Category: News

Nepal’s parliament has elected women’s rights campaigner Bidhya Devi Bhandari as its first female president, in a move hailed as a milestone, the BBC reports.

She is the second person to hold the mainly ceremonial role.

The 54-year-old is currently the vice-chair of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist).

Ms Bhandari was defence minister from 2009 to 2011. As president, she has promised to champion minority and women’s rights in Nepal.

Earlier this month, Nepal’s parliament chose its new prime minister, KP Sharma Oli.

Nepal’s parliament has elected women’s rights campaigner Bidhya Devi Bhandari as its first female president, in a move hailed as a milestone.

She is the second person to hold the mainly ceremonial role.

The 54-year-old is currently the vice-chair of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist).

Ms Bhandari was defence minister from 2009 to 2011. As president, she has promised to champion minority and women’s rights in Nepal.

Earlier this month, Nepal’s parliament chose its new prime minister, KP Sharma Oli.

 

 

 

The newly renovated Armenian St. Gevorg Cathedral of Tblisi will be solemnly opened and consecrated on October 31.

On October 30, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; will travel to Tblisi Georgia at the invitation of the Armenian Church Diocese of Georgia.

On October 31, His Holiness will preside over the service of consecration for the newly renovated St. Gevorg Cathedral of Tblisi.

Before that Primate of the Georgian Diocese, Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan will bless the 12 columns of the church. A plaque with the names of the benefactors will be unveiled.

The renovation of the church was initiated by Armenian businessman Ruben Vardanyan, who was joined by a group of Armenian and Georgian entrepreneurs.

Less than a third of Indonesians currently have access to the web

On October 28, 2015, the global forum of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) initiative kicked off in Mexico City, United States of Mexico. An Armenian delegation is participating in the forum, headed by First Deputy Minister-Chief of Government Staff Gurgen Doumanyan, the governemnt’s press office reports.

The forum summed up the results of the 2nd Annual OGP International Awards for 2015, which kicked off in March, 2015. This year’s theme is “Improving public services using the principles of open governance.” Bids had been received from 35 out of 66 member States. Note that the applications are assessed by a 23-member-strong independent international jury.

This year Armenia participated for the first time in the competition and won a top award among the countries of the Asian-South Pacific region. The ceremony was attended by President of the United States of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto, who handed in the honorary award.

Armenia came up with the “Creation and introduction of community management and development-oriented information systems in regional administrations” initiative. A program referred to as “Smart community” (Smart Municipality) was presented to the jury. The program is meant to increase efficiency in the activities of Armenia’s local self-governance authorities and improve public services based on the principles open governance.

President Serzh Sargsyan participated in the ceremony to commemorate the newly-canonized martyrs of the 1915 Armenian Genocide that took place at Westminster Abbey. The ecumenical service was led by Bishop of London Richard Chartres and His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians. The ceremony was also attended by His Royal Highness Prince Charles of Wales.

In the year of the Armenian Genocide Centennial, the ecumenical prayer for the memory and immortal souls of the canonized Armenian Genocide victims also urged all people of good will, nations and peoples to join the prayer for justice and to speak out against the gravest crime against humanity, as well as to pray for the promotion and maintenance of peace in the world.

During the service, the sacred songs were performed by the choir of London’s St Yeghiche Armenian Church.

Filming is underway in Moscow for the “Earthquake” –  a movie about the devastating 1988 earthquake in Armenia, which claimed several thousand lives, reports.

The shooting has started on the territory of an old Moscow factory, where the decorations of ruined Leninakan (now Gyumri) have been constructed.

The crew first focused on the documentary materials, but things changed after the authors spent time talking to people affected by the tragedy. “Emotionally, this project is a very complex one,” Production Designer David Dadunashvili said.

Director Sarik Andreasyan was also impressed by the meeting with the residents of Gyumri. “As soon as you start speaking to people, they start crying. I thought that if we started recreating the ruins, coffins, corpses around the city, we would not be forgiven; it would not be correct in relation to the people of Gyumri. That’s why we decided to do that in a pavilion.”

Sarik Andreasyan hopes the movie will reach out to every viewer. “Those who know nothing about the earthquake in Armenia will see a good film and will not stay indifferent when they leave the cinema.” We were not on the Titanic, but we all cried watching Cameron’s film.

The director stressed that it will be a film about people and about the uniting factor of the tragedy.

The film will be released in Russia and Armenia at the end of 2016. Armenia will probably nominate it for the Oscar in the “Best Foreign Language Film” nomination.

Asbarez – A historical epic seven years in the making about the Armenian Genocide will make its Central Valley debut at the 2015 Fresno Film Festival.

“The Cut” will screen at 3:00pm on Saturday, November 14 at the historic Tower Theatre, as part of the November 13-15 Festival, which celebrates independent voices in cinema.

Beginning in Armenia in 1915, “The Cut” follows one man’s journey through the Ottoman Empire after surviving the Genocide. Nazaret (Tahar Rahim), a young blacksmith from Mardin, Turkey, is ripped from his family and is forced to work as a slave laborer. Years later, he begins a continent-crossing quest to reunite with his twin daughters.

