Author: Kanayan Tamar

On July 23 and the night of July 24th the Azerbaijani side violated the ceasefire regime on the Line of Contact between Karabakh-Azerbaijani conflicting forces for about 160 times, the NKR Ministry of Defense reports.

During that time more than 2,500 shots were fired in the direction of the Armenian defense guards from weapons of various caliber including 82mm mortars and various grenade launchers.

As a result of the response of advanced units of the Defence Army, the activity of the enemy was suppressed.

 

The Azerbaijan armed forces continued intensively violating the ceasefire all along the  Line of Contact between the Karabakh-Azerbaijani opposing forces on July 21.

According to the operative data of the NKR Defence Army, the adversary violated the ceasefire about 160 times. More than 1,600 shots were fired in the direction of Armenian military positions, from rifles and artillery weaponry including 123 mortar shells of caliber 60 mm, 3 missile from a grenade launcher RPG – 7, about 140 shots from heavy machine guns.

The Frontline Forces of NKR Defence Army took retaliatory actions, and as a result, the adversary’s attacks were quelled.

The Defense Army reports it keeps teh situation under control and is ready for  disproportionate and punitive measures in any development of events. 

The Turkish ASIMDER anti-Armenian organization intends to prevent the conduct of the annual liturgy at the Armenian St. Cross Church on Akhtamar Island in Lake Van, member of the organization Irfan Ermis has said.

Speaking about the reasons of the decision, Ermis noted that the Armenian authorities have not allowed them to perform namaz at the Blue Mosque in Yerevan, Ermenihaber.am reports, quoting the Turkish Milliyet daily.

Ermis said they will cooperate with local NGOs and the population of Van. He insisted that the St. Cross Church has been built by Christian Pecheneg Turks.

Swiss authorities said on Thursday they had extradited to the United States an official detained in a U.S. corruption investigation into world soccer’s governing body FIFA, Reuters reports.

They did not name the official, but the news came six days after a source told Reuters that Jeffrey Webb – one of seven current and former FIFA employees arrested in Switzerland in May – had agreed not to fight his extradition.

The allegations under investigation by U.S. and Swiss authorities cover bribery, fraud and money laundering, including possible corruption in the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively.

They have rocked the administration of the world’s most popular sport, raised questions for the game’s powerful commercial sponsors, and forced FIFA President Sepp Blatter to announce he will step down.

A Swiss justice official said: “The first of the seven FIFA officials being held in custody in Switzerland was extradited to the U.S. on 15 July.

“He was handed over to a three-man U.S. police escort in Zurich who accompanied him on the flight to New York.”

Webb and the six others were arrested by Swiss police in a dawn raid on a luxury Zurich hotel two days before a FIFA Congress in May where Blatter was re-elected for a fifth term.

Islamic State fighters have entered the northern Syrian city of Kobane, battling Kurdish forces, activists say, the BBC reports.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says a number of people were killed in fierce clashes in the centre of the town on the Syrian-Turkish border.

Kurdish forces drove IS forces from Kobane early this year after a long campaign backed by US-led air strikes.

The battle made international headlines – heralding what some saw as a symbolic defeat for the IS.

The jihadist group has suffered a string of defeats to Kurdish forces since it was forced to withdraw from Kobane in January after a four-month battle.

Early this week, Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) forces said they had captured a key town, Ain Issa, just 50km (30 miles) from the IS headquarters at Raqqa, days after seizing Tal Abyad and cutting a major supply line for IS.

Next time the Turkish Ambassador to India is in the City of Joy, he “hopes to visit” the Armenian community. In fact, he wants to facilitate their visit to Turkey, according to .

Burak Akcapar, an independent scholar of Turkish history, is the first Turkish envoy to advocate a meeting between the Armenians in the city and a government representative since India’s Independence. Mr. Akcapar was there to launch his book on the Indian medical mission to Turkey to treat Ottoman soldiers injured in the Balkan War of 1912-13.

The number of Armenian Christians in Kolkata has dwindled from thousands to some 500. But many of them still assemble every year in the 18th century church to pray for their ancestors killed in the genocide. The Armenian descendants say the Ottoman government exterminated the minority Armenians in today’s eastern Turkey, their “historic homeland”.

