Author: Ara Felekian

 12:24,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 28, ARMENPRESS. In recent period the amount of plastic waste on the planet Earth has been gradually increasing which could result in devastating consequences. Currently, a number of scientists and specialists are trying to find various solutions to decompose, recycle and minimize the use of plastic.

Bacteriologist Sona Nikolyan, holding Master’s Degree in biochemistry, microbiology and biotechnology at the Yerevan State University, has created a new program to prevent all the aforementioned problems. According to the program, the plastic waste will serve as a raw material for getting ecologically clean biological materials.

Presenting the creation and the importance of the program, Sona Nikolyan told Armenpress that during her studies she examined the bacteria that eliminate plastic. Later, during the course on industrial microbiology, which said that it is necessary to find as cheap material as possible based on which any production will be created, by minimizing the costs as much as possible, she decided to use the plastic waste.

“For that reason I thought that the waste could be used as a production material, and my idea became more complete. At the beginning I was studying the bacteria eliminating the plastic, later I understood that the plastic could be used as a raw material for the production of biosurfactants. The implementation of this program will help to recycle plastic quickly and in an affordable way and get biosurfactants which are surfactants of microbial origin. For example, when we use soaps and other cleaning products in economy, they are also considered as surfactants, but my goal is to get these cleaners from biological bacteria, not through chemical means”, she said.

According to her, this program could help to get for instance soaps and cleaners from plastic recycling, the advantage of which will be that they will be natural and harmless cleaning products.

“The peculiarity of the program is that bacteria are used as a producer, and waste, which has caused serious problems to humanity and nature, is used as a raw material. Therefore, I would like very much for my program to develop further and to have an opportunity to implement it”, Sona Nikolyan said.

The program is still at a concept stage, no practical experiments have been carried out. It has been submitted for the “100 Ideas for Armenia” project and has been included in the final.

“100 Ideas for Armenia” competition is a youth program organized by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport aimed at creating interest among youth engaged in science and proposing innovative ideas.

 14:09,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 28, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan had a meeting on February 28 with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi within the framework of the session of the High Level segment of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the foreign ministry said in a press release.

Mirzoyan and Grandi were pleased to note the established dialogue between Armenia and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The Armenian FM said that Armenia, as a country that directly suffered from forced displacements, always supported the efforts of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees aimed at the protection of the rights of persons who’ve suffered from forced displacements.

The humanitarian issues in Nagorno Karabakh after the 44-day war were addressed.

FM Mirzoyan highlighted the necessity for creating conditions for repatriation and protection of the security and rights of the Armenians of Artsakh who were forcibly displaced from their towns as a result of the Azerbaijani aggression.

FM Mirzoyan attached special importance to the implementation of humanitarian missions in Artsakh by international organizations, including by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and found Azerbaijan’s politicization of this issue and creation of artificial obstacles as inadmissible.

 11:00, 14 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. The friendly matches between the Armenian and Georgian women’s national football teams scheduled for February 17 and 20 in Yerevan have been cancelled over COVID-19, the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA) said in a press release.

According to the FFA, an unspecified number of players in the Georgian team tested positive for COVID-19 and the team won’t travel to Armenia.

 11:07, 14 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. 695 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the last 24 hours, bringing the total cumulative number of confirmed cases to 407,074.

4245 tests were administered (total 2,828,454).

2306 people recovered (total 375,612).

19 people died, bringing the death toll to 8186.

The number of active cases reached 21,702.

 11:12, 16 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. 1774 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Armenia in the past one day, the ministry of health reported.

The total number of confirmed cases in the country has reached 410,155.

The COVID-19 recoveries rose by 2574 in a day, bringing the total to 381,700.

The death toll has risen to 8229 (28 death cases in past day).

6630 COVID-19 tests were conducted on February 15. 

The number of active cases is 18,645.

 13:20,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 18, ARMENPRESS. The Parliament of Artsakh released a statement on the occasion of Revival Day.

The statement was presented by MP Gegham Stepanyan and was adopted with 30 votes in favor.

Particularly, the statement says that the developments in Artsakh which took place in February of 1988 fundamentally changed the future annals of not only the indigenous Armenian people living there, but also of the peoples of the former Soviet Union.

“Tens of thousands of people, using the liberal and democratic ideas declared in the USSR were seeking through peaceful referenda in Stepanakert and other cities to restore historic justice: the unrealized dream of several generations to re-unite the Armenian province with Armenia.

From the very beginning, the growing pan-national movement adopted a conduct of solving the issue peacefully through legal and political ways, which received an irreversible confirmation on February 20, during the 20th extraordinary session of the former province’s supreme representative body, the Regional Council of People’s Deputies. The historic decision to withdraw the NKAO from the Azerbaijani SSR and re-unite it with the Armenian SSR signaled the new stage of the Artsakh national liberation struggle: the decisiveness of the people of Artsakh’s to advance the Karabakh movement through a civilized and legal path.

Regrettably, the leadership of the Azerbaijani SSR was incapable of using the exclusive chance of correctly resolving the issue and as a result the region appeared in a chain of lasting instability and Azerbaijan’s temptations to solve the issue militarily.

As a result of the February 20 decision which expressed the will and desire of the absolute majority of the region’s population, Artsakh rightly became the symbol of pride and national awakening for all Armenians. The wave of the Karabakh movement spread worldwide and as a result of the struggle organized by all segments of Armenians the two Armenian republics formed in the beginning of the 90s of the previous century. The Republic of Artsakh, proclaimed on September 2 of 1991 in line with international law and the requirements of national legislation, was a conscious milestone on the path towards a united Armenian state. Our people paid an immeasurably high price in the fight for Artsakh’s freedom and independence. Thousands of our sons sacrificed their lives during the wars of 1991-1994, 2016 and 2020.

Today, the Republic of Artsakh exists and continues its struggle to achieve international recognition thanks to the sacrifices of our brave heroes. We bow before their eternal memory,” reads the statement.

The statement says that during the last 34 years Artsakh passed a long path of establishment and development, victories and failures, and during this period the idea that the Armenian Artsakh’s future is guaranteed only in the prospects of living free and independent was strengthened.

“Expressing the collective will and opinion of the people of Artsakh, the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh is reaffirming its dedication to the 1988 February 20 historic decision and decisiveness to protect its right to live freely on its native land.

The National Assembly of Artsakh is drawing the attention of international organizations and first of all the parliaments of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing countries on the fact that the Armenian people of Artsakh for centuries struggled to preserve their identity, created material and cultural values which today are endangered as a result of the Azerbaijani occupation of several territories of the Republic of Artsakh.

“We call on the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to take immediate steps to re-launch the negotiations process in the direction of resolving the Karabakh conflict in line with the mandate received from the OSCE. Lasting peace and stability in the region can only be achieved through respecting the fundamental rights and freedoms of the people of the Republic of Artsakh. For this very goal the Armenians of Artsakh began their liberation struggle in 1988 and stand ready to continue it with decisiveness to reach the final goal,” the statement said.

 13:58, 8 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Ukraine to meet with President Vladimir Zelensky, the French Ambassador to Kiev Etienne de Poncins said.

Macron earlier held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

French FM Jean-Yves Le Drian is accompanying President Macron to Ukraine.