Author: Maghakian Mike

Amal Clooney has described how her family were forced to flee to Europe as their homeland was ravaged by civil war during a meeting with Syrian refugees, reports.

Amal and her husband George Clooney met with Syrian refugees living in Berlin to mark the fifth anniversary of the Syrian conflict, which has displaced at least 4.8 million people internationally and six million internally. They have repeatedly urged Governments to act in the crisis and in February to back her open door policy on refugees.

In a video of their meeting, which was released by the International Rescue Committee, they spoke to one refugee who said he was detained as a political prisoner and tortured with electricity. Others described how they had escaped shootings with their children and feared for their lives.

Amal, a leading human rights lawyer, recalled how her own family were forced to flee violence when she was three, leaving their home in Beirut, in Lebanon, behind.

“My own family is from Lebanon,“ she said. “They also ran away from a war and was lucky enough to be accepted by a European country in 1982 when the violence there was really bad. Many years later, my family is doing well. My father has returned to Beirut.

“I hope you will be able to go back to a safe and free Syria.”

George also explained how his family were Irish descendants and criticised the US for “forgetting who we are”.

“I’m of Irish descent and in America, 100 years ago, we were refugees, my family. Irish were treated terribly in America for a period of time and not accepted, and America learned to accept all of these ideas. It’s what our country is, a country of immigrants.”

Speaking directly about the Syrian crisis, he went on: “You forget that these are people who didn’t just leave their country for no reason at all. These are people who left because a terrible tragedy.

‘We always look around at the end of these tragedies and say if we knew, we would have done something and the reality is, of course we know.

‘What is shocking to me is not that it happened but its continuing to happen for five years.’“

Billionaire Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani has been sentenced to death for corruption, justice officials say, the BBC reports.

He was arrested in December 2013 after accusations that he withheld billions in oil revenue channelled through his companies. He denies the allegations.

Zanjani, 42, was convicted of fraud and economic crimes, a judiciary spokesperson said at a press briefing.

One of Iran’s richest men, Zanjani was blacklisted by the US and EU for helping Iran evade oil sanctions.

Two others were sentenced to death along with him and all were ordered to repay embezzled funds. The ruling can be appealed.

Award-winning American actress, producer and television host Woopi Goldberg wore accessories made by Istanbul-based Armenian jeweler for the Oscars 2016.

Twenty-five years after her last appearance at the Academy Awards in 1991, Whoopi Goldberg appeared  in a glamorous Old Hollywood style gown and some insanely chic jewelry.

“Sevan Biçakçi is the gentleman’s name who created this,” Goldberg said, pointing to her exquisite octopus-inspired ring on her right hand, while an intricate bracelet rested on her left wrist.

Sevan Biçakçi had earlier posted the photo of the bracelet on his .

Of Armenian descent, Sevan Bıçakçı was born in 1965 in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. He is known as the King of Rings.

Some of Sevan Bıçakçı’s famous clientele include Catherine Zeta-Jones, Elizabeth Hurley, Celine Dion, Liv Tyler, Mariah Carey, Brooke Shields, Angie Harmon, Kim Raver, Halle Berry, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Michelle Monaghan, and Tory Burch.

The German Alliance 90/The Greens Party will make mention of the Armenian Genocide 100 years ago.

The bill to be presented by Cem Ozdemir, Chairman of the German Alliance 90/The Greens Party, notes that “the German Bundestag bows to the victims of forced displacement and massacre of the Armenians and Aramaeans, Assyrians and other Christian minorities of the Ottoman Empire, which began 100 years ago. It deplores the actions of the then Turkish government, almost full annihilation of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

The commemoration of the German Parliament will be an expression of special respect before Armenians as the oldest Christian nation on earth.

