Author: Ara Felekian

Armenia has expressed solidarity with the Belgian people.

“Shocked by attacks in Brussels. We express our solidarity with Belgian people. Our thoughts are with families and friends of the victims,” the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

A hot line for Armenians hurt in the Berussels attacks has been launched at the Armenian Embassy in Belgium: +32.2.3484406.

A Russian court has found Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko guilty in the case of two Russian journalists killed by mortar fire, the BBC reports.

Prosecutors argued that she ordered the mortar fire that killed the journalists in eastern Ukraine and want her jailed for 23 years.

But her lawyer said phone records proved she was captured by pro-Russian rebels before the journalists died.

The sentence will be handed down on Tuesday, after the court explains its reasons for the guilty verdict.

Two female suicide bombers have attacked a mosque in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, killing 22 worshippers, emergency officials say, the BBC reports.

The first bomber struck inside the mosque, while the second blew herself up outside as survivors tried to flee, eye witnesses told the BBC.

Seventeen other people were wounded in the attack, an official told AFP.

Militant Islamists Boko Haram have often targeted the city in their seven-year insurgency.

 

 

“The Last Inhabitant,” a film directed by Jivan Avetisyan is slated for release later this year. The film tracks the events of 1988-1989 and shows how the Sumgait massacre affected the human destinies.

The shooting of the film was completed last year. The soundtrack of the film is currently being recorded in Armenia.

The music scored by System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian will be performed by the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hover State Chamber Choir.

“The Last Inhabitant” is about an Armenian village that has been forcibly emptied of its residents. The film’s main character, Abgar, lives with his mentally ill daughter. After Azerbaijanis enter the village and attempt to rape his daughter, Abgar has no choice other than fighting to ensure her safety.

The film stars world-renowned Iranian actor Homayoun Ershadi, Sandra Daukšaitė, Armenian actors Sos Janibekyan, Aleksander Khachatryan, Naira Muradyan, Anne Bedian, Babken Chobanyan.

The film will be presented to public during the 2016 Golden Apricot Film Festival.

President Serzh Sargsyan sent today a congratulatory letter to the RA People’s Artist Vilen Galstian on the occasion of his 75th birth anniversary.

“Your long and productive artistic life has been marked with many achievements. You have brought your significant input to the development and propagation of the Armenian and world classical ballet, created unforgettable and lasting images. Today, you continue your patriotic work, bringing the Armenian national ballet to a qualitatively new level. I wish you excellent health, new creative achievements and all the best”, read the congratulatory letter of the President of Armenia.

A historic Armenian building in Darende, Malatya has been destroyed, Ermenihaber.am reports, quoting the Turkish Sondakika website.

According to the source, the Mayor of Darende decided to dismantle all emergency and tumble-down buildings in the city.

The 200-year-old Armenian house known as “Demircilerin evi” (Blacksmiths house) has also been dismantled. The historic 20-room house had been empty for 20 years.

Its current owner Haci Ahmet Söylemez has said: “Our house was the oldest one in Darende. The doors and windows were made by Armenian woodworkers. It was a cultural heritage that was abandoned and then destroyed.”

Today, President Serzh Sargsyan received the Head of the European Union delegation to the Republic of Armenia, Ambassador Peter Switalski.

At the meeting, the parties discussed issues pertinent to the Armenia-EU relations. Serzh Sargsyan stressed once again that Armenia’s cooperation and development of her relations with the European Union remain a priority for Armenia’s foreign policy. The President of Armenia expressed gratitude to the EU for the assistance in carrying out reforms in Armenia and underscored that especially after the constitutional changes Armenia has entered a new stage of large-scale reforms. Serzh Sargsyan expressed hope that assistance provided by the EU for the implementation of the reforms will be continuous, considering the efficiency of the assistance provided so far for the country.

