Category: Azer News

Oil production has resumed at the Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan, Azernews reports, citing the country’s Ministry of Energy.

The first well, GZU-52, was successfully brought back into operation. Technological facilities at the Production and Booster Facility (PBF) have been restarted and are currently operating under normal conditions.

At present, five wells have been put back into service. Technical teams from Tengizchevroil are continuing preparations to commission the GZU-53 group metering unit. Production volumes will be increased gradually as system parameters stabilize and full operational safety is ensured.

Earlier, on January 26, the Second Generation Plant (SGP) was also successfully restarted. The plant is currently operating using feedstock supplied from the already active Korolevskoye field.

The Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan and the national oil company KazMunayGas are providing comprehensive support to the operator to help the project reach its planned capacity as quickly as possible. To ensure direct coordination of restoration efforts at production sites, Deputy Energy Minister Kairkhan Tutkysbayev is currently present at the facilities.

It should be recalled that in January, oil production was suspended at the Tengiz and Korolevskoye fields located in the Atyrau region. The decision was taken due to issues affecting certain energy distribution systems at industrial facilities.

The ‘Yks?lis’ competition continues to expand its initiatives aimed at enriching the personal development and worldviews of its winners, introducing a new series of programs in the first half of 2026. Azernews reports that within this framework, the Literature Support Fund hosted a series of meetings under the title ‘Yks?lis at the Writer’s House.’

According to the competition’s Working Group, the series is designed to deepen understanding among leaders of key concepts emphasized by President Ilham Aliyev, including the promotion of Azerbaijani identity, the advancement of national culture, and the preservation of moral and national values. Particular attention is given to the Azerbaijani language, which the President has highlighted as a cornerstone of national identity, statehood, and strategic governance. In this context, the language is recognized not only as a tool for communication but also as a carrier of national ideology and intellectual responsibility.

The inaugural session of the series brought together prominent figures, including Farah Aliyeva, Head of the Department of Humanitarian Policy, Diaspora, Multiculturalism, and Religious Affairs of the Presidential Administration and Chairperson of the ‘Yks?lis’ Organizing Committee; ADA University Rector Hafiz Pashayev; founders of the ‘Writer’s House,’ philologist and literature scholar Professor Edibe Pashayeva and literary scholar Professor Tahsin Mutallimov; and Farhad Hajiyev, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports and Head of the ‘Yks?lis’ Working Group.

The event opened with remarks by Shafag Mehraliyeva, Executive Director of the ‘Writer’s House,’ who provided detailed information on the project’s objectives and content. She noted that the sessions would feature expert speakers from the Writer’s House, who would analyze the influence of literature, language, and national heritage on leadership and governance from both scientific and practical perspectives.

The first meeting featured a presentation by academician Nizami Jafarov on ‘The Ideological Foundations of the Azerbaijani Language.’ The session brought together the winners of the ‘Yks?lis’ competition and members of the Working Group at the Writer’s House, located in Icherisheher, which is the former residence of Mir Jalal, a prominent 20th-century Azerbaijani writer, scholar, and educator.

Academician Jafarov delivered an in-depth discussion on the historical development, ideological significance, and state-building importance of the Azerbaijani language, sharing his insights with the winners. The session also included an interactive discussion during which participants’ questions were addressed, fostering an engaging and dynamic exchange of ideas.

Established by a decree signed by President Ilham Aliyev on July 26, 2019, the ‘Yks?lis’ competition provides winners with a one-year personal development plan guided by mentors, alongside a monetary award of 20,000 Azerbaijani manats for self-improvement.

The sixth edition of the ‘Yks?lis’ competition was formally approved by a presidential decree on December 10, 2025, continuing a legacy of nurturing the next generation of Azerbaijani leaders and intellectuals.

The price of Azerbaijan’s Azeri Light crude oil at Italy’s Augusta port increased on a CIF basis, rising by $0.46, or 0.63 percent, compared with the previous level, to $73.35 per barrel, according to sources in the oil market, Azernews reports.

Meanwhile, at Trkiye’s Ceyhan port, the price of Azeri Light on an FOB basis also posted gains. A barrel of Azeri Light rose by $0.43, or 0.61 percent, to reach $70.74.

In parallel, the price of Urals crude oil climbed by $0.46, or 1.10 percent, compared with the previous trading session, reaching $42.10 per barrel.

The price of Dated Brent crude, produced in the North Sea, also moved higher. It increased by $0.35, or 0.48 percent, to $72.71 per barrel.

