Across the world, Christians have begun marking Christmas with services, with Pope Francis holding midnight mass at the Vatican, the BBC reported.
In the holy city of Bethlehem, the West Bank town where it is believed that Jesus was born, events have been overshadowed by recent violence between Palestinians and Israelis.
“There’s lights, there’s carols, but there’s an underlying sense of tension,” one pilgrim to Bethlehem, Briton Paul Haines, told Associated Press news agency.
Scores of people are reported killed in an explosion at an industrial gas plant in south-eastern Nigeria.
A truck is said to have exploded as it was off-loading butane cooking gas in the town of Nnewi in Anambra State, the BBC reports.
Reports of casualties vary from 35 to more than 100 people killed, including factory workers and neighbours.
Local police have confirmed the incident but have yet to provide further details. A huge fire reportedly followed the blast.
The dead and injured were taken to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital in Nnewi which has a predominantly Christian community.
Photo: TASS
Russia’s airbase in the capital of Armenia, Yerevan, has started flight calibration of squadrons of Mi-24P helicopter gunships that have entered service over December, Maj. Andrey Dobrosmyslov, spokesman for the Southern Military District of Russia’s Armed Forces, said Friday, TASS reports.
“During flight calibration, crews of the attack helicopters will practice takeoff, flights at various speeds, at altitudes of 100 to 1,500 meters and landing,” Dobrosmyslov said. “In easy and complicated weather conditions, the pilots will inspect the parts and accessories during loads and g-loads,” he said. “The flight calibration of the helicopter squadron will last two months.”
World-known film director, actor and musician Emir Kusturica will perform in Armenia today with the “No Smoking Orchestra” in a concert organized within the framework of the events dedicated to the Armenian Genocide Centennial.
Earlier today he visited the Armenian Genocide Museum Institute to pay tribute to the memory of the 1.5 million victims.
Speaking to reporters today, Kusturica referred to the similarities and differences of the Armenian and Serbian peoples and expressed his opinion about the geopolitical events.
The Serbian director said he’s happy to return to a country, which is very much like his homeland. The difference, he said, is that the Armenian nation, which has survived genocide, is united and has clear demands, while the Serbian history is different, Serbians are seen as criminals, not victims.
Russia’s General Staff has provided information to France on Turkey’s role in stealing Syrian natural resources and financing the Islamic State , the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday, reports.
“General of the Army Valery Gerasimov presented information on continued stealing of Syrian national resources, the proceeds from which are used to finance IS, as well as on Turkey’s role in this process,” the ministry said in a statement.
The head of the Russian General Staff has also agreed with France to set up an exchange of operative information to coordinate actions in the fight against the Islamic State, the Russian Defense Ministry’s press service announced Thursday.
“It has been agreed to establish an exchange of operative information to coordinate the actions for a more effective destruction of command points, military equipment, [arms] depots, paths for equipping militants, and other IS infrastructures in Syria,” the press service said in a statement.
According to Russian Defense Ministry’s press service, the head of the Russian General Staff has agreed with France to set up an exchange of operative information to coordinate actions in the fight against the Islamic State.
Bundesliga’s official website has released a video of players from different countries wishing a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in their native languages.
Rapper Saint West says he is no longer making music, according to
The Vancouver rapper is quitting the rap business after Kim Kardashian and Kanye West (although we suspect it was more Ye than Kim) decided to give their new son the same name.
In a clip West gave the couple his best wishes, and had some sound advice for their new baby.
He said: ‘Hi I’m Lindon, also known as Saint West. I’d like to announce my official retirement from hip-hop.
‘Congratulations Kanye and Kim, thank you for choosing such a beautiful name. Saint West, may God smile on you.
I’ll always be cheering for you. And try to avoid becoming a rapper.’
The rapper, whose tracks include Day Dreamn (sic) and Handle Business, is said to be going by his real name of Lindon McIntyre from now on.
He has been quiet since 2011 but thanks to the showbiz couple, his name has been making headlines.
Kimye welcomed their second child on December 5. They reportedly decided to give their child the heavenly name because he is a ‘blessing’ after Kim’s difficult pregnancy and birth.
Armenian Ambassador in Damascus Arshak Poladian warned against the danger of the continuation of the unjust project which has been started from more than one hundred years ago by the Ottoman tyrants, who seek to obliterate the historical, civilizational, geographical and humanitarian roots of the Armenian people, SANA reports.
Ambassador Arshak, participating in a symposium held Sunday at Damascus-based Abu Rumana Cultural Center under the title “lights on the History of the Armenian Issue,” said that the genocide committed by the Ottomans against the Armenians is an obnoxious crime and terrorism against people inside their homeland.
He reiterated that despite of the Turkish attempts, the tragedy, in which about a million and half of the Armenian people were killed between the years 1915 and 1923, is still moving from one generation to another and it leaves a destructive cultural and moral effect on all the Armenians.
He clarified that Syria and its people have been the safe sanctuary for the Armenian people during that difficult stage as Syria embraced many of the survivors and it provided the safety and security and a decent living to them, and over the years, they mingled in the mosaic of the Syrian society.
The Ambassador concluded by thanking the Syrian people and expressing deep gratitude for them, wishing that security and stability will return to Syria and its people and that Syria will overcome the crisis.
A six-minute long film was screened during the symposium. The film talks about the Armenian deep-rooted culture and charming nature and beautiful streets which have been described by the historians as the God’s paradise on the earth.
The film was accompanied by a sad melody reflecting the difficult circumstances which the Armenian people went through at that time.
An overnight fire at a hospital in southern Saudi Arabia has killed at least 25 people and injured more than 100 others, officials said, the BBC reports.
The blaze broke out in the intensive care and maternity departments of the Jazan General Hospital, the Civil Defence Agency tweeted.
The fire is now over and those injured have been transferred to other hospitals in the area, it added.
An investigation is under way to find out the cause of the blaze.
Some 21 civil defence teams helped extinguish the fire, according to the agency.
Jazan is near the border with Yemen, which has seen months of fighting between Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed forces.
The NKR Ministry of Defense reports a decrease in the number of ceasefire violations by the Azerbaijani side at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces.
The rival used mostly artillery weapons of different caliber as it fired about 1,000 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions.
The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army maintained the relative calmness at the frontline and confidently fulfilled their military task.