Author: Albert Nalbandian

Photo: Getty Images

 

The two accountants responsible for muddling up the main award envelopes at Sunday’s Oscars ceremony will not be employed to do the job again, the academy president has announced, the BBC reports.

Cheryl Boone Isaacs said that the relationship with the accountancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) was also under review.

Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz were responsible for Sunday’s mishap.

La La Land was mistakenly announced as the winner of the best picture award.

The team behind the film were in the middle of their speeches before .

It has been described as the biggest mistake in 89 years of Academy Awards history.

Azerbaijan’s actions connected with blogger Alexander’ Lapshin’s detention and his further extradition were aimed at preventing visits to Artsakh, Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said at a Q&A at the National Assembly.

He added, however, that the Azerbaijani so-called black list, which includes the names of outstanding public, political and culture figures, even statesmen and foreign ministers, “speaks for itself.”

“This never stopped the flow of people to Artsakh,” the Foreign Minister said. He’s confident the number of visitors will tend to grow in the future.

“Steps have been taken and will be taken in this direction,” Minister Nalbandian said without revealing any details.

The Minister noted that “by dragging third countries into such deals Azerbaijan pursues the aim of causing harm in different spheres. “We must not give in to the provocations and refrain from pouring water on Azerbaijan’s mill,” Minister Nalbandian stated.

The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and  Russia Edward Nalbandian and Sergey Lavrov held a meeting in Moscow today.

The Ministers discussed a broad range of issues on the agenda of the Armenian-Russian allied relations, the process of implementation of the agreements reached between the leaders of the two countries.

Edward Nalbandian and Sergey Lavrov referred to the preparations for the Armenian Prime Minister’s forthcoming official visit to Moscow.

The interlocutors discussed issues related to the implementation of the agreements on the Karabakh issue reached at the Vienna and St. Petersburg summits.

The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and  Russia exchanged views on urgent regional and international issues.

Armenia has been included in the UN’s 2017 Honour Roll for having paid its regular budget assessment in full.

In January 2017 Armenia paid $151,338 as a regular assessment.

The roll includes the countries that have paid their regular budget assessments in full within the 30 day due period specified in Financial Regulation.

Nine out of 193 UN member states were in the Honour Roll as of January 10, 2017.

Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan held a meeting with the Ambassadors accredited to Armenia, the heads and representatives of international organizations.

During the meeting reference was made to the activity of the Armenian government, the reforms agenda, the economic development programs, the measures and steps targeted at fighting corruption.

The Prime Minister stressed the importance of periodic meetings with the diplomatic corps for raising the effectiveness of cooperation. He said the government is open to advice, criticism and offers.

Speaking about the forthcoming parliamentary elections, Karen Karaetyan said: “We expect new qualitative level from these elections. We are preparing to do the utmost to ensure the transparency of the voting.”

The Prime Minister said that over the past 10o days in office the government has been trying hard to reveal the existing problems and added that a report on the work done in the due period will be presented in the near future.

Karen Karapetyan revealed plans to ease the tax administration process and shift to an electronic system with a view of improving the investment climate and reducing the corruption risks. He said the government keeps the fight against corruption in the spotlight and pledged consistent steps to cut the corruption level.

Jose Mourinho moved a step closer to a major trophy in his first season as Manchester United manager as goals from Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini secured a first-leg victory over Hull City in the semi-final of the EFL Cup, the BBC reports.

A near full-strength United struggled to break down resilient Hull in a first half in which the hosts had just two shots on target – Mata forcing a good save out of goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic, who also tipped over Paul Pogba’s long-range effort.

The visitors had chances of their own against a side who had won their eight previous games in all competitions, Robert Snodgrass causing problems from set-pieces.

However, Mata got the breakthrough just before the hour mark when he tapped in from Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s knockdown.

Substitute Fellaini scored a second late on, heading in from Matteo Darmian’s cross to put United in command heading into the second leg on 26 January.

In a recent interview President Barack Obama revealed an irrational fear of snowmen, the  reports. 

“There’s a whole kind of Chucky element to them. They’re a little creepy,” he told .

When First Lady Michelle joked about putting one in their bedroom Mr Obama said he would move out if he saw one there.

But that didn’t stop White House staff having a go at scaring him.

Official White House photographer Pete Souza explained the prank on his Instagram page.

“For the past three weeks, there have been four snowmen on display in the Rose Garden.

“We’ve been joking that we should move the snowmen a few feet closer to the Oval Office every day to see if anyone noticed.

“Then we realised the snowmen were too heavy to easily lift.

“But finally this morning before the president came to the office, some helpful staff – I won’t say who – moved all the snowmen so each one was peeking through a different window into the Oval.”

Once the figures had been moved a picture of a snowman looking over the president with the caption “do you want to build a snowman?” appeared on the official White House Instagram account.

Despite some suggesting the image is a bit sinister, Mr Obama apparently took the joke well with Pete Souza writing that “he enjoyed the prank”.

 

 

 

A plaque to academician, long-time Director of the Hermitage Museum Boris Piotrovski was unveiled today at Zakyan, 2, Yerevan – the place, where the renowned scholar lived. The plaque was opened by Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan and Boris Piotrovski’s son – famous orientalist and current Director of the Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovski.

The plaque is not only a tribute to the memory of the scholar, but also a symbol of strong Armenian-Russian ties, Mikhail Piotrovski said at a solemn opening ceremony.

“We have ancient and strong ties, but there are also a lot of programs we are discussing now. One of them is the program of research on archeological materials of Karmir Blur to be signed between the Hermitage and the Armenian Ministry of Culture,” he added.

The bronze plaque has been authored by Tigran Muradyan, Tigran Barseghyan is the architect.

Kanye West is reportedly back at home more than a week after he was admitted to hospital with exhaustion, the BBC reports. 

According to multiple reports in the US, the rapper left UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles with wife Kim Kardashian and his doctor, Michael Farzam.

The 39-year-old was admitted to hospital last Monday suffering from “temporary psychosis due to sleep deprivation and dehydration”, said .

quoted a source saying he was “home, getting some rest.”

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) responded to a report of a disturbance last week but later said it was a “medical emergency”.

The rapper was admitted to hospital a day after he cancelled his Saint Pablo tour after a series of rants on-stage.

The Azerbaijani Armed Forces have been taking provocative steps last night and this morning, the NKR Ministry of Defense reports.

Starting from 12:15 today the rival has been shelling the military positions in the northeastern (Talysh and Yarymja) directions of the frontline, the Ministry said.

More intensive shelling has been reported in the direction of Yarymja village.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army are taking measures to pressure the activeness of the rival.

The NKR Defense Ministry declares that the Azerbaijani side bears full responsibility for the increased tensions at the line of contact.