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The childhood playground may hold the secret to your future spouse’s tax bracket, though it likely won’t predict their skin color. While sharing a neighborhood can bridge the gap between the rich and the poor at the altar, it does remarkably little to break down long-standing racial barriers in American marriage, according to a new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

Researchers analyzed a massive dataset of 31.1 million individuals, linking federal tax records to census data to understand why Americans rarely marry outside their social or racial circles. The numbers remain stark: only...

Central Asian countries continue to expand their international reserves, with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan increasingly relying on gold as a key reserve asset.

According to a recent review by Halyk Finance, Kazakhstan’s international reserves reached $67.8 billion in April, while Uzbekistan’s climbed to $70.9 billion. The main drivers of this growth were rising global gold prices and continued gold purchases by central banks.

Gold dominates reserve portfolios

Kazakhstan has become one of the countries with the highest share of gold in its international reserves. Gold currently accounts for approximately 78% of the country’s reserves. Uzbekistan...

Kazakh dancer Madina Beisekeyeva has announced her appearance in the third season of the HBO series “Euphoria,” marking her acting debut.

Beisekeyeva shared the news on Instagram, posting stills from a recent episode and writing: “Watch me on Euphoria S3. My acting debut.”

Based on the scenes she shared, Beisekeyeva appears to portray a character named Tiny Tigress. The role is also listed in the episode’s...

Kyrgyzstan’s GDP continues to grow at double-digit rates. Since 2022, growth has been driven by expanding trade flows, a steady inflow of capital and remittances, and a construction boom supported by government spending. However, this growth model is producing side effects that are beginning to emerge in the form of declining re-exports and rising inflation, which is approaching overheating levels.

Economic growth remains strong

In the first quarter of 2026, Kyrgyzstan’s GDP grew 10.1% year over year, reaching 429 billion soms ($4.9 billion at the current exchange rate). Although robust, the growth rate slowed from 12.6% in...

Prominent international influencers arrived in the Almaty region — Jordanian travel documentary creator Joe Hattab and American creator Joshua Platillero, known online as @megaamerican.

Prominent Kazakh travel content creator Dastan Mukhamedrakhim served as the host and guide at key tourist locations. Together, they embarked on a scenic tour of Almaty to showcase Kazakhstan’s beauty and flair to a global audience.

Foreign guests actively shared the first photos...

Legendary American actor and director Clint Eastwood has retired from the film industry at the age of 96, according to his son Kyle Eastwood, who said that his father no longer plans to direct films and has officially retired.

«Now he’s retired, he’s 95 years old. But I’ve been very lucky to be able to work with him on a lot of films,» Kyle said, adding that he has many fond memories of working with his father.

Clint Eastwood turned 96 on May 31. Despite his age, he had remained one of Hollywood’s most...

Renowned Kazakh singer Dimash Qudaibergen has published a list of concerts scheduled through the end of 2026. Kursiv LifeStyle reports on the artist’s upcoming shows.

According to the DimashAli creative center, the new tour has already begun. The organizers noted that these are only the first dates announced so far. The city hosting the opening concert has not yet been announced.

The tour will cover Europe and Latin America. European concerts are scheduled in Kraków (Oct. 18), Düsseldorf (Oct. 24) and Madrid (Oct. 30).

He will then perform in Mexico. Concerts are scheduled in Mérida (Nov...

The Greek island of Syros is looking for volunteers ready to take care of cats in exchange for free accommodation near the sea. Kursiv LifeStyle found out the details.

The program is organized by the animal welfare organization Syros Cats. Volunteers are offered free accommodation, breakfast and coverage of utility bills in exchange for about five hours a day, five days a week, caring for local cats.

The applications will be available starting in September. Organizers are looking for both individual volunteers and couples older than 25 years old, ready to spend...

More than a thousand people dressed as Marilyn Monroe gathered in Palm Springs, California, setting a new world record.

