Author: Chakrian Hovsep

Iraqi security forces have recaptured Mosul airport, a key part of the government’s offensive to drive the so-called Islamic State (IS) from the western half of the city, the BBC reports.

The operation took four hours. IS continued to fire mortars at the airport from further inside the city after losing the ground to the army.

The jihadists have also entered a nearby military base amid further clashes, a military spokesman said.

Eastern Mosul was retaken last month.

The airport’s runway has been destroyed by IS, but BBC Middle East Correspondent Quentin Sommerville, who is embedded with Iraqi federal police units, says it still has value.

It’s a large piece of land, and controlling it will help secure southern routes to west Mosul, our correspondent says.

Photo: Bryan Veloso

 

– Two days after their overtime loss to the New England Patriots in the National Football League’s (NFL) Super Bowl LI, the Atlanta Falcons announced on Feb. 7 that they have hired former University of Washington and University of Southern California (USC) head coach, Armenian-American Steve Sarkisian to replace Kyle Shanahan as the team’s offensive coordinator.

Born in Torrance, Calif. in 2974, Sarkisian is the youngest of seven children and the only one in the family born in California. Sarkisian’s older six siblings were born in Massachusetts. Sarkisian’s Armenian father was born and raised in Tehran, Iran before immigrating to the United States at the age of 18 to attend college.

Before taking the position with the Atlanta Falcons, Sarkisian served as an offensive analyst for Alabama in the College Football Playoff. He has also served as the head football coach of the University of Washington from 2009 to 2013 and the head football coach at USC from 2014 to 2015.

Sarkisian played college football as a quarterback at Brigham Young University (BYU) and professionally with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Hermine Naghdalyan, Head of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has been elected PACE Vice-President.

The Vice-Presidents were elected at the opening session of the Winter plenary session today.

The seats for the Vice-Presidents in respect of the Republic of Moldova and Romania remain vacant.

Aleksandra Djurovic (Serbia)
Axel E. Fischer (Germany)
Sir Roger Gale (United Kingdom)
Adele Gambaro (Italy)
Antonio Gutiérrez (Spain)
Carles Jordana (Andorra)
Talip Küçükcan (Turkey)
Georgii Logvynskyi (Ukraine)
George Loucaides (Cyprus)
Robert Madej (Slovak Republic)
Ana Catarina Mendes (Portugal)
Marianne Mikko (Estonia)
Hermine Naghdalyan (Armenia)
Zsolt Németh (Hungary)
Ria Oomen-Ruijten (Netherlands)
René Rouquet (France)
Ingjerd Schou (Norway)
(Republic of Moldova, Romania : vacant seats)

Twenty Vice-Presidents are elected annually at the beginning of an ordinary session and remain in office until the opening of the next session (but a Vice-President whose delegation is renewed in the course of a session does not remain in office).

Famous Lebanese Armenian journalist Paula Yacoubian will join the new Government, reports.

According to the source, Paula Yacoubian will represent Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s bloc in the 30-member government.

Paula Yacoubian is a Lebanese media trainer and a political strategist; she is also the host of a prime time talk on Future News network.

If appointed, she will become the first female member of the government in the country.

Apart from Armenian, Yacoubian is fluent in Arabic, English and French.

The Council of Europe’s constitutional law experts, the Venice Commission, at its latest session on 9-10 December, have adopted the .

“The draft constitutional law, like the previous draft law on the Human Rights Defender, largely complies with European and international standards, is detailed, well-structured and deals with most of the major issues that a law on the Ombudsman should regulate. It has taken most of the recommendations made by the Venice Commission in its previous opinions into account,” the Venice Commission concluded.

Nevertheless, the Commission said there are a number of important recommendations it would like to make and these include, inter alia:

– Candidates: providing for a transparent competitive selection of the Human Rights Defender, include proposals from civil society and from political parties in order to enable the selection of highly qualified candidates so as to provide legitimacy to the process;

– Functional Immunity: including express provisions on the functional immunity of the Defender, Defender’s staff and experts of the NPM for words spoken or written, recommendations, decisions and other acts undertaken in good faith while performing their functions.

– The Human Rights Defender as the National Prevention Mechanism should: ·

* Have access to all private and public institutions where persons are held against their will, including “semi-closed” institutions; ·

* Guarantee the institutional participation of NGOs in its work.

Other recommendations include:

– Budget: Consider introducing safeguards against unwarranted cutbacks to improve the Defender’s functional independence;

– Grounds for dismissal: a disqualifying conviction should, as grounds for dismissal due to criminal offences or other acts incompatible with the position of Defender, exclude minor convictions (e.g. minor traffic offences);

– Pluralism: including gender balance and diversity provisions pertaining to Defender’s staff at all levels;

– Regional presence: Consider introducing a regional presence of the Human Rights Defender or regional ombudspersons in order to provide effective accessibility to human rights protection across the country.

The Venice Commission said it remains at the disposal of the Armenian authorities for any further assistance they may need on the legal framework pertaining to the Human Rights Defender of Armenia.

Heads of Delegation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Countries have issued a joint statement:

We, the Heads of Delegation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries – Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of State of the United States John Kerry, and Foreign Minister of France Jean-Marc Ayrault – remain fully committed to a negotiated settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

In light of the dramatic escalation in violence along the Line of Contact in April, we express concern over continuing armed incidents, including reports on the use of heavy weapons, and strongly condemn the use of force or the threat of the use of force.  There is no military solution to this conflict and no justification for the death and injury of civilians.  We are also aware of allegations of atrocities committed on the field of battle in April, which we condemn in the strongest terms.  We appeal to the sides to confirm their commitment to the peaceful resolution of the conflict as the only way to bring real reconciliation to the peoples of the region.  We also urge them to adhere strictly to the 1994/95 ceasefire agreements that make up the foundation of the cessation of hostilities in the conflict zone.

