Category: News

– Uruguayan human rights lawyer, Oscar Lopez Goldaracena, denounced Azerbaijan for adding him to their so-called “blacklist,” after the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry forbade him and other deputies and authorities of Bolivia who had officiated as international observers during the constitutional referendum in the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Republic, from entering the country.

Goldaracena said that “I immediately made the complaint to the Chancellor of the Republic Rodolfo Nin and to the National Human Rights Institution” and explained that Nagorno-Karabakh is “a country of Armenian population, independent for 25 years by history and by decision of its people; A democratic, republican country, with an institutional framework in rights, with an Ombudsman and mechanisms of direct democracy that really work.”

“An example,” added the lawyer. “A country that is not recognized by any other country in the world but exists. It is Azerbaijan who attacks it.”

“The population is at risk and has been the victim of war crimes. Hundreds of international observers, among whom I find myself, have corroborated what I am writing, as a way of threatening and preventing its recognition as an independent state. I would like to express my hope that, for peace and freedom, Uruguay repudiates these practices of ‘black lists’ and recognizes the independence, as sovereign state, of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh,” said Goldaracena.

Bolivian Members of Parliament Alicia Canqui, Nelly Lenz, Mario Mita Daza, and the Coordinator of Multi-Sector Solidarity Fair in the Bolivian Chamber of Deputies, Sandra Quiroz Quilo, are some of the new names of the extensive list of “personae non grata” in Azerbaijan.

Photo: KCNA

 

North Korea has claimed that the missile it tested on Sunday was a new type of rocket capable of carrying a large nuclear warhead, the BBC reports.

The missile, launched at a steep angle, reached an altitude of 2,000km and travelled about 700km, landing in the sea west of Japan.

North Korea said on Monday it was a test of the abilities of a “newly developed ballistic rocket”.

South Korea’s military said it could not yet verify the North’s claims.

But it said the North’s missiles did appear to be able to leave and re-enter the atmosphere, which is crucial to developing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), the Yonhap news agency reported.

Repeated missile tests by the North this year – not all of them successful but all a breach of UN sanctions – have sparked international alarm and raised tensions with the US.

The US and Japan have called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

In the framework of his official visit to the State of Qatar, President Serzh Sargsyan met today with the CEO of Qatar Airways Akbar Al Baker.

The parties discussed the process of the Armenian-Qatari cooperation in the area of aviation and prospects for development. President Sargsyan spoke about the significant role of the flights carried out by Qatar Airways in the expansion of the agenda of the interstate bilateral cooperation. Qatar Airways entered the Armenian aviation market in May 2016 and is carrying out Doha-Yerevan-Doha regular flights.

According to the President, the increase of the number of tourists from the countries of the Persian Gulf, including Qatar, is also conditioned by the existence of direct flights.
Noting that Armenia adopted Open Sky policy in 2013, President Sargsyan underscored that Armenia’s policy in the area of civil aviation and air communications provides new opportunities to the Armenian and foreign companies and ensures equal and free competition field for all.

Serzh Sargsyan noted that Armenia will encourage and support Qatari investors to make investments in different areas of the Armenian economy, including the aviation area.

The CEO of Qatar Airways informed President Sargsyan that he has already received instructions from His Majesty the Emir of Qatar to develop cooperation with Armenia in the area headed by him and assured that he would do his best to fulfill the task.
Akbar Al Baker noted that his company sees prospects for the development of  cooperation and is striving to promote the mutually beneficial cooperation.

Photo: Reuters

 

A cyber-attack that has hit 150 countries since Friday should be treated by governments around the world as a “wake-up call”, Microsoft says, the BBC reports.

It blamed governments for storing data on software vulnerabilities which could then be accessed by hackers.

It says the latest virus exploits a flaw in Microsoft Windows identified by, and stolen from, US intelligence.

There are fears of more “ransomware” attacks as people begin work on Monday, although few have been reported so far.

Many firms have had experts working over the weekend to prevent new infections. The virus took control of users’ files and demanded $300 payments to restore access.

The spread of the WannaCry ransomware attack slowed over the weekend but the respite might only be brief, experts have said. More than 200,000 computers have been affected so far.

