News

Police have detained a suspect in the brutal killing of Bibigul Shpanova, a manager at the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), in Atyrau. Physical evidence was recovered from a 38-year-old man, according to the regional police department.

«A man born in 1987 has been detained on suspicion of murdering a woman born in 1979 in her apartment and has been placed in a temporary detention facility,» the police department said in a statement.

A criminal case has been opened under the murder statute of Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code. The investigation is now under the direct oversight...

Members of the Mazhilis, the lower house of Kazakhstan’s parliament, have adopted the draft of the new tax code in its second reading. The document has now been passed to the Senate, the upper chamber, for approval.

The second reading of the draft law was relatively quiet, as no discussion took place this time. MP Berik Beisengaliyev delivered a report on the key concepts of the new tax code, after which MPs voted for its adoption.

The MP also reported that the value-added tax (VAT) rate was lowered from the previously proposed 20% to 16%, while the VAT registration threshold...

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, the country wants to use the Pakistani ports of Karachi, Qasim and Gwadar for the transit of its goods to markets across the Persian Gulf, Africa and Southeast Asia.

Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to Pakistan Yerzhan Kistafin has already discussed the potential for close cooperation in this sphere with Minister for Maritime Affairs of Pakistan Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry. During the negotiations, the Kazakhstani side presented its initiatives aimed at linking the transport and logistics infrastructure of the two countries.

Kistafin emphasized that Pakistani ports might become transit hubs not only for Kazakhstan...

Kazakhstan’s young chess players made a strong showing at the Western Asia Youth Chess Championship in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, bringing home a total of 39 medals —16 gold, 9 silver and 14 bronze.

According to the Kazakhstan Chess Federation (KazChess), standout performances came from Amirzhan Anetov, Mariya Kholyavko, Alimzhan Zhauynbay and Sultanbeibarys Dumanuly, who each won gold in standard chess. Anetov and Kholyavko also topped their age categories in blitz chess. Meanwhile, Adinur Adilbek and Amaliya Yedresheva each captured gold in both rapid and blitz formats.

Here are Kazakhstan’s gold medalists by category and age group:

Standard chess

Kazakhstan is turning to livestreaming to boost exports to China and expand into new markets across Europe and the Arab world, according to Aitmukhamed Aldazharov, head of QazTrade, Kazakhstan’s trade policy development center. He made the announcement at a recent press conference at the Central Communications Service in Astana.

In November 2024, during the China International Import Expo, QazTrade and Jiangsu Soho Holding Group hosted a livestream on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, and launched a national streaming pavilion featuring Kazakh products.

Viewers from China and other countries could purchase goods in real time. One broadcast generated sales of...

A luxurious mansion confiscated from Karim Massimov, the former head of the National Security Committee (KNB), and valued at $3.1 million, will be transferred to the administration of Astana, according to the Returned Asset Management Company (RAMC), LLP. The property has already been removed from sale and will be used for public needs.

«The managing company has received an official request from the administration of Astana to use the property for the city’s social needs. Given the high social significance of the request and in accordance with national legislation, the mansion was removed from the online auction,» RAMC stated.

Although...

The Moscow Exchange (MOEX) can once again offer Russian investors access to 127 foreign stocks. However, the trading will now take place on the over-the-counter (OTC) market, and only qualified investors will be allowed to participate, with all transactions conducted in Russian rubles, according to the RBC news agency.

The breakthrough is credited to the National Clearing Centre (NCC), a subsidiary of MOEX. Thanks to its efforts, investors can once again invest in some of the most popular American stocks — including Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Tesla, Berkshire Hathaway, Alphabet, NVIDIA and Visa — as well as 19 ETFs from FinEX.

Kazakhstan-based gold mining company Solidcore Resources plc, formerly Polymetal International plc, reported a 42% year-on-year (YoY) drop in gold production in the first quarter (Q1) of 2025, producing 68,000 ounces of gold equivalent, according to performance data published on its website.

The company attributed the decline primarily to delays in shipping gold-bearing concentrate from its Kyzyl deposit in Kazakhstan to the Amursk POX processing facility in Russia. The delays stem from operational challenges at the Amursk plant linked to the impact of international sanctions against Russia.

As a result, the Kyzyl site has accumulated a stockpile of 41,000 ounces of...

About 90% to 99% of entities in Kazakhstan do not meet data protection legislation, according to Ivan Korshunov, chief information security officer (CISO) at Bereke Bank. Speaking at a roundtable titled «Cryptography and Personal Data: Best Practices and Promotion of Local Solutions,» he claimed it is simply impossible for the vast majority of Kazakhstani businesses to meet the requirements set by state agencies.

Korshunov noted that the country’s legislation mandates the use of cryptographic information protection facilities (CIPF) if a business stores or transfers personal data. However, the law doesn’t clearly define what those facilities are. Moreover, personal data is...

Kazakhstan will soon host top executives from Google, marking the company’s first management-level visit to Central Asia, Minister of Digital Development Zhaslan Madiyev announced on his Instagram page.

«In a month, we expect a visit from Google’s top management to Kazakhstan; it will be the first visit of this level to Central Asia,» Madiyev wrote.

He added that a delegation from Kazakhstan recently held another meeting with Google partners to discuss the development of digital public services, partnerships in artificial intelligence (AI) and efforts to improve the digital skills and qualifications of civil servants.

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Water Resources is going to save Lake Balkhash, and it will do that with a plan. This plan has yet to be prepared by water resource specialists from Kazakhstan and France. They are going to analyze the quality of water and create a digital platform to monitor the lake’s water level.

As reported by the agency, Kazakhstani specialists will examine the lake in conjunction with the French Development Agency (AFD, Agence Française de Développement) and the French Geological Survey (BRGM, Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières). The French side has already started collecting necessary data.

Since the beginning of the year, 43 incidents involving critical data leaks have been reported in Kazakhstan, according to Iskander Tazhibekov, deputy chair of the Information Security Committee under the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

While admitting that the number of leaks is continually growing, the official did not disclose any details, explaining the surge by the country’s overall digitalization.

In May 2024, a similar point was made by MP Ekaterina Smyshlyaeva.

«In fact, frequent cases of critical data leaks are the result of the ubiquitous digitalization we...

The airline ticket booking service Aviata has rebranded as Freedom Travel, according to a statement on the company’s website.

All core features familiar to users — ticket search, personal accounts and 24/7 customer support — will remain unchanged. Passenger data, booking history, purchased tickets and boarding passes will also be retained.

The Aviata.kz website will continue to operate but will automatically redirect users to the new address. Users will not need to reinstall the mobile app; the update will occur automatically.

In April 2023, Aviata became part of Freedom Holding Corp., enabling the service to integrate with the holding company’s...

AITAS Group, a Kazakhstani agricultural holding established in 1996, plans to build a new sausage factory in Shymkent. The plant, called AMP-Yuzhnyi, will be the largest such facility in Central Asia, according to the company. AITAS has already signed a memorandum of intent with the administration of Shymkent.

The factory will be located in the Bozaryk industrial zone. Once commissioned, it will have the capacity to produce up to 50,000 tons of products per year. Overall, the holding plans to invest about $36.1 million in the project.

«This is a very ambitious project with no peers...

Since July 2024, Kazakhstan’s Unified Accumulative Pension Fund (UAPF) has acquired about 140,500 shares of Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company (KEGOC), while the country’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna purchased nearly 1.35 million shares in the first quarter (Q1) of 2025, according to data from the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE).

As no new shares were issued, the changes reflect a redistribution of ownership stakes.

The exact value of the acquired shares cannot be precisely calculated. However, based on market prices during Q1 2025, Samruk-Kazyna likely spent between $3.8 million and $4 million to increase its stake from 85% to 85.49%.

The...

Almaty doctors have successfully conducted a complex surgery on a newborn boy. According to the Almaty Department of Public Health, the boy was diagnosed with a rare condition: a giant cystic lymphangioma on his neck.

The baby was born on March 23 via Cesarean section in Almaty, suffering from respiratory and heart failure. Due to his critical condition, he was immediately admitted to the Center for Children’s Emergency Care and placed on a ventilator.

Health officials noted that they were aware of the 12-centimeter mass before the baby was born, thanks to ultrasonography.

