Category: News

Jose Mourinho admits he is “very pleased” that Henrikh Mkhitaryan is off the mark for Manchester United after the Armenian scored his first goal for the club on his return to Ukraine, according to United’s official website.

The former Shakhtar Donetsk star dribbled through the Zorya Luhansk defence to open the scoring on an icy pitch in the second half in Odessa and Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s late clincher set the seal on a victory that takes the Reds through to the knockout stages of the Europa League.

“It was a strong mentality,” said the boss when asked about Mkhitaryan’s attitude. “He was determined to fight against his difficult adaptation.

“He worked hard physically and tactically – the talent was there, we knew that when we bought him. Now he’s playing good – in the Premier League, Europa League and EFL Cup, and now the goal means a little more happiness for him, so I’m very pleased.”

PHOTO: EUROPEAN PHOTOPRESS AGENCY

 

South Korea’s parliament has voted to impeach President Park Geun-hye over a corruption scandal, the BBC reports.

The National Assembly motion passed by 234 votes to 56, meaning some members of Ms Park’s ruling Saenuri party voted to impeach her.

Ms Park’s authority now passes to Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn.

She has been embroiled in a political scandal that led thousands of Koreans to take to the streets in recent weeks demanding her removal from power.

At the heart of the crisis is the relationship between Ms Park and her close confidante, Choi Soon-sil, who stands accused of using her connections to gain influence and financial benefits.

The Armenian National Assembly voted 83 to 24 with one abstention today to approve State Budget for FY2017.

Speaking before the voting, MPs from Prosperous Armenia and the Armenian National Congress said the factions would vote against the bill.

MP Tigran Urikhanyan also urged lawmakers to vote against the draft.

Head of the Orinats Yerkir faction Heghine Bisharyan said they would vote against the bill because of “lack of progress and expectations for the citizens of the republic.”

The Republican Party and the Armenian revolutionary Federation backed the bill.

The State Budget 2017 envisages revenues amounting to 1 trillion 210 billion AMD. The expenditures will be maintained at the level of around 1 trillion 360 billion AMD. The budget deficit will make approximately 150 billion 150 million AMD.

On 8 December President Bako Sahakyan signed a decree appointing Masis Mayilyan Ambassador at large conferring him the diplomatic rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, NKR President’s Press Office reports.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with OSCE Chairman-in-Office, German Foreign Minister Frank-Water Steinmeier on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Hamburg.

The parties exchanged views on the activity of the OSCE and referred to issues on the agenda of the OSCE Ministerial Council.

Minister Nalbandian hailed the support of the German presidency to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chais’ efforts towards the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

Edward Nalbandian called Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s attention to the fact that Azerbaijan refuses to implement the agreements reached the Vienna and St. Petersburg summits and keeps aggravating the situation at the line of contact.

On December 8, 2016, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission conducted a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in the direction of the NKR Askeran region, north-east of Kengerli settlement.

From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistants to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ghenadie Petrica (Moldova) and Khristo Khristov (Bulgaria).

From the opposite side of the Line of Contact, the monitoring was conducted by Personal Assistant to the CiO Personal Representative Simon Tiller (Great Britain), Field Assistant to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Jiri Aberle (Czech Republic), and staff member of the Office Peter Svedberg (Sweden).

The monitoring passed in accordance with the agreed schedule. No violation of the cease-fire regime was registered. However, the Azerbaijani side did not lead the OSCE mission to its front-lines.

From the Karabakh side, the monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has handed in his resignation to Italy’s president, three days after losing a referendum he had staked his career on, the BBC reports.

He had promised to wait until the Senate passed the 2017 budget, which it did earlier in the day.

President Sergio Mattarella will start consultations with political parties over forming a caretaker government at 18:00 (17:00 GMT) on Thursday.

In the meantime, Mr Renzi is to act as a “caretaker prime minister”.

The consultation, which is due to end on Saturday afternoon, will look at where support lies for a new government, a presidential aide, Ugo Zampetti, told reporters on Wednesday.

Lusine Avanesyan
Public Radio of Armenia
Stepanakert

Artsakh authorities take responsibility for all monuments on the territory of the republic irrespective of their religious status. The plans to renovate the Upper Mosque in Shushi (built in 1883) come to prove the commitment.

