Twn-men Armenia conceded a late stoppage time goal from Alexandru Maxim in a 2018 World Cup qualifier held in Bucharest.
Armenia had defender Taron Voskanyan sent off for handball when conceding a penalty early in the second half, but Bogdan Stancu saw his spot-kick saved by Grigor Meliksetyan – only for Maxim to have the final word with a close-range finish.
YEREVAN, July 24. /ARKA/. Armenian schoolchildren have won six medals and two diplomas at international Olympiads in mathematics and physics, the press service of the Armenian Ministry of Education and Science reported.
The schoolchildren from the Shahinyan Special School of Physics and Mathematics have won two silver and two bronze medals, as well as diplomas at the Mathematics Olympiad that was held from 12th to 23rd July in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The Olympiad in Physics took place from July 16th to July 24th in the city of Yogyakarta (Indonesia). Armenian schoolchildren have won one silver and one bronze medals, as well as diplomas.
Earlier, a team of Armenian schoolchildren won two bronze medals and a diploma at an international school Olympiad in chemistry in Thailand, held from July 6th to 15th.
The next Olympiad will be in biology. It will be held from July 23rd to 30th in the UK city of Coventry. -0–
15:14 24.07.2017
Henrikh Mkhitaryan has no regrets at joining Manchester United despite having to deal with accusations he is not the same footballer he was at his former club, Borussia Dortmund.
Mkhitaryan joined last summer, having been voted Bundesliga player of the year the previous season. He struggled initially to establish himself under José Mourinho and, after having to wait until the derby with Manchester City on 10 September for his full debut, the forward was withdrawn at half-time.
The Armenian then had to wait until 2 November to play again. Despite this, Mkhitaryan ended the season strongly, scoring 12 times, including the second in the 2-0 Europa League final victory against Ajax. “For sure I will be a better player for this experience,” the 28‑year‑old said. “Some people say, ‘You have been another player in Dortmund’, but I’m saying I never regret coming here. I am very happy.
“Last year, with my difficulties, they helped me a lot. I could stay more strong in my mind, like mentally. I never said that I had hard times here. It shows that you are strong enough to win them over or not. I think I have done everything to work hard, to show everyone I can play and that I can do my best for the team.
“In these kind of moments, if you are giving up you are going to lose the meaning of the life. I mean you have to stay positive, you have to stay strong and work very hard because in one click everything can change and that’s what happened.”
At Dortmund and Shakhtar Donetsk, another of his former clubs, Mkhitaryan improved in the second year. “I am expecting something good [again]. Because I know that you can always do better and better, there is no limit. I will try my best.”
Mourinho was unhappy with the amount of goals Mkhitaryan, Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard contributed last season. “The manager in general is saying that we need to do more,” he said. “Everyone understands that because we know this season is going to be a little bit harder because we are not going to play in the Europa League we are going to play in the Champions League, which is different. We are working very hard on it and we are sure we can have good results.
“It doesn’t matter how you did last year. It has been a good year for us, for me as well, because we won three titles. But I know for this upcoming season I can do better. I’m working hard and I know that I will achieve more. I can improve. I’m not saying just goals or assists. As well the playing style, the understanding between my team-mates, I mean everything.”
Mourinho has not told Mkhitaryan, who often operates wide but can also play at No10, his preferred position. “Not yet because I am ready to play wherever he wants me to play. I don’t have a preference.”
Lragir.am
Law – Thursday, 20 July 2017, 09:56
Armenpress News Agency, Armenia Wednesday Armenia is malaria, polio, measles and congenital rubella free YEREVAN, JULY 19, ARMENPRESS. Armenia is classified as polio-free and malaria-free by the World Health Organization. Local measles and congenital rubella syndromes have also been eliminated. The elimination of these diseases is the result of large-scale actions, especially preventive vaccinations, Lilit Avetisyan, deputy director of the National Center of Disease Prevention and Control told ARMENPRESS. “WHO recognized Armenia as malaria-free in 2011, and in 2002 as polio-free. No polio cases have been recorded even since 1995, when at that time this disease continued to be diagnosed in many countries worldwide”, she said. Malaria cases were diagnosed in Armenia since 1994, which was an obstacle for tourism. But through large scale work, this disease has been eliminated. However, during the past 7 years Leishmaniasis is observed in Armenia. “In the last 5-7 years, more than one dozen cases were recorded. This disease hasn’t been seen in Armenia for dozens of years, this activeness is associated with the presence of this disease in the neighboring countries”, she said. Avetisyan said the center and the healthcare ministry is taking appropriate and relevant actions in this direction as well.
