Category: Azer News

The Azerbaijan National Library has launched both a virtual and a traditional book exhibition titled “July 22 – National Press and Journalism Day” to commemorate the 151st anniversary of Azerbaijan’s national press, AzerNEWS reports.

The exhibitions feature works by Hasan bey Zardabi, the founder of Azerbaijan’s national press, as well as publications on the history of the country’s media and journalism.

The displays also include Azerbaijani- and foreign-language books highlighting the lives and literary contributions of prominent Azerbaijani intellectuals who played a significant role in the development of the national press.

In addition, visitors can explore photographs and archival materials published in periodicals documenting the evolution of Azerbaijan’s journalism.

Those interested in the virtual exhibition can access it through the link provided by the Azerbaijan National Library.

National Press Day is celebrated annually in Azerbaijan on July 22, marking the publication of the country’s first Azerbaijani-language newspaper, Akinchi (The Cultivator), founded by the prominent educator and journalist Hasan bey Zardabi on July 22, 1875. The date is widely recognized as the birth of Azerbaijan’s national press and has been officially observed as National Press and Journalism Day since 1991.

Although Akinchi was published for only two years, from 1875 to 1877, and produced just 56 issues, it played a transformative role in the development of Azerbaijani journalism. The newspaper promoted education, enlightenment, and public awareness, becoming a platform for leading intellectuals and writers of the period. Its growing influence eventually led the Tsarist authorities to shut it down.

The legacy of Akinchi inspired the emergence of other influential newspapers and magazines to promote education, national identity, and social reform.

Today, National Press Day honors the contributions of journalists and media professionals while recognizing the historic role of the press in shaping Azerbaijan’s cultural, intellectual, and public life.

Across the country, the anniversary is marked with commemorative events, exhibitions, conferences, and awards celebrating the development of Azerbaijani journalism.

The second Baku International Arts Festival (BIAF) will take place in Baku from October 28 to November 8, 2026, AzerNEWS reports.

The festival, held with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, encompasses dance, drama, and music events in different genres. The festival program features over 20 events, including concerts, ballet and theatre productions, film screenings, meet-the-artist sessions and masterclasses. This grand celebration of art will bring together masters of art and creative ensembles from Azerbaijan, Great Britain, Israel, Canada, Monaco, Russia, the USA, France, and various other nations.

This year’s festival places a special emphasis on collaborations between internationally renowned artists and Azerbaijani performers, ensembles, and educational institutions, including the Baku Choreography Academy, the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, the Baku Music Academy, the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts, the Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra, and the Azerbaijan State Chamber Orchestra.

The main events of BIAF will take place at several iconic venues in Baku: The Muslim Magomayev Azerbaijan State Academic Philharmonic Hall, the Azerbaijan National Drama Theatre, the Azerbaijan State Musical Theatre, the Heydar Aliyev Palace, Icherisheher (Baku Old City), and others.

The festival will feature a new work by renowned, award-winning director and choreographer Akram Khan, ‘Thikra: Night of Remembering.’ The production continues Akram Khan’s signature style-an innovative blend of classical Indian dance (kathak) and contemporary dance, featuring costume and visual design by Saudi visual artist Manal AlDowayan, known for her large-scale multimedia installation at the Saudi National Pavilion during the 60th Venice Biennale. The project received its world premiere in the desert landscape of Wadi AlFann, Valley of the Arts, AlUla, in January 2025, and was commissioned by the Royal Commission for AlUla for the AlUla Arts Festival 2025. Thikra, meaning ‘memory’ or ‘recollection’ in Arabic, is deeply rooted in the power of rituals. Imagined as an annual gathering, a tribe of women come together for one night only to awaken the spirits of those who came before them. Through ceremony and shared remembrance, they transcend time, uniting past and present in a profound act of renewal.

This year, the BIAF music program is dedicated to the 120th anniversary of the legendary composer Dmitri Shostakovich, whose life and destiny were inextricably linked to Azerbaijan. A Soviet genius who influenced the development of the national school of composition, Shostakovich frequently visited and performed in Baku.

Among the performers is the renowned violinist and two-time Grammy Award winner Maxim Vengerov. One of today’s most sought-after violinists, he has collaborated with such legendary musicians as Mstislav Rostropovich, Georg Solti, Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Muti, Riccardo Chailly, Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta and Yehudi Menuhin, and has frequently appeared with leading orchestras at prestigious venues around the world. Vengerov has received numerous recording awards, including two Gramophone Awards, a Classical Brit Award, five Edison Classical Music Awards, two ECHO awards, and others.

