News

The Michael Jackson biopic «Michael» opened strongly in North America, earning $97 million in its debut weekend and setting a new record for music biopics, according to The Associated Press.

Internationally, the film grossed $120.4 million, bringing its global opening to $217.4 million. Distributed domestically by Lionsgate, with Universal handling most overseas markets, the film exceeded earlier projections, which ranged from $50 million to $70 million. Moreover, it significantly outperformed previous genre leaders such as «Straight Outta Compton» and «Bohemian Rhapsody.»

The creators of the sequel to “The Devil Wears Prada” are facing criticism over allegations of racial stereotyping tied to a new supporting character.

Read also: Prada reunion: Anna Wintour and Meryl Streep pose for the first time together.

Critics have raised concerns about the character Jin Chao, introduced as a new assistant to protagonist Andrea Sachs. Some viewers argue the role presents unflattering and stereotypical traits associated with Asian characters.

According to international media reports, some audiences — particularly in China — also objected to the character’s name, saying it...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov have inaugurated a memorial in Pyongyang honoring North Korean soldiers who died while fighting in the war in Ukraine, the BBC reported.

The ceremony featured military aircraft flying overhead and the release of white balloons, as the two officials unveiled a statue and opened a museum dedicated to overseas military operations. During the ceremony, Kim stated that North Korea would always support Russia’s efforts to defend sovereignty and territorial integrity.

While North Korea has not disclosed the number of its troops involved in the conflict, South Korean...

Kazakhstan’s national boxing team won seven medals, including three golds, at the opening stage of the World Boxing Cup, which concluded Saturday in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.

Gold medals were won by Sultanbek Aibaruly (85 kg), Viktoriya Grafeyeva (60 kg) and Valeriya Axenova (over 80 kg).

Final bouts

Aibaruly defeated Brazil’s Kaue Belini in the final, while Grafeyeva beat Rebeca Santos of Brazil. Axenova secured her title with a victory over Hungary’s Szófia Szira.

Team standings

Kazakhstan finished third in the unofficial team standings with a 3-1-3 medal tally. Host nation Brazil placed first with 4-5-0.

Tournament...

A French teenager has been charged in Singapore after allegedly licking a straw from an orange juice vending machine in a shopping center and placing it back in the dispenser, the BBC reported.

Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, 18, is facing charges of mischief and public nuisance. According to local reports, he recorded the act and posted it to Instagram Stories earlier this year with the caption «city is not safe.» The video was later widely shared online, drawing strong negative reactions.

The vending machine operator, iJooz, reported the matter to police and carried out sanitation procedures, including replacing...

Asiatic black bears emerging from hibernation in Japan are increasingly coming into contact with humans, with sightings already exceeding the pace recorded in 2025, a record year for attacks, The Guardian reported.

In the country’s northeast, where sightings of the animals in urban areas have been reported most often, authorities urge people to stay cautious outdoors. One possible fatal incident was reported earlier this year after a woman’s body was found in Iwate prefecture. In another incident, a bear attacked a police officer.

In Aomori Prefecture, officials issued a special warning after five bears were spotted in the...

Sabastian Sawe, a world-class professional marathon runner from Kenya, made history at the London Marathon on Sunday, becoming the first athlete ever to complete a marathon in under two hours, Euronews reported.

Sawe surged to victory in a record-breaking time of 1:59:30, cutting 65 seconds from the previous men’s world record. His performance marked a major milestone in distance running, as no athlete had officially crossed the two-hour threshold in a competitive marathon before.

Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha finished second in 1:59:41, also dipping below the two-hour mark in what was his marathon debut. Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo took third...

During an awards ceremony for the winners of the Alem.ai Battle and AI Governance Cup competitions on April 24, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev pointed to the upcoming Astana AI Film Festival, set to take place this fall.

Read also: Major US comic-con restricts AI art after creator backlash.

Tokayev said the festival is expected to be the first event of its kind globally and will showcase how artificial intelligence is reshaping the creative industry.