YEREVAN – One of the Armenian female citizens, who had been injured in attack committed by a man armed with a knife in a Hurghada hotel, has undergone surgery and is currently in an intensive care unit, Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan told Interfax.
“Surgery has concluded, her condition is estimated as moderately severe. She was placed in an intensive care unit,” Balayan said.
Another injured woman is preparing to be discharged from hospital, he said.
EU representatives visit Tumo center
Yerevan/Mediamax/. Lawrence Meredith, Director of Neighbourhood East in the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), visited Tumo Center for Creative Technologies.
Member of Board of Trustees at Tumo Center Pegor Papazyan accompanied the tour, organized for Lawrence Meredith’s delegation, which involved Director of Resources Directorate of European Commission Mark Johnston, Head of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Eastern Partnership Unit of Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations Vassilis Maragos.
The delegation also visited the studio of “Tales of Neto” anti-corruption game and comics, initiated jointly by the European Union and Tumo Center for Creative Technologies.
Friday, Sarkisian `Satisfied' With Armenian Military Arsenal . Artak Hambardzumian Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian speaks at a meeting with Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian (L) and other officials in Dilijan, 13Jul2017. President Serzh Sarkisian has insisted that the Armenian military has enough modern armaments to cope with security threats to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Meeting with military personnel, government officials and public figures in the resort town of Dilijan on Thursday, Sarkisian clarified his controversial 2016 remark that Armenian soldiers are "fighting with weapons from the 1980s." "Firstly, the context [of the statement] was a bit different," he said in televised remarks publicized by his office on Friday. "Secondly, there is not a single army in the world that possesses all modern types of weaponry. Neither the American army nor the Russian army nor any other army can claim to have all the modern weapons because no army, no state can gain them [at once.] "But every army needs to have sufficient weaponry in order to be able to accomplish its tasks. That is evaluated in its entirety. On top of that are soldiers' skills. Today our army possesses not the most advanced armaments # but sufficient weaponry and ammunition to achieve objectives set for it." "A sufficient quantity and quality of weapons and ammunition plus intelligent and resilient fighters: this is the formula for success which I don't doubt," added Sarkisian. He did not disclose news types of weapons which Armenia has acquired in recent months. Armenia - The Armenian army demonstrates Buk air-defense systems recently acquired from Russia as well as S-300 surface-to-air missiles during a parade in Yerevan, 21Sep2016. Two years ago, Russia allocated a $200 million loan to Armenia which is being spent on the purchase of more Russian weapons at internal Russian prices that are below market-based levels. The Russian government subsequently publicized a long list of items which the Armenian side is allowed to buy with that money. It includes, among other things, the Smerch multiple-launch rocket system, TOS-1A heavy flamethrowers, anti-tank weapons and shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles. The arms supplies envisaged by the loan agreement appear to have begun last year. According to the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, Russia delivered 300 air-defense systems to Armenia in 2016. Those most probably were shoulder-fired Igla and Verba systems. In late 2015 or early 2016, the Armenian military also acquired advanced Russian Iskander missiles. The acquisition was apparently not covered by the low-interest Russian credit. Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian said in January that Yerevan is planning more arms acquisitions in addition to the $200 million defense contracts signed with Moscow. He gave no details. Russia has long been Armenia's number one arms supplier, reflecting close militaries ties between the two states. Membership in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has enabled Armenia to receive Russian weapons at discounted prices or even for free. IMF Lauds Armenian Reform Efforts U.S. - The International Monetary Fund logo is seen inside its headquarters at the end of the IMF/World Bank annual meetings in Washington, U.S., October 9, 2016. The International Monetary Fund has praised the Armenian government's efforts to improve the domestic business environment, reform tax administration and attract more foreign investment, saying that is essential for speeding up economic growth. In a statement released late on Thursday, the IMF reported details of a June 23 meeting of its Executive Board that discussed the macroeconomic situation in Armenia and reforms announced by Prime Minister Karen Karapetian's cabinet. "[IMF] directors called for continued efforts to advance structural reforms to foster sustainable and inclusive growth," read the statement. "They underscored the need to promote private sector development and diversify the economy by attracting [foreign direct investment.] In this context, they welcomed the authorities' growth-promoting initiatives to improve the business environment, encourage competition, and strengthen governance." The