Author: Maghakian Mike

The artillery of the Syrian Army shelled a convoy of ISIS oil tankers near the ancient city of Palmyra and destroyed most of the motorcade.

 

On 10 December Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan visited the Tigranakert Archeological Museum and attended the exhibition of artifacts found during the archeological excavations of the Nor Haykadjour burial mound in the Martakert region, NKR President’s Press Office reported.

The President stressed the significance of carrying out excavations in the Nor Haykadjour area from academic, educational, patriotic upbringing and political viewpoints.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has issued a message on the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime. The message reads:

“Today, we observe the first-ever International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime. This occasion also coincides with the anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1948.

This is an ideal time to reaffirm our commitment to prevent this serious international crime, honour the memory of the victims, and reaffirm the right to remedies and reparation, as recognized in international law.

Preventing genocide means paying more attention to the warning signs, and being prepared to take immediate action to address them.  This is the spirit of my Human Rights up Front initiative.

After all, genocide does not just happen; it unfolds over time.  It is not part of the accidental “fallout” of conflict; most often, it is systematic, planned, with precise targets, and it can also take place outside of conflict situations.

Across the world today, intolerance and xenophobia are on the rise. A dangerous “us versus them” dynamic is often being exploited to justify the exclusion of communities based on different forms of identity such as religion, ethnicity or other, and to deny assistance, restrict human rights and perpetrate atrocious acts of violence.

The prevention of genocide is a specific obligation under international law.  The International Court of Justice and other judicial bodies have made that very clear.  Governments must act on this imperative by investing in prevention and taking preventive action.  On this new international observance, let us recognize the need to work together more concertedly to protect individuals from gross human rights violations and uphold our common humanity.”

Photo: Universal History Archive/REX Shutterstock

 

An image of a portrait underneath the Mona Lisa has been found beneath the existing painting using reflective light technology, according to a French scientist, the reports.

Pascal Cotte said he has spent more than 10 years using the technology to analyse the painting.

He claims the earlier portrait lies hidden underneath the surface of Leonardo’s most celebrated artwork.

A reconstruction shows another image of a sitter looking off to the side.

The Louvre Museum has declined to comment on his claims.

Instead of the famous, direct gaze of the painting which hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris, the image of the sitter also shows no trace of her enigmatic smile, which has intrigued art lovers for more than 500 years.

But Mr Cotte’s claims are controversial and have divided opinion among Leonardo experts.

The scientist, who is the co-founder of Lumiere Technology in Paris, was given access to the painting in 2004 by the Louvre.

He has pioneered a technique called Layer Amplification Method (LAM), which he used to analyse the Mona Lisa.

It works by “projecting a series of intense lights” on to the painting, Mr Cotte said. A camera then takes measurements of the lights’ reflections and from those measurements, Mr Cotte said he is able to reconstruct what has happened between the layers of the paint.

The Mona Lisa has been the subject of several scientific examinations over more than half a century. More recent techniques include infrared inspections and multi-spectral scanning.

But Mr Cotte has claimed his technique is able to penetrate more deeply into the painting.

He said: “We can now analyse exactly what is happening inside the layers of the paint and we can peel like an onion all the layers of the painting. We can reconstruct all the chronology of the creation of the painting.”

Photo: Getty Images

 

A shortlist of candidates chosen by magazine’s editors for the 2015 Person of the Year was revealed on NBC’s TODAY show Monday morning, The eight contenders are, in alphabetical order:

Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, who as leader of ISIS has inspired followers to both fight in his self-declared caliphate of Iraq and Syria, and also stage attacks in countries like Tunisia and France.

Black Lives Matter activists, who have protested inequality towards African Americans, especially in their treatment by law enforcement.

Caitlyn Jenner, whose coming out as a transgender woman prompted widespread conversations about gender identity and issues of equality for the LGBT community.

Travis Kalanick, who as CEO of Uber drove his car-hailing company to a nearly $70 billion valuation, but also drew criticism about the downside of the sharing economy.

Angela Merkel, who as German chancellor has been at the center of major news events this year, from economic strife in the Eurozone to Europe’s ongoing migrant crisis.

Vladimir Putin, who as president of Russia has defied Western sanctions over his country’s military activity in Ukraine to play a critical but precarious role in the war on ISIS.

Hassan Rouhani, who as president of Iran is seeking to bring his country out of pariah status and repair its sanctions-crippled economy by pursuing a nuclear deal with the West.

Donald Trump, whose populist rhetoric has made him frontrunner in the race for the Republican presidential candidacy and stirred debate about the party’s future.

The 2015 Person of the Year will be unveiled on TODAY Wednesday morning, when the news will also be shared on Time.com. NBC is also asking readers to vote on which of the eight finalists should win.

Five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant, widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players in history, will retire at the end of the season, the BBC reports.

Bryant has scored 32,683 points during a 20-year career with the LA Lakers torank third on the NBA’s all-time list.

The two-time Olympic gold medallist, 37, has been hindered by injuries in recent seasons and been below his best this year for the struggling Lakers.

