Author: Aram Torosian

Gazprom Armenia CJSC intends to apply to the Public Services Regulatory Commission with a request to review the gas prices.

The Company will propose to cut the price from 146,700 AMD to 139,000 AMD per 1 thousand cubic meters of gas for consumers using up to 10 thousand cubic meters monthly.

For those consuming 10 thousand cubic meters or more, the tariff will be calculated according to the formula P = 242.1 * E (instead of current P = 257.56 * E), where P is the P is the monthly cost of natural gas for consumers of 10 thousand cubic meters of gas or more, and E is the average exchange rate of AMD against USD 1 as of the 25th of the previous month.

Two Yazidi women who escaped sexual enslavement by so-called Islamic State (IS) in Iraq have won Europe’s top human rights award, the Sakharov prize, the BBC reports.

Nadia Murad Basee and Lamiya Aji Bashar were among thousands of Yazidi girls and women abducted by IS militants and forced into sexual slavery in 2014.

But both survived and now campaign for the Yazidi community.

The freedom of thought prize is awarded annually in memory of Andrei Sakharov, a Soviet scientist and dissident.

At least 25 inmates have been killed in clashes between two rival factions in an overcrowded prison in northern Brazil, the BBC reports, quoting local media.

Seven of the dead were beheaded and six others burned to death, a police official reportedly said.

The incident in Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima state, happened during visiting hours.

Some 100 visitors who were taken as hostages have been freed and the riot has ended, the reports added.

The state government said it was waiting for a prisoner count to confirm the death toll.

The violence started when inmates broke into another section of the prison where members of a different faction were being held.

Reports say there are 1,400 inmates currently in the prison, which has a capacity of up to 740.

Liverpool Football Club and Manchester United Football Club are calling on their fans to help eradicate any offensive or discriminatory behaviour ahead of their Premier League clash at Anfield on Monday 17 October.

The clubs continue to work together and respect the great rivalry between them but will not condone any offensive or discriminatory behaviour in Anfield Stadium or Old Trafford.

In a joint statement, the clubs said: “Both clubs, their supporters and football fans around the world are looking forward to this historic and passionate match between two of the sport’s biggest and oldest rivals.

“There is great rivalry between our fans and we ask all supporters to be respectful and help eradicate all forms of offensive and discriminatory behaviour from the game.

“If any supporters are found to be engaged in any form of offensive or discriminatory behaviour by stewards or via CCTV then they will be immediately removed from the stadium, risk arrest, prosecution and be reported in accordance with the club’s ground regulations.

“This is an unrivalled fixture in the Premier League calendar and we thank all fans for their continued support in this important area of the game.”

According to the host broadcaster, Liverpool and Manchester United games are the biggest club games in world football and will likely be seen by an estimated 700 million people in over 200 countries.

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has arrived in Armenia for an official visit. His delegation was welcomed at Zvarnots Airport by Armenia’s Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan.

Following the official welcome ceremony the delegation headed by the Georgian PM headed for Tsitsernakaberd Memorial to pay tribute to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims.

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand believes Jose Mourinho should consider starting Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marcus Rashford ahead of Juan Mata and Martial.

“The thing Marcus Rashford and Henrikh Mkhitaryan give you that the other two don’t is the ability to take a man on,” Ferdinand told BT Sport.

“Rashford and Mkhitaryan were the bright spark in the second half that changed the game for Man Utd,” Ferdinand said, commenting on United’s win over Hull City on Saturday.

“Anthony Martial too often wants the ball to feet. Marcus Rashford will get the ball and ask defenders questions.”

United are in second place in the Premier League table after successive victories over Bournemouth, Southampton and Hull City.

Policeman has been reported killed in Yerevan.

Serviceman of the Police  Troops Yura Tepanosyan (born in 1986) was  killed by a sniper inside the seized police station, Head of the Department of Public Relations and Information of the RA Police Ashot Aharonyan said in a Facebook post.

The sniper opened fire from inside the premises of the Patrol Guard Service, Aharonyan said.

The policeman was sitting in a car parked 350-400 meters away from the premises of the Patrol Guard Service.

 

 

 

Medieval Armenian capital of Ani has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The decision was made at the 40th session of the World Heritage Committee in Turkey.

“What’s important for Armenia is that the site’s inclusion in the list provides certain guarantees of its preservation,” Vahram Kazhoyan, Secretary General of Armenian National Commission for UNESCO, told reporters in Yerevan today. He said, this becomes more important under the conditions of the strained relations between Armenia and Turkey.

