Category: News

Time magazine has named Donald Trump its Person of the Year – calling him “President of the Divided States of America,” CNN reports.

“I don’t think that we have ever seen one person, operating in such an unconventional way, have an impact on the events of the year,” said Time editor Nancy Gibbs.

She called this year’s choice “one of the more straightforward years.” Trump beat runner-up Hillary Clinton for the distinction, which Gibbs said is given to the newsmaker who has the biggest influence on world events, for better or worse.

Placing third was “the hackers,” to cover people who breached the records of major government organizations, politicians, celebrities and everyday citizens.

The short list also included President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, scientists who developed new DNA-related technology and Beyonce.

PHOTO: ALAMY

 

British actor Peter Vaughan, best known for roles in Game of Thrones and Porridge, has died at the age of 93, the BBC reports.

He played Maester Aemon in the HBO series and Grouty in the TV sitcom.

His many other roles included parts in TV shows Citizen Smith, Chancer and Our Friends in the North.

His agent Sally Long-Innes said: “This is to confirm that very sadly Peter Vaughan passed away at approximately 10.30 this morning. He died peacefully with his family around him.”

Vaughan began acting in the 1950s and became a recognisable face by playing numerous mainly supporting roles on stage, television, radio and film.

He specialised in characters with a tough edge – such as police officers, secret agents and authoritarian elders.

Justin Trudeau wiped away tears during a roundtable with Syrian refugees and sponsors, as one newcomer recalled being greeted by the prime minister when he arrived in Canada one year ago, reports.

Trudeau and Vanig Garabedian were among a small group of people who gathered at a Toronto restaurant last week to reflect on the first year of the Syrian refugee program.

Addressing the prime minister, Garabedian recalled the moment last December when he stepped onto a Toronto-bound plane in Beirut, Lebanon, and shook the hand of a Canadian who was greeting passengers as they boarded.

“He shook hands with me and said, ‘Go and make Canada a better place.’ So that was the very last person I shook hands with in the Middle East. Then we landed at Pearson airport, and the very first person we shook hands was the prime minister,” Garabedian said, prompting Trudeau to grab a napkin off the table and wipe his eyes.

Garabedian said landing in Toronto not only meant that he and his wife — as well as their daughters — were safe, it also meant they had taken on “the responsibility of joining the Canadian family and trying to build this Canada, this country, this great nation.

“When I met Mr. Prime Minister at that moment, he said two words: ‘Welcome home.’ So imagine you are living in a warzone, you are leaving your home and you are welcomed by two words: welcome home,” said Garabedian, a gynecologist by trade.

“So my memories of that moment went back to Syria before war, our life, our happiness there, and the horrible moments we went through during war. So I felt myself that I’m proud to be here.”

Trudeau noted that he had only been on the job for about a month, and throughout the federal election campaign Canadians’ expressed interest in doing more to help refugees.

“I felt that being there in the name of all Canadians to welcome people was really important,” he said.

He also said the Syrian refugee issue reminded him of the power of the office of prime minister, noting the legacy of his father’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the legacy of the prime ministers who came before him.

“Watching you and your girls walk through this airport toward me was a moment in which I understood just the kinds of things that we can do as a country and that I get to help this country do,” he said.

“You wouldn’t have been walking on Canadian soil that night if I hadn’t said, ‘We can do this together’ and made it done. And that for me was as strong and clear a reinforcement that I was going to be okay in this job. It was, on a personal level, it was very, very touching for me.”

After finally getting a run in the Manchester United first team under, the Armenia international is determined to keep impressing the Portuguese coach.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan says he was at fault for taking longer than expected to earn a first-team berth at Manchester United, not Jose Mourinho.

“There was no bad relation with him [Mourinho], it was always good but the problem wasn’t him, it was me,” he told .

“Now I understand why I have got my chance and I will keep it, I will hold it, because it is very important for me to play, to be a part of Manchester United.

“I was thinking that I would be here as a starting line-up player but when I arrived I saw that there were 25 players fighting for their place and I understood that it wasn’t going to be easy.

“I had a bad game against Manchester City but that is in the past so I kept working. I have done a great job to get my chance back and I think I did it a really long way until I start playing.”

Mkhitaryan earned a standing ovation after assisting two goals in last month’s 4-1 EFL Cup win over West Ham before turning in another fine performance from the start against Everton on Sunday.

And he hopes to maintain that form and earn a regular place in Mourinho’s plans going forward.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls is set to resign on Tuesday to free himself to do battle for the Socialist nomination in next year’s presidential election, AFP reports.

Announcing his candidacy on Monday France’s prime minister of the past two-and-a-half years said he would step down to try to rally the fractured left ahead of a primary in January.

Health Minister Marisol Touraine and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve are among those tipped to succeed him as premier for the six months until the next legislative elections.

