Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 was en route from Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it was diverted for reasons that aren’t fully clear yet. It crashed while making an attempt to land in Aktau, Kazakhstan, after flying east across the Caspian Sea.

Mobile phone footage circulating online appeared to show the Azerbaijani Airlines plane making a steep descent before slamming into the ground in a fireball in western Kazakhstan.

Taiwan's Presidential Office conducted its first ever tabletop exercise simulating a military escalation with China, several officials briefed on the matter said, at a time when the island is facing renewed Chinese military threats.