Category: News

Three Saudi nationals have been killed in two attacks on the international airport in the capital, Riyadh, the country’s civil aviation authority has said after Yemen’s Houthis said they targeted the facility, the BBC reported.

The attacks also resulted in “injuries to a number of Saudi citizens and residents of various nationalities”, the General Authority of Civil Aviation said in a statement on X.

It said the first attack on Thursday targeted the airport while the second one struck an aircraft belonging to state carrier Saudia.

One of its pilots was among those killed, the airline said in a statement.

Air traffic had returned to normal, the civil aviation authority said.

Yemen’s Houthi group said on Thursday it had attacked the airport with two missiles, reports said.

The Iran-aligned group said it had also targeted an airport in Najran city near the Saudi border with Yemen, and Khamis Mushait air base further north. Saudi Arabia has not confirmed these attacks.

The latest casualties follow the deaths of three people in Houthi attacks on two Saudi airports on October 6 and 7.

Navi Pillay, a former ICC judge who oversaw a UN report that concluded that Israel committed genocide in Gaza, ‌won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday “for her efforts to promote peace and international law”.

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize underlined the importance of maintaining an organised international order, the committee said in its citation.

“The system of international law is under tremendous pressure, and its institutions are under attack,” it said.

“We see a shift towards power politics at the expense of legal frameworks and global respect for law and justice. Whenever might overtakes right, it undermines stability, trust and peaceful co-existence.”

Born in Durban, in South Africa’s Natal province, in a ⁠family of Indian Tamil origin, Navi Pillay, 85, has been a judge on several international courts, including the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Reuters reported.

She was also chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory that concluded last year that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. Israel dismissed the report as “scandalous”.

She has also served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

In 1967 she became the first woman to start a law practice in Natal and the first non-white woman to serve on South Africa’s High Court, according to Reuters.

Pillay is currently a judge on the International Court of Justice in the case where Myanmar stands accused of genocide, according to the BBC.

The US will livestream the Army’s upcoming firing squad execution of a gunman who killed 13 people at the Fort Hood military base in 2009, the Pentagon said, in what would be an unprecedented ‌broadcast of a US execution, according to Reuters.

Nidal Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, is set to become the first person to be executed by firing squad by the US military since 1945.

The execution is scheduled for December 3 at the same sprawling Texas base where Hasan opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun in a medical facility. It comes amid heightened debate in the US over the death penalty following the botched lethal injection of a Tennessee woman last week.

“It will be livestreamed. Details will follow,” a Pentagon official told Reuters, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who championed the push to execute Hasan by firing squad, confirmed plans to livestream the execution in an X post.

Media have sought to televise US executions in the past but have been blocked by the courts. No other country is known to televise or livestream a legal execution, ⁠experts said.

Hegseth told the Human Events Daily program that deciding to execute Hasan by firing squad at Fort Hood on a Thursday at 1 p.m. — the approximate time, day of the week and location of the 2009 shooting — was a “no-brainer.”

“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public. Because people need to understand that … there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth said.

Asked if Hasan had made any final requests, Hegseth said: “Don’t care. We’ll see him on December 3.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has proposed creating a “CIS+1” format to develop cooperation between the organization and his country.

Pezeshkian was invited to attend the CIS summit in Turkmenistan as a special guest, alongside leaders of the organization’s member states, including Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

RIA Novosti quoted Pezeshkian as saying at the summit that Iran sees itself as a natural part of the region’s interconnected geographic space, adding that this connection is not merely geographical but is also deeply rooted in history, culture, and contacts among peoples.

“Iran proposes creating a flexible and effective mechanism for dialogue and cooperation in the format of ‘CIS countries + Iran’ or ‘CIS+1,’” the Iranian president said.

Pezeshkian added that this would enable joint efforts to develop cooperation in areas such as energy, trade, mineral extraction, investment, technology, water resources and environmental protection, tourism, as well as scientific and cultural ties.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited his counterparts from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to the traditional informal pre-New Year summit to be held in St. Petersburg on December 21.

