Category: News

Ukraine’s Supreme Rada has ruled to designate October 25, 2016 as the day of commemoration of the 70th anniversary of elimination of the Armenian Catholic Church of Western Ukraine, Interfax reports.

According to the source, the bill was backed by 240 national deputies at a parliamentary sitting today.

The Armenian Catholic Church of Ukraine – one of the Eastern Catholic Churches – was established as a result of the union of part of the Armenians with the Roman Apostolic See in 1742.  The Churches uses the Armenian Rite during liturgies.

In the first half of the 20th century there were approximately 5,500 Armenian Catholics in Galicia. They had 9 churches and 16 chapels. The archeparchy included three deaneries: Lviv (parishes in Lviv, Berzhany and Lutsk), Stanislaviv (parishes in Stanislaviv, Lysts and Tysmenytsia), and Kuty (parishes in Kuty, Horodenka and Sniatyn).

The deanery of Lviv existed until the end of World War II and was eliminated by the Soviet authorities.

Following Ukrainian independence, the Armenian Catholic Church has been gradually reviving, with the first community registering in 1991 in Lviv.

Photo: AFP

 

Kurdish fighters say they have launched a large-scale operation east and north of Mosul, as an offensive to oust so-called Islamic State (IS) militants from the Iraqi city continues, the BBC reports.

The Kurds say the operation aims to tighten the noose around the militants’ last major stronghold in Iraq.

The Iraqi army has been moving from the south, and special forces have now joined the offensive.

There are signs that IS leaders have fled Mosul, the US military says.

There are thought to be up to 5,000 IS fighters still in the city.

President Serzh Sargsyan visited the Armenian Saint Garabed Church in Maastricht is morning, where he had a short meeting with representatives of the “Ani” Armenian community.  During the meeting reference was made to the community issues, programs, opportunities of reinforcement of cooperation with the Motherland.

The “Ani” community is actively participating in Armenia-related events organized by the Dutch authorities.

According to the decision of the Catholic Church of Limburg, the Church of the Ascension of Christ was donated to the Armenian community and was anointed as Saint Garabed in 2013 in memory of the old Armenian Church of Amsterdam.

On October 14, 2016 “HayPost” CJSC put into circulation one stamp dedicated to the first Armenian  writer, poet, publicist, public and educational figure, the first Armenian novelist  Srbuhi Tyusab’s 175th anniversary. She protested against the female subordination, supported the right for the education and the requirements for the labor.

The stamp has been printed in “Cartor” Printing House, France, with a face value of 230 Armenian drams. The stamp depicts Tyusab on the background of an extract from her poem.  The stamp has been designed by David Dovlatyan, designer of “Haypost” CJSC.

The official cancellation ceremony of the stamp took place at the Ministery of the Diaspora of the RA in the frames of “Our Greats” program with the start of the 8^th all-Armenian summit of journalists. The cancellation was carried out by the RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan, RA Deputy Minister of Transport and communication Gagik Tadevosyan and the Managing Director of “HayPost Trust Management” B.V., Juan Pablo Gechidjian.

On October 20, 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 Hadrut region, near the settlement of Ashaghi Abdurahmanli.

From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistant of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Jiri Aberle (Czech Republic), staff member of the Office of the CiO Personal Representative Peter Svedberg (Sweden), and representative of the OSCE High Level Planning Group, Major Christian Hirsch (Austria).

From the opposite side of the Line of Contact, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistant of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Khristo Khristov (Bulgaria), Personal Assistant of the CiO Personal Representative Simon Tiller (Great Britain), and representative of the OSCE High Level Planning Group, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Nepokritikh (Russia).

The monitoring passed in accordance with the agreed schedule. No violation of the cease-fire regime was registered.

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

Europe’s Schiaparelli lander did not behave as expected as it headed down to the surface of Mars on Wednesday, the BBC reports.

Telemetry data recovered from the probe during its descent indicates that its parachute was jettisoned too early.

The rockets it was supposed to use to bring itself to a standstill just above the ground also appeared to fire for too short a time.

The European Space Agency (Esa) has not yet conceded that the lander crashed but the mood is not positive.

Experts will continue to analyse the data and they may also try to call out to Schiaparelli in the blind hope that it is actually sitting on the Red Planet intact.

In addition, the Americans will use one of their satellites at Mars to image the targeted landing zone to see if they can detect any hardware. Although, this is a slim hope because the probe is quite small.

For the moment, all Esa has to work with is the relatively large volume of engineering data Schiaparelli managed to transmit back to the “mothership” that dropped it off at Mars – the Trace Gas Orbiter.

This shows that everything was fine as the probe entered the atmosphere. Its heatshield appeared to do the job of slowing the craft, and the parachute opened as expected to further decelerate the robot.

But it is at the end of the parachute phase that the data indicates unusual behaviour.

Four Armenian cities – Sisian, Sevan, Dilijan and Gyumri – have joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC).

More than 1,000 cities and communities around the world have become or are in the process of becoming learning/educating cities. These cities are keen to benefit from participating in international policy dialogue, action research, capacity building and peer learning, and to effectively use learning city approaches to promote lifelong learning for their citizens.

The overall aim of the GNLC is to create a global network to mobilize cities and demonstrate how a city’s resources can be used most effectively to provide learning opportunities to citizens. The goal is to enrich human potential, promote equality and social justice, maintain social cohesion, and create sustainable prosperity.

