Category: News

Malaysia Airlines is “technically bankrupt”, its chief executive has said, as he announced a restructuring programme and plans to cut about 6,000 jobs, the BBC reports.

The announcement follows the twin air disasters which forced its nationalisation last year.

The airline said it had “offered jobs” to 14,000 of its 20,000 workforce.

The move was expected and follows the appointment of new chief executive Christoph Mueller in May.

“We are technically bankrupt,” Mr Mueller told a news conference. “The decline of performance started long before the tragic events of 2014.”

The airline is operating as normal and no flights are currently affected.

In March last year, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared with 239 passengers and crew aboard. The plane is still missing.

Four months later, flight MH17 was shot down by a suspected ground-to-air missile while in Ukrainian airspace, with the loss of 298 passengers and crew.

The two disasters proved to be the final straw for the already struggling business, which had reported losses for several years as a result of strong regional competition.

After 55 days spent in a small enclosure with no food and only jugs of water, a thinner and thick-bearded Agasi Vartanyan emerged from his perch Thursday, his voice weak but his spirit swelling with victory for a mission accomplished, reports.

Vartanyan needed no help as he used a ladder to climb down from a glass enclosure built on a high platform outside St. Leon Armenian Cathedral in Burbank. A flock of doves was released and a crowd of people clapped as he stepped on the ground, raised his arms to give the peace sign, then sat in a wheelchair. The 55-year-old Glendale man had entered the 12-foot-by-12-foot enclosure on April 3 promising to fast for 55 days to draw attention to the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

He went in weighing 224 pounds and emerged nearly 60 pounds lighter. After a quick check-up by a medical crew, Armenian television reporters swooped in and Vartanyan told the crowd he felt well and that he was grateful for all their support.

“I have great satisfaction,” the Armenian man said through a translator. “You wouldn’t believe the reaction I had from around the world.”

Vartanyan’s hunger strike was meant to cast global attention on what he and many have called an injustice to the 1.5 million Armenians killed under the command of the Ottoman Turks starting a century ago this year. From 1915 to 1923, Armenians were forcibly deported from their homes and killed as part of a systemic ethnic cleansing that also affected Assyrians and Pontic Greeks.

Vartanyan couldn’t participate in the March for Justice last month when more than 100,000 people walked for six miles through the streets of Los Angeles to mark the April 24 centennial. But he said he watched television and saw news reports and was filled with pride when he learned of the great outpouring.

His efforts were supported by the nonprofit Crimes Against Humanity — Never Again (CAHNA), which formed to raise global awareness on genocides past and present. The organization set up a live stream camera of Vartanyan, which drew some 19 million viewers.

That sort of attention will help the organization’s next goal, which will move away from trying to garner recognition of the Armenian Genocide to fighting for justice for those who are descendents, said CAHNA’s president Harut Sassounian, who lost relatives to the genocide. That includes pursuing legal actions against the Turkish government, which has refused to call the events of that time a genocide.

“We Armenians went through hell,” Sassounian said. “We’re continuing the struggle. We want to get back all the lands we lost, the churches that are gone.”

Vartanyan said his goal was to encourage the Armenians of the diaspora to keep fighting for justice. More than 200,000 people of Armenian descent call Los Angeles County home. It is the largest Armenian diaspora outside of the Republic of Armenia.

“I believe you’ll never achieve anything unless you fight for it, struggle for it,” he said. “I did this so that no one will forget the genocide that was committed against my people.”

Vartanyan said he prepared a year for this fast, although he had gone on a similar hunger strike almost 10 years ago in Russia. Back then, he abstained from food for 50 days, in part he said to break illusionist David Blaine’s 44-day fast in London.

It was unclear Thursday if Vartanyan broke any records.

“We do not have a current record holder as we do not currently recognize this category,” said a spokeswoman from Guinness World Records in an e-mail reply.

But those in the crowd said they were proud of him and inspired by his efforts.

“I was very worried about what he was doing,” said Hamlet Pogosian, Vartanyan’s cousin. “I didn’t like what he was doing for health reasons, but I’m proud of what he did for our nation.”

Vartanyan would not discuss the mental and physical struggles he endured, saying he preferred to let the public use their imagination. But halfway through the ordeal, he admitted to reporters he thought a lot about “meat, all kinds of meat.” The front of the enclosure where he spent all his time had one glass wall, allowing the public to see him day and night, though there was some privacy. He was given 55 gallons of water, a few clothes, a cot and a television. He often could be seen pacing back and forth or looking out on the street.

He also wouldn’t say what his first meal would be, but offered a hint through a smile.

“Whatever I eat will be the most delicious thing in the world,” he said.

Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias has been receiving treatment after two of his fingers were injured by a drone camera during a concert in Mexico, the BBC reports.

The singer had been attempting to grab the drone, used to get crowd shots during his concerts.

“Something went wrong and he had an accident,” a representative for the singer revealed on Instagram.

Iglesias continued to perform after the accident before flying to Los Angeles to see a specialist.

Photos posted on social media after Saturday’s concert at the Plaza de Toros de Playas in Tijuana appeared to show him with a bandaged right hand and a bloodied white T-shirt.

According to his press agent Joe Bonilla, Iglesias – son of veteran Spanish performer Julio – “decided to go on and continued playing for 30 minutes while the bleeding continued throughout the show”.

The 40-year-old was then “rushed to the airport where an ambulance met him [and he] was then put on a plane to LA to see a specialist.”

Iglesias, one of Latin music’s biggest stars, recently took home nine prizes from the Billboard Latin Music Awards.

The next date in his Sex and Love world tour is scheduled for 3 July in Mexico City.

 

During a visit to Rhode Island on Saturday, the spiritual leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church blessed the Armenian Martyrs Memorial Monument at North Burial Ground before proceeding to lead a religious service at Sts. Vartanantz Church on Broadway. A couple of hundred people attended the service, reports.

His Holiness, Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cicilia, visited Providence as part of a tour of U.S. cities with significant Armenian populations. Earlier this year, he met with Pope Francis, who later pronounced the Armenian genocide of 1915 as the first genocide of the 20th century. The towering monument at the Providence cemetery was erected in 1977 to honor the loss of 1.5 million lives.

“This is a big deal,” said Nora Simonian, of North Attleboro, while awaiting the arrival of Aram I at the church. “He’s our pope.”

He last visited Rhode Island about 17 years ago, she said, and on that visit she said she was fortunate to have him bless her newborn daughter.

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić will visit Armenia on 3 June 2015. He will meet President Serzh Sargsyan, Speaker of Parliament Galust Sahakyan and Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian, as well as members of leading political parties, and visit the OSCE Office in Yerevan.

Dačić and Nalbandian will hold a joint press conference on Wednesday, 3 June at 11.00 AM at the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“We are people from Turkey and Armenia whose common ground is cinema. We love cinema. Not only do we love cinema, we also believe in the power of cinema to heal, reconcile and make peace.” So begins the manifesto for the Armenia-Turkey Cinema Platform (ATCP), bringing together filmmakers from Armenia and Turkey, as well as the diaspora in Turkey, for seven years now, the Hurriyet Daily News reports. 

“We believe that cinema can help us say things we were not able to for decades, and help us get to know one another. Not only do we believe, we also act on it!” The ATCP has been acting on the power of cinema for reconciliation and dialogue. “The Armenia-Turkey Cinema Platform will meet for the 13th and 14th time this year,” Çiğdem Mater, film producer and the Turkey coordinator of the Armenia-Turkey Cinema Platform, told the Hürriyet Daily News.

The ATCP holds two workshops every year, one in Yerevan and another in Istanbul to provide opportunities for joint production with filmmakers from both countries. “ATCP has supported 16 films to date, and brought together around 400 filmmakers from both countries and the diaspora,” said Mater. “One common and the most important feature of the supported projects is that they are joint productions with filmmakers from both countries and the diaspora.”

The platform was brought to life by Anadolu Kültür, a civil initiative created to foster mutual dialogue through arts and culture, with the Golden Apricot Film Festival. The first activity of the platform was a workshop held in parallel to the Istanbul International Film Festival in 2008, “How the cinema deals with history.” A total of 20 young filmmakers from Turkey and Armenia came together for the workshop in Istanbul.

“Many of the films have been screened in major film festivals,” said Mater, citing some of them. Devrim Akkaya’s documentary “Diyar,” about a Turkish woman’s reconciliation with her history and that had its world premiere last year, is one of them. Acclaimed actress Derya Durmaz’s directorial debut, “Ziazan,” a short film about a 4-year-old Armenian girl secretly traveling across the border to Turkey in her uncle’s luggage, is another award-winner. Then there is Arthur Sukiasyan’s documentary “Our Atlantis,” about an Armenian camp in Istanbul, built by orphans in the 1960s.

Dialogue between Turkish and Armenian communities

“For us, what we value the most about the ATCP is its role in facilitating platforms for dialogue and debate. We held meetings in universities in various cities in Turkey with filmmakers from both countries and the diaspora in 2014. We had discussions on the events of 1915 and the Armenian Genocide through our films. These discussions were enlightening for all of us. It was delightful to see how open-minded the students and academics were,” said Mater.