It is worth noting that Azerbaijan’s 2026 state budget is based on an assumed average oil price of $65 per barrel, meaning current market prices remain comfortably above the budget benchmark.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrapped up a four-day trip to China on Saturday, after his bid to forge closer ties prompted warnings from US President Donald Trump, Azernews reports, citing Arab News.

Starmer’s visit was the first to China by a British prime minister in eight years, following in the footsteps of other Western leaders looking to counter an increasingly volatile United States.

Leaders from France, Canada and Finland have flocked to Beijing in recent weeks, recoiling from Trump’s bid to seize Greenland and tariff threats against NATO allies.

Trump warned on Thursday it was ‘very dangerous’ for Britain to be dealing with China.

Starmer brushed off those comments on Friday, noting that Trump was also expected to visit China in the months ahead.

The US and the UK are very close allies, and that’s why we discussed the visit with his team before we came,’ Starmer said in an interview with UK television.

‘I don’t think it is wise for the UK to stick its head in the sand. China is the second-largest economy in the world,’ he said.

Asked about Trump’s comments on Friday, Beijing’s foreign ministry said ‘China is willing to strengthen cooperation with all countries in the spirit of mutual benefit and win-win results.’

Starmer met top Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, on Thursday, with both sides highlighting the need for closer ties.

He told business representatives from Britain and China on Friday that both sides had ‘warmly engaged’ and ‘made some real progress.’

‘The UK has got a huge amount to offer,’ he said in a short speech at the UK-China Business Forum at the Bank of China.

He signed a series of agreements on Thursday, with Downing Street announcing Beijing had agreed to visa-free travel for British citizens visiting China for under 30 days, although Starmer acknowledged there was no start date for the arrangement yet.

The Chinese foreign ministry said only that it was ‘actively considering’ the visa deal and would ‘make it public at an appropriate time upon completing the necessary procedures.’

He also said Beijing had lifted sanctions on UK lawmakers targeted since 2021 for their criticism of alleged human rights abuses against China’s Muslim Uyghur minority.

‘President Xi said to me that that means all parliamentarians are welcome,’ Starmer said in an interview with UK television.

He traveled from Beijing to economic powerhouse Shanghai, where he spoke with Chinese students at the Shanghai International College of Fashion and Innovation, a joint institute between Donghua University and the University of Edinburgh.

On Saturday, Starmer visited a design institute and met with performing arts students alongside British actress Rosamund Pike, who spoke of her children’s experience learning Mandarin.

Later on Saturday, Starmer will arrive in Tokyo for a meeting with Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi.

Visas and whisky

The visa deal could bring Britain in line with about 50 other countries granted visa-free travel, including France, Germany, Australia and Japan, and follows a similar agreement made between China and Canada this month.

The agreements signed included cooperation on targeting supply chains used by migrant smugglers, as well as on British exports to China, health and strengthening a bilateral trade commission.

China also agreed to halve tariffs on British whisky to five percent, according to Downing Street.

British companies sealed £2.2 billion ($3 billion) in export deals and around £2.3 billion in ‘market access wins’ over five years, and ‘hundreds of millions worth of investments,’ Starmer’s government said in a statement.

Xi told Starmer on Thursday that their countries should strengthen dialogue and cooperation in the context of a ‘complex and intertwined’ international situation.

Relations between China and Britain deteriorated from 2020 when Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong and cracked down on pro-democracy activists in the former British colony.

However, China remains Britain’s third-largest trading partner, and Starmer is hoping deals with Beijing will help fulfil his primary goal of boosting UK economic growth.

British pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca said on Thursday it would invest $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand its medicines manufacturing and research.

And China’s Pop Mart, makers of the wildly popular Labubu dolls, said it would set up a regional hub in London and open 27 stores across Europe in the coming year, including up to seven in Britain.

On January 31, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev made a phone call to President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian.

During the conversation, the sides reaffirmed that relations between Azerbaijan and Iran are built upon the principles of friendship, brotherhood, and good-neighborliness, underscored by the deep historical, ethnic, and religious bonds shared by their peoples.

During the phone call, the heads of state reflected favorably on the Iranian President’s previous visits to Azerbaijan and the productive negotiations held during their meetings, noting that these high-level interactions have significantly contributed to the development of bilateral relations. They also highlighted that the construction of the Aghband-Kelaleh highway bridge over the Araz River is proceeding according to schedule.

