Month: November 2016

Photo: AFP

 

Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who helped thousands of Hungarian Jews to escape Nazi mass murder in World War Two, has been formally pronounced dead by Sweden’s Tax Agency, the reports.

He was arrested by Soviet forces in Hungary in 1945 and disappeared. He is thought to have died in a Soviet prison, but his fate remains a mystery.

Thousands of Jews escaped deportation to Auschwitz because Wallenberg gave them Swedish protective passes.

His story became legendary after 1945.

The former Soviet authorities said he must have died in a Moscow prison in 1947.

But his family were sceptical about that version of events, and spent decades trying to establish what actually happened to him.

Last November they called on the Swedish Tax Agency to officially declare him dead. The request was made via Sweden’s SEB Bank, acting as a trustee.

“He shall be deemed to have died 31 July, 1952,” the tax agency said.

Pia Gustafsson of the tax agency said that date was chosen because it fell “five years after he went missing, which was believed to be the end of July, 1947”.

Photo by Ali Fawaz

 

Lebanon’s parliament elected former army commander Michel Aoun as president on Monday, filling a post that had been vacant for more than two years and injecting hope that the country’s long-running political paralysis would come to an end, the Associated Pess reprts.

Aoun, a Maronite Christian, enjoys a wide base of support among Lebanon’s educated Christians.

Aoun secured a simple majority of votes in parliament after a tension-filled, chaotic session that saw several rounds of voting because extra ballots appeared in the ballot box each time. In the end, the transparent box was placed in the middle of Parliament, where lawmakers cast their votes in front of two witnesses who watched to make sure no extra ballots were put in.

“We haven’t voted in a long time. We’re learning again,” Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri joked of the nearly two-hour process.

In the end, Aoun garnered 83 votes out of 127 lawmakers present at the session. He had been widely expected to achieve a two-thirds majority in the first round, but failed by two votes.

Members of parliament broke out in applause after Aoun was finally declared president. His supporters across the country erupted in cheers as they watched the proceedings on screens set up in the streets. Celebratory gunfire could also be heard in the capital.

In the run-up to its annual Thanksgiving Day Telethon, titled “My Artsakh,” on November 1, the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund launches its SMS donation campaign in Armenia.

By sending an SMS to the number 8000 or by calling 090008000, subscribers of all cell-phone carriers in Armenia can support Artsakh with donations of 300 AMD. The proceeds will be allocated to initiatives for rebuilding war-ravaged Artsakh communities, various measures to ensure the safety and security of the peaceful population, and the construction of homes for large families throughout the republic.

The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s flagship fundraising event, the Thanksgiving Day Telethon, will be held in Los Angeles on November 24. The SMS as well as donations-through-Haypost campaigns in Armenia will be complemented by fundraising efforts in Artsakh and across the diaspora. From November 16 to 20, the fund’s Pan-European Phoneathon will take place in France, mobilizing the Armenian communities of France, Germany, and Switzerland.

Also participating in the Phoneathon will be the Armenian community of Greece, which will raise funds locally on November 19 and 20.

The first of these events took place in Toronto on October 23, when the local Armenian community raised a record $1 million at its banquet.

The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Indonesia Edward Nalbandian and Retno Marsudi held a meeting in Jakarta today. The parties discussed the development of bilateral relations, as well as a number of urgent issues on regional and international agenda. They attached importance to the intensification of the political dialogue between the two countries, the need to boost the inter-parliamentary ties, expand the legal framework, encourage educational and cultural exchange.

The interlocutors discussed the perspectives of cooperation within different integration frameworks.

The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Indonesia referred to the situation in the Middle East, the Syrian crisis, the fight against terrorism and conflicts.

The Indonesian FM briefed Minister Nalbandian on the processes taking place in South-Eastern Asia and presented her country’s approaches. Edward Nalbandian presented the efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries towards furthering the Karabakh peace process.

Edward Nalbandian invited Retno Marsudi to visit Armenia.

At the end of the meeting the Foreign Ministers signed an agreement on elimination of visa requirements for holders of diplomatic passports, also as a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Foreign Ministries of the two countries.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and Indonesian Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education Mohammad Nazir signed a Letter of Intents on cooperation in the fields of science, technology and higher education.

The Foreign Ministers of the two countries made a statement for the press following the meeting.

About 55 cases of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani side were registered at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces last night, the NKR defense Ministry reports.

The rival used firearms of different calibers as it fired over 840 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions.

The Azeri forces used hand-held antitank grenade launchers in the northern direction of the line of contact.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army resorted to response actions to pressure the activeness of the rival and confidently continued with their military duty.

Gazprom Armenia CJSC intends to apply to the Public Services Regulatory Commission with a request to review the gas prices.

The Company will propose to cut the price from 146,700 AMD to 139,000 AMD per 1 thousand cubic meters of gas for consumers using up to 10 thousand cubic meters monthly.

For those consuming 10 thousand cubic meters or more, the tariff will be calculated according to the formula P = 242.1 * E (instead of current P = 257.56 * E), where P is the P is the monthly cost of natural gas for consumers of 10 thousand cubic meters of gas or more, and E is the average exchange rate of AMD against USD 1 as of the 25th of the previous month.

On November 1, in Jakarta Edward Nalbandian, Foreign Minister of Armenia, had a meeting with Le Luong Minh, Secretary-General of the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The interlocutors touched upon the possibilities of developing the Armenia’s cooperation both it the ASEAN, and its member-countries.

Secretary-General Minh presented the integration processes within the ASEAN, the ongoing projects, outcomes of deepening of economic collaboration since the establishment of the Association, new possibilities established for the member countries, the Organization’s perspectives.

The agenda of the meeting focused on the possibility of cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union and the Association for Southeast Asian Nations. In that regard Le Luong Minh outlined that the ASEAN is interested in such cooperation and certain steps are being undertaken both by the member countries and the Association itself in that direction. Edward Nalbandian expressed the support of Armenia to those efforts.

Photos: Gilles Gustine/France 3

 

French Armenian singer Patrick Fiori performed the Armenian song “Dle Yaman” during the “La vie secrète des chansons” (The secret of Life of Songs) program on France 3 TV.

Fiori performed to the accompaniment of renowned French Armenian jazz musician André Manoukian.

Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan received today the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Greece to Armenia Nafsika Nancy Eva Vraila. The Prime Minister attached importance to the continuous development of the Armenian-Greek relations and pledged the willingness of the government to promote initiatives targeted at furthering the bilateral ties.

Mrs. Vraila noted that the two peoples have historically enjoyed firm good-neighborly relations, and Greece is ready to continue implementing bilateral programs.

The interlocutors discussed issues related to the deepening of bilateral trade and economic cooperation and attached importance to taking steps to intensify the business ties.

The Ambassador informed about the plans of Greek businessmen to visit Armenia next year to study the investment opportunities and discuss the perspectives of expansion of economic ties.

During the meeting reference was made to the cooperation in the fields of tourism, education, and science.