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The Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed killing 38 people was downed by a Russian air defence system, according to four Reuters sources.

The Embraer 190 passenger jet was en route from Azerbaijan‘s capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it changed course.

It crashed around two miles from Aktau in Kazakhstan while making an attempt to land after flying east across the Caspian Sea, killing 38 people and injuring all of the other 29 survivors.

The aircraft had diverted from an area of Russia in which Moscow has used air defence systems against Ukrainian drone strikes in recent months.

Mobile phone footage circulating online appeared to show the plane making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball.

Other footage showed part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the rest of the aircraft lying upside in the grass.

People can be heard praying as oxygen masks are lowered in the plane’s cabin in footage filmed by a passenger before the plane went down.

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Euronews, citing Azerbaijani government sources, reported a preliminary investigation found a Russian surface-to-air missile was fired at the plane during drone air activity above Grozny.

Shrapnel hit the plane as the missile exploded next to the aircraft mid-flight, according to the network.

Map showing location of Azerbaijan Airlines airliner travelling from Baku to Grozny which was diverted to Aktau and crashed with 67 people onboard

The damaged aircraft wasn’t allowed to land at any Russian airports, despite requests from the pilots for an emergency landing, and it was ordered to fly towards Aktau, the sources said.

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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Thursday it would be wrong to speculate before the end of the investigation into the cause of the crash.

Russian, Azerbaijani and Kazakhstani officials have all called for investigations into the crash.

Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said preliminary information indicated the pilots diverted to Aktau after a bird strike led to an emergency on board.

Azerbaijan is observing a national day of mourning, with flags lowered across the country on Thursday.

Traffic stopped at noon, and signals were sounded from ships and trains as the country observed a nationwide moment of silence.

Nazakat Asadova, the wife of survivor Zulfugar Asadov, said: “He got up early in the morning, prayed early and left the house at almost six o’clock.

“He said, God willing, at 12 to 1pm, I’ll be landing already. Then we heard on TV that the plane had crashed.

“Then his name came up on TV and on the lists. They said that people died, but Zulfugar Asadov survived.”

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Ukrainian officials head to US for peace talks – while dramatic footage shows Russian oil tankers being hit

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Ukrainian officials head to US for peace talks - while dramatic footage shows Russian oil tankers being hit

Ukraine’s representatives are preparing for renewed peace talks in the US, while dramatic footage has shown Russian tankers being hit by naval drones.

President Zelenskyy said a delegation headed by national security chief Rustem Umerov was on its way to “swiftly and substantively work out the steps needed to end the war”.

They are due to be greeted by US secretary of state Marco Rubio, Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, and the US president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, a senior US official told Reuters news agency.

National security chief Rustem Umerov is leading the delegation. Pic: Reuters
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National security chief Rustem Umerov is leading the delegation. Pic: Reuters

After the US-Ukraine talks, an American delegation is expected to travel to Moscow to meet President Putin.

It comes after Mr Trump released a 28-point proposal last week that would hand swathes of land to Russia and limit the size of Kyiv’s military.

It was widely seen as heavily favouring Russia and led Mr Zelenskyy to swiftly engage with American negotiators.

President Trump said on Tuesday his plan had been “fine-tuned”.

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Ukraine peace plan in 60 seconds

In his evening address on Saturday, the Ukrainian leader said: “The American side is demonstrating a constructive approach, and in the coming days it is feasible to flesh out the steps to determine how to bring the war to a dignified end.”

Mr Zelenskyy’s team in the US is without his former chief of staff and lead negotiator, Andrii Yermak, as he quit on Friday after officials raided his home amid a corruption scandal.

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What do we know about Ukraine’s corruption scandal?

Tankers hit by ‘Sea Baby’ drones

Ukrainian drones were shown hitting two of Russia‘s so-called “shadow fleet” oil tankers in the Black Sea in footage released on Saturday.

Friday’s attack was carried out by the country’s security service and its navy, an official told Reuters. They said both ships “sustained critical damage” that took them out of service.

