Category: Azer News

On September 17, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva attended the inauguration of the Pirgulu Park hotel in Shamakhi.

Fariz Abbaszade, a representative of Moderngroup LLC, briefed the head of state and the First Lady on the hotel’s facilities.

The hotel, constructed in the Pirgulu settlement, is located near the Shamakhi Astrophysical Observatory. Covering an area of 16 hectares, the complex comprises two hotel buildings. One of the buildings has a capacity of 188 beds, while the other offers 172 beds. The facility features 175 rooms of various categories and two cottages, accommodating up to 366 guests simultaneously. The complex also houses restaurants, cafes, and a 160-seat hall for meetings and training sessions. A congress building with a capacity of 600 people, a children’s entertainment center, and an amphitheater have also been built on the grounds.

The sustainable and comprehensive development of Azerbaijan’s tourism sector is one of the priority areas of state policy. Alongside the country’s rich natural resources, ancient historical and cultural heritage, and unique climatic diversity, state-level efforts to develop the tourism industry have made Azerbaijan an attractive destination for tourists from around the world.

The Grape and Wine Festival, to be held in Shamakhi on September 19-20, will feature a varied programme of concerts and entertainment for visitors.

Several more popular performers have been added to the festival’s concert lineup.

On September 19, visitors will be able to enjoy performances by popular singers Roza Zargarli, Kazim Can and Joseph U.O, as well as DJ Kamo.

The following day, September 20, the festival stage will feature Azerbaijan’s Eurovision representative Dilara Kazimova, Teymur Suleymanbayli, People’s Artist Zulfiyya Khanbabayeva and DJ Kamo.

Over the two days, visitors will have an opportunity to learn more about viticulture and winemaking and explore Azerbaijan’s tourism potential, alongside the festival’s entertainment programme. Various competitions and quizzes will also be held on both days.

The festival will take place in the village of Meysari, Shamakhi district, and is organized by the Shamakhi District Executive Authority, Abqora restaurant and the Nasimi Gardens complex.

Now in its fifth edition, the festival aims to promote local grape and wine production, increase the export potential of wine products and raise public awareness of Azerbaijan’s long history of viticulture and winemaking, as well as developments in the sector.

Various wine brands will take part in the festival and present their products at the viticulture and winemaking complex of Shirvan Wines LLC in Meysari village.

Tickets for the festival are available through iTicket.az.

For the convenience of visitors travelling from Baku, a shuttle service will operate between the capital and the festival site. Buses will depart from the Heydar Aliyev Center stop at 11:30 and return visitors to Baku after the festival.

‘Spider-Man: A New Day’ has become the highest-grossing film in the history of the US and Canadian box office.

According to industry data, just 47 days after its release, the film had earned approximately $936.773 million in the United States and Canada. This allowed it to overtake ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens,’ which previously held the record with $936.662 million.

‘Spider-Man: A New Day’ is the 38th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the fourth Spider-Man movie starring British actor Tom Holland. The film continues the story of Peter Parker and has attracted audiences with its combination of action, humor and familiar Marvel characters.

The movie also became the highest-grossing film of 2026 during its first week of release, earning more than $1.1 billion worldwide. By mid-August, it had already entered the top five highest-grossing Marvel productions.

The world premiere took place on July 31. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the production budget was approximately $225 million. However, the film’s enormous promotional campaign was even more expensive: Deadline estimated that the studio spent around $309 million on marketing.

The promotional campaign itself attracted considerable attention. Argentine football superstar Lionel Messi appeared in one of the film’s promotional videos, creating additional interest among audiences outside the traditional superhero fan base.

The success of ‘Spider-Man: A New Day’ is particularly notable because superhero films have faced increasing competition from other genres in recent years. Its strong box-office performance demonstrates that major franchise releases can still generate enormous global interest when they combine popular characters with large-scale theatrical releases.

With its impressive ticket sales and a production budget of hundreds of millions of dollars, ‘Spider-Man: A New Day’ has become not only one of the biggest films of 2026 but also another major commercial success for Marvel and Sony.

US Special Envoy for Belarus John Coale said the two sides had reached an interim agreement following talks in Minsk with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

“We have agreed on an interim agreement, an understanding,” Coale was quoted by Belarusian state news agency BelTA.

“As a gesture of goodwill, Belarus will release 25 people. In return, the United States will lift sanctions on two Belarusian companies – Lakokraska and Bellesbumprom,” he added.

According to Coale, the sides discussed international issues, bilateral matters and other topics of mutual interest.