The head of state expressed concern regarding the current situation in the region, stating that Azerbaijan is ready to contribute to de-escalating tensions. He emphasized that Azerbaijan advocates for resolving such issues through dialogue and mutual understanding.

For his part, President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed his gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev.

During the conversation, the sides exchanged views on various aspects of the friendly and brotherly ties between the two countries and on future joint steps. They agreed to continue further contacts.

Pakistan’s security forces have killed more than 70 militants in operations carried out over the past two days in the Balochistan province, Azernews reports, citing Pakistani media outlets.

Pakistani media noted that armed groups attempted to carry out attacks in several areas of the province, but these attempts were successfully thwarted by security forces.

The ‘Fitna al-Hindustan’ group, which authorities say is linked to India, carried out attacks at 12 locations across Balochistan. As a result of these attacks, 10 members of Pakistan’s security forces were killed.

Citing a source within the security agencies, Dawn added that a total of 88 militants were killed in Balochistan over the past 48 hours.

We are seeing farther into the universe than ever before. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has peered across incredible distances, revealing galaxies whose light has traveled billions of years to reach us. The most distant galaxy known today is MoM-z14, Azernews reports, citing foreign media.

The name ‘MoM’ stands for ‘Mirage or Miracle’, from the survey of the same name. The goal of the MoM survey is to confirm whether objects that appear extremely distant truly exist or are just optical illusions. The light from MoM-z14 comes from only 280 million years after the Big Bang-a time when models predicted that galaxies were only just beginning to form.

The discovery of MoM-z14 and other unexpectedly bright galaxies in the early universe challenges these models. These galaxies are about 100 times brighter than theoretical predictions, suggesting they were incredibly active and evolving much faster than expected.

‘There is a growing gap between theory and observation in the early universe, which raises compelling questions for future research,’ said Jacob Shen, a postdoctoral researcher at MIT.

A particularly intriguing aspect of MoM-z14 is the presence of nitrogen, in amounts greater than should have been possible at that time. This hints that conditions in the early universe may have been very different from what we thought, and that to understand these distant stars, we might need to study unusual stars in our own galaxy.

MoM-z14 also shows signs of clearing the thick fog of neutral hydrogen expected to fill the universe at that time. The intense light from its stars ionizes hydrogen, ripping electrons from atoms. Since hydrogen initially formed without free electrons, and this process had only occurred once before, this era is known as the epoch of reionization. Studying galaxies from this period provides crucial clues about this mysterious phase in cosmic history.

Finding such galaxies is challenging, which is why surveys like MoM are so important. Due to the expansion of the universe, the light from these galaxies is stretched to longer wavelengths, making them appear redder. However, redness can also be caused by other factors, so candidates must be followed up with spectroscopy to precisely determine their redshift and distance.

‘We can estimate distances from images, but it’s crucial to confirm them with spectroscopy so we know exactly what we are observing and when it existed,’ added Pascal Oesch from the University of Geneva, co-principal investigator of the survey.

Interestingly, the discovery of these bright early galaxies could force us to rethink how the first galaxies formed and evolved. They may have grown and matured far more quickly than current models suggest, opening the door to new theories about the universe’s earliest days.

The study is set to be published in the Open Journal of Astrophysics, with a preprint currently available on arXiv.

Kyiv’s metro system temporarily closed on Saturday due to power shortages, the operator said, amid recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, Azernews reports, citing Arab News.

The Kyiv metro is a vital transport artery for the capital and rarely pauses operations, even during intense Russian bombardment.

Around 800,000 passengers use the system daily, according to data published last year. Many of them rely on it to commute to work.

Residents also use its 52 stations as bomb shelters during Russian attacks.

‘Due to a power outage from external power supply centers, train service and escalator operation have been temporarily suspended in the metro,’ Kyiv Metro said in a post on Facebook.

The system will serve as a shelter until power resumes, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a post on Telegram.

Russia has hit Ukrainian energy infrastructure throughout its nearly four-year invasion, but Kyiv says this winter has been the toughest yet, as attacks cut power and heating to millions during sub-zero temperatures.

The Kremlin said Friday said that President Vladimir Putin had agreed to stop striking Kyiv for a week until Sunday following a request from US counterpart Donald Trump.

Number of foreign workers in Japan hits record 2.57 million

_: As of the end of October last year, the number of foreign workers in Japan reached a new record of more than 2.57 million, marking the 13th consecutive year of growth amid persistent labor shortages, Azernews reported, citing Japanese media.

