News

American rock climber Alex Honnold climbed to the very top of the 101-story skyscraper — Taipei 101 in Taiwan — without a harness.

It took Honnold 91 minutes to ascend from the ground to the peak of the building. According to the BBC, the only other person to climb the tower before Honnold was Frenchman Alain Robert, who did so in 2004 using safety gear.

The ascent was broadcast live on Netflix. On his way up, Honnold greeted people inside, who in turn took photos of him. The tower houses offices of international companies as well...

Stephen King is an active presence on the social media platform Threads, where he frequently shares sharp criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump. In multiple posts, the bestselling author has taken aim at Trump’s leadership and rhetoric.

When Trump began his second term, King wrote,

«Trump voters: You elected a blithering idiot. What happens now is on you.»

King vs. Trump

More recently, King delivered another pointed rebuke.

«Trump has lost his mind,» he wrote. He went on to describe Trump’s speeches as «insane, misspelled ravings about the...

A greenhouse in the village of Yntymak in the Turkestan region is growing Cavendish bananas. Moreover, work is underway to adapt papaya, lemon, orange, mandarin and coffee, according to the regional governor’s office.

In 2019, local entrepreneur Shams Tursynbayev brought Cavendish banana plantlets from Turkey and adapted them to the specific conditions of the Saryagash district. The greenhouse, which produces exotic fruits for Kazakhstan, covers an area of 1,000 square meters.

At the initial stage, the bananas struggled to adapt to the new conditions; however, the entrepreneur managed to acclimate them. As of now, the plants...

Gold prices rose above $5,000 an ounce for the first time, continuing a historic rally that has pushed the metal up more than 60% in 2025, according to the BBC.

This surge is occurring amid growing geopolitical and financial uncertainty, driven by tensions over Greenland and concerns about U.S. trade policy, fueled by President Donald Trump’s threats to impose a 100% tariff on Canada if it makes a trade deal with China.

In such an environment, for thousands of investors worldwide, buying gold and other precious metals is one of the most popular ways to weather the global...

Australian authorities have issued heatwave warnings across most of the country as millions celebrate Australia Day, which marks the arrival of Britain’s First Fleet on Jan. 26, 1788, an event that began the era of colonization, the BBC reported.

According to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, temperatures in Victoria and South Australia could surpass 40 degrees Celsius. Authorities have urged people to stay cool indoors when possible and to keep heat out of homes by closing windows and curtains. South Australia recorded a high of 48.5 degrees Celsius on Sunday, prompting fire danger warnings.

Some Australia Day events, including a...

Kazakhstan’s top-ranked tennis player Elena Rybakina (World No. 5) defeated Belgium’s Elise Mertens (21) with 6-1, 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open 2026. Her possible opponent in the next round is the world’s second-ranked player, Poland’s Iga Świątek. 

Mertens’s head-to-head record against Rybakina (1-6) did not bode well for the Belgian, and the match confirmed that. The first set was nearly a bagel, with Rybakina dropping just one game.

In the second set, Mertens tried to fight back, but Rybakina overpowered her with aces (10-3) and precise baseline shots. Rybakina sealed the...

Chinese cars confidently entering European markets is not a surprise. However, the success of the Jaecoo 7 in the U.K. is unexpected. In December 2025, the SUV, dubbed the «Temu Range Rover,» emerged as one of the country’s top-selling cars, surpassing the Mini Cooper, Tesla Model 3 and Nissan Juke, Carscoops reported.

Sudden success

In 2025, Chery’s sub-brand sold around 28,000 cars in the U.K., capturing 1.4% of the market and surpassing carmakers such as Honda, Citroën and Porsche. Chinese car sales in the U.K. doubled over the year, resulting in every tenth new car...

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 on Threads was undeterred, stepping outside to film what he described as a magical video postcard.

A strong winter storm moved through much of the eastern U.S. on Sunday, bringing heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain. Cold air from the Arctic disrupted travel, put pressure on power systems and led to emergency declarations in several states, according to Reuters.

Winter storm warnings were in place for much of the eastern third of the country, affecting about 118 million people. Another 157 million were told to prepare for dangerous cold, with temperatures dropping below zero near the Canadian border and below freezing as far south as the Gulf Coast.

Some areas in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri...

In China, a father quit his job and moved nearly 600 miles for one reason: to make sure his daughter could eat good food.

His daughter, a college sophomore, regularly complained that the meals at her university cafeteria were bland, questionable in quality and nothing like home cooking. Instead of dismissing her concerns, the father decided to act.

From barbecue worker to campus cook

The man had been working at a small barbecue restaurant. He left that job and opened a fried rice stand just outside his daughter’s campus.

Business was slow at first. On opening day...

The European Commission is preparing to compel all EU member states to eliminate Chinese telecom firms Huawei Technologies and ZTE from their national mobile networks under a newly proposed cybersecurity law, according to a report by the South China Morning Post. The initiative represents a significant escalation in the bloc’s approach to safeguarding digital infrastructure.

From recommendation to legal obligation

Since 2020, Brussels has urged member states to phase out equipment from Huawei and ZTE in 5G networks, warning that their presence could pose security vulnerabilities. Despite these recommendations, only 13 of the EU’s 27 countries have...

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy confirmed that the third single-point mooring (SPM-3) at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s (CPC) Marine Terminal has been successfully put into service.

Repair work

The repair work on SPM-3 have been completed. All restoration and technical measures, as well as testing, have been carried out. The system is ready for safe operations.