“Recent years have seen an unprecedented enthusiasm for dialogue between Turkish and Armenian communities among civil society, which was sadly kick-started by the murder of Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist and editor-in-chief, in 2007,” said Mater. “Each civil initiative taken by Turkey, Armenia, and the diaspora communities are invaluable. All of us owe a great deal to Hrant Dink. His loss opened a door. And all of us, Turks, Kurds, Armenians, have to walk through that door.”

The ATCP recently opened a new call for film projects for its 14th workshop on July 13-14 during Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Yerevan. Filmmakers from Turkey, Armenia and the diaspora are welcome to apply to the workshop where five projects from both countries will engage in trainings, presentations, one-to-one meetings, and project pitches. Selected applicants will present their project to an international jury for a $10,000 award, with the support of the Black Sea Trust and A Project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. The deadline for applications is June 10.

What’s next for the Armenia-Turkey Cinema Platform? “The next step for the ATCP is to continue with the screenings and meetings in Turkey, as well as screenings and panels in cities across the world where the numbers of Turkish and Armenian diaspora are high,” said Mater. “Through these meetings, we are getting closer to one another, getting to know one another and with it the inevitable, the progress.”

President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakyan has issued a congratulatory message on the occasion of the International Children’s Day.

Beloved children,
Dear parents,

On behalf of the Artsakh Republic authorities and myself personally I cordially congratulate you on the International Children’s Day.

Children are the joy and light of our life, consequently, safeguarding their routine and making it more prosperous is the sacred duty of each parent. The same is true for the state. Every year different programs aimed at guaranteeing healthcare for the younger generations, raising the quality of education, organizing children’s leisure, securing their comprehensive development are being implemented in our country.

From year to year the number of new and convenient schools and kindergartens, hospitals and playing grounds corresponding to modern standards are steadily increasing. These activities will be of continuous nature contributing substantially to the resolving of issues concerning children in Artsakh, forging a bright and secure future for our people.

I congratulate all the little citizens of Artsakh on this magnificent holiday once again and wish them peace, good health and all the best. Be always happy and cheerful, and let each your step be crowned with success!

Kimye are expecting another baby, the Associted Press  reports.

Kim Kardashian says she is pregnant with her second child with Kanye West.

She revealed the news in a clip that appeared after Sunday’s episode of the E! reality show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.”

The show documented her fertility struggles, and she confided that an attempt to conceive through in vitro fertilization had failed.

The clip shows Kardashian telling her sister, Khloe, that a blood test following another attempt confirmed she was pregnant.

Kardashian and West have a nearly 2-year-old daughter, North West, who was born on June 15, 2013 and was recenty baptized in an Armenian church in Jerusalem.

They got engaged four months later in an elaborate marriage proposal in front of family and friends at San Francisco’s AT&T Park. They married in May 2014 in Florence, Italy, after hosting lavish pre-wedding festivities in France.

The much-talked about couple has been dubbed Kimye since becoming an item.

Former Olympic athlete and reality TV star Bruce Jenner, who is transitioning to life as a woman, revealed her new name as Caitlyn Jenner on Monday and posed in a white strapless leotard on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine, reports.

In a video on the magazine’s website, Jenner said the cover, which features the headline “Call me Caitlyn,” represents a liberating phase of her transition.

“Bruce always had to tell a lie,” Jenner said. “Caitlyn doesn’t have any secrets. As soon as the Vanity Fair cover comes out, I’m free.”

The cover portrait, by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz, was taken in Jenner’s Malibu, California home for Vanity Fair’s July issue. The magazine will also feature other high fashion photos of Jenner.

Jenner, 65, became the most high-profile American to identify as transgender, making the announcement in an interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer in April.

Jenner, who has been prominently featured as the patriarch on E! Entertainment’s “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” will star in an E! documentary this July chronicling her new life as a woman.

 

 

 

“In 2014 the Public Radio and Television Company maintained the policy adopted in the previous years but increased the number of social-economic, cultural and educational programs,” President of the Public Radio and Television Company of Armenia Ruben Jaghinyan said at the National Assembly as he presented a report on the budget allocations in 2014.

“We have worked towards expanding ties with international structures and foreign TV companies. The coverage of the satellite broadcasting of the Public TV and Radio has been broadened.  The Public TV has launched a new webpage. All in all, 3 billion 97 million AMD was allocated for the activity of the Public TV and Radio Company in 2014,” Ruben Jaghinyan said.

He added that the deadline for switching to digital broadcasting has been moved from July 1^st to January 1^st. “The digitization was a difficult process, which required years,” he said.