In a combative speech, 54-year-old Valls vowed to take the fight to the conservative opposition and the far-right National Front, who are both leading the Socialists in election polls.

His announcement came four days after President Francois Hollande announced he would bow out after a single term, paving the way for Valls to try to become the left’s new standard bearer.

“My candidacy is one of reconciliation,” Valls, seen as a divisive figure, said in a speech from his political base in the tough Paris suburb of Evry.

He warned of the risk of far-right leader Marine Le Pen pulling off a repeat of France’s 2002 electoral upset when her father Jean-Marie Le Pen edged the Socialist candidate for a place in the presidential runoff.

The Council of the Eurasian Fund for Stabilisation and Development (the EFSD, the Fund) has approved disbursement of the second tranche of the EFSD financial credit of US$ 100 million to the Republic of Armenia. The key areas of reforms supported under the EFSD programme include strengthening the financial soundness of the energy sector, raising the efficiency of the public finance management, and improving the investment climate. In the framework of the programme, the reforms to promote de-dollarization of the economy, greater credibility of the banking sector, and higher exports have also been continued. The assessment of Armenia’s performance prepared by the Manager is generally positive.

Implementation of the tranche’s conditionalities had a positive effect on strengthening the financial sustainability of the energy sector. Owing to improved methodologies of tariff margin calculation and the forecast of electricity generation and distribution aimed at greater flexibility of the tariff policies and enabling demand and supply shock smoothing, the Electric Network of Armenia CJSC [closed joint-stock company] has fully repaid accumulated arrears to the Armenian NPP, Yerevan CHP, and the High-Voltage Network totalling US$ 50 million that is equivalent to 56% of the companies’ electricity supply (turnover) over the period of the arrears repayment (December 2015 – July 2016).

A range of legislative acts have been developed to improve the efficiency of the public finance management. In early October 2016, the National Assembly of Armenia adopted the first ever national Tax Code that streamlines and improves the tax legislation in the framework of a single document. With the Tax Code coming into effect, the tax potential of the economy will be significantly strengthened—the cumulative growth of tax revenues in 2017-2021 is estimated at 2% of GDP—and the tax policies will become more stable and predictable. Amendments to the Procurement Law have been presented for the consideration of the National Assembly of Armenia to expand the practice of electronic public procurement for the needs of government bodies, thus facilitating more efficient budget spending and reducing risks of corruption. The reforms to improve the investment climate have been continued. Simplified and expanded access of potential investors to information detailing the rules of doing business in construction, as well as expanded practice of using an electronic system of issuing construction permits will help reduce transaction costs in the construction sector and make the sector more attractive for investors.

A register of moveable assets has been created to improve accessibility of credit for the private sector by introduction a secured transaction framework and to reduce the cost of loans by lowering the risk premium. The country’s monetary authorities have adopted a range of regulatory and legal acts aimed at reducing the level of dollarization of deposits and loans, strengthening the credibility of the banking system and promoting exports. These measures have serves as an additional incentive for exports development that has been the key driver of Armenia’s economic growth in recent years.

One indicative condition had not been met by the control date for the second tranche (1 October 2016). It is related to establishing 10 new centres of integrated social services operating as ‘one stop shops’ to supplement the 18 centres created under the first tranche. The failure to implement this measure is explained by the fact that the premises transferred to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in late 2015 – early 2016 to house the centres of integrated social services did not meet the seismic resistance standards, therefore a range of additional measures had to be taken resulting in delays in implementing the steps. The Ministry has drafted a new schedule of launching 20 centres of integrated social services, under which only two centres are to become operational by the control date for the third tranche (1 October 2017), while the remaining centres will become operational in 2018. The Fund Council has recommended the Government of the Republic of Armenia to reconsider and agree with the Manager the parameters of this condition for the third tranche in accordance with the new schedule of launching the centres of integrated social services.

The EFSD Council has also recommended to supplement the conditionality of the third tranche of the financial credit with new control targets aimed at maintaining the fiscal and debt sustainability and present the updated reform programme for the consideration of the EFSD Council in early 2017. These adjustments will, in particular, facilitate lowering the budget deficit in 2017 to the level of 2.8% of GDP planned by the Government against 5.9% of GDP forecasted for 2016, and bringing the debt burden down in the medium-term perspective.

On 6 December Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received a group of angiologists from Austria who arrived in our republic the other day.

President Sahakyan expressed gratitude to the Austrian doctors for visiting Artsakh and sharing their experience, underlining that it substantially contributed to the development of our republic’s healthcare sphere and qualifying their activity as a vivid manifestation of humanism and friendship.

Armenian Weekly —Catholicos Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia announced on Monday that the Cilician Catholicosate will be submitting the legal case for the return of the Sis Catholicosate to the European Court of Human Rights on December 6.

“Tomorrow, the sixth of December will be an important day for the Armenian people in general and the Armenian church in particular,” Catholicos Aram I announced in a live video address from the current seat of the Catholicosate in Antelias, Lebanon.

