News

Kazakhstani superstar Dimash Qudaibergen has adopted the image of a stern batyr — a heroic Kazakh warrior.

Qudaibergen shared photos of him in the striking new persona on Instagram, leaving fans barely able to recognize their favorite singer. Dimash had «grown out» shoulder-length hair and a beard. However, he has yet to reveal any details behind this image change.

«Hello from shooting,» he wrote briefly in the caption.

The post also includes a video capturing Qudaibergen skillfully swinging an ancient sword, reinforcing the image of a mighty warrior.

China Eastern Airlines is further expanding its nonstop services throughout Central Asia. On July 16, the carrier launched a new route between Xi’an and Tashkent, as reported by Uzbekistan Airports.

This marks China Eastern’s debut in the Uzbek market. Tashkent–Xi’an flights are operated three times a week — on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays — using Airbus A320 aircraft. Flight time is four hours and 55 minutes, and tickets start at $212.80.

In late May, Kazakhstani airline SCAT launched flights to Xi’an from Shymkent. The service operates twice a week, with fares starting at $176.

Earlier this month, China Eastern Airlines...

Toyota Financial Services Kazakhstan (TFS), a microfinance organization, issued unsecured coupon bonds on July 16, 2025, worth approximately $9.5 million. Proceeds from the bond placement will be used to provide microloans to individuals and businesses in Kazakhstan, secured by vehicles, according to a release on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) website.

This marks the fifth bond issue under the company’s first bond program, which totals nearly $190 million.

In 2024, TFS reported net income of approximately $17.5 million.

The company plans to issue 5 million bonds with a par value of $1.90 each. The coupon rate on the...

The construction of a new transport and logistics complex called Tobyl, valued at approximately $121.4 million, has begun in Kostanay, as reported by Primeminister.kz. The logistics hub will be integrated into international transport corridors, connecting China, Central Asia, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Europe.  

Once operational, the facility, which is planned to cover about 133 hectares within the city limits, will have the capacity to handle 11 million tons of cargo annually, providing jobs for 500 people, including logisticians, operators, IT specialists and service staff. The project is being carried out with the involvement of Kedentransservice — owned by...

More than 720 Russian companies exited Kazakhstan in the second quarter of 2025, the steepest quarterly decline on record, according to data from the Bureau of National Statistics, highlighted by the First Credit Bureau.

Between April and July, the number of companies in Kazakhstan with Russian founders fell by 728 to 17,600. This marks the sharpest drop since early 2019.

The downward trend has persisted for five consecutive quarters and continues to accelerate. Since April 2024, the number of Russian-owned businesses in Kazakhstan has shrunk by 2,100, gradually returning to pre-crisis levels after a surge in 2022 sparked...

A football academy will be built in Karaganda. The $22.7 million project was presented to Ermaganbet Bulekpaev, the governor of the Karaganda region, by Timur Turlov, the majority shareholder of Freedom Holding Corp. The project, first announced in April, will be implemented with the financial support of Freedom.

Once completed, the academy will feature a year-round arena, a stadium with 5,000 seats, a training field with modern heating and lighting systems, a boarding school for 80 to 100 boys and girls, a gym, recovery rooms (including medical and other facilities), and various methodological rooms.

The stadium is expected to meet...

Eurasia Mining PLC, headquartered in London, has officially launched share trading on the Astana International Exchange (AIX). Securities have become available to investors in Kazakhstan through the cross-listing, without a follow-up offering, AIX emphasized.

The mining company was founded in 1995, and its securities have been listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) since 1996. Eurasia Mining focuses on extracting non-ferrous and precious metals. Currently, it is implementing projects to extract platinum group metals, gold, nickel and copper in Russia’s Ural region and on the Kola Peninsula.

According to the company’s 2024 annual report, Eurasia Mining wants to sell...

Kazakhstan will build its first nuclear power plant (NPP), with a capacity of 2.4 gigawatts (GW), using Russian export financing, according to the country’s Agency for Atomic Energy (AAE).

In mid-June 2025, Kazakhstan chose Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom to lead the international consortium for constructing the plant, which will be located on the shores of Lake Balkhash.

EPC model

The project is expected to begin soon, as the Kazakh government has already committed to adding 2.4 GW of nuclear power capacity by 2035. The Ministry of Energy noted that construction, from pouring the foundation to launching the first...