The GNLC is intended to help cities create a better future for their citizens and the planet by transforming themselves into learning cities.

The UNESCO GNLC offers members the opportunity to be acquainted with best practice and tools to advance lifelong learning in their communities. Members of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities may also be motivated to aim for recognition for their actions by applying for the UNESCO Learning City Award. The next Awards will be conferred to cities that have shown exemplary progress in implementing the Key Features of Learning Cities in 2017.

The government of the Republic of Armenia aims to ensure protection, dignity, improved living conditions, justice for its citizens, Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan said as he presented the government program to the National Assembly today. The government is obliged to reveal the obstacles on the way of reaching the goals and find optimal solutions, he added.

“We have entered a new stage of regional developments, which envisages low paces of economic growth with our immediate economic partners, thus restricting the opportunities of rapid growth due to common trends. In this environment the current structure of the Armenian economy will not be able to ensure the pace of progress, which goes in line with our challenges, if standard approaches of development are applied,” the Prime Minister said.

“Today the government is tasked with obtaining a precise diagnosis of the system of governance and the state of economy, analyzing the most important issues and proposing both short-term measures and long-term reform programs,” he added. He informed that a “Center for Strategic Initiatives” comprising the leading specialists and experts from Armenia, Diaspora and abroad has been set up under the government to address the strategic questions.

Speaking about the strategic issues, PM Karen Karapetyan stressed that “defense and security” is number one challenge. “The military threats facing our country require an efficient, permanently improving and modernizing defense system enjoying the rust and support of the society.” He assured that the government would spare no means and efforts to neutralize the military threats facing Armenia and Artsakh, creating sufficient military capacities and maintaining military balance in the region.

Among other important issues the Prime Minister emphasized the implementation of the Constitution amended in 2015. He attached importance to measures ensuring to the development of democratic institutions, creation of confidence-building measures to raise the trust in political process and institutions. The Prime Minister said “the reforms should start from the government.”

According to him, elimination of corruption is the primary condition for the effectiveness of the state governance system. “We’ll promote the state-private cooperation to ensure better governance at the local level and reduce the corruption risks,” he added.

The Prime Minister said “the government pursues the ideology of liberalized economy and sees the perspectives of economic development in the growth of exports.” “Our primary goal is to ensure a free and fair competitive environment for business,” he added.

Karen Karapetyan noted that “the improvement of the business environment is a permanent process.” In this respect he attached importance to the monitoring, exposure and elimination of legal norms and practices hindering the economic activity.

The Prime Minister said tourism, development of modem infrastructures will also be in the spotlight. “The government will pursue the deepening of cooperation with the Nagorno Karabakh Republic,” he added.

PM Karapetyan stressed that “stable economic growth is the fundamental means for fighting poverty and unemployment.” “This is the reason why we emphasize the importance of forming free, fair and competitive economic conditions,” he added.

In the field of education and science, the government will aim to ensure high-quality education and an opportunity for obtaining practical knowledge for all. Special attention will be paid to children in rural areas.

According to the Prime Minister, the government will also pursue the maintenance of national cultural values, at the same time ensuring openness for adopting the best values of other cultures. It will also strive to maintain the unique nature of Armenia.

“Together we have to undertake the honored task of creating strong grounds for the long-term development of the country. Every day we’ll work together to take steps that will bring us closer to having a competitive, economically strong and fair Motherland based on national values,” the Prime Minister concluded.

High ranking political leaders from different countries have offered their support to the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office said in an interview with Azernews newspaper.

With regards to criticism of the OSCE MG, Kasprzyk said co-chairs are informed in detail about the developments around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“The Chairmanship of the OSCE is paying constant attention and is informed in detail about developments. The Chairperson-in-Office, Dr Steinmeier, visited the region and the resolution of the conflict was high on the agenda of his trip. The CiO and other high ranking political leaders from different countries have offered their support to the activity of the MG,” he said in an e-mail, further mentioning that the conflict is a frequent subject of public debate in other international organizations besides the OSCE.

Kasprzyk, commenting on the armistice between the sides on the frontline, said that his office follows the situation on a daily basis.

“According to information obtained and from our own observations, from the end of May 2016 the situation along the front lines has been relatively stable, though there were still reports about ceasefire violations and, regrettably, recently about casualties. Every casualty is a tragedy and causes grief and sorrow for the family and friends of the deceased. I share these sorrows,” he said, adding that “the ceasefire will only hold based on the political will of the parties.”

“Finally, I would like to stress that the monitoring exercises are not investigations, nor are they a peacekeeping measure. They provide a ‘snapshot’, an effective and consistent way of accessing information regarding the situation on the ground. With the support of the sides, we will continue our activity,” he continued.

As for the expansion of the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Kasprzyk said that his mandate and the modalities of work of his Office would be unaffected.

Photo: Getty Images

 

A Saudi Arabian prince has been executed for shooting dead a man during a brawl three years ago in the capital Riyadh, the interior ministry has said, the BBC reports.

Prince Turki bin Saud al-Kabir was put to death in the capital. No details were given as to how he was executed – most condemned people are beheaded.

The prince is the 134th person to be put to death this year, according to a list compiled by the AFP news agency. But it is rare for royal family members to be executed

The prince had pleaded guilty to shooting his compatriot, the interior ministry statement said.

Announcing the execution, the ministry said it would assure everyone the government was “keen to preserve security and achieve justice.”