Astana, Kazakhstan An Azerbaijani airliner carrying 67 people crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing at least 38 who were on board, according to a Kazakh authorities.

In a sprawling rescue operation, 29 survivors including two children were pulled from the wreckage, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said, adding that 11 were in critical condition.

Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 was traveling from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Grozny in the Russian region of Chechnya before it made an emergency landing approximately 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from Aktau, the carrier said.

Footage from the crash site captured the moment dazed survivors emerged from the charred plane. All of the survivors have been taken to hospitals, Kazakh authorities said earlier. None of those who survived were Kazakh nationals, the deputy prime minister said.

“The bodies are in poor condition, mostly burnt, all collected,” Bozumbayev said. “Now they will be in the morgue, and identification will take place.”

There is only one survivor whose identity remains unknown, according to Bozumbayev. “She is unconscious, has no documents, and is in the hospital,” he added.

A search team has located the plane’s black box, the Azerbaijan state news agency AZERTAC reported, and the Kazakhstan government has set up a commission to investigate the cause of the crash and assist passengers’ families. The government will cooperate with Azerbaijan on the investigation, it said.

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said its teams found the aircraft on fire upon arrival at the scene with rescue units extinguishing the fire on arrival.

Video of the crash showed the plane erratically circling the airfield before the crash. As it hit the ground, the aircraft burst into flames, with bloodied passengers emerging from the wreckage shortly after.

One woman who joined the rescue effort told Radio Free Europe’s Kazakh Service that she witnessed a devastating scene that brought her to tears.

“The front (part of the plane) was on fire. We rescued the survivors. Their bodies were covered in blood. They were crying. Everyone was asking for help,” Elmira, who only provided her first name, said.

Elmira said that there were people of all ages among the survivors, including men, women, teenagers and a small child.

“A little girl came out. She looked at me and said, ‘Save my mom, my mom is still there. She was crying and begging, ‘Please save her, save her,’” she said.

Elmira said that she had travelled by bus to the site of the crash and that she and other volunteers led survivors to the bus to “prevent people from freezing.”

“It was cold outside. None of them had jackets, just light sweaters. We kept them on the bus until the ambulance arrived,” she said.

Investigation opened
Russia’s aviation watchdog said in a statement that preliminary information suggested the pilot had decided to make an emergency landing after a bird strike.

Officials did not immediately explain why the plane had crossed the sea, but the crash came shortly after drone strikes hit southern Russia. Drone activity has shut airports in the area in the past and the nearest Russian airport on the plane’s flight path was closed on Wednesday morning.

There were 62 passengers and 5 crew members on board, Kazakhstan’s transport ministry said in a preliminary report. It said 37 of the passengers were citizens of Azerbaijan, six of Kazakhstan, three of Kyrgyzstan, and 16 of Russia, according to preliminary data.

“Additional information regarding the incident will be provided to the public,” the airline said on its Facebook page.

Kazakhstan’s Transport Police Department also opened a pre-trial investigation under a part of the criminal code which involves the “violation of safety rules during the operation of a vehicle, resulting in the accidental death of two or more people,” state-run news agency Kazinform reported.

According to AZERTAC, the pilot had extensive experience and had flown more than 15,000 hours, and the plane underwent its last full technical inspection in October.

Bozumbayev said it was impossible to establish “even a preliminary cause” but that experts were looking into it, Kazinform reported.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan Airlines said it has suspended flights from Baku to Grozny and Makhachkala, the largest city of Dagestan, until the investigation into the crash is complete.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences for those involved in the crash, and said that a Russian Emergencies Ministry plane with medical personnel and equipment is flying to Kazakhstan to assist.

“Let’s hope for a speedy recovery of the injured ones and, of course, I am sure, a thorough investigation will be carried out. We will coordinate the work of our special and aviation services on all issues related to this tragedy,” he said during a summit for the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Elbahrain.net The Great Wall of China has inspired countless works of art in its more than 2,000-year history. Among the most famous is “The Great Wall Walk,” a dramatic 90-day performance that saw lovers Marina Abramović and Frank Uwe Laysiepen (the late German artist known as Ulay) trek towards each other from opposite ends of the landmark.

Abramović began in the east at the so-called “dragon’s head” — where the Great Wall dips into the Bohai Bay like a dragon drinking from the sea — while Ulay started at the “tail,” more than 3,000 miles to her west, in the Gobi Desert.

When the idea was initially conceived, under a full moon in Australia’s outback, the pair had planned to meet and get married in the middle. But obtaining permission from Chinese authorities would take over eight years, by which time their romantic relationship, despite having achieved global fame and success as a performance art duo, had fallen apart amid infidelity, jealousy and a failed threesome. Still, neither wanted to give up on the project and, in March 1988, they embarked on their respective journeys.

“We both decided that we have to address new circumstances, which means our separation… (We would) say goodbye,” Abramović told CNN on a video call from the Modern Art Museum (MAM) Shanghai, where she opens her first ever museum exhibition in China this week. “Great love,” she added, encompasses everything: “Love, hate, disappointment, and forgiveness. We explore all of it.”

