Central Election Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan announced the names of presidential candidates, who have passed the first registration stage.
According to CEC, the presidential candidate from the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP) the incumbent President Ilham Aliyev, Umid party – chairman Igbal Agazade, Yashar Ahmadov – jobless, Vugar Seyidov –physician, Alimukhtar Akbarov –pensioner, and Sevinj Guliyeva - hospital attendant in the Central Clinical Hospital in Sumgayit have passed the first registration stage. These candidates submitted their documents till 2 August.

The two years contract on cooperation between the company Karabakh Telecom, which has been operating in the Azerbaijani occupied territory in Nagorno-Karabakh, and Turkish communication company Avea CJSC, was cancelled. This was reported Trend News from the Turkish Embassy in Azerbaijan on 7 August.
Recently, the Azerbaijani media has released the information that Karabakh Telecom has signed contracts with companies from nearly 100 countries including the Turkish Avea company.
For this reason the Turkish Embassy in Azerbaijan asked Avea to clear the issue. The company informed that the address of the Karabakh Telecom was registered incorrectly in the contract. The mutual international roaming service was opened on the base of the contract signed on 13 March 2005. “However, the incorrect address of the company Karabakh Telecom was revealed on 5 August 2008.

The representatives for the presidential candidate of the incumbent President Ilham Aliyev have been appointed in the Central Election Commission (CEC). Under the decision of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP), Ali Ahmadov, the Executive Secretary of the party, and Ahmadov’s deputies Mubariz Gurbanli and Siyavush Novruzov, were appointed Aliyev’s representatives, Novruzov told Trend News.
The ruling party does not face any problem with the election campaign. “Party has enough member investments to hold election campaign, Novruzov said.

World Network of Election Observers (WNEO) will follow the presidential elections in Azerbaijan, the organization told APA. The observation mission of the organization will be in Azerbaijan on October 14-17.
World Network of Election Observers was founded in Tbilisi by NGO representatives of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Poland, Czechia, Moldova, Finland and Estonia. The main aim of the organization is to observe the elections in post-Soviet countries and developing states.

Azerbaijan has bought Israel-made arms and military supplies, writes magazine “Voennie vestnik Izrailya”, APA reports. The magazine writes that Israel-made 5.56mm Tavor TAR-21 submachine gun has been bought for some units of Azerbaijani Army.
Azerbaijan has also bought military supplies and rockets from various military firms of Israel. Azerbaijan’s armoury includes 120mm and 160mm Lynx rocket plane made by TAAS company (assembled in the base of KamAZ 63502), as well as 300mm EXTRA rockets, pilotless vehicles Orbiter and Aerostar produced by Aeronautics company.
A part of these arms and supplies were demonstrated in the military parade on June 26.

Iran international scientific research institute has found out that sturgeon stock reduced in the Caspian Sea by 25-30%, APA-Economics reports quoting Iran’s IRIB agency.
The Institute also determined that if sturgeon poaching continues, there will be no sturgeons in the Caspian Sea after 13 years. Iran, Russia, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan are conducting monitoring to study the sturgeon stock in the Caspian Sea. Astara (Azerbaijan) – Bender-Torkeman (Iran) part of the Caspian Sea is being monitored.
The results of the monitoring will be discussed at the meeting of the commission on water resources of the Caspian Sea in September this year.

On 7 August, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev left for Beijing to attend the opening ceremony of the 29th Summer Olympic Games.
Forty-four Azerbaijani sportsmen will participate in the Beijing Olympic Games. They left for China on 6 August. In the morning of 7 August, the flag of Azerbaijan was hoisted in an Olympic village in Beijing.

Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) checked and cleaned from mines and unexploded ammunition 1,398,384 sq m (4,979 mines and unexploded ammunition were defused) in July, ANAMA said to Trend News on 7 August.
ANAMA was established in 1998. Some 83 mine explosions have left 53 dead and 122 wounded in Azerbaijan since September 2001. The organization is operating in Terter, Agdam, Fuzuli, Goranboy, Khojavand and Agstafa regions.
So far, ANAMA has cleaned 71,978,787sq m. Number of discovered and defused mines and unexploded ammunition totalled 319,431.
A total of 339 people, 5 mine clearing machines and 30 mine detection dogs participated in ANAMA operations.

Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, is expected to visit Azerbaijan to participate in the international summit on religious situation in the world.
“The international conference is scheduled for 2009,” Sheikh-ul-Islam Haji Allahshukur Pashazade, the chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Clerical Office, said to journalists on 7 August.
On October 2009, Azerbaijan will host the international conference on religious situation in the world.
“The UN’s head said he supports holding of the religious summit in Azerbaijan,” said Pashazade.
Sheik-ul-Islam added that Catholics, Orthodox believers and Jews would participate in the summit.

The two Azerbaijani opposition parties – Popular Front and Musavat, consider signing a document on the joint cooperation with regard to the upcoming presidential elections. “If we succeed to reach an agreement, we can take serious steps on cooperation. We may sign the document on the joint activity,” Sulhaddin Akbar, the chairman of the Assembly of Musavat, told Trend News on 7 August.
Akbar said that the leader of Musavat party, Isa Gambar, and chairman of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), Ali Karimli, had a posoitive attidute to the possible cooperation. “I think that the one position regrading the elections will create a favorable ground for oppostion joint activity. There is a favorable political ground for approching between PFPA and Musavat. Both parties may cooperate to consider the elections and its results.

According to the chairman of the Supreme Assembly of the opposition Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), the refusal of some parties to participate in the presidential elections, will lead to weakening of the opposition camp. “Non-alignment to the elections may lead to loss of opposition camp,” Gulamhuseyn Alibayli, te chairman of the Supreme Council of PFPA, told Trend News.
Alibayli believes that the decision by most opposition parties not to participate in the elections will not affect the election process. “The election process has already started. I do not see any significance of participation or non-participation of opposition in the elections. The decision taken by opposition will not affect the results of elections.