Category: News

Cologne sex attackers risk deportation, Merkel says

Emil Lazarian

Germany must look again at deporting foreigners convicted of crimes following the Cologne sex attacks, Chancellor Angela Merkel says, the BBC reports.

She said “clear signals” had to be sent to those not prepared to abide by German law.

Gangs of men described as of North African and Arab appearance were reported to be behind the attacks.

Meanwhile, similar incidents from New Year’s Eve have been reported in Finland and Switzerland.

“What happened on New Year is not acceptable,” Mrs Merkel said in a statement.

“These are repugnant criminal acts that a state, that Germany will not accept. The feeling women had in this case of being at people’s mercy, without any protection, is intolerable for me personally as well.

“That’s why it is important that everything that happened there will be brought to the table. We must examine again and again whether we have already done what is necessary in terms of deportations from Germany, in order to send clear signals to those who are not prepared to abide by our legal order.”

Relative peace maintained during holidays

Ekmekjian Janet

Relative peace was maintained at the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan during the holidays, the NKR Ministry of Defense reports.

The rival fired about 4,500 shots from weapons of different caliber in the direction of the Armenian positions between January 1 and 7.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep full control of the situation and confidently fulfill their military tasks all along the line of contact.

Paris attacks suspect’s ‘bomb factory’ found in Brussels

Parkev Tvankchian 
Photo: Reuters

 

Belgian prosecutors believe they may have found a bomb factory also used as a hideout by one of the jihadists after the Paris attacks, the BBC reports.

Police found traces of explosives, three handmade belts and a fingerprint of fugitive Salah Abdeslam.

The apartment in the Schaerbeek district of Brussels had been rented in a false name that might have been used by a person already in custody.

Islamic State (IS) suicide attackers killed 130 people in the attacks.

Football Federation of Western Armenia plays first game

Khondkarian Raffi

– On Wednesday, January 6, the newly established Football Federation of Western Armenia played its first friendly match against Olympique de Marseille (CFA) where they were short of a comeback and lost 3-2.

Vahagn Militosyan became the first ever scorer for the club as he scored the two goals of the match for Western Armenia.

Recently, the Western Armenian squad was seen at its first training session practicing for their upcoming match in France.

The Football Federation of Western Armenia was established in 2015. It became an official member of the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (ConIFA) on June 1, 2015. The Artsakh national soccer team is also part ConIFA.

This football federation aims to unite all football players who make up the Armenia Diaspora with the sport of soccer. Currently, the team consists of players from Yerevan, Istanbul, and from different diasporas around the world who’s families have originated from Western Armenia.

If you wish to find out more about the Football Federation of Western Armenia, visit their website at .

Syrian forces foil IS attack on strategic Kweiris airbase

Nahapetian Samvel 
Photo: Sputnik/ Valery Melnikov

 

Syrian forces repelled an Islamic State attempt to take control over the strategic Kweiris airbase in the eastern part of Allepo province, sputnik news reports.

The attack began with suicide car bombs to retake al-Nejjarah village in the northern parts of the Kweiris airbase from the Syrian Army, FARS News reported.

The army responded immediately and destroyed the car bombs before they reached the village.

Then, the terrorists were forced to withdraw from the area after sustaining damage and some sporadic conflicts.

Nejjarah village was cleared of militants earlier this week by the Syrian Army and popular forces.

Michel Platini will not stand in FIFA presidential election

Dabaghian Diana

Suspended Uefa president Michel Platini says he will not stand in the Fifa presidential election next month, the BBC reports.

Platini, along with Fifa president Sepp Blatter, has been banned from football-related activities for eight years by world football’s governing body.

Both men were found guilty of breaches surrounding a $2m “disloyal payment” made to Platini in 2011.

They are appealing against their bans, but Platini says the timing of the 26 February election means he cannot run.

“I’m withdrawing from the race for the Fifa presidency,” the 60-year-old Frenchman told the Associated Press.

“The timing is not good for me. I don’t have the means to fight on equal terms with the other candidates.

“I have not been given the chance to play the game. Bye bye Fifa, bye bye Fifa presidency.”

Man shot in Paris on Charlie Hebdo anniversary

Emil Lazarian 
Photo: APTN

 

French President Francois Hollande has promised 5,000 extra police posts in an “unprecedented” strengthening of French security, a year after the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine by jihadists, the BBC reports.

Soon after he spoke, Paris police shot and killed a suspect who allegedly tried to break into a police station.

Earlier Mr Hollande urged police and other security forces to co-ordinate their work and share intelligence.

Gunmen killed 17 people a year ago at Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket.

Mr Hollande said 5,000 extra police and gendarmes would be added to existing forces by 2017. In addition, 2,000 extra jobs are being created in the intelligence services.

Shortly after his speech at the police headquarters in Paris news broke about the shooting in the 18th district, in northern Paris.

French officials say the man shouted “Allahu Akbar!” (God is Great) outside a police station in Goutte d’Or, near Montmartre, where police shot and killed him.

Reports say he was wielding a knife and may have had a suicide belt. A police robot used for bomb disposal is checking the body in the street.

