Category: News

The genocides we witnessed, the crimes committed against ethnic Yezidis, military crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Islamic State in Northern Iraq unfortunately continue today, member of the Armenian delegation to PACE Naira Zohrabyan said, addressing the Parliamentary Assembly today.

In this context she stressed the importance of elaboration of more flexible mechanisms of cooperation with the International Criminal Courtto fight against impunity.

Naira Zohrabyan reminded that during the April military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh soldiers and civilians, including children were severely tortured, killed and beheaded. She added that the actions constitute a gross violation of international humanitarian law and amount to war crime.

“Both the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and Armenia, as a guarantor of Artsakh’s security, will do their best to have Azerbaijan recognized as war criminal,” Zohrabyan added.

She reminded that Azerbaijan unleashed a military offensive against Artsakh, violating the territorial integrity of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic – a party to the trilateral ceasefire agreement of 1994.

“Azerbaijan should be recognized as war criminal and most of you are aware of the Azerbaijani atrocities,” Naira Zohrabyan told PACE.

Photo: AP

 

The US military has attacked radar sites in Yemen after a US warship in the Red Sea came under missile attack for the second time in days, the BBC reports.

The Pentagon said initial assessments showed that three radar sites involved in the recent missile launches had been destroyed.

It said the targeted sites were on territory controlled by Iranian-allied Houthi rebels.

The Pentagon said the strikes had been authorised by President Barack Obama.

The attack was carried out using Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from the destroyer USS Nitze, according to US officials.

“These limited self-defence strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway,” Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.

“The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate.”

On October 12 Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe Paruyr Hovhannisyan had a meeting with Pedro Agramunt, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Congratulating the Armenian representative on appointment, PACE President wished him productive work and expressed his willingness to contribute to the efforts aimed at the development of parliamentary cooperation.

The interlocutors referred to the agenda of Armenia-PACE cooperation. Ambassador Hovhannisyan expressed his support to PACE’s “no hate, no fear” (#nohatenofear) initiative launched in June within the framework of fight against terrorism.

Liverpool Football Club and Manchester United Football Club are calling on their fans to help eradicate any offensive or discriminatory behaviour ahead of their Premier League clash at Anfield on Monday 17 October.

The clubs continue to work together and respect the great rivalry between them but will not condone any offensive or discriminatory behaviour in Anfield Stadium or Old Trafford.

In a joint statement, the clubs said: “Both clubs, their supporters and football fans around the world are looking forward to this historic and passionate match between two of the sport’s biggest and oldest rivals.

“There is great rivalry between our fans and we ask all supporters to be respectful and help eradicate all forms of offensive and discriminatory behaviour from the game.

“If any supporters are found to be engaged in any form of offensive or discriminatory behaviour by stewards or via CCTV then they will be immediately removed from the stadium, risk arrest, prosecution and be reported in accordance with the club’s ground regulations.

“This is an unrivalled fixture in the Premier League calendar and we thank all fans for their continued support in this important area of the game.”

According to the host broadcaster, Liverpool and Manchester United games are the biggest club games in world football and will likely be seen by an estimated 700 million people in over 200 countries.

Armenia international Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been ranked 73rd among 100 best players in the world by .

“Mkhitaryan had spent three seasons at Borussia Dortmund just getting better and better and better. And the problem when that happens is that someone was always going to come along and pay big money to buy him,” the Daily Mail writes.

That someone was Manchester United and Jose Mourinho will just be praying the Armenian comes somewhere close to last season’s scarcely credible return of 23 goals and 32 assists.

Mkhitaryan’s teammates Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata are ranked 70th and 75th respectively.

Eric Bailly is 82nd, Ander Herrera is 89th, Marcus Rashford is 97th.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has canceled a visit to Armenia due to a cold, his office said on Wednesday, adding that there were no concerns about his overall health, Reuters reports.

The presidential office, which rarely comments on 76-year-old Nazarbayev’s health, made the announcement about him being treated for a cold on Tuesday, suggesting to some it would mean he would not visit Yerevan which will host a Russia-led security bloc meeting this week.

On Tuesday, Nazarbayev’s office said Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev would travel to Armenia instead of him.

Astana’s ties with Yerevan have been strained since April, when during the renewed military conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan insisted on holding a meeting of another regional body, the Eurasian Economic Union, outside of Armenia which was due to host it.

Both Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are Turkic-speaking, predominantly Muslim nations. Azerbaijan also tranships a significant share of Kazakh oil exports.

According to a decree signed by President Serzh Sargsyan, Armenia’s Ambassador to Lithuania Tigran Mkrtchyan has been appointed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Estonia and Latvia, President’s Press Office reports.

Italy’s Olympic Committee has officially withdrawn its bid to stage the 2024 Games in Rome after the city