Category: Azer News

Deputy Chairman of the Azerbaijan Bar Association Aydin Akhundov has visited Tashkent at the invitation of the Chamber of Advocates of Uzbekistan, according to the Azerbaijan Bar Association.

During his visit to the Uzbek capital, Akhundov took part in a roundtable entitled ‘Strengthening the Status of Bar Associations of Turkic States: The Experience of Turkic States’, attended by the heads of bar associations from across the Turkic world.

Representatives of the bar associations of Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Trkiye, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan participated in the meeting.

The roundtable focused on exchanging experience and views among bar associations of Turkic states, expanding existing cooperation and discussing joint initiatives aimed at further developing the legal profession.

Opening the event, Chairman of the Chamber of Advocates of Uzbekistan Shukhrat Sadikov highlighted the importance of the meeting and stressed the need to strengthen the institutional status of the legal profession.

Speaking at the event, Akhundov underlined the importance of further developing cooperation among bar associations across the Turkic states.

He briefed participants on the progress achieved by the Azerbaijan Bar Association in recent years as part of reforms focused on digitalisation, institutional development and international cooperation.

Akhundov also identified joint training and professional development programmes, exchanges of knowledge and expertise in emerging areas of law, the use of electronic services, and the harmonisation of professional ethics and standards of conduct as key priorities for cooperation.

At the conclusion of his remarks, Akhundov announced that the 1st Baku International Lawyers’ Meeting would be held in December this year and invited participants to attend the international event.

The roundtable also featured an exchange of views on prospects for future cooperation among bar associations across the Turkic world, issues of mutual interest and potential joint initiatives, with a number of proposals put forward.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is expected to meet US President Donald Trump on September 23 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, according to a media report.

Sharif has received an invitation to a reception dinner hosted by Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for heads of state and government attending the UN General Assembly, The News reported on Sunday, citing high-level sources.

The dinner is scheduled to take place at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel on Madison Avenue on the evening of September 23 and is expected to bring together a number of world leaders.

The gathering could provide Sharif with an opportunity to meet Trump as well as other heads of state and government attending the annual UN session.

The meeting would be the latest face-to-face encounter between the two leaders. Sharif and Trump previously met at the inaugural Board of Peace meeting in Washington in February. They also held talks at the White House in September 2025 and met at the Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit in Egypt in October last year.

Sharif is due to arrive in New York a day before the reception and is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on September 25.

During his address, the Pakistani prime minister is expected to raise India’s decision to place the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance.

The 1960 treaty, brokered by the World Bank, governs the sharing and use of water from the six rivers of the Indus River system between India and Pakistan.

India placed the treaty in abeyance in April 2025 following the Pahalgam terrorist attack, in which 26 civilians were killed. New Delhi said the suspension would remain in place until Pakistan “credibly and irrevocably” ended its support for cross-border terrorism. Islamabad has denied involvement in the attack and rejected India’s allegations.

Pakistani officials say several countries, including traditional allies and others, have assured Islamabad of support for its position on the water treaty.

Sharif is also expected to highlight the trilateral security arrangement between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Trkiye signed in Makkah on August 7.

The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement establishes a collective defence framework under which an armed attack against one of the three countries is treated as an attack against all three.

The high-level General Debate of the 81st UN General Assembly is scheduled to take place from September 22 to 26, with an additional sitting on September 28 at UN headquarters in New York. Sharif is scheduled to be the fourth speaker during the second half of the session on September 25.

It was election day in Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt, and Alaa Yakoub Agha was celebrating a milestone.

The 55-year-old Syrian-born German citizen had voted for the first time since arriving in Germany in 2015. But her sense of belonging was shaken just hours later when she was subjected to racist abuse during a walk by a lake.

A man reportedly shouted at her to ‘go back to your own country’.

‘I looked at him with sadness and walked on,’ she told The Independent. ‘It hurts me that some people still view us as strangers, despite our years of integration and our contributions to society.’

The incident came as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) secured an overwhelming victory in the state election, winning almost 44 per cent of the vote.

The result marked the first time since the Second World War that a far-right party had won a state election in Germany, underscoring the growing political strength of the AfD and deepening concerns among minority communities.

