Author: Boshkezenian Garik

Armenian Parliament okays cutting the New Year holidays

Boshkezenian Garik
Public Radio of Armenia
Oct 27 2021
, 11:24

 Less than a minute

The Armenian National Assembly voted 53 to 16 with 3 abstentions to adopt at first reading the government-proposed amendments that will see the non-working days during New Year and Christmas holidays reduced to three.

The draft recommends setting December 31, January 1 and January 6 as days-off.

Under the current legislation, the holidays last from December 31 to January 7.

The government says long holidays affect both the gross domestic product and the output of products (services) of the main sectors of the economy, the export and import volumes, as well as the implementation of contractual relations with local and foreign partner organizations.

Message for U.S. Citizens in Armenia: Virtual Town Hall with Ambassador Tracy on November 8th at 3:00pm

Boshkezenian Garik
US Embassy in Yerevan, Armenia
Oct 22 2021
Home | News & Events | Message for U.S. Citizens: Virtual Town Hall with Ambassador Tracy on November 8th at 3:00pm

Dear U.S. Citizen Community,

The U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, Lynne Tracy, will participate in a virtual town hall to meet with the U.S. citizen community and answer questions.  U.S. citizens are invited to listen to this briefing on Monday, November 8 at 3pm via the following online link:  https://youtu.be/Pyr-3gl9paA.

If you have any questions you would like the Ambassador to address, please send your questions to [email protected] no later than 5:00 p.m. on Monday, November 1.

The U.S. Embassy continues to provide updated information for U.S. citizens via our webpage and COVID-19 notice.  The State Department also provides timely information through its COVID-2019 webpage, as well as global and country-specific travel advisories. The Embassy strongly encourages U.S. citizens abroad to enroll in STEP: Smart Traveler Enrollment Program.

For emergency American Citizens Services, including emergency passports, please visit our website for additional information.

Sincerely,

American Citizen Services

U.S. Embassy Yerevan

Sports: EUBC Youth: Armenia’s 5 boxers make it to semi-final

Boshkezenian Garik
News.am, Armenia
Oct 21 2021

Armenia has already secured five medals at EUBC Youth (M&W) European Boxing Championships Budva/2021.

From among the Armenian athletes, Manvel Petrosyan (57 kg) and Henrik Tchghrikyan (86 kg) also secured at least bronze medals, as reported on the Facebook page of the Armenian Boxing Federation.

In the 1/8 final, Petrosyan outscored Montenegro’s representative, while Tchghrikyan defeated his Italian opponent.

Earlier, Henrik Sahakyan (51 kg), Erik Israelyan (60 kg) and Elida Kocharyan (60 kg) had also made it to the semi-final.

Armenian healthcare ministry reports 1765 new cases of COVID-19

Boshkezenian Garik

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 11:22,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. 1765 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the last 24 hours, bringing the cumulative total number of confirmed cases to 278,431, the Armenian healthcare ministry said.

The total number of recoveries reached 252,211 (881 in the last 24 hours).

15,616 tests were administered.

38 patients died, bringing the death toll to 5713. This number doesn’t include the deaths of 1232 other persons infected with the virus who died from co-morbidities.

As of October 15, the number of active cases stood at 19,275.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Surveillance camera video shows Azeri soldier laughing while shooting at Armenians in latest ceasefire breach

Boshkezenian Garik

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 15:22,

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Artsakh security forces have released surveillance video showing how an Azerbaijani serviceman is breaching the ceasefire and opening gunfire at Armenian positions.

The National Security Service of Artsakh said in a statement that the Azerbaijani military began committing provocative actions and intentional ceasefire violations from the beginning of October of 2021.

The video shows an Azeri soldier firing an AK-74 assault rifle at the Armenian positions while another Azeri soldier is hiding behind the DFP. After firing several rounds, the shooter can be seen laughing before resuming the shooting.

The Azeri provocations began when the Azeri forces shot and killed a farmer in Martuni, and then continued ceasefire violations in other parts of the line of contact. The NSS said that the Azeri soldiers are now explicitly aiming to kill in the ceasefire breaches, whereas previously they’d shoot as a warning.

“Yesterday, Azerbaijani troops deployed in a position near the Nor Shen community of Martuni region shelled an Armenian position nearby deployed with the purpose of protecting the village population. The nearly point-blank range shots were fired so explicitly that the surveillance cameras of the Armenian side caught it on video,” the NSS said, stressing that the images prove that the Artsakh Defense Army adhere to the ceasefire agreement, whereas the Azeri side is intentionally violating it.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

[see video]

Coronavirus Delta strain widens its spread to 192 countries — WHO

Boshkezenian Garik

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 11:27, 6 October, 2021

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6, ARMENPRESS. The highly contagious coronavirus Delta strain has increased its spread to 192 countries and territories over the past week. The spread of Alpha, Beta and Gamma variants has also increased, TASS reports citing the World Health Organization (WHO).

Experts classify the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta strains as “variants of concern” (VOCs). “As surveillance activities to detect SARS-CoV-2 variants are strengthened at national and subnational levels, including through the strengthening of genomic sequencing capacities, the number of countries/areas/territories <…> reporting VOCs continues to increase,” the weekly epidemiological update said. It is emphasized that the reports of the Delta variant were received from 192 countries. The Delta strain was first detected in India in October 2020.

According to data published in the WHO epidemiological update, the Alpha variant that was first detected in the UK in September 2020 is currently present in 195 countries and territories (two new countries since last week). The Beta strain detected in South Africa last August is present in 145 countries (three new countries) and 99 countries (four new countries) have reported cases of the Gamma variant first recorded in Brazil last September.

