Population of snow leopards jumps four times in Ile-Alatau National Park
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The Ile-Alatau National Park said in a statement on Friday there were a mere 5-10 snow leopards on its territory in 1996, Qazinform News Agency reports.
The park revealed the population of snow leopards has jumped by four times to 39 as of now. It also reported a rise in numbers of the brown bear from 15-20 to 85, the stone marten from 100 to 493, and the golden eagle from 50 to 97.
The Ile-Alatau National Park said it houses two genetic reserves, maintains an archive of red-listed Sievers' apple tree, while carrying out efforts to protect its gene pool.
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Measles cases in Kazakhstan dropped 6.8 times in 2025, Healthcare Ministry
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Last year, measles incidence in Kazakhstan decreased 6.8 times compared to 2024, though the situation remains unstable, Qazinform News Agency quotes sanitary and epidemiological control committee chairwoman Sarkhat Beyssenova, as saying.
WHO recorded over 247,000 measles cases globally in 2025, driven by gaps in immunization coverage.
She stressed in Kazakhstan, despite the decline, cases began rising again from November 2025, continuing into January-February 2026.
Since the beginning of 2026, 3,343 cases have been registered countrywide, with 72% among children under 5 years old. 78% of cases were detected among those unvaccinated, of which 56% due to parental refusal, 14% due to medical exemptions and 30% because children had not yet reached vaccination age.
Last year, 323,700 children aged one year or 96.4%, and 348,300 children aged six years or 95% coverage were vaccinated against measles.
Catch-up immunization continues for children up to 18 years.
Additional immunization was introduced for infants aged 6-11 months due to rising cases.
New measures were introduced nationwide on February 18, 2026. The sanitary and epidemiological control committee chairwoman signed a decree on expanded immunization against measles, rubella, and mumps for children aged 6 months to 10 months 29 days, catch-up vaccination for unvaccinated children aged 2-5 years and 7-18 years and vaccination of healthcare workers under 30 without documented immunization.
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Wizz Air’s former managing director appointed to lead Kazakh low-cost carrier
The Air Astana Group, in a statement on Wednesday, announced the appointment of Johan Eidhagen as the President of FlyArystan, the Group's low-cost airline, which will come into force on March 1, 2026, Qazinform News Agency cites the press service of Air Astana.
According to the statement, Johan Eidhagen joins from Wizz Air where he held several senior roles, including most recently that of the Managing Director of Wizz Air, Abu Dhabi. During his time at Wizz Air, he was also the Chief People & ESG Officer and the Chief Marketing Officer at Wizz Air Group. Prior to Wizz Air, Johan spent fourteen years with Nokia in a range of senior executive positions across multiple jurisdictions.
Johan takes over from Richard Ledger, who will now transition to a new senior executive position in the Air Astana Group as Vice President, Partnerships and Alliances.
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World Day of Turkic Languages Marked in Kuala Lumpur
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A cultural event dedicated to the designation of 15 December as the World Day of Turkic Languages by decision of UNESCO was held at the premises of the Embassy of Türkiye in Malaysia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan reports.
The decision was adopted at the 43rd General Conference of UNESCO held in November 2025 in Samarkand. The date of 15 December is linked to a historic milestone - the decipherment of the Orkhon inscriptions, which revealed to the world the ancient written tradition of the Turkic peoples.
The event was attended by the Ambassadors of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan to Malaysia, as well as diplomats, members of the academic community and representatives of the public.
In his remarks, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Malaysia, Bulat Sugurbayev, noted that the adoption of the resolution represents a logical and important step toward strengthening cultural dialogue and solidarity among Turkic peoples, taking into account their shared history and cultural heritage. Kazakhstan consistently supports the development of the Kazakh language as an integral part of the Turkic language family and as an important tool of international communication.
Ambassador of Türkiye to Malaysia, Emir Salim Yuksel, noted that the establishment of the World Day of Turkic Languages opens a new chapter in cultural cooperation among Turkic states.
The cultural programme featured a dombra performance by students from Kazakhstan.
Following the meeting, the ambassadors of the Turkic-speaking states came to agreement to hold such events in Malaysia on a regular basis and to jointly celebrate the first anniversary of the World Day of Turkic Languages on 15 December this year in Kuala Lumpur.
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Kazakhstan launches high-speed internet project for rural communities
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The Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development has announced the launch of the Kazakhstan Digital Acceleration for an Inclusive Economy project and an open call for shared grants for telecom operators, Qazinform News Agency reports.
The competition is being conducted as part of the project’s implementation and aims to expand telecommunications infrastructure in rural areas while ensuring that residents gain access to internet speeds of at least 100 Mbps.
The project provides for the construction of fiber-optic communication lines in 1,123 rural settlements that currently lack local internet access infrastructure.
Once implemented, the project will enable more than 445,000 households to be connected and provide high-speed internet access to approximately 2.3 million people.
As part of the initiative, telecom operators may receive non-repayable co-financing grants covering up to 50% of verified capital expenditures for the construction of rural telecommunications networks. The projects will be financed with the operators’ own funds, and the completed infrastructure will remain under their ownership and on their balance sheets.
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Kazakhstan Presented Constitutional Reforms to Mexico’s Academic Community
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A briefing was held at the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Mexico for representatives of the Mexican Association of International Relations Faculties (AMEI), focusing on the main provisions of the constitutional and political reforms in Kazakhstan. AMEI is the largest association of its kind in Latin America and the Caribbean, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan reports.
Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Mexico Almurat Turganbekov delivered a presentation on the draft of the new Constitution of Kazakhstan, informing the audience that a nationwide referendum on the adoption of amendments to Kazakhstan’s Basic Law will be held on 15 March 2026.
The information sparked broad interest among AMEI’s professor members and invited representatives of the local media. It was noted that Kazakhstan is on the path of comprehensive and progressive modernization against the backdrop of ongoing changes in the global order.
An agreement was reached to provide more detailed coverage of developments in Kazakhstan through a special association podcast and a series of interviews in the near future.
Furthermore, a new chapter of cooperation has been opened between the diplomatic community, including the Embassy of Kazakhstan, and AMEI. In particular, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed, under which the diplomatic corps will strengthen its contacts with future Mexican specialists in international relations.
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The second magnetic storm of February began on Earth
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At night, the second magnetic storm of February began on Earth, iz.ru cites the Laboratory of Solar Astronomy at the Institute of Space Research (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The second magnetic storm of February began on the planet at night, which is still in the range from weak to medium. The peak of the event at the moment was around 5 a.m. Moscow time," the message says.
The indicator of the natural phenomenon reached G1.3 on a scale from 1 to 5. The storm was caused by geomagnetic disturbances caused by a large coronal hole in the Sun, which at that moment was located opposite the Earth. At the same time, the storm started a little earlier than expected.
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