Despite near-total government control over the media, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service has built a high-impact social-media presence in Azerbaijan and a reputation as a leading source of independent news.
Azerbaijan has hosted its first formal ceremony as this year's host of the Eurovision Song Contest, unveiling its logo and slogan and participating in the official handover of the contest to Baku from last year's host, Duesseldorf, Germany.
Three Azerbaijani citizens have been arrested in connection with a plot to kill Israeli Ambassador Michael Lotem and a teacher and a rabbi at the Chabad Jewish school in Baku.
