Republic Day fell on a Sunday, so for Kazakhstan the day passed without government decisions or major economic news: ministries are off until Tuesday and public service centres are closed on Monday too. The day's news came from sport and the weather. The national team opened its medal count at the home World Wrestling Championships, Almaty held a tennis tournament with no Kazakh in the final, and the Olympic figure skating champion made a poor start to the season. Frost and dry weather persisted across the country, and three forest fires were put out in a single day.
The main event of the week is still ahead: on 28 October President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev will deliver his annual State of the Nation address.
The holiday: words about the state and a Monday off
In his Republic Day message the President called the holiday a symbol of the revival of centuries-old Kazakh statehood and promised to continue the reforms: "Relying on constitutional values, we will firmly follow our strategic course of progressive transformation and fulfil all the tasks before us" [1]. Among the priorities he named the introduction of artificial intelligence, new industries and the construction of schools and hospitals. On the morning of 25 October Tokayev attended the flag-raising ceremony at Akorda, and more than 120 events were prepared in Astana for Republic Day [2].
With the holiday falling on a Sunday, the day off moved to Monday. The autumn school holidays also began on 26 October and run until 1 November inclusive [3]. For anyone who needs documents, the week starts on Tuesday, when public service centres and specialised centres reopen [4].
Sport: two bronzes at home and a champion's poor start
The home World Wrestling Championships brought their first medals on the second day. The reigning world champion Aidos Sultangali won bronze against the Olympic medallist Cao Liguo, and Iskhar Kurbayev against an Indian wrestler [5]; the titles in their weights went to Azerbaijan's Eldaniz Azizli and Japan's Koto Gomi, who had beaten Sultangali in the semi-final [20]. Organisers pay 25,000 dollars for each World Championship bronze [6]. But Kazakhstan has not yet won gold in Greco-Roman wrestling: both wrestlers lost their semi-finals. Seven days remain, with freestyle and women's wrestling to come.
The tennis week ended with two trophies for Kazakhstan, but only one of them Kazakh: Elena Rybakina won the tournament in Ningbo, China, while the Almaty cup went home with a Russian. Rybakina won the Ningbo title for the second year running [17]. Daniil Medvedev defended an ATP title for the first time in his career, and Alexander Bublik had withdrawn from their semi-final [7]. Olympic champion Mikhail Shaidorov, fourth after the short programme, fell twice in the free skate at the Grand Prix event in France and dropped to tenth [8]. He has one event left to qualify for the series final.
Weather and the forests
Forecasters issued a storm warning for 26 October in 16 regions, Almaty and Shymkent; frosts down to −11 °C are expected at night, and an extreme fire risk persists in the south, west and centre of the country [9]. The dry autumn coincided with three forest fires in a day, two in the Kostanay region and one in the Semey Ormany reserve, where forest also burned on 3 October [10]. All the fires were put out. The Ministry of Ecology has not given the area burned, which is the first question to put to it after the weekend.
Neighbours: Uzbekistan pays students and changes its letters
The most substantive decisions in the region over the day came from Tashkent. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced that the state would pay students' rent in full and move the best students onto grants from their second year [11]. Since 2021, half of the rent had been reimbursed, and not to everyone [12]. The conditions of the new measure, its coverage, timing and ceilings, have not yet been published.
At the same time Uzbekistan is preparing to switch to an updated 28-letter Latin alphabet: the law takes effect on 22 April 2027, and documents and banknotes will not need replacing [13]. Finally, the Uzbek team finished the Asian Para Games third with 145 medals, 45 of them gold, behind China (435 medals, 207 gold) and the host nation Japan (186 and 64) [14][19]. Kazakhstan, with 50 medals, was ninth, with almost three times fewer than its neighbour.
What next
On Wednesday, 28 October, in the morning, Tokayev will deliver his State of the Nation address; he announced the date on 20 October without revealing the theme or title [15]. The previous address, on 8 September 2025, was devoted to artificial intelligence and digital transformation [16], and the President declared 2026 the Year of Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence [18]; which themes will lead this time will become clear on Wednesday. The World Wrestling Championships continue in Astana until 1 November. Pupils return to school on 2 November.
