. Unlike the original installment, in which characters traveled across different countries, the sequel takes place in a single…
Legendary composer Hans Zimmer, famous for numerous film soundtracks including «The Lion King (1994)» and «Dune (2021)» and Bleeding Fingers Music — the artist’s music company — are set to score music for the upcoming HBO «Harry Potter» series, Variety reported. The soundtrack is expected to remain rooted in the…
On Jan. 15, BigHit Music, the label of the globally recognized K-pop group BTS, revealed the name of the upcoming album and announced pre-orders. The fifth album has been titled «ARIRANG,» which is also the name of a Korean traditional folk song, with one of its central themes being parting…
Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey has registered eight images of himself smiling, staring and talking with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. According to The Wall Street Journal, among the trademarks are short videos featuring McConaughey, pictures of his facial expressions and gestures, and the iconic phrase «Alright, alright, alright» from…
In China, the production of plush horse toys timed for the Chinese Year of the Horse has started; however, the stuffed horses were supposed to look cheerful, yet a mistake at a factory in the city of Yiwu made the toys look sad by stitching their mouths upside down. The…
In the center of Astana, near the Baiterek monument, an unusual knitted, eco-friendly Christmas tree has captured the attention of the city’s residents. The art installation has also gained popularity on social media. The tree is adorned with knitted squares, plush toys and decorative elements. Users say volunteers of all…
