An Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet with 67 people on board crashed on Wednesday in western Kazakhstan after veering from its scheduled route, officials said.

Azerbaijani authorities said 32 people had survived the crash of the Embraer 190 near the city of Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea.

The plane was flying from the Azerbaijani capital Baku on the western shore of the Caspian to the city of Grozny in Chechnya in southern Russia.

“A plane doing the Baku-Grozny route crashed near the city of Aktau. It belongs to Azerbaijan Airlines,” the Kazakh transport ministry said on Telegram.

Azerbaijan Airlines, the country’s flag carrier, said the plane had 62 passengers and five crew on board.

It said the plane “made an emergency landing” around three kilometres (1.9 miles) from Aktau.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev cancelled a planned visit to Russia for an informal summit of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a grouping of former Soviet nations.

The Kazakh transport ministry said the plane was carrying 37 nationals from Azerbaijan, six from Kazakhstan, three from Kyrgyzstan and 16 from Russia.

The office of Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general said: “According to available data, 32 people survived the crash.”

“We cannot disclose any investigation results at this time. All possible scenarios are being examined, and the necessary expert analyses are underway,” it said in a statement.

“An investigative team, led by the deputy prosecutor general of Azerbaijan, has been dispatched to Kazakhstan and is working at the crash site.”

Source: France 24

An Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet with 67 people on board crashed on Wednesday in western Kazakhstan after veering from its scheduled route, officials said.

Azerbaijani authorities said 32 people had survived the crash of the Embraer 190 near the city of Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea.

The plane was flying from the Azerbaijani capital Baku on the western shore of the Caspian to the city of Grozny in Chechnya in southern Russia.

“A plane doing the Baku-Grozny route crashed near the city of Aktau. It belongs to Azerbaijan Airlines,” the Kazakh transport ministry said on Telegram.

Azerbaijan Airlines, the country’s flag carrier, said the plane had 62 passengers and five crew on board.

It said the plane “made an emergency landing” around three kilometres (1.9 miles) from Aktau.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev cancelled a planned visit to Russia for an informal summit of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a grouping of former Soviet nations.

The Kazakh transport ministry said the plane was carrying 37 nationals from Azerbaijan, six from Kazakhstan, three from Kyrgyzstan and 16 from Russia.

The office of Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general said: “According to available data, 32 people survived the crash.”

“We cannot disclose any investigation results at this time. All possible scenarios are being examined, and the necessary expert analyses are underway,” it said in a statement.

“An investigative team, led by the deputy prosecutor general of Azerbaijan, has been dispatched to Kazakhstan and is working at the crash site.”

Doctors flown to site

The Kazakh emergency situations ministry said its staff put out a fire which broke out when the plane crashed.

The ministry earlier reported that “28 survivors including two children have been hospitalised.”

It said 150 emergency workers were at the scene.

The health ministry said a special flight was being sent from the Kazakh capital Astana with specialist doctors to treat the injured.

Aliyev’s office said the president “ordered the prompt initiation of urgent measures to investigate the causes of the disaster.”

“I extend my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the crash… and wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” Aliyev said in a social media post.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with Aliyev and also “expressed his condolences in connection with the crash,” his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a news conference.

Azerbaijan’s first lady Mehriban Aliyeva, who is also the country’s first Vice President, said she was “deeply saddened by the news of the tragic loss of lives in the plane crash near Aktau.”

“I extend my heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims. Wishing them strength and patience! I also wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” she said on Instagram.

“I express my condolences to the relatives of the passengers of the Azerbaijan Airlines jet who died,” Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Telegram.

The plane’s course on Flight Radar showed it crossing the Caspian Sea away from its normal route and then circling over the area where it eventually crashed.

Kazakhstan said it had opened an investigation.

Source: AFP

The Malaysian government says it has agreed in principle to resume the search for a passenger jet that vanished ten years ago in one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 while on its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board.

Efforts to locate the wreckage of the Boeing 777 have sputtered over the years and hundreds of families of those on board remain haunted by the tragedy.

On Friday, Malaysia’s transport minister Anthony Loke said the cabinet approved in principle a $70m (£56m) deal with US-based marine exploration firm Ocean Infinity to find the aircraft.

Under a “no find, no fee” arrangement, Ocean Infinity will get paid only when the wreckage is found.

A 2018 search by Ocean Infinity under similar terms ended unsuccessfully after three months.

A multinational effort that cost $150m ended in 2017 after two years of scouring vast waters.

While the government has “in principle” accepted Ocean infinity’s offer, Loke said negotiations over specific terms of the deal were still ongoing and would be finalised early next year.

The new search will cover a 15,000 sq km patch in the southern Indian Ocean.

“We hope this time will be positive,” Loke said, adding that finding the wreckage would give closure to the families of those on board.

Source: BBC

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu takes the stand on Tuesday in his long-running trial for alleged corruption, setting off what’s expected to be a weeks-long spectacle that will draw unwelcome attention to his legal woes as he faces an international arrest warrant for war crimes and the fighting in Gaza continues.

It is the first time an Israeli prime minister is testifying as a criminal defendant, an embarrassing milestone for a leader who has tried to cultivate an image as a sophisticated and respected statesman.

