Iran is aimed at rapprochement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), including at free trade with it, the country’s President Hassan Rouhani said during talks with Kyrgyzstan’s President Almazbek Atambayev on Friday, TASS reports.
“We want to have free trade with this Union,” Rouhani said.
The Iranian side hopes this question could be on agenda of the EEU summit due on December 26, he added.
The Russian Federation Council, the parliament’s upper house, ratified an agreement with Armenia aimed at creating a joint air defense system in the Caucasus, at a parliamentary session on Friday, Sputnik reports.
The purpose of the agreement is to improve the air defense system in the Caucasus region.
The agreement, signed in Moscow on December 23, 2015, has been concluded for the term of five years, with the possibility of an automatic extention for a further five-year period.
The Armenian parliament, the National Assembly, ratified the agreement on June 30.
Photo: Getty Images
Australian police say they have foiled a terror attack planned for Melbourne on Christmas Day, the BBC reports.
Five men are in custody after early-morning raids on Friday, Victoria Police chief Graham Ashton said.
Mr Ashton said the threat involved “use of explosives” and other weapons including “knives or a firearm”.
The threat was to prominent city locations including Flinders St Station, Federation Square and St Paul’s Cathedral, he said.
Mr Ashton said there was no longer a threat to the public.
“We don’t have any threat over and above that threat that we’ve currently neutralised,” he said at a press conference.
Two cards dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Public Radio of Armenia and the 60th anniversary of Public TV were cancelled and put into circulation today.
The cancellation of the stamps is the logical conclusion of the celebrations held throughout the year, said Arman Saghatelyan, Executive Director of Public Radio of Armenia. He revealed the plans to issue a series of stamps next year.
Executive Director of Public TV Company Margarita Grigoryan, in turn, expressed gratitude to the devoted viewers and listeners. “All we are doing is aimed at making your time better and more interesting,” she said.
The cards dedicated to Public TV and Public Radio have been issues with a print run of 1,500 and 1,000 respectively.
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received today the Russian State Duma delegation led by Leonid Kalashnikov, Chairman of the Committee on for CIS, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots.
Minister Nalbandian attached importance to the continuous reinforcement of close allied relations between Armenia and Russia and hailed the inter-parliamentary cooperation.
The parties stressed the mutually beneficial cooperation between the Armenian National Assembly and the Russian State Duma.
Leonid Kalashnikov briefed Minister Nalbandian on the activity of the Committee, presented the initiatives aimed at the development of relations with Armenia and the results of the joint sitting with the Armenian National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Foreign Relations.
During the meeting reference was made to cooperation within the framework of the CIS, the EEU and the CSTO.
The Armenian Foreign Minister briefed the guests on the efforts towards elimination of the concessions of Azeri aggression against Artsakh.
In response to Turkish Ambassador to Canada Selcuk Unal’s comment on terrorist attacks in Canada in the 1980’s by Canadians of Armenian origin, made during his interview with about the assassination of Russian Ambassador in Ankara on December 19th, 2016.
We condemn any terrorist attack, carried out by anybody, in any location. We believe that by diverting attention from this tragedy and talking about their own assassinated diplomats, the Turkish Ambassador is attempting to diminish the horror of what happened in Ankara, and that is abhorrent.
We would also like to reaffirm our condemnation of the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottomans during the Armenian Genocide.
We advise the Turkish Ambassador and the relevant Turkish authorities to focus on the investigation of the Russian Ambassador’s assassination, to focus on improving the security situation in Turkey, and not to distract the world from their own violence-prone policies.
A Libyan passenger plane with 118 people on board has been forced to land in Malta in what the Maltese prime minister called a “potential hijack situation,” the BBC reports.
The Airbus A320 was flying inside Libya for airline Afriqiyah Airways when it was diverted, local media report.
There were two hijackers involved, who threatened to bomb the plane, according to initial reports.
Maltese PM Joseph Muscat said security operations were standing by.
Phto: AFP
The Syrian army says it has retaken full control of Aleppo, following the evacuation of the last group of rebels, the BBC reports.
In a statement, the army said it had “returned security to Aleppo” and called it a “crushing blow” for rebels.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed “all civilians who wished to be evacuated have been, as well as the wounded and fighters”.
This is the biggest victory for President Bashar al-Assad since the uprising against him began in 2011.
Photo: AP
Turkish Public Prosecutor’s office released six relatives of Mevlut Mert Altintas who killed the Russian ambassador to the country, Sputnik reports.
On Monday, Andrey Karlov was killed by Turkish off-duty police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas at an art gallery exhibition opening in Ankara. Three more people were also injured in the attack. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it considered the attack a terrorist act.
Mevlut Mert Altintas’ father, mother, sister, two uncles and one of their wives have been released after testimony, the CNN Turk broadcaster cited law enforcement sources as saying. A farewell ceremony for the Russian ambassador is expected to take place on Thursday in the Russian capital, with President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend.
Armenia is ranked 86th (up from 87th last month) in FIFA World Ranking released today. Armenia’s 3-2 win against Montenegro helped the team jump the largest number of places in the ranking table last month.
Argentina will end the year on top of the world, leading the way in the final FIFA World Ranking of 2016 from neighbors Brazil in second.