The 77-year-old Serbian artist’s new show, “Marina Abramović: Transforming Energy,” features interactive artworks inspired by the Great Wall journey, as well as over 1,200 never-before-seen images taken along the way.

The photos, which will be projected onto the museum’s walls, are divided into four categories that curator and MAM’s artistic director Shai Baitel grouped as “the preparation and beginning walk, encounters with locals, walking the wall and meeting Ulay, and staged experiments and landscapes.”

Baitel said he was “blown away” by the trove of unpublished film negatives Abramović held in storage. “It is a treasure for a curator, for anyone that is in the business of art, or art history research, (to) document (what has) not been digitized yet but exists there in large quantities.”

Elbahrain.net The House Ethics Committee found evidence that former Rep. Matt Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex or drugs on at least 20 occasions, including paying a 17-year-old girl for sex in 2017, according to the panel’s report on the Florida Republican released Monday.

The committee concluded in its bombshell document that Gaetz violated Florida state laws, including the state’s statutory rape law, as the GOP-led panel chose to take the rare step of releasing a report about a former member who resigned from Congress.

“The Committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” panel investigators wrote.

The panel investigated transactions Gaetz personally made, often using PayPal or Venmo, to more than a dozen women during his time in Congress, according to the report. Investigators also focused on a 2018 trip to the Bahamas – which they said “violated the House gift rule” – during which he “engaged in sexual activity” with multiple women, including one who described the trip itself as “the payment” for sex on the trip. On the same trip, he also took ecstasy, one woman on the trip told the committee

And it’s a political jolt that could have reverberations for years to come, as the Capitol Hill panel takes aim at a long-time Trump loyalist and now conservative anchor at One America Network.

Gaetz filed a civil complaint in federal court Monday morning unsuccessfully seeking to halt the release of the report, claiming he was not notified of the panel’s plans to release the report nor was he provided copies of the materials.

“As such, Plaintiff has been afforded no opportunity to respond to any report or investigative conclusions of Defendants,” the complaint reads. “Plaintiff has frequently and vehemently declared his innocence regarding the alleged misconduct, and requested Defendants cease their investigation and provide him appropriate due process rights.”

Gaetz claimed the panel has been “unresponsive” to those demands. Gaetz wrote in the lawsuit that he told the committee in writing in May that allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, misuse of campaign funds and other actions were all false.

The lawsuit serves as a route for Gaetz to formally claim in writing that the committee’s findings are false and that he believes his privacy has been invaded and the committee is defaming him.

But his unusual ask of a federal court to block congressional action is now essentially moot because the report has been released publicly. District Judge Amit Mehta asked Gaetz to explain by the end of the day why the lawsuit should not be dismissed because the report has been publicly released.

CNN has reached out to Gaetz and his lawyers for comment.

The committee posted the report on its website Monday morning while noting in a statement the “significant and unusual amount” of reporting about the panel’s probe of Gaetz. Without identifying specific stories, the committee stated that some reporting about its probe had been “inaccurate.” The committee condemned any potential unauthorized disclosures but emphasized that committee witnesses are permitted to disclose information about their interactions with its investigators. The panel also released appendices with its evidence, including financial documents and text messages cited in the report.

Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has pointed to the Justice Department declining to bring charges against him in 2023.

In a statement Gaetz released on X last week after CNN reported that the committee had voted to release the report, Gaetz denied having sex with a minor or paying women for sex.

“In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated – even some I never dated but who asked. I dated several of these women for years,” Gaetz said. “It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now.”

Although the committee alleged that Gaetz violated state laws, the panel wrote that it did not find Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, writing that “although Representative Gaetz did cause the transportation of women across state lines for purposes of commercial sex, the Committee did not find evidence that any of those women were under 18 at the time of travel, nor did the Committee find sufficient evidence to conclude that the commercial sex acts were induced by force, fraud, or coercion.”

Women told committee they were paid for sex
The report documents the evidence the committee gathered of Gaetz’s numerous interactions with women who say they were paid for sex by Gaetz and his friend, Joel Greenberg, a former Seminole County tax collector who is serving an 11-year prison sentence and cooperated with federal investigators.

The committee wrote that it spoke to more than a half dozen witnesses who attended parties, trips and events with Gaetz between 2017 through 2020. “Nearly every young woman that the Committee interviewed confirmed that she was paid for sex by, or on behalf of, Representative Gaetz,” the panel wrote.

One of the sexual encounters involved a 17-year-old girl, the committee said. The woman told the committee she had sex with Gaetz twice at a July 2017 party when she was 17. CNN first reported on the second sexual encounter last month.

“The Committee received testimony that Victim A and Representative Gaetz had sex twice during the party, including at least once in the presence of other party attendees,” the committee wrote. “Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex. At the time, she had just completed her junior year of high school.”

The then-17-year-old did not tell Gaetz she was a minor at the time, and he did not ask her age, the committee found. The committee did not receive any evidence Gaetz was aware of her age. The woman told congressional investigators she was under the influence of ecstasy at the party and that she recalled seeing Gaetz use cocaine at the party.

Gaetz has denied having sex with a minor. “I NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18,” the Florida Republican wrote on X last week. “Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court – which is why no such claim was ever made in court.”