Photo by Reuters
There are no Armenians among those killed and injured as a result of twin blasts in Beirut, Lebanon, the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.
“According to the information obtained by the Armenian Embassy to Lebanon, there are no citizens of the Republic of Armenia or ethnic Armenians among the victims of the blasts in Beirut,” the Foreign Ministry said in a Facebook post.
last night, leaving at least 41 killed, many injured.
Photos by Social Bite
Hollywood star George Clooney visited a sandwich shop which helps homeless people during a visit to Edinburgh, the BBC reports.
The actor visited the Social Bite cafe, which donates all its profits to homeless people, leaving $1000 at the cafe for the cause.
He stayed at the cafe for around 15 minutes, and greeted the 200-strong crowd who were waiting outside.
Mr Clooney shook hands, posed for selfies and chatted with fans.
He was later due to share lunch at a secret location with Heather McGowan, 32, from Glasgow, who won a competition to meet the star.
TBS’s late-night show host Conan O’Brien visited Armenia with his Assistant Sona Movsesian to shoot the installment of his show.
The trip marked the first time in Armenia for both O’Brien and Movsesian. “I think it’s every boss’s responsibility to take their assistant back to their ancestral land,” said O’Brien.
The show will air on Tuesday, November 17.
“It’s going to be a great show. The people of Armenia are amazing. It was a glorious experience,” Conan says.
Kurdish fighters have reportedly entered Sinjar in northern Iraq, a day after launching an offensive to retake it from Islamic State (IS) militants, the BBC reports.
The Kurdistan Regional Security Council said in a tweet that Peshmerga forces had entered “from all directions” and were clearing the town of IS.
The Kurdish offensive is supported by US-led coalition air strikes.
When it captured Sinjar last year, IS killed or enslaved thousands of members of the Yazidi religious minority.
Tens of thousands of others became trapped on nearby Mount Sinjar without food or water for days until they were rescued by Syrian Kurdish forces. The risk of genocide was a key factor in the US decision to launch air strikes in Iraq.
The offensive to retake Sinjar began in earnest at dawn on Thursday, with some 7,500 Peshmerga fighters closing in on three fronts after coalition warplanes bombed IS positions, command-and-control facilities and weapons stores.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) commemorated the 10th anniversary of its partnership with Armenia, which aims to boost the country’s economy and improve the people’s quality of life.
To mark the occasion, ADB’s Armenia Resident Mission organized a 2-day event featuring a conference and a workshop on best practices and lessons learned about project management in Armenia and internationally. Project management experts and trainers were invited by ADB to share their experiences with colleagues who are designing and implementing infrastructure and development projects in Armenia.
“I want to congratulate everyone who contributed to the growth and development of ADB’s programs in Armenia over the past 10 years,” said David Dole, Country Director of ADB’s Armenia Resident Mission. “We are looking forward to working with the Government of Armenia and our development partners on many more projects in the future.”
ADB is providing loans and technical assistance in the transport, water supply and sanitation, and energy sectors, as well as supporting the government to improve the business environment and to foster entrepreneurship among women. As of October 2015, ADB has loaned Armenia $1.04 billion, with $133 million for projects in the private sector and $910.03 million for projects in the public sector, according to ADB.
Some of the key public sector projects in Armenia financed by ADB are the North-South Road Corridor Investment Program; Sustainable Urban Development Investment Program; Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project; Solid Waste Management Improvement Investment Program; and the Women’s Entrepreneurship Support Sector Development Program. There are also special programs being implemented with private sector financing which ADB is supporting, such as the modernization of the Sevan-Hrazdan Cascade Hydropower system, and the Zvartnots Airport Expansion Project.
In the coming years ADB will continue to help improve Armenia’s internal and external transport links, upgrade urban environments, and strengthen the energy and seismic security of the country.
ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members—48 from the region. In 2014, ADB assistance totaled $22.9 billion, including co-financing of $9.2 billion.
Two Armenian soldiers are reported killed as Azerbaijan continues to violate the ceasefire.
“The rival keeps violating the ceasefire regime, using different weapons,” the NKR Defense Ministry said in a statement.
It said privates of the NKR Defense Army Vahe Vanoyan (born in 1995) and Mikael Torosyan (born in 1996) were fatally wounded as a result of firing from the Azerbaijani side at about 9 p.m., November 12.
Investigation into the details of the case is under way. The NKR Ministry of Defense shares the sorrow of the heavy loss and expresses its support to the families and friends of the killed soldiers.
On November 13, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Karen Mirzoyan delivered a speech at a round-table discussion entitled “Nagorno Karabakh: New Challenges and New Opportunities” organized in the framework of the “Days of Artsakh in Moscow,” NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.
In his speech, Karen Mirzoyan briefed on the current stage of the peaceful settlement process of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict and the situation on the Line of Contact between the armed forces of the NKR and Azerbaijan. Karen Mirzoyan noted that the Azerbaijani leadership had consistently demonstrated unwillingness and lack of political will to reach a peaceful and final settlement to the conflict and had taken steps aimed at further escalation of tension. This is, in particular, manifested in Baku’s consistent rejection of both; the initiatives of Armenian sides on the stabilization of the situation on the Line of Contact and the latest proposals of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen on the establishment of mechanisms for the investigation of incidents.
