Author: Antranik Varosian

Man tries to blow himself up in Armenian government’s office

Antranik Varosian
TASS, Russia
Oct 28 2018
World

October 28, 7:14 UTC+3 YEREVAN

              

© Artyom Geodakyan/TASS

YEREVAN, October 28. /TASS/. A man tried to enter the office of the Armenian Government and blow himself up with a grenade on Saturday evening, a spokesman for the National Security Service, Samson Galstyan, told TASS.

“The man, born in 1975, carried a grenade. He tried to enter the Armenian Government building and blow himself up. National Security Service officers on duty disarmed him,” he said.

According to Galstyan, the man, whose name is not disclosed, was detained, and a criminal case was launched against him. His motives are now being established.

President nominates attorney Vahe Grigoryan for vacant Constitutional Court judge position

Antranik Varosian
| 15:37 | October 19 2018
Category
Politics

President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian has nominated Vahe Grigoryan’s candidacy for judge at the Constitutional Court, Speaker of Parliament Ara Babloyan said in a statement.

Grigoryan is an attorney.

He said that the confirmation hearing will take place during the upcoming parliamentary sessions that will begin October 23.

Armenpress: Pashinyan’s probable nomination in upcoming election to be formal technicality in pre-arranged scenario of being vetoed to disband parliament

Antranik Varosian

Pashinyan’s probable nomination in upcoming election to be formal technicality in pre-arranged scenario of being vetoed to disband parliament

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10:29,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 17, ARMENPRESS. Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has commented on his earlier statement when he said that he might be nominated as candidate for prime minister in parliament as a formal technicality at the first round of election, in a pre-arranged scenario of not being elected in order for the parliament to be disbanded.

Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service Azatutyun Radio, Pashinyan said that it is just a political matter. “It is a legal issue. And lawyers are debating it. Frankly speaking as result of discussions of the second half of the day the opinion that this kind of an interpretation isn’t accurate – regarding the need for nomination – was overwhelming. Therefore, this is just a legal issue,” he said.

He added that he simply didn’t want any nuance to be ignored and that it is just a formality.

He said that a political decision will be made after the final discussion.

Pashinyan resigned as prime minister yesterday in order to trigger the process required for calling early elections of parliament. The parliament will be dissolved if it fails to elect a new prime minister twice within two weeks after Pashinyan’s resignation.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan




FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Armenians and Progressive Politics to Host David Barsamian

Antranik Varosian

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Armenians and Progressive Politics to Host David Barsamian


GLENDALE, CA — The Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Western Region will be hosting an upcoming talk with David Barsamian, as part of its “Armenians and Progressive Politics” initiative. The event will take place on Wednesday, October 24, 2018 at 7:30 pm at the Mariam and Kirkor Karamanougian Youth Center in Glendale.

Barsamian’s talk, titled “Rise Up and Resist,” will touch upon what it takes for a people to move from passivity to active resistance. History has presented numerous instances of people defying tyranny and fighting back regardless of the odds. Barsamian will draw upon an example from Nazi Germany, often considered the benchmark of evil. Even though opposition to the regime was highly dangerous, Hans and Sophie Scholl, along with others at the University of Munich, formed the White Rose Movement and called on Germans to recognize their moral duty and overthrow the government. Their resistance led to their arrest and murder in 1943, but their resistance and courage is recognized and honored to this day. Barsamian will attempt to answer just when enough really becomes enough and people are deemed to take certain risks.

The event is free and open to the public, and is cosponsored by the Armenian Youth Federation – Western United States, and the ARF Shant Student Association.

As a tireless and wide-ranging investigative journalist, David Barsamian has altered the independent media landscape, both with his weekly radio show “Alternative Radio” and his books with Noam Chomsky, Eqbal Ahmad, Howard Zinn, Tariq Ali, Richard Wolff, Arundhati Roy, and Edward Said. In his work, he covers world affairs, imperialism, capitalism, propaganda, the media, the economic crisis, and global rebellions. Barsamian is the recipient of the Media Education Award, the ACLU’s Upton Sinclair Award for independent journalism, and the Cultural Freedom Fellowship from the Lannan Foundation. He has been named by the Institute of Alternative Journalism as one of its “Top Ten media Heroes.” Barsamian has a forthcoming book with Noam Chomsky titled, “Global Discontents: Conversations on the Rising Threats to Democracy.”

