Ilham Aliyev News

Azerbaijani airliner with 67 people onboard crashed Wednesday near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, killing 38 people and leaving 29 survivors, a Kazakh official said.Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbaev disclosed the figures while meeting with Azerbaijani officials, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.The Embraer 190 was en route from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus when it was diverted and attempted an emergency landing 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from Aktau, Azerbaijan Airlines said.Speaking at a news conference, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that it was too soon to speculate on the reasons behind the crash, but said that the weather had forced the plane to change from its planned course.“The information provided to me is that the plane changed its course between Baku and Grozny due to worsening weather conditions and headed to Aktau airport, where it crashed upon landing,” he said.Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said that preliminary information showed that the pilots diverted to Aktau after a bird strike led to an emergency on board.According to Kazakh officials, those aboard the plane included 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyzstan nationals. Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general’s office previously said that 32 of the 67 people on board had survived the crash, but told journalists that the number wasn’t final.

Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash on Christmas Day has sparked widespread speculation and investigations into its cause. The Embraer 190 flying from Baku to Grozny made an emergency landing attempt near the Kazak city of Aktau and a total of 38 persons died, 29 of them survived with some degree of injury. In the set of the latest theories, there are also those which hypothesize the airplane could have misintercepted or fallen victim to a Russian air defense weapon.

Baku Olympic Stadium in Azerbaijan has served as a temporary Thunderdome for the United Nations’ COP29 climate conference. Some 20,000 delegates from nearly 200 countries gathered for small confabs by the concession stands, while all-hands meetings were staged on a football pitch tricked out with wooden floors and waterproof tents.

Diplomats from across the world will descend on the Azerbaijani capital of Baku for the annual climate summit, known as COP29, to discuss how to avoid the increasing threats from climate change in a place that was one of the birthplaces of the oil indu...

Pakistan's military said on Thursday that the country has signed a contract to sell JF-17 Block III fighter jets to Azerbaijan. The aircraft is co-produced by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and developed jointly with China, with whom Islamabad has grown increasingly close as ties with traditional military ally the United States have weakened over the last few years. The military did not provide the cost or quantity of jets agreed to, but said in a statement that the sale was part of Islamabad's efforts to enhance defence cooperation with friendly countries and bolster the air power capabilities of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan has formally applied to join the BRICS group of developing economies, a day after Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s visit to the oil-rich South Caucasus country to shore up regional ties and secure Moscow’s under-pressure trade routes

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, 63, was declared dead following a helicopter crash over the weekend, a senior Iranian official confirmed early Monday. Along with Raisi, his foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian was also killed.

By Andrew Osborn

STEPANAKERT, Azerbaijan (Reuters) -Ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh began a mass exodus by car on Sunday toward Armenia after Azerbaijan defeated the breakaway region's fighters in a conflict dating from the Soviet era.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) — The European Union urged Azerbaijan and Armenia to refrain from «violence and harsh rhetoric» on Saturday at the latest round of talks in a tortuous peace process in which Russia is also pushing to retain a leading role.

Armenian and Azeri leaders agreed "not to use force" to settle their disputes, following peace talks hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

The European Union has for a "cessation of hostilities" between Armenia and Azerbaijan after several soldiers were reportedly killed during renewed clashes in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh.