Category: News

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 midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan could miss the UEFA Europa League match against Azerbaijan’s FC Qäbälä 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.

Baku has blacklisted hundreds of politicians, actors, public figures and journalists over their visit to Artsakh.

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

Igor Nazaruk, the newly-appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus, today handed over his credentials to President Serzh Sargsyan, President’s Press Office reported.

The RA President congratulated the Ambassador on the occasion of taking up his functions and wished every success in fulfilling his diplomatic duties.

Serzh Sargsyan underlined that the bilateral relations between Armenia and Belarus were developing in all dimensions, including the high level political dialogue and partnership on the level of executive and legislative authorities. The President expressed hope that the newly-appointed ambassador would make efforts to fully realize the existing potential of the cooperation between the two countries in the economic sphere, considering that the membership in the EAEU opens up new perspectives for mutually beneficial partnership.

According to the interlocutors, the participation of Armenia in the Eurasian integration processes would enrich the agenda of Armenian-Belarusian cooperation, elevating them to a qualitatively new level of development.

The RA President and the Belarusian ambassador agreed that active political dialogue, boost of the economic and trade relations, partnership in the humanitarian and other fields were in line with the long-term interests of the two countries and the spirit of the friendly relations between Armenian and Belarusian people.

At the meeting Ambassador Igor Nazaruk assured that during his tenure he would make the utmost efforts towards the strengthening and development of Armenian-Belarusian partnership based on the historical friendly relations.

The population of Armenia will plunge to 1.8 million by 2100, the 2015 Revision of World Population Prospects by UN projects.

UNFPA Armenia Assistant Representative Garik Hayrapetyan and demographer Ruben Yeganyan shared insights on the results of the latest UN report.

According to a press release from the Media Center, the forecasts of demographic rates, Garik Hayrapetyan said, are made through average projections.

“Actually, projections are made by optimistic, medium variant and pessimistic scenarios. In 2100 Armenia will have 1.8 million population. The pessimistic variant projection states the population will decrease to less than one million in 2100,” told a press conference at the.

The world population is projected to reach 11.2 billion from current 7.3 billion by 2100. Asia will see a likely contraction of the total population size. Europe will suffer a decrease, with 646 million people in 2100. The fastest-growing area is Africa where population is projected to reach 4.4 billion. Population growth in Turkey and Iran will remain high but they will also see a decrease.

“A major concern for Armenia is the number of workers per retiree. Currently the ratio in the country is 5.4 workers per retiree whereas the medium variant projection defines the number will be 2.4 per one retiree in 2100 and the pessimistic projection sets the one per one variant. It will evolve into a huge social-economic burden for workers and put an end to the principle of generations’ solidarity,” Hayrapetyan said.

With respect to the sex ratio in Armenia, Hayrapetyan said, “Now the sex ratio is 86 males to 100 females but this covers the whole population of Armenia. Meanwhile, among 0-19 olds males exceed females by 11.4,” Hayrapetyan said.

Ruben Yeganyan prioritized migration as a main factor determining these rates. “Now 30 thousand people annually emigrate from Armenia.” In the coming years Armenia’s population is expected to decrease by 12 thousand per year.

Yeganyan added, however, that the UN projection could turn non-realistic. Yeganyan, though, does not consider the presented rates unexpected and believes the country should work to address the issue, develop mechanisms to influence the situation so that the projections do not eventually come true.

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.

 

Turkey will keep contributing to the training and equipment of Syrian opposition fighters, in accordance with its agreement with the U.S., the Turkish Foreign Ministry has said, Anadolu Agency reports.

“Within the scope of the agreement with U.S., the train-and-equip program is being carried out as outlined,” Spokesman Tanju Bilgic said at a press conference Thursday.

He said that after the first group which has already entered Syria, a second group of 100 people were currently receiving training.

“Moving forward, train-and-equip activities will continue uninterruptedly,” Bilgic said.

A total of 54 Syrian opposition fighters went into the country early in August after completing a training regimen at the beginning of July.

The Europa League group stage draw was held in Monaco today. Borussia Dortmun will feature in Group C along with PAOK (Greece), Krasnodar (Russia) and Gabala (Azerbaijan).

Draw in full:

Group A: Ajax, Celtic, Fenerbahce, Molde.

Group B: Rubin Kazan, Liverpool, Bordeaux, FC Sion.

Group C: Borussia Dortmund, PAOK, Krasnodar, Gabala.

Group D: Napoli, Club Brugge, Legia Warsaw, Fc Midtjylland.

Group E: Villareal, Viktoria Plzeň, Rapid Vienna, Dinamo Minsk.

Group F: Marseille, Braga, Slovan Liberec, FC Gronigen.

Group G: Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Lazio, Saint Etienne, Rosenborg.

Group H: Sporting Clube de Portugal, Besiktas, Lokomotiv Moscow, KF Skenderbeu

Group I: FC Basel, Fiorentina, Lech Poznan, Os Belenenses.

Group J: Tottenham, Anderlecht, Monaco, Qarabag.

Group K: Schalke, APOEL, Sparta Prague, Asteras Tripoli

Group L: Athletic Bilbao, AZ, Augsburg, Partizan.