A security source told Associated Press that domestically-made “Sea Baby” drones were used.

The tankers were under sanctions and heading to a Russian port to load up with oil destined for foreign markets, the official said.

They have been identified as the Kairos and Virat.

The blasts hit tankers off Turkey's Black Sea coast. Pic: Turkish Directorate General for Maritime Affairs/Reuters
Image:
The blasts hit tankers off Turkey’s Black Sea coast. Pic: Turkish Directorate General for Maritime Affairs/Reuters

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Analysis: Trump’s peace plan had Russian fingerprints all over it

The 274m-long Kairos suffered an explosion and caught fire en route from Egypt to Russia on Friday, Turkey’s transport ministry said. The crew was evacuated.

The Virat was reportedly struck about 35 nautical miles offshore.

It was attacked by unmanned vessels and sustained minor damage to its starboard side, the Turkish ministry said.

Russia deploys a fleet of often ageing, uninsured and unmarked tankers to circumvent sanctions on its oil exports, which continue to help pay for the Ukraine war.

Another Ukrainian attack halted operations at an oil terminal near the Russian port of Novorossiysk on Saturday.

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Russian drone and missile attack hits Kyiv

Andriy Kovalenko, from Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, said special forces were responsible.

“Naval drones managed to destroy one of the three oil tanker berths of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium in the Novorossiysk area,” he wrote on Telegram.

Six killed in aerial attacks on Ukraine

Russia carried out another onslaught on the Ukrainian capital overnight into Saturday, firing 36 cruise and ballistic missiles and launching around 600 drones.

Officials said three people were killed in and around Kyiv, two in the Dnipropetrovsk region and one in a midday attack in Kherson region in the south.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 29 others were injured in Kyiv, largely due to falling debris from intercepted drones hitting buildings.

The attacks also hit Ukrainian energy facilities and left hundreds of thousands without power in the capital. Supplies have since been restored.

Targeting such infrastructure has become a familiar tactic from Russia over the winter, in what Ukraine officials say is the “weaponising” of the cold.

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Hong Kong mourns those lost to fire as investigators search for remains

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Hong Kong mourns those lost to fire as investigators search for remains

Grief was not lonely today in Hong Kong. Three days after the worst fire in the history of modern Hong Kong, it feels as though it has barely sunk in.

The weekend at least lent them time to pay tribute, and gave them some space to reflect.

People came in droves to lay flowers, so many a queuing system was needed.

People queue with flowers near the site to mourn the victims of the deadly fire. Pic: AP
Image:
People queue with flowers near the site to mourn the victims of the deadly fire. Pic: AP

Official books of condolences were also set up in multiple parts of the city.

It was the first day large teams of investigators were able to enter the site. Dozens of them in hazmat suits were bused in, their work the grimmest of tasks.

Every so often you could see a flashlight peep through the window of an upper blackened window, a reminder that the fire services are still undertaking dangerous work.

But the reach of the authorities is ramping up here.

Firefighters walk through the burned buildings after the deadly fire. Pic: AP
Image:
Firefighters walk through the burned buildings after the deadly fire. Pic: AP

Yesterday a grass roots aid distribution centre was the vibrant heart of the response.

They received notice at 4am that they needed to pack up and move on. By 10.30am, the mountains of donations were gone, residents watched on, bewildered.

The task apparently will be handed over to professional NGOs.

“I think the government’s biggest concern is due to some past incidents,” one organiser tells us. “They may liken this to previous events. The essence looks similar.”

Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP

She’s careful with her words, but she’s clearly hinting at major pro-democracy protests that were crushed by authorities in 2019.

Any sort of mass gathering is now seen as a risk, the system is still very nervous.

And they might well be because people here are angry.

What, they ask, did the government know? What did it choose to ignore?

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How Hong Kong’s government failed to act on fire fears

Indeed, Sky News has learnt that residents raised their fears over fire safety connected to extensive renovations on Wang Fuk Court as early as September 2024.

They flagged the suspected flammability of green nets being used to cover the building.