As reported earlier, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confirmed Minsk’s readiness to discuss any issues during talks with the US delegation led by Coale the previous day.

On March 19, 2026, following talks in Minsk between Lukashenko and Coale, Belarus announced the pardon of another group of 250 people convicted of extremist-related offenses and serving sentences in Belarusian prisons.

Coale later announced that the United States would lift sanctions on Belarusian banks Belinvestbank and the Development Bank, as well as the Belarusian Finance Ministry. The US also removed Belarusian Potash Company and Belaruskali from all US-initiated sanctions lists.

The Governing Board of the OPEC Fund for International Development (the OPEC Fund) convened for its 197th session today. Since its previous session, the OPEC Fund has approved US$645 million in new financing for operations across 14 partner countries.

The financing will strengthen water and energy security, improve transport connectivity, advance economic and financial sector reform, and expand access to finance for businesses and farmers.

OPEC Fund President Abdulhamid Alkhalifa said: ‘These investments address essential foundations of sustainable development: reliable water and energy, resilient infrastructure, effective economic institutions and access to finance. By working across the public and private sectors, the OPEC Fund is helping partner countries overcome immediate constraints while creating the conditions for greater opportunity and long-term resilience.’

The new financing comprises US$435 million for public sector development projects and US$210 million for private sector operations.

Public Sector operations

Argentina: Two loans totaling US$65 million will support the “Bi-Provincial Santa Fe-Córdoba Water Supply Project”, delivering safe drinking water to more than 410,000 people across 54 communities along National Route No.34 in the provinces of Santa Fe and Córdoba.

Belize: A US$30 million loan will finance the upgrade a 23.6 km stretch of Belize’s main east-west highway, including the construction of a new bridge, flood-resilient embankments and a wildlife crossing. ?

Cambodia: A US$25 million policy-based loan will support the “Inclusive and Sustainable Finance Development Program”, strengthening the capacity, stability and performance of Cambodia’s banking and non-banking finance sectors.

El Salvador: A US$30 million loan will improve urban mobility and road connectivity in the San Salvador Metropolitan Area, reducing congestion and travel times by financing the upgrade of 2.4 km of road and contributing to the completion of new grade-separated interchanges along two of the main urban corridors.

Morocco: A US$150 million investment will help finance a major new dam designed to improve water security and climate resilience by reducing flood risks and supporting sustainable agriculture.

Sierra Leone: A US$45 million loan will support the “Bumbuna-1 Hydroelectric Power Station Expansion Project”, adding 60 MW of renewable generation capacity for approximately 1.4 million people in the capital, Freetown.

Sri Lanka: A US$30 million policy-based loan will support structural reforms aimed at increasing investment and creating jobs, including measures to lower trade barriers and strengthen the financial sector.

Tajikistan: A US$30 million loan will help finance Phase 1 of the “Rushan-Varshez Road Rehabilitation Project”, reconstructing an 82.2 km section of the Dushanbe-Kulma-China Border highway.

Zambia: A US$30 million loan will support the “Zambia Accelerating Sustainable and Clean Energy Access Transformation (ASCENT) Program”, reinforcing electricity distribution networks across 10 provinces.

Private Sector operations

Armenia: A US$30 million loan to one of Armenia’s leading privately owned banks will expand financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the country.

Azerbaijan: A US$40 million senior secured project loan will support the “Caspian Sea Water Desalination Project” in Sumgayit, the country’s first large-scale seawater desalination plant.

Azerbaijan: A US$20 million senior loan to a local financial institution will expand access to finance for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), including women-owned businesses.

Kazakhstan: The OPEC Fund’s first private sector financing in the country – a US$30 million loan to a local financial institution – will support lending to SMEs and agribusinesses.

Oman: Financing of up to US$40 million will support the construction of the Plaza District within Yiti Sustainable City, a mixed-use development targeting net-zero emissions by 2040.

Paraguay: The OPEC Fund has been mandated to arrange a syndicated term loan of up to US$100 million, comprising US$50 million from the OPEC Fund’s own account and an additional US$50 million expected to be provided by FinDev Canada. The financing will support lending to agribusinesses, MSMEs and women-led MSMEs in Paraguay.

Cybersecurity incidents involving artificial intelligence models developed by Anthropic, OpenAI and Meta were reportedly caused by security failures in testing environments managed by Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity contractor Irregular, rather than autonomous behavior by the AI systems, according to an investigation by US publication Effort.

The investigation found that Irregular had left internet connections active during simulated cybersecurity exercises, allowing AI models to access external servers, publish malicious software packages and exploit vulnerabilities outside the intended testing environments.

