Earthquake in Iran also felt in Meghri region of Armenia
Monday,
March 04
At 01:26 am (0:59 am local time) today, a 4.3 magnitude earthquake
measuring 5-6 points on the Richter scale occurred in Iran, 26 km west
of the the city of Ahar, Armenia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations
reports.
An earthquake that measured 3 points was felt in Armenia’s Meghri
region as well.
TODAY, 11:11
Aysor.am
Armenia and UAE strengthen interparliamentary relations
11:29, 4 March, 2013
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENRPESS. The Republic of Armenia strengthens the
interparliamentary bilateral relations with the United Arab Emirates.
As reports “Armenpress” citing Newstrack India information portal, the
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of
Armenia to the United Arab Emirates Gegham Gharibjanian had a meeting
with the Chairman of the UAE’s Federal National Council Mohammed Ahmed
Al-Mur. Among other things the interlocutors discussed a number of
issues regarding the development and strengthening of the bilateral
interparliamentary relations between the two countries.
The diplomatic relations between the Republic of Armenia and United
Arab Emirates have been established since June 25, 1998. On the order
of the President of the Republic of Armenia, Gegham Gharibjanian was
appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic
of Armenia to the United Arab Emirates on March 12, 2012.
– See more at:
iSports Times
March 3 2013
Wrestling Hunger Strike: Why Is Olympic Champion Armen Nazaryan Going
On Hunger Strike?
By Melissa Siegel
Former Olympic champion wrestler Armen Nazaryan is going on a hunger strike.
According to Reuters, the Armenian native is starving himself to
protest the International Olympic Committee’s decision to drop
wrestling from the 2020 Games. Nazaryan won a gold medal for his
country in Greco-Roman wrestling during the 1996 Olympics and earned
another for Bulgaria four years later.
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“I’m protesting against the recommendation to drop wrestling from the
Olympics,” Nazaryan said on the Russian Wrestling Federation website.
“Wrestling has always been part of the Olympic program and it’s not
right to exclude it from the Games. I’m starting my hunger strike, and
from now on I will drink only syrup.”
Indeed, according to the Associated Press, wrestling was featured in
the first modern Olympics in 1896. However, the IOC chose to eliminate
the sport based on a variety of factors including ticket sales and
global popularity.
Some, including David Steele of AOL Sporting News, also feel that IOC
board member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. had a lot to do with the
decision. Samaranch Jr. is a member of the governing body for the
modern pentathlon, which many felt was going to be eliminated instead
of wrestling. His father was also the president of the IOC for two
decades, so he likely held a great deal of influence over the
committee.
But whatever the reason for the IOC’s decision, the choice to
eliminate wrestling has been criticized throughout the sport’s
community. This hunger strike is just the latest protest since the
move was announced.
In fact, as the AP noted, the choice to drop wrestling from the games
has even brought together two international enemies: America and Iran.
The two nations are working together in trying to convince the IOC to
change its mind.
Two former champions of the sport have taken their protestations a step further.
According to Inside The Games, Valentine Yordanov, the president of
the Bulgarian Wrestling Federation, recently returned the gold medal
he won in the sport during the 1996 Games.
“As a sign of protest I am returning my gold medal, won at the Olympic
Games in Atlanta in 1996, to the headquarters of the International
Olympic Committee in Lausanne,” Yordanov wrote in a letter to IOC
President Jacques Rogge. “With this act I express my solidarity with
the millions of athletes and fans of our sport who are condemning the
recommendation of the IOC. Our sport is an integral part of the
Olympic Movement and one of the foundations of both the Ancient and
Modern Olympics.”
Per UPI, fellow wrestler Sagid Murtazaliev followed suit a week later.
The Russian won his gold in the heavyweight freestyle event during the
2000 Olympics in Sydney.
“The decision to return my Olympic medal was not easy for me,”
Murtazaliev said in a letter to Rogge. “But after much thinking, I
decided anyway to follow the example of the great Bulgarian wrestler
Valentin Yordanov.”
It’s unclear whether Nazaryan’s hunger strike and these other protests
will have any impact on the IOC’s decision. As ESPN noted, wrestling
and seven other sports can apply for inclusion in the 2020 Games
during the committee’s meeting in May. However, it seems unlikely that
the sport will be voted back in just months after it was cut.
