Category: News

On December 27 Tigran Mkrtchyan, Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to Lithuania had a meeting with Viktoras Pranckietis, Speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas.

The Seimas Speaker commended the level of bilateral political dialogue and the progress achieved in economic cooperation.

The interlocutors noted that the trade turnover over the last years has greatly increased and there are sufficient conditions for its improvement.

The sides highlighted the development of cooperation in the format of inter-parliamentary friendship groups. The Speaker in his turn underlined that the Armenia-Lithuania inter-parliamentary friendship group, re-convened following the Seimas elections, is one of the three biggest groups of the Lithuanian parliament, containing 48 MPs and consisting of one-third of the Seimas members.

The interlocutors touched upon the process of negotiations on Armenia-EU new framework agreement, the visa liberalization perspectives. The Speaker underlined, that Lithuania supports Armenia’s cooperation with the EU.

Talking about the Artsakh issue, Ambassador Mkrtchyan presented to his interlocutor the continuous destructive behavior of official Baku, the anti-Armenian propaganda conducted on the top level.

The Seimas speaker reaffirmed Lithuania’s stance in Nagorno-Karabakh issue, expressing support to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs aimed at a peaceful resolution of the issue.

On December 28 the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia will be heading on tour to China, where the musicians will celebrate the New Year.

The Youth Orchestra received an invitation from the Beijing Culture and Entertainment Corporation. The orchestra will have two concerts on December 31 and on January 2 in Haikou (China).

The Armenian musicians will present arias from well-known Italian operas (Verdi, Puccini), as well as pieces by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Bizet and Chinese composers.

The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and Iran may sign a temporary agreement that could lead to the creation of a free trade zone, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said Monday.

“The president of Iran has shown interest in signing a temporary deal with the EEU, leading to the creation of a free trade zone. Armenia is actively assisting the negotiations between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Commission, aiming to sign the agreement as soon as possible,” Sargsyan said.

“As the only EEU member that has a land border with Iran, is focusing on the development of joint transport and logistics projects, including the creation of a transit route from the Persian Gulf to the Black Sea, which would create the platform for a safe and convenient access to the Persian Gulf and on to the Indian Ocean for our EEU partners,” teh Armenian President said.

At the northern capital of the Russian Federation Saint Petersburg, today after the session of the Supreme Council of the Eurasian Economic Union there took place a session of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in which President Serzh Sargsyan participated together with the Presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.

The leaders of the member states discussed the current international issues and challenges, the ongoing activities of the Organization, and forthcoming programs.

Because of the absence of the President of Belarus and lack of a quorum, the issue related to the appointment of the Secretary General of the CSTO was postponed until the next session of the Collective Security Council which will take place in April, 2017.

 

 

 

The new ArmCulture app will allow to see the animated 3D images of the monuments to Hovhannes Tumanyan and Alexander Spendiaryan. The application developed by the Arloopa and Aurora Bareallisse Marketing can be downloaded from the Appstore and Google Market.

When scanning the markers attached to the two monuments, one can see the 3D animation. Voice messages from Tumanyan and Spendiaryan can also be heard.

Minister of Culture Armen Amiryan says the initiative will be continuous.

“The video content will be periodically enriched. In the future Hovhannes Tumanyan and Alexander Spendiaryan will invite people to attend this or that performance or concert,” he said.

“I think this format is a new opportunity to encourage the youth to come to the Opera Theatre. We’ll try to apply the technology to other monuments, as well,” the Minister of Culture added.

According to Armen Amiryan, the initiative is a combination of Information Technologies and culture, which will inevitably lead to positive results.

The plane crash that killed 71 people in Colombia last month, including dozens of players from Brazil’s Chapecoense football team, was caused by human error, an investigation says, the BBC reports.

Colombian officials said there was no technical failure and blamed the pilot, the airline and Bolivian regulators.

A recording had already indicated the aircraft had run out of fuel.

The plane, operated by Bolivian company LaMia, plunged into a mountainside near Medellin. Only six people survived.

Preliminary results of the Colombian investigation said the pilot failed to refuel en route and was too late in reporting engine failures caused by the lack of fuel.

Colombia’s Secretary for Air Safety, Col Freddy Bonilla, also said that aviation authorities in Bolivia and the airline accepted conditions presented in the flight plan that were “unacceptable”.

Armenia’s Central Bank said on Tuesday it had cut its refinancing rate to 6.25 percent from 6.5 percent.

Annual deflation in the country was at 0.6 percent in November, compared to 0.9 percent deflation in October, according to Central Bank data.

On a monthly basis, the inflation rate stood at 1 percent in November, up from 0.5 percent in October.

Photo: AP

Henrikh Mkhitaryan described his brilliant backheeled effort against Sunderland as “the best goal I’ve ever scored”, while speaking to after Manchester United’s 3-1 win.