“Of course, in keeping with our good tradition, dear friends, I would like to invite you all to St. Petersburg on December 21, where, as always, we traditionally gather for an informal, friendly meeting,” Putin told CIS leaders at the organization’s summit in Turkmenistan, which was also attended by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

“We can discuss all current and future issues,” the Russian president said, referring to the agenda of the pre-New Year meeting.

He also said that the CIS format had enabled member states to preserve economic, social, cultural and humanitarian ties that had developed over centuries.

Putin emphasized that the economy had been and remained one of the priority areas of cooperation within the CIS.

“CIS countries maintain close cooperation in trade, investment and high technology. Of course, as was just mentioned, we would like to move faster and work even more effectively in this area. That is certainly the case. Nevertheless, the work is ongoing,” he added.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Turkmenistan.

PM Pashinyan and President Pezeshkian emphasized the importance of intensive high-level bilateral contacts and noted with satisfaction that these contribute to the consistent development and expansion of Armenia-Iran relations, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a readout.

The Prime Minister emphasized that the two countries have an extensive cooperation agenda and that Iranian companies are involved in strategic projects being implemented in Armenia.

The sides expressed their conviction that Armenia-Iran relations will reach a new level in the near future. The importance of upcoming high-level reciprocal visits was also emphasized.

Pashinyan and Pezeshkian exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest.

PM Pashinyan is in Turkmenistan to attend the CIS summit.

The Turkmen Foreign Ministry earlier said that the Iranian president will also take part as a special guest.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan delivered a speech at the CIS summit in Turkmenistan, emphasizing the role of the Alma-Ata Declaration in establishing peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan and highlighting opportunities for regional connectivity through the implementation of the TRIPP project.

He thanked Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov for the warm hospitality and high-level organization of the summit.

“I would like to particularly highlight the scale of this meeting, which is being held in the Avaza National Tourist Zone. It is truly impressive not only for its natural beauty but also for its infrastructure potential,” Pashinyan said, according to a press release from his office.  

Addressing President Berdimuhamedov, Pashinyan praised the tourist zone’s infrastructure.

“I rode a bicycle around the city this morning, and I must say that I was impressed by the quality of the roads, the green spaces, the city’s architecture and its lighting. And I would like to say that, especially in the early morning, this is a true paradise for a cyclist,” he said.

Pashinyan congratulated Uzbekistan on taking over the CIS chairmanship. 

“The cultural program organized on the Caspian Sea coast on the eve of the summit provided an opportunity to fully experience the richness of the traditions and cultural diversity of the peoples of our countries. I would also like to thank the Turkmen side for the work carried out within the framework of its CIS chairmanship during the outgoing year. For its part, the Armenian side has made constructive efforts to implement in practice the priorities outlined in Turkmenistan’s CIS chairmanship concept. I would also like to congratulate [President] Shavkat Mirziyoyev and our friends in Uzbekistan on assuming the CIS chairmanship. Of course, you can count on our support,” Pashinyan added.

The Armenian Prime Minister then highlighted that the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration – which played a key role in establishing peace with Azerbaijan – is one of the founding documents of the CIS.

