Category: News

Lebanon’s Minister of Tourism, Avedis Guidanian, emphasized on Sunday the importance of respecting the specificity of the Armenian community when dealing with the issue of a new electoral law that preserves the equity of representation, Lebanon’s reports.

Speaking to the Voice of Lebanon Radio, Guidanian said that the new electoral law would be approved by the majority of politicians.

The Minister stressed the importance of parliamentary elections, hoping that the Armenian deputies would get elected by Armenian votes.

He noted that Armenians have been marginalized over the past 25 years.

He also called on all politicians to issue an electoral law that ensures equity in representation to all Lebanese components.

“I warn against setting up new (electoral) divisions at the expense of Armenians,” he went on.

Guidanian said that the Armenian Revolutionary Federation would participate in the parliamentary elections whether the electoral law adopted was proportional or majoritarian.

Tensions were high at the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan last night, the NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The rival used D-44 cannons, mortars, grenades and firearms of different calibers as it violated the ceasefire 80 times, firing over 950 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army follow the developments at the line of contact and take necessary measures to pressure the activeness of the rival.

The Armenian authorities received a request from Shahin Mirzoev for temporary asylum, the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.

“As a member of Talish Cultural Council, Talish freedom movement, journalist at the “Tolishi Sado” newspaper, he was obliged to flee from Azerbaijan due to the persecutions against ethnic and religious minorities and gross violations of their rights, and to arrive in Armenia with his family,” the Ministry sa

Armenian authorities reacted positively to the request of Shahin Mirzoev.

The NKR Defense Ministry has refuted the reports of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, claiming that a military vehicle belonging to the Karabakh forces and its personnel had been destroyed on February 9.

The Ministry earlier reported intensive ceasefire violations by the Azerbaijani side overnight.

The rival used 60 and 82 mm mortars, grenades and firearms of different calibers as it fired over 1,000 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions.

More intensive firing was reported in the eastern, southern and northeastern directions of the line of contact.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep control of the operational-tactical situation at the lien of contact and resort to retaliatory measures, when necessary.

Moscow does not expect any radical changes in Armenia’s foreign policy after elections to the parliament, the National Assembly, due this April, despite the country’s switch to the parliamentary form of government, Russia’s Ambassador to Armenia Ivan Volynkin said in an interview with .

“We consider that the elections scheduled for April 2, 2017 are rather interesting as Armenia is switching to the parliamentary form of government,” the ambassador said. “Under the country’s new Election Code, the opposition should occupy not less than one third of seats in the National Assembly.”

“At the same time, an important moment is the guarantee of a “stable majority” in the country’s parliament that should ensure continuity of the political process in Armenia,” the diplomat said. “Taking into consideration these facts, we see no solid reasons for Yerevan to change its foreign policy line radically,” he said.

Armenia-Switzerland relations actively developparticularly in the financial econo, mic and mutual investment sectors. Although Switzerland was the number one investor in Armenia with $ 90 million investment according to the official data in 2015 but Armenia has a problem of becoming well-known in the foreign world. Lukas Gasser, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Swiss Confederation in Armenia, told a press conference at the Media Center today.

According to the Ambassador, Armenia and Switzerland efficiently collaborate in the financial-economic realm. “Switzerland makes significant investments in Armenia’s economy. Due to the official data, Swiss companies invested 90 million dollars only in 2015,” he said, expressing confidence that Armenia would continue to remain at the core of Swiss companies’ attention as an investment country.

The Ambassador considers that during twenty-five years of independence, Armenia has achieved a reasonable level of stability. “The problem is not only to be a stable country but to be perceived as such in the foreign world. In this regard, the unsolved conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh is a challenge,” he said. At the same time, the diplomat recalled that certain Armenian companies make investments in Switzerland.

The Ambassador said, “Switzerland encourages Armenia-Iran relations.” “Switzerland has good relations with Iran and is very interested in developing them. In addition, Switzerland represents the US interests in Iran by its diplomatic mission,” the diplomat said, adding that Armenia, being a neighbor of Iran, is of great interest. “It is important that Armenia is not only geographically neighboring Iran but also has good relations with Tehran,” he said.

The Ambassador also touched upon the issues of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations. According to Lukas Gasser, the maintenance of the ceasefire agreement of 1994-1995 is important for Karabakh conflict settlement. “The Karabakh conflict has no solution other than a peaceful settlement,” he said.

The Ambassador said that the conflict resolution stems from Armenia’s economic and political interests. He noted that all the parties to the conflict should be supported, which would require a fairly extensive diplomatic activity, especially in the framework of the OSCE. “We want to support all the parties involved to reach a peaceful settlement of the conflict. This requires serious diplomatic work within the framework of the OSCE,” the Swiss ambassador said.

Referring to the process of normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations, the Ambassador said that Switzerland is now ready to assist the parties in establishing contacts and relations.

“The problem is that these relationships do not exist in fact but we are ready to provide assistance to the sides when the parties are ready,” he said. According to the diplomat, it is not a natural situation when two countries have a long common history and a common border but relations are absent. He reminded that Switzerland played a big role in the initiation of Zurich Protocols in 2009, regretting that “these documents were not ratified”.