The Armenian’s inspired finish from Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s right-wing cross gave visiting goalkeeper Jordan Pickford little chance of making a save in front of the Stretford End. The goal put the Reds 3-0 up at Old Trafford, before Fabio Borini pulled back a late consolation for the Black Cats.

“That was the best goal I’ve ever scored,” Mkhitaryan said. “I was very excited. The first thing I did was look at the assistant and I saw it was not ruled as offside so I just started to celebrate.

“I was expecting the ball to be in front of me and then I realised I was in front of it. As the ball was behind me, the only thing I could do was a backheel so I did that and I succeeded.”

Mkhitaryan’s entrance as a 61st-minute replacement for Jesse Lingard marked his return to action after a two-match absence through injury. The Armenian insists he is now fit and ready to play his part as United bid for a fifth Premier League win in a row, at home to Middlesbrough on New Year’s Eve.

“I don’t have anything of concern from a past injury so I’m happy to be back and I’m happy to be back to help the team,” Henrikh explained. “I will try to do my best for the next game. It’s very important that we’re in good shape and to keep going like this.”

On December 27, on the occasion of the New Year  the

President of the RA National Assembly Galust Sahakyan hosted a New Year reception for mass media representatives . Addressing the attendees the NA Speaker said:

“Dear representatives of  mass media,

I congratulate you on the occasion of New Year and Christmas.

The passing year was rich in events, so I think that we had no occasion for getting bored. The media representatives were in the centre of attention of all the events in Artsakh, in Armenia with high conscience of civil and professional duty. The battlefield and the political field, the inter-state and inner-state life never felt any slight sign of indifference or carelessness, including also in the National Assembly.

Considering the parliament as a democratic free political platform of expression of moods and viewpoints, me as Speaker of the National Assembly and the Staff of the National Assembly, always sought to provide the execution of the right to free speech and sincere atmosphere of the implementation of journalistic activities and relevant conditions. I hope that our cooperation both in terms of political and merely human sense is successful and will have effective continuation.

Dear journalists, the upcoming year of 2017 is a year of parliamentary elections. I am sure that as always, during this important event for our country the journalistic field of Armenia will display itself with dignity, being guided by all-state and popular interests.

Once again congratulating you on the occasion of New Year and Holy Nativity, I wish you and your families peace, welfare and all the best.”

By the order of the RA NA Speaker Galust Sahakyan, for great contribution to the freedom of information and speech the Executive Director of the Public Radio of Armenia Arman Saghatelyan was awarded the RA NA Medal of Honour,   the Deputy Director of Public Radion of Armenia Lilit Tumanyan,   the journalist of the Hyemedia AM Information Website Karen Vardanyan, the Editor of Yerkir AM Information Website Agnesa Khamoyan, the Editor of ArmInfo Agency Tatevik Shahunyan, the journalits of AR TV Company Margarit Davtyan were awarded the RA National Assembly Diploma.   The Editor of Shamshyan com Information Website Gagik Shamshyan, the journalist of Hetq am Information Website Grisha Balasanyan, the journalist of Shant TV Company Artak Hovhannisyan, the journalist of Armenia TV Company Zohrab Haroyan were awarded the RA National Assembly President’s Memorial Medal, the journalist of the information website Orer.am Sose Chandoyan, the Adviser to the Director of the Public Relations and Information Centre SNCO of the RA President’s Staff Mariam Hakhnazaryan, the journalist of Kamar electronic newspaper Marieta Makaryan, the journalist of Aravot daily Nelly Grigoryan, the journalist of Ararat TV Company Zhirayr Grigoryan, the journalist of Ararat TV Company Izabella Hovhannisyan, , the cameraman of Panorama am Information Website Vardan Poghosyan, the cameraman of Yerkir Media TV Company Ashot Gabrielyan were awarded the RA NA President’s Letters of Appreciation, and the Adviser to the Director of Public Relations and Information Centre Hovhannes Nikoghosyan were awarded the RA NA President’s souvenirs – nominal watches.

The first of two flight data recorders belonging to the sunken military plane in the Black Sea has been raised to the surface, a source in the Russian security services told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

The flight parameter and cockpit voice recorder were presumed to be located in the tail assembly of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Tu-154.

“The first Tu-154 black box was found and raised to the surface at 8:48 a.m. [05:48 GMT],” the source said.

The Russian Defense Ministry’s Tu-154 aircraft en route to Syria from Moscow crashed soon after takeoff near Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi early on Sunday.

The plane was carrying 92 people including eight crew members, 64 musicians of the Alexandrov Ensemble, nine reporters, head of Spravedlivaya Pomoshch (Fair Aid) charity Elizaveta Glinka, and two federal civil servants.