The near-simultaneous attacks in Paris that killed at least 127 people and wounded more than 180 were an “act of war” carried out by Islamic State, says France’s President Francois Hollande, the BBC reports.
He said the attacks, carried out by eight gunmen and suicide bombers, were “organised and planned from outside”.
Busy bars and restaurants, a music concert and a high-profile football match were all targeted.
Mr Hollande has declared three days of national mourning.
FIFA said on Thursday it had admitted five candidates to stand for the world football body’s presidency at a Feb. 26 election, Reuters reports.
In a statement, Zurich-based FIFA said the candidates were: Prince Ali Al Hussein, Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, Jerome Champagne, Gianni Infantino and Tokyo Sexwale.
Of the seven potential candidates named last month, Michel Platini and Musa Hassan Bility were not admitted. The decision can be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Iran and Armenia have serious potential for expanding their bilateral economic ties and also bolstering relations with the Eurasian Economic Union, Armenian Minister of Economy Karen Chshmaritian stated, reports.
The official made the statement at a press conference after his yesterday meeting with Iranian Communications and Information Technology Minister Mahmoud Va’ezi in Tehran.
The Armenian Minister said: “In my today’s meeting with Mr. Va’ezi, we stressed Iran-Armenia cooperation in the field of information technology and I think that there is huge potential for cooperation in this area.”
The Armenian government intends to open the country’s doors for economic cooperation with other countries, especially with Iran, he highlighted.
“Today, we [Iran and Armenia] are starting with making serious agreements on economic cooperation and I hope that these agreements will lead to some fruitful results in the future”, the Minister noted.
He expressed hope that the old friendship between Iran and Armenia will lead to an expanded economic cooperation between the two countries.
Addressing the same conference, Va’ezi said: “Given that Armenia is one of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union, we discussed the ways to export our products to these countries.”
The official mentioned telecommunications sector as well as research and development activities as the areas in which the two countries have the potential to deepen bilateral ties.
Speaking about the role of Armenia in the promotion of Iran’s trade with the Eurasian Economic Union, the Minister explained: “The cost for the export of products to Russia and other Eurasian states is high for Iran, in a way that the imports of Iranian products are entitled to a tariff of over 20 percent in those countries.”
It makes competition difficult for the Iranian private sector, he noted.
“Russian market is a very large one and given that there are many transit routes between Iran and Russia, through roads, railways and sea routes, we could imagine this market as one of our major export destinations. In this regard, I discussed the issue with the Armenian Minister and it was decided that Armenia reduces the tariff for importing products from Iran and also to lower the tariff for transit of Iranian goods to the Eurasian countries, especially Russia”, the official added.
Late- night host Conan O’Brien will accompany First Lady Michelle Obama on a trip to Qatar next week as part of a series of specials he is putting together for TBS, the cable network that airs his regular program, “Cona,” reports.
The comedian will join Mrs. Obama next week on a trip to visit U.S. military personnel stationed at the Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar. He is expected to entertain the troops with a show while the First Lady highlights Joining Forces, an initiative that supports service members, veterans and their families. As with his other recent excursions abroad, O’Brien’s trip to Qatar with the First Lady will be taped to appear as part of an episode of “Conan” airing later this year.
O’Brien recently journeyed to Armenia with his assistant for a
This will mark the second time O’Brien has travelled abroad to perform for the men and women of the United States military. In May 2003, O’Brien visited Kuwait and Bahrain on a USO tour. It will also mark his fourth adventure this year. In addition to Armenia, O’Brien has traveled to the annual Comic-Con in San Diego and to Cuba.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will leave for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to participate in the ceremony at the Westminster Abbey commemorating the canonized martyrs of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
The Mass will be led by Dr. Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London, and His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.
The Armenian Church of St. Virgin Mary was consecrated in the Swedish city of Södertälje on October 24.
The funds for the reconstruction of the church that started in 2014 were granted by representatives of the local Armenian community and benefactors.
The solemn blessing ceremony was attended by Armenian Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan, Armenian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Sweden Artak Apitonyan, Vice-President of the Swedish Rikstag Esabelle Dingizian, representatives of sister churches, high-ranking officials, members of the community and pilgrims.
Former Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom is fighting for life after being found unconscious at a brothel in Nevada.
Following news of former LA Laker’s alleged overdose, his ex-wife Khloe Kardashian rushed to be by his side at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas. She was quickly followed by sister Kim Kardashian West and mother Kris Jenner, who was pictured looking distraught outside the hospital in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Doctors are currently treating Odom’s case as a non-suicidal drug-overdose, according to a source at the hospital who spoke with E! News. The source says that doctors found ‘virtually every drug imaginable’ in the 35-year-old’s system. Other sources told TMZ that he suffered multiple strokes is on kidney dialysis and has just a 50/50 chance of survival.
The exact kind of stroke Odom is believed to have suffered involves a blood clot blocking blood flow to the brain, and is often a result of a cocaine overdose, the reports.
Odom is reportedly on life support in a coma, with his heart, lungs and kidneys failing.
The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics has been won by Takaaki Kajita and Arthur McDonald, for discovering how neutrinos switch between different “flavours,” the BBC reports.
Neutrinos are ubiquitous subatomic particles with almost no mass and which rarely interact with anything else, making them very difficult to study.
Kajita and McDonald made important measurements of their properties using huge instruments in Japan and Canada.
They were named at a press conference in Sweden.
Goran Hansson, secretary general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which decides on the award, declared: “This year’s prize is about changes of identity among some of the most abundant inhabitants of the universe.”
On 1 September Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received President of the European Free Alliance François Alfonsi, member of the European Parliament Jordi Sebastia and accompanying them individuals.
Various issues related to the Europe-Artsakh relations, Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement, regional trends were discussed during the meeting
President Sahakyan noted that development of relations with European countries and organizations was one of the pivotal directions of the Artsakh foreign policy, adding that all prerequisites exist for their further reinforcement.
During the meeting President Sahakyan handed in the “Gratitude” medal to the director of the “European friends of Armenia” organization Eduardo Lorenzo Ochoa for consistently representing the interests and rights of the Artsakh Republic in European structures.
NKR National Assembly chairman Ashot Ghoulyan and other officials partook in the meeting.
Over 120 cases of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani side were reported overnight.
The rival fired more than 1,200 shots from weapons of different caliber (including 60, 82 and 120mm mortars) in the direction of the Armenian positions, the NKR Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The activeness of the rival was pressured as a result of the retaliatory measures taken by the front divisions of the NKR Defense Army.