“It is noteworthy that today’s meeting is being held in the year marking the 35th anniversary of the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States. One of the founding documents of the CIS is the Alma-Ata Declaration of December 21, 1991. Through this document, 11 Soviet republics, recognizing and respecting each other’s territorial integrity and the inviolability of existing borders, recorded the cessation of the existence of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Alma-Ata Declaration has played a key role in establishing peace between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. In 2024, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed and ratified the Regulation on the Joint Activities of the Commissions on the Delimitation of the State Border between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. This regulation became the first bilateral legally binding document concluded between independent Armenia and independent Azerbaijan. It stipulates that the respective commissions of Armenia and Azerbaijan will take the Alma-Ata Declaration as a fundamental principle in the process of delimiting the state border between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. The founding document of the CIS also occupies a central place in the initialed text of the Agreement on Establishment of Peace and Inter-State Relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. The preamble of the document refers to the Alma-Ata Declaration, while Article I states: ‘Having confirmed that the boundaries between the Soviet Socialist Republics of the former USSR became the international borders of respective independent states and have been recognized as such by the international community, the Parties recognize and shall respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity, inviolability of international borders and political independence of each other.’ Article II of the same agreement states: ‘In full compliance with Article I, the Parties confirm that they do not have any territorial claims to each other and shall not raise any such claims in the future. The Parties shall not undertake any act, including planning, preparing, encouraging and supporting such acts, which aim to dismember or impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political unity of the other Party.’ The agreement containing the above articles was initialed on August 8, 2025, during the peace summit hosted by US President Donald Trump at the White House. We have come a long way toward peace since the 2020 war. In this context, I would like to highlight the role of Russian President Vladimir Putin in achieving the ceasefire in November 2020. However, unfortunately, even after the November 9, 2020, statement was signed, we effectively failed to achieve peace. It was clear that there was only one real way to achieve peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan: an architecture built on the principles of the Alma-Ata Declaration. It must be acknowledged that the adoption of the Alma-Ata Declaration in 1991 did not prevent the escalation of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. For more than 30 years, the conflict continued despite the existence of the Alma-Ata Declaration, and it seemed as though the declaration’s existence had gone unnoticed. To establish lasting peace, it was necessary, figuratively speaking, to revive the Alma-Ata Declaration. The President of Azerbaijan and I did so on October 6, 2022, following the quadrilateral meeting in Prague initiated by French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council President Charles Michel,” the Armenian PM said.

Pashinyan then highlighted the established peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“Dear heads of state, peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan is an established fact. Today, we can state that for more than two years, there have been no casualties or injuries resulting from exchanges of fire between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, unlike the preceding period of more than 30 years, when there were casualties and injuries on both sides every year, beginning in the 1990s. The Azerbaijani railway has been open to Armenian cargo for almost a year. Bilateral trade between Armenia and Azerbaijan has begun, and a 12-kilometer section of the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been delimited and demarcated. In the near future, we will see the implementation of the TRIPP project on the territory of the Republic of Armenia. It will unblock communications between Armenia and Azerbaijan, including the connection between the northern and southern parts of Armenia through the territory of Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, as well as the connection between the main part of the Republic of Azerbaijan and its Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic through the territory of the Republic of Armenia, based on respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and jurisdiction of states. This is being carried out in implementation of the Washington Declaration, whose third point states: ‘We reaffirmed the importance of the opening of communications between the two countries for intra-state, bilateral, and international transportation for the promotion of peace, stability, and prosperity in the region and in its neighborhood on the basis of respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and jurisdiction of the States. These efforts are to include unimpeded connectivity between the main part of the Republic of Azerbaijan and its Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic through the territory of the Republic of Armenia with reciprocal benefits for international and intra-state connectivity for the Republic of Armenia.’ Thus, new international logistics routes will also be opened, running from East to West and from South to North. These will include a railway connection between the Persian Gulf and the Black Sea through the territories of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, the Republic of Armenia and Georgia. This demonstrates that the implementation of the TRIPP project is beneficial to all countries in the region, including CIS member states, which will gain new logistics opportunities. In this context, I would like to note that the opening of the state border and, consequently, the restoration of connecting road and railway infrastructure between Armenia and Türkiye are also anticipated. Dear friends, it must be emphasized that the peace established between Armenia and Azerbaijan is not perfect. It is obvious that humanitarian issues remain unresolved. I am referring to determining the fate of missing persons, mine clearance and issues concerning individuals held in detention. Unfortunately, negative sentiments sometimes intensify both in Armenia and Azerbaijan, including at the official level. However, even if these developments raise questions, they no longer call into question the existence of lasting peace. We simply need to understand that a conflict lasting more than 30 years cannot be switched off in an instant by flipping a switch. This will require time and consistency. There have been numerous casualties, suffering, hostility, disputes and a conviction that, after so many years of conflict, peaceful coexistence between Armenia and Azerbaijan is no longer possible. If we look at the issue from this perspective, then, together with the President of Azerbaijan and with the support of our international partners, we have achieved the impossible. We need to take care of the peace we have achieved every day and preserve it, because this achievement serves, first and foremost, the peoples of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the strengthening of the independence of Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the future generations of Armenia and Azerbaijan, who have been given a historic opportunity not only for peaceful coexistence but also for cooperation and good-neighborly relations based on common interests. It was precisely the Alma-Ata Declaration and its revival that created this historic opportunity—or, more accurately, this historic reality. We simply need to build on this reality, looking toward a future in which the parties unreservedly recognize and respect each other’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, inviolability of international borders and political independence, and in which the parties have no overt or covert territorial claims against each other, either today or ever. Dear heads of state, this is precisely the strategy chosen by the Republic of Armenia. It is very important to emphasize that, in the Washington Declaration, we acknowledged the need to continue efforts aimed at signing and finally ratifying the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and underscored the importance of preserving and strengthening peace between our two countries. We are moving forward along this path, and I hope and am confident that, through working together, we will achieve our ultimate goal: the signing and ratification of a peace treaty between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. Thank you for your attention,” he said.

