Foreign News
Azerbaijan says plane hit by ‘external interference’ over Russia before crash
Azerbaijan’s transport minister has said the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed on 25 December was subjected to “external interference” and damaged inside and out, as it tried to land in Russia’s southern republic of Chechnya.
“All the survivors without exception stated they heard three blast sounds when the aircraft was above Grozny,” said Rashad Nabiyev.
The plane is thought to have come under fire from Russian air defence systems before being diverted across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan, where it crashed with the loss of 38 lives.
The Kremlin has refused to comment, but the head of Russia’s civil aviation agency said the situation in Grozny was “very complicated” at the time and a closed-skies protocol had been put in place.
“Ukrainian combat drones were launching terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure in the cities of Grozny and Vladikavkaz,” said Dmitry Yadrov, head of Rosaviatsia, in a video statement posted on Russia’s Tass news agency.
“Because of this a ‘Carpet plan’ was introduced in the area of Grozny airport, providing for the immediate departure of all aircraft from the specified area,” he said. “In addition, there was dense fog in the area of Grozny airport.”
Later on Friday White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the US had seen “early indications” that the plane may have been downed by Russian air defence, but declined to comment further.
The Washington Post reported Kirby had said the indications the US had seen went beyond the widely-circulated photos of the damaged plane.
Ukrainian presidential spokesman Andriy Yermak has said Russia must be held responsible.
Azerbajian Airlines said on Friday that a preliminary inquiry had blamed both “physical and technical external interference”, without going into details.
However, aviation experts and others in Azerbaijan believe the plane’s GPS systems were affected by electronic jamming and it was then damaged by shrapnel from Russian air-defence missile blasts.
The transport minister said investigators would now examine “what kind of weapon, or rather what kind of rocket was used.”
The government in Baku has so far avoided directly accusing Russia, possibly to avoid antagonising President Vladimir Putin.
However, pro-government MP Rasim Musabekov was clear: “The plane was shot down over Russian territory, in the skies above Grozny. Denying this is impossible.”
He told AFP news agency the plane had been damaged and the pilot had asked to make an emergency landing in Grozny. Instead of being directed to nearby airports, he said it was “sent far away” across the Caspian Sea without GPS.
Flight attendant Zulfuqar Asadov described the moments when the plane was hit by “some kind of external strike” over Chechnya. “The impact of it caused panic inside. We tried to calm them down, to get them seated. At that moment, there was another strike, and my arm was injured.”
Veteran Azerbaijani pilot Tahir Agaguliev told Azerbaijani media that shrapnel had damaged the hydraulics that controlled the plane: “The missile itself did not hit the plane; it was shrapnel from the missile that struck. The missile exploded about 10m (30ft) away, before reaching the plane.”
The pilots of the Embraer 190 plane are credited with saving 29 of those on board by managing to land part of the plane, despite themselves being killed in the crash.
The Kremlin has refused to comment on the increasing number of reports that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane was hit by Russian air defence.
“An investigation into this aviation incident is underway and until the conclusions are made as a result of the investigation, we do not consider ourselves entitled to give any assessments,” said spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Azerbaijan is looking for a Russian apology, or at least an acknowledgement, that the plane was hit by its air defences in Grozny, according to figures close to the government in Baku.
Four years ago, Baku apologised and offered compensation when a Russian air force Mi-24 helicopter was shot down at the end of the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Now the Azerbaijani side is also expecting Russia to take those steps,” said political commentator Farhad Mammadov.
Kazakh authorities have been treating the injured and working closely with Azerbaijan on the investigation.
Officials say the Brazilian plane manufacturer Embraer has sent two specialists to the crash site, 3km (1.9 miles) from Aktau airport in Kazakhstan, and three members of Brazil’s aviation agency will arrive on Saturday.
Reports in Baku suggest both Russia and Kazakhstan have proposed having a committee from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) – a regional organisation dominated by Russia – investigate the crash, but Azerbaijan has instead demanded an international inquiry.
Azerbaijan Airlines and several other airlines have suspended flights to some Russian cities in response to the crash.
In a social media post, the airline said this was “for security reasons”. It had already halted flights to Grozny and Makhachkala in neighbouring Dagestan, but has now added the cities of Sochi, Volgograd, Ufa, Samara and Mineralnye Vody.
Israel’s flagship airline, El Al, has meanwhile suspended all flights to Moscow, citing developments in Russian airspace, and UAE-based budget carrier Flydubai has halted flights to Sochi and Mineralnye Vody.
[BBC]
A magnitude 3.9 earthquake has hit Hollywood as some of the globe’s top stars began celebrating after the Oscars.
The earthquake’s epicentre was measured in North Hollywood, just miles from where the awards ceremony was hosted at the Dolby Theatre.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The quake struck shortly after 22:00 local time as celebrities were gathering at the popular Vanity Fair afterparty.
Those in the area reported a sudden jolt of energy, with some screaming and seeing high-rise buildings wobbling like jelly.
The US Geological Survey (USGS), which tracks such events, said the earthquake was felt miles across Los Angeles.
There was no tsunami alert issued as a result of the relatively minor earthquake.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said that the earthquake was felt across downtown Los Angeles but the agency was not entering into “Earthquake Mode” over the incident.