The unusual event, organized to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the actress’s birth, took place in Downtown Park near the famous eight-meter-tall statue of the Hollywood star.

According to organizers, 1,037 people dressed as Monroe gathered at the venue. This became the largest gathering of Marilyn Monroe lookalikes in history, surpassing the previous record of 254 participants. The figures have already been submitted for official registration in the Guinness World Records.

Read also: Greek getaway...

According to Freedom Holding Corp.’s Form 10-K filing for fiscal year 2026, which ended March 31, 2026, the company’s revenue has increased more than 26-fold since its Nasdaq listing, reaching $2.19 billion. Furthermore, the company has doubled its net profit from $76.2 million in 2025 to $153.3 million in 2026.

As Freedom Holding Corp. CEO Timur Turlov noted, the company has successfully completed another fiscal year despite significant investments in developing the Freedom ecosystem.

«Our client base is growing rapidly, once again confirming the effectiveness of our strategy. We’re building an institutional infrastructure with a...

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni returned to court in New York, a month after reaching an out-of-court settlement in their long-running legal dispute connected to the film «It Ends with Us,» in which they both starred, The Guardian reported.

This time, Lively’s attorneys are seeking legal fees and damages, arguing that a defamation lawsuit filed by Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, was a retaliatory action prohibited under California law. Baldoni’s legal team disputes that claim.

The legal conflict between the celebrities began in December 2024 when Lively accused Baldoni, who also directed the film, of making...

A documentary film about the renowned Kazakh singer Dimash Qudaibergen premiered in Spain. The project was created by the artist’s Spanish fan club in collaboration with the La Gran Voz Kazaja association and directed by filmmaker David Collantes Rodríguez.

The premiere screening took place at the Palacio de Hielo cinema, attracting over 130 viewers, including representatives of Kazakhstan’s Embassy in Spain, headed by Ambassador Danat Mussayev, members of the Kazakh diaspora, representatives of civic organizations, and the young Kazakhstani singer Zhanel Ali.

At Qudaibergen’s concert in Barcelona, the 15-year-old artist performed with him on the same...

Four wild Przewalski’s horses were released into the Altyn Dala State Nature Reserve on May 25 as part of an ongoing effort to restore the species to Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Ecology reported.

Read also: Are these the most beautiful horses on Earth? Meet the ethereal Akhal-Teke.

The group consists of a stallion named Galvan, brought from Prague, and four mares from Hungary’s Hortobágy National Park. The animals spent a year in spacious acclimatization enclosures under the constant supervision of specialists and veterinarians.

During that time, the horses adapted to local...

Robot dogs have begun serving with the Aktau police in western Kazakhstan and will patrol city streets to help maintain public order, according to Polisia.kz.

Read also: High-tech security: $300K robot dogs are the new face of AI data centers.

The robotic units are expected to help maintain security in public spaces, monitor situations in real time and assist in crime prevention efforts. Equipped with video surveillance cameras, they transmit live data directly to the command center.

The robots can also detect suspicious objects, identify smoke and fire hazards, and automatically...

Social media has been swept by an unprecedented wave of “mourning.” Fans of the hit HBO series “Euphoria” are organizing both real-life and virtual gatherings to honor the memory of one of the show’s most toxic, controversial and yet undeniably memorable characters.

Spoilers ahead. If you haven’t watched the penultimate episode of Season 3, stop reading now.

While much of the international internet celebrated with slogans such as “Evil has been defeated,” Russian-speaking users embraced the event with the enthusiasm of a traditional wake.

@taki7391 FINALLY...

Kazakhstan could become a storage site for Iran’s uranium stockpiles if Washington and Tehran reach an agreement on a nuclear deal, the FT reported, citing Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Existing uranium bank

Grossi noted that a facility for storing low-enriched uranium (LEU) already exists in Kazakhstan’s city of Oskemen (Ust-Kamenogorsk).

He said the material could be stored safely in that IAEA-operated LEU bank, adding that such an arrangement could be acceptable to both the U.S. and Iran.