BIAF audiences will also see a multimedia project by the internationally acclaimed South African artist William Kentridge, a visual interpretation of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10. Kentridge created the animated film ‘Oh To Believe in Another World’ using collage, puppets and masked actors. In it, he builds a dream-like ‘abandoned Soviet museum’ to accompany the powerful symphony, composed in 1953-one of the composer’s most personal works. The symphony also has a special connection to Baku, as its musical themes reflect Shostakovich’s secret declaration of affection for his student, the Azerbaijani pianist and composer Elmira Nazirova. This monumental symphony will be performed by the BIAF Festival Orchestra, an ensemble of exceptional talents, conducted by the world-renowned violinist Dmitry Sitkovetsky, whose musical dynasty has deep roots in Baku.

In 2025, BIAF presented over 20 unique events featuring more than 100 artists from Azerbaijan, Austria, the UK, Germany, Israel, Spain, Canada, China, the USA, France, Uzbekistan, and other countries. Festival visitors had the opportunity to experience legendary works by such masters of the stage as Robert Lepage, Guillaume Côté, Sharon Eyal, Yang Liping, Rimas Tuminas, and Daniele Finzi Pasca.

Inspired by the world’s finest festival projects, BIAF is establishing a modern, international, and multi-genre cultural platform. As the host of this global platform, Baku is a dynamic, open, and tolerant city that bridges East and West-a modern global capital. Once a key stop on the famous Silk Road and historically a centre of attraction for diverse nations and beliefs, the city continues to unite cultures today while setting high standards. The opportunity to witness the best stage performances of recent years at the Baku International Arts Festival offers a wonderful reason to visit Azerbaijan and discover its rich history and diverse cultural traditions.

Media partners of the event are Azernews.Az, Trend.Az, Day.Az and Milli.Az.

Baku has climbed 22 positions in the QS Best Student Cities 2026 ranking, securing 95th place among the world’s top cities for higher education and student life, AzerNEWS reports citing the Azerbaijan’s State Agency for Science and Higher Education.

The ranking, published by global higher education analytics organization Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), evaluated 150 cities from around the world.

Baku shares its 95th-place position with Aberdeen in the United Kingdom, Guangzhou in China, and Johannesburg in South Africa.

The latest results also place Baku at the top of the South Caucasus, making it the region’s highest-ranked student city. In addition, the Azerbaijani capital outperformed several leading cities in Central Asia, including Astana, which ranked 119th, Bishkek at 137th, and Tashkent at 146th.

The QS Best Student Cities ranking assesses destinations based on their overall attractiveness for higher education and student life. Cities are evaluated using a range of indicators, including the performance of local universities in the QS World University Rankings, graduate employability, safety and quality of living, affordability of tuition and living costs, the number and diversity of international students, and feedback from students who have studied in the city.

The improved ranking reflects Baku’s growing appeal as a destination for higher education and its increasing recognition on the global academic stage.

The wreckage of the Pan Am Clipper Endeavor, a passenger aircraft that crashed off the coast of Puerto Rico in 1952, has been discovered on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean nearly 75 years after the accident, AzerNEWS reports, citing The New York Times.

An underwater research team located the aircraft using an autonomous underwater vehicle at a depth of about 600 meters (1,970 feet) and approximately 8 kilometers (5 miles) offshore.

The aircraft was operating Pan American World Airways Flight 526A, a Douglas DC-4, on a scheduled flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to New York City. Shortly after takeoff, two of the plane’s four engines failed, forcing Captain John Burn to attempt an emergency water landing.

All 69 people on board survived the initial impact with the water. However, panic broke out during the evacuation as the aircraft began to break apart. The tail section separated from the fuselage, which subsequently sank beneath the surface.

A total of 52 people lost their lives in the aftermath of the crash, making it one of the deadliest aviation accidents involving a ditching at the time.

On June 2, after combing a dark expanse of the seafloor with an autonomous underwater vehicle, which resembles a torpedo and is equipped with sophisticated sonar and cameras, the breakthrough came.

Romania’s National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Advertising (ANCPI) has confirmed that its IT systems were targeted in a cyberattack that disrupted access to the country’s land registry, affecting property registration and real estate transactions, AzerNEWS reports.

According to reports, the attacker allegedly launched the ransomware attack after an extortion attempt failed. Before deploying the malware, the hacker reportedly breached the agency’s systems and mocked the institution on an online hacking forum.

Authorities initially attributed the outage to technical problems but later acknowledged that the disruption was caused by a cyberattack.

The attacker also claimed to have stolen sensitive data, including citizens’ information, internal source code, and copies of key government systems before encrypting the agency’s infrastructure with ransomware.

The incident temporarily disrupted access to Romania’s property records, complicating land registration procedures and real estate transactions while authorities worked to restore affected systems and assess the extent of the breach.