An expanded meeting of the CIS leaders followed, during which documents adopted within the framework of CIS cooperation were signed.

Russian newspaper Kommersant reports that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held a closed-door meeting after the Caspian Summit in Turkmenistan.

The newspaper’s special correspondent, Andrei Kolesnikov, reported the meeting, which Kommersant said had not been announced in advance.

“The 15-minute meeting was organised by Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov. During the closed session of the expanded CIS summit, he discussed the matter separately with Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev. The Armenian prime minister did not attend the Caspian Summit but waited for it to end so he could meet Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev,” Kolesnikov reported.

The correspondent added that, before Putin’s visit to Turkmenistan, Ushakov had said no meeting between Putin and Pashinyan was planned. However, the presidential aide had not ruled out contact between them during the event.

No trilateral meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Russian President Vladimir Putin took place in Turkmenistan, the Armenian prime minister’s spokesperson, Melanya Harutyunyan, said.

“No meeting in such a format actually took place,” she said.

Earlier, Russian newspaper Kommersant had reported that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held a closed-door meeting after the Caspian Summit in Turkmenistan.

Organizations specializing in biodiversity are making thorough preparations for the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which will be held in Yerevan. One such organization is the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC).

In an interview with Armenpress, Sona Kalantaryan, the Foundation’s Project Director, and Tsovinar Hovhannisyan, Head of Environmental Programs, spoke about the programs with which they will participate in COP17 and the mission they will undertake during this important event.

“The Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity is very important to us because it is exceptional for such an event to take place in Armenia. This is a unique opportunity for us to present ourselves in the best possible way and try to make the most effective use of this time. There are many programs. We will have an entire pavilion, where more than 50 events will be held on a regular basis. We will also seek to discuss various targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity with all our international partners. We have already identified the key issues for discussion within the scope of our day-to-day activities,” Kalantaryan said.

She also spoke about the Yerevan Conservation Symposium and the SunChild International Environmental Festival, which will also take place within the framework of COP17.

Tsovinar Hovhannisyan, in turn, noted that the Foundation would present the model of privately protected areas on the global platform of the upcoming major conference, address issues related to community-based conservation, and discuss the specific aspects of applying technological solutions, including AI monitoring. She said there would also be professional discussions with stakeholders and international partners on the restoration of ecological corridors, biodiversity conservation, and the introduction of innovative technologies.

“The main focus of the conference will be the commitments of countries that have joined the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Since 2010, our Foundation has been engaged in the conservation of privately protected areas. We are talking about an area of 35,000 hectares. We will invite international partners to discuss all forms of environmental protection that can contribute to achieving this important target. Our Foundation will present Armenia’s example, showing how non-state conservation can contribute to achieving these goals,” Hovhannisyan said.