News

Italy has purchased a rare painting attributed to the Baroque master Caravaggio for $35 million, marking one of the country’s largest state expenditures on a single artwork, the Associated Press reported.

The portrait, titled «Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini,» was painted around 1598 and depicts Pope Urban VIII as a young cleric. The Italian Culture Ministry said the work was acquired from a private collection after more than a year of negotiations and will be added to Palazzo Barberini‘s permanent collection.

According to Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli, the painting has major historical importance and the purchase reflects...

The globally renowned Cirque du Soleil is set to perform in Kazakhstan for the first time since 2017.

The troupe will perform 14 shows in the country’s two largest cities: from June 4 to 7 in Astana and from June 11 to 15 in Almaty, Freedom Events CEO Victoria Torgunakova announced at a presentation for the new company.

The venues will be Barys Arena in Astana and Almaty Arena in Almaty. Torgunakova noted that the announcementfollowed extensive preparations and agreements. Engineers from the circus have already inspected the venues, and soon two cargo aircraft carrying 200 tons of equipment will...

Thomas «Tommy» Thompson, 73, an Ohio scientist and treasure hunter who recovered a large amount of gold from an 1857 shipwreck, has been released from federal prison, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

Thompson had been in jail since 2015 after a federal judge in Columbus held him in contempt of court for refusing to disclose where he stored gold coins and bars recovered from the SS Central America shipwreck.

The steamship sank during a hurricane off the coast of South Carolina in 1857 while traveling from California to New York, carrying an estimated 21 tons of gold. Around...

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Education announced teaching guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence (AI), developed by the National Academy of Education named after Ybyrai Altynsarin. Kursiv LifeStyle explains how teachers are advised to use AI and curb homework copying.

Primarily, the ministry stated that AI cannot replace the teacher’s role. Instead, the tools are intended to serve as assistants — for example, to prepare lessons using AI or to compare students’ performance.

At the same time, teachers remain responsible for key decisions — they determine lesson content, grade students’ work and make final decisions themselves. Using AI alone to evaluate...

President of the Kazakhstan Professional Boxing Federation Rakhimzhan Yerdenbekov said the suspension of Kazakh boxer Janibek Alimkhanuly is a major lesson for the team.

«However, he will return to the big ring this year even stronger and will win all four world titles,» Yerdenbekov wrote on Instagram.

IBF rules and timeline

According to Yerdenbekov, the International Boxing Federation (IBF) has strict regulations. In a letter to the boxer’s team, the organization said Alimkhanuly is suspended until Dec. 2, 2026.

Under IBF rules, champions in any weight class must...

A heartwarming video has gone viral on social media, capturing an unlikely friendship between a cat and several Kazakh hunting dogs.

Read also: Meet the bomb-sniffing dog stealing hearts at Astana Airport.

In the clip, a cat named Misha darts out from beneath a haystack while two black Kazakh Tazy dogs sit atop large hay bales, calmly watching him. Another dog — a lighter and sturdier Tazy named Lashyn, which means «falcon» in Kazakh — soon joins the cat in a playful game of tag.

An unusual online dating fraud scheme was exposed in Astana, according to Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor General’s Office.

A group of women contacted men on dating websites and suggested continuing communication in a rented apartment. To make the arrangement appear legitimate, they posted rental ads online in Astana, using fake photos of attractive interiors and requesting a one-day booking.

The men, expecting to meet their new acquaintances, transferred the rental fees. In reality, no such apartments existed. Once the money was received, the women stopped communicating and blocked the victims’ numbers.

Schemes like this are often employed by...

Do you ever get an idea that keeps you up at night? You can already picture your logo, your first clients and the inevitable «How I built a company from scratch» interview.

Read also: How to think like a millionaire: A guide to handling wealth.

It may feel as if the world has been waiting for your innovation. That spark of excitement — when everything suddenly seems possible — is often the moment when many founders decide to launch.

But where do those ideas actually come from?

Where to look for business ideas

One unexpected angle in the recent backlash against actor Timothée Chalamet surfaced in a post on the social media platform Threads. The user noted that Chalamet’s comments about opera and ballet bear an unusual resemblance to the views once expressed by the late President of Turkmenistan Saparmurat Niyazov, known for his eccentric reforms.

Read also: Dimash, Ronaldo, and Chalamet battle for 2026’s top handsome title.

In 2001, Niyazov — who styled himself Turkmenbashi, or «leader of all Turkmens» — abolished the country’s opera and ballet...

Air taxis from Alatau — Kazakhstan’s flagship future city — are expected to fly to Almaty and other cities in the Almaty region. Aircraft testing is expected to begin this year, according to the Almaty region akimat, the local executive authority.

Read also: Kazakhstan to launch the region’s first dedicated crypto city.

The akimat said the private company Alatau Advance Air Group has been selected as the air mobility operator in Alatau.

The company is working with partners from the U.S., South Korea, China and Italy on aircraft research and testing...

French-American AI researcher Yann LeCun has secured approximately $1.03 billion in funding for a new artificial intelligence startup called Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI), which will operate from Paris, New York, Montreal and Singapore, Euronews reported.

According to LeCun, the company will focus on developing AI systems designed to better understand and interact with the real world. The startup plans to build so-called «world models,» training AI using real-world data from sensors and cameras.

AMI believes such systems could improve safety and control in technologies where reliability is critical. Potential applications include robotics, automation, wearable devices and healthcare technologies.

The...

ChatGPT now offers a feature that identifies music playing nearby using Shazam, letting users discover a song’s title directly in conversation with the chatbot.

If music is playing nearby — for instance, in a café, shop or outdoors — ChatGPT can simply be asked to identify the track. The chatbot listens and respond with the artist and song title, and it may also provide additional information such as the album title and release date.

The feature works across devices that support ChatGPT. At the same time, installing the standalone Shazam app is not required.

To enable...

Arnold Schwarzenegger, an Austrian-born American actor, bodybuilder and former governor of California, is considering a return to the “Conan the Barbarian,” “Predator” and “Commando” franchises. All three films are widely regarded as iconic and helped establish his career in Hollywood, Euronews reported.

Speaking at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Schwarzenegger said that discussions with studios are currently underway. According to the actor, studios have shown renewed interest in revisiting the popular action series.

Given Schwarzenegger’s age — he is now 78 — any potential projects are expected to be written to reflect this stage of his life. A...

North Korea and China resume passenger train service on the route, connecting the countries’ capitals, Pyongyang and Beijing. The service had been halted for six years amid border restrictions during the COVID‑19 pandemic hiatus and is expected to kick off this week, Reuters reported, citing South Korea’s Unification Ministry.

Furthermore, the route is expected to resume service starting March 12 and run four days a week, according to China’s rail operator, which told South Korean Yonhap News Agency.

Reportedly, the last two cars of the rolling stock will be reserved for diplomats...

A high school teacher in Georgia died after being accidentally struck by a car during a student prank outside his home, the BBC reported.

Jason Hughes, 40, went outside when several students came to his house to pull a toilet-paper prank, a tradition sometimes used as a practical joke. According to investigators, Hughes slipped on the wet ground after rain while trying to surprise them. As the students attempted to leave in two vehicles, one of the cars ran over him.

Hughes was taken to a hospital by emergency responders but later died from his injuries. The driver, identified...

Kazakhstani figure skater Mikhail Shaidorov may receive another award following the Winter Olympics — the athlete’s costume was shortlisted among the best.

Shaidorov is among 16 candidates in the «Best Costume» category, which includes single skaters, pairs and ice dance duos. The Kazakhstani athlete is on the list for the costume featured in the free skate program of the 2025/26 season.

The ISU Figure Skating Awards also recognize «Most Entertaining Program» among 16 candidates, as well as «Best Choreographer» and «Best Coach,» with eight candidates in each category.

Public voting started on March 9 and is open until March...