We call on Baku and Yerevan to honor the agreements reflected in the Joint Statements of the 16 May Summit in Vienna and the 20 June Summit in St. Petersburg.  We welcome the sides’ progress in implementing the exchange of data on missing persons under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross.  We urge the parties to remove all remaining obstacles to expanding the mission of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and to make progress on a proposal to establish an OSCE investigative mechanism.  The proposals should be implemented together with the immediate resumption of negotiations on a settlement.  We would like to reiterate our call to the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to demonstrate flexibility and to return to the negotiation table with the firm aim of moving toward a sustainable peace on the basis of the current working proposals.  Unless progress can be made on negotiations, the prospects for renewed violence will only increase, and the parties will bear full responsibility.

We remind the sides that the settlement must be based on the core principles of the Helsinki Final Act, namely: non-use of force, territorial integrity, and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and additional elements as proposed by the Presidents of the Co-Chair countries, including return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; an interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh providing guarantees for security and self-governance; a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh; future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will; the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their former places of residence; and international security guarantees that would include a peacekeeping operation.  Our countries will continue to work closely with the sides, and we call upon them to make full use of the assistance of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs as mediators.

The Co-Chair countries are prepared to host a meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan when they are ready. We firmly believe that the Presidents need to engage in negotiations in good faith at the earliest opportunity.  Continuous and direct dialogue between the Presidents, conducted under the auspices of the Co-Chairs, remains an essential element in building confidence and moving the peace process forward.

Manchester United only need a point against Zorya Luhansk to qualify for the last 32 of the Europa League but Henrikh Mkhitaryan insists the Reds will be playing to win in Ukraine on Thursday night.

Mkhitaryan could be involved for the Reds at Odessa’s Chornomorets Stadium, the venue where he scored a hat-trick while playing for Shakhtar Donetsk in August 2012.

And the Armenian feels that approaching the final Group A clash with the right mindset could have a positive knock-on effect for the subsequent Premier League game against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

“We are not going to play for a draw,” he told . “It would be good to win before the game against Tottenham – good for our mentality, good for the atmosphere in the dressing room. We will try to win and be ready for the next game as well.

“But it’s not going to be easy. Our opponent defends very well and plays with counter-attacks. The quality of the pitch might also have a role. We have to be ready for all kinds of situations and fight until the end.”

Mkhitaryan’s encouraging recent form, which yielded two Man of the Match awards at Old Trafford inside a week, has been warmly welcomed by United’s fans.

“I’m thankful to the United supporters,” the 27-year-old added. “I have felt their support and I can only pay them back by playing good, scoring goals and assisting.”

Photo: Valery Sharifulin/TASS    

Uzbekistan’s interim leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev has become the country’s new president. Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Shavkat Mirziyoyev on his election of Uzbekistan’s president and invited him to pay an official visit to Russia, the Kremlin press service said on Monday after their telephone conversation, TASS reports.

“The Russian president extended his warmest congratulations to Shavkat Mirziyoyev on his convincing victory at Uzbekistan’s presidential elections and wished him every success on this high state post,” the Kremlin said. “Both sides reiterated their plans to further strengthen Russian-Uzbek allied relations of strategic partnership and to expand mutually beneficial cooperation in various spheres.”

“Putin also invited Uzbekistan’s president-elect to pay an official visit to Russia. The invitation was accepted with gratitude,” the press service said.

Early presidential elections were held in Uzbekistan on Sunday. The elections were appointed after the death of Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov on September 2. Four candidates from all Uzbekistan’s officially registered parties vied for presidency. The candidates were acting President and Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev nominated by the Movement of Entrepreneurs and Businessmen/the Liberal Democratic Party; Khatamzhon Ketmonov of the People’s Democratic Party; Sarvar Otamuratov of the Milliy Tiklanich (National Revival) Democratic Party; and Nariman Umarov of the Adolat (Justice) Social Democratic Party.

Chairman of Uzbekistan’s Central Election Commission Mirza-Ulugbek Abdusalomov said earlier on Monday Mirziyoyev is winning the elections with 88.61% of the vote.

Photo: Getty Images

 

Thirty-three bodies have so far been recovered from a warehouse in Oakland, California, following a deadly fire during a party, officials say, the BBC reports.

Only about 20% of the building has been searched and “a significant number” of people are still missing, they said.

It is unclear what caused the fire at the converted warehouse.

The safety record of the building is under close scrutiny. There were no sprinklers and the only exit from the second floor was a makeshift stairwell.

Oakland fire chief Teresa Deloach-Reed said between 50 and 100 people were inside the venue when the fire started late on Friday.

The old warehouse, known as the Ghost Ship, was hosting a concert by electronic group Golden Donna and six other acts.

The fire caused the roof to collapse on to the second floor, part of which then fell through to the ground floor.

Turkey welcomes Russia’s efforts towards settlement of the Karabakh issue, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Antalya, Ermenihaber.am reports, quoting the Turkish Haberler.

“Today we discussed regional issues. Many issues will find their solution if Turkey and Russia work together,” Cavusoglu said at a joint press conference.

“Russia is taking efforts towards settlement of the Karabakh issue and other problems between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in general. We welcome and support those efforts. We are ready to make our contribution,” Cavusoglu added.