For many migrants and members of ethnic minorities in Saxony-Anhalt, the election has raised fears about what an AfD-led government could mean for their future, amid concerns over immigration, integration and rising hostility towards foreigners.

Yet the response from minority residents has also been one of defiance.

Despite the political shift and experiences of racism in everyday life, they insist that their lives, families, work and communities are part of the state’s social fabric.

Their message is clear: Saxony-Anhalt is their home, too.

Fresh strikes in Saudi Arabia and attacks on vessels in the Gulf have heightened fears of further disruption to global energy supplies, as tensions around key oil and shipping routes intensified on Sunday.

Oil traders are bracing for higher prices when markets reopen on Monday after a series of weekend incidents raised concerns over supplies from Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter.

The latest escalation came in the Gulf, where the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) said on Sunday that a vessel was struck by a projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The incident sparked a fire and forced the crew to evacuate.

Iran separately reported that one person was killed and four crew members were wounded after an Iranian commercial vessel was struck off the country’s coast.

In Saudi Arabia, state media released footage showing damage to homes and a mosque in Jazan province following what officials described as another cross-border attack by Yemen’s Houthi militants. The Houthis separately claimed to have targeted a Saudi military base in a neighbouring province.

The latest attacks followed a series of alerts in southern Saudi Arabia over the past week. On Friday, drone strikes reportedly disrupted the 745-mile East-West Pipeline, a crucial route designed to transport Saudi oil to the Red Sea while bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.

The pipeline is strategically important because it provides Saudi Arabia with an alternative export route should shipping through the Strait of Hormuz face prolonged disruption.

The situation also deteriorated around the Bab el-Mandeb, the strategic waterway linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. On Friday, the Houthis claimed control of Perim Island, which sits in the middle of the strait.

The developments have raised fresh concerns over the vulnerability of the Middle East’s major energy corridors, with the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb both playing critical roles in global oil and shipping flows.

With attacks now affecting both land-based energy infrastructure and maritime routes, traders are watching closely for signs that the disruption could spread further across the region.

Baku is establishing itself as a global sporting capital by hosting major international competitions across a range of disciplines, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Youth and Sports Farid Gayibov has said.

Speaking to journalists after the awards ceremony of the Sea Breeze 2026 international tournament, Gayibov said Azerbaijan had hosted its first-ever large-scale international beach polo competition.

‘Baku is the sporting capital of the world, and this year we are hosting large-scale international competitions in various sports for the first time. The beach polo tournament organised for the first time in our country was another sporting celebration,’ Azerbaijan’s state media Azertag quoted him as saying.

The minister praised the organisation of the tournament and thanked the management of Sea Breeze for creating favourable conditions for the competition.

‘This was the first beach polo competition to be held in Azerbaijan, and it was organised very successfully. The Equestrian Federation is also very active. Next year, the federation will organise new competitions and surprises in our capital,’ Gayibov said.

He also highlighted the success of Azerbaijani athletes, noting that the national team won the inaugural beach polo tournament on home soil.

‘It is doubly pleasing that our athletes emerged victorious. Our team has competed in St Moritz many times, securing various places and winning gold medals. Today, however, they became champions of beach polo in our homeland, the sporting capital of the world. I congratulate everyone on this achievement,’ the minister said.

Boris Johnson and European officials were briefly evacuated from a privately chartered train travelling from Kyiv towards Poland after a drone attack threat halted the train near the Polish border, German newspaper Der Spiegel reported.

The train, carrying former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior European officials, was stopped early Sunday after a drone attack in the area raised security concerns.

According to Der Spiegel, Gunter Sautter, one of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s closest foreign and security policy advisers, was travelling overnight from Kyiv towards Poland when the train stopped near the border. Parts of the train were evacuated following reports of drone activity.

The security alert came after a separate drone attack on the same railway route. Early Sunday, a passenger train travelling from Kyiv to Warsaw was targeted by a drone near the Polish border, with the locomotive reportedly hit. No injuries were reported.

Sautter had been in Kyiv with security advisers from Britain, France and Italy for talks with Ukrainian officials on possible peace negotiations with Russia. He also attended the Yalta European Strategy conference on Saturday.

Other European security advisers, German lawmakers, diplomats and academics were travelling on the train, alongside Johnson, who was returning to Poland after attending the conference.

