News

SportsPro, a British magazine, has released its latest ranking of the 50 most marketable athletes in the world. Formula 1 driver and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton tops the list.

Hamilton previously led the ranking in 2014, marking his second stint at the top. Among athletes, only three have achieved the feat twice: American gymnast Simone Biles (2021, 2024), and footballers Lionel Messi (2020, 2023) and Neymar (2012, 2013). Now at 40, Hamilton is also the oldest athlete to ever top the list. SportsPro has published the rankings annually since 2010.

Top 10 most marketable athletes of 2025

Bon Jovi is returning to the stage — the band’s first tour in four years has been announced for 2026. This will also be the first tour since Jon Bon Jovi’s recovery from vocal cord problems.

The tour will kick off on July 7 with a series of concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York, where four shows are planned in a row. The group will then head to Europe to perform in Edinburgh, Dublin and London.

Bon Jovi’s last full concert took place in April 2022. Later, the frontman revealed he had been struggling with serious voice...

European Union leaders have reached an in-principle decision to support Ukraine financially over the next two years using frozen Russian assets, Reuters reported.

As EU Council President Antonio Costa revealed on Thursday, the bloc will announce its decision on Ukraine before formalizing details of the deal.

Meanwhile, Belgium, the country where Euroclear Bank, the central securities depository holding Russian assets in question, is based, wants the EU to agree upon several measures before going any further with the initiative. As Prime Minister of Belgium Bart De Wever emphasized, EU states must agree to share the legal and financial...

Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane has already scored 20 goals for the Bundesliga club since the start of the season. It took him just 12 matches to reach this milestone, outperforming Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in this regard, OptaJoe reported on X.

UEFA Champions League

Matchday 3, Oct. 22

Bayern vs. Club Brugge

Goals: Lennart Karl 5’, Harry Kane 14’, Luis Díaz 34’, Nicolas Jackson 79’

On Oct. 22, Bayern thrashed Club Brugge in the UEFA Champions League Matchday Three. The second goal was scored by Kane — the 32-year-old English striker...

Alana Hadid, 40, the older sister of supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid, has officially married British producer Ross Williams. The ceremony took place Oct. 18 in Los Angeles, in the garden of her father Mohamed Hadid’s home. He is a well-known real estate developer and entrepreneur.

Alana wore a vintage Vivienne Westwood gown, which she purchased from a boutique specializing in rare designer pieces. A veil with delicate floral embroidery completed her look, adding a touch of romance and sophistication. The groom presented her with an amethyst ring — a family heirloom that once belonged to his...

MyPappy, a new dating service launched in Japan, targets adults seeking secure, high-quality encounters. The platform emphasizes strict income verification and personalized customer support, according to PR Times.

The service is aimed at affluent men with verified annual incomes of at least 10 million yen (about $55,000). Users can post specific date offers — such as invitations to restaurants or other outings — to help move online interactions into real-life meetings more quickly. All female users are screened, and each male member is assigned a personal concierge to assist with profile creation and communication.

The app’s advertising spokesperson...

SpaceX has disabled over 2,500 Starlink devices used by cyber scam compounds along Myanmar’s border with Thailand, the company confirmed Wednesday, CNN reported.

Lauren Dreyer, SpaceX’s vice president of business operations for Starlink, said the company «proactively identified and disabled» terminals near suspected scam centers and worked with law enforcement as needed.

This action follows reports that criminal groups in Myanmar used Starlink to run large-scale fraud schemes. International organizations report that many sites trap workers and force them to conduct online scams worldwide.

Myanmar’s military said this week it seized dozens of Starlink receivers in a...

Kazakh singer Dimash Qudaibergen visited the new Almaty Museum of Arts, which opened in September. He received a personal tour from entrepreneur, philanthropist and museum founder Nurlan Smagulov.

During his visit, Dimash toured the main halls and viewed the museum’s permanent collection, which features works by prominent Kazakh and international artists, including Yayoi Kusama, Richard Serra and Anselm Kiefer.

The visit was part of Dimash’s cultural...

National Geographic has traditionally presented a list of the 25 best destinations to visit in the coming year. Best of the World 2026 brings together both well-known tourist sites and lesser-known but atmospheric locations.

