#KAZAKHSTAN

Dozens of seal pups have been found wandering the barren steppe near the Caspian Sea, after being stranded by a powerful snowstorm in southwestern Kazakhstan.

A passenger plane plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Kazakh authorities announced.

A Russian spy ring plotted to create a deepfake porn video of the Kazakh president’s son as part of an elaborate plot to sow chaos in the country, allowing Russia to step in as a rescuer, a U.K. court heard on Tuesday.

Kazakh police are investigating the brief appearance of the Ukrainian flag on a large LED screen in the capital city, Astana, during a visit by Vladimir Putin, Kazakhstan's interior ministry said on Thursday.

Kazakhstanis have voted in a referendum in favor of creating nuclear power capacity in the country, the electoral authorities have announced.

Kazakhstan votes in a referendum on Sunday on whether to build its first nuclear power plant, an idea promoted by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's government as the Central Asian nation seeks to phase out polluting coal plants.

Two Amur tigers have arrived in Kazakhstan as part of a program to reintroduce the big cats to the country some 70 years after they were wiped out by hunters.

A Kazakh opposition journalist has died of his wounds two weeks after being shot in Kyiv in an attack that his wife has linked to the Kazakh regime.

Endangered wild horses have returned to the Golden steppes of Kazakhstan after nearly 200 years, following a decades-long scheme involving Prague Zoo.

On Sunday night and into Monday morning, further problems developed in the Zharkain region, where the Ish River broke floodwaters.

The deluge of melt water overwhelmed settlements in the Ural Mountains, Siberia, and areas of Kazakhstan close to rivers.

The state news agency TASS reported that six adults and three children had been hospitalized in Orsk.

Consumers in Kazakhstan have received messages from banks, mobile telecommunications operators, and other service providers, warning of possible disruptions as most of the country prepares to switch to a different time zone from March 1.