The Head of the EU delegation in Armenia, Ambassador Peter Switalski also expressed hope that in 2016, the Armenia-EU bilateral relations will acquire a new quality and before the end of the year, negotiations on the new comprehensive Armenia-European Union legal document will have been concluded. Ambassador Switalski reiterated the EU’s interest in assisting Armenia in the development of cooperation and implementation of the reforms.

– Pope Francis could make two additional international trips in 2016, including a possible trip to Armenia.

This possibility is suggested by gaps in the papal events schedule published on the website of the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household. The prefecture coordinates and prepares all the Pope’s audiences and visits in the Vatican and oversees the arrangements for the Pope’s pastoral visits to Rome and to Italy.

The schedule is published every six months. The latest version includes all papal events from January to June 2016.

Currently, the schedule labels two Angelus prayers and a general audience as “cancelled.” The Pope will not hold the Angelus May 22 or June 26, nor will he hold the June 22 general audience.

This means that the Pope could have time for one short international trip in May and a longer one in June.

At present, this interpretation of the schedule is just speculation. But sources confirmed to CNA that a Papal trip to Armenia is likely in the course of the year.

These sources are corroborated by the remark of Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, during his visit to Armenia in September 2015. He raised the possibility of a 2016 papal visit to the country.

In response to a question on whether Pope Francis was willing to visit, Cardinal Sandri told the press agency Ria Novosti that Pope Francis “wishes with all of his heart to go to Armenia,” and that he already “welcomed the invitation Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan made to Pope Francis” last year. Cardinal Sandri noticed that, though “the Pope has a busy schedule,” he hopes “the Pope will find some time to go to Armenia.”

Pope Francis himself expressed his wish to go to Armenia in his Nov. 30 press conference in the flight from Central Africa. In the year 2014, he said, “I promised the three (Armenian) Patriarchs that I would go: the promise has been made. I don’t know if it will be possible, but I did promise.”

The Pope might have time to go to Armenia in June, when a general audience and the consecutive recitation of the Angelus have been cancelled. This means that the Pope will have at least four days to visit the country, from June 22 to June 26.

There are even more options for an eventual international trip to be held around May 22. Every year, the Pope has made a one-day visit to a European capital: in September 2013, he visited Tirana in Albania, while in June 2014 he went to Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Some sources speculated that the Pope might go to Kosovo or to Macedonia, to show closeness to the migrants and refugees that go back and forth on the frontier there.

However, the Pope might also choose to go to a European capital not in the Balkans, a capital that faces increasing migration trends while also experiencing a strong secularization.

Pope Francis was supposed to visit Milan on May 6. Both the Vatican and the Archdiocese of Milan had confirmed the trip.

However, the Holy See press office on Dec. 10, 2015 said that the Pope had cancelled the visit to Milan, and postponed every other “pastoral visit to Italy” due to the commitments for the Jubilee of Mercy. However, the communiqué did not mention any possible cancellation of Pope Francis’ trips outside of Italy.

At the moment, Pope Francis is confirmed to make two international trips. He will go to Mexico Feb. 12-18, and he will go to Poland at the end of July to take part in the World Youth Day scheduled July 26-31.

Two men aged 50 and 41 died of swine flu today after ten days of struggle, Press Service of the Armenian Ministry of Health reports.

The Ministry yesterday reported decrease in the number of patients diagnosed with swine flu. Three deaths have been confirmed after the statement.

Delivering his annual report to the nation, Obama did not name Republican 2016 candidates. But he took clear, implied shots at them nevertheless, particularly front-runner Donald Trump, as well as Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. America’s destiny, the President said, was imperiled by a political system festering in malice, gridlock and in the grip of the rich and the powerful.

Obama also took on critics who accuse him of weakening American power abroad and Republicans who say he is underplaying the threat from radical Islamist groups such as ISIS. He mocked the contention that fighters on “on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages” represented an existential threat to America.

The President acknowledged that a torrent of change, technological advances and economic dislocation has left many Americans fearful of the future and anxious as social structures that have underpinned the life of the nation for decades fray. But he urged them not to fall prey to the periodic temptation that has emerged throughout history to alienate minorities and resist social change.