MSN Now
March 3 2013
Olympic wrestler is so mad his sport got dropped, he’ll eat only syrup
Everyone is bummed out about wrestling’s harsh boot from the Olympics,
but not everyone’s drinking nothing but syrup until the sport comes
back. Then again, not everyone is the chiseled two-time Greco-Roman
gold champ Armen Nazaryan, who boldly announced he will subsist merely
on syrup until the fate of his beloved event is restored to proper
health. The dramatic hunger strike by the Armenian-born athlete, who
also competed for Bulgaria, is a protest against a recommendation by
the International Olympic Committee to remove wrestling, beginning
with the 2020 Summer Games. The committee’s executive board will next
meet in May to discuss details, which will be put to a vote in
September in Buenos Aires.
Hovhannisian’s popular movement plan experiences failure – analyst
TERT.AM
15:46 – 03.03.13
Former presidential candidate Raffi Hovhannisian’s efforts to spur a
wave of civil disobedience in the country are experiencing a failure,
according Sergey Shakaryants, an Armenian political analyst.
`People who see themselves in a different country and a different
reality have probably watched and been influenced by many video discs
featuring Arab Springs. That is why they fail to preserve the Armenian
reality’s image, seeking to provoke and drive people out of control,’
the expert told Tert.am on Saturday.
Shakaryants noted that Hovhannisian’s post-election rallies aim to
escalate into such kind of conflicts.
Referring to the election outcomes, the expert said the processes
during the voting had very little to do with elections per se. `I
don’t think the city of Gyumri, which has always voted in the
authorities’ favor, can now elect someone else, no matter who that
person is. That means certain in-depth processes are going on here,’
Shakaryants said, adding that he doesn’t think Hovhannisian or his
Heritage have a plan of actions for future.
TIR
L’équipe d’Arménie junior 3e des Championnats d’Europe de tir à 10 m à
Odense (Danemark)
L’équipe d’Arménie de tir à 10 mètres a remporté la médaille de bronze
des Championnats d’Europe junior de tir à Odense (Danemark) le 27
février. L’équipe d’Arménie, composée de Ramig Minassian, Chant
Sarkissian et Arthur Petrossian a obtenu 1043 points et une 3e place
au podium. L’Arménie devance la Russie. L’Ukraine est médaille d’or et
la Finlande médaille d’argent. L’équipe d’Arménie est entraînée par le
tireur Noraïr Pakhdamian qui a beaucoup fait progresser l’équipe
d’Arménie ces dernières années. A titre individuel, sur les 16
sportifs classés, Ramig Minassian est 7e avec 361 points, Chant
Sarkissian est 14e (342 pts) et Arthur Petrossian est 15e (340 pts).
Chez les filles sur les 13 sportives classées, la représentante de
l’Arménie, Lilit Mkrdtchian prit la 11e place avec 334 points.
Krikor Amirzayan
dimanche 3 mars 2013,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com
R. HOVANNISIAN: WHY DID HAKHVERDYAN EXPRESS SUCH AN OPINION?
01:59 PM | TODAY | POLITICS
Before today’s march in commemoration of the ten victims of March
2008 post-election clashes, Heritage party leader Raffi Hovannisian
gave an open air press conference at Liberty Square in Yerevan.
He promised to do his utmost to exclude repetition of the March 2008
tragic events. Mr Hovannisian also answered journalists’ questions
regarding his decision to appeal the results of the February 18
presidential election in the Constitutional Court.
The Heritage leader said he was going to consult over the issue with
people at Saturday’s rally in Liberty Square and make his decision
the following day.
“I will announce my decision publically on Sunday, March 3,” said
Mr Hovannisian.
The Heritage leader said he has no connection with the parliamentary
hearings initiated by the Heritage faction, Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). At
the same time, Hovannisian said he did not object to the undertaking as
‘the National Assembly is also a platform for waging a fight.’
Speaking about Ruben Hakhverdyan’s statement made at Liberty Square
during the Feb. 28 rally, Mr Hovannisian said he did not agree with
the singer’s viewpoint though he respects the opinion of every and
each citizen.
“We had better think about what happened in our country, which gave
rise to such an opinion,” said the Heritage party leader.
In the end, Mr Hovannisian re-affirmed his commitment to continue the
nation-wide movement, saying ‘people should be prepared for long-term
struggle, rather instant solutions.’
Speaking about Serzh Sargsyan at yesterday’s rally at Liberty Square,
Ruben Hakhverdyan said ‘he had come from the remotest depths of an
Azerbaijani province.’ he meant to say when Serzh Sargsyan was living
in Stepanakert, the Nagorno-Karabakh liberation movement had not yet
started and Nagorno-Karabakh was still a part of the Soviet Azerbaijan.
Hovannisian’s press conference was followed my a march to the Statue
of Myasnikyan to commemorate the ten people killed during the violent
clashes on March 1, 2008.