IMF board also praised government efforts to combat tax evasion and improve tax administration, saying that they have already translated into a sizable rise in tax revenue. Its overall assessment of government policies is in tune with statements made by an IMF team that visited Yerevan on a two-week mission in April. The mission chief, Hossein Samiei, told reporters that Karapetian's cabinet is "reform-minded and committed to improving the structural environment." Karapetian has repeatedly pledged to create "equal conditions" for all business since he was named prime minister in September. Opposition politicians dismiss the premier's ambitious reform agenda, however. They say, in particular, that wealthy businesspeople close to the government continue to enjoy a monopoly on lucrative imports of essential goods and commodities. The IMF board stood by higher economic growth rates that were forecast for Armenia by the Washington-based Fund earlier. "With improving outlook in major trading partners and a pickup in private sector activity, real GDP is projected to grow by around 3 percent in 2017, while inflation would reach around 2 percent by end-2017," it said. "Medium-term growth is projected at 3.5-4 percent." "Nevertheless, there are risks: the recent recovery in remittances and copper prices may not endure, and growth in key trading partners could be weaker than expected," it warned. The government expects that the Armenian economy will expand by at least 3.2 percent this year. In its policy program approved by parliament last month, it committed itself to ensuring that annual growth accelerates to around 5 percent in the following years. Economic activity in Armenia was largely stagnant last year amid a continuing recession in Russia, the country's leading trading partner and the main source of multimillion-dollar remittances from Armenian migrant workers. Yerevan `Still Wants' New Nuclear Plant . Sargis Harutyunyan Armenia - A general view of the Metsamor nuclear plant, 20May2013. The Armenian government has not abandoned its ambitious plans to build a new nuclear power station in place of the aging plant at Metsamor, Deputy Prime Minister Vache Gabrielian claimed on Friday. President Serzh Sarkisian pledged to replace Metsamor, which generates roughly a third of Armenia's electricity, by a modern and more powerful facility meeting safety standards shortly after taking office in 2008. The project never got off the drawing board as his government failed to attract an estimated $5 million needed for the new plant's construction. The government decided instead to extend the life of Metsamor's 420-megawatt reactor by 10 years, until 2027. Russia is playing a key role in this endeavor, having provided Armenia with a $270 million loan and a $30 million grant in 2015. The money is due to be mainly spent on the purchase of Russian nuclear equipment and additional safety measures that will be taken at the Soviet-era facility located 35 kilometers west of Yerevan. "If we start the new nuclear plant's construction now it will not be timely," Gabrielian told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).Work on the plant might only get underway in 2022 or 2023, he said. The government initially planned that the new plant would have a design capacity of 1,000 megawatts. In Gabrielian's words, it now believes that 600 megawatts is a more realistic and cost-effective target. "In the coming years much smaller and cheaper nuclear plants will start going into service [around the world] in 50-megawatt blocks," the vice-premier went on. They could represent an even cheaper option for Armenia, he said. Visiting Armenia in April 2016,the first deputy head of Russia's state nuclear energy agency Rosatom, Kirill Komarov, said that the authorities in Yerevan have yet to come up with convincing "economic grounds" for implementing the expensive project. Two Armenians Wounded In Egyptian Beach Resort Attack Egypt - The entrance to one of two beach resorts in Hurghada where a stabbing attack occurred on . Two Armenian nationals were wounded on Friday in a mass stabbing in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Hurghada which left two other foreign tourists dead. News reports said an Egyptian man stabbed two German women to death and wounded two other tourists at a local hotel and then swam to a neighboring beach to attack at least two more people at the Sunny Days El Palacio resort before he was arrested. The motive for his attack was not immediately known. The Egyptian Interior Ministry said that the wounded tourists were rushed to a local hospital. The security manager at the El Palacio hotel told Reuters that two of them are Armenians. Armenia's Foreign Ministry confirmed that, citing information received from the Armenian Embassy in Cairo. "The Embassy has contacted the injured Armenian citizens," it said on its Twitter page. "Their life is not in danger. Medical aid is provided." The ministry spokesman, Tigran Balayan, tweeted separately that "the attacker was neutralized with the help of our wounded citizen." The stabbings came hours after five Egyptian police officers were shot to death in Cairo's twin city of Giza. Twenty-three Egyptian troops were killed in Egypt's Sinai peninsula a week ago, in an assault claimed by the so-called Islamic State militant group. The Foreign Ministry in Yerevan urged Armenians to refrain from trips to Egypt following the October 2015 bombing of a Russian plane over the Sinai. The ministry repeated the warning in January 2016. Press Review "Haykakan