The list includes Turkey’s Black Sea coast, which experts described as «a scenic and culturally rich alternative to the crowded Aegean and Mediterranean coasts.»

The only location from Central Asia recognized by National Geographic is the ancient Uzbek city of Khiva. The authors noted that the city is an open-air museum that shines brighter than its more famous neighbors along the Silk Road.

The list...

SOCAR, the state oil company of Azerbaijan, may join the Dunga oil and gas project in Kazakhstan, Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov told Interfax-Kazakhstan. Akkenzhenov said commercial negotiations are underway with KazMunayGas (KMG), Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company, which holds a 60% stake in the project.

The Dunga oil and gas field is located in the Tupkaragan district of the Mangystau region. Its geological reserves are estimated at 106 million tons of oil and more than 6 billion cubic meters of gas.

The project is being developed under a production sharing agreement signed on...

Iceland has reported mosquitoes within its borders for the first time. This month, three Culiseta annulata mosquitoes — two females and one male — were found on a farm in Kjós, north of Reykjavík, NPR reported, citing the Natural Science Institute of Iceland.

The institute confirmed that the insects, which are common in other Nordic countries, likely arrived via freight and appear capable of surviving Iceland’s increasingly milder climate. Previously, mosquitoes in Iceland had only been found on arriving aircraft.

Experts say the finding reflects broader environmental changes as rising temperatures driven by climate change, along with...

North Korea’s only international film festival — the Pyongyang International Film Festival (PIFF) — made a comeback on Oct. 22, 2025, after last being held in 2019, ChosunBiz reported.

This marks the 18th edition of the festival, one of the few legal channels for watching foreign films in the country’s capital since its inception in 1987. The event was revived following the 17th edition held in the fall of 2019, which had been suspended amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the media outlet, 92 entries were submitted this year, with 11 selected as nominees. The participating countries included Indonesia...

The Trump administration is negotiating for the American company Cove Capital to gain access to one of the world’s largest undiscovered tungsten deposits in Kazakhstan, Bloomberg reported. The metal is used by the Pentagon to produce ammunition, shells and other weapons.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has helped arrange negotiations between Cove Kaz Capital Group LLC, part of the Cove Capital investment group, and Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund. They are discussing a bid to develop two major tungsten deposits in Central Asia, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Sources said Cove Kaz Capital has been...

LOT Polish Airlines, the country’s national carrier, announced direct flights between Almaty and Warsaw, with the first flight scheduled for May 31, 2026, Almaty International Airport reported.

During the summer season, four flights are planned weekly — on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. In the winter season, flights will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The route will be serviced with Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.

The flight duration will be around six and half hours from Warsaw, and the return flight is expected to take an hour longer. Carry-on luggage is limited to 8 kilograms and checked baggage up...

Kazakhstani drama film «Spark,» directed by Aqtolgai Rakhmatulla, earned two awards at the Pigeon International Film Festival, which took place in the Icelandic town of Ísafjörður.

Judges awarded Best Support Acting to Aigerim Sharipbek in the Features category, and Best Directing to Aqtolgai Rakhmatulla in the same category.

The film tells the story of a boy named Akan, a talented musician whose life changes after the tragic death of his father. His mother, afraid that her husband’s fate will repeat, forbids her son from playing the dombra or even going to school. Deprived of his main calling, the hero...

OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Atlas, an AI-powered web browser seen by many as a direct challenge to Google Chrome. With this launch, OpenAI is expanding its ecosystem beyond its main chatbot and hopes to bring AI into daily browsing, Reuters reported.

Technically, Atlas is capable of summarizing webpages, comparing products and analyzing data using a ChatGPT sidebar. The premium “agent mode” enables ChatGPT to interact with websites independently, so it can search for required information on its own and present a summary of any request.

During a live demonstration on Tuesday, for example, OpenAI showed the browser automatically finding...

Egyptian rescuers conducted an hours-long operation to save a Spanish tourist who fell inside one of the country’s most ancient pyramids — the Bent Pyramid of Pharaoh Sneferu, built around 4,000 years ago, Gulf News reported.

