Category: News

Photo: Getty Images

 

Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed what they describe as a city that dates back more than 5,000 years, containing houses, tools, pottery and huge graves, the BBC reports.

It lies by the river Nile, close to the Temple of Seti the First in Abydos.

Experts say the size of the 15 newly discovered graves indicates the high social standing of those buried.

It is believed the city was home to important officials and tomb builders and would have flourished during early-era ancient Egyptian times.

Experts say the find could be a boost for Egypt’s struggling tourism industry which has been in the doldrums since President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in 2011.

Archaeologists have made a range of finds in the newly-discovered city including buildings, shards of pottery and tools.

Armenia is ranked 87th (up from 38) in this month’s FIFA World Ranking. Armenia’s 3-2 win against Montenegro helped the team jump the largest number of places in the ranking table.

There has been plenty of movement in the latest edition of the FIFA World Ranking thanks largely to the 63 FIFA World Cup Russia™ qualification matches played, but also to 71 other qualifiers and international friendlies that took place over the past few weeks.

Argentina remain top for November, but have seen their command on the summit weakened by close rivals Brazil (2, up 1). After a good run of form in FIFA World Cup™ qualifying, A Seleção have surpassed Germany (3, down 1) and closed the distance to their South American neighbors, as the year-end approaches. Chile, meanwhile, climbed into fourth place.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been handed a chance to impress Jose Mourinho as Manchester United take on Feyenoord in the Europa League.

The Armenian has only made one start for the club this season.

His only start came against Manchester City in a 2-1 loss and he was hooked off at half-time.

Mourinho named a strong team with Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Juan Mata all starting.

Man Utd: Romero, Valencia, Jones, Blind, Shaw, Carrick, Pogba, Mata, Rooney, Mkhitaryan, Ibrahimovic

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has issued a message for the International Day to end Violence against Women and Girls:

At long last, there is growing global recognition that violence against women and girls is a human rights violation, public health pandemic and serious obstacle to sustainable development.  Yet there is still much more we can and must do to turn this awareness into meaningful prevention and response.

Violence against women and girls imposes large-scale costs on families, communities and economies.  When women cannot work as a result of violence, their employment may be put at risk, jeopardizing much-needed income, autonomy and their ability to leave abusive relationships.  Violence against women also results in lost productivity for businesses, and drains resources from social services, the justice system and health-care agencies. Domestic and intimate partner violence remains widespread, compounded by impunity for those crimes.  The net result is enormous suffering as well as the exclusion of women from playing their full and rightful roles in society.

The world cannot afford to pay this price. Women and girls cannot afford it – and should not have to.  Yet such violence persists every day, around the world.  And efforts to address this challenge, although rich in political commitment, are chronically under-funded.

Since 2008, I have led the UNiTE campaign to End Violence against Women, which calls for global action to increase resources and promote solutions.  I call on governments to show their commitment by dramatically increasing national spending in all relevant areas, including in support of women’s movements and civil society organizations.  I also encourage world leaders to contribute to UN Women and to the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women.  We look as well to the private sector, philanthropies and concerned citizens to do their part.

Today, we are seeing the world lit up in orange, symbolizing a bright future for women and girls. With dedicated investment, we can keep these lights shining, uphold human rights and eliminate violence against women and girls for good.

Photo: Reuters

 

A car bomb outside the governor’s office in the Turkish town of Adana has killed two people and injured 16, the governor has told state-run media, the BBC reports.

The vehicle exploded in the car park close to the office entrance in the southern town, Mahmut Demirtas told Anadolu news agency.

He said the suspect’s car license plates had been identified and a female attacker was suspected.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Kurdish, Islamist and leftist militants have all carried out bombings in recent years.

Chaired by Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, the government held today another discussion on information and communication technology (ICT) sector. During the discussion projects related to the reform of vocational education and ICT sector workforce development were presented to the Prime Minister.

In this context, the meeting focused on the formation of an environment conducive to a technological university, educational incubators, and other issues related to current and prospective engineering educational programs.

The Prime Minister instructed the responsible ministers to work with the representatives of the ICT sector and submit program proposals with applicable results.

A maiden shipment has arrived in Iran from Germany via a multimodal transit route connecting Iran to Europe via the Black Sea, secretary of International Transport Association of Iran, Gholamhossein Amiri, announced, the reports.

Plans are underway for the route to replace the one passing through Turkey.

“Two cargo containers have entered Iran from the Armenian border,” Amiri was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.

“The containers were shipped from Hamburg in a relatively shorter journey compared to the Turkish route.”

Amiri did not mention the exact date of the arrival.

“In the past couple of years, we have had problems on the Turkish side of the border regarding transportation of cargo from Europe. This prompted us to start negotiations with several other countries for alternative routes,” he said.

Tehran and Ankara have been grappling with a longstanding transit dispute, arising from different fuel prices in the two neighboring countries. The issue led the government to take measures, such as charging Turkish trucks a fee to compensate the considerably low fuel prices in Iran to sealing the Turkish trucks’ fuel tanks at the Bazargan-Dogubayazit border crossing.

The common border has frequently been the scene of traffic congestion with transit trucks queuing at the border in lines reaching 15 kilometers at times.

Agreements signed by the neighboring countries’ customs officials have done little to help solve the problem.

Border security is another issue hindering transit via Turkey. While on Turkish soil, several Iranian trucks have been the target of arson attacks, which Ankara blamed on armed forces affiliated to Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

The Iranian government demanded Ankara guarantee the safety of Iranian trucks, but the results were found to be unsatisfactory, which led to lack of confidence in Turkey’s ability to stem the violence. Consequently, Iran’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development advised companies shipping to Europe to avoid routes passing through Turkey.