Zhamanak" reports that a senior Georgian official, Zurab Abashidze, has refuted reports that Georgia and Russia have finalized an agreement on the opening of two transport corridors that will pass through Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Armenia welcomed those reports earlier this week, with Transport Minister Vahan Martirosian expressing hope that Armenia will get more reliable trade routes to Russia. Abashidze said, however, that the Russian and Georgian governments are only negotiating on a "monitoring of cargo turnover" between. According to "Zhoghovurd," the French ambassador in Yerevan, Jan-Francois Charpentier, has complained about the modest volume of Armenia's trade with France which amounted to roughly $50 million last year. The paper recalls in this regard that President Serzh Sarkisian held a special meeting with senior Armenian officials and called for closer commercial ties with France in March last year. It says that the Armenian government has since taken no "serious steps in that direction." Davit Ishkhanian, a leader of the Nagorno-Karabakh branch of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), assures "Hayots Ashkhar" that Nagorno-Karabakh's image abroad will not suffer after its president, Bako Sahakian, extends his rule by at least three years. "Artsakh must never be compared with Azerbaijan," Ishkhanian tells the paper. "Such statements are wide of the mark. Democracy is very important for us. We have no right or desire to register a setback in that area." He argues that Sahakian will govern Karabakh until 2020 only as an interim president. "What's the point of exploiting that?" he complains. "Hraparak" quotes a food and agriculture expert as saying that agriculture is one of the few sectors that has already benefited from Armenia's accession to the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). He points to rising exports of Armenian agricultural products and prepared foodstuffs to Russia. "All you have to do is to produce and deliver them to the Russian market," he says. (Tigran Avetisian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
The analyst noted that, in the case of the Karabakh conflict, there is no force that could provide guarantees that the ceasefire will be respected.
“Experience shows that if it remains to the parties, the truce is not working,” Keryan explained.
09:49 • 12.07.17
Professor Henry C Theriault was elected President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) on Tuesday during the organization’s annual conference becoming the first Armenian to assume the position.
The conference also elected the Dr. Suren Manukyan, Deputy Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum &
Institute in Yerevan as a member of IAGS’s Advisory Board, Asbarez reports.
In his nomination statement, Theriault warned of the threats facing human rights advances due to the dire political climate in the United States and Europe.
“Genocide studies has been at the forefront of recent human rights advances. Dire political climates in the US, Europe, and other areas threaten this progress. Racism, xenophobia, misogyny, etc. pervade public discourse and drive repressive legal and political regressions the world over. Genocide’s prevalence even threatens increase,” said Theriault.
“Against this, a vibrant IAGS is essential. Demagogues attack the sensibilities genocide studies engenders. Our work is a crucial challenge to their propaganda. IAGS must strive against this marginalization while innovatively expanding the field, especially creating space for emerging scholars particularly vulnerable to this backlash,” he added.
Theriault is a board member of the Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights and serves as the the Armenian Genocide Reparations Study Group (AGRSG), which was assembled in 2007 by four experts in different areas of reparations theory and practice. In September 2014, the group completed its final report, “Resolution with Justice—Reparations for the Armenian Genocide,” a wide-ranging analysis of the legal, historical, political, and ethical dimensions of the question of reparations for the genocide. It also includes specific recommendations for the components of a complete reparations package.
Theriault was most recently Professor in and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Worcester State University, where he has taught since 1998 focusing on courses on genocide, mass violence against women, and related topics. He has published and lectured widely on his research which focuses on the relationship of genocide and sexual violence, victim- perpetrator relations in the long-term aftermath of genocide, genocide prevention, genocide denial, and reparations. From 1999 to 2007, he coordinated the University’s Center for the Study of Human Rights.
He earned his BA in English from Princeton University and his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Massachusetts, with specializations in social and political as well as continental philosophy.
He is co-editor of Genocide Studies International, a peer-reviewed journal from the University of Toronto Press and the Zoryan Institutes’ International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies and of Transaction Publishers’ Genocide: A Critical Bibliographic Review book series.
In 2013, Theriault served as a panelist at the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region’s Grassroots Conference, speaking on challenges facing the Western Armenia, especially with regards to Kurdish and Armenian relations.