Author: Jane Topchian

The Azerbaijani forces undertook an infiltration attempt in the northern (Talish) direction of the line of contact with the Karabakh forces at about 15:00 today, taking advantage of the foggy weather conditions, the NKR Defense Ministry informs.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army were quick to spot the advancement of the Azeri special forces and resort to preventive measures to force the rival back.

The Armenian troops have taken an Azeri soldier hostage. The private of the Azeri army is identified as Elnut Husein Zade (born in Barda in 1995).

The NKR Defense Ministry reports that at least one Azeri servicemen has been wounded in clashed. The information has been confirmed by the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan.

The NKR troops confidently continue with their military duty all along the line of contact and are ready to neutralize any assault, the Ministry said.

Mexico will not pay for Donald Trump’s border wall, the country’s president has said in a message to the nation, the BBC reports.

Enrique Pena Nieto said he “lamented” the plans for the barrier, adding that “Mexico doesn’t believe in walls”.

But he made no mention of cancelling or postponing a trip to Washington on 31 January to meet the new US president.

Mr Trump has signed an executive order for an “impassable physical barrier” and has insisted Mexico would reimburse the US for it.

Building a 2,000-mile barrier along the Mexican border was one of Mr Trump’s key pledges in the presidential election campaign.

He spoke of a “crisis” on the southern US border as he signed the directives during a ceremony at the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday.

The orders also called for hiring 10,000 immigration officials to help boost border patrol efforts.

“A nation without borders is not a nation,” he said. “Beginning today the United States gets back control of its borders.”

Armenian Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan had a meeting with Philippe Boillat, Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law, Council of Europe.

The parties agreed to deepen the joint cooperation and implement new programs in the field of protection of the rights of people in detention and servicemen and others. They attached importance to the work with the civil society and journalists.

Arman Tatoyan and Philippe Boillat discussed the issue of extradition of Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin.

The Armenian Ombudsman noted that “decision on his extradition is of political nature, poses a direct threat to the freedom of speech and creates an impermissible precedent.” “It’s a harsh violation of the European human rights protection system,” Tatoyan said, adding that “journalists’ visits to Artsakh cannot be subject to any persecution.”

According to the Ombudsman, the case comes to prove the need to make visits to Artsakh more frequent and intensify the involvement of the Artsakh Ombudsman and the civil society in international processes.

The Ombudsman handed over the report on the consequences of the Azeri attack on Armenia’s Chinari village to Philippe Boillat.

Aurora Humanitarian Initiative announces the jury of the Aurora Short Film Competition launched on December 20, 2016. The diverse panel of professionals will select the best short films featuring humanism, courage and selflessness.

The Aurora Short Film Competition Jury is comprised of 5 members chaired by Edgar Baghdasaryan, famous Armenian director and partner of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative.

“Every generation has an illusion that they live in a special time. We are not an exception. And we can merely convey culture to the next generations after us and nothing else. The base of culture is humanism and love in its comprehensive sense. This is why we are part of this very special competition,” said Edgar Baghdasaryan.

The members of the jury are Diana Kardumyan, film director, Aren Malakyan, film director, Marine Ales, composer, member of the Aurora Prize Creative Council and Arman Jilavian, CEO, Aurora Humanitarian Initiative. The detailed bios of the jury members are presented below.

Aurora Humanitarian Initiative will award US$4000 to the director of the best film. Second and third places will receive US$2000 and US$1500 award respectively. The deadline for submissions is March 20, 2017.

 Competition Jury

Edgar Baghdasaryan (Chairperson) – Edgar Baghdasaryan is well known Armenian film director. Since 1988 he has worked for ArmenFilm studio, in 1990 he debuted with “Games” movie. Until 2009 he was the director of Armenian-American film studio “Armenia Film Studios”. He directed award-winning documentary “From Ararat to Zion”. Edgar Baghdasaryan is a laureate of a number of international film festivals.

Marine Ales – Marine Ales is a famous Armenian composer and theatre critic. She is the author of 300 songs in Armenian and Russian. Her songs were released in 5 albums: I’ll Leave You (1999), My Poplars (2001), Thoughts (2003), With and Without You (2007), Barefoot in the Sky (2010). She was jury member of the 2016 Golden Apricot International Film Festival. Marine Ales is co-founder of Gift of Life Foundation. She is the laureate of numerous awards for life-time achievements. In 2010, Marine Ales published the collection of her poetry Shards. Marine Ales is the member of the Aurora Prize Creative Council.

Arman Jilavian – Arman Jilavian leads Aurora Humanitarian Initiative as CEO. He is a member of the Board of Directors at RVVZ Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees of UWC Dilijan, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of MEDIACRAT. In 2011, he was named the Media Manager of Russia in the Printed Media / Magazines category. Arman Jilavian graduated from the Lomonosov Moscow State Universtiy with a PhD in philology. He has held various positions in Russia’s leading media groups (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Eurasian Media Group) and managed the Time Inc.’s business in Russia (FORTUNE and Popular Science magazines).

Diana Kardumyan – Diana Kardumyan is a film director and critic. She was a jury member for «ReAnimania» (2011) and «One Minute, One Shot» (2012, 2015), «WebApricot» (2014) festivals, also worked as the pre-selection jury at the «Golden Apricot» (2011, 2014, 2015, 2016) and «ReAnimania» (2010, 2013, 2015) international festivals. She directed a number of documentaries and fictions including “Endless Melody”, “Dialogues”, “Eh Dima, Dima.”