“On a more practical level this means that any actions connected with the monument, be it maintenance, restoration or even management of tourist flows will be reported to UNESCO,” Kazhoyan said. He stressed that no changes can be made to the site without permission from UNESCO.

Besides, he said it was important from the point of view of popularization of the monument. The application clearly mentions the Armenian origin of Ani. To leave no doubt the Armenian side published a booklet about Ani, which presents the city’s history as the capital of the Armenian kingdom of the Bagratides. It was disseminated among all who could have any influence on the decision-making, Vahram Kazhoyan said.

Before Turkey would submit the application, the Armenian side had been frequently raising the issue of the state of Armenian cultural heritage in Turkey.

“Had Turkey tried to submit the application without mentioning the Armenian belonging of the city, it would be rejected by the expert group of the Committee,” Deputy Minister of Culture Nerses Ter-Vardanyan said.

Turkey’s initial bid was called “Cultural landscape of Ani,” which was quickly rejected with many questions raised about the belonging of the city, its cultural layers, maintenance, and especially the work done since 1918,” he said.

The Deputy Minister praised the final application submitted by Turkey. “Of course it was not ideal, but not bad,” he said.

Today, President Serzh Sargsyan participated at the meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the NATO member and non-member states dedicated to the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan which is held in framework of the NATO Summit. The President of Armenia made the following statement:

Distinguished President Duda,

Distinguished Secretary General,

Dear Colleagues,

We are all here united by the idea that it is necessary to provide the friendly people of Afghanistan with peace, security and stability.

Armenia, as an advocate for the cooperative security, is determined to make its modest contribution to the efforts in consolidation of international peace and security. In the course of the Peacekeeping Summit, which took place in New York in September 2015, Armenia undertook additional commitments to develop capabilities such as Role II medical hospital and training of associated personnel, as well as training of a company of EOD/C-IED (Explosive Ordnance Disposal & Counter-Improvised Explosive Device). We have reiterated our engagement with up to 130 servicemen with the Resolute Support mission, and stand ready to continue with it also beyond the year 2016. In this context, I should like to underline the effective cooperation we have enjoyed with Germany, and that, in my view, is one of the best and most illustrious examples of a partnership between a NATO member State and Partner Nation.

We have also expressed our readiness to participate in the NATO Enduring Partnership mission, when it will replace the Resolute Support mission. With that objective in mind Armenia has already engaged with the planning process for the establishment of a civilian-led temporary presence.

Dear Colleagues,

Armenia is also an active advocate for peace and stability in our region, and it has always stood for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh issue, which is the most vital issue we face. On May 16 in Vienna a meeting took place with the high representatives of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, namely the U.S. Secretary of State, Russian Foreign Minister and French State Secretary for European Affairs, which resulted in their Joint Statement that reiterated that there could be no military solution to the conflict, and further underlined the importance of respecting the 1994 agreement on ceasefire and 1995 agreement on consolidation of the ceasefire regime, both of which were unconditional.

Meanwhile, the Statement also registered introduction of the OSCE investigative mechanism to record the violations of the ceasefire and expansion of the capabilities of the existing office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. These approaches were further consolidated in the statement adopted by the trilateral meeting held in Saint Petersburg with the participation of the Presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. As for the allegations voiced by the President of Azerbaijan, I don’t believe it is appropriate to artificially turn this meeting and the NATO declarations into a platform for the discussions of the NK issue: there is a specialized structure for it. I see it as my duty to underscore that today the main obstacle on the road towards the settlement of the conflict is the policy conducted by the highest leadership of Azerbaijan and the lack of will to solve the problem peacefully. It was vividly demonstrated by the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh last April, which was a heavy blow to the efforts carried out by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and aimed at the peaceful settlement of the issue. The status quo will change when the people of Nagorno Karabakh will received the opportunity to exercise their right of self-determination.

Thank you.

NATO calls on the parties to the Karabakh conflict to ease the tension and refrain from violence, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in Warsaw today, RIA Novosti reports.

“I expect our communiqué to refer to the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh. We call on the parties to ease the tension, refrain from violence and continue the attempts to reach a peaceful and grounded settlement to the Karabakh conflict through negotiations,” Stoltenberg told reporters ahead of the NATO summit today.

“We support all the efforts for finding a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based on negotiations,” said Stoltenberg.