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Azerbaijan Investigates Assassination Attempt against Anti-Iran MP

A police officer stands in front of the house of MP Fazil Mustafa in Baku (Azerbaijan EPA)
A police officer stands in front of the house of MP Fazil Mustafa in Baku (Azerbaijan EPA)
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Azerbaijan Investigates Assassination Attempt against Anti-Iran MP

A police officer stands in front of the house of MP Fazil Mustafa in Baku (Azerbaijan EPA)
A police officer stands in front of the house of MP Fazil Mustafa in Baku (Azerbaijan EPA)

Azerbaijan State Security Service was investigating a "terror attack" after an anti-Iran lawmaker was wounded at home.

MP Fazil Mustafa was hospitalized after sustaining injuries in his shoulder and thigh when he was shot with a Kalashnikov rifle on Tuesday evening. The security service said the injuries were not life-threatening, and a criminal investigation was launched to determine the perpetrator.

Azeri news site "haqqin.az" quoted Mustafa as saying from the hospital that he had been hit by two bullets while driving into his garage.

The State Security Service said Mustafa was known for his critical views on Iran, Azerbaijan's southern neighbor.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev instructed the security services to investigate the terrorist attack, according to Azerbaijani Trend.

Relations have been strained between Azerbaijan and Iran in the past few months. Azerbaijan closed its embassy in Tehran in January after a "terrorist attack" that killed its security chief.

Azerbaijan maintains close relations with Israel, which officially opened its embassy in Baku on Wednesday. The move sparked outrage in Tehran. Baku also bought Israeli-made drones for its army.

After the attack on Iranian facilities two years ago, Iranian media accused Azerbaijan of allowing Israeli drones to target Iran.

Tensions remain high between Baku and Tehran as Azerbaijan and Armenia fight over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Iran also wants to maintain its border security with Armenia, which is under threat if Azerbaijan seizes new territory.

On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, in a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, that he hopes to resolve the "frictions" between Azerbaijan and Iran soon. Moscow maintains friendly relations with both countries.

Last Saturday, Russia, the mediator in the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, accused Baku of violating the ceasefire that ended the war between the two countries in 2020 by allowing its forces to cross into the Shusha region, where Russian peacekeepers are deployed.

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Typhoon Gaemi Weakens to Tropical Storm as It Moves Inland Carrying Rain toward Central China

In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
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Typhoon Gaemi Weakens to Tropical Storm as It Moves Inland Carrying Rain toward Central China

In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)

Tropical storm Gaemi brought rain to central China on Saturday as it moved inland after making landfall at typhoon strength on the country's east coast Thursday night.

The storm felled trees, flooded streets and damaged crops in China but there were no reports of casualties or major damage. Eight people died in Taiwan, which Gaemi crossed at typhoon strength before heading over open waters to China.

The worst loss of life, however, was in a country that Gaemi earlier passed by but didn't strike directly: the Philippines. A steadily climbing death toll has reached 34, authorities there said Friday. The typhoon exacerbated seasonal monsoon rains in the Southeast Asian country, causing landslides and severe flooding that stranded people on rooftops as waters rose around them.

China Gaemi weakened to a tropical storm since coming ashore Thursday evening in coastal Fujian province, but it is still expected to bring heavy rains in the coming days as it moves northwest to Jiangxi, Hubei and Henan provinces.

About 85 hectares (210 acres) of crops were damaged in Fujian province and economic losses were estimated at 11.5 million yuan ($1.6 million), according to Chinese media reports. More than 290,000 people were relocated because of the storm.

Elsewhere in China, several days of heavy rains this week in Gansu province left one dead and three missing in the country's northwest, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Taiwan Residents and business owners swept out mud and mopped up water Friday after serious flooding that sent cars and scooters floating down streets in parts of southern and central Taiwan. Some towns remained inundated with waist-deep water.

Eight people died, several of them struck by falling trees and one by a landslide hitting their house. More than 850 people were injured and one person was missing, the emergency operations center said.

Visiting hard-hit Kaohsiung in the south Friday, President Lai Ching-te commended the city's efforts to improve flood control since a 2009 typhoon that brought a similar amount of rain and killed 681 people, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported.

Lai announced that cash payments of $20,000 New Taiwan Dollars ($610) would be given to households in severely flooded areas.

A cargo ship sank off the coast near Kaohsiung Harbor during the typhoon, and the captain's body was later pulled from the water, the Central News Agency said. A handful of other ships were beached by the storm.

Philippines At least 34 people died in the Philippines, mostly because of flooding and landslides triggered by days of monsoon rains that intensified when the typhoon — called Carina in the Philippines — passed by the archipelago’s east coast.

The victims included 11 people in the Manila metro area, where widespread flooding trapped people on the roofs and upper floors of their houses, police said. Some drowned or were electrocuted in their flooded communities.

Earlier in the week, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered authorities to speed up efforts in delivering food and other aid to isolated rural villages, saying people may not have eaten for days.

The bodies of a pregnant woman and three children were dug out Wednesday after a landslide buried a shanty in the rural mountainside town of Agoncillo in Batangas province.