The NKR Ministry of Economy and the Iranian Part Saman Jahan Company have signed the protocol on cost estimation of reconstruction works.

The Foundation for the Revival of Oriental Historical Legacy has undertaken to find funds for the renovation.

The Part Saman Jahan has already conducted research on the history of Shushi and the mosque itself, Director of the Company Saeid Nahavandi said. “We are far from politics and have approached the issue exceptionally from the professional perspective,” he said.

According to NKR Deputy Minister of Economy Sergey Shahverdyan, It’s not yet clear whether the monument will serve as a mosque or will be rebuilt as a museum.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian participated in a meeting of the CSTO Foreign Ministers held on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Hamburg.

The Ministers discussed the process of implementation of the decisions made at the CSTO session held in Yerevan in October 2016.

During the meeting the participants exchanged views on issues on the agenda of the OSCE Ministerial Council. Reference was made to the global and regional challenges, countering terrorism, the processes in the Middle East, namely Syria.

The CSTO Foreign Ministers discussed the process of preparation for the CSTO Security Council meeting to be held in Saint Petersburg later in this month. They also exchanged views on the activity of the CSTO statutory bodies.

Three films from Armenia have been submitted for consideration for Best Foreign Film in the 74^th annual Golden Globe Awards: The Last Inhabitant, Hot Country, Cold Winter, and Earthquake, Asbarez reports.

“As a filmmaker raised in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) I have listened to stories of hardships endured by my family and villagers, and of their struggles into dealing with such a devastating inter-ethnic conflict.” So says Jivan Avetisyan, a prolific 35 year-old Armenian director with a solid documentary background, who was born in mountainous landlocked region in the Southwestern tip of Armenia bordering with Azerbaijan and totaling a mere 4400 square km. He even had to do his mandatory military service there, in the province’s Defense Army from 1999 to 2001.

It is not surprising that he decided to make it the setting of , his eighth feature film. An adaptation of Tsovinar Khatchatryan eponymous novel, a writer who happens to also be an official at the Republic of Armenia Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs where she serves as the Chief  Specialist for the head office. To better help understand the intricate complexities of what the filmmaker is alluding too, he offers a brief historical background of the situation he knows firsthand. “From 1987 to 1990, prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the most critical inter- ethnic conflict, and one of the most violent, took place, the Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. A mass deportation of Armenians from Azerbaijan, URSS, was conducted, including some from the village of Gyurjevan.”

It is 1988 and Abgar is the only Armenian of Christian faith left in the aforementioned village, now devastated and in near ruins, after everyone else has been deported. Because of his skills as a stonemason, he is assigned to help build a mosque by the Azeri occupants.  He also has to take care of his daughter Yurga, traumatized after witnessing her husband’s murder. As the situation deteriorates around them with increasing enemy danger and lack of food, they find solace in their memories of an idealized past, when peace and happiness still prevailed. The last resort for those who have not much to hope for. With its often elegiac and poetic approach the film is able to achieve a touching portrait of survival and at the same time humanizing the protagonists and their fate, how tragic it may be…

The 35 year old director hopes that The Last Inhabitant will be seen as “a strong message that we need each other regardless of race, culture and religion in order to survive and preserve our racial identity. This film is about people who have appeared in a hell after they have lost their paradise, people who are saved by love, virtue and self-sacrifice.”

As clashes are happening to this day in that region, this is a message surely to resonate deeply for the Armenian community. But also for all the victims of ethnic cleansing over the world.

is a film directed by David Sarafian about the Armenian experience after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. One can dispute Russian President Vladamir Putin’s remark calling the breakup “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe,” but what is indisputable is that on a personal level a lot of people who lived in the former Soviet republics suffered a lot of depravity when they suddenly became independent countries in August of 1991 and their lives radically changed.

And some of the most suffering people there were the members of intelligentsia, who found themselves without means of existence and no sense of purpose. In the film, Armenian director David Sarafian mixes realism and poetry to explore another dark period in the history of his long-suffering people. But don’t expect to get all the answers to the many questions asked by this film.

is a film is based on the real events surrounding the disastrous earthquake which struck Armenia in 1988. The terrible earthquake claimed at least 25,000 lives and left about half a million people homeless. For director Sarik Andreasyan it was a very special project, in which he wanted, after almost 30 years, to tell the story not only of death and destruction but also to show the hope and community spirit in the face of the nightmare.