The NKR Foreign Minister also presented the state-building process in the NKR, noting that the people and authorities of Artsakh are united in their determination to continue the path chosen in 1991 referendum on independence, and confirmed in the constitutional referendum in 2006. In this context, the NKR Foreign Minister underlined that Karabakh is a reliable, predictable and responsible partner and an important geopolitical factor in ensuring stability and peace in the region.
In his speech, the NKR Foreign Minister also touched upon a range of current issues of regional and international politics,including the issue of international terrorism. In this regard, Karen Mirzoyan noted that the NKR faced that problem back in 1992 – 1994, when Azerbaijan violating the norms of international law attracted thousands of foreign mercenaries from different terrorist groups, to participate in the hostilities against Nagorno Karabakh. The Foreign Minister noted that international terrorism is a global challenge requiring consolidated approach of international community to overcome it.
Photo by Asbarez
Asbarez – The Armenian American Museum has announced that they have initiated discussions with the City of Glendale on the terms for a Ground Lease Agreement of the 1.7 acre property adjacent to the Glendale Civic Auditorium and across from the Glendale Community College on the corner of Verdugo Road and Mountain Street.
“We had a very constructive meeting today with Mayor Ara Najarian and City Manager Scott Ochoa regarding the concept design for the museum and timing for consideration of the Ground Lease Agreement by the City,” remarked His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, the Primate of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America and Co-Chair of the Armenian American Museum’s governing board.
“We are grateful to Mayor Ara Najarian and the other members of the City Council for their encouragement and guidance on developing a museum that will empower individuals to embrace cultural diversity and speak out against prejudice,” added His Eminence Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, the Prelate of the Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church, who co-chairs the governing board of the museum.
The Armenian American Museum Project Development Committee also announced that more than 500 hundred people visited their website within the first two days of its launch on Friday, November 6.
“We are seeing a strong interest for a museum that will promote understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Armenian American experience,” stated the Museum Project Development Committee Chairman Berdj Karapetian.
The Armenian American Museum will launch its presence on social media outlets this week and start scheduling presentations to community organizations starting next week.
The Armenian American Museum is a developing project in Glendale, CA, with a mission to promote understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Armenian American experience. When completed, it will serve as a cultural campus that enriches the community, educates the public on the Armenian American story, and empowers individuals to embrace cultural diversity and speak out against prejudice.
The governing board of the Armenian American Museum consists of representatives from the following nine regional Armenian American institutions and organizations: Armenian Catholic Eparchy, Armenian Cultural Foundation, Armenian Evangelical Union of North America, Armenian General Benevolent Union – Western District, Armenian Relief Society – Western USA, Nor Or Charitable Foundation, Nor Serount Cultural Association, Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America, and Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Syrian government forces captured the village of Tel Hadya in the northern province of Aleppo on Friday, a monitoring group and state media said, in the latest territorial gains reported against insurgents in the area, Reuters reports.
The reported advance brought pro-government forces closer to the main highway that links Syria’s major cities, building on other gains made in the area with support from Russian air strikes.
There was no immediate comment from rebels, including al Qaeda’s Nusra Front, who have been in control of the area.
Fighting has intensified even as world and regional powers prepare to meet in Vienna in a bid to step up diplomatic efforts to the end the four-year-old conflict.
Syrian state TV reported the takeover of Tel Hadya and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict using sources on the ground, confirmed it.
The advance came a day after the Syrian army backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters,Iranian troops and Russia air raids took the nearby town of Al Hader, effectively bringing government forces in control of most of the southern Aleppo countryside.
“The southern Aleppo countryside is falling hill after hill… the army is advancing quickly,” the Observatory’s Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters.
The advances could provide a launching pad to push further against insurgent strongholds in mainly rebel-held northwestern Syria.
The Kremlin believes the Syrian army’s offensive is effective and that, with the help of Russian air strikes, the Syrians are making good progress, Russian RIA Novosti news agency said on Friday.
The Syrian Armenian Relief Fund (SARF) announced its upcoming “SAVE A LIFE” Telethon, which will take place on February 21, 2016 in Los Angeles, California, Asbarez reports.
“The Syrian conflict is reaching its five-year landmark. Unfortunately, as the war in Syria goes on, cities, towns and villages are being destroyed, homes are being leveled to the ground, families are being shattered, and most sadly, the bloodshed continues and innocent lives are being lost to brutality,” SARF said in a statement.
Tens of thousands of families have been dislocated, unsheltered. Hundreds of thousands of civilians lack the very basic necessities of human dignity, water, food, roof and warmth to say the least.
The atrocities have left our compatriots extremely vulnerable. The vast destruction of civic and human infrastructures have turned cities like Aleppo, one of the oldest cities in the world, once the largest city and economic hub of Syria, and the oldest Armenian community of Diaspora, into devastated and dysfunctional ghost towns.
“Witnessing inhumanity, however, is strengthening our humanness and our commitment to serving our people who are in dire need. Our compatriots in Syria are the brink of perishing every moment. Yet, they are surviving at very high cost, the statement reads.
To extend a helping hand and provide our compatriots in Syria with the light of hope, the Syrian Armenian Relief Fund announced its upcoming “SAVE A LIFE” Telethon, which will take place on February 21, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.