Category: News

On 11 January, Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Zohrab Mnatsakanyan was elected President of the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP), UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN Office for Project Service (UNOPS), the Organizations’ governing body, for a one-year term.

The Executive Board is made up of representatives of Member States and is mandated by the UN General Assembly to provide inter-governmental support to and overall supervision of the activities of UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS. The Board meets three times a year ensuring that the three Agencies remain responsive to the evolving needs of programme countries.

“2016 will be a pivotal time for our Board and sister-agencies in light of the recent adoption of the new set of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The year will also be critical in view of the mid-term review of the strategic plans for 2014-2017, as well as the upcoming discussions of the new cycle of Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review, which remains the main political mechanism for member states to assess the effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and impact of the UN development system’s support to national development efforts”, – stated Ambassador Mnatsakanyan in his acceptance remarks.

Information: Armenia is a member of the Executive Board of the UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS since 2014. In June 2015, the Board approved the UNDP’s and UNFPA’s country programme documents for Armenia for the period of 2016-2020.

 

 

 

The dim perspectives of solving the Syrian crisis fade away with the escalation of tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran, expert of Iranian studies Arax Pashayan told reporters today. According to her, the current tension is just one stage of a long-standing confrontation.

Tensions were high in 1979 after the Iranian Revolution and further soared as a result of the “Arab spring.” The expert said the Syrian crisis is the direct reflection of those relations.” While Iran backs Bashar Assad, Saudi Arabia tries its best to see the Syrian President ousted. Of course, this is one of the reasons of the conflict, but’s what’s important today is to see how far the aggravation will go.

Arax Pashayan says the tension in Iran-Saudi Arabia relations put an end to the vague hopes of overcoming the Syrian crisis. This further complicates the situation in the Middle East, creating problems for the South Caucasus, including Armenia, as well.

Many analysts believe Christians will not live in the Middle East long; therefore, the future existence of the Armenian community in those countries is a big question.

According to Arax Pashayan, for our compatriets, who have been comfortably living in Syria for decades, Armenia is a difficult country with its current socio-economic and moral-psychological conditions. “That’s why many see it as a temporary shelter before leaving for other countries,” she said.

The expert believes Armenia will only benefit if Syrian Armenians stay in the country, ans should do its utmost to keep them here.

The Concert Tour of well-known pianist Hayk Melikyan, an Honored Artist of Armenia, will be launching starting from January 13, 2016 in five biggest cities of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

He will be having 6 recitals which are organized by the New Music Center of Tehran in cooperation with the Governmental entities of the Country.

Hayk Melikyan will mainly be presenting the contemporary music by Armenian (Tigran Mansuryan, Arthur Akshelyan and others) and Iranian (Amir Mahyar Tafreshipour, Hormoz and Shahin Farhaz and others) composers and will also include some of the world-known European ones: Heinz Holliger, Michel Karsky, Toru Takemitsu and others.

There will be several premieres during the concert tour and Hayk Melikyan will also conduct special master classes for Iranian students in all the above mentioned cities.

Concert Dates:

January 13: Bushehr (The City Hall)
January 15 & 16: Tehran (Roudaki Chamber Music Hall)
January 17: Yazd (The Municipality Concert Hall)
January 19: Ahvaz (Aftab Concert Hall)
Januart 20: Shiraz (Hafez Concert Hall)

After the return of the Pianist from Iran, he will give a recital for the Yerevan audience, which will launch the 2016 Concert Season of KOMITAS Museum Institute on January 29.

Seven have been confirmed dead of swine flu in Armenia.

The Erebuni Medical Center confirmed the death of a young woman this morning.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health reports decrease in the number of patients diagnosed with pneumonia.

The Ministry said in a statement today that  fewer patients remain at intensive care units.

At the same time, the level of acute respiratory infections in children remains the same.

Photo: AFP

 

Some 400 people in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya need to be urgently evacuated for medical treatment, says UN humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien, the BBC reports.

After briefing the UN Security Council on the crisis in the rebel-held town near Damascus, he warned that those people could die.

Earlier, an aid convoy brought food to 40,000 town residents who have been under government siege for six months.

The UN says it has received credible reports of people dying of starvation.

Simultaneously, aid lorries entered two towns besieged by rebel forces in the northern province of Idlib under a deal between the warring parties.

The situation in Foah and Kefraya is also said to be extremely dire, with an estimated 20,000 people trapped there since March.

The arrival of the aid was delayed until both sets of lorries were ready to enter the towns.

According to preliminary information, there are no Armenians among the victims of the blast in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet district, the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.

At least 10 people were killed in an explosion in a district of Istanbul popular with tourists, the city authorities say.

Foreign tourists are reportedly among those hurt in the blast, which occurred in the city’s historic Sultanahmet district, near the Blue Mosque.

Fifteen people were also wounded in the blast, the Istanbul Governor’s Office said in a statement on its website.

Some reports suggest the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber.

Police have sealed off the area and the authorities are investigating the type of explosive used, the governor’s office said.

German media reports say the country’s foreign ministry is investigating reports that German citizens have been hurt in the blast.

Photo: REUTERS/AHMED SAAD

Gunmen detonated suicide vests inside a shopping complex in Baghdad on Monday and a car bomb exploded nearby in an attack claimed by Islamic State that killed at least 18 people and wounded 40 others, reports.

Two bombs later went off in the eastern town of Muqdadiya, killing at least 23 people and wounding another 51, security and medical sources said. Another blast in a southeastern Baghdad suburb killed seven more.

Islamic State militants controlling swathes of Iraq’s north and west claimed responsibility for the attacks in Muqdadiya and at the Baghdad mall, which it said had targeted a gathering of “rejectionists”, its derogatory term for Shi’ite Muslims.

The Iraqi government last month claimed victory against the hardline Sunni militants in the western city of Ramadi, and has slowly pushed them back in other areas.

Monday’s bombings left the biggest death toll in three months. Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan blamed “this terrorist group after they suffered heavy losses by the security forces”, without naming Islamic State.

Seven people, including two policemen, were killed in the car bomb blast near the Jawaher mall in the predominantly Shi’ite district of Baghdad Jadida, police and medical sources said.

Five more people were shot dead by the gunmen storming the mall, and six others were killed when those same assailants detonated their explosive vests, the sources said.

French Armenian journalist Jean Eckian has been chosen to play French historical figure Jules Ferry in a TV movie entitled “Ferry et Clémenceau.”

Filming began this week in the French National Assembly. It is a fictional documentary about the antagonism between Georges Clémenceau and the author of the law on free education at school. It’s also about a supporter of colonization and of the superior race.

Jean Eckian has already participated in several films. The Ferry et Clémenceau is directed by Joël Calmettes, author of more than 50 films.

“Ferry et Clémenceau” will be released soon on France 5 TV.

US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick wil hold consultations on Nagorno Karabakh in London.

“Headed to London tonight for consultations with the British Foreign Office,” Warlick tweeted.

Headed to tonight for consultations with the British Foreign Office.

— James Warlick (@AmbJamesWarlick)