Author: Anna Tamamian

Astana does not think that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution requires the search for a new intermediary, Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrisov said, Interfax reports.

“This is a complicated problem […], and relevant decisions have been made at the level of the UN and the OSCE. The Minsk Group co-chaired by Russia, the United States and France was formed. I believe there is no need to search for new mediators, new intermediaries in the resolution of this conflict,” Idrisov said at a press briefing in Astana on Tuesday.

Nagorno-Karabakh settlement principles were explicitly formulated at the time the OSCE Minsk Group was formed, so “the task is to ensure the strict fulfillment of these agreements,” the minister said.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan will reportedly sign a £200,000-a-week, four-year deal with Manchester United, reports.

Mkhitaryan‘s move to United was announced over the weekend by Borussia Dortmund, with CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke confirming the deal.

“This transfer was for us a difficult one but Manchester United made us a tremendous, valuable offer,” Watzke said.

“Had we knocked it, the player would have left the club for free in 2017.”

And with Mkhitaryan’s arrival set to be announced by United imminently, German newspaper  have leaked details of the 27-year-old’s contract.

The report says Mkhitaryan’s move will cost United in excess of £80million – which includes a signing on bonus, transfer fee and four-year £200k-a-week contract.

It is said the Armenia international will receive a £6.7m signing-on fee, £10.4m-a-year contract and will cost United in the region of £34m.

Mkhitaryan was one of the most prolific forwards in European football last season, scoring 23 goals and providing 32 assists in 52 appearances for Dortmund.

Once confirmed he will become Jose Mourinho’s third signing at United, having already sealed deals for defender Eric Bailly and striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

A search vessel looking for the remains of victims of the EgyptAir plane that crashed into the Mediterranean in May has recovered all of the mapped bodies from the sea floor, investigators say, the BBC reports.

The Mauritian-based ship John Lethbridge is now sailing to Alexandria in Egypt.

It will later return to the crash site to look for more bodies.

The flight from Paris to Cairo crashed on 19 May, killing all 66 on board. The cause of the crash remains unknown.

A statement by the Egyptian Aircraft Accident Investigation Committee said that the search vessel John Lethbridge “retrieved all the human remains that were mapped at the crash location”.

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry released the 2016 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, which looks at how 188 countries, including the U.S., were tackling this serious crime throughout 2015 and into 2016. For the fourth year in a row, Armenia is a Tier 1 country, recognized as fully committed to fighting trafficking in persons.

The annual report looks at 188 countries, describing the scope of human trafficking, government anti-trafficking efforts, and human trafficking trends all over the world, including in the United States.

The Armenian section of this year’s report highlights the pivotal role played by Armenia’s Anti-TIP Working Group, which includes representatives from government, civil society, and international organizations.

“The success of the working group demonstrates what can be achieved when government and civil society listen to one another and work together,” U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills, Jr. said. “The working group is a model for tackling complex, challenging problems.”

Other significant developments which contributed to Armenia’s upholding its ranking is continuation of government allocations for counter-TIP activities, adoption of relevant laws, prosecution of traffickers, prevention and awareness raising activities, as well as establishing of official TIP victims identification commission and finalization of TIP victims’ compensation mechanism.

The report’s Armenian section, in both English and Armenian translation, is available on the Embassy’s webpage:

President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian government to discuss the restoration of cooperation with Turkey, including in trade, after phone conversation with his Turkey counterpart earlier in the day, the Kremlin said Wednesday, Sputnik News reports.

 

 

 

Kazakhstan has always backed the peaceful settlement of all conflicts in the region, including the Karabakh issue, the newly appointed Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Armenia Timur Urazayev told reporters in Yerevan.

“We want there to be no shooting along the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan and want to see the ceasefire observed. We regret the loss of life on both sides during the four-day war in April,” the Ambassador said. He added that it’s unacceptable in the 21^st century.

He refrained from further assessment of the Karabakh conflict, saying that Kazakhstan is not a member of the OSCE Minsk Group.  Assessment can be given only by countries authorized by the international community, he said.

“Under the conditions of the information war it’s difficult to understand the motives and grounds behind this or that event,” he said.

The President of Kazakhstan is ready to help the parties reach a peaceful settlement of the conflict, Timur Urazayev concluded.

– The California Armenian Home broke ground Thursday on a $42 million expansion that will more than double the capacity of the southeast Fresno senior living community.

The expansion will add a three-story structure with 110 independent and assisted living apartments inside, 12 two-bedroom and two-bathroom duplex cottages and a 36-bed memory care building for those with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. Apartments come in studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom.

Board president Lucy Kazanjian Grayson said the most important part of the expansion is that the home will have accommodations for “every phase of senior living.”

If someone lived in the independent or assisted living portion of the home and was later diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, that person could then be transferred to another part of the home, Grayson said. “You won’t have to get up and move somewhere else.”

If a couple was staying at the home and one spouse became ill, both would be able to remain at the same facility, Grayson said.

A portion of the $42 million is coming from a $4 million donation from the S Barre Paul and Sue Garabedian Paul Trust, which was delivered to the California Armenian Home by Sue Paul’s brother in February. Paul was a former resident of Fresno who moved to Northern California later in life and had relatives and friends that had lived at the home.

Photo: Reuters

 

UN human rights investigators have for the first time accused so-called Islamic State of committing genocide against Yazidis in Iraq and Syria, the BBC reports.

A report says IS has subjected members of the religious group it has captured to the “most horrific of atrocities”, killing or enslaving thousands.

The group’s aim is to completely erase the Yazidi way of life, it warns.

The report says major powers should do more to help the Yazidis, at least 3,200 of whom are being held by IS.

IS, a Sunni jihadist group, regards Yazidis as devil-worshippers who may be killed or enslaved with impunity.

In August 2014, IS militants swept across north-western Iraq and rounded up thousands of Yazidis living in the Sinjar region, where the majority of the world’s Yazidi population was based.

Photo: Getty Images

 

President Barack Obama has officially endorsed Hillary Clinton as the Democratic Party presidential nominee, the BBC reports.

His endorsement came after meeting Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders who has been battling Mrs Clinton for the nomination.

Speaking in a video tweeted out by Mrs Clinton, Mr Obama said she may be the most qualified person “ever” for the role of president.

Leading liberal politician Elizabeth Warren also endorsed Mrs Clinton.

“I am ready to get in this fight and work my heart out for Hillary Clinton to become the next president of the United States,” the Massachusetts senator told MSNBC, “and to make sure that Donald Trump never gets any place close to the White House.”

President Obama and Mrs Clinton are set to start campaigning together soon.

“I want those of you who’ve been with me from the beginning of this incredible journey to be the first to know that ‘I’m with Her.’ I am fired up and cannot wait to get out there and campaign for Hillary,” Mr Obama said in the video.

“Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders may have been rivals during this primary, but they’re both patriots who love this country and they share a vision for the America that we all believe in.”

Maria Sharapova has been banned for two years by the International Tennis Federation for using a prohibited drug, the BBC reports.

The Russian was provisionally banned in March after testing positive for meldonium at January’s Australian Open.

The heart disease drug, which 29-year-old Sharapova says she has been taking since 2006 for health issues, became a banned substance on 1 January 2016.

The five-time Grand Slam winner said she “cannot accept” the “unfairly harsh” ban – and will appeal.

Sharapova will challenge the suspension, which is backdated to 26 January 2016, at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).