The woman reportedly slipped on a steep wooden ramp in a narrow corridor and fell from a height of around 80 meters. While descending, she injured her foot and was unable to get out on her own.

Rescuers and medics had to work in near-total darkness and sweltering conditions, descending through a narrow tunnel leading to the pyramid’s inner chambers. The faint calls...

A new list from the British outlet GiveMeSport highlights the world’s tallest football players. Among those featured are seven goalkeepers and three outfield players.

Topping the list is Konstantin Veretinskiy, a 19-year-old goalkeeper from Belarus who stands 2.10 meters (6 feet 10 inches) tall.

Born in Pinsk, Brest region, Veretinskiy began his senior career in 2023 with Energetik-BGU Minsk. In January 2025, he transferred to Slavia Mozyr, a Belarusian Premier League club.

Notably, the top 10 tallest footballers include two players from the Netherlands and one each from England, Belarus, Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, Latvia, Senegal, Ukraine...

Traveling abroad — and especially shopping or dining at airports — often comes with high expenses. Still, there are a few ways to save money on a meal.

Russian travel blogger Mark Everly discovered a wallet-friendly trick for Istanbul Airport — often counted among the world’s priciest hubs. Imagine paying around 850 Turkish lira (about $18) for a McDonald’s combo meal!

Here’s Everly’s clever hack: head to the Care Point counter and simply flash your ticket at the Turkish Airlines desk. If you ask, the staff might give you a meal voucher to redeem at several airport restaurants...

FC Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal played his 25th Champions League match on Oct. 21. He became the youngest player to reach this milestone in Europe’s premier club competition, according to Squawka.

UEFA Champions League

Matchday 3, Oct. 21

FC Barcelona vs. Olympiacos: 6-1

Goals: Fermín López 7’, 39’, 76’; Lamine Yamal 68’ (P); Marcus Rashford 74’, 79’; Ayoub El Kaabi 53’ (P)

Yamal scored one of the six goals against Olympiacos, successfully converting a penalty kick in the 68th minute of the match. He also assisted López’s first goal, which later turned into...

Six people were arrested in Dublin after an anti-immigration protest outside a hotel accommodating people seeking asylum in Ireland turned violent late Tuesday night, Euronews reported.

The unrest began near the CityWest Hotel in the village of Saggart, southwest of Dublin. It quickly escalated after reports that a 10-year-old local girl had allegedly been sexually assaulted by a 26-year-old asylum seeker. Authorities have charged him with committing the crime.

Meanwhile, hundreds gathered at the scene carrying Irish flags and signs with anti-immigration messages and shouting at police officers. As a result, the peaceful protest rapidly turned violent as people...

Freedom Holding Corp. is preparing to introduce a new feature that will allow travelers in Kazakhstan to view the carbon footprint of their flights. During the Kursiv ESG Conference 2025 in Almaty on Oct. 21, Baglana Mussina, the company’s chief sustainable development officer, announced that the feature will be available on the Aviata platform, though no specific launch date has been provided.

«We have Aviata — Freedom Travel — and we’re launching a project where anyone purchasing a ticket, for example, from Almaty to Astana, will be able to see their personal carbon footprint...

A driver was arrested after crashing into a White House security gate late Tuesday night, UPI reported.

The U.S. Secret Service reported that the crash occurred around 10:37 p.m. at the vehicle entrance at 17th and E Streets NW. After officers arrested the driver, they checked the car and confirmed it was safe and not a threat.

In a post on X, the Secret Service announced that the perpetrator had been arrested and that the vehicle had been assessed and deemed safe.

This isn’t the first time someone has tried to crash through the White House’s gate. In...

Kazakh blogger Aiym Altynbekova (aeka.posh) has removed her hijab after four years.

Recently, Altynbekova shared the news with her 1.1 million Instagram followers. She explained that she had been veiled for years and completed multiple Umrah pilgrimages during that time.

«Sometimes your path changes, not from fading faith, but from an internal silence that tells you to do something different,» she wrote. «I searched, I read, I tried to be present, but over time, fatigue set in.»

Altynbekova said much has changed since her second child’s birth. She clarified that the fatigue...