Author: Ani Basmajian

Photo: Getty Images

 

US actor George Kennedy, who starred in movies including Cool Hand Luke and the Naked Gun series, has died at the age of 91, his grandson has announced.

Cory Schenkel said his grandfather died on Sunday morning in the city of Boise, Idaho, celebrity news website TMZ reported.

Kennedy won an Oscar in 1968 for Best Supporting Actor in Cool Hand Luke.

As well as the Naked Gun comedies, he also made memorable appearances in Earthquake and Airport 1975.

Mr Schenkel, quoted by TMZ, said the veteran actor had been in poor health since the death of his wife, Joan, more than a year ago, and had been in a hospice for the past month.

Kennedy was born in 1924 in New York where his father worked as a musician and his mother was a dancer.

He served with the US infantry during World War Two, winning several decorations, and in the 1950s he worked for Armed Forces Radio and Television before moving to Hollywood.

The actor quickly became well known for playing tough-guy characters.

Kennedy’s final film role was in The Gambler in 2014, TMZ added.

 

 

 

The memorandum of political agreement between the Republican Party of Armenia and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation will be signed next week, Spokesman for the Republican Party Edward Sharmazanov declared following the sitting of the RPA Executive Board.

He noted that the discussions focused both on the provisions of the President’s speech of February 12 and the political agreement with ARF. Members of the Bboard came forth with a number of proposals, which will be discussed this week and the memorandum will be ready next week.

Edward Sharmazanov noted that the interests of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh lie in the basis of the political agreement.

 

US President Barack Obama is to visit Cuba in the coming weeks as part of a broader trip to Latin America, the BBC reports.

He will be only the second sitting US president in history to travel to the island, after Calvin Coolidge in 1928.

US Republicans have criticised the visit, saying it should not take place while the Castro family is in power.

Washington and Havana restored diplomatic ties last July and the US relaxed travel and trade restrictions after a 54-year freeze.

Discussion of the situation in Armenia is impossible without a clear assessment of the influence of the external world, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said at a meeting with representatives of the legislative, executive and judiciary bodies.

“Armenia is part of the global economic system; therefore, it cannot avoid the impulses of the global market. It does not mean, however, that we have to put up with all this,” the President said.

“The concerns that we’ll not live well as long as the Karabakh issue remains unsolved and unless Turkey lifts the blockade, are unacceptable,” he added.

“All of us are aware of the position of the Turkish and Azerbaijani authorities. However, the fact is that their policy of the past 25 years has not produced the result they would like to see. They have tried to speak to us from the position of threat, imposition and force. Speaking to us that way will produce no results just as it has not produced any up until now,” the President noted.

“Negotiations on the settlement of the Karabakh issue continue. Our position is unchanged: the Artsakh issue should be solved through the self-determination of its people. All other questions are subordinate and will find their logical and just solution parallel to the settlement of the Karabakh conflict. No issue will be solved, unless the status of Artsakh is determined,” he added.

President Sargsyan said he sees no perspective for any advancement in the relations with Turkey.

“We are developing good-neighborly relations with two other neighbors –Georgia and Iran. Obviously, we face no problem here. The cooperation with these countries is important to us, and we’ll keep working with Tehran and Tbilisi in the same spirit,” he stated.

“Our foreign policy is predictable and has always been void of any adventurism. We have always stood for development of relations with everyone based on mutual respect, trust and interest,” the President said.

He added that it’s time to build upon that solid basis. “I have instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and all diplomatic missions to work with greater vigor to advance Armenia’s economic interests.”

“The OSCE Minsk Group is not satisfied with the status quo,” US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group said in a Twitter post

“We are fully committed to negotiations for a peaceful settlement,” he added.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending EUR 51 million to the Republic of Armenia to finance rehabilitation of the M6 interstate road, the crucial transport corridor in Armenia representing the interconnection of the country with Georgia and thus the EU and being significant particularly for Armenia’s exports and imports.

The EIB funds will support the rehabilitation and upgrading along some 90 km of the M6 road between Vanadzor in central Armenia and Bagratashen at the North eastern border between Armenia and Georgia. The road follows a deep valley and features several hairpin bends, steep inclines, narrow bridges and three tunnels which will be upgraded. The M6 rehabilitation will help to improve traffic fluidity, levels of service, time savings and increase overall road safety, expected to result in a reduced number of road accidents, injuries and fatalities.