For stronger earthquakes, first responders and officials do assessments of the area to ensure there is no structural damage to buildings and infrastructure.
The quake is among about 40 that have hit Southern California since the start of March – though nearly all of these were magnitude 1 earthquakes that aren’t typically felt by residents, according to USGS data reviewed by the BBC.
Last month, there was a magnitude 3.7 earthquake that struck the nearby Malibu area. In December, a strong magnitude 7 earthquake jolted northern California and caused a short tsunami alert for those in northern California and southern Oregon.
BBC correspondents covering the Academy Awards in the heart of Hollywood reported fierce shaking and even some screams as the sudden jolt scared visitors. To some, it sounded like a bomb went off with the rumble.
One resident called it the biggest earthquake she’d felt and was surprised it was only a magnitude 3.9. “I felt that in my bones,” she remarked.
The BBC’s Emma Vardy said she was retouching her makeup for some final Oscars filming when the quake struck. Her diamond earrings wobbled in the mirror and she realized the high-rise she was in was shaking.
“I have felt a lot of quakes over the past two years in Los Angeles but currently, I am on the 15th floor of our media centre in Hollywood,” she remarked. “Feeling a building of that size move around like jelly is quite an experience.”
[BBC]
On Sunday [02] rescuers recovered the eighth and final body from the site of an avalanche in a remote area of northern India, the army has said, marking the end of a marathon operation in subzero temperatures.
More than 50 workers were submerged under snow and debris after the avalanche hit a construction camp on Friday near Mana village on the border with Tibet in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.
Authorities had revised down the number of workers on site at the time of the avalanche from 55 to 54 after one worker, previously believed to be buried, was found to have safely made his way home before the avalanche hit.
By Saturday, rescuers had managed to pull out 50 people, but four later succumbed to their injuries, according to an Indian army statement.
By Sunday, rescue teams had recovered the remaining bodies, the army said, adding that they had used a drone-based detection system and a rescue dog to assist in its search operations.
Many of those trapped were migrant labourers working on a highway expansion project covering a 50km (31-mile) stretch from Mana, the last Indian village before the China border, to Mana Pass.
[Aljazeera]
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced a four-point plan to work with Ukraine to end the war and defend the country from Russia.
The UK, France and other countries will step up their efforts in a “coalition of the willing” and seek to involve the US in their support for Ukraine, he said.
“We are at a crossroads in history today,” Starmer said after a summit of 18 leaders – mostly from Europe and including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said Ukraine felt “strong support” and the summit showed “European unity at an extremely high level not seen for a long time”.
It comes two days after a fiery exchange between the Ukrainian leader and US President Donald Trump in the White House.
“We are all working together in Europe in order to find a basis for cooperation with America for a true peace and guaranteed security,” Zelensky said after the summit.
Speaking at a news conference shortly after the meeting of leaders, Starmer said four points had been agreed:
- to keep military aid flowing into Ukraine, and to keep increasing the economic pressure on Russia
- that any lasting peace must ensure Ukraine’s sovereignty and security and Ukraine must be present at any peace talks
- in the event of a peace deal, to boost Ukraine’s defensive capabilities to deter any future invasion
- to develop a “coalition of the willing” to defend a deal in Ukraine and to guarantee peace afterwards
Sir Keir also announced an additional $2bn of UK export finance to buy more than 5,000 air defence missiles. This comes on top of a loan to provide more military aid to Ukraine backed by profits from frozen Russian assets.
“We have to learn from the mistakes of the past, we cannot accept a weak deal which Russia can breach with ease, instead any deal must be backed by strength,” he said.
The prime minister did not state which countries had agreed to join this coalition of the willing, but said that those who had committed would intensify planning with real urgency.
The UK, he said, would back its commitment with “boots on the ground, and planes in the air”.
“Europe must do the heavy lifting,” he said, before adding that the agreement would need US backing and had to include Russia, but that Moscow could not be allowed to dictate terms.
“Let me be clear, we agree with Trump on the urgent need for a durable peace. Now we need to deliver together,” Sir Keir said.
When asked if the US under Trump was an unreliable ally, he said: “Nobody wanted to see what happened last Friday, but I do not accept that the US is an unreliable ally.”
Countries at the summit included France, Poland, Sweden, Turkey, Norway, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Finland, Italy, Spain and Canada.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that there was now an urgent need to “re-arm Europe”.
These sentiments were echoed by Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, who said the meeting had seen European countries “stepping up” to make sure Ukraine has what it needs to “stay in the fight as long as it has to continue”.
After the summit, Zelensky went to Sandringham where he met King Charles III. He later spoke to reporters at a final press briefing where he said he was ready to sign a deal on minerals with the US.
Ukraine was expected to sign the deal – which would grant the US access to Ukraine’s rare mineral reserves – during Zelensky’s visit to Washington, but the Ukrainian delegation ultimately left early after a heated confrontation with Trump in the Oval Office.
Earlier on Sunday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned a deal on minerals between the US and Ukraine could not be signed “without a peace deal” with Russia.
But when asked by the BBC about the future of the deal following the summit, Zelensky said it was ready to be signed.
“The agreement that’s on the table will be signed if the parties are ready,” he said.
[BBC]
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