Google and Mozilla are making changes to their respective web browsers to try and thwart the notoriously corrupt government of Kazakhstan's efforts to launch a surveillance operation against its own citizens. Read the rest
A Canadian man born in Kazakhstan has been sentenced to five years in prison for crimes connected to the massive Yahoo security breach that U.S. federal agents say was directed by Russian government spies.
“Karim Baratov, an FSB go-to guy for webmail hacking, was sentenced to 5 years in prison this morning, less than the nearly 8 years sought by the Justice Department,” says Daily Beast's Kevin Poulsen.
Below, why 5 years in prison is actually a good outcome for Baratov, who is 23. Read the rest
Reportedly costing $179K, this elaborate cake wowed guests at a wedding Sunday in Kazakhstan. Styled like a castle, the one-ton cake featured many moving parts including a small horse-drawn carriage that brought small representations of the wedding couple to the front door of the castle. From there, the figurines were whisked up to a balcony near the top of the cake.
Watch for yourself:
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AKIPress named the bride and groom and their social status:
The groom Amirzhan is grandson of a Shymkent oligarch Serikzhan Seitzhanov, bride Aruzhan is daughter of Kairat Satybaldy, a Kazakh businessman, nephew of the president of Kazakhstan.
Interestingly, the impressive cake was crafted by Renat Agzamov (shown below), a former Russian boxing champion turned pastry chef.
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September is a new website launched by left-wing groups in Ukraine, Belarus, and other former Soviet states, devoted to finding common cause among activists across the region (the name is a bit of an inside joke about the October, 1917 revolution, embodied in the site's strapline, "It’s not October yet, but it’s close"). Read the rest
At Defcon, researchers from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, First Look Media and Amnesty International, revealed their findings on a major phishing attack through which the government of Kazakhstan was able to hack opposition journalists and arrange for an opposition politician's extradition from exile in Italy to Kazakhstan. Read the rest
A European-Russian spacecraft headed out from our humble little planet to space today, in search for life on Mars. Read the rest
Esquire Kazakhstan features photos of the country's decaying Soviet space murals, which do not have protected status, and are coming to bits. They're still towering, heroic Soviet Realist paeans to space travel, sorrowful as they may be. Read the rest
