Category: News

Kanye West has said he is running for president in 2020.  The rapper made his announcement at the end of a speech at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Cheered on by his biggest fan, Kim Kardashian, his pregnant wife and reality star, in a lace-up olive dress, he was greeted by an extended standing ovation as he received a lifetime achievement award, according to Daily Telegraph. 

“I have decided in 2020 to run for President,” he said at the end of a rambling speech in which he also appeared to confess to smoking marijuana before taking the stage.

MTV’s Video Vanguard lifetime achievement award has previously been given to artists including Madonna, Michael Jackson and Beyonce.

The 38-year-old rapper also won Best Video With a Social Message for One Man Can Change the World with Big Sean and John Legend.

Otherwise the night saw Taylor Swift take an early lead, winning two of her whopping 10 nominations and burying the hatchet with rapper Nicki Minaj.

Armenian international Aras Ozbilis has turned down an offer from Turkish Bursaspor, sportscaster Nobel Arystamyan has said in a TV program aired on Russian NTV.

The 25-year-old midfielder with a transfer value 3.5 million euro is currently playing for Spartak Moscow.

Ozbilis has just returned to the pitch after an injury that forced him out of action for nearly a year.

The Islamic State (IS) militant group has destroyed part of what’s considered the most important temple at the ancient Syrian site of Palmyra, activists and witnesses say, the BBC reports.

The extent of the damage to the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel is not clear but local residents have described being shaken by a large explosion.

The reports come a week after IS blew up another temple at the ancient city.

The militants seized control of Palmyra in May, sparking fears for the site.

The world-famous Greco-Roman ruins are in the desert north-east of the Syrian capital, Damascus.

LOT Polish Airlines shall resume Warsaw-Yerevan-Warsaw flights, Press Service of “Armenia” International Airports” CJSC reports.

In January 2015 LOT shall operate three flights a week.  The aircraft will arrive from Warsaw on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and will depart from Yerevan Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

An agreement was reached to increase the flight frequencies in high season.

As a reminder, LOT Polish Airlines suspended flights to Yerevan on July 1, 2015 for purposes of restructuring its schedule.

 

Businessman German Sterligov has been detained at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, TASS reports.

“He arrived in Moscow from Yerevan at 5 p.m. on Monday and was detained upon crossing the state border,” Sterligov’s lawyer Artur Airapetov said.

He explained that Sterligov might have been detained because his name was on the inter-state wanted list.

The border guards detained the businessman when he was crossing the Russian state border, a police source told TASS.

As it became known on July 28, Azerbaijan asked Interpol to put Sterligov on its international wanted list for the businessman’s activities in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan has initiated criminal proceedings against Sterligov on charges of making open anti-government calls and for illegal crossing of Azerbaijan’s state border (articles 281.2 and 318.2 of the Azerbaijani Penal Code, respectively).

On August 23, Airapetov said Interpol had stopped searching for Sterligov following a request from his defense lawyers and recognized that the businessman’s prosecution by Azerbaijan was politicized.

Ultra-nationalist Turkish terrorist group is the key suspect in bombing after arrest of reported Turkish national in Thai capital, reports. 

Armenian businessman and benefactor Vahak Hovnanian passed away today aged 83.  The Hovnanian International confirmed the news to Panorama.am.

Vahak Stephan Hovnanian was a successful businessman, real estate developer and philanthropist. His companies have developed over 5000 homes and several commercial properties throughout the United States.

In 1959 Mr. Hovnanian and his brothers formed the Hovnanian Brothers Corporation. Together, they developed thousands of homes in New Jersey, until going their respective ways ten years later. In 1969, Mr. Hovnanian organized his own real estate development company, Hovbilt, Inc., which in the ensuing years has developed many successful and award-winning residential communities. With growth came diversification and the formation of several affiliated companies under the name of V.S. Hovnanian Group, Inc. which included Adelphia Water Company, Adelphia Sewer Company, Hovnanian Realty, Clear Title Agency, and Grandview Cable. In 1985, Vahak and his son Shant pioneered a multi-faceted broadband telecommunications company by establishing CellularVision, Inc., which has become later SpeedUS, Inc.

A lover of “all things Armenian,” Mr. Hovnanian  dedicated himself to supporting and preserving Armenian culture and heritage, and revitalizing the independent Republic of Armenia. Mr. Hovnanian together with his wife Hasmig played prominent role in promoting educational, religious and cultural needs of the Armenian community in the Northeastern United States. The couple has also been heavily involved in charity work.

During 1960s, Mr. Hovnanian served as the President of the Board of Trustees for St. Vartanantz Armenian Apostolic Church in Ridgefield, NJ. He initiated the celebration of Armenian holidays on their precise day rather than on the closest Sunday, designating St. Vartanantz one of the first Armenian churches in the United States to follow this tradition.

In 1969 Vahak and Hasmig Hovnanians were honored for their efforts with a Knighthood in the Order of the Great House of Cilicia and as a Lady of the Great House of Cilicia respectively, by His Holiness Khoren I, Catholicos of Cilicia. In further service to the Armenian Church, Mr. Hovnanian served as an Executive Member of the Board of Directors for the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America from 1973-1977. During that period he also served as a U.S. National Delegate to the World Council of the Armenian Church’s Cilician Catholicosate in Lebanon.

One of the greatest achievements of Mr. and Mrs. Hovnanian was the founding of the Armenian School in New Milford, NJ, in 1976 which has been renamed in 1984 into Hovnanian School in their honor. On the occasion of the school’s tenth anniversary, Mr. Hovnanian was named Prince of the Armenian Apostolic Church by His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia, in Antelias Lebanon (later His Holiness Karekin I, Catholicos of All Armenians of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin).

In keeping with his commitment to education, Mr. Hovnanian raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in the aftermath of the 1988 earthquake in Armenia which he contributed to His Holiness Vasken I Catholicos of All Armenians to build a new school in the earthquake zone of Spitak. Since 1992, he and his wife have been major benefactors of the Hovnanian School’s sister school in Armenia – the Anania Shirakatsy Gemaran in Nork Massif.

Mr. Hovnanian  received numerous awards throughout his career, which serve to highlight his commitment to the Armenian community.

Believing that tourism would boost Armenia’s economy, Mr. Hovnanian insisted on considering tourism development a top priority and successfully lobbied the U.S. Government to contribute to it. In May 2000, the RA Government chartered the Armenian Tourism Development Agency (ATDA), which was funded by USAID, Mr. Hovnanian himself, and the Armenian Government. ATDA has raised international awareness about Armenia as a world class tourism destination.

In 1995, the Hovnanians endorsed Armenia’s participation in the Venice Biennale and initiated fundraising for the first Armenian Pavilion. They organized and chaired an international Ball held in Venice where over 250 Armenians from around the world gathered to support Armenia’s entry into the international arts scene. While planning this event, they initiated the Kantz Foundation to support young Armenian aspiring artists. Through the Kantz Foundation and the Vahak and Hasmig Hovnanian Foundation, they have supported over 100 young artists from Armenia and outside in their pursuit of prominent careers in the fine and performing arts.

In May 2000, Mr. Hovnanian founded the Sayat Nova Award to stimulate and provide financial support to the songwriters and composers of Armenia. In May 2002, The Vahakni Award was initiated to inspire and support other artists in fine and performing arts.

 

Some 100 were wounded in the clashes near the Ukrainian parliament building, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry told RIA Novosti.

Meanwhile, Kiev mayor Vitali Klitschko told reporters that he had information about several casualties among the law enforcers. Ukraine’s National Guard does not confirm the information.

“”We do not confirm this information. There are those wounded and severely wounded, but there are no dead,” the National Guard press service said.

According to the Ukrainian Internal Ministry’s press service, 10 law enforcement officers are in grave condition. The number of injured protesters is not yet known.

Spokesman for the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tigran Balyan has commented on the reports that Henrikh Mkhitaryan could be denied a visa to Azerbaijan.

“This ridiculous approach of Azerbaijan is not new to us, since they ban anyone with an Armenian surname. This fully fits into this country’s policy of propaganda of hatred for Armenians,” Balayan said in comments to Armenpress.

“It’s clear that the visit to Artakh has nothing to do here,” he added.

“The situation has grown so ridiculous that last year a Turkish man with a Turkish citizenship was not allows into Azerbaijan because of a surname ending in ‘yan’,” the Spokesman concluded.

Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan could miss the UEFA Europa League match against Azerbaijan’s set for October 22.

According to reports in Azeri media, Borussia Dortmund’s #10 may be denied a visa because of his visit to Nagorno Karabakh in 2011.

“We hope that this is not true,” BVB spokesman Sascha Fligge told the German SPORT1. “At the moment Henrikh is a super important player for us, who has shown brilliant achievements for weeks.”

On August 28th, U.S. Ambassador Richard M. Mills, Jr. and Armenian Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan attended the graduation ceremony for 12 trainers of military medics of the Armenian Army who are the first graduates of an innovative medical training course taught by members of the U.S. military.

For the past three months, six U.S. Army personnel have led classes for the Armenian military medics, who will now serve as instructors for the Armenian military paramedic school. The course is a collaboration between the U.S. Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation and the Armenian Ministry of Defense, designed to improve the medical treatment of Armenian military wounded.

“You will save lives. Thanks to you, more of your brothers and sisters in arms will return home from places that others fear to tread, dangerous places where you agree to go in the name of peace,” Ambassador Mills told the graduates.

The U.S. military’s training team of highly skilled and experienced U.S. Army sergeants and an officer led the Armenian military medics through an extensive course of the latest techniques, based on the same curriculum used to teach American military medics. Thousands of pages of material were translated into Armenian, marking the first time the course has been offered in a language other than English. As a result of this successful partnership, other nations are requesting the U.S. military conduct similar courses in their native languages.

“The strong American-Armenian partnership is once again demonstrating what we can achieve when we work together,” Ambassador Mills said. “Today’s graduation is, indeed, just the latest illustration of a bilateral relationship that continues to strengthen and grow. This training is one more example of our nations’ mutual progress, our joint friendship, and our strong trust and belief in one another. I know our partnership will strengthen as we continue to face international challenges to security and stability that cannot be solved by any one country alone. The challenges of today’s world require strong international cooperation between like-minded countries and this ceremony is evidence that U.S.-Armenian cooperation is alive and well.”

The partnership between the American military and the Armenian Peacekeeping Brigade is a long and important one. A platoon of the Armenian Peacekeeping Brigade deployed in 2004 as part of a NATO force to maintain stability and peace in Kosovo. Since that time, Armenian soldiers have actively supported NATO peacekeeping operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Last November, Armenia troops went to Lebanon as part of a UN International Peacekeeping Force.