Netanyahu arrived at the packed courtroom ahead of his testimony, appearing at ease and shaking hands with members of his Likud party who were in attendance. Before taking the stand, Netanyahu’s lawyer laid out the defense’s case, and attempted to poke holes in the indictment.

Netanyahu will answer during his court appearances to charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases.

He is accused of accepting tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of cigars and champagne from a billionaire Hollywood producer in exchange for assisting him with personal and business interests. He is also accused of promoting advantageous regulation for media moguls in exchange for favorable coverage of himself and his family.

Netanyahu, 75, denies wrongdoing, saying the charges are a witch hunt orchestrated by a hostile media and a biased legal system out to topple his lengthy rule. His testimony caps years of scandals that have swirled around him and his family.

“Eight years I’ve waited for this day. Eight years I have waited to present the truth. Eight years I am waiting to knock down once and for all these deluded and absurd charges against me,” Netanyahu said defiantly on the eve of his testimony. “These investigations were born of sin. There was no offense, so they found an offense.”

Dozens of people gathered outside of the court in Tel Aviv, some protesting against Netanyahu, including family members of hostages held in Gaza, and also a group of his supporters. A banner draped in front of the court read: “Crime Minister.”

Under Israeli law, indicted prime ministers are not required to step down. But the charges against Netanyahu cleaved deep divisions in Israel, with protesters demanding he resign and former political allies refusing to serve in government with the Israeli leader, triggering a political crisis that led to five elections in less than four years beginning in 2019.

Netanyahu’s supporters view the charges as the result of the justice system’s bias and overreach.

Despite the pressure, the polarizing Netanyahu has rejected calls to step down and has used his position as prime minister to lash out at law enforcement, media and courts.

The testimony, set to take place six hours a day, three days a week for several weeks, will take up a significant chunk of Netanyahu’s working hours, prompting critics to ask if he can capably manage a country embroiled in a war on one front, containing the fallout from a second, and keeping tabs on other potential regional threats, including from Iran or the recent fall of Bashar Assad in Syria.

An Israeli court rejected a request by Netanyahu’s lawyers to reduce the expected testimony hours, as well as several other requests to delay the start of the testimony, which they said were necessary because of the prime minister’s busy schedule and the country’s significant challenges.

Source: FRANCE 24 with AP

Russia says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has issued orders for a peaceful transition of power before he resigned and departed from the country.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that President Assad decided to step down after negotiations with “a number of participants in the armed conflict on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic.”

Assad, Russia said, gave “instructions for a peaceful transfer of power.”

The ministry did not provide further information regarding Assad’s whereabouts.

According to the statement, Moscow “did not participate in these negotiations,” but it calls on all “parties involved to refrain from the use of violence and to resolve all issues of governance through political means.”

“In that regard, the Russian Federation is in contact with all groups of the Syrian opposition.”

Moscow said Russia’s military bases in the Arab country had been put on a state of high alert, but that there was no serious threat to them at the current time.

On Saturday evening, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi urged “political dialogue” between the Syrian government and militant groups after a meeting with foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey in the Qatari capital of Doha on Saturday evening.

Araghchi said there was a consensus among all the participants that hostilities in Syria must end immediately and the country’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty must be respected based on the UN resolution.

The meeting was also attended by United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen, who had urged all parties “to spare bloodshed and focus on a political solution in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2254.”

The conflict began when Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militant group launched a large-scale attack in Aleppo and Idlib provinces in the northwest of Syria on November 27, seizing several areas.

The group took control of parts of the country’s second-biggest city, Aleppo, and advanced southward toward the city of Hama. Earlier on Sunday, the armed group declared that they had captured the capital, Damascus.

Source: Press TV

The Syrian government fell early Sunday in a stunning end to President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule over the Arab country after the militant group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) stormed and captured the capital Damascus.

In a statement on Sunday morning, the HTS militants declared that they had captured the capital, confirming reports of the fall of the Assad government.

Earlier in the day, Reuters quoted an unnamed officer as saying that the Syrian army command notified officers that the Assad government had fallen.

US President Joe Biden has announced a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah

The deal will take effect from 04:00 local time (02:00 GMT) tomorrow, according to Biden

Earlier, Israel launched extensive air strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs after its military issued evacuation orders in the area

Israeli troops began a land invasion of Lebanon almost two months ago, in response to almost a year of rocket attacks from Hezbollah

A ceasefire in Lebanon would not directly affect Israel’s war in Gaza.

Source: BBC

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has called for death sentence for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose arrest warrant has been issued by the ICC amid the regime’s genocide in Gaza and carnage in Lebanon.

“The (ICC) arrest warrant is not enough, Netanyahu’s death sentence must be ordered,” Ayatollah Khamenei said during a meeting with members of the Iranian Basij volunteer force on Monday, on the occasion of Basij Week.

The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his ousted war minister Yoav Gallant over their war crimes related to the ongoing Gaza genocide.

Now, the pair are at risk of arrest if they step foot in any of the 124 countries that signed the Rome Statute establishing the ICC.

Referring to Israel’s aggression in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, the Leader said the bombing of houses is not a victory but “a crime”.

The enemy has not won its wars on Gaza and Lebanon, and it will never be able to do so, Ayatollah Khamenei asserted.

Source: Presstv