Articles by staff report

ASTANA – The eleventh game in the World Chess Championship between Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi and China’s Ding Liren resulted in another draw on April 24, reported the International Chess Federation (FIDE). Nepomniachtchi and Ding split a point after a relatively short game of 39 moves. It only took an hour and 40 minutes for the…

ASTANA – Approximately 670 billion tenge ($1.47 billion) in illegally withdrawn assets has been returned to Kazakhstan, said Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Yerulan Zhamaubayev at the sidelines of the Mazhilis, the lower chamber of the Kazakh Parliament, reported Kazinform on April 20. Last year, the Prosecutor General’s Office returned to the state…

ASTANA – The tenth game of the World Chess Championship ended in a draw, with Ian Nepomniachtchi still in the lead with a 5.5:4.5 score against Ding Liren, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) reported on April 23.  It gives Nepomniachtchi an advantage in the upcoming 11th game where he will play with the white pieces.…

ASTANA – The Astana Times has picked a selection of articles on Kazakhstan published in international media across the world. This week’s foreign media digest includes articles on the upcoming Astana International Forum in June, a cartography exhibition at the European Parliament, a nuclear cooperation agreement between Kazakhstan and IAEA, and Kazakh-Mexican relations.  Astana International…

ASTANA – The eighth game of the World Chess Championship ended in a draw, with Ian Nepomniachtchi still in the lead with a 4.5:3.5 score against Ding Liren, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) reported on April 20. At the start of the second part of the championship, Ding put his opponent in a losing position…

ASTANA – Cuba’s Canal Clave educational TV channel broadcast a special program devoted to the world famous Kazakh pop singer Dimash Kudaibergen, Dimashnews.com reported on April 18. The Suena Bonito musical program talked about the singer’s life and career and included excerpts from his performances and music videos in a 45-minute feature on April 15.…

ASTANA – The seventh game of the World Chess Championship took a dramatic turn with China’s Ding Liren freezing under severe time pressure and losing to Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi on April 18, reported the International Chess Federation (FIDE). Playing with black pieces, Ding surprised his opponent with the French Defense, a move last used in…

ASTANA – The Aenoica scientific project, developed by Almaty school students Ramazan Amre and Symbat Barsagazy, won the NASA Space Settlement Contest, reported the Kazakh Ministry of Education on April 13. The scientific project of the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools students became the best among 30,000 applications of young scientists. According to the tutor Raiymbek Abilbek,…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s national women’s tennis team rose from 10th to seventh place in the updated Billie Jean King Cup ranking, the highest in the nation’s history, reported the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation on April 17.  Kazakhstan overtook Italy, the United States, Germany, Romania, Belgium, and Great Britain. The Swiss team, a current Billie Jean King…

ASTANA – Fourteenth world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik and four-time women’s world chess champion Hou Yifan presented Chess Legends, a mobile application for young people to learn to play chess, during the World Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan Chess Federation reported on April 16. The Chess Legends app provides personalized chess lessons for children worldwide using…

ASTANA – President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called the visit of Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia, and the Americas in the United Nations (UN) Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, to Astana on April 17 crucial for developing multifaceted cooperation with the UN, reported the Akorda press service. Tokayev and Jenča discussed cooperation between…

ASTANA – Prospects for bilateral cooperation on investment, trade, and economic issues between Kazakhstan and Singapore were at the focus of Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister – Finance Minister Yerulan Zhamaubayev’s working visit to Singapore on April 14, reported the Prime Minister’s press service.  In 2022, bilateral trade between Kazakhstan and Singapore reached $1.9 billion, a…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s national team won seven gold, four silver, and nine bronze medals at the Asian Wrestling Championship hosted in Astana on April 9-14, announced Minister of Culture and Sports Askhat Oralov on his Facebook page on April 15. Some 331 athletes from 22 countries participated in the competition. Kazakhstan secured first place in…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan and China plan to introduce a visa-free regime for their citizens, according to the draft resolution of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry published on the open normative legal acts website on April 12. The document will be available for public discussion until April 19. According to the document, people can stay up to…

ASTANA – Two more Kazakh wrestlers, Bolat Sakayev and Sanzhar Doszhanov, won gold medals at the Asian Wrestling Championship on April 13, reported the National Olympic Committee. Sakayev, 31, won over Uzbekistan’s Bekzod Abdurakhmonov in the 79-kilogram weight category, as Doszhanov defeated Uzbek wrestler Zafarbek Otakhonov in the 70-kilogram weight category to claim the gold.…

ASTANA – Ding Liren scored his first victory in the World Chess Championship against Ian Nepomniachtchi on April 13, leveling out the score at 2:2, reported the International Chess Federation’s (FIDE) press service. Nepomniachtchi lost with black in 47 moves after three hours and 50 minutes of play. The score is now 2:2, with two…

ASTANA – Freight turnover between Kazakhstan and China reached an all-time high of 23 million tons last year, Yerlan Koishibayev, deputy chairman of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) railway company, said at a business conference on transport and logistics in Almaty, Kazinform reported on April 13. Koishibayev noted that freight traffic continues to grow this year,…

ASTANA – The Kazakh capital will host the Kazakhstan-Poland match of the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers on April 14 – 15, reported the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation. The captain of the Kazakhstan national team Yaroslava Shvedova shared her expectations from the women’s tennis tournament at a press conference on April 13. “Last year was…

ASTANA – A retail price cap for petroleum products regulated by the government entered into force on April 12 following a decree by the Kazakh Energy Ministry, reported the ministry’s press service. Fuel prices in Kazakhstan have remained the same since the autumn of 2021. That year, the average price for AI-92 petrol was 170…

ASTANA – The third game of the 2023 World Chess Championship on April 12 between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren ended in a draw, with Nepomniachtchi leading the match by one point, the Kazakh Ministry of Culture and Sports reported. Ding failed to equalize the score, which stands at 2:1 in favor of the Russian…

ASTANA – A new air route connecting the city of Shymkent and India’s Delhi will be launched on May 22, the Civil Aviation Committee’s press service reported on April 12. Fly Arystan, the Kazakh low-cost airline, will operate flights twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays on an Airbus 320 aircraft. The committee is working…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s Zhamilya Bakbergenova defeated Japan’s Sumire Niikura to claim the gold medal in the women’s wrestling finals, the third for the national team at the Asian Wrestling Championship, the National Olympic Committee reported on April 12. Bakbergenova, 27, won over Niikura, 20, in the 72-kilogram weight category.  Another female wrestler Nilufar Raimova won…

ASTANA – The number of businesses owned by female entrepreneurs under the age of 29 has reached 10,300 at the beginning of this year, an increase of 1.3 percent in comparison to the previous year, according to finprom.kz analytical website.   At the same time, this comprises only a quarter of all businesses owned by people…

ASTANA – Berlin-based Transparency International, a global coalition against corruption, has ranked Kazakhstan 101st out of 180 nations in the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), published on April 10. The CPI ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, scoring on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). Kazakhstan received…

ASTANA – Kazakh airlines carried 11 million passengers in 2022, a 17 percent increase compared to the previous year, reported the Civil Aviation Committee on April 12. “Air passenger traffic has recovered and exceeds all forecasts, demonstrating stable growth,” the report noted. Domestic air carriers operate international flights on 104 routes with a frequency of…