Category: News

President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree today, appointing Levon Galstyan as Member of the Council of Public TV and Radio Company of Armenia for a term of six years.

Levon Galstyan’s candidacy was approved during the sitting of the Council of TV and Radio Company of Armenia held on October 26, taking into account his experience and achievements in the field of journalism, his long-time activity in the sphere of TV and Radio.

Seventeen people had applied for the position of the Member of the Council, which had been vacant since Armen Amiryan was appointed Minister of Culture.

Vladimir Zeldin, who has been described as the world’s oldest working actor, has died aged 101.

Russian news agencies quoted his wife, Ivetta Kapralova, as saying he died in a Moscow hospital early on Monday.

Zeldin, whose career ranged from film parts in the 1940s to theatre appearances in recent years, had been due to appear on stage in early November.

Photo: AFP

 

Turkish police have detained the editor and several writers of opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet amid a crackdown on media after the failed July coup, the BBC reports.

The journalists are suspected of links to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused of plotting the coup, as well as Kurdish militants.

Cumhuriyet is Turkey’s oldest secular paper.

At the weekend, 15 other media outlets were closed and 10,000 civil servants were dismissed.

Those targeted include academics, teachers, health workers, prison guards and forensics experts.

Critics have accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of using an emergency law imposed after the coup attempt to silence opponents. Since then, a total of about 110,000 people have been sacked or suspended and 37,000 arrested.

The government argues that Mr Gulen’s network of followers is so vast that a wholesale purge is needed.

Cumhuriyet editor Murat Sabuncu and eight other newspaper staff were detained on Monday, including columnists Aydin Engin and Guray Oz, state news agency Anadolu reported,

Arrest warrants were also issued for other staff, including Cumhuriyet’s previous editor Can Dundar, who resigned in August after being sentenced to five years in prison for revealing state secrets involving Turkey’s operations in Syria. He fled Turkey when he was freed pending an appeal.

Azerbaijan not only continues to aggravate the situation at the line of contact by periodically violating the ceasefire regime and undertaking subversive attempts, but also resorts to provocations on the information field, the NKR Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The Ministry dismissed the claimes of the Azerbaijani side on the use of 60-mm mine throwers, grenades and large-caliber machine guns by Karabakh forces, describing it as “yet another provocative trick” of the rival.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army strictly observe the ceasefire regime and never start the attack.

“By spreading such misinformation, the Azeri side prepares ground for future provocations,” the NKR Defense Ministry said.

Manchester United will not finish in the top four unless they start playing Henrikh Mkhitaryan, according to former England international Owen Hargreaves, reports.

Mkhitaryan was overlooked for the United matchday squad against Burnley by Jose Mourinho for the fifth game running since the domestic schedule resumed two weeks ago.

The Armenian returned to training almost five weeks ago but his prolonged absence has mystified supporters and United have taken a paltry six points from a possible 21 in the Premier League.

United are eighth in the table and seven points off fourth, and Hargreaves insists Mourinho needs to recall Mkhitaryan and Michael Carrick if Old Trafford is to host Champions League football next season.

“What are they eighth in the Premier League? You’ve got to play him,” Hargreaves said on BT Sport.

“What he’s tried now so far – he doesn’t believe he’s been given time – hasn’t worked so at some point get one of the best players you have on your team into your team.

“I think the back four is very strong, best goalkeeper in the country. I think you play Carrick, I think you play Herrera to the right, Pogba to the left, Rashford off the left and Mkhitaryan off the right.

“And I think as a team, I genuinely believe it’s a a good a team [as any] in the Premier League. “But right now that team as it is, I don’t think they can finish in the top four.”

Mkhitaryan has not played since he was substituted on his full debut against City on September 10.

The 200-year-old Armenian Beyaz Church in Bahcesaray district of Van province, also known as Dera Geli (in Kurdish), is being destroyed by treasure hunters, Akunq.net reports, quoting the Turkish Dicle agency.

According to the source, obscene notes can be seen on the walls of the church, many sections of it have been destroyed by treasure hunters, while shepherds use it as a barn.

The church has been left to the mercy of fate, and the authorities are doing nothing to save it.

A court in Armenia will consider an appeal against the life sentence given to the Russian soldier Valery Permyakov, who had killed seven members of a family in the city of Gyumri, reports, quoting the press-service of the Armenian Justice Department.

The appeal lodged on September 7 is connected with charges of attempted border crossing, attorney Eduard Agadzhanyan said earlier.

On August 23, a court in Armenia sentenced Permyakov to life in prison. He was found guilty on all accounts including murder, assault related to robbery and attempt to cross the border illegally.

As Permyakov had pleaded guilty to the murder, the lawyer could not appeal these charges, according to legal ethics. That’s why Agadzhanyan has lodged an appeal against the sentence regarding attempted border crossing.

The family, including a six-month-old baby, was killed as a result of an armed assault on January 12, 2015. Valery Permyakov, a soldier at a Russian base in the Armenian town of Gyumri, was arrested and later charged with the murder of two or more persons under the Armenian Criminal Code.

The Azerbaijani side violated the ceasefire 100 times at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces over the weekend, the NKR Defense Ministry reported.

The rival used firearms of different calibers as it fired over 2,300 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions.

A group of servicemen were spotted clearing mines at a neutral zone, in the northern direction of the line of contact.

The rival was thrown back as a result of response actions taken by the NKR Defense Army.

The front troops of the NKR Defense Army keep full control of the situation at the line of contact and confidently continue with their military duty.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will visit Indonesia on November 1.

Minister Nalbandian is expected to meet with representatives of the country’s legislative and executive authorities.

In Jakarta Minister Nalbandian will have a meeting with the Secretary General of the ASEAN.

Photo: AP

 

Thousands of people in central Italy have spent the night in cars, tents and temporary accommodation following the fourth earthquake in the area in three months, the BBC reports.

The 6.6-magnitude quake – Italy’s strongest in decades – struck close to the region where nearly 300 people were killed by a quake in August.

This time no-one appears to have died, but about 20 people were injured.

Powerful aftershocks are still bringing down masonry.

In the town of Norcia, in the Perugia region, close to the epicentre of Sunday morning’s earthquake, some locals have decided to stay in their homes.

Others spent the night in tents pitched near the town or have taken up the authorities’ offer of shelter on the Adriatic Coast.