Turkish-German filmmaker Fatih Akin directed and co-wrote the film with Armenian-American screenwriter Mardik Martin. Martin—best known for writing the Martin Scorsese films “Raging Bull,” “New York, New York” and “Mean Streets”—will make a special appearance to discuss the film, presented by Fresno Filmworks and co-sponsored by the Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State.

With few films touching on the genocide, let alone depicting it, Martin said in a news release: “A story about survivors of the Armenian Genocide is a sensitive subject to tackle. I never imagined anyone would have the courage to do it. Fatih has that courage. …I can only hope that the audience is able to delve into the feel of the era and its turbulence and upheaval. For me as an Armenian, this is an incredible adventure movie.”

With a large Armenian community in the Central Valley, Fresno Filmworks president Jefferson Beavers reiterated the importance of the screening.

“In this 100th anniversary year of the Genocide, I cannot think of a more culturally relevant or historically important film we could possibly show,” Beavers said. “It’s an honor and our duty, not just to our Armenian brothers and sisters, but to our entire community, to show this movie in Fresno.”

“It is wonderful that such an important film is being screened in Fresno. The Armenian Studies Program is pleased to be a co-sponsor. The film is especially timely and I think it will be well received in the community,” said Armenian Studies Program Coordinator Barlow Der Mugrdechian.

Dr. Sergio La Porta, Berberian Professor of Armenian Studies at Fresno State, said it can also be seen as a reflection of positive change within the Turkish community of artists and intellectuals.

“The idea that you have Armenian and Turkish people working together on this film—I think is a wonderful way in which art can bring two communities that have this historic injustice standing between them to bring them closer together to a point of mutual understanding,” La Porta said. “It’s especially great to have a Turkish director to be involved in this.”

A European Commission report on Turkey, held back until after the general election on Nov. 1 accuses Ankara of backsliding on the rule of law, freedom of expression and judicial independence, Reuters reports.

A copy of the draft annual progress report on Turkey’s EU candidacy, seen by Reuters, also cites a severe deterioration in the security situation and an increasing politicization of the state administration as Justice and Development Party (AKP), in power for the last 13 years, tightens its grip.

The EU body, which is urgently trying to secure Turkey’s help to stem flows of Syrian refugees and other migrants from Turkey to Europe, insisted it had not delayed the report for political reasons.

It also said it was up to Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to decide when the progress reports on candidate countries, usually released in October, are approved and published.

In the forensic language of the Commission’s department for enlargement negotiations, the draft describes an overall drift toward more authoritarian governance in Turkey.

“The outgoing government has made efforts to reinvigorate the EU accession process,” it says. “However, this commitment was offset by the adoption of key legislation in the area of the rule of law, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly that ran against European standards.”

It depicts a court system increasingly under the thumb of the government or subject to undue political duress.

“The situation has been backsliding since 2014,” it said. “The independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers have been considerably undermined and judges and prosecutors have been under strong political pressure.”

The report also hinted at criticism of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s personal exercise of power, saying the president remained engaged in a wide range of foreign and domestic policy issues, leading to criticism in Turkey that he was overstepping his constitutional prerogatives.

EU officials and diplomats said Brussels decided to keep the potentially explosive document under wraps until after Turkey’s Nov. 1 parliamentary election – the second national vote this year as the initial one on June 7 failed to produce a government – because the EU was seeking Ankara’s cooperation in stemming the flow of Syrian and other refugees to Europe.

“It just makes sense not to release the report while we are trying to enlist their help with the refugee crisis,” a senior Commission official said.

In similarly pragmatic vein, Juncker told the European Parliament on Tuesday that, despite human rights concerns, “whether we like it or not, we have to work with Turkey.”

China has decided to end its decades-long one-child policy, Xinhua news agency.

All couples will now be allowed to have two children, the state-run news agency said, citing a statement from the Communist Party.

The controversial policy was introduced nationally in 1979, to reduce the country’s birth rate and slow the population growth rate.

However, the policy led to concerns over China’s ageing population.

 

 

 

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party resorts to all means to get votes on November 1, political scientist Mushegh Khudaverdyan says. According to him, the decision to return Kamp Armen to the Armenian community also fits into this policy.

Turkey is currently living the most strained period of its modern history, Khudaverdyan told reporters today. “Surveys show the situation has not changed after the previous elections of June 7 and the ruling party will again fail to gain majority. Therefore, the chaos in Turkey will continue,” the political scientist said.

The expert does not exclude there will be an internal split in the Justice and Development Party after the failure, but the collapse of Erdogan’s party is unlikely.

According to Khudaverdyan, yesterday’s move to return the historic orphanage to the Armenian community was also a demonstration of “flattery.”

People, who struggled for Kamp Armen for 175 days, always hoped it would be returned, Anush Kazan Asaturoglu told Public Radio of Armenia. She did not exclude, however, that the motive behind the decision was to ensure the votes of Armenians at the forthcoming elections.

The deed to Camp Armen, a historic Armenian orphanage in Istanbul, was returned to its original owners after protests against the then owner  over the demolition of the site.

Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church Foundation, the first owner of the orphanage located in the Tuzla district of Istanbul, received the deed on Tuesday.