News

In Slovakia’s High Tatras, one of the region’s main winter attractions — an ice dome — has once again opened ahead of Christmas, the region’s tourism portal reported.

The Tatra Temple of Ice lies on Mt. Hrebienok. This year, the temple pays tribute to two popes — the late Pope Francis and his successor, Pope Leo XIV.

The head of the project is sculptor Adam Bakoš, who led a team of ice artisans from Czechia, Slovakia, Poland and Germany.

The ice dome reflects the style of the famous Roman Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, recognized as...

Freedom Bank has received permission from Kazakhstan’s Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market to open a subsidiary bank in Georgia, the bank said in a statement.

«The next step is the registration of FBG Company JSC, a special-purpose vehicle that will be authorized to obtain a digital bank license from the National Bank of Georgia,» the statement read.

At the first stage, FBG Company is expected to obtain a banking license. Upon receipt of the document, the company will be transformed into a commercial bank and renamed Freedom Bank Georgia...

The board of the world’s most visited museum — the Louvre in Paris — voted on Nov. 27 to increase entry ticket prices for citizens of non-European nations, the BBC reported.

According to the museum’s official site, the current general admission fare is €22. For visitors from outside the European Economic Area — which includes EU nations, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein — the updated price will be €32 starting Jan. 14, marking a 45% increase.

In 2024, the Louvre said it welcomed 8.7 million visitors, 77% of whom...

Once dominated by men, hair transplant surgery is now increasingly popular among women seeking treatment for hair loss. Experts say that growing awareness, social media and the expansion of clinics have rapidly increased women’s interest in recent years. However, doctors caution that results for women are often less predictable than for men, CNN reported.

According to some estimates, about one in three women experiences hair loss. Unlike men, female pattern hair loss is often linked to genetics and hormones and usually causes thinning across the entire scalp. It can also be triggered by pregnancy...

Hong Kong braces for Central Asian cuisine. The city’s first nomadic cuisine restaurant is scheduled to open in December in SoHo — the dining and entertainment district.

The restaurant, called Yurt, is being established by a team founded by members from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and the flavors of their homelands will form the foundation of the menu. The main dish will be beshbarmak with horse meat.

The comment section has united people from around the world, most of them expressing enthusiasm, with users admitting their curiosity to try horse meat.

The restaurant will operate in...

Stephen King’s novel «It» may be rewritten after Russia’s AST publishing house announced it is considering changes following a complaint about «inappropriate content.»

The publisher said its editors launched an internal review after receiving a complaint alleging the book contained «depictions of nontraditional relationships.» As a result, the current print run has been pulled from sale. AST did not disclose who filed the complaint.

Pennywise redacted

AST General Director Tatyana Gorskaya said the review will determine whether the novel complies with Russian law. If experts conclude that edits are required, the publisher plans to contact the copyright holder...

Demand for Louis Vuitton and Gucci products remained strong in 2025, with more than 13 Louis Vuitton items added to the eBay marketplace every minute, according to analysts at the online platform. Prada, Burberry, Armani, and Dior followed, underscoring continued interest in iconic fashion houses.

New names and growing popularity

Alongside established brands, emerging designers also saw a notable rise in attention. Jonathan Anderson’s debut at Dior drove a 390% increase in searches for the brand, while Demna Gvasalia’s appointment at Gucci boosted interest by 87%.

How pop culture shapes demand

Major pop-culture moments in 2025 had...

Jamie Carragher, former Liverpool and England defender and football expert for Sky Sports and other outlets, believes that Arne Slot has only one week left to retain his role as the club’s coach.

«Arne Slot has a week to save his job. No matter how much goodwill the manager has, Liverpool Football Club cannot sustain the drop in standards witnessed over the past three months,» Carragher wrote.

At the same time, the former player noted that he was surprised by the fans’ discussion of Slot’s potential dismissal...

A Soyuz spacecraft successfully delivered two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut to the International Space Station on Thursday, even as damage was reported at the launch facility in Kazakhstan following liftoff, Deutsche Welle reported.