He told the Players’ Tribune: “My body knows it’s time to say goodbye.”

The 350th anniversary of the first Armenian Bible printed by Voskan Yerevantsi in 1666 and the 200th birth anniversary of Hovhannes Ayvazovski (1817-199) have been included in UNESCO’s 2016-2017 calendar.

The decision was made within the framework of the 28^th session of the General Conference held in Paris November 4-18.

Twenty-one applications by the Republic of Armenia have been included in UNESCO calendar since 1998.

About 80 cases of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani side were registered at the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan over the weekend.

The rival used artillery weapons of different caliber as it fired more than 1,300 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep the situation at the line of contact under control and take necessary measures to organize the protection of the military positions.

“In an era when the protection and promotion of human rights are considered to be the underpinning concept for the civilized world, intolerance towards the values of civilization belonging to others, intentionally damaging or destroying cultural or religious heritage, must be condemned with the same resolve and determination as violence against people. The international community should act in a resolute and timely manner to protect what is still possible to preserve,” Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said as he addressed the 38th session of UNESCO General Conference.

“Armenia has continuously drawn the attention of this high body to the appalling situation of the Armenian cultural heritage in neighboring Azerbaijan. In Nakhijevan region alone thousands of medieval cross-stones, hundreds of Armenian churches, monasteries and other sacred sites have been completely destroyed by Azerbaijan in an attempt to erase all traces of the people who have inhabited the region for centuries and who gave the name to it – “Nakhijevan”, which in Armenian literally means “the first place of descent”, a reference to the descent of Biblical Noah. In its recently published report for 2015 the US Commission on International Religious Freedom has made a reference to the vandalized Armenian cemetery in Nakhijevan and reported that the religious freedom in Azerbaijan has further deteriorated, including by bringing examples of Baku’s only remaining Armenian church which is currently used as an archive for the Presidential administration and the confiscated Lutheran Church turned into a concert hall. If we – UNESCO and other international organizations, do not act today what would be the future of those and many other endangered monuments tomorrow?” Minister Nalbandian said.

“In a sharp contrast to this, neighboring Iran has made great efforts to preserve and protect the Armenian cultural heritage. The Armenian Monastic Ensembles of Iran, the oldest of which dates back to the 7th century, were inscribed on the World Heritage List by the Iranian Government. On our part, Armenia reconstructed the Iranian 18th century Blue Mosque in Yerevan, and is going to inscribe it on the World Heritage List,” the Foreign Minister added.

“Armenia tries to make its own contribution to the efforts aimed at preservation of the world’s cultural heritage, including through constructive engagement in the relevant bodies of UNESCO. In 2013 Armenia became a member of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Event of Armed Conflict. A year later we were elected a Vice-chair of the Committee’s Bureau. This year we have joined the Subsidiary Committee to the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of cultural property,” Minister Nalbandian added.

“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education stipulate that education shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups. Taking into consideration UNESCO’s unique role in the sphere of education, we call upon the Organization to create within its educational programs an overview mechanism that will examine and evaluate the textbooks of the member-states, especially in history and social sciences, with a special emphasis on exclusion of intolerance and xenophobia. Azerbaijan attempts to distort and alter the centuries old Armenian heritage, culture and history. In this country the rewriting of its own history is continued by means of misappropriation or annihilation of the traces of other cultures on their territory, or even more, by privatizing the cultural heritage of the neighboring nations. A country that appeared on the political map of the world less than a hundred years ago has cultural claims towards a country and a people the several millenniums’ history of which is recorded from the ancient times,” the Armenian FM added.

“As a member of the UNESCO family we have committed to developing more inclusive education system, proscribe any form of discrimination, promote equal opportunities for all in education. In this regard I would like to highlight the importance of not leaving anyone outside of the educational programs and projects of UNESCO, including those living in the territories the political status of which is not determined pending the settlement within negotiation processes. UNESCO has to ensure the inclusiveness of its own endeavors without distinction to political, economic, social or other considerations,” he said.

“70 years ago a shared objective of creating a better world for the generations to come formed the basis of this Organization. As long as its priorities and goals continue to be relevant the fulfillment of those aspirations will continue to require synergy of actions and full adherence to the UNESCO’s values and principles. Any attempts to drag the Organization into a propagandistic discourse with the aim of promoting one’s own political agenda at the expense or in contradiction of those values should be resolutely and timely proscribed.

Armenia is strongly committed to the ideals and goals of UNESCO and will continue expanding its involvement in the UNESCO initiatives and programs,” Minister Nalbandian concluded.

The bodies of the eight Armenians killed in a bus crash in Russia’s Tula region will be transported to Yerevan on a charter flight on November 5, the Ministry of Transport and Communication reports.

The plane is expected to take off from Moscow at 5 p.m. local time and land at Zvartnots Airport at 8 p.m. Yerevan time.

The plane will also transport the injured passengers, whose health condition is satisfactory. The names of the passengers that will fly to Yerevan will be published tomorrow.

Those, who are currently getting treatment at medical centers in Tula will remain there as long as needed.