Category: News

Henrikh Mkhitaryan credited as the key player in Manchester United’s upturn in fortunes

Maral Takmazian

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been credited as the key player in Manchester United’s upturn in fortunes, accoridng to .

The Armenian was initially frozen out by Jose Mourinho but since being brought into the fray has excelled. It’s coincided with a run of results that sees Manchester United unbeaten in 11 Premier League games and on a nine-game winning run in all competitions.

Liverpool legend Didi Hamann believes Mkhitaryan deserves much credit.

‘Mkhitaryan has been a key man in United’s changing fortunes,’ said the German. ‘He’s played a far greater role in the league since the end of November, scoring against Sunderland and bagging the winner at home to Tottenham, and in that time United have won six and drawn two in the league. He’s been excellent playing just off Ibrahimovic and has helped shape United’s style of football.’

Georgia gives nod to the deal on transit of Russian gas to Armenia

Eduard Nalbandian

The Georgian Government has given nod to a deal with Gazprom on the terms of gas transit to Armenia, Minister of Energy Kakha Kaladze has declared, Gruzia Online reports.

The Minister said the parties would shift to partial monetization of payments for the transit of Russian gas to Armenia.

Kaladze noted that “the changes will not increase Georgia’s dependence on Russia.”

Previously, Russia paid Georgia for gas transportation by supplying natural gas in the amount of 10% of the transported gas volume, but the agreement expired on December 31.

“As a result of multi-round talks we managed to reach an optimal proposal with the exiting circumstances taken into account,” Kakha Kaladze told reporters after the government sitting. “The government discussed and decided to sign the deal,” he added.

The Minister said the rates will be among the highest in Europe.

Last year Georgia transported 2.1 cubic meters of natural gas through its pipeline from Russian to Armenia, of which 0.3 cubic meters stayed in Georgia.

Michigan State University provides access to testimonies from genocide survivors

Markos Nalchajian

Michigan State University is one of a growing number of institutions using video testimonies from genocide survivors to inspire learning and new research insights across multiple academic disciplines. The University is providing its students, faculty and researchers with access to University of Southern California (USC) Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive®, the world’s largest collection of eyewitness accounts from genocide witnesses and survivors, available through .

“Moving forward into an era in which we will no longer be able to speak with Holocaust survivors personally, oral testimonies provide essential historical and emotional truths about the Holocaust,” said Amy Simon, William and Audrey Farber Family Endowed Chair in Holocaust Studies and European Jewish History at Michigan State University.

“Faculty from a range of disciplines are interested in furthering their research through this archive,” added Simon. “All of us hope to complement our printed sources with these oral testimonies as we write about history, language, economics, trauma studies, literature, and more. Many of us have also begun using these testimonies in the classroom, encouraging our students to delve into them in their own research.”

The Visual History Archive includes 54,000 video interviews, each one a source of unique and powerful stories from the Holocaust and other genocides, including those that occurred in Rwanda, Guatemala, Armenia and Nanjing. Soon to be added will be testimonies from Cambodia. The average length of each testimony is about two hours, preserving a complete personal history of life before, during and after the subject’s firsthand experience with genocide. Digitized, fully searchable via indexed keywords, and hyperlinked to the minute, the archive contains more than 114,000 hours of testimony that can be precisely narrowed to pinpoint topics of interest, making it particularly useful to students, faculty and researchers.

USC Shoah Foundation and ProQuest launched a partnership in 2016 to dramatically improve access, discovery and contextual understanding to the content of the Visual History Archive. The ability to connect the streamed video and metadata to a library’s holdings of ProQuest content – which can span dissertations, historical news, periodicals, scholarly journals, government records, primary source documents, and ebooks – provides researchers with a much richer experience and greater insights about the impact of these exceptional testimonies.

About 50 cases of ceasefire violation by Azeri side reported overnight

Emma Nadirian

About 50 cases of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani side were registered at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces last night, the NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The rival fired over 900 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions. More intensive firing was reported in the eastern (Martuni) direction of the line of contact.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army confidently continue with their military duty and resort to response actions in case of extreme necessity.