The Mariam and Kirkor Karamanougian Youth Center is located at 211 West Chestnut Street, Glendale, CA 91204. Additional parking is available in the adjacent St Mary’s Armenian Church parking lot. For questions please


Contact:
Razmig Sarkissian | Razmik Sargisian 
(323) 236-4399


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Humanoid robot Sophia delivers remarks at Yerevan La Francophonie forum, vows to learn French for next time

Antranik Varosian
| 14:56 | October 10 2018
Category
Politics

Sophia, the lifelike humanoid robot developed by the Hong-Kong-based Hanson Robotics, delivered remarks at the La Francophonie Economic Forum in Yerevan.

Sophia spoke in English, but promised to speak French next time.

“French is a beautiful language. It is the language of Voltaire and Charles Aznavour,” she, or it, said.

“You better believe that learning French will be the top of my list,” she added. “The next time we meet, I hope, we will be able to converse in French.”

The La Francophonie Economic Forum kicked off at Yerevan’s TUMO Center For Creative Technologies.

The forum is organized under the high patronage of President Armen Sarkissian.

Back at the 2014 summit of La Francophonie in Senegal, participants agreed to deepen the economic direction of the organization – adopting the first economic strategy of La Francophonie.

Yerevan is hosting the XVII International Organisation of La Francophonie summit in 2018.

The events will take place October 7-12, with the summit scheduled for the final two days.

Armenia is a member of the organization since 2008.

Yerevan Opera Theater to host Caballé tribute concert

Antranik Varosian
Panorama, Armenia
Oct 8 2018

A concert to honor Montserrat Caballé, a world-renowned Spanish opera singer and a big friend of the Armenian people, will take place at the Armenian National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet named after Alexander Spendiaryan.

The homage ceremony will be held on 9 October, at 7pm, in participation of the opera theater’s soloists, Panorama.am reports, citing the theater’s Facebook account. 

Admission is free.

Caballé died on 6 October in Barcelona aged 85. The funeral ceremony of the great soprano will take place on Monday.

She had been suffering from health complaints for some time and was admitted to hospital in Barcelona last month. Her career spanned 50 years, BBC reported.

Caballé had stints with the Basel Opera and Bremen Opera before her international breakthrough in 1965 in Lucrezia Borgia at Carnegie Hall in New York. She went on to perform with the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera and Vienna State Opera, appearing opposite the likes of Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo.

In 2013, Montserrat Caballé visited Armenia and Artsakh. In the same year the renowned Spanish soprano unveiled her album dedicated to the two states titled “Armenia and Artsakh – An Isle of Christianity”.  

Preliminary results show “My step” block confidently wins Yerevan City Council elections

Antranik Varosian
| 08:53 | September 24 2018
Category
Politics

The preliminary results of Yerevan City Council elections show that “My step” block is the salient leader, the preliminary results of 40 polling stations show that “My step” block has received 82.70%.

The second is Prosperous Armenia Party with 6.43%. “Bright” block is the 3rd with 4.78%.

The other political forces receive less than 2%.

Iran’s Rouhani felicitates Armenian President, PM on Independence Day

Antranik Varosian 
 Mehr News Agency (MNA), Iran
 Saturday
Rouhani felicitates Armenian President, PM on Independence Day
TEHRAN, Sep. 22 (MNA) – In separate messages to President and Prime
Minister of Armenia, President Rouhani congratulated Independence Day
of Armenia.
Felicitating the Independence Day, the Iranian President expressed
hope that Tehran-Yerevan relations would further deepen in all fields,
regarding the common cultural and historical bonds between the two
countries.
"I hope that with the positive developments in the new Armenian
government, relations between the two countries further develop," he
wrote.
On September 21, 1991, the Armenian people voted in a referendum to
proclaim independence from the Soviet Union, around one year after
Supreme Council adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of
Armenia and established the Republic of Armenia.

Travel: TripAdvisor: 2 Armenian museums in Asia’s top 25 travellers’ choice list

Antranik Varosian
PanArmenian, Armenia
Sept 7 2018
September 7, 2018 – 12:39 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI) and Matenadaran, a repository of ancient manuscripts, have made it to the TripAdvisors’ top 25 Travellers’ Choice Asia list.

The AGMI was placed in the ninth position, while Matenadaran rounded out the list at the 25th.

Built in 1995, the Genocide Museum is home to a large collection of photographs and material evidence from the killings of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923. In May 2014, the AGMI was included in the Forbes list of nine memorial museums, which are worth visiting.

Matenadaran is one of the largest manuscript repositories in the world and the largest repository of ancient Armenian manuscripts ever.

Musée d’Orsay in Paris, France, topped the global Travellers’ Choice list, followed by The National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The British Museum in London and Prado National Museum in Madrid, Spain.