According to Effort, evaluators also incorrectly told the AI models that internet access had been disabled, while configuration errors left connections to public networks available.

The testing environments also reportedly lacked clearly defined boundaries specifying which systems the AI models were permitted to target.

As a result, some model instances were able to scan external networks for as long as 34 hours, according to the investigation.

‘According to their own findings, Anthropic and Irregular bear all of the responsibility for the cybersecurity incidents they caused,’ Effort said.

The investigation further found that the reported hacking activity stopped after engineers instructed the AI models not to conduct attacks against real-world systems.

Effort said this indicated that the incidents were primarily the result of basic security shortcomings and inadequately controlled testing environments rather than AI models independently deciding to carry out real-world cyberattacks.

The findings highlight concerns over how AI systems are evaluated in cybersecurity environments, particularly when models are granted access to external networks or potentially sensitive infrastructure during testing.

The incidents also underscore the importance of isolating testing environments and establishing explicit technical restrictions on what AI systems can access or target during security evaluations.

UEFA representatives will inspect Baku Olympic Stadium this week to assess its readiness to host international matches and compliance with UEFA requirements.

Intensive work to restore the stadium’s pitch began in early September. The playing surface is expected to be fully ready by the end of September, or no later than October 5.

Baku Olympic Stadium is set to host four home matches of Azerbaijani champions Sabah in the UEFA Champions League league phase.

The club will play its first home match on October 13, when it will face Czech side Slavia Prague in the second round.

Baku Olympic Stadium is set to host four home matches of Azerbaijani champions Sabah in the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League league phase.

The club’s first home fixture will be against Czech side Slavia Praha on October 13, followed by matches against Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona and Napoli.

The UEFA Champions League is Europe’s premier club football competition, organized annually by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

It brings together leading clubs from UEFA’s member associations and is contested through qualifying rounds, a league phase and knockout stages.

The 2026/27 UEFA Champions League is the 72nd season of Europe’s premier club football competition and the third to use the current league-phase format.

The league phase features 36 teams, with each club playing eight matches against different opponents. The competition began with qualifying in July, while the league phase runs from September 8, 2026 to January 27, 2027.

The knockout phase will follow in February, with the final scheduled for June 5, 2027, at the Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid.

George Zakarashvili has been appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

According to the Georgian Foreign Ministry, Zakarashvili has held various positions at Georgia’s Foreign Ministry headquarters and in the country’s diplomatic missions over the years.

Since 2021, he has served as Georgia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine, as well as the country’s Permanent Representative to GUAM.

From 2016 to 2019, Zakarashvili served as Minister Plenipotentiary at the Section of Interests of Georgia at the Embassy of the Swiss Confederation in Russia. Between 2012 and 2016, he was Minister Plenipotentiary at the Embassy of Georgia in Ukraine and the Permanent Representation of Georgia to GUAM.

At various times, George Zakharashvili also served as Director of the Political Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Head of the Division for Relations with the Countries of Central Asia.

Houthis’ military spokesperson Yahya Saree (pictured) said on Wednesday that the Yemeni militant group carried out two military operations in retaliation for “more than 450” Saudi airstrikes this week and launched ballistic missile attacks on the Saudi Aramco facility in the western Saudi port city of Yanbu and the Khamis Mushait Air Base in southwestern Saudi Arabia.

“We will continue our military operations deep inside Saudi territory, targeting Saudi troop buildups, and maintaining the equation of ‘a siege for a siege’ and ‘an escalation for an escalation’ until the aggression ceases and the blockade on our beloved country is lifted,” Saree said.

The militant group also previously downed Saudi Arabia’s US-made F15 fighter jet, accusing it of “hostile operations” over Yemen’s Marib Governorate.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that his country is prepared to hold both bilateral and trilateral negotiations with Ukraine and that it awaits proposals for new talks.

“Our American colleagues, who recently visited the Russian Federation again, are proceeding from the fact that they proposed trilateral negotiations. This format has already taken place in the UAE, involving the United States, Russia, and Ukraine. We are ready for both bilateral and trilateral negotiations. We have never rejected them,” Lavrov said at the International Youth Festival in Yekaterinburg. “We will wait for proposals, but I can tell you confidentially that we have no great illusions,” he added.

The Russian foreign minister also noted that Moscow will listen to any proposal from Europe about resuming dialogue, claiming that Europe was the one that severed the bilateral relations, and not Russia. He previously clarified that his country will not attack Europe, but that if Europe attacks, it will be a “very short” war.