TOXIC ELEMENTS IN LAKE SEVAN EXCEEDING MPC
02:41 PM | TODAY | SOCIAL
Heavy metals and toxic elements in Lake Sevan exceed the maximum
permissible concentration. “Environmental Impact Monitoring Center”
SNCO took 18 samples from 5 observation sites in lake Sevan in
December 2012. It turns out, under fish-economic assessment norms,
in the samples taken from Lake Sevan ammonium ion exceeded MPC by
1.1-1.9 times, magnesium – 1.2 – 1.4, vanadium – 5.4-5.9, chrome –
1.3-2.0, copper – 1.1, and selenium – 1.8-2.0., EcoLur reports.
NO ONE HAS RIGHT TO SAY ANYTHING TO OUR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS – ARMENIAN OPPOSITION LEADER
March 01, 2013 | 13:12
YEREVAN. – I always prefer classes rather than their boycott, but no
one has the right to say anything to our university students.
Armenia’s opposition Heritage Party Chairman Raffi Hovannisian-who
is declared runner-up to the winner, incumbent President Serzh
Sargsyan, as a result of the presidential election on February 18,
but who claims to be the real winner in the vote-stated this Friday,
during an open-air press conference in capital city Yerevan’s Liberty
Square, commenting on the ongoing demonstrations that are staged
nearby several of the country’s institutions of higher education.
“No one has a right to raise their hands against, to punish
our students. It is these very students that ought to be in the
universities, whereas the election-violating ‘bosses’ should come
out of the university,” he noted.
As per Hovannisian, there was widespread fraud on Election Day. And
speaking on the resignation of some officials, Heritage’s leader
specifically said:
“I am confident that they have thousands of election fraud evidence. I
am glad that there is the [resignation] process, but it should not
be partial.”
To the query as to why he does not demand President Sargsyan’s
resignation during the rallies, Hovannisian responded: “We will speak
tomorrow [Saturday].”
The news reporters also asked why the members of Raffi Hovannisian’s
family are not citizens of Armenia to this day, and his sons have
not served in the Armenian Armed Forces.
“My sons and my family are in service all through their lives, and I
am very glad that my son, Armen Richard, has applied and been granted
citizenship of Armenia at the age of sixteen,” he noted. Furthermore,
it turns out that, after receiving the citizenship of Armenia himself,
Hovannisian had applied to be called up for army duty, but he was
rendered ineligible for military service due to his age.
To note, following the press conference, Raffi Hovannisian headed,
with a march, to the Myasnikyan statue to pay respects to the victims
of the tragedy that occurred nearby the area on March 1, 2008.
– See more at:
COMPLAINT ON SAFAROV CASE FILED TO EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
March 01, 2013 | 13:14
YEREVAN.- Armenia has filed a complaint to the European Court of Human
Rights on murderer Rafil Safarov’s case, Deputy Justice Minister said.
The private complaint has been filed by legal successors of deceased
officer Gurgen Margaryan and representatives of Hayk Makuchyan.
At the current stage, given the fact of a personal complaint, Armenian
authorities refrain from taking steps, but in due time the Armenian
side will take an active part in the proceedings as the third party,
Deputy Minister Ruben Melikyan told reporters.
The complaint refers to violations of Article 2 (right to life)
and 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on
Human Rights. The working group engaged in preparing the complaint,
involved local and foreign experts, including attorney Nazeli Vardanyan
representing the Armenian side during trial in Budapest.
Melikyan noted this is an unprecedented case for the European Court,
taking into account the committed crime. Armenian side hopes for an
adequate response, he added.
Ramil Safarov, a lieutenant in the Azerbaijani military, was
extradited on August 31, 2012 from Hungary, where he was serving a
life sentence-and with no expression of either regret or remorse-for
the premeditated axe murder of Armenian lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan,
in his sleep, during a NATO Partnership for Peace program in Budapest
back in 2004. Safarov had planned on killing the other Armenian
military serviceman, who likewise was attending the aforesaid program,
but he was unable to carry out this plan.
Ramil Safarov’s return to Baku was welcomed, as was his act of murder,
by the officials of president Ilham Aliyev’s government and much
of Azerbaijani society, and the Azerbaijani president immediately
granted him a pardon, he was declared a national hero, promoted to
a higher military rank, and was allocated housing and pension.
And Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan announced on August 31, 2012
that Armenia is suspending its diplomatic ties with Hungary. Also,
Sargsyan instructed the Ministry of Justice to take all measures to
petition to the international judicial tribunals, and with respect
to the Safarov case.
Ramil Safarov’s pardoning was condemned by virtually all international
organizations.
– See more at: