Category: News

Minister of Emergency Situations Armen Yeritsyan passed away today at Nairi Medical Center.

He was admitted to the hospital in grave condition earlier today.

Armen Yerityan would turn 56 on December 25.

Photo: Reuters/Raheb Homavandi

Russia’s energy giant Gazprom and National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday.

The memorandum was signed by Gazprom Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev, a RIA Novosti reports.

There is no information concerning the details of the memorandum.

Earlier in the day, Medvedev said that Gazprom was interested in a number of projects in Iran, including production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and deliveries of pipeline gas, including deliveries to India.

Qantas will launch the first regular nonstop service between Australia and Great Britain in March 2018, according to the .

The route, from London to the southwestern city of Perth, will cover 9,008 miles. It would be the second-longest flight in the world and the longest by the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The approximately 17-hour flight would only be topped in mileage by Qatar Airways’ Doha-Auckland service, which is set to launch in early 2017.

The Perth-London flights will begin in March 2018.

“This is a game-changing route flown by a game-changing aircraft. Australians have never had a direct link to Europe before, so the opportunities this opens up are huge,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said. “It’s great news for travelers because it will make it easier to get to London. It’s great news for western Australia because it will bring jobs and tourism. And, it’s great news for the nation, because it will bring us closer to one of our biggest trade partners and sources of visitors.”

The 787-9 Dreamliner that Qantas plans to use for the flight will carry 236 passengers in a three-class configuration of business, premium economy and economy.

Tickets go on sale in April.

Today the Regional Development Conference ‘Armenian Regions Benefitting from Strategic Planning and Comprehensive RD Projects’ took place dedicated to:

– The review of ongoing and planned reforms in Regional Development, including national and regional level strategic planning processes;

– Grants signing ceremony for regional projects funded by the EU and the Government of Armenia, with value over 9 million EUR, which will aim at improving the socio-economic situation in marzes.

EU Ambassador Piotr Antoni Świtalski said: “We support the Armenian Government and all stakeholders engaged in intensive regional development reforms, leading towards stronger regional societies and economies across the country.

We congratulate all the winning projects of this tough competition and the Government of Armenia, and wish them success in their challenging tasks. The RD Grant Scheme will not only support development of regions, raise their economic competitiveness, reduce tendencies of outward migration, but it will also demonstrate the new EU-inspired approach to regional development in Armenia, through integrating human capital, innovation, inclusion, and infrastructures with a territorial focus”.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan spoke to the about life at so far…

— Manchester United (@ManUtd)

Manchester United midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan has revealed that Arsenal legend Thierry Henry was his Premier League idol growing up.

He said: “I always supported Henry when he was playing for Arsenal. He is one of my favorite players because at that time I was also playing as a striker as a child. Then I became a midfielder.”
Reflecting on his spell out of the side, Mkhitaryan said: “It’s always a pleasure to play. To play for Manchester United is a dream. I’m always happy to start a game for this team. I’m always trying to do my best for this team.”

“English football is really different to football in other countries. So if you’re playing in Germany, France, England or Spain you have to get used to playing in that league,” Mkhitaryan said.

“In the beginning it was a little bit hard but I keep doing everything that is needed to become a Premier League player,” he added.

“I’ve done hard work and I’ve tried to do everything the manager is asking from me to play in this team and to be useful for the team,” the Armenia international said.

Cuba’s state-run telecommunications company Etecsa has signed a deal with Google that will enable faster access to content from the American company, the BBC reports.

Under the deal, the technology giant will install servers in Cuba to improve connectivity speeds to Google services, including Gmail and YouTube.

Google and Etecsa have reached their agreement in the final weeks of Barack Obama’s presidency.

It is not clear whether his successor will change US policies towards Cuba.

President Obama restored relations with Cuba earlier this year, after more than five decades of hostility between the two former Cold War rivals.

Even though most Cubans are likely to see the deal with Google as a step forward, it will do little to change the overall online accessibility in the country.

Cuba still has one of the lowest online connectivity rates in the world.

The majority of the population is not allowed access to the internet from home and must rely, instead, on expensive wi-fi points to get online.

 

 

 

An agreement of cooperation on research at the archeological site of Karmir Blur (Red Hill) has been signed between the Armenian Ministry of Culture and the Hermitage Museum.

The agreement was signed today between Armenian Minister of Culture Armen Amiryan and Director General of the Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovski.

“The agreement envisages joint expeditions and scientific research on the territory of Karmir Blur, research of Armenian scholars at State Hermitage, organization of an international conference dedicated to the 2800^th anniversary of Yerevan, etc.,” Mikhail Piotrovski said.

He informed that Yerevan will host Days of Hermitage, which will mark the start of new steps and progress towards development of the rich scientific, educational and cultural traditions formed by several generations of intellectuals.

“The layers of cooperation are diverse, and it was necessary to sign the agreement to outline the framework and timetable of joint work,” Minister of Culture Armen Amiryan said. According to him, the deal will help popularize the Armenian culture worldwide.

The Minister is confident that the research at Karmir Blur will become a source of interesting findings not only for Armenia, but also the world, at large.

“Karmir Blur occupies an aria of 40 hectares, but only 10% of it has been studied. Therefore, there is a huge material to study,” said Gagik Gyurjyan, Director of the Erebuni Historic and Archaeological Museum Reserve.

The Azerbaijani side violated the ceasefire about 60 times at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces last night, firing over 900 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions, the NKR Defense Ministry reported.

More intensive firing was reported in the southern /Hadrut/ and eastern /Martuni/ directions of the line of contact, where the Azeri forces used sniper rifles and machine guns.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army mostly refrained from response actions and confidently continued with their military duty all along the line of contact.

The NKR Defense Ministry also dismissed the Azeri media reports on the downing of two Armenian drones, describing them as “nothing but propaganda.”

Photo: AFP/Getty Images

 

Rebels have now lost more than 90% of the territory they once held in eastern Aleppo since government forces stepped up their offensive to regain full control of the city a month ago, the BBC reports.

Earlier on Monday, Lt Gen Zaid al-Saleh, head of the Syrian government’s local security committee, said rebel fighters did not “have much time” and needed to “surrender or die”.

Syrian state TV showed footage of people in Aleppo celebrating, amid reports the army was close to victory.

Syrian troops and militias have squeezed armed groups out of their last stronghold in Al-Firdous neighborhood and established full control over eastern Aleppo, Libankol news agency reports, saying people have rejoiced over the news.

It says crowds of people took to the streets in the west of the city to welcome the Syrian army.

For much of the past four years the city has been divided roughly in two, with the government controlling the western half and rebels the east.

An Afghan boy who became an online hit after wearing a homemade shirt bearing Lionel Messi’s famous number 10 has met his hero, the BBC reports.

A photograph of six-year-old Murtaza Ahmadi wearing the shirt made from a striped blue plastic bag went viral in January and ended with the boy receiving a signed shirt from the Barcelona striker.

But now the pair have come face to face in Doha, according to Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organising committee.

Barcelona are in Qatar to play a friendly against Al Ahli on Tuesday and Ahmadi will walk out on to the pitch with Messi.

“The image the world wanted to see,” tweeted the Supreme Committee on Tuesday. “The six-year-old boy who dreamed of meeting his hero, #Messi, finally comes true.”

Ahmadi, who comes from the Jaghori District, in the eastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan, was forced to flee the country to Pakistan in May.

Murtaza was finally identified as the boy in the picture after his uncle, Azim Ahmadi, an Afghan living in Australia, put BBC Trending in touch with his brother, Arif – the young devoted Messi fan’s father.