The Catholicos said that the decision was made after Turkey’s constitutional court denied the request of the Catholicosate.

“This is the first legal action taken against Turkey after the Armenian Genocide of 1915. This legal action is the result of a long and serious reflection, consultation, and study, and is based on the provisions of international law, including the decisions of the Lausanne Conference of 1932 pertaining to the minorities living within the boundaries of the Republic of Turkey,” Catholicos Aram said in his December 5 address.

The Catholicos first announced that the Cilician See was preparing to initiate legal claims against Turkey to regain ownership of the historic headquarters of the Catholicosate of Sis back in September 2014.

On April 28, 2015, the Catholicosate of Cilicia submitted a brief to the Constitutional Court in Turkey requesting the return of its historic spiritual center in Sis.

The Catholicosate’s St. Sophia church and monastery, and their surrounding lands, are located in the city of Kozan, in the Adana Province of the present-day Republic of Turkey. The headquarters, a center of Armenian religious life for more than seven centuries, was confiscated by the Turkish Government during the Armenian Genocide.

Below is the Aram I’s English address as transcribed by the Armenian Weekly.

***

Tomorrow, the sixth of December, will be an important day for the Armenian people in general and the Armenian church in particular.

The lawsuit demanding the return of the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia in Sis will be formally submitted to the European Court of Human Rights. In fact, this is the first legal action taken against Turkey after the Armenian Genocide of 1915. This legal action is the result of a long and serious reflection, consultation, and study, and is based on the provisions of international law, including the decisions of the Lausanne Conference of 1932 pertaining to the minorities living within the boundaries of the Republic of Turkey.

This is a very important action—legal action—taken by the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia. In fact, for a hundred years, we laid the emphasis in our continuous efforts, within the framework of the Armenian cause, on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. I believe that this is the time that we move from the stage of recognition to reparation, of course, without undermining the pivotal importance of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

I do believe that this is the high time, and, in fact, our legitimate right and sacred obligation, to claim the restoration of the ownership of the centuries old seat of the Catholicoasate in Sis. We should not forget and the international community should know that besides the one and a half million victims of the Armenian Genocide, thousands of Armenian churches, monasteries, community and church properties, including the individual properties, were confiscated by the Turkish authorities. Furthermore, 48 hours were given to the Catholicos Sahak of Cilicia to leave the premises of the Catholicosate with his parishes.

These are not fictions; they are facts of history. And we never forget these painful experiences of our people a hundred years ago. And it goes without saying, that forceful confiscation of properties is against international law.

Tomorrow, in Brussels, a press conference will take place with the participation of four members of our legal team. And through this press conference, our representatives will explain the various stages and dimensions, and expectations pertaining to this lawsuit.

Dear fellow Armenians,

The Armenian cause is the case of justice. It is the cause of violations of human rights. It is the cause of our people. We never forget the Armenian Genocide.

Recognition and reparation: this is our clear and firm position as a people and a church.

Therefore, it is my firm expectation that our people will continue to support all actions, initiatives, and programs that are aimed at the restoration of justice.

Justice—we want justice from the international community. That is the clear and firm position of our people.

May God bless you all.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan packed on 6lbs of muscle in his extended lay-off – to prove to Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho he is ready for the Premier League, according to

The 27-year-old was exiled by the United chief for two-and-half-months because he “wasn’t ready” to play in key fixtures.

But the Armenia international has been coming in on his days off for extra gym and weight sessions.

He impressed Mourinho with his attitude – giving up his weekends to prove the United backroom staff wrong.

And the Armenian star has now been recalled, starring in the Red Devils 4-0 win against Feyenoord last week.

He also played in United’s heartbreaking 1-1 Premier League draw with Everton on Sunday.

An Old Trafford insider revealed: “United have kept close tabs and the feeling is his extra strength will be a huge bonus to him.

“He impressed with his commitment and surprised them by coming in to pump some iron and get more running into his legs.”

Armenia and the European Union will start talks on comprehensive air transport agreement. The negotiating groups will be formed in the near future.

“Under the planned agreement, Armenia will join the European Common Aviation Area. As a result, the parties will liberalize their markets, thus providing air companies with access to routes without restrictions, and therefore, use the capacities of the 500 mln market under unbiased and equal conditions,” the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia said in statement today.

On 1 December 2016 the Council adopted a mandate that will allow the Commission to start negotiations on a comprehensive air transport agreement with Armenia.

Comprehensive EU-level aviation agreements aim to increase Europe’s international connectivity, ensure a high-quality service and more choice for the passengers, and boost the international competitiveness of the EU’s aviation industry.

The agreement with Armenia will take the form of a Common Aviation Area Agreement, since Armenia is one of the countries with which the EU is creating closer ties under its neighbourhood policy.