Passengers were briefly evacuated following the drone alert. Authorities later issued an all-clear after no further drones were detected, Der Spiegel reported.

The incident highlights the growing security risks surrounding rail links between Ukraine and Poland as Russia’s war continues and drone attacks increasingly affect infrastructure close to Ukraine’s western border.

Iranian security forces have reportedly arrested at least 21 Arabs, including two minors aged 13 and 17, in a series of raids in the cities of Shush and Ahvaz, according to the Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights.

Hengaw said Mohammad Kaabi, an Arab poet and cultural activist from Shush, was arrested by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence forces on Saturday, September 12, and transferred to an undisclosed location.

In a separate incident, IRGC Intelligence forces reportedly arrested 12 people during a raid on a home in the village of Abudeh in Ahvaz on Thursday, September 10.

According to Hengaw, those detained were Reza Savari, Khaled Gharbavi, Jafar Cheldavi, Loghman Batrani, Kamal Batrani, Mostafa Cheldavi and his 13-year-old son Ali Cheldavi, another person also named Ali Cheldavi, Ebrahim Hamdani, Abbas Heydari, Amir Jaderi and Hadi Beit Sheikh Ahmad, also known as Abu Kamal, 55.

The rights group said all 12 were guests at Mostafa Cheldavi’s home when security forces detained them. Several of those arrested were later transferred to Sheiban Prison in Ahvaz.

Hengaw described the arrests as religiously motivated but did not provide further details about the specific allegations against those detained.

In another incident, eight people were reportedly arrested in Ahvaz’s Kuy-e Mashali neighbourhood on Friday, September 4.

The eight were identified as Razi Heydari, 50, Hossein Heydari, 29, Abdolali Asakereh, 30, Majid Sharifi, also known as Savari, 44, Arkan Sharifi, 17, Lafteh Heydari, 36, Hamzeh Sayahi, 34, and Mohammad Savari.

According to Hengaw, the group had gathered at Sharifi’s home when Intelligence Department forces surrounded and entered the property.

The organisation alleged that security forces beat the detainees before arresting them without warrants and transferring them blindfolded to an undisclosed location.

Hengaw also said the forces searched Sharifi’s home, confiscated the mobile phones of those present and seized his vehicle.

Several of those arrested were reportedly transferred to the quarantine section of Sheiban Prison on Wednesday, September 9, while Sharifi remained in custody at an Intelligence Department detention facility.

According to the rights organisation, Sharifi had previously been summoned and arrested and had served a prison sentence.

The reported arrests come amid continued scrutiny of Iran’s treatment of Arab communities in Khuzestan province, where rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns over arrests and restrictions affecting cultural, religious and political activities.

The allegations have not been independently verified, and Iranian authorities have not been quoted as commenting on the reported arrests.

An Iranian commercial vessel was reportedly struck in the Strait of Hormuz late on Saturday, killing one person and injuring four others, according to Iranian state media, as tensions continue to rise around the strategically vital waterway.

Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB said the incident occurred early on Sunday near Qeshm Island, off Iran’s southern coast. The state-run IRNA news agency quoted the governor of Qeshm as blaming a “terrorist enemy” for the attack.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, while the United States has not publicly commented on the reported incident.

The attack came a day before Iranian officials were due to meet regional representatives in Oman to discuss managing commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

A separate vessel was also hit by an unknown projectile in the strait late on Saturday, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO). It said a fire broke out and local authorities were helping to evacuate crew members, but did not identify the vessel or its flag.

The incidents have heightened concerns over the security of shipping through the waterway, through which around 20 million barrels of oil a day passed before the current conflict. Traffic has reportedly fallen by about 90% from pre-conflict levels.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the waterway would be reopened only if the United States ended its blockade. Ebrahim Azizi, chairman of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee, said negotiations would be pointless unless Washington accepted all of Tehran’s conditions.

The reported attacks came as Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen also stepped up their activities around another major maritime chokepoint.

The Houthis claimed responsibility on Sunday for an attack on a Saudi military base in the Sharurah region, saying they had used ballistic missiles and drones against weapons depots and command-and-control facilities.

The group has also intensified fighting against Yemen’s Saudi-backed government. Last week, the Houthis said they had captured Perim Island at the entrance to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key shipping route linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.