Azerbaijan and Georgia have officially launched an electronic permit (E-Permit) system for international road freight transport, marking a significant step toward the digitalization of cross-border logistics and trade, AzerNEWS reports.

The announcement was made by the Azerbaijan Land Transport Agency (AYNA), which said the initiative follows an agreement reached during the meeting of the Azerbaijan-Georgia Joint Commission on International Road Transport held in Baku on April 8-9, 2026.

Under the agreement, a joint technical working group comprising representatives from the relevant authorities of both countries began integrating the system on May 1. The technical integration has now been successfully completed.

Following the completion of the integration process, Azerbaijan and Georgia carried out their first pilot freight shipments using electronic permits. After the successful pilot phase, the two countries moved to fully implement the system by exchanging an initial batch of 3,000 electronic permits-including 1,000 bilateral permits, 1,000 transit permits, and 1,000 third-country transport permits. Distribution of these electronic permits to freight carriers has also begun.

With the latest rollout, Georgia becomes the fifth country to adopt Azerbaijan’s E-Permit system. The digital platform has already been successfully implemented with Trkiye, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.

According to AYNA, transport operators can obtain electronic permits through the e-xidmet.ayna.gov.az portal without visiting government offices. The platform operates in a fully automated mode 24 hours a day, seven days a week, allowing carriers to apply for and receive permits remotely at any time.

The agency emphasized that the E-Permit system accelerates the permit issuance process, streamlines administrative procedures, reduces paper-based documentation, and supports the broader digital transformation of international freight transportation between participating countries.

On July 22, Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company (SOCAR) held discussions with global energy research and consultancy firm Wood Mackenzie on strengthening their strategic partnership and exploring new opportunities across the energy sector, AzerNEWS reports.

According to a statement released by SOCAR, the company’s President Rovshan Najaf met with Simon Flowers, Chairman and Chief Analyst of Wood Mackenzie.

During the meeting, both sides expressed satisfaction with Azerbaijan’s steadily strengthening position as a reliable partner in global energy markets.

SOCAR presented its long-term strategic objectives, highlighting the company’s ongoing transformation into an international energy enterprise. The delegation was briefed on SOCAR’s activities across various segments of the energy industry, as well as its major projects in Azerbaijan and abroad.

The discussions also focused on the future prospects of the long-standing cooperation between SOCAR and Wood Mackenzie. The two sides exchanged views on current trends shaping global energy markets and explored opportunities for collaboration in oil and gas refining, renewable energy, decarbonization, digital transformation, and the application of advanced analytical solutions across the energy sector.

The meeting reaffirmed both organizations’ commitment to expanding cooperation and supporting innovation as the global energy industry continues to evolve.

Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) will introduce temporary restrictions on the import of certain quarantine-controlled agricultural products from Uzbekistan starting July 23.

AzerNEWS reports that the measure targets products supplied by five Uzbek exporters found to have repeatedly violated Russia’s phytosanitary regulations.

Rosselkhoznadzor announced the decision in an official statement, saying the restrictions are aimed at preventing the entry of quarantine pests and protecting the country’s agricultural and food security.

The import ban covers a range of fresh produce, including white and cauliflower cabbage, onions, dill, parsley, beets, tomatoes, and grapes. These products account for the majority of the restricted shipments from the affected exporters.

According to the Russian regulator, the temporary measures were introduced following an increase in the detection of quarantine organisms in imported consignments. The agency said the restrictions are necessary to safeguard Russia’s food security and ensure compliance with national phytosanitary standards.

An Israeli High Court justice said that individuals who describe Israel as an apartheid state should not be allowed to enter the country, during a hearing on petitions filed by international humanitarian organizations challenging restrictions on their operations, AzerNEWS reports.

Justice Alex Stein made the remarks on Monday while the court was considering appeals submitted by several international aid groups after Israeli authorities rejected their requests to continue operating in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.

“Anyone who calls the State of Israel an apartheid state has no right to set foot in the State of Israel,” Stein said during the proceedings.

The petitions were filed by Save the Children, the Italian humanitarian organization CESVI, and the Swedish NGO Diakonia, which challenged Israel’s decision to prevent them from continuing their activities serving the Palestinian population.

In a separate case heard the same day, the High Court ordered the removal of a medical opinion attached to a petition submitted by human rights organizations seeking to allow patients from Gaza to enter Israel for medical treatment. The justices ruled that the document contained accusations against the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli government.

Diplomatic passport holders between Azerbaijan and Sudan have been mutually exempted from visa requirements.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev approved the relevant “Agreement between the Government of Azerbaijan and the Government of Sudan on mutual visa exemption for diplomatic passport holders”. The text of the document was published on the official website of the President of Azerbaijan.

The agreement was signed on May 19, 2026, in Baku.