The bill states that “An honest appraisal of history is the most important basis for reconciliation It is given to a clear distinction between the guilt of the perpetrators and the

With the motion the German Bundestag will call on the Federal Government to encourage the Turkish side to face the history in order to lay the necessary foundation for reconciliation with the Armenian people. The German Government will be urged to continue to provide support scientific, civic and cultural exchange between Turkey and Armenia through budget resources, to actively support the Turkish-Armenian relations through scholarships for researchers, to encourage Turkish and Armenian government representatives to ratify the Zurich protocols signed in 2009 and resume diplomatic relations.

Photo: Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS    

The Syrian army and self-defense forces have regained control over the town of Kensaba, the last stronghold of militants to the north of Latakia (320 kilometers from Damascus), reports.

A spokesman for Syrian Armed Forces told SANA news agency on Thursday that Syrian forces also regained control over the Shellef fortress where fire positions of the enemy were situated.

 

One of Japan’s most active volcanos erupted spectacularly Friday evening with a fiery blast that sent lava rolling down its slope, the Associated Press reports.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency said Sakurajima on the southern island of Kyushu erupted at around 7 p.m. (1000 GMT).

Japanese television showed an orange burst out of the side of the volcano, near the summit, accompanied by lightning-like flashes. Dark gray smoke billowed into the sky.

The Meteorological Agency banned entry to the area, expanding an existing no-go zone around the crater to a 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) radius, according to public broadcaster NHK. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Friday’s eruption, while dramatic, was average compared to Sakurajima’s past eruptions, Kyoto University volcanologist Kazuhiro Ishihara told NHK. The mountain’s last major eruption was in September.

He said rocks spewing out of the crater were expected to fall within the 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) zone from the crater. Smoke and ash rose 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) into the air, about half the height measured in 2013 in one of the mountain’s biggest explosions in recent years, he said.

“I don’t think there will be any serious impact from the explosion,” Ishihara said. “But of course we must keep monitoring the volcanic activity.”

The Japanese archipelago sits atop the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin, and has more than 100 volcanoes. The 2014 eruption of Mount Ontake in central Japan killed 57 people.

A UN panel has ruled in favour of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange after he complained he was “arbitrarily detained”, the  reports.

Mr Assange claimed asylum in London’s Ecuadorean embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex assault claims, which he denies.

The Met Police says Mr Assange would be arrested if he does leave the embassy.

He earlier said his passport should be returned and his arrest warrant dropped if the UN panel ruled in his favour.

In 2014, Mr Assange complained to the UN that he was being “arbitrarily detained” as he could not leave the embassy without being arrested.

The application claimed Mr Assange had been “deprived of his liberty in an arbitrary manner for an unacceptable length of time”.

The UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is due to announce the findings of its investigation on Friday.

Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images

 

Pope Francis, the head of the global Catholic church, is to be the first pope to appear in a film, reports.

The pontiff will play himself in Beyond the Sun, an Italian-made family movie based on the gospels, which was inspired by the Pope’s call for film-makers to cater for children when thinking about how Jesus’s message should be communicated through cinema.

All profits from the film are to be donated to two Argentinian charities that help at-risk children and young adults. Shooting is due to begin imminently in Italy.

Andrea Iervolino, co-founder of AMBI Pictures, who will fund and distribute the film, said:

Our excitement and gratitude toward His Holiness, Pope Francis, participating in this film is beyond words. This is not just a movie for us, it’s a message, and who better to have on your side to deliver an important societal and spiritual message than the Pope?

However, there are conflicting reports about the scale of Pope Francis’s involvement in the project. Initial indications suggested he would figure significantly through the movie; information on AMBI’s site mentions only “an epilogue from Pope Francis telling children how and where to find Jesus”.

“The pope is not an actor,” a Vatican spokesman said, downplaying suggestions that Francis would be making any kind of film debut.

The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) has  launched its latest in Education Innovation, the AGBU WebTalks online video series. AGBU WebTalks aims to capture and preserve the insights of engaging, dynamic thinkers from around the world, speaking on a wide range of Armenian topics.