Mr. Akcapar did not apologise, but he took a step forward. “I hope to reach out to the Armenian community here,” he said. “I also like them to go to Turkey to reach out to us. My door is open to the Armenians of Kolkata and I would be happy to meet them,” he told The Hindu before the launch of his book at Oxford Bookstore.

Later, he tried to find out about the community. “I need to know about them,” he said. “Perhaps, I have not come prepared for this, and will plan to meet them on my next visit.”

He said many Turkish Muslims were also killed during the time. “We both have suffered and still shared a lot of our past for thousands of years — we should both hug and cry,” he said.

A city-based historian said the Turkish envoys had never displayed “any willingness to connect the communities” divided by a 100-year-old tragedy.

Yerevan has expressed its willingness to provide refuge to the animals left without shelter after the Tbilisi Zoo was destroyed as a result of heavy flooding in the Georgian capital, Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan said during working consultations at the City Hall.

Specialists of the Yerevan Zoo left for Tbilisi immediately after the disaster on Sunday to provide every assistance to the Georgian counterparts.

Heavy flooding in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, has killed at least 12 people, with officials warning people to stay indoors to avoid animals that have escaped from a zoo, the BBC reports.

The missing animals include tigers, lions, bears and wolves. Three of the dead people were found within the zoo.

A hippopotamus was cornered in one of the city’s main squares and subdued with a tranquiliser gun.

Rescue workers are searching submerged homes to check for trapped residents.

Dozens of people have been left homeless.

Tbilisi Zoo spokeswoman Mzia Sharashidze told the InterPressNews agency that three bodies had been found in the zoo, including those of two employees.

She said the grounds had been turned into “a hellish whirlpool”.

Ms Sharashidze said that 20 wolves, eight lions and an unknown number of tigers, jackals and jaguars had been shot dead by special forces or were missing.

The bodies of a lion and a pony lay near the zoo.

The flooding began when heavy rains caused the River Vere – normally little more than a stream – to burst its banks.

Thousands of people have been left without water and electricity while others have had to be airlifted to safety.

Mayor Davit Narmania said the situation was “very grave”.

Several main roads have been destroyed while small houses and cars were swept away.

Coffins in a city cemetery have reportedly been washed out of the ground and left lying on the mud.

Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has called on residents to stay indoors until the animals have been found.

President Giorgi Margvelashvili has visited affected area and extended his condolences to relatives of the victims.

It remains unclear how many are animals missing. Helicopters are circling the city as part of a search and rescue operation.

Vice-mayor Irakly Lekvinadze estimated the preliminary damage at $10m.

A jury has sentenced Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to the death penalty, the BBC reports.

After 14 hours of deliberation, the jury of five men and seven women came to its decision.

Three people were killed and 260 were injured when Tsarnaev and his brother placed bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon in 2013.

Jurors made findings on 12 factors that would support the death penalty and 21 mitigating factors his defence said support the decision of life in prison.

Seven of 30 charges Tsarnaev, 21, was convicted of allow the possibility of the death penalty.

Canadian Armenian filmmaker Atom Egoyan is among the 2015 winners of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards, reports.

Five Canadians were named for the country’s highest honour for lifetime artistic achievement at an announcement Thursday morning in Montreal, Victoria, Vancouver and Toronto and via live stream.

• Walter Boudreau, C.M., composer, conductor and artistic director
• Atom Egoyan, film and stage director
• Diana Leblanc. actress and director
• Sarah McLachlan, singer, songwriter
• R.H. Thomson, C.M., actor, director, producer and arts advocate

The award is accompanied with a $25,000 cash prize contributed by the Canada Council for the Arts and a commemorative medallion produced by the Royal Canadian Mint.

The awards will be handed out by Canada’s Governor General David Johnston at a special ceremony in Ottawa’s Rideau Hall on May 29. The recipients will be celebrated with a star-studded gala featuring special performances and tributes at the National Arts Centre on May 30.

Founded in 1992, the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards are given to Canadians whose accomplishments are deemed to have inspired and enriched the country.