At first, doctors drained more than...

Kyrgyzstan will boost the volume of water shared with Kazakhstan to 600 million cubic meters through the Talas River and 180 million cubic meters through the Shu River during the irrigation period, as reported by the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation of Kazakhstan.

These numbers followed bilateral negotiations between Kyrgyz and Kazakh officials, as the inflow of irrigation water is critical for agriculture in the Zhambyl region.

Kyrgyzstan has already supplied 45 million cubic meters of water and will continue to do so until it meets the agreed-upon numbers.

Last year, Kyrgyzstan even surpassed the agreed volume of water...

Milad Karimi captured gold in the floor exercise at the 2025 FIG Artistic Gymnastics Apparatus World Cup in Cairo, Egypt. According to Kazakhstan’s National Olympic Committee, Karimi also secured first place in the overall World Cup standings for this discipline.

In the finals on April 27, Karimi earned 14.133 points from the judges. Bulgaria’s Eddie Penev finished second with 13.966 points, while Ukraine’s Nazar Chepurnyi took third with 13.866 points. Kazakhstan’s 18-year-old Altynkhan Temirbek also competed in the floor exercise but failed to qualify for the final, placing 17th out of 18 participants in the preliminary round.

In the pommel...

China Xinxing Corporation, a Chinese company actively involved in several infrastructural projects in the East Kazakhstan region, has been fined $1.9 million after state inspectors identified multiple violations of the national environmental legislation.

The inspection was initiated by the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor’s Office, whose inspectors found that the Chinese construction firm used an asphalt mixing plant and a crushing plant without necessary permits.

Authorities accused the company of breaching ecological rules and imposed a fine based on Article 328, Part 1 of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In March, the court supported this decision and ruled...

Starting June 1, Kazakhstan will introduce a women-only carriage on train No. 614/613, which runs between Uralsk and Mangystau, according to the press office of Passenger Transportation JSC, a subsidiary of the national railway operator Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ).

With this addition, routes offering women-only passenger cars will rise to 12 across Kazakhstan.

Currently, women-only carriages are available on the following routes:

Only female...

Over the past decade, the number of casinos operating in Kazakhstan has dropped by more than threefold, sparking concern among officials over job losses, shrinking budget revenues and declining tourism. Meanwhile, gambling operators say a growing tax burden is «strangling» the industry. Kursiv.media looks into why Qonaev never became the «Las Vegas of Central Asia» as it aspired to be.

The decline in the number of casinos has been sharp. In 2013, 22 casinos were licensed to operate in Kazakhstan. By 2017, that number had fallen to 13. In early 2021, only nine remained. As of 2025, just six casinos...

According to Kazakh Invest, a state-owned agency responsible for promoting foreign investment, Sinitech Industries from Croatia wants to build a dry milk production plant in Kazakhstan. The project is set to be implemented within the Koyandy industrial zone near Astana.

The plant is expected to be launched by the end of the year, reaching its full capacity in 2027. Once the new production facility is operational, it will create 53 permanent jobs, while its products will be exported across the Eurasian Economic Union, to EU member states, China, the UAE, Turkey and Africa.

Investors also intend to equip the...

The government of Russia is set to oblige its airlines to reimburse passengers up to 200% of the ticket value in the event of overbooking, as reported by the Izvestiya newspaper.

Notably, the Ministry of Transport has proposed legalizing overbooking in Russia to grant airlines official permission to remove any passenger from a flight, but only with their consent.

If a passenger has a layover, the reimbursement they would receive may vary from 25% to 200% of the ticket value. The final amount will depend on the length of the delay — the longer the wait, the higher the compensation...

Kazakhstan’s State Property and Privatization Committee, part of the Ministry of Finance, has no plans to sell its 40% stake in Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), the agency confirmed in a statement to Kursiv.media.

«The government of Kazakhstan, represented by the State Property and Privatization Committee, which owns 40% of the company, does not consider selling the ERG shares held by the state,» the committee said.

On April 21, Reuters reported that U.S. businessman James Cameron had expressed interest in acquiring ERG for $5 billion. Cameron allegedly sent a letter to ERG’s board of directors proposing...