The country’s authoritarian President Ilham Aliyev personally oversees the largest cash cow: the State Oil Fund. That may be why he considers Azerbaijan’s vast reserve of fossil fuels “ a gift from God ” even as it fails to uplift his people.

A US lawmaker said he was nearly assaulted while attending COP29 in Azerbaijan in what he called a government-orchestrated attack, leading Washington on Tuesday to press Baku to ensure safety at the global climate talks.

Leaders of the world's biggest economies must send a clear signal on the need to tackle global warming, COP29 climate summit host Azerbaijan said on Monday. The plea came as Group of 20 (G20) leaders