Category: News

Manchester United stars Ashley Young and Henrikh Mkhitaryan swapped football matches for mathematics… after dropping in on a Manchester school, the reports.

The stars left pupils gobsmacked after they walked into classrooms at the Manchester Academy to help out.

The surprise visit, arranged as part of the academy’s partnership with the Manchester United Foundation, saw the players take part in Maths, French and English lessons at the Moss Side school.

Young and Mkhitaryan helped out teachers with lessons and told youngsters about the importance of sticking with education.

The duo then took to the pitch to have a kick about with pupils to help promote an evening football programme, held at 12 locations across the city by the foundation.

Mubarik Yusuf, Devonie Williams, Adam Benaicha and Abdiaziz Dahir were some of the teenagers who had the chance to show the United heroes around their school.

Midfielder Mkhitaryan said: “It’s always a pleasure to meet children because we have been kids as well.

“We are still kids for our parents and have studied at school, so it’s always important to come and support them and help them to find the right way.”

Manchester Academy Principal Andy Griffin said he was thrilled to welcome the players to the school on Wednesday.

He said: “A special moment for me was the way both Ashley and Henrikh interacted with our students. Here at the academy, we have an incredibly diverse community; Henrikh speaks several languages and it was just great to see the children’s engage with the players in a really positive manner. I’m sure it’s something our students will remember forever.”

Photo: Getty Images

 

Much of Facebook’s recent growth can be attributed to the spread of video on its network – and the company told investors recently it planned to aggressively monetise that success.

Today, it announced some ideas to get things moving – starting with a change many users may not appreciate, the BBC reports.

Videos have autoplayed on Facebook’s News Feed for some time, leading to a curious rise of “silent movies” as publishers adapted to knowing that the majority of viewers would be watching, but not listening, to their work.

But between now and the end of the year Facebook’s News Feed will be enabling sound on your News Feed by default, a move the company has been testing out on a limited number of users for a short while.

The firm said it had received “positive feedback” so far.

“With this update, sound fades in and out as you scroll through videos in News Feed, bringing those videos to life,” the company explained in a blog post on Tuesday.

“As people watch more video on phones, they’ve come to expect sound when the volume on their device is turned on.”

Thankfully – for those who don’t want videos to suddenly play out on the bus – if your phone is set to be completely silent, Facebook will not override that. You can also turn it off completely in the Facebook app’s settings.

The first batch of humanitarian aid from Armenia has reached the St. Astvatsatsin Church in Latakia.

The humanitarian aid (18 tons, primary foodstuff) was delivered to Syria by an IL-76 aircraft of the Airforce of the Russian Federation.

Minister of Defense of the Republic Vigen Sargsyan and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Armenia Ivan Volinkin were at the “Erebuni” airport to see off the plane.

 

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will visit Germany February 16-17 to participate in the Munich Security Conference.

Minister Nalbandian is expected to meet with OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs on the sidelines of the Conference.

Edward Nalbandian will hold a number of bilateral meetings, as well.

Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Chairman Raffi Hamparian recently held a working meeting on Capitol Hill with U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) on a range of shared priorities, including the negotiation of a new U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty.

This bilateral tax agreement, which would facilitate increased investment by removing the threat of earned profits being taxed twice, is among the ANCA’s economic development priorities, along with Millennium Challenge funding for STEM education and direct Los Angeles to Yerevan commercial and cargo flights.

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which Senator Menendez serves, is constitutionally charged with ratifying all treaties, including a future tax accord with the Republic of Armenia.

“We are pressing forward with our pro-active engagement with the full range of American and Armenian stakeholders in support of a new U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty,” remarked Hamparian. The ANCA looks forward to the day when Senator Menendez and his colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will have the opportunity to further strengthen America’s partnership with Armenia by ratifying this long overdue bilateral accord.”

In an opinion article late last year, Hamparian made the case for why a U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty is mutually beneficial: “A new tax treaty would represent a great way to give substance to the rhetoric – from both Washington and Yerevan – about improving U.S.-Armenia bilateral relations. This accord would both reflect and reinforce the progress we saw last year [2015] with the signing of a U.S.-Armenia Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. It would, as well, create the conditions for the future growth of the U.S.-Armenia economic relationship, the continued development of bilateral government-to-government ties, and, of course, the strengthening of the enduring bonds of friendship that have long connected the American and Armenian peoples.”

The current treaty governing double taxation issues between the two countries is the 1973 U.S.-U.S.S.R. Tax Treaty, an outdated forty year-old accord. The lack of a double tax treaty between the United States and Armenia creates legal uncertainty that deters potential U.S. investors, diverts investment flows and disadvantages American businesses seeking to invest in the Republic of Armenia.