With these short videos, AGBU WebTalks seeks to create a rich repository of knowledge and provide easy access to reliable information to meet the demands of an increasingly connected and visual world. This new platform will bring together expertise on Armenian topics in one easily accessible online resource.

“Every generation has its own approach to dealing with questions of identity and community. This multigenerational sharing and learning platform focuses on access, dissemination and preservation of the knowledge and insight of scholars, intellectuals, artists and many others on topics pertaining to the Armenian reality. The curated content allows individuals to navigate and explore their Armenianness through different perspectives shared by leading experts and opinion makers,” says Lena Sarkissian, AGBU Central Board Member and Director of Program Development at the Zoryan Institute’s International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights.

AGBU WebTalks debuts with five videos, produced in partnership with the Zoryan Institute, an international academic and scholarly center devoted to the documentation, study and dissemination of material related to issues of universal human rights, genocide, diasporas and Armenia. The videos were filmed during the “Responsibility 2015” international conference held in New York in March 2015 as part of the centennial commemorations of the Armenian Genocide and feature interviews with journalists Laure Marchand and Guillaume Perrier; human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson; historian Raymond Kévorkian; psychologist Israel Charny; and professor of history Richard Hovannisian. The themes of the aforementioned videos revolve around politics and the Armenian Genocide. The videos currently in production explore a diverse array of topics from art and architecture to classical, jazz and folk music.

“AGBU remains committed to enhancing education with innovation. With high quality, accessible content, we can not only ensure that Armenians have an archive of our history, but we can utilize these tools to further our mission by promoting Armenian subjects to be used in non-Armenian universities and schools. Now, with AGBU WebTalks, we can encourage professors of art, architecture, history and linguistics to incorporate the Armenian story into their syllabi, giving us a new platform for integrating our heritage in classrooms around the world,” added Ani Manoukian, AGBU Central Board Member.

AGBU WebTalks is part of a larger multimedia platform currently in development. Set to launch later this year, this online platform is a global access point offering innovative multimedia educational tools to foster and promote the learning of Armenian language, history and culture. “As part of this larger platform,” added Lena Sarkissian, “the WebTalks series provides a living repository of our distinguished minds as well as a living archive of our community activities. It is all about making connections-to knowledge, to leading experts, to one’s history, to one’s culture, to one’s identity, to being Armenian. Thus, AGBU provides one more opportunity to help forge the future of the Armenian world.”

To learn more about the AGBU WebTalks series, please visit www.agbuwebtalks.org.

On January 14, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received Charles Kupchan, Special Assistant to the U.S. President and National Security Council Senior Director for Europe.

Welcoming the guest, Minister Nalbandian mentioned that Armenia attaches great importance to the development of relations with the United States, and commended Armenian-American friendly partnership and the joint steps undertaken to their further development.

In his turn, Kupchan mentioned, “I am glad for this opportunity to discuss how we can strengthen our existing strong and multifaceted relationship, and achieve our shared aim of a free, prosperous, and secure Armenia at peace with its neighbors.”

The sides reflected on numerous issues on the Armenian-US agenda, exchanged thoughts on pressing international problems.

It was noted with satisfaction that the year 2015 was quite dynamic from the perspective of the development of bilateral relations; agreement on visa-free regime between Armenia and the USA entered into force, Armenia-US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) was signed in May, the first meeting of Armenia-U.S. Council on Trade and Investment created under the agreement was held in November, in Yerevan. Session of Armenian-US Intergovernmental Committee on Economic Cooperation was convened.

International and regional issues, fight against terrorism, ways to conflict resolution, and range of issues on Armenia’s participation in peacekeeping operations were touched upon.

Edward Nalbandian and Charles Kupchan touched upon the ongoing negotiation process on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Minister Nalbandian stressed that together with the Minsk Group Co-Chairs Armenia will continue exerting joint efforts to exceptionally peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.