Category: News

Photo: Mikhail Metzel/TASS    

Russia’s Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev has been accused of taking a bribe to endorse a state takeover, the BBC reports.

Russia’s main anti-corruption body, the Investigative Committee (SK), said he received a payment of $2m.

Mr Ulyukayev is the highest-ranking Russian official held since the 1991 coup attempt in what was then the USSR.

The SK said he had “threatened” to create obstacles for Rosneft’s operations when it took a 50% stake in another state oil company, Bashneft.

According to SK spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko, “Ulyukayev was caught red-handed”, receiving a $2m bribe on 14 November for giving a favourable assessment of the Rosneft deal.

The apparent sting operation came after months of electronic surveillance, including phone-tapping, officials said.

The arrest was big news on Russia’s state-run TV channels, under the headline “Battle against corruption”.

The 4th Business Innovation forum 2016 will be held on November 18-19, in Dilijan resort under the slogan “Armenia 20.18 – Armenia among 20 most innovative countries in the world by 2018.”

Today Mr. Hayk Chobanyan, Deputy director of the Union of Information Technologies Enterprises (UITE)- the organiser of Business Innovation Forum, Mr. Emil Tarasian, Deputy Minister of   Economic Development and Investments of RA, Mr. Raffi Kasarjian, moderator of Business Innovation Forum, Mr. Ludovic Ciechanowski,  International Aid/Cooperation Officer of EU Delegation to Armenia and Mr. Peer Priewich, Technical adviser of “Support to SME development in Armenia” (SMEDA) project, funded by the EU and BMZ and implemented through GIZ Private Sector Development in South Caucasus Programme, spoke about the forum during the meeting with journalists.

The two-day Business Innovation Forum is supported within the framework of EU4Business and EU4innovation initiatives. It is a unique platform for knowledge sharing and practical solutions, where the best experience of innovative development will be presented through thematic discussions, presentations and communication of participants and business discussions will be held with participation of stakeholders. The key topic of the discourse is the positioning of Armenia among the 20 most innovative countries in the world.

The representatives of the leading local and international companies will   participate in the Business Innovation Forum.

The forum will focus on 4 main topics:

• Innovative Products and Services
• Business process development through innovation
• Knowledge and innovation for development
• A strategy to innovative economy

The conditions of Business Innovation Forum participation and registration are presented in BIF.am.

Traditionally the Forum is organized by UITE under the high patronage of the Prime Minister of RA. The Forum is sponsored by the “Support to SME development in Armenia” (SMEDA) project, funded by the EU and BMZ and implemented through GIZ Private Sector Development in South Caucasus Programme.

More than 60 cases of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani side were registered at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces last night, the NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The rival used weapons of different calibers as it fired over 870 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions.

The Azerbaijani side used 60 and 82mm mine throwers in the direction of the military posts located in the northeastern and grenades in the northern direction of the Defense Army.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep full control of the situation at the frontline and confidently fulfill their military duty.

A new kindergarten, now under construction, is the fourth major community-development project to be implemented by the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund in Karin Tak, a village in Artsakh’s Shushi Region. In recent years, the fund has built Karin Tak’s multifunctional community center and new potable-water network, and completely renovated the local school gym. The construction of the kindergarten is co-sponsored by the Devejian and Ekserciyan families as well as Krikor Simsiroglu of Argentina, the Greek-Armenian and the Cypriot-Armenian communities, and the government of Artsakh. Proceeds from the upcoming Phoneathon of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s affiliate in Greece will likewise benefit the kindergarten-construction project.

The future kindergarten is designed to accommodate up to 50 children. The facility will feature a complement of state-of-the-art amenities, including a boiler room, a central-heating system, and an outdoor playground with various play equipment, all of which will make for an enriching and comfortable learning environment. The structure is already up and the roof is finished. In the next phases of the project, crews will work on the exterior and interior decoration, the installation of the boiler room, and the landscaping of the grounds. When completed in the summer of 2017, the campus will open its doors to the community’s 40 kindergarteners.

Karin Tak has a population of over 650, with a large percentage of young people. According to Mayor Mkhitar Arushanyan, the necessity of a kindergarten has long been felt in the community, given its steady demographic growth. “Our villagers feel a very strong bond with their native land,” Arushanyan says. “Even during the war years in the 1990s, when the village was under constant bombardment, our residents refused to abandon their birthplace. Today, thanks to a string of marvelous development projects, Karin Tak’s quality of life is improved significantly, and our residents have great faith in their future.”

Located five kilometers from the city of Shushi, Karin Tak was founded in the 18^th century. It is among villages that were utterly devastated during Artsakh’s war of liberation. Every year on January 26, the residents of Karin Tak commemorate their community’s heroic battle and victory in 1992.

