President Serzh Sargsyan met tonight with the honorary guests and movie professionals who have arrived to Armenia from different countries to participate at the Golden Apricot 13th International Film Festival.
Participants of the Festival conversed with the President of Armenia about the contest programs of the Golden Apricot 2016, about the history of the Festival, its achievements, and future programs.
Serzh Sargsyan wished all the best to the Golden Apricot 13th International Film Festival.
Arthur Abraham (44-5, 29 KOs) will face Tim-Robin Lihaug (15-1, 8 KOs) in a WBO International Super Middleweight title fight on Saturday night at the Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin.
Speaking at a final press-conference Abraham insisted he is fully on the fight at hand as he looks to atone for his World title defeat to Gilberto Ramirez and land another shot at World honours.
‘’Things did not go right for me last time, but now we look to the future,’’ he said. ‘’I am fully prepared for this fight and ready to do whatever it takes to win. First, I must defeat Lihaug and then I hope for another World title challenge.’’
Lihaug, however, maintained his belief that he would defeat Abraham and take his place at the top of the super middleweight division.
Hosts France advanced to the Euro 2016 final with their first victory over Germany in a major tournament since 1958 on a night of high emotion in Marseille, the BBC reports.
Antoine Griezmann, the tournament’s top scorer, made the decisive contributions in each half to set up a final against Portugal at the Stade de France on Sunday.
Griezmann scored from the penalty spot right on half-time when Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger was penalised for handball by Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli in an aerial challenge with Patrice Evra.
France held out against German pressure before Griezmann settled the destination of a pulsating semi-final with 18 minutes left when he turned in from close range after keeper Manuel Neuer could only half-clear Paul Pogba’s cross.
Joshua Kimmich then hit the woodwork for Germany and also saw a header brilliantly saved by France keeper Hugo Lloris – but there was no way back for the World Cup holders.
Photo: AFP
The death toll from Sunday’s suicide bombing in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, has risen to 250, the Iraqi government says, making it the deadliest such attack since the 2003 US-led invasion, the BBC reports.
A lorry packed with explosives was detonated in the Karrada district while families were shopping for the holiday marking the end of Ramadan.
So-called Islamic State (IS) has said it carried out the suicide attack.
An earlier estimate for the attack had put the toll at 165.
Iraq remains under an official state of mourning following the bombing.
The destruction of the area was all but complete. Bewildered local residents have held candlelight vigils and prayed for peace.
Austria’s highest court has annulled last month’s presidential election narrowly lost by the far-right candidate of the Freedom Party, the BBC reports.
The party had challenged the result, saying that postal votes had been improperly handled.
The Freedom Party candidate, Norbert Hofer, lost the election to the former leader of the Greens, Alexander Van der Bellen, by less than a percentage point.
The election will now be re-run.
If elected, Mr Hofer will become the first far-right head of state of an EU country.
Following the court’s order to re-run the vote, President Heinz Fischer will be replaced on a temporary basis by three parliamentary officials, including Mr Hofer.
The issue of Nagorno Karabakh requires silence, Spokesperdson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova told a press conference today.
“Diplomats and experts should work on the issue,” Zakharaova said, commenting on the results of the trilateral meeting between the Presidents of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan in St. Petersburg.
“What’s important is not to diffuse the positive achievements reached at the meeting in public rhetoric, they need to be preserved in order to be realized in the course of concrete steps,” she added.
“There are topics, which require silence, because it’s diplomats and experts that must work here,” Zakharova noted.
“It’s important to ensute that the settlement of the Karabakh conflict moves to a concrete real platform,” the Spokeswoman said.
Georgian Defense Minister Tinatin Khidasheli signed a decree on abolition of compulsory conscription to the republic’s armed forces, Interfax reports.
The Georgian Defense Ministry will cease to perform compulsory military conscription starting on June 27, the minister told reporters.
“The armed forces do not need servicemen who were forcefully enlisted,” she said.
As defense minister she is entitled to adopt such a decision; however, her successor can abolish it if this is deemed prudent, Khidasheli said.
Iran’s Paykan football team has completed the signing of Armenian international defender Levon Hayrapetyan, reports.
The 27-year-old defender has joined Paykan on a one-year contract for an undisclosed fee.
Hayrapetyan is a graduate of the German school of football. He played in the youth team of Hamburger SV from 2004 to 2008.
Hayrapetyan has also played for Pyunik Yerevan, Lechia Gdansk, and Widzew Lodz.
The international left back was a member of Armenia U-19 and U-21 football teams and currently plays for his country national team.
The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group have confirmed their participation in the forthcoming meeting of the Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani Presidents in Saint Petersburg.
“The co-chairs expect the sides to follow up on the outcomes of the May 16 meeting in Vienna, the US co-chair James Warlick told APA.
“I look forward to attending the June 20 meeting as the US Minsk Group co-chair. Specifically, we are hopeful the sides will finalize an agreement to implement an OSCE investigative mechanism and agree to resume negotiations on a comprehensive settlement,” said Warlick.
“As the Russian and American co-chairs, I will participate in this meeting,” French Co-Chair Pierre Andrieu said. “Our expectations of course are great, we hope that during the summit the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia will restore mutual trust and make progress to resolve the conflict,” the he said.
OSCE Acting Spokesperson Natacha Rajakovic had said earlier that the OSCE was not involved in the organization of the three-party summit in Nagorno Karabakh.
BarCamp Yerevan, Armenia’s favorite (un)conference will bring together more than 2000 IT and Media specialists on June 18-19.
The informal conference will be held for the 8th time and once again will give participants an opportunity to share knowledge, skills and experience. BarCamp Yerevan 2016 will again feature in depth workshops and a job fare for IT specialists.
As always BarCamp Yerevan will host international guests: Daniil Shyleiko, Marketing director of Yandex Taxi; Andrey Frolchenkov, SMM specialist; Eric Barret, the Executive Director of Jumpstart Media Company and Joanna Bronowicka, the Executive Director of Centre for Internet & Human Rights.
BarCamp is an international network of user-generated conferences (or unconferences). Those are open, participatory workshop-events with the participant-provided content. BarCamp Yerevan is made possible by volunteer effort. The organizing team are Armenian IT and Media specialists. The annual BarCamp Yerevan events have been held in Armenia since 2009. The first BarCamp Yerevan had from 200 to 300 participants, whereas 7 years later the number of participants exceeded 2000.