According to the president, AI is transforming the nature of creative work by expanding opportunities for artists...

The X Corp. has released a new messaging app called XChat. The app became available on April 24 and can already be downloaded for Apple devices via the App Store. There is no official word yet on an Android release.

According to its description, XChat offers end-to-end encryption, message editing and deletion, group chats, disappearing messages and a feature that restricts screenshots. The app is also marketed as ad-free.

Chat with anyone on X.
Completely private.
Now on your home screen.

Download for iOS: https://t.co/wBBfjJyJmu pic.twitter.com/u0QeGs1Z3D

— XChat (@chat) April 24, 2026

Early feedback...

The rise of remote work has fundamentally altered how American households consume and spend, according to a new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Researchers utilized data from the Nielsen Consumer panel to track how the shift to working from home (WFH) has influenced shopping modalities, spending volumes, and price sensitivity.

The study found that remote work, which stabilized at approximately 25% of workdays by 2026, has triggered a significant shift toward digital convenience. Online grocery shopping surged among remote workers, with fully remote households ordering online 50% more frequently than those working entirely...

A viral social media video has uncovered a little-known detail about one of Kazakhstan’s prominent landmarks — the Miners’ Palace of Culture in Karaganda. According to the video, a single person served as the model for four of the building’s facade sculptures.

One model, multiple figures

Tour guide Svetlana Dzen, the video’s creator, said construction of the palace lasted 12 years and was completed in 1952. Six figures were installed on the ceremonial portico: a miner, a shepherd, a soldier, an engineer, a collective farmer holding a sheaf and an akyn, or traditional singer, with a dombra.

A classic car with Hollywood provenance has surfaced at auction house Iconic Auctioneers: a 1950 Mercedes-Benz 170 S (W136) once used by Marilyn Monroe during her 1956 visit to Greece.

A discovery worthy of a film script

For years, the car’s celebrity connection went unnoticed. Its history came to light only after the current owner began a restoration.

A key piece of evidence was an insurance certificate bearing Monroe’s signature, reportedly authenticated with involvement from the U.K. Foreign Office. Additional clues included suitcases with an «MM» monogram found in the trunk and a gold plaque with the actress’s...

An asteroid known as Apophis, measuring about 350 meters in diameter, is expected to pass close to Earth in April 2029, according to scientists cited by RBC.

Size and potential impact

Experts note that Apophis is roughly four times larger than the Tunguska event object. The 1908 explosion flattened forests across about 2,000 square kilometers in Siberia.

While a collision of a similarly sized object could cause significant damage, scientists stress that no such scenario is expected in this case.

No collision risk

Georgy Goncharov of the Pulkovo Observatory said the asteroid poses no threat to Earth.

He...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are set to face off in federal court next week in a high-stakes legal battle that has exposed the private dealings of Silicon Valley’s elite, according to a report by Shira Ovide and Gerrit De Vynck for The Washington Post.

The lawsuit alleges that Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman betrayed OpenAI’s founding mission as an open-source nonprofit to enrich themselves. OpenAI has countered that the suit is a “baseless” attempt by Musk to derail a competitor to his own venture, xAI.

Court filings have...

Kazakhstan plans to compile a comprehensive catalog of cultural artifacts that have ended up abroad over time, said Berik Abdigaliuly, director of Kazakhstan’s National Museum. The project is expected to take about five years and will allow the public to identify where key historical objects are currently held.

Among the items expected to be included is the so-called «Tamerlane’s Stone,» a slab bearing an inscription ordered by the 14th-century conqueror Amir Timur to commemorate his campaign against Khan Tokhtamysh.

Artifacts from the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi

Several artifacts linked to the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed...

Spinal and respiratory conditions are the most common occupational diseases in Kazakhstan, along with vibration syndrome and hearing loss.

According to the Ministry of Labor, there are more than 740,000 people with disabilities in Kazakhstan. About 15,000 of them became disabled as a result of occupational diseases or workplace injuries.

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

Notably, the nature of work is evolving, with sedentary jobs becoming more common, digital communication expanding and workplace stress increasing. In...

Porsche has agreed to sell its holdings in sports car makers Bugatti and Rimac to an investor consortium led by U.S.-based HOF Capital, co-founded by Onsi Sawiris, former head of Egypt’s powerful Sawiris family, Reuters reported.

The deal includes Porsche’s 45% stake in Bugatti Rimac — a joint venture established in 2021 — as well as its 20.6% stake in Rimac Group. No additional details were disclosed.

The move comes as Porsche reassesses its strategy following a sharp decline in financial performance. The company reported a 93% drop in operating profit in 2025, with profit margins...

Kenyan President William Ruto has drawn criticism after comments about Nigerian-accented English sparked backlash on social media, the BBC reported.

Speaking to Kenyans living in Italy, Ruto said that Kenyan English was among the best in the world and suggested that Nigerian English could be difficult to understand, prompting laughter from the audience.

The remarks were widely criticized online, with users from Nigeria and other African countries accusing him...

Kazakhstan has allocated a record 1.5 billion tenge for defense in 2026, equivalent to about 1% of the country’s GDP, Deputy Defense Minister Askar Mustabekov said. The funding will be used to procure new weapons systems and military equipment.

«This includes unmanned aerial vehicles, kamikaze drones and related systems,» Mustabekov said.

He declined to specify the countries supplying the equipment, citing confidentiality.

A kamikaze drone, also known as a loitering munition, is a precision-guided weapon designed to strike a target by colliding with it and detonating on impact.

Read...

New double-deck «Aurora» trains have arrived in Uzbekistan from a Russian manufacturer. Thanks to their design, they can accommodate nearly twice as many passengers as regular trains. Local authorities hope this will help alleviate the high demand for train tickets in the country.

The trains feature a modern design, with well-lit carriages equipped with soft seats, footrests, tables, air conditioning, water coolers and automatic doors. Information displays have also been installed for passenger convenience.

Meta said it will lay off about 8,000 employees, or roughly 10% of its workforce, as it increases spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and hiring, The Associated Press reported.

The company said the cuts are aimed at improving efficiency and enabling new investments, and it plans to leave around 6,000 positions unfilled.

The layoffs come as Meta expects a significant rise in expenses, projecting 2026 costs between $162 billion and $169 billion, driven largely by AI infrastructure and compensation for specialized talent.

Separately, Microsoft said it will offer voluntary buyouts to thousands of U.S. employees. The company plans to...

Despite a broader global trend toward easing monetary policy, the start of 2026 introduced new uncertainty tied to the conflict in the Middle East. In response, central banks in the world’s largest economies have avoided firm forward guidance, preserving flexibility to react quickly to potential inflation shocks. Against this backdrop, the National Bank of Kazakhstan kept its benchmark rate unchanged at 18%.

Global rate and inflation trends

A quarterly review of key monetary policy indicators across 80 countries shows the median policy rate declined to 5.50% as of mid-April 2026, from 5.75% in December. At the...

Nurzhas Sadyrbayev, a young singer from Kazakhstan, has won «Voice Beyond Horizon,» the international vocal project initiated by Dimash Qudaibergen. He received the title of «Star of Fame.»

According to Dimashnews, the project aims to promote Kazakh culture alongside a vocal competition. Participants traveled through Turkestan, Aktau and Almaty, with the final held in Astana.

Eight artists from Kazakhstan, Italy, Serbia, Malaysia and Kyrgyzstan competed in the contest.

A U.S. special forces soldier has been charged with using classified information about a military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to make more than $400,000 in an online prediction market, the Associated Press reported.

Prosecutors allege that Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, used his access to sensitive information related to the January operation to place bets on Polymarket regarding Maduro’s removal from power. He now faces multiple charges, including fraud, theft of government information and unlawful use of confidential data.

According to officials, Van Dyke was involved in planning and executing the operation and had signed...