An Orthodox priest conducts a blessing service in front of the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday. The Soyuz is scheduled to launch Thursday. Image via Dmitry Lovetsky/AP.

The Soyuz TMA-12M space ship, carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, blasts off at a Russian-leased cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday. Onboard are two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut. Image via Dmitry Lovetsky/AP.

Valentine's Day certainly left someone bitter. Kazakhstan, Russia, and Belarus have decided to ban lace underwear beginning in July. Some Kazakh women, at least, are not going to take the decision lying down.

Maybe you're spending your Labor Day weekend on the beach, or in the woods, or in front of a computer. Either way, you're probably not being paid by a Kazakh autocrat to bore his grandson's wedding guests, because that is already what Kanye West is doing this weekend.

A loyal dog died last week after he was hit by a train in Kazakhstan while dragging his suicidal owner off the tracks to safety.

Borat, a film once banned in its "native country" of Kazakhstan, has actually done wonders for the former Soviet republic, according to Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov.

This is video of Maria Dmitrienko, member of Kazakhstan's shooting team, receiving her gold medal at a ceremony in Kuwait. You might also recognize the song — which should be the Kazakh anthem and is instead the spoof anthem used in the film Borat. While Dmitrienko seems to take it pretty well in the video, the team has demanded an apology.

It only took Kazakhstan four years to respond to Sasha Baron Cohen. My Brother Borat is an attempt to redeem Kazakhstan of the negative attention that has plighted the country since Cohen donned a bad mustache in 2006's Borat.

You've probably been wondering where super hot Russian spy Anna Chapman has been, right? Well, she was spotted today at a cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the launch of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which is carrying Russians and Americans into space.

[Former boxer Mike Tyson, who is just a weird, sad dude, wore a traditional Kazakh costume to the Astana International Action Film Festival in Kazakhstan, where he presented Tyson. Yeah, I don't really know, either. Pic via AP]

"Kazakhstan's sole communication satellite, used by many of the nation's TV broadcasters, is out of control due to a computer glitch and may be lost altogether, officials said." At least they won't be able to see all the "Borat" jokes that are coming. Ha, who's running the space program over there, ha? [NYP]

What in God's name is Cindy Adams doing in Kazakhstan?

A tipster sends along an email that purports to be from the "Cultural Center of Kazakhstan," an outfit that appears to have a barely functioning website. The email announces the Center's upcoming project at the "Time Warnerer building" called "From Kazakhstan With Love." We were all set to chalk this up as some sort of Petrescu-sibling-esque joke, when we read on and discovered that maybe, sadly, there's nothing intentionally funny about this at all.