Category: News

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.

AP – The European Union and Cuba signed a first-ever agreement on closer ties on Monday, and vowed that the arrival in office of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump would not impact on their future relations.

“This is a historic day, we’ve turned a page. Today we’re starting to write together a new chapter,” said EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini as the 28-nation EU’s top diplomats and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez signed the pact in Brussels.

The accord, aimed at supporting economic development and promoting democracy and human rights on the island, will form the legal platform for future ties between Brussels and Havana. The EU’s official stance toward Cuba dates from 1996.

Rodriguez said the priority would be to develop the Cuban economy, but he noted “one major obstacle to trade relations between the EU and Cuba” – the U.S. economic and financial blockade.

“We’ll have to see how things develop. But we very much hope that relations between the European Union and Cuba will continue to grow and enrich both sides,” he said, adding that ties “between the EU and Cuba do not go by Washington.”

Mogherini said the agreement is the result of a long process and that Trump’s inauguration in January “will not affect in any way relations between the European Union and Cuba.”

She also underlined that “the European Union has raised concerns about the extraterritorial effect of U.S. sanctions on Cuba. We will continue to do so because we believe that this is not only in the interest of the island and its people – all of them – but most of all in our case, it’s in the interest of Europeans to tackle this issue.”

Cuba puts the total cost of the 55-year-old embargo at $125.9 billion, including $4.6 billion last year.

The new pact must now be ratified by national and regional parliaments in all EU member states before it can enter completely into force, although the bloc has decided to provisionally apply parts of it immediately.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan faces weeks rather than months on the sidelines with an ankle injury.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan left the field on a stretcher after scoring in Manchester United’s 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur, but Jose Mourinho has, thankfully, played down the severity of the injury.

The Armenian beat Hugo Lloris with a superb effort to register his first-ever Old Trafford goal, just days after netting his maiden Reds strike in the Europa League win at Zorya Luhansk. His match ended with disappointment, though, when he suffered an injury following a challenge by Danny Rose on 81 minutes. 

The England international was booked and Mkhitaryan was carried off to a standing ovation from the appreciative United fans. After the final whistle, his manager Jose Mourinho gave a positive update on the summer signing when talking to .

“It looks like the next match [at Crystal Palace] is a ‘no’, but it looks like it is nothing that is really dangerous or that needs surgery,” the manager told Stewart Gardner. “So hopefully we will probably have Micki on Boxing Day [against Sunderland at Old Trafford].”

The early assessment would also mean Mkhitaryan missing next Saturday’s trip to West Brom.

– Cristiano Ronaldo has beaten off competition from the likes of Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann to claim his fourth Ballon d’Or.

The prolific Portuguese, who previously lifted the prestigious prize in 2008, 2013 and 2014, has enjoyed arguably the most successful year of his illustrious career, winning the Champions League with Real Madrid before captaining his country to European Championship glory in France.

Messi, who boasts a record five Ballons d’Or, helped Barcelona win a domestic double last season but his dream of leading Argentina to a major international title was dashed by a penalty-shootout loss to Chile in the final of the Copa America.

As for Griezmann, the 24-year-old attacker fired both Atletico Madrid and France to the finals of the Champions League and Euro 2016, respectively, but he suffered the agony of defeat on both occasions.

Ronaldo, by contrast, tasted nothing but success over the summer by converting the winning spot-kick in Real’s 11th European Cup triumph, in May, and then cheer-leading the Seleccao to victory over France in Paris just over six weeks later.

Photo: AFP

Syrian government forces have retaken a key area in southern Aleppo, activists and state media say, leaving rebels with only a small pocket in the city, the BBC reports.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the Sheikh Saeed district had fallen to the army overnight.

On Monday morning, there were clashes in neighbouring Fardous and Karam al-Daadaa, the monitoring group added.

The gains mean that the rebels have now lost 90% of the territory they held in eastern Aleppo in less than a month.

Russia, whose air strikes have helped the government break four years of deadlock, says more than 700 rebels have surrendered and 13,300 civilians have left the rebel enclave in the past 24 hours.

Tens of thousands of civilians are believed to be still living there under siege, with virtually no access to food, water or medical care.