EIB Vice-President László Baranyay, responsible for EIB operations in Armenia commented: “The EIB loan will support the upgrade of Armenia’s priority M6 road infrastructure representing connection of Yerevan with Tbilisi. This transport infrastructure serves as major link of Armenia with Europe and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States through Georgia’s Black Sea ports carrying over 60% of Armenia’s international traffic”.

In addition to EIB, the Asian Development Bank is expected to provide support to the project. The total costs of the project that will be promoted by the Ministry of Transport and Communication is EUR 102 million.

Currently, the EIB lending commitment in Armenia covers twelve projects, most of them supported by EU grants, and amounts to some EUR 270 million. It supports a well-diversified investment portfolio important for the country’s development in the areas of transport, energy, water and solid waste sector infrastructure and indirectly financing the undertakings of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through EIB partner financing institutions. Both parties have ongoing discussions regarding the future priorities of EIB activities in Armenia and the promising pipeline of new operations for the upcoming years.

With 98 votes for, 71 against and 40 abstentions the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted to adopt the report on Sarsang water reservoir. The report titled “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water” was prepared by  Milica Markovic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Assembly earlier a biased anti-Armenian report on “Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan.”

Asbarez – The Armenian Bar Association’s 17 member Board of Governors has passed a resolution stating that an official policy of the organization is to help secure international recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (Artsakh Republic) as an independent, sovereign state under international law.

To emphasize the Armenian Bar Association’s commitment to secure under international law the right of self-determination of the citizens of the Artsakh Republic, the Board passed a further resolution which for the first time in its twenty-six year history, amended its mission statement to read as follows:

“A fundamental organizational purpose of the Armenian Bar Association is a commitment to take any and all steps permitted under international law to secure the recognition of the independence of the Artsakh Republic and to protect the right to self-determination of the people of the Artsakh Republic as guaranteed under international law.”

The resolutions were initially proposed by Chairman Ex-officio Armen K. Hovanissian, Vice-Chair Saro K. Kerkonian, Co-Chairs of the Armenian Rights Watch Committee Garo B. Ghazarian and Karnig Kerkonian and past Chairman and long-standing Board of Governors member Edvin E. Minassian.

On the occasion of the passage of the historic resolution, Armenian Bar Association chairman, Harry H. Dikranian, of Montreal, Canada, stated that “Every day, with the utmost courage and determination, Armenian men and women are putting their lives on the line to defend their right, guaranteed under international law, to exercise their self-determination. Today, the members of the Armenian Bar Association vow to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their brothers and sisters in Artsakh and offer their legal expertise to assist them in their just quest to seek international recognition of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Artsakh Republic. We encourage all Armenian organizations world-wide to join in this effort.”

The Armenian Bar Association is the largest organization of Armenian attorneys, judges, law professors and other legal professionals in the diaspora. Founded by Raffi Hovannisian in 1989, for the past 26 years, through the work of its various committees, the Association has sought to promote the development of the rule of law in Armenia, defend the rights of Armenians anywhere through its Armenian Rights Watch Committee and provided free legal assistance to Armenian communities through the work of the Pro Bono Committee.

Yura Movsisyan’s return to Salt Lake City appears to be imminent, according to a report from reliable reporter Chris Kamrani of the

The Tribune learned through league sources Sunday that terms have been agreed upon to bring the 28-year-old Spartak Moscow striker back to Major League Soccer and RSL after spending the last six seasons professionally both in Denmark and Russia.

Movsisyan’s agent, Patrick McCabe, told The Tribune on Saturday night that discussions between RSL and Spartak were ongoing, adding, “But not anything final.”

Movsisyan originally left RSL to pursue a career in Europe in Jan. 2010, but RSL extended a contract offer despite the expiration of Movsisyan’s previous contract, which allowed RSL to retain his MLS rights if he ever chose to return to the league down the road.

Six years later, he looks to be headed back.

Scores of people are reported killed in an explosion at an industrial gas plant in south-eastern Nigeria.

A truck is said to have exploded as it was off-loading butane cooking gas in the town of Nnewi in Anambra State, the BBC reports.

Reports of casualties vary from 35 to more than 100 people killed, including factory workers and neighbours.

Local police have confirmed the incident but have yet to provide further details. A huge fire reportedly followed the blast.

The dead and injured were taken to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital in Nnewi which has a predominantly Christian community.