Roscosmos confirmed that several components of the launch complex at the Baikonur Cosmodrome were damaged during the morning launch. The agency said repair work would begin immediately and expressed confidence that operations could resume quickly. However, some Russian space analysts cautioned that restoring the site could take longer than officials anticipate.

According to Vitaly Egorov, a Russian space enthusiast who runs «Zelenyikot i...

Cats may be one of the most familiar animals in human homes today, but new scientific research suggests their close relationship with people began far more recently than previously thought. Instead of becoming domesticated alongside the first farming communities about 10,000 years ago, cats appear to have formed lasting bonds with humans only around 3,500 to 4,000 years ago, the BBC reported.

For many years, scholars believed that cat domestication began in the Levant, a subregion of West Asia along the Eastern Mediterranean, linked to the earliest agricultural societies. However, new genetic evidence now points to...

Kazakhstan looks into introducing crypto exchange tools into payment terminals, a move that will allow payments for goods and services in cryptocurrencies.

At the meeting of the Senate’s committee on finances and budget, Miras Zakiyev, the deputy chair of the committee of digital assets and breakthrough technologies of the Digital Ministry, stated that the development of an ecosystem allowing Kazakhstanis to pay with cryptocurrencies for goods and services is planned within the CryptoCity project.

«The team studied international experience while developing the project. The National Bank’s regulatory sandbox is planned to include...

A Kazakhstani bank with a daily transaction volume of about $9 million can spend between $400,000 and $600,000 a year on transaction verification.

The data comes from Baraiq, a developer of anti-fraud solutions for banks. Based on its data analysis, communication with financial institutions, and industry experience, the company found that banks spend about 0.15% of their total online transaction volume on fraud-prevention measures.

That translates to roughly $0.0029 spent by a bank for every $2 a customer transfers internally. When funds are sent outside the bank, verification costs rise to about $0.019.

Banks direct these expenses toward software...

Organizers of the 2025 Official Strongman Games World Championship in the U.S. have removed 28-year-old American competitor Jammie Booker from the final standings after she won the women’s title. Officials later learned that Booker is a transgender athlete who was assigned male at birth, the New York Post reported.

Tournament organizers said they were unaware of Booker’s background before the event and opened an investigation once the information surfaced.

Following a review of the results, organizers named 43-year-old British competitor Andrea Thompson — who originally finished second — the world’s strongest woman.

Thompson said that many people...

Hard rock legend Deep Purple will return to Almaty for the first time in almost 20 years — on April 22, 2026, the group will perform a major live concert at Almaty Arena. Tickets will be available soon on Freedom Ticketon.

Deep Purple is the band that set the rock tone of the 1960s and reshaped the idea of how the heavy genre should sound. In 1975, the group was recognized by Guinness World Records as the «world’s loudest band.»

Over the course of their career, the group has changed its lineup several times. In...

Two inmates escaped from the disciplinary wing of Dijon prison early Thursday. Prosecutors said they used saw blades, likely delivered by drone, to cut through the bars of their cell. The two men, aged 19 and 32, were being held on serious charges, including attempted murder, criminal conspiracy and aggravated habitual domestic violence, Euronews reported.

Initial reports say the inmates were kept in isolation with no contact with the outside world, so the tools were likely smuggled in without direct communication. After cutting the bars, the two reportedly used blankets to climb over a barbed-wire fence and left...

A 41-year-old security worker in South Korea took two snacks — a Choco Pie and a custard cake — worth 1,050 won ($0.72) at his workplace last year and was later fined 50,000 won ($34.21) for theft. On Nov. 27, the Jeonju District Court overturned that ruling and acquitted the man, Yonhap reported.

The lower court had convicted the defendant for taking and eating the snacks without permission from the logistics company in Wanju last January. However, the appellate panel noted that 39 drivers and security staff testified that taking snacks from the refrigerator had never...