An email response from the Labour Department was sent a few months later to Jason Poon, a civil engineer-turned-activist, who was working with residents. It insists that “the mesh’s flame retardant properties meet safety standards”.

But many clearly didn’t believe it. Posts spanning many months on a residents’ Facebook group continued to voice their fears.

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Hong Kong fire survivors supported by community

When a much smaller fire broke out in the city last month, one resident posted: “All the materials outside are flammable, I feel really worried.”

“I feel that same way” another replied. “The government has no sense of concern.”

For Poon, who dedicates much of his time to fighting lax safety standards in Hong Kong’s construction industry, the whole experience has been devastating.

“They knew all the maintenance was using corner-cutting materials, but they didn’t do anything,” he says.

“This is a man-made disaster.”

We put these allegations to Hong Kong’s Labour Department but they have not yet responded to our request for comment.

Grief may still be the prominent force here, but anger is not that far behind.

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Indonesia: More than 300 people dead and others missing after floods and landslides

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Indonesia: More than 300 people dead and others missing after floods and landslides

More than 300 people have died and dozens are missing following floods and landslides in Indonesia, which has also been hit by an earthquake.

Monsoon rains over the past week caused rivers to burst their banks in North Sumatra province.

The deluge tore through mountainside villages, swept away people and submerged thousands of houses and buildings, the National Disaster Management Agency said.

As rescue workers continued their efforts on Saturday, the head of the country’s disaster mitigation agency said the number of dead had risen to at least 303 people. Authorities fear the figure will increase.

Flooded buildings in Medan, North Sumatra. Pic: AP/ Binsar Bakkara
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Flooded buildings in Medan, North Sumatra. Pic: AP/ Binsar Bakkara

Other Southeast Asian countries including Thailand, Malaysia and Sri Lanka have also been affected by torrential rain in the last week, with authorities working to rescue stranded citizens, restore power and communications and coordinate recovery efforts.

On Friday, the Thai government said 145 people had been killed by flooding across eight southern provinces, while two deaths have also been confirmed in Malaysia. Sri Lanka, in South Asia, has also seen 46 deaths following a cyclone, authorities said.

Medan, North Sumatra. Pic: AP/ Binsar Bakkara
Image:
Medan, North Sumatra. Pic: AP/ Binsar Bakkara

The extreme weather was driven by tropical cyclone Senyar, which formed in the Strait of Malacca, Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency said.

Rescuers in Indonesia have been struggling to reach some areas cut off by damaged roads, and where communications lines have come down.

Relief aircraft have been delivering aid and supplies to the hard-hit district of Central Tapanuli in North Sumatra and other provinces in the region.

Tanah Datar, West Sumatra. Pic: AP/ Ali Nayaka
Image:
Tanah Datar, West Sumatra. Pic: AP/ Ali Nayaka

The agency said West Sumatra’s Agam district had also been affected.

Pictures of the rescue efforts show workers trudging through waist-deep mud and areas filled with tree trunks and debris, searching for any victims potentially trapped.

In Aceh province, flooded roads meant authorities struggled to get tractors and other heavy equipment to hilly hamlets which were hit by mud and rocks in the deluge.

Malalak, West Sumatra. Pic: AP/ Nazar Chaniago
Image:
Malalak, West Sumatra. Pic: AP/ Nazar Chaniago

Hundreds of police officers, soldiers and residents dug through the debris with their bare hands and spades as heavy rain hindered their efforts.

Meanwhile, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit Sumatra island near Aceh province on Thursday, the country’s geophysics agency said.

Torrential rain triggered flash flooding and landslides in Sumatra earlier in the week. Videos posted on social media showed water streaming down from rooftops as panicked residents scrambled to safety.

Heavy seasonal rain from about October to March often causes flooding and landslides in Indonesia – an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands including Sumatra – where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile floodplains.

Last week, almost 1,000 people from three villages on Java were forced to flee to shelters after the eruption of Mount Semeru, the island’s highest volcano.

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