Pope Francis on Monday morning greeted members of the German national football team in the Vatican.  Germany beat San Marino 8-0 on Friday evening in the qualifying stages of their defense of the World Cup, Radio Vatican reports.

“I have often heard it said that your victories are team victories,” Pope Francis said, noting the official nickname of the German squad is Die Mannschaft (The Team).

“Truly, competitive sport not only requires a great deal of discipline and personal sacrifice, but also respect for others and team spirit,” – the Pope continued – “This carries you to success as ‘Die Mannschaft ‘ and at the same time causes you to recognize your responsibility on the football pitch, especially to the young people who often see you as role models.  It also causes you to make a mutual commitment to work together to support some important social causes.”

In particular, Pope Francis thanked the team for their support for the Sternsinger (‘Star Singer’) collection at Epiphany, where children from over 10,000 Catholic parishes all over Germany go door-to-door singing carols and collecting money, which is used to help children in poor countries around the world. The initiative was begun in 1959, and is now the world’s largest fundraiser by children, for children.

“This initiative shows how together we can overcome barriers that seem insurmountable, and which penalize needy and marginalized people,” – the Holy Father said – “In this way you contribute to building a more just and united society.”

An earthquake measuring 6.3 in magnitude has hit New Zealand’s South Island, hours after an initial quake killed two people, the BBC reports.

The new tremor struck at 13:45 local time (00:45 GMT) at a depth of 10km (6 miles), northeast of Christchurch.

A 7.5-magnitude quake, with the same depth, had hit the same area just after midnight, triggering tsunami warnings.

A large river dammed up by a landslide has now breached its banks sending a “large wall of water” downstream.

Residents around the Clarence River – one of the largest on South Island – were being urged to move immediately to higher ground.

Turkey could hold a referendum on whether to continue membership talks with the European Union next year, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday, repeating his warning to Brussels that it needed to “make up its mind” on Turkish accession, reports.

In a speech in Ankara broadcast on television, Erdogan urged Turks to be patient until the end of the year and then said a vote could be held on EU membership.

Erdogan also said that he would approve reinstating the death penalty – a move that would likely end any hope of Turkish membership of the EU – if parliament passed a law on it, and said that too could be part of a referendum.

Turkey is expected to hold a national vote on constitutional changes next spring, including boosting the powers of Erdogan’s office to create a presidential system akin to that of the United States or France.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan is determined to prove his worth at Manchester United.

Mkhitaryan, who played in the whole of his country’s dramatic World Cup qualifying win over Montenegro in Yerevan on Friday, says he will not give up his quest to impress his new boss.

In an interview on the , Mkhitaryan said: “I know I can succeed at Manchester United, and I want to show everyone that I deserve to be a key player in this team and this league.”

“Today I don’t have enough playing time, so I have to do my best so the coaching staff give me the chance to play,” he said.

“There are no disappointments, just challenges. I never give up when I encounter obstacles in my way. I just continue going until I reach my career objectives,” Mkhitaryan added.

Mkhitaryan went on to hail Mourinho’s “fantastic record” as a coach.

He added: “Regarding Jose Mourinho, I hope I can learn a lot from him – he is a coach with a fantastic record.

“I saw the move to Manchester United as an opportunity to grow as a player and as a person.

“It was definitely not the salary that made me join Manchester United, I went for football reasons – for the history of the club, the fans and the coach because he is one of the best in the world.

“The EPL is the best league in the world and it gives me something different, a new challenge. I think I can become stronger by playing there.”

Germany‘s ruling coalition has backed Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier as the country’s next president, party sources said Monday, paving the way for a sharp critic of Donald Trump to become head of state, AFP reports.

Party leaders have been wrangling for months over whom to nominate as a potential successor to President Joachim Gauck, a 76-year-old former pastor from the ex-communist East Germany who is stepping down due to his advanced age.

On Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) agreed on Germany‘s most popular politician, Steinmeier, whose name had been put forward by his Social Democratic Party (SPD).

The third party in the coalition — the CDU’s Bavarian allies CSU — backed the decision soon after.

“Now it’s official,” a CSU party source told AFP.

The new president — a figure who is meant to transcend party politics and serve as a moral standard bearer for the nation — will be elected on February 12 by a special assembly of MPs, delegates from Germany‘s 16 federal states and other notables.

Ex-President of France Nicolas Sarkozy had a meeting with the Armenian community at the premises of the National Center of Armenian Memory in the city of Decines last week, Nouvelles D’Armenia reports.

Speaking about the Christians in the Middle East, Sarkozy said “the word genocide must not be trivialized. Its negation is a crime against intelligence and morality. The situation for Christians in the East is genocide.”

Referring to the perspectives of Turkey’s EU membership, Sarkozy said: “I went to Ankara to say on the spot that Turkey is certainly a great civilization, but that its place is not in Europe, and also that a great country must recognize the glorious hours as the dark hours in its history.”