Aren Malakyan – Aren Malakian is a young Armenian film director.  He graduated Yerevan State Institute of Theater and Cinema. Aren directed a number of fiction and documentary films including “Voldemar”, “Snow”. In 2015 he received presidential award for his “Girl on the moon” film. He is a laureate of many Armenian and international film festivals.

 

 

 

There have been no changes in the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the process of settlement of the Karabakh issue, says Alexander Iskandaryan, Director of the Caucasus Institute.

“They are busy with minimizing the risks, rather than resolving the conflict,” Iskandaryan told a press conference today.

According to the political scientist, the reason is the difference between the stances of the parties on the conflict settlement, which makes it impossible to propose a solution acceptable to all.

“The latest fit into the logic of avoiding tension,” Iskandaryan said.

According to political scientist Stepan Grigoryan, the Co-Chairs’ statement can inspire Azerbaijan to resort to new provocations, because they see that their actions go unpunished.

According to Alexander Iskandaryan, there are two ways Azerbaijan can have an influence on the Karabakh conflict settlement. “The first option is lobbying and propaganda. The second means for Azerbaijan to attract the attention of Armenia and the international community is to shoot,” the political scientist said. Therefore, he’s concerned that the situation will still continue.

As for the perspectives of resumption of military actions, Alexander Iskandaryan says “it depends on oil prices, on whether Azerbaijan can afford it or not, because the country spent huge sums in April.”

Time magazine has named Donald Trump its Person of the Year – calling him “President of the Divided States of America,” CNN reports.

“I don’t think that we have ever seen one person, operating in such an unconventional way, have an impact on the events of the year,” said Time editor Nancy Gibbs.

She called this year’s choice “one of the more straightforward years.” Trump beat runner-up Hillary Clinton for the distinction, which Gibbs said is given to the newsmaker who has the biggest influence on world events, for better or worse.

Placing third was “the hackers,” to cover people who breached the records of major government organizations, politicians, celebrities and everyday citizens.

The short list also included President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, scientists who developed new DNA-related technology and Beyonce.

Photo: Sputnik/ Michael Alaeddin

Russian Colonel Ruslan Galitsly was killed in Aleppo, Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday, Sputnik reports.

Russian military adviser died of wounds sustained in an attack of the so-called moderate Syrian opposition on a residential district in Aleppo, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

“Col. Ruslan Galitsky died in the hospital as a result of a serious wound. Russian combat medics fought for his life for several days. The officer was wounded in a shelling of militants of the so-called opposition of a residential district of western Aleppo,” the statement read.

Galitsky received a state award posthumously, the ministry said.

Photo: Getty Images

 

The authorities in Bolivia have arrested the head of the airline involved in a crash last week that killed 71 people, including most of the Brazilian football team, Chapecoense, the BBC reports.

Gustavo Vargas, a retired air force general, has been detained as part of an investigation into the crash.

The plane, operated by the tiny LaMia airline, was taking the team to Colombia when it ran out of fuel.

A Bolivian official says she warned the pilot of the problem before departure.

The official, Celia Castedo, has now sought asylum in Brazil, saying she suffered threats and abuse.

Chapecoense were travelling to the city of Medellin to play the first leg of the Sudamericana Cup final against Atletico Nacional.

The British-made Avro RJ85 aircraft ran out of fuel as it approached the airport in Medellin on 28 November.

In a leaked tape, the pilot, Miguel Quiroga, can be heard warning of a “total electric failure” and “lack of fuel”.

Armenia is ranked 87th (up from 38) in this month’s FIFA World Ranking. Armenia’s 3-2 win against Montenegro helped the team jump the largest number of places in the ranking table.

There has been plenty of movement in the latest edition of the FIFA World Ranking thanks largely to the 63 FIFA World Cup Russia™ qualification matches played, but also to 71 other qualifiers and international friendlies that took place over the past few weeks.

Argentina remain top for November, but have seen their command on the summit weakened by close rivals Brazil (2, up 1). After a good run of form in FIFA World Cup™ qualifying, A Seleção have surpassed Germany (3, down 1) and closed the distance to their South American neighbors, as the year-end approaches. Chile, meanwhile, climbed into fourth place.

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has been charged by the Football Association for claiming it would be “difficult” for referee Anthony Taylor to officiate their game with Liverpool, the BBC reports.

Mourinho added appointing Taylor for the 17 October match had put “pressure” on the Manchester-based official.

Managers are not supposed to speak about referees prior to matches.

Mourinho has until 31 October to respond to a charge of improper conduct and bringing the game into disrepute.

Taylor issued four yellow cards – all to Manchester United – in the 0-0 draw.

Managers were banned from talking about officials in the run-up to matches in 2009 in an attempt to prevent their comment from influencing decisions.

The Portuguese was given a one-match stadium ban and fined £40,000 in November after the FA backed referee Jon Moss’ claims that the then-Chelsea manager refused to leave the officials’ changing room and verbally abused him and his colleagues at half-time of a defeat at West Ham.

Mourinho was also fined £50,000 for claiming that referees were afraid to award penalties against his side last season after the Blues were beaten 3-1 by Southampton in October.