According to the UN’s «World Urbanization Prospects 2025» report, Jakarta is now the world’s most populous city. It has overtaken Tokyo because of a new way of measuring city populations, according to The Guardian.

Jakarta’s population is now estimated at 42 million, putting it ahead of Dhaka, which has 37 million people. Tokyo, which the study defines as a metropolitan area including three nearby prefectures, is now third with 33 million residents. In the UN’s 2018 report, Tokyo was listed as the largest city with 37 million people.

UN officials explained that the change stems from...

On Nov. 26, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government revealed that it is set to reconsider its lodging tax, changing it from a fixed rate to a percentage-based system, while also extending its coverage to rented private accommodations, The Asahi Shimbun reported.

The current rate stands at 100 yen (roughly 64 cents) per person per night for stays costing between 10,000 yen and 15,000 yen (about $64–$96). For accommodations exceeding 15,000 yen ($96) per night, the tax is set at 200 yen ($1.30).

Under the proposed changes, a 3% tax on the total accommodation fee would be introduced...

Roughly 10% of people are believed to be naturally left-handed, yet for centuries the trait carried heavy social and religious baggage. Both the Bible and the Quran contain unfavorable references to the left side, and, long after associations with witchcraft faded, left-handedness was still treated as something that required correction.

Shifting perceptions in the West

According to the BBC, attitudes have changed significantly in much of the West in recent decades. Left-handed people are now frequently celebrated for qualities such as creativity and originality, and are sometimes portrayed as having a greater likelihood of genius than right-handed...

A new live-action Assassin’s Creed adaptation is moving forward at Netflix, but news of the project — and its newly announced casting — has already sparked debate among fans, Gamingbible.com reported.

Netflix recently confirmed that actor Toby Wallace will serve as a co-lead in the series. Many gamers initially speculated that he had been tapped to portray Ezio Auditore, one of the franchise’s most iconic characters.

However, early details suggest the show will follow an original storyline and avoid retelling established canon from the games, indicating that Wallace will play a new assassin created specifically...

Elton John is set to appear in Brazil on Sept. 7, after Rock in Rio president Roberto Medina said the British superstar would help usher in a new chapter for the festival when he performs there next year.

John said he agreed to the booking immediately, explaining that he had not been able to include South America on his farewell tour. He noted that Brazilian fans have always meant a great deal to him and that the surge of energy he gets from major one-off shows has been unmatched since he stepped back from touring. He added that...

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot said he doesn’t feel on shaky ground following a devastating 4-1 home defeat to PSV.

«I am feeling safe, I am OK, I have got a lot of support from above. It would be nice to turn it around and get a victory, of course, but if you are working as a coach and not doing well then it is normal that questions are asked. I am OK with my position. It is not the first time I’ve been in a difficult position, but it is about time that we turned...

A massive fire swept through the Wang Fuk Court residential complex in Hong Kong on Wednesday afternoon, killing at least 44 people, including one firefighter, and critically injuring dozens of residents. The blaze triggered large-scale rescue operations, with about 280 people still missing as of Thursday morning, according to The Guardian.

The fire broke out at 2:52 p.m. at the high-rise complex in Tai Po, in the northern New Territories of the city. Authorities said the fire started on external scaffolding made of bamboo and attached to Wang Cheong House and spread quickly along scaffolding and construction netting...

Kairat Almaty suffered another defeat in the UEFA Champions League, this time against FC Copenhagen, after getting into the game too late.

UEFA Champions League 2025-26

Matchday 5, Nov. 26

FC Copenhagen (Denmark) vs. Kairat (Kazakhstan): 3-2 (1-0)

Goals: Viktor Dadason 26’ (1-0), Jordan Larsson 59’ P (2-0), Robert Silva (3-0); Dastan Satpayev 81’ (3-1), Olzhas Baybek 90’ (3-2)

Kairat’s starting lineup saw minimal changes compared to the one fielded at the beginning of the match against Inter Milan at San Siro Stadium. The left back Luis...