Grossi added that any final decision would depend on...

Busan local authorities are continuing to address price gouging in accommodation ahead of BTS‘s Arirang World Tour concerts, scheduled for June 12 and 13.

Busan Metropolitan City announced a homestay program for foreign visitors in a press release. For this initiative, rather than relying on publicly run accommodation options such as temples and youth training centers, residents and civic organizations volunteering to provide temporary lodging will be brought on board.

The program will cover stays from June 12 to 14, with applications available at k-popstay.wehome.me and Visit Korea. Accommodation is free of...

A blogger from Kazakhstan shared a humorous reel on Instagram that quickly attracted thousands of likes and comments.

Last week, the blogger and her husband were staying at the same hotel in Istanbul as Kanye West, also known as Ye. Each time they left the hotel, they encountered crowds of fans gathered outside to catch a glimpse of the American rapper.

One day, the couple decided to have some fun. As they passed by, they began greeting the fans as though the crowd had gathered to see them instead.

For the first time, Almaty will host a major exhibition of works by American artist Bill Viola, one of the most well-known and influential representatives of contemporary video art. The exhibition is scheduled to open on July 1 at the Almaty Museum of Arts, marking the first large-scale presentation of his work in Central Asia.

The exhibition is titled «Bill Viola: The Space of Time.» Visitors will be offered 16 video installations created by the artist over 40 years, ranging from his early works of the late 1970s to large-scale projects of the 2000s. The selection...

Freedom Holding Corp. is eliminating qualifying prefixes such as Bank, Broker and Insurance to consolidate its business lines under the unified Freedom brand, the company said in a statement.

The transition to a single visual identity and communications framework will be gradual across the 21 countries where the company operates. The primary objective is to strengthen Freedom’s market position, improve brand recognition and create a more seamless customer experience.

It is expected that, once the transition is completed, customers will be better able to navigate the company’s integrated products and services.

According to Freedom Holding Corp. CEO Timur Turlov, the...

Economic conditions for Kazakhstani manufacturers remained challenging in May 2026. The Freedom Holding Corp. Kazakhstan Manufacturing PMI registered 49.0 in May, broadly in line with April’s reading of 48.9 and signaling a modest monthly deterioration in business conditions. The sector’s health has now weakened for five consecutive months.

Production contracts as inventories hit record lows

After a brief increase in April, the new orders index returned to contraction. Survey participants cited declining demand and financing constraints as key factors. The renewed drop in new orders led manufacturers to reduce output for the fifth consecutive month. However, the pace of...

Last week, Kazakhstani Olympic figure skating champion Mikhail Shaidorov stated he had not received his salary for several months following his victory at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. After around a week of silence, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports provided an official comment on the situation.

At the beginning, Vice Minister of Tourism and Sports Serik Zharasbayev noted that Shaidorov is a legend in Kazakhstan’s sport, and that the ministry supports him in all his endeavors and wishes him great victories.

In addition, the ministry said that the athlete signed a widely discussed contract...

A court in Karaganda ruled that the sale of common stairwells in a multi-story building is illegal. The case began when office owners on the second and third floors realized in 2015 that the staircases they had used for years had turned out to be someone’s private property. A new owner had restricted access to them.

Staircases for sale

It turned out that the common stairwells of the first, second and third floors had been sold as separate property units and had hands several times.

«Investigating the case, the property designated in the disputed sales...

The U.S. and Iran reported new military actions over the weekend, marking the latest exchange of hostilities as negotiations continue to seek an end to the conflict that began nearly three months ago, Reuters reported.

The U.S. military said it carried out strikes on Iranian military targets along the country’s Gulf coast after what it described as aggressive actions by Iran, including the downing of a U.S. MQ-1 drone operating over international waters. According to U.S. Central Command, the operation targeted Iranian air defense systems, a ground control station, and two attack drones considered threats to maritime traffic...