Lake Kobeytuz is one of the most unusual places in Kazakhstan, where the water has a rich pink hue. Located in the Akmola region, about 160 kilometers east of Astana, this natural phenomenon attracts tourists from across the country and abroad with its otherworldly beauty.

Why is the water pink?

The secret behind the color lies in the microalgae Dunaliella salina, which produce beta-carotene, especially actively during hot and dry summers. The same phenomenon can be observed in pink lakes in Australia and Senegal. The color can vary from light pink to deep crimson, depending on lighting, temperature and the...

Etihad Airways has announced the launch of flights from Abu Dhabi to Almaty and other cities in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, beginning in March 2026.

The airline’s announcement followed the Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air’s decision to suspend flights to the region starting September 2025.

In total, Etihad Airways is expanding its network with seven new destinations: Almaty (Kazakhstan), Baku (Azerbaijan), Bucharest (Romania), Medina (Saudi Arabia), Tbilisi (Georgia), Tashkent (Uzbekistan) and Yerevan (Armenia).

Flights to Medina are scheduled to begin in November 2025, while services to the other cities will commence in March 2026.

Tickets are...

Kazakhstan promotes ready-made international tour packages with tickets for the Backstreet Boys concert included.

One can purchase a travel offer from one of the three Kazakh tour operators — Kompas, Sanat and Skyway LTD, according to the press service of Kazakh Tourism National Company.

«Sales of part of the tickets within the tour package will allow travelers to receive the required service in a single set, including tickets for the Backstreet Boys concert in Astana, hotel accommodation, transfers, and cultural and excursion programs,» the company noted.

The statement also emphasized that 1,000 tickets are to...

In recent years, a growing number of Kazakh citizens have gone abroad for seasonal work, especially to the United Kingdom, marking a new socio-economic trend. This shift has reshaped not only labor migration patterns but also financial flows.

Seasonal farm work

As of May 2025, remittances from the U.K. to Kazakhstan totaled 3.58 billion tenge (about $7 million), accounting for 18.8% of all international money transfers. The number of transfers from the U.K. hit 10,000 per month, making Britain the second-largest source of remittances to Kazakhstan.

Historically, money transfers from the U.K. were far lower. But since 2021, that...

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed into law the amendments and additions to the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan «On Taxes and Other Mandatory Payments to the Budget» (Tax Code), officially putting them into force, according to the Akorda press service.

According to an earlier version of the law published on the Senate website, operators of online platforms are now required to provide tax authorities with information about registered users — such as taxi drivers, couriers and others — if those users receive payments for services outside the platform.

The law also obliges banks to provide, upon request from tax...

After the January 2022 unrest, why have the assets of Kazakhstan’s former president Nursultan Nazarbayev’s family not been seized by the state? Journalist Zhaniya Urankayeva raised that question to Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov at a recent press conference.

A hollow promise?

Urankayeva noted that following the January events, there were numerous public statements about building a «New Kazakhstan.» However, she claimed that the Anti-Corruption Agency, previously headed by Bektenov, has focused only on minor corruption cases, failing to recover significant assets from high-profile figures.

«No one has stripped Nursultan Nazarbayev’s family of...

South Korea’s low-cost carrier Eastar Jet has launched direct flights from Busan to Almaty. The inaugural flight departed the second-largest city in South Korea at 6:55 p.m. local time.

The route will operate once a week on Tuesdays. The journey from Busan to Almaty takes seven hours and 50 minutes, while the return trip is about 2.5 hours shorter. The return flight is scheduled to depart Almaty today at 11:45 p.m. local time.

One-way fares start at $268. Notably, tickets are currently available only for July 15 and 22, with no dates beyond these currently open for booking. The standard...

According to Tural Aliyev, an analyst at Freedom Finance Global, in the face of trade uncertainty and muted forecasts for the S&P 500, investors are better off putting their money into «old and reliable stocks.»

Aliyev notes that Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025 has once again made trade policy a key lever influencing financial markets.

Despite the S&P 500 reaching historic highs, the market remains in a fragile balance, highlighting the importance of investment strategies focused on companies that serve as defensive assets.

According to Aliyev, such companies typically offer stable cash flows, moderate valuations...

Kazakhstan will not pursue a hardline revision of production sharing agreements (PSAs) with foreign investors operating the country’s largest oil fields — Tengiz, Karachaganak and Kashagan — according to Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov.

In January 2025, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev directed the cabinet to accelerate negotiations on extending PSAs under new, more favorable terms for Kazakhstan. The terms of existing contracts have not been made public.

 «As for the terms under which major oil projects are developed — the terms of PSAs — there is an opinion that the country’s interests have been...

The Union of the Turkic Ski Resorts held an international summit at the Shahdag Tourist Center in Azerbaijan from July 11 to 14.

During the event, the union welcomed new members, including Kazakhstan’s Oi Qaragai, Turkey’s Erciyes and Ejder 3200, and Azerbaijan’s Tufandag. From now on, these resorts are equal members of the union along with Shymbulak (Kazakhstan), Shahdag (Azerbaijan), Uludag (Turkey) and Amirsoy (Uzbekistan).

Among the key decisions made during the summit was the introduction of a single loyalty program card, allowing tourists to access discounts and benefits across all union resorts.

«What’s the benefit...

Kazakh businessman Aidyn Rakhimbayev has gifted Oura Rings — smart health and sleep-monitoring devices worth $400 each — to 150 key executive managers of his construction giant BI Group, as well as to friends, relatives and even former classmates.

In a social media post, Rakhimbayev called the gadget his «most valuable thing in terms of efficiency.»

«IImagine, the ring can detect even diseases – before the first symptoms. And yes, Oura gives recommendations and motivations to improve on a daily basis,» he wrote.

According to Rakhimbayev, the device — developed by Finnish engineers...

The recently opened fraud trial of Kazakh entrepreneur Perizat Kairat in Astana has unexpectedly spotlighted the boxing gloves of Gennadiy «GGG» Golovkin, purchased by one of Kairat’s victims.

At issue is a 2021 charity auction organized by Kairat, where Moldir Suyunshali, head of MM Group Development, bought Golovkin’s gloves for 10 million tenge (about $23,500). Kairat’s lawyers expressed surprise at the high price paid for the auction lot, from which their client received the proceeds.

Gloves take center stage

The defense focused heavily on the gloves during cross-examination, implying their value had been artificially inflated.

Kazakhstan’s state-controlled uranium producer Kazatomprom plans to export uranium concentrate to Slovakia, with potential future expansion to include deliveries of uranium dioxide (UO₂), the company’s press service reported.

Kazatomprom has signed a memorandum of understanding with Slovakia’s largest electricity producer, Slovenské Elektrárne a.s. (SEAS), outlining the possibility of Kazakh uranium supplies. This marks the first official agreement signed between the companies.

«By signing this memorandum, we are taking an important step toward strengthening cooperation with our European partners. Nuclear energy plays a key role in ensuring a sustainable energy supply in Slovakia. We believe this...

The European Union (EU) has announced the allocation of €1.5 million to support independent media in Armenia, amid ongoing political challenges in the country, including a recent attempted coup, according to Deutsche Welle.

The announcement followed a meeting in Brussels on July 14 between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

According to the EU, the funding is intended to strengthen Armenia’s information security in light of growing risks from hybrid threats, foreign interference and destabilization efforts.

EU leaders also reaffirmed their readiness to assist Armenia in the...

Kazakhstan’s fortune tellers, psychics, astrologers and numerologists officially declared more than 2.9 billion tenge (about $6 million) in earnings for 2024, according to the Finprom analytical portal. Surprisingly, nearly half of that income came not from individuals, but from organizations.

Psychics’ revenue

Data from Kazakhstan’s Bureau of National Statistics shows that practitioners categorized as «astrologers, fortune tellers and spiritualists» earned roughly $5.7 million last year. Psychics declared another $481,000. Notably, almost half of this revenue, around $2.9 million, came from legal entities, suggesting that corporate clients play a significant role in the esoteric services market. These figures represent...

According to estimates from Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and Construction, given current extraction volumes, the country has enough gold to mine for the next 30 years, while iron ore reserves could last an estimated 957 years.

«Kazakhstan maintains its position as a country with immense reserves of natural resources. The latest data indicate that, with current production levels, years of reserves of key natural resources are as follows: gold — 30 years, copper — 38 years, lead — 156 years, iron ore — 957 years and coal — 350 years,» a statement said.

According...