The total number of foreign workers stood at 2,571,037, representing an 11.7% increase year-on-year. The largest group of foreign workers came from Vietnam, the report said.

The data were released against the backdrop of preparations for the House of Representatives election scheduled for February 8. The election campaign has brought renewed attention to issues surrounding the integration of foreign nationals into society, including debates over tightening admission rules and strengthening social cohesion.

The number of workplaces employing foreign nationals also reached a record 371,215, up 8.5% compared to the previous year. According to Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, small enterprises with fewer than 30 employees accounted for 63.1% of all such workplaces.

The manufacturing sector employed the largest number of foreign workers, with 635,075 people, accounting for 24.7% of the total. This was followed by the services sector, excluding food and beverage delivery services, with 391,946 workers. The healthcare and social welfare sector, including long-term care, recorded the highest growth rate, rising by 25.6% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the number of foreign nationals holding special visas for skilled workers, which allow employment in labor-shortage sectors, increased by 38.3% to 286,225.

By nationality, Vietnamese workers ranked first, totaling 605,906 people, or 23.6% of the total. They were followed by Chinese workers with 431,949 people (16.8%) and Filipino workers with 260,869 people (10.1%).

Trkiye issued a strong condemnation on Saturday after the United Nations Security Council renewed the mandate of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for another year without the consent of the Turkish Cypriot side, Azernews reports, citing Yeni Safak.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry stated that extending the mission’s mandate without the agreement of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is ‘contrary to established UN practices and principles’ and perpetuates failed approaches to resolving the Cyprus issue.

Ankara expressed full backing for the TRNC’s statement on the matter, emphasizing that the continued reliance on outdated settlement frameworks obstructs a just and sustainable solution based on the island’s realities. The ministry stressed that UNFICYP operates in TRNC territory only with the goodwill of Turkish Cypriot authorities and called for a legal framework to regulate its presence. ‘Should this not happen in a timely manner, the steps to be taken by the TRNC authorities will have the full support of Motherland and Guarantor Trkiye,’ it warned.

The statement also criticized the resolution for including ‘biased references’ to infrastructure projects such as the Yigitler-Pile road-a humanitarian initiative to connect Turkish Cypriots in Pile village to the TRNC-while ignoring violations by the Greek Cypriot side, including construction in the buffer zone. Trkiye argued that the Greek Cypriot Administration has no sovereignty over northern Cyprus or the buffer zone and questioned the peacekeeping force’s effectiveness, noting that peace on the island has been maintained for decades by the Turkish Armed Forces and Trkiye’s guarantor role.

Reiterating that the most viable path forward is a two-state solution based on the sovereign equality of both sides, Trkiye urged the international community and the UN Security Council to recognize the TRNC’s inherent rights and support cooperation between two neighboring states in Cyprus.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Trkiye intervened as a guarantor power following a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at unification with Greece. The TRNC was established in 1983 but is recognized only by Trkiye. UN-led peace efforts have repeatedly stalled, most notably in 2017, and the Greek Cypriot administration joined the EU in 2004 after rejecting a UN reunification plan.

On January 31, Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis hosted a meeting with members of the professional staff of the majority of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs.

During the meeting, Samad Seyidov, Chairman of the Milli Majlis Committee on International Relations and Interparliamentary Affairs, head of the working group of Azerbaijan-U.S. interparliamentary relations, highlighted the history of the Azerbaijan-U.S. relations, existing avenues of cooperation, and future development prospects.

Touching upon the historic working visit of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to U.S. last August, the meetings held and the agreements reached during that visit, Samad Seyidov noted that those agreements had elevated the Azerbaijan-U.S. relations to qualitatively new level, also playing a crucial role in the Azerbaijan-Armenia peace agenda, as well as ensuring stability and enhancing cooperation in the region.

The meeting stressed the significance of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), adding that the implementation of this initiative supported by the U.S. will not only reshape Eurasia’s transport map, but also contribute significantly to deepening cooperation in the broader region.

The discussions emphasized the importance of repealing the Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, with regard to Azerbaijan noting that this would serve the development of bilateral relations, the strengthening of mutual trust, and the expansion of cooperation.

Members of the professional staff of the majority of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, hailed the recent positive dynamics in the U.S.-Azerbaijan relations, which have entered a new stage of development, adding that maintaining this dynamics would serve both countries’ interests.