Category: News

Photo: AFP

 

Turkish police have arrested the main suspect in the New Year’s Eve attack on an exclusive nightclub in Istanbul after a huge manhunt, the BBC reports.

Abdulkadir Masharipov is believed to have mounted the assault on the Reina club which left 39 people dead.

The Uzbek national is said to have been caught in Istanbul’s Esenyurt district.

Citizens of Israel, France, Tunisia, Lebanon, India, Belgium, Jordan and Saudi Arabia were among the victims, and dozens of people were injured.

So-called Islamic State (IS) said it was behind the attack, saying it was revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria.

The gunman arrived at the club by taxi early that Sunday, before rushing through the entrance with a long-barrelled gun he had taken from the boot of the car.

He fired randomly at people celebrating the new year.

South Korea’s special prosecutor is seeking an arrest warrant for Samsung heir apparent Lee Jae-yong, accused of bribery, embezzlement and perjury, the BBC reports.

The case is linked to a scandal that led to the impeachment of the country’s President Park Geung-hye.

Samsung is accused of giving donations to non-profit foundations operated by Choi Soon-sil, a friend of Ms Park, in exchange for government favours.

The firm said the issuing of the arrest warrant was “hard to understand”.

Seoul Central District Court must now decide whether to go ahead and issue the warrant.

If this happened, Mr Lee would be the first executive to be arrested in connection to the scandal.

He is currently vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics, but since his father, Lee Kun-hee, suffered a heart attack in 2014, he is considered de facto boss of the entire Samsung Group conglomerate.

10th round of hearings of Dink murder case will continue today in Istanbul. Friends of Hrant was in front of the court house, Agos reports. 

The case on the murder of Agos’ editor-in-chief Hrant Dink will continue today (January 16) in Istanbul.

Hearings will continue until Friday and Ali Fuat Yılmazer will present his defence.

Before the hearing, Friends of Hrant was in front of the court house, demanding justice again.

Speaking on behalf of Friends of Hrant, Bülent Aydın reminded that hearing of defences will be completed soon and now, it is Ali Fuat Yılmazer’s turn.

Saying that “For 10 years, Hrant is not here and there is no justice,” Aydın announced that they will gather  in front of the old Agos building, where Dink was shot, on January 19 at 2.30 pm.

Garo Paylan, an Armenian member of the Turkish parliament, has appealed to the Constitutional Court for interruption of his January 13^th speech and his further suspension from Parliament, Agos reports.

Paylan labels the incident as “the violation of the right to immunity and the freedom of speech.”

Garo Paylan has also applied to the Grand National Assembly, demanding to overturn the decision on his suspension, as it “contradicts the Parliament’s rules of procedure.”

Garo Paylan representing the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) on Saturday was suspended from parliament for three days after speaking about the Armenian Genocide during the legislature debate of a new Turkish constitution.

In his speech, which angered the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) members, Paylan said that from 1913 to 1923 the Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks and Jews registered in the country, were “exiled from these lands or subjected to tortures as a result of large massacres and genocide”.

“At one time we comprised 40% of the population,” Paylan said despite an uproar by AKP members.  “Today we are one among 1000. Something happened to us, and I call it genocide whatever you call it. The Armenian people know very well what happened to them. I know very well what happened to my father, grandfather. Let’s face [history] together,” he added.

AKP member Metin Külünk demanded that Paylan  “correct  the word genocide.” The legislative session ended, with parliament members condemning Paylan’s statements.

 

 

 

Angelina Papikyan and Sabina Manvelyan will represent Armenia in the new music show “Ты-супер” (“You’re super”) to be hosted by the Russian NTV channel.

Angelina Pepanyan, 15, studies at the Gyumri’s boarding school after Fridtjof Nansen. Sabina Manvelyan, also 15, lives at children’s home in Vanadzor.

The project provides a chance to talented children without parents to express themselves. According to the rules of the project, every country should be represented by two participants.

The girls will leave for Moscow in the coming days and are looking forwards to the start of the show.

On 16 January President Bako Sahakyan signed a decree, according to which serviceman of the NKR Defense Army’s N division Garik Vardanyan was posthumously awarded with the “For Service in Battle” medal for bravery shown during the defense of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic state border.

Private of the NKR Defense Army Garik Artashes Vardanyan, born in 1996, succumbed to wounds at the military hospital in Yerevan on January 15.

The NKR Defense Ministry shares the sorrow of the heavy loss and expresses its condolences to Garik Vardanyan’s family and friends.

The NKR Defense Army has dismissed the claims that an Azeri serviceman had been killed in a shooting from the Armenian side.

The NKR Defense Ministry reports that that the Azerbaijani side kept violating the ceasefire regime all along the line of contact, using firearms of different calibers, also as 60 and 82 mm mortars.

More intensive firing was reported in the eastern and northeastern sections of the frontline.

The NKR forces resorted to response actions to pressure the activeness of the rival at some sections. “Azerbaijan will be responsible for the consequences of further aggravation of tension. Karabakh pledges stricter actions should the rival maintain the behavior.

The National Assembly of the Nagorno Karabakah Repubvlic will convene a special session on January 17.

A corresponding decision was signed by Speaker Ashot Ghulyan today.

The lawmakers are set to resume discussions on the draft Constitution.

Although disappointed not to win, Henrikh Mkhitaryan enjoyed the “amazing” atmosphere at Old Trafford in his first experience of Manchester United’s fierce rivalry with Liverpool.

The Reds were held to a 1-1 draw in the Premier League as Zlatan Ibrahimovic notched his 19th goal of the season to cancel out James Milner’s first-half penalty at a raucous Theatre of Dreams.

In particular, the noise levels inside the stadium erupted when Zlatan equalised on 84 minutes as the crowd willed the team on to secure a possible comeback victory. While a second goal unfortunately never came, Mkhitaryan told afterwards that he relished the whole experience.

“The atmosphere was amazing,” Henrikh said. “I want to see more of this kind of atmosphere in the stadium. Thanks to the supporters. They were believing in us and they supported us until the end.”

Offering his assessment of the match, Mkhitaryan continued: “It wasn’t the right result but we were down 1-0 so it wasn’t a bad result. We could have won, we could have lost, but I think we deserved to win more because we played very well like a team and did our best to win the game.

“The score was 1-1 at the end so we were pushing up a bit, trying to find the net for the second time but unfortunately we couldn’t. So 1-1 is not a bad result because we are still very close to the top four and we will do our best in the next games.”

Marouane Fellaini made a telling impact as a substitute on Sunday as his header that bounced off the post led to Ibrahimovic scoring a vital goal just seconds later. Mkhitaryan was quick to praise the Belgian afterwards, but also had positive words for United’s two other replacements.

“Not only Marouane but also Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata put freshness in the team,” Micki explained. “They helped us a lot up front and we are happy that they could change something in our game. We are happy to have them coming on.”

Mkhitryan is unconcerned that United’s nine-match winning run has come to an end, saying records are not the main focus this season, yet he hopes to begin another run at Stoke City next weekend.

“For sure, why not?” he said. “We have to win, try to win the next game. We are not looking for records, we are doing our best to be in the top four and to do that you have to win games. Do not think about records because one day they will break. We are just trying to do our job by winning every game.”

Contract serviceman Arayik Igor Sargsyan (born in 1995), was fatally wounded under unknown circumstances at one of the military units located in the southeastern direction of the NKR Defense Army at about 12:35 today, the NKR Defense Ministry reports.

Investigation into the circumstances of the incident is under way.

The NKR Defense Ministry shares the sorrow of the heavy loss and expresses condolences to the serviceman’s family and friends.