According to the WHO, as of October 5, since the beginning of the pandemic there have been 235,175,106 confirmed coronavirus cases with 4,806,841 fatalities worldwide. The US is in first place in terms of the confirmed coronavirus cases reported to the WHO with 43,401,318 infections, followed by India (33,853,048), Brazil (21,468,121), the UK (7,934,940) and Russia (7,637,427). In terms of fatalities, the US is also in the lead with 696,732 deaths, followed by Brazil (597,948), India (449,260), Mexico (278,803) and Russia (211,696).

Sports: 2022 World Cup qualification: Iceland 1-1 Armenia

Boshkezenian Garik
Public Radio of Armenia
Oct 9 2021
October 9, 2021, 00:36

 Less than a minute

Armenia played a 1-1 draw with Iceland in a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier.

Kamo Hovhannisyan opened the score in the 35th minute.

Isak Bergmann Johanesson made it 1-1 in the 77th minute.

Armenia will next face Romania on October 11.

Armenia are currently third in Group J with 12 points. Germany are group leaders with 18 points.

Four Children: New Armenian Genocide play premiers in Kansas

Boshkezenian Garik
Public Radio of Armenia
Oct 8 2021
October 8, 2021, 10:37

 1 minute read

Despite the challenges of Covid-19, Kansas City Actors Theater presented its play, Four Children, Massis Post reports.

Based around eye-witness accounts of four genocide survivors, including Vahram Dadrian’s “To the Desert: Pages from My Diary,” this play focuses on the horrors of genocide and its enduring impact on survivors and their descendants.

Vahram Dadrian was exiled with the rest of his family from Chorum to Jersh (Jordan) in 1915. An aspiring writer, he kept notes of his experiences and wrote them out into a full diary after WWI. His account gives voice to his own experiences, as well as those of others he saw around him. These included the emaciated remnants of deportation convoys and other inmates of death camps.

“This is a powerful play that keeps the Armenian experience in focus in the United States,” said Anoush Melkonian of the Gomidas Institute. “We thank Kansas City Actors Theater for this timely and bold production.”

Aliyev ready to talk with Armenia, but not about Karabakh

Boshkezenian Garik
Oct 2 2021
Online News EditorOctober 2, 2021
 2 minutes read

By Celine Aemisegger

Moscow, Oct 2 (EFE).- Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev says he is willing to sit down with prime minister Nikol Pashinyan to normalize relations with Armenia, but ruled out a special status or autonomy for Armenians living in Karabakh after the end of the 44-day war for control of the disputed territory, he told Efe in an interview.

This week marked one year since the beginning of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Azerbaijani president, in power since 2003, spoke by videoconference from one of the halls of the Presidential Palace in Baku as the winner of the conflict, which saw Yerevan lose control of almost 70% of the territories it controlled in the disputed region for 30 years.

Question: Are you ready for dialogue with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan?

Answer: Dialogue and contacts have begun at the level of deputy prime ministers of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia, and this format is dedicated to issues related to the opening of communications. Recently, on the margins of the UN General Assembly, foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met for the first time since the war ended. And I think it was very constructive and promising.

Our position remains unchanged since the war ended. We want to establish normal relations with Armenia based on mutual recognition of territorial integrity of both countries. We are ready to start immediately the process of delimitation of our borders and of course after that process is ended, demarcation.

We also expressed willingness to start to work together with Armenia on a future peace agreement. All these initiatives have been articulated by me and other Azerbaijani officials many times but unfortunately they have not yet been positively responded to by the Armenian side. So our position is unchanged and there are certain steps but I think during this year we would have made much bigger progress.

Q: You don’t have any intention to sit down today with PM Pashinyan?

A: I am ready and I already expressed this position. If the Armenian side is ready I am also ready. We had one meeting that was in trilateral format at the invitation of Russian president Vladimir Putin at the beginning of this year. And I am ready to talk to Mr. Pashinyan anytime when he is ready. So I am open for the discussions and I think that could be also a good indicator that the war is over and that page has been turned. This is very important, because still we see and we hear in Armenia in statements from the political establishment that demonstrate terms of “revanchism”. The terms of future plans to regain back territory which belongs to us by history and international law.

Therefore the willingness, the serious willingness of the Armenian government, not only by words, statements but actions, will demonstrate that the war is over and we are moving towards the period of peace.

Americans David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian win Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine

Boshkezenian Garik
France 24
Oct 4 2021

Issued on: 04/10/2021 – 11:37


Americans David Julius (right) and Ardem Patapoutian, won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch, on October 4, 2021. © Niklas Elmehed, Nobel prize committee
Text by:NEWS WIRES
1 min

US scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian on Monday won the Nobel Medicine Prize for discoveries on receptors for temperature and touch, the jury said.

“The groundbreaking discoveries… by this year’s Nobel Prize laureates have allowed us to understand how heat, cold and mechanical force can initiate the nerve impulses that allow us to perceive and adapt to the world,” the Nobel jury said.

“In our daily lives we take these sensations for granted, but how are nerve impulses initiated so that temperature and pressure can be perceived? This question has been solved by this year’s Nobel Prize laureates.”

Julius, a professor at the University of California in San Francisco and Patapoutian, a professor at Scripps Research in California, will share the Nobel Prize cheque for 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.1 million, one million euros).

Last year, the award went to three virologists for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus.

While the 2020 award was handed out as the pandemic raged, this is the first time the entire selection process has taken place under the shadow of Covid-19.

Nominations close each year at the end of January, and at that time last year the novel coronavirus was still largely confined to China.

The Nobel season continues on Tuesday with the award for physics and Wednesday with chemistry, followed by the much-anticipated prizes for literature on Thursday and peace on Friday before the economics prize winds things up on Monday, October 11.

(AFP)