A year ago police killed three jihadist gunmen who inflicted three days of terror on Paris. But questions remain about their jihadist contacts and possible accomplices in the Middle East.

Three police officers were among the 17 victims of the gunmen on 7-9 January, 2015.

At least 50 killed in Lybia truck bomb blast

Emil Lazarian

At least 50 people have been killed after a truck bomb targeted a police training centre in the western Libyan city of Zliten, the BBC reports.

Media in Libya said the attack struck the al-Jahfal training camp.

The training centre had been a military base during the rule of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Libya has been hit by instability since his overthrow in 2011, and there is concern Islamic State (IS) militants are gaining a foothold there.

The Lana news agency, run by the internationally-recognised government, said at least 50 people were killed and 127 injured in the blast, which was reportedly heard 60km (40 miles) away in Misrata.

Urgent calls for blood donations are being made to Zliten residents, the agency said

Genocide must be acknowledged before it can be stopped

Nahapetian Zhanna

By Kathryn Jean Lopez
 

A sign with a flower outside a cathedral at what has to be one of Manhattan’s busiest intersections on 34th Street and Second Avenue stands as a subtle reminder of genocide. One wonders how many diplomats on the way to and from the United Nations headquarters, tourists and commuters have passed it this year without noticing the banner for the centennial year of the Armenian genocide outside St. Vartan Cathedral.

2015 marked the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, even as the massacre still goes unacknowledged throughout the world. As Philadelphia archbishop Charles J. Chaput put it in a speech: “Starting in 1915, Turkish officials deliberately murdered more than 1 million members of Turkey’s Armenian minority. The ethnic and religious cleansing campaign went on into the 1920s. [The victims] were overwhelmingly Christian. Turkey has never acknowledged the genocide. It’s one of the worst unrepented crimes in history.”

And there could be other such crimes on the way. By way of a brief tour, Chaput said: “Today we have our own tragedies, from church bombings in Pakistan to the beheadings of Christians in North Africa. More than 70 percent of the world now lives with some form of religious coercion. Tens of thousands of Christians are killed every year for reasons linked to their faith.”

I was heartened to see President Obama issue a statement just before Christmas recognizing “brutal atrocities” being committed against Christians in Iraq and Syria. “In some areas of the Middle East where church bells have rung for centuries on Christmas Day, this year they will be silent; this silence bears tragic witness to the brutal atrocities committed against these communities by [ISIS].”

In the weeks preceding Christmas, it was reported that the White House soon would issue a statement labeling the slaughter of the Yazidi people in Iraq genocide. While applauding that move, an ecumenical coalition urged that the administration include Middle Eastern Christians in the designation.

As the letter sent to Secretary of State John Kerry signed by pastors, scholars and activists put it: “We have extensive files supporting a finding that ISIS’ treatment of Iraqi and Syrian Christians, as well as Yazidis and other vulnerable minorities, meets this definition. They include evidence of ISIS assassinations of church leaders; mass murders; torture; kidnapping for ransom in the Christian communities of Iraq and Syria; its sexual enslavement and systematic rape of Christian girls and women; its practices of forcible conversions to Islam; its destruction of churches, monasteries, cemeteries and Christian artifacts; and its theft of lands and wealth from Christian clergy and laity alike.”

In testimony before Congress shortly thereafter, Carl Anderson, head of the Knights of Columbus, which has an emergency aid campaign supporting church efforts in the region, urged: “The United States is rightly viewed as the world’s leading defender of vulnerable minorities, and it is critically important that the State Department consider the best available evidence before issuing a statement that would exclude Christians. An official government declaration of genocide is an opportunity to bring America’s religious communities together to pursue the truth, to support victims, and to bear witness to the noble principle of ‘Never Again.’”

The White House could listen to its own ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, Rabbi David Saperstein. He was in Rome in December, where he said that the West “cannot remain silent” about what is happening to Christians, who are in danger of being “wiped out.” President Obama, not for the first time, said something beautiful about religious freedom. Acknowledging the fact of genocide against Christians in the world today would put some teeth to his words.

Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review Online and founding director of Catholic Voices USA.

Pope’s visit to Armenia on 101st anniversary of the Genocide a possibility

Arpi Talalian

Visiting Armenia in April 2016, the 101st anniversary of the 1915 genocide, is a possibility for the Pope, although this has not been absolutely confirmed, according to .

He hopes to visit the country, but admits, “I am old and these trips are heavy.”

The Pope may also visit three South-American nations: Peru, Colombia and Venezuela. Argentina, Chile and Uruguay are also awaiting a visit from the Pope.

Pope Francis confirmed that he will be visiting Mexico in the first half of 2016.

Pope Francis will also be leading World Youth Day in Kraków, Poland, the city of Pope John Paul II and Divine Mercy mystic, St. Faustina Kowalska.

The real focus of the Pope’s 2016 schedulve will be the Jubilee of Mercy, which may attract 25 million visitors. He will be modeling the corporal and spiritual works of mercy in Catholic doctrine, starting with a Jubilee for Pilgrimage Workers from January 19-21, 2016.