Leader of the Yerkir Tsirani party Zaruhi Postanjyan cast her ballot at polling station 4/7 this morning.

Speaking to reporters, Postanjyan said she voted for ‘freedom.’

“We’re going to follow the process both inside and outside precincts,” she said.

Postanjyan urged citizens to participate in the election and not to succumb to any pressure.

An Armenian orphanage in Istanbul’s Tuzla district, which was demolished on April 8 to prepare for the construction of a new building, will be rebuilt as a social and cultural facility, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The orphanage was built in 1962 by the Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church, as a former building on the site could not host the increasing number of Armenian students arriving from various parts of Anatolia.

Known as the orphanage where Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist who was murdered in 2007, and his wife, Rakel Dink, studied, it was expropriated by the Turkish state in 1987 on the basis of a 1936 bill preventing minority foundations from acquiring property.

Although the Turkish government signed a historic decree in 2011 to return property taken away from minority foundations, the camp was omitted, alongside hundreds of other properties.

Fatih Ulusoy, the land owner, had initially tried to demolish Kamp Armen in May 2015, but the controversial plan was later shelved as Ulusoy said he would donate it to the Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church and School Foundation.

Efforts to demolish the camp received widespread attention once the news broke on social media. The demolition was subsequently stopped when many people, including activists and leading figures from the Armenian community, rushed to the area to protest the demolition work.

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s municipal council on May 12 unanimously accepted the construction plan regarding the orphanage, which will be rebuilt taking the original building into account. The Kamp Armen area was taken under “Social and Cultural Facility Area” category in line with the Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church and School Foundation’s will.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, a council member from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Hüseyin Sağ, said Kamp Armen was significant since Hrant Dink was raised there.

“It became a social and cultural facility area. Now, Armenian citizens, non-Muslims or our Muslim citizens, we will all go there and sit. We will benefit from the social and cultural facility. This is a place where a person like Hrant Dink stayed in the orphanage. It’s also important because of that,” Sağ said.

According to the construction plan regarding the plot, which is owned by the Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church and School Foundation and Tuzla Municipality, the area will include vocational courses, movie theaters, exhibition and conference halls, a library, a dormitory, a nursing home and an orphanage.

The plan will also ensure the protection of green areas.

Residents of Yerevan are heading to polls to elect the City Council. All polls opened at 8:00 and will close at 20:00.

Three political forces are running in the elections –  Yelk bloc, Yerkir Trirani Party and Republic Party of Armenia.

Seventeen organizations with 5,136 observers are carrying out an observation mission.

Photo: Reuters

 

Friday’s cyber-attack has affected more than 200,000 victims in 150 countries, Europol chief Rob Wainwright says, the BBC reports.

Speaking to Britain’s ITV, he said the world faced an escalating threat, and there was concern about the level of potential attacks on Monday morning.

The virus took control of users’ files, demanding payments; Russia and the UK were among the worst-hit countries.

Security experts have warned that another attack is imminent and could be unstoppable.

Mr Wainwright said he was concerned that the numbers of those affected would continue to rise when people returned to work on Monday morning.

“We’re in the face of an escalating threat, the numbers are going up,” he said, adding that the current attack was unprecedented.

“We are running around 200 global operations against cyber crime each year but we’ve never seen anything like this.

“The latest count is over 200,000 victims in at least 150 countries. Many of those victims will be businesses, including large corporations. The global reach is unprecedented.”

He said the ransomware was unique because it was used in combination with a worm – allowing it to spread through an infected computer through an entire network.

However, Mr Wainwright said that so far “remarkably few” payments had been made by victims of the attack.

Salvador Sobral from Portugal won the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest with the song ‘Amar Pelos Dois’.

This is the country’s first time taking home the trophy. After 53 years of trying they had never even made it to the top five.

Bulgaria and Moldova came in the 2nd and 3rd places respectively. Armenia was placed 18th.

Incumbent Mayor of Yerevan Taron Margaryan cast his ballot at polling station 1/19 in Avan administrative district.

Speaking to reporters after the voting, Taron Margaryan said he voted “for better Yerevan, for a more prospering capital.”

The Mayor said they managed to present the development program for the coming five years to the residents of Yerevan.

He also thanked reporters for their good work during the election campaign.