Freedom Holding Corp. is acquiring a 99.32% stake in Turkish Bank A.Ş. from Özyol Holding and the National Bank of Kuwait. The deal still has to be approved by Turkish regulators.

Deal details and development plans

The core of the deal is Turkish Bank A.Ş., which has operated in Turkey since 1982. Other subsidiaries of TurkishBank Group, the bank’s parent company, located in the U.K. and Cyprus, are not part of the transaction.

The acquisition of the bank will be a logical continuation of the infrastructure the holding has been developing in the region. In addition, Freedom operates another...

Spanish media have reported on an unusual project by fans of the world-renowned Kazakh singer Dimash Qudaibergen. Kursiv LifeStyle explains why they decorated a Spanish village to resemble a Kazakh aul.

According to the Spanish outlet La Voz de Galicia, the fans are filming a video they plan to present to the artist as a birthday gift.

Around 25 people from different regions of Spain and other countries gathered in Oia municipality and the Val Miñor Valley in Galicia to shoot a congratulatory video for Dimash.

The filming took place at the Moreiras farm, where scenes...

Authorities in the Philippines are considering introducing a four-day workweek as part of efforts to reduce fuel consumption, according to a report by The Guardian.

Read also: The 4-day week is a global hit — so why aren’t Kazakh employers buying in?

The proposal comes as global fuel prices rise amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East.

Government seeks to cut energy use

The government is exploring several measures aimed at conserving energy. Public institutions have already been instructed to reduce fuel consumption by at least 10%.

To mark International Women’s Day, the website of Guinness World Records published a collection of stories about women who set remarkable records — and in some cases outperformed men.

Cycling around the world

British cyclists Rachael Marsden and Catherine Dixon traveled around the globe on a tandem bicycle named «Alice,» completing the journey in 263 days. Their time was faster than the men’s previous record of 281 days.

Read also: From London with love: A Briton with Kazakh roots cycles across continents to visit ancestral homeland.

During the trip, the...

Caitlin Kalinowski, head of robotics and consumer hardware at OpenAI, has announced her resignation, citing concerns about the company’s negotiations with the U.S. Department of Defense.

Read also: Democrats are using AI more than Republicans at work—here’s why.

Kalinowski said she was dissatisfied with how quickly the agreement was reached and argued that the decision lacked broader public discussion and clearly defined rules governing the use of artificial intelligence.

Concerns about oversight and autonomous weapons

In a post on X, Kalinowski said artificial intelligence plays a...

Tuimegul Temirbayeva, a resident of the Ulytau region, has celebrated her 116th birthday this year and is believed to be the oldest person in Kazakhstan, according to the TV channel 24KZ.

Read also: Meet Constitution: The unusual Kazakh names reflecting a nation in transition.

The centenarian marked her birthday in January. She says the secret to her longevity is simple: hard work and love for family.

A life devoted to family

Temirbayeva spent most of her life caring for her family. Together with her husband, Ayazbai Temirbayev, she raised their...

Russia’s space agency published images of unusual «cosmic flowers» on its Telegram channel to mark International Women’s Day.

The photographs, captured by astrophotographers, show massive nebulae located thousands of light-years from Earth. One of the images features the Tulip Nebula, a glowing cloud of hydrogen gas in the Cygnus constellation.

Stellar nurseries shaped by radiation

According to the authors of the post, these cosmic formations resemble flowers because of their shape and color. Radiation from hot, young stars excites surrounding hydrogen gas, causing it to emit bright pink light.

Scientists note that although the structures...

Russia has been supplying Iran with intelligence that could help target U.S. forces in the Middle East, according to officials familiar with the matter cited by The Washington Post.

The information reportedly includes the locations of American warships and aircraft operating across the region.

If confirmed, the assistance would mark the first known instance of another major U.S. rival becoming involved, even indirectly, in the ongoing conflict.

Read also: Ready for anything: Analyst breaks down Iran’s survival strategy in 2026.

The scale and consistency of Russia’s assistance remain unclear...