The ministry advised truck drivers to take two alternative routes: one through Azerbaijan, Russia and Belarus; and another through Armenia, Georgia, the Black Sea and then into Romania or Bulgaria.

“The cost of cargo transportation via the [new] route was 1-2% lower [compared to the Turkish route],” Amiri said.

Recent negotiations with Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Italy and Greece have centered around a transit corridor involving Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Greece and Italy. According to Amiri, an agreement has been signed by Iran, Armenia and Georgia regarding implementation of the corridor.

Trucks are shipped by roll-on/roll-off ships from Georgia to Bulgaria across the Black Sea. The same method can also be used for trucks shipping goods from Greece’s southern ports to Italy using the Mediterranean Sea.

Cross-stones have been recovered from the bottom of Lake Van, reports.

The FIVA company, which cleans the bottom of the lake, has found two stones with a cross inscribes and two stone blocks and wooden pieces.

The company has kept relevant bodies informed, but there has been no response so far. “I think there are more stones like this in the bottom of the lake,” company official Ayhan Disari has said.

An open discussion on “Water resources, peace and security” was held at the UN Security Council on November 22.

Noting that three quarters of UN Member States share rivers or lake basins with their neighbours, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today highlighted the value of water resources as a reason for cooperation, not conflict.

“The need for coordination in water management is especially compelling for the more than 260 international rivers and at least that many transboundary aquifers,” Mr. Ban told a Security Council debate, which was open to non-Council members.

Addressing the meeting, Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Zohrab Mnatsakanyan noted that “trans-border water resources create social and economic interrelation between societies and can serve a cause of conflict and argument inside a country and between states.”

Mr. Mnatsakanyan referred to Sarsang Water reservoir and voiced regret over the fact that Azerbaijan uses the issue to throw mud at and present charges against Armenia.

“The Sarsang water reservoir, which is of key importance to the economy of Nagorno Karabakh, especially from the agricultural and energy perspectives, is under permanent control of the Nagorno Karabakh authorities,” he noted.

Ambassador Mnatsakanyan reminded that the Nagorno Krabakh authorities have on many occasions offered a  mechanism of joint use of water resources, which can serve an additional confidence-building measure between the countries.

“Instead, Azerbaijan prefers to spread groundless accusations and suspicious “proofs”, which actually amount to misinformation, to say the least of it. Azerbaijan would have done itself and the region a great favor, had it sincerely engaged in a peace process instead of boosting it caviar diplomacy,” Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said.

It’s not yet clear whether the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet in Hamburg or not, Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan told a press conference ta the Media Center today.

Speaking about “James Warlick’s decision to steps down as OSCE Mink group Co-Chair was not unexpected, he was replaced as his term in office had expired.”

“Let’s not overestimate the role of persons appointed by co-chairing countries,” the Deputy Foreign Minister said. He added that each country has its policy line, which does not change with the change of individuals.

“In case of the US, there are established institutions, expert groups, long-developed policy, and abrupt steps are unlikely even considering the change of the President,” Shavarsh Kocharyan said. He added however, that some shifts in this or that direction are possible, considering that the President has greater liabilities than the Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

According to him, the Armenian parties have never avoided meetings, but we have always expected progress from those meetings.

“Progress in talks  is impossible, unless the agreements reached in Vienna and St. Petersburg are called to life. It is impossible to expect progress in the negotiation process as long as the threat of resumption of war is there, as long as there is lack of trust between the parties, as long as the Azeri forces are firing along the line of contact and organizing provocations,” Shavarsh Kocharyan said.

According to him, there is one clear reason behind the lack of progress in talks. “For years the Azerbaijani side has been using the negotiation process as a cover for its policy of spreading propaganda built on the distortion of the essence of the conflict, to present it as a territorial dispute without referring to the issue of self-determination, to prepare  a fertile ground for a military solution in the future,” the Deputy Foreign Minister said.

Secondly, he said, the April events came to reject the perceptions of the Azeri side. “They thought the two Armenian states were weakening and getting poorer at the time, when Azerbaijan was building its military capacity thanks to oil dollars. April showed that the Blitzkrieg they had planned simply failed,” he said. He added that the results of a second such attempt will be more painful for the Azerbaijani side.

Speaking about the lack of targeted criticism on the part of the mediators, the Deputy Foreign Minister said: “The Co-Chairs have two missions – to help the parties reach an agreement  and to prevent the resumption of military actions.”

According to Shavarsh Kocharyan, the best security guarantee for the Armenian side is to rely upon itself. Speaking about the military balance in the region, the Deputy Foreign Minister said “balance does not mean only the ratio of weapons. It refers not only to human potential, the types of weapons, but also other factors such as the liberated territories, the location of those territories, and most importantly, the fighting spirit and unity.” On the other hand, he said “it would be naive to ignore the impact of contemporary weapons on the balance.”

“Azerbaijan has had a serious progress in terms of purchasing contemporary weapons, but as a counterbalance we have Smerch systems, TOS-1A Multiple Rocket Launchers (Solntsepek) and Iskander missile systems,” the Armenian Deputy FM said.

He said there are two ways to prevent the arms race. The first option is to reach a peace deal through negotiations. The second scenario, he said, is the unleashing of war by Azerbaijan, but added that the possibility of a military solution gradually tends to weaken.