«The commissioning of SPM-3 allows oil deliveries to be carried out simultaneously from two single-point mooring locations,» the ministry’s press service emphasized.

The development increases the terminal’s reliability, expands planning opportunities and ensures exports of Kazakh oil in line...

German entomologists have described a new species of bee, Andrena aequinoctialis, discovered in southeastern Kazakhstan. This marks the ninth known species within the subgenus Planiandrena, which previously included only eight species found across Central Asia, Iran, Israel, and other parts of the Middle East.

Named after Nauryz

The bee was discovered on March 21, 2025, in the steppe approximately five kilometers northwest of Tamgaly in Kazakhstan’s Almaty region. The date coincides with the beginning of Nauryz, the traditional spring equinox holiday, which inspired the species name aequinoctialis — derived from the Latin word for...

San Diego Comic-Con, one of the most influential gatherings in entertainment where major studios typically unveil upcoming films, TV series, and video games, has recently revised its stance on AI-generated artwork. The change came after strong opposition from artists, according to reporting by 404 Media.

While modest, the decision represents a win for creative professionals in an industry increasingly threatened by job losses as film and game companies turn to generative AI to cut costs and accelerate production.

In recent years, Comic-Con permitted limited use of AI-created art within its convention art show. Under guidelines that had...

At a meeting of the newly established Constitutional Commission, Kazakh MP Elnur Beisenbayev proposed introducing a clear definition of marriage into the country’s forthcoming constitutional revisions. He argued that such a measure is necessary to protect national traditions and the moral values of society.

Beisenbayev said that discussions about family and marriage go beyond everyday social issues and directly affect the country’s future. While the current Constitution guarantees the protection of the family, motherhood, and childhood, he noted that it does not explicitly define marriage itself.

«Many countries’ constitutions clearly define family and...

Goldman Sachs Research analysts expect the U.S. dollar to continue declining in 2026, though at a slower pace than in previous periods. According to financial analyst Andrey Chebotarev, writing on his Telegram channel, this trend reflects the U.S. economy no longer serving as the undisputed global leader.

The dollar is currently near a cyclical low, as the U.S. economy shows neither signs of a severe downturn nor evidence of strong, accelerated growth.

Looking ahead, much will depend on the performance of other major economies. The euro’s upside potential is expected to be more limited, even as Germany...

An updated Hyundai Santa Fe prototype unexpectedly burst into flames and was almost completely destroyed during a scheduled test drive in South Korea. According to HotCars, smoke began coming from under the hood shortly after the drive started, but the driver managed to pull over and exit the vehicle in time.

Although this was a test vehicle not released to consumers, the incident sparked criticism. The primary concern is that the burned Santa Fe was a restyled model.

Experts and social media users point out that a facelift typically does not involve radical changes to the...

Kazakhstan’s top-ranked tennis player Alexander Bublik (World No. 10) — who reached the third round of the Australian Open 2026 for the first time in his career — defeated Argentine Tomás Martín Etcheverry (62) with 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 in 2 hours 37 minutes.

The match on Margaret Court Arena delivered an intense contest, featuring unreturnable serves, powerful baseline groundstrokes and unstoppable smashes. Bublik mixed all of this with his trademark drop shots and frequent net approaches.

In the first set, the opponents were close to being broken only twice. In the fifth game, Bublik...

To Lam, Vietnam’s top leader, has been unanimously reappointed as general secretary of the ruling Communist Party for another five-year term. The move strengthens his position as the most powerful figure in the country’s one-party system, Reuters reported.

At age 68, Lam was re-elected on Friday by all 180 members of the party’s new central committee at the end of its five-year congress, according to an official statement. The National Party Congress also set key economic and political goals for the next term.

In his speech, Lam called for further reforms, including changes within the party, to improve...

A user on the Threads social network recently suggested reimagining «Harry Potter» characters by placing them in a Soviet-era context, rather than J.K. Rowling’s magical world.

Hogwarts as a research institute

The user shared AI-generated portraits of several «Harry Potter» characters using the prompt:

«If Hogwarts were not an English school of magic, but a Soviet research institute of sorcery and wizardry.»

This resulted in a series of striking images that recast familiar characters as scientists and officials from the Soviet period.

Online reactions and humor

Commenters joined in...

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 Great Mongol Empire, spanning the 13th to 15th centuries. The focus was not on mixing ethnic elements with contemporary design, but on reimagining ancient culture and its transition into a modern global context.

«Using Mongolian cashmere — long relied upon by our nomadic people to endure...

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 promise

After the wedding, the bride jokingly told her husband they should repeat the ceremony in 10 years — and then forgot about it.

«I told my husband he should organize a second wedding for our 10th anniversary, but this time with reliable photographers...

Kazakhstan’s second-ranked player Yulia Putintseva (World No. 94) defeated Turkey’s Zeynep Sönmez (112) in a challenging third-round match at the Australian Open 2026, 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3.

Having secured a break in the second game of the first set, Putintseva took a 2-0 lead. However, her opponent, encouraged by the fans, got back into the match — at 1-3, Sönmez managed to break. Putintseva immediately broke back in the next game, regaining the advantage at 4-2.

Later in the set, the Kazakhstani player forced her opponent into frequent errors by skillfully varying the rhythm and shot directions. Converting two break...

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 sunglasses in the Jura region of eastern France, an area known for over a century of eyewear craftsmanship. Founded in 1921, the company is recognized for its traditional hand-assembly methods and small-scale production. In 2023, the Italian group iVision Tech bought the company.

Stefano Fulchir, president of iVision...