The story of the nuncio who tried to stop the Armenian Genocide

Babken Chilingarian
– Valentina Karakhanian is one of two researchers from the Vatican Secret Archives who has gathered every document the Holy See keeps on the Armenian Genocide.
The result is the dramatic chronological account of how the apostolic delegate of the then Pope Benedict XV gradually became aware of the tragedy that was being perpetrated and tried to stop it.
“We have tried to organize the documents so that they themselves account for the massacre of Armenians. The protagonists include Armenians, bishops, nuncios, and ambassadors who lived or witnessed the first genocide of the 20th century,” Valentina Vartuhi Karakhanian says.
The main character of the book is the pope’s representative, Cardinal Angelo Maria Dolci. It shows how he tried to mobilize the diplomatic corps in Constantinople, denounce what happened and reach the Sultan, without much success.
“The Vatican did what it could, and in some cases what it could not, because the Nuncio went to meet with people who were outside the diplomatic sphere. The apostolic delegate had no right to go to those offices. But he went and showed the delegation’s private documents, because to get to the Sultan it was necessary to show the pope’s signature. He met with ministers, with the Grand Vizier, and with the Sultan. He spoke on behalf of the pope and the Holy See, because he was certain that Pope Benedict XV wanted to help and save these people,” the researcher says.
The first-person accounts from the papal representative give a terribly close-up view of the extermination of Christians expelled from their homes.
“In some regions they have been massacred, others deported to unknown places, left to die along the way. There are mothers who have even sold their own children to save them from death.”
“At one point he understood that the persecution was not specifically against the Armenians, but against the Christians on the territory. The Christians had to be eliminated from that territory. Together with the Armenians, many Assyrians, Chaldeans, Melkites, Maronites were persecuted and murdered … It was the pain and persecution that united them,” Valentina Vartuhi Karakhanian says.

Thousands attend Iran ex-President’s funeral

Boshkezenian Garik 
Photo: Reuters

 

Tens of thousands of Iranians have turned out in the capital Tehran for the funeral of former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the BBC reports.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will perform prayers at the ceremony, which is being held at Tehran University.

Mr Rafsanjani, president from 1989 to 1997, died of a heart attack on Sunday at the age of 82.

Three days of official mourning began on Monday.

The former president will be buried next to Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

Armenian Parliament’s Vice-Speaker Edward Sharmazanov is also attending the funeral.

David Babayan: The term ‘Nagorno Karabakh Republic’ being used more frequently

Emil Lazarian

The resolution of the Karabakh conflict is impossible without Artsakh returning to the talks, Spokesman for the NKR President David Babayan said in an interview with Public Radio of Armenia.

Speaking about the expectations from the settlement process,the Spokesperson said “the emphasis will be put on the maintenance of stability, as there is no other option at this point.”

“It is impossible to reach a comprehensive settlement without Artsakh returning to the negotiating table, but there are no prerequisites to believe that this will happen in the near future,”David Babayan said.

However, he sees changes in the behavior of the international community.

“The international community is trying to open at least one of the brackets. The criticism of Azerbaijan has grown, the term ‘Nagorno Karabakh Republic is being used by international structures more frequently,” Babayan said.

Member of the NKR National Assembly Hayk Khanlaryan has no expectations from the negotiation process.

“It would be desirable for Artsakh to return to the negotiating table as soon  as possible, but it’s nearly impossible considering Azerbaijan’s stance and the current political conjuncture,” he said.

Perspectives of development of Armenia-EU ties discussed in Yerevan

Alex Jidarian

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Karen Nazaryan and MEP Frank Engel discussed the Armenia-EU relations at a meeting in Yerevan on January 9.

During the meeting reference was made to the negotiations on a new framework agreement, the ongoing dialogue and other issues. The Armenian Deputy FM briefed the guest on the current status of Armenia-EU relations and the perspectives of their development.

The parties stressed the importance of permanent support for their implementation on the legislative and executive levels.

In the context of elimination of consequences of Azerbaijan’s April aggression against Artsakh and the efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to thfurer the negotiation process, the interlocutors attached importance to raising awareness in the European Parliament and among the European community, at large.

The parties exchanged views on the latest regional and international developments.

Trump names son-in-law as top adviser

Chakhmakhchian Vatche 
Photo: Reuters

 

President-elect Donald Trump has named his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as one of his senior White House advisers, the BBC reports.

The 35-year-old played a key role in the presidential campaign and his new White House job will cover both domestic and foreign policy.

Mr Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump, is a property developer with a wide range of business interests.

Democrats immediately called for a review of the appointment, citing nepotism laws and potential conflicts.

Members of the House Judiciary Committee urged the Department of Justice and the Office of Government Ethics to step in.

Earlier, Mr Trump hailed his son-in-law as a “tremendous asset” and he was proud to give him a “key leadership role” in the administration.