It is noteworthy that Switzerland is among the unique countries where the Armenian Genocide denial is criminalized. As a reply to the question “Did the ECHR decision about “Doğu Perinçek against Switzerland” case have an impact on Swiss legislation?” the Ambassador said. “After the Court’s verdict, Switzerland is not obliged to modify its anti-racism legislation, particularly Article 261 of the Criminal Code. Doğu Perinçek’s case is a special one and the Court’s decision refers to this case.”

Asbarez – On Thursday, February 9th, the All-Armenian Student Association (All-ASA) coordinated the annual “Stain of Denial” silent protest against the continuous denial of the Armenian Genocide. The protests were simultaneously held by ASA chapters and affiliated organizations on their respective college and university campuses. “Stain of Denial” was initiated in 2011 as a silent protest in order to raise awareness of the ongoing denial of the Armenian Genocide and the need for recognition and reparations.

The students, faculty, and community members who participated on Thursday stressed that the Armenian Genocide is not an issue only reserved for the month of April, but it has a profound effect on Armenians every day. Whereas April 24th is traditionally the day that the world commemorates the Armenian Genocide, the memory of the genocide and its ensuing denial continues to be a daily struggle. The All-ASA prioritizes this campaign because Armenian students in college, where the free interchange of ideas and perspectives is encouraged, continuously find that the denial of their history is an injustice that they are blatantly faced with.

The participating ASA’s have continuously increased throughout the years. This year, Armenian students from various schools in the West coast, East coast, and Canada organized on their respective campuses. The participating schools in this years protests were: UC San Diego, UC Riverside, UC Los Angeles, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, Glendale Community College, Pasadena Community College, Occidental College, University of Southern California, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Northridge, Woodbury University, Massachussets College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Emmanel College, Boston University, Northeastern University, Tufts University, Suffolk University, Yale University, and Princeton University. For the first time, the protests reached an international scope, with participation from the following Canadian universities: University of Ottawa, Carleton University, and the University of Montreal. Members from the following organization also participated: ARF Shant Student Association, Armenian Youth Federation, Alpha Gamma Alpha, and Alpha Epsilon Omega.

Thousands of Armenian students, community members, and faculty, both Armenian and non-Armenian, took a stand and reiterated that the Armenian Genocide is not just a “day in April,” but a year-round struggle for justice.

The campaign also included an online component, as those who were not able to attend raised awareness through social media, by incorporating the hashtags #StainofDenial, #ArmenianGenocide, and #DivestTurkey into their online posts. While the protests highlighted the history of the Armenian Genocide and the consequences that still continue, it also raised awareness of the #DivestTurkey initiative. This included education about resolutions that ASAs have passed through their student government councils, including both Armenian Genocide recognition and divestment bills, the latter of which targets over $70 million of University of California funds allocated toward the Turkish government.

George Clooney’s wife, Amal, is reportedly pregnant with twins, reports.

Hollywood’s power pair is expecting a pair of babies this June, according to well-connected “The Talk” host Julie Chen, who confirmed and announced the actor and the British human rights attorney’s life-changing event on today’s show.

Clooney’s rep did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for confirmation.

These will be the first children for both the Oscar-winning producer, 55, and his 39-year-old wife.

They are said to be expecting a boy and a girl, reported, noting that rumors about the pregnancy came up after Amal Clooney (formerly Alamuddin) was spotted with a baby bump in London last month while their Clooney Foundation for Justice hosted a  screening of the Netflix documentary “The White Helmets.”

Amal “has let everyone in both families know quietly,” a source close to the couple told . “They’re all very happy.”

The Clooneys wed in Venice in 2014, despite several proclamations that the actor, a perennial bachelor, would never again wed or have kids.

The European Ombudsman Institute (EOI) has issued a statement on the arrest and extradition of Alexander Lapshin. The statement reads:

“It is a matter of deep concern that  journalist and blogger Alexander Lapshin was arrested and then extradited.

The described situation tends to turn to an unacceptable situation violating freedom of expression and media.

Considering the fact that visits of civil society representatives and journalists to Nagorno-Karabakh have invaluable significance in humanitarian sense. Any action towards territorial limitation for fulfilling media representatives’ democratic mission is strongly condemnable. This decision on Alexander Lapshin’s extradition is a real threat to freedom of expression and media that lie at the heart of European values.

Apart from this, the extradition of Mr. Alexander Lapshin is very worrisome because of real possibility of his torture and inhuman treatment. Clear sign of ill-treatment against Mr. Lapshin is that his arrest and transfer into another region was widely covered in the media: handcuffed, apprehended by military in masks and with guns. Such treatment of a journalist is impermissible.

IThe European Ombudsman Institute welcomes the importance of reactions protecting freedom of speech in any territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions, already delivered by the OSCE special representative for freedom of the media, some EU officials and human rights organizations.

For preventing such kind of vicious practice it should be preliminary confronted with strong condemnation.”

Photo: AP

 

Volunteers in New Zealand are racing to rescue survivors after more than 400 pilot whales beached themselves, the BBC reports.

About 300 stranded whales died overnight at Farewell Spit, on the South Island, in one of the worst such cases the country has seen.

Hundreds of locals and conservation officers have been trying to rescue the survivors since early Friday and formed a human chain to refloat the whales.

Scientists do not know what exactly causes whales to beach themselves.

But it sometimes happens because the whales are old and sick, injured, or make navigational errors particularly along gentle sloping beaches.

Sometimes when one whale is beached, it will send out a distress signal attracting other members of its pod, who then also get stranded by a receding tide.