The simultaneous pressure on the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab has raised concerns over global shipping and energy supplies. Prolonged disruption to either waterway could further increase oil prices and freight costs.

China is stepping up efforts to shape a new security order in the Middle East as Egypt and Gulf states reassess their dependence on the US amid continuing conflict and disruption to regional trade routes.

The shift became apparent after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Cairo on September 2. Shortly after seeing Xi off at the airport, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss regional security and coordination between Cairo and Riyadh.

Xi used his talks with Sisi to propose a new Middle East security architecture built around four principles: regional countries taking responsibility for their own security, comprehensive solutions to interconnected conflicts, linking security with economic development and maritime trade, and greater reliance on international law and the United Nations.

The emphasis on maritime security is particularly significant as the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb remain vulnerable to disruption. China is a major trading power with a direct interest in keeping the region’s shipping lanes open, while instability around the two waterways threatens energy supplies and global trade.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi subsequently described the initiative as a Chinese solution for achieving long-term peace and stability in the region, signalling that Beijing sees the proposal as part of a broader effort to expand its diplomatic and strategic influence.

The proposal also comes as China deepens its military and technological relationship with Egypt. Chinese J-16 fighter aircraft participated in Egypt’s Eagles of Civilisation 2026 exercises, while Huawei has proposed major artificial intelligence data-centre projects in the country.

That combination of defence cooperation, technology investment and diplomacy gives Beijing an expanding presence in sectors traditionally dominated by the US and its Western allies.

China’s growing role is also being tested by its relationship with Iran. Xi’s encounter with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit was notably restrained, according to the analysis. Beijing has reportedly pressed Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resolve disputes with Saudi Arabia.

For China, the calculation is increasingly economic as well as diplomatic. Prolonged disruption in Hormuz threatens energy flows and shipping routes that underpin Chinese trade, making regional instability a potential liability for Beijing.

At the same time, China’s relationship with Saudi Arabia has expanded rapidly through investment, trade and strategic cooperation. That gives Beijing an incentive to balance its ties with Tehran against its increasingly important partnerships with Arab states.

The broader regional shift was visible at the SCO summit in Bishkek, where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Trkiye was prepared to join the organisation as a full member. Such a move would give the China-led bloc a larger presence in the Middle East and could create additional space for Beijing to influence regional security arrangements.

Qatar has also signalled that its longstanding relationship with Washington may no longer be sufficient on its own. During a visit to Beijing, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Gulf states needed to recognise that their strategic alliance with the US, while important, was not enough by itself.

That message points to a broader change in the Gulf. Regional states are not necessarily abandoning Washington, but they are increasingly seeking additional security partnerships, diplomatic channels and economic relationships.

China’s proposal nevertheless faces a formidable obstacle: the region already has competing security arrangements. One of the most important is the emerging defence relationship between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Trkiye, while the US retains extensive military infrastructure and partnerships across the Gulf.

Beijing’s challenge will therefore be to translate its growing economic weight into a security role without becoming trapped by the region’s rivalries.

For Egypt and the Gulf states, the attraction of China’s approach is its emphasis on sovereignty, development, infrastructure and trade rather than dependence on a single external security provider.

For Beijing, the stakes are even higher. If China can help keep Hormuz and the Red Sea open while positioning itself as a broker between rival regional powers, it could move from being primarily an economic partner to becoming a central player in the Middle East’s security architecture.

That would represent a significant shift in a region where the US has been the dominant external security power for decades.

About 130 passengers and crew members are missing after a ferry carrying more than 240 people sank in rough seas in Indonesia’s Java Sea, rescuers said.

At least 107 people have been rescued, while the bodies of six passengers have been recovered as search and rescue teams expanded operations around the vessel’s last known position.

The ferry was travelling from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan when it ran into severe weather, officials said.

I Putu Sudayana, head of the Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office, said the ferry’s captain had reported rough seas and waves reaching up to three metres before sending a distress message.

The captain reported that the vessel was listing, after which authorities received information indicating that the ferry had overturned and subsequently sank.

Rescuers have been searching the waters around the ferry’s last known location for survivors and victims as the operation continues.

The incident has raised fears of a major maritime disaster, with the number of people still missing making the ongoing search particularly urgent.