Author: Maral Chavushian

US President Barack Obama will host and convene the Fourth Nuclear Security Summit beginning on March 31 at the Washington Convention Center. Among the scheduled attendees are two leaders who rarely get together because their nations have been at loggerheads for decades.

“While it is important for world leaders to agree on how best to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of rogue nations or terrorist groups, the presence of Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia offers a rare yet historic moment for President Obama to take the lead in solving one of the most troublesome conflicts left from the break-up off the Soviet Empire,” S. Rob Sobhani writes in an article publsed by the Washington Times.

According to the author, President Obama may well be in a position to craft a breakthrough while the two leaders are in Washington that could create a new beginning for the people of Armenia and Azerbaijan by leading a robust diplomatic initiative to find a permanent solution fair to both sides.

“Mr. Obama needs to persuade the presidents of both Armenia and Azerbaijan that the United States won’t turn its back on them and that a workable solution can satisfy both nations, allow their citizens to live in peace and allow them to at long last develop the trust to be good and cooperative neighbors in a troubled region of the world,” the article reads.

February 27-28 Armenia and Artsakh were represented at the LA Travel and Adventure Show in the city of Long Beach, California, with the support of the Armenian Consulate General in Los Angeles and the Armenian-American Business Council.

The visitors were introduced to the peculiarities of the tourism in Armenia and Artsakh, including the actively developing eco-tourism.

Attending the event were the Armenian Ambassador to the US Grigor Hovhannisyan, NKR Representative to Washington Robert Avetisyan and a business delegation from Armenia.

Armenia was represented at the show by LA-based Armenian travel agencies, which offer tours to Armenia and Artsakh.

The Armenian booth was recognized the most beautiful and the most visited.

Eight suspects have been captured over the murder of an Armenian-origin Turkish homeowner, an assault on his wife and the burglary of their shared home on Feb. 6, the reports.

A special team formed by several officers from the homicide bureau of the Istanbul Police Department Public Order Unit captured three of the suspects in the Black Seaprovince of Trabzon late Feb. 9 while five other suspects, who were reported to have helped commit the burglary, were captured in Istanbul on the same day.

The move came days after Hagop Yakup Demirci, an 85-year-old Armenian man living in Istanbul’s Şişli district with his wife, Seta Ayda Demirci, 79, was found dead after the three burglars left the old Armenian couple hogtied inside their apartment, from which the burglars stole 100,000 Turkish Liras on Feb. 6. The body of Demirci was retrieved from the apartment located in Şişli’s Harbiye neighborhood with a ladder from the fire department.

The three burglars who were captured in Trabzon were preparing to travel to Batumi, a commercial hub in Georgia, with fake identity cards, police sources said, adding that the trio had former criminal records.

On Feb. 6, a cleaner came to the apartment of the couple at around 2 p.m. but could receive no response, prompting the person to inform the couple’s family and the police.

The couple was taken out of their apartment on the third floor of a building in a joint effort by police officers and firefighters. Hagop Yakup Demirci was pronounced dead while his wife was found severely wounded with her face bruised.

A special team formed by several officers from the homicide bureau of the Istanbul Police Department Public Order Unit captured three of the suspects, one of whom has been a servant for the Armenian couple, in the Black Sea province of Trabzon late Feb. 9 while five other suspects, who were reported to have helped commit the burglary, were captured in Istanbul on the same day. All eight of the suspects, five women and three men, were revealed to be Armenians upon a police investigation.

President Serzh Sargsyan has signed a decree, relieving Sergey Manasaryan of the duties of the Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia.

According to another presidential decree, Sergey Manasaryan has been appointed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Armenia to the People’s Republic of China.

Residents of the Syrian town Kessab told about vandalism of Turks in local churches, reports.

“Kessab’s centers of Armenian culture – our churches- especially suffered from actions of Islamists and Turks. When I came here after the town had been liberated, I saw bare walls remained from the once flourishing church,” the priest of the local Armenian protestant church Zhirajr Gazaryan was quoted as saying on Wednesday by the Rossijskaya Gazeta daily.

Akop, head of a Kessab Armenian family, told that militants from Tunisia lived in his house during the occupation.

“Turkey played a great role in our troubles. When Jabhad an-Nusra invaded Kessab, entire divisions of the Turkish special operations’ forces rushed into the town together with Salafi. Local guards saved residents of the town from a new genocide of Armenians. They started a battle against bandits, which gave local people time for leaving the town. However, when Turks seized the town, they brought here residents of their neighboring villages who loaded all valuable things we had in trucks, trailers, tractors, carts and just drove it to Turkey,” he said.

About 200 residents of the Syrian town of Salma were driven to Saudi Arabia and no one has heard anything about them ever since.

“Salafis rushed into the houses and shot men. They just ordered women and children to turn away and then there were fire shots. Only old men and those who understood what was going on managed to survive and ran from the village to the valley. There were few of them. They killed almost all of us,” 78-year-old Harun Dijib said.

Photo: AFP

 

There is no chance that the Rio Olympics will be cancelled because of a Zika virus outbreak, Brazil has said, the BBC reports.

The authorities said there was no risk to athletes and spectators – except pregnant women – at the August event.

Earlier, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned a disease linked to Zika posed a global public health emergency requiring a united response.

The infection has been linked to cases of microcephaly, in which babies are born with underdeveloped brains.

Experts are worried that the mosquito-borne virus in Latin America is spreading far and fast, with devastating consequences.

Photo: Getty Images

 

Social media giant Facebook said that profits more than doubled in the fourth quarter of 2015, the BBC reports.

Net profit for the three months to December rose to $1.56bn, up from $701m.

The company also said that 80% of its advertising revenue in that period came from mobile advertising, up from 69% a year earlier.

Shares jumped 8.7% in after-hours trading in New York on the better than expected results.

Revenue for the full year jumped 44% to $17.9bn, with net profit rising about $800m to $3.7bn.

The results mean that Facebook has now beaten analysts’ expectations for ten consecutive quarters.

 

Photo: Reuters

 

The older brother of Canadian singer Celine Dion has died of cancer, two days after her husband also died, teh BBC reported.

Daniel Dion, 59, died on Saturday near Montreal, a statement by the singer’s spokeswoman said.

Ms Dion’s family paid tribute to the father-of-two, calling him “a gentle and reserved man of many talents”.

Her husband and former manager, Rene Angelil, died on Thursday aged 73. His death in Las Vegas came after two bouts with throat cancer.

Daniel Dion was the eighth of 14 children, and performed with his siblings in their parents’ piano bar in Quebec province.

He had been suffering cancer of the throat, tongue and brain, his sister Claudette told the Journal de Montreal newspaper (in French).

“He was ready, and isn’t suffering any more,” she said. “He was at peace.”