Photo: Reuters

 

US actor Harrison Ford has been involved in a near-miss while flying his plane in California, US media say, the BBC reports.

They say Ford, aged 74, was instructed to land on a runway at John Wayne airport in Orange Country on Monday.

But instead he mistakenly landed on a parallel taxiway, passing over a waiting American Airlines plane with 110 passengers and crew on board.

That plane safely departed minutes later. Ford has not commented on the reported incident.

Just before the landing, the Indiana Jones star is quoted as asking air traffic controllers: “Was that airliner meant to be underneath me?”

The Federal Aviation Authority confirmed that the pilot of the single-engine Aviat Husky plane had been cleared to land on the runway.

But it declined to confirm that the pilot was in fact Harrison Ford.

MEP Frank Engel and Ruben Melikyan, Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Nagorno-Karabakh, presented on  14 February 2017, a report on the human rights implications of the four-day war that took place in Nagorno-Karabakh in April 2016.

They also discussed the need for international observers to be present during such incidents in order to ensure that the human rights of the local population are safeguarded and that violations are reported.

Please follow to read the report.

 

Asbarez – On February 13, Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Krekorian unveiled the official plaque of the LA City Hall pomegranate tree to mark the commemoration of the Centennial anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. In April 2015, Krekorian planted the first pomegranate tree on City Hall’s lawn and launched the Armenian Genocide Memorial Tree Project, which planted 100 pomegranate trees in parks in each of the city’s 15 Council Districts. Councilmember Krekorian was joined by Archpriest of the Armenian Apostolic Church Western Diocese Arshag Kahatchadourian, and Executive Officer and Chief of Staff of the Department of Recreation Parks Anthony-Paul Diaz at the plaque dedication ceremony.

The plaque reads: “The City of Los Angeles Commemorates the Armenian Genocide Centennial: 1915-2015. This tree was planted by Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councilmember Paul Krekorian on the occasion of the commemoration of the centennial.”

“The pomegranate is one of the most recognizable symbols in Armenian culture. In the wake of the Armenian Genocide, the pomegranate became a symbol of hope, rebirth, and survival of a nation,” said Councilmember Krekorian. “With the help of community members and my city colleagues, I planted this tree in 2015 to mark the commemoration of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide. Anyone who visits City Hall will see the pomegranate tree and this memorial plaque as an enduring symbol of the Armenian people’s culture and history.”

On February 15, the expert group from the NATO Defense Education Enhancement Program (DEEP) visited the National Defense Research Univerity (NDRU), MoD, RA. President of the NDRU, Doctor of Political Science, Professor, Lieutenant-General Hayk Kotanjian welcomed the guests. He highlighted the support provided by the NATO expert group for the defense education reforms underway in Armenia.

Professor Hayk Kotanjian noted that the target of the Second Strategic Defense Review (SDR) of the RA, launched in 2014, is the review of the National Security Strategy (NSS) of the RA. This work will be implemented through the adoption of the National Cybersecurity Strategy (NCS) of the RA based on the Draft NCS, which was developed at the NDRU and reviewed by the experts of the U.S. National Defense University (NDU) and the NATO PfP Consortium’s Working Group on Cyber Security Reference Curriculum Writing.

NDRU’s Vice President for Research, Head of the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) of the NDRU, PhD in History, Beniamin Poghosyan presented the University’s main activities and work done after the visit of the expert group in March, 2016. Head of the Center for National Security Policy and Information-Communication Technologies of the NDRU Arman Grigoryan presented the main results of the Center’s activities.

The coordinator-consultant of the NDRU’s educational activities, Doctor of Political Science, Professor Arthur Atanesyan presented the work done aimed at launching the Interagency Executive Education Certificate and Master Programs. The steps taken towards the organization of strategic-operational-level military education in the NDRU, suggested by the NATO DEEP experts in March 2016, were also touched upon. The Head of the Academic-Educational Center of the NDRU’s National Institute for Strategic Defence Security Education Anna Gevorgyan presented the main activities of the Center.

The presentations were followed by Q&A session and a professional discussion ensued. At the end, the NATO DEEP expert group expressed satisfaction with the visit.

There is no alternative to the international recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan has said.

“Azerbaijan has not refused form its terrorist policy ever since 1988,” Kocharyan said at a conference in Yerevan titled “Breaking the Siege of Stepanakert: 25 years later.”

“This policy took the shape of war crimes during the April war. In the face of Azerbaijan we have to deal with a subject that pretends to be negotiating and refuses from its own signatures,” the Deputy Foreign Minister said.

“Azerbaijan uses the negotiations as a cover for its preparations for a new war. Under these conditions there is no alternative to the international recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.”