Author: Emil Karabekian

The heavy shelling of the Karabakh military positions in the northeastern (Yarimja) and northern (Talysh) directions of the line of contact continue until 15:30, the NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The Azerbaijani forces fired 37 shells in the direction of the Armenian positions from 60 and 82 mm caliber mine throwers.

The rival also used firearms of different calibers and large-caliber Instiglal sniper rifles.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army closely follow the actions of the rival and take corresponding measures, when necessary, to ensure the inviolability of the state border.

The situation is relatively calm at this point, the Ministry said.

To mark International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has of 35 presidents, politicians, religious leaders, militias and criminal organizations that censor, imprison, torture or murder journalists.

Most of these press freedom predators have been preying on the media for years, some for decades.

Their predatory techniques vary. Some use enforcers to torture and murder. Some use mass arrests and arbitrary imprisonment. Others employ more sophisticated methods such as terrorism laws, lèse-majesté charges or financial asphyxiation. The list is not exhaustive, naming only those who have distinguished themselves the most in the past year.

As in the past, most of the predators are presidents or prime ministers of such countries as Singapore, Thailand, Cuba, Eritrea, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.

The list’s new entrants include Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who now controls most of his country’s media groups.

With regard to religious extremism, the Islamic State stops at nothing to impose terror, kidnapping and murdering journalists who do not swear allegiance, while Bangladesh’s Ansarullah Bangla Team posts lists of alleged blasphemers (secularist bloggers and freethinkers) on Facebook and calls for them to be murdered.

The list includes President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Government decided today to allocate sums to refund the tuition fees of Syrian Armenian students.

About 400 of the 500 Syrian Armenian students need compensation to pay the tuition.

The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Armenian General Benevolent Union will allocate 120,000 USD each to cover the costs, but the whole sum needed to refund the tuiton fees amounts to 20 mln AMD.

RE-APAGA, Armenia’s first Electronic-Waste recycling campaign, initiated by UWC Dilijan College student, Cedric Solms, kicked-off in the resort town of Dilijan, Armenia.  The mission of Re-Apaga Charity Foundation is to set Armenia as a role model of sustainability in the world by eliminating Electronic-Waste, raise public awareness of its harmful environmental effects and help create Armenia’s first Electronic-Waste dismantling and recycling center to contribute to economic development and job creation.

The campaign has gained support from: UWC Dilijan College, Shirak Tours, Dilijan Mayor’s Office, the German Embassy of Armenia, Dilijan Community Center, and Solms Consulting, providing a range of opportunities for the greater Dilijan Community and many UWC Dilijan students who have joined the campaign.  Among the newly elected Board of Trustees of Re-apaga are philanthropist Veronika Zonabend and the German Ambassador to Armenia, Matthias Kiesler.

“We are sure that this joint collaboration will become a critical platform for establishing a more environmentally sustainable Armenia as we aim to free the country from the most harmful trash: Electronic-Waste while creating job opportunities for a sustainable 21^st century Armenia,” said Re-Apaga founder, Cedric Solms, a second year student from Germany, currently studying at UWC Dilijan.

According to Earth 911:

✓     The United Nations reports 20-50 million metric tons of Electronic-Waste are discarded annually.

✓     Mobile devices growth is 5 times greater than the Earth’s population growth: More than 7.2 billion mobile devices are being used, while there are less than 7.2 billion people on the planet.

✓     The UN University estimates indicate global Electronic-Waste volumes will increase by as much as 33% between 2013-2017.

“This pioneering campaign, spearheaded by a group of UWC Dilijan students, underscores the very essence of a UWC educational philosophy — uniting people and nations to build a sustainable future, “ said Veronika Zonabend, founding partner and the Chair of the Board of Governors of UWC Dilijan College in Armenia. “Our young students have identified the problem of harmful Electronic-Waste in Armenia and suggested an innovative solution, which reflects the results of educational approach when theoretical knowledge is implemented into the practice. This is an important initiative for the whole society and we are eager to support similar initiatives”.

Following the first meeting of the Re-Apaga Board of Trustees, it was decided to expand Re-apaga in Vanadzor and the entire Tavush Region seeing a tremendous need in educating Armenia’s youth about the importance of sustainable development for the country’s prosperity in the 21^st century.  In addition to initiatives in raising public awareness, the Board voted to create Re-apaga corps – groups of volunteers to carryout the collection of e-waste and help to create the first Electronic-Waste dismantling and recycling Plant in Armenia.

In its efforts to raise public awareness for social change on Electronic-Waste problems across Armenia and initiate wider youth involvement, Re-apaga launched, with the help of Dilijan Community Center, its first online creative writing contest for 12-18 year-old change-makers and “Future leaders of the great Armenia”. The contest sought to gain insight from the youth on such issues as making Armenia a role model of sustainable development, ways to discard Electronic-Waste, and even challenged them to offer plans for an environmentally sustainable Armenia if they were elected president.  Top essay winners will be awarded prizes for offering the best solutions for Electronic-Waste recycling and leading Armenia towards zero Electronic-Waste status.

Re-apaga will disseminate informational videos and presentations to local businesses, schools and the general public.  In addition to collecting and storing the Electronic-Waste, Re-apaga will initiate collaborations between the public and private sectors to instill Electronic-Waste collections and ultimately establish a recycling center for proper dismantling and recycling of the collected items.

On October 14 in Yerevan will host the session of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which will be chaired by the President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan. Armenia has been presiding in the Organization for the period of time between the sessions of years 2015-2016, President’s Press Office reports.

At the session discussed will be the process of implementation of the decisions adopted at the previous summits, as well as the priorities set by the Republic of Armenia during the country’s presidency at the CSTO.

In the framework of over two dozen issues on the agenda of the session the parties will discuss the international situation and current issues related to the collective security, drafts of the decisions on the creation before 2025 of the CSTO collective security strategy and CSTO emergency response center, issues related to the improvement of the works of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, as well implementation of the decision related to the fight against international terrorism.

The parties are expected to make a number of political statements.

Considering the fact that for years 2016-2017 the presidency of the CSTO will be assumed by the Republic of Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko will present to the Collective Security Council the priorities of his country, which are to be implemented during the country’s presidency, in the period between the sessions.

In the framework of the agenda of the Collective Security Council emphasized will be the military element of the Organization and training of the military personnel. The parties will sign documents related to the development of the response structure of the CSTO member states.

The Heads of the CSTO member states are also expected to make a decision on the Secretary General of the CSTO.

Newly planted trees now stand as a symbol of peace in Markham. On Saturday, the Canadian city  hosted a park dedication ceremony to mark 100 years since the Armenian genocide, the  reports.

Federal, provincial and municipal government officials and members of the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee for Canada waited in anticipation as the Forest of Hope was unveiled.

The new Forest of Hope will be a place of peace and hope for the Armenian community across the GTA.

“This small forest conveys an enormous message of new life,” said provincial minister of international trade, Michael Chan, during the official opening ceremony of the memorial.

“These young trees will establish deep roots, grow tall and their branches will reach for the sky — just like the Armenian community.”

Canada is one of two dozen countries that recognize the events as the first genocide of the 20th century.

“We know the meaning of genocide, its history and the importance of education,” said Armen Yeganian, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to Canada.

“We have to continue to educate, not just today, tomorrow or the first 100 years. But always, because unfortunately it still continues to happen.”

The Forest of Hope is one of about a 100 projects to commemorate the genocide’s anniversary across the country started by the Canadian arm of the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee, which was founded four years ago.

“And this is the best one, because it calls for hope and peace,” Yeganian said.

The Forest of Hope is located in Ashton Meadows Park near Woodbine Avenue north of 16th Avenue.

The park was designed by renowned landscape architect Haig Seferian and consists of 100 different trees, with different blooming time throughout the year.

“Despite being displaced, the Armenian community is determined,” said mayor Frank Scarpitti.

“The next generation of Armenians will be just as proud as the first Armenians who came to Canada. That’s a wonderful thing.”

SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Hints of an early exodus of modern humans from Africa may have been detected in living humans, the BBC reports.

Present-day people outside Africa were thought to descend from a group that left their homeland 60,000 years ago.

Now, analysis of nearly 500 human genomes appears to have turned up the weak signal of an earlier migration.

But the results suggest this early wave of Homo sapiens all but vanished, so it does not drastically alter prevailing theories of our origins.

Writing in the academic journal Nature, Luca Pagani, Mait Metspalu and colleagues describe hints of this pioneer group in their analysis of DNA in people from the Oceanian nation of Papua New Guinea.

After evolving in Africa 200,000 years ago, modern humans are thought to have crossed through Egypt into the Arabian Peninsula some 60,000 years ago.

Until now, genetic evidence has shown that every non-African alive today could trace their origins to this fateful dispersal.

Yet we had known for some time that groups of modern humans made forays outside their “homeland” before 60,000 years ago.

On August 29, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received Giorgi Saganelidze, the newly appointed Ambassador of Georgia to Armenia on the occasion of presenting the copies of his credentials.

Congratulating the Ambassador on his appointment, Edward Nalbandian wished success to Giorgi Saganelidze in his important mission to further strengthen the cooperation between the two neighbouring countries.

Expressing gratitude for the reception and good wishes, Ambassador Saganelidze noted that it is a great honour to represent Georgia in centuries-old friendly country of Armenia and emphasized his readiness to spare no effort to develop cooperation in all areas.

The interlocutors reflected on the preparatory works for the upcoming visit of the Prime-Minister of Georgia to Armenia.

During the meeting, numerous issues on bilateral agenda were discussed, including cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, infrastructure, energy and culture; expansion of the legal framework was touched upon.

Minister Nalbandian presented the joint efforts exerted by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries and Armenia towards the exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

As Turkey contemplates the reintroduction of the death penalty to punish those responsible for the coup attempt, the mayor of Istanbul has allocated space for a “graveyard for traitors,” where people will have a chance to “curse” those responsible, reports.

Following the failed July 15 coup attempt that left 246 people dead, including many members of the security forces and civilians, cemeteries across the country are refusing to bury those who plotted against the government.

In an attempt to remedy the situation, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Kadir Topbas said that he has ordered the allocation of space for the final resting place for “traitors” where “the passersby will curse the ones buried there.”

“I ordered a space to be saved and [for it to be called] … ‘the graveyard for traitors’,” Topbas told a group of pro-government protesters in Istanbul’s Taksim Square. “Everyone visiting the place will curse them and they won’t be able to rest in their graves.”

The decision to provide space, Topbas said, came after the mayor of Ordu, a port city on the Black Sea coast did not provide burial plots. As a result, the family of one of the dead took a body and buried it in their garden.

“I congratulate the mayor,” Topbas said as quoted by Anadolu Agency, adding that coup plotters “won’t be saved from hell.”

The mayor of Istanbul, a city of some 15 million people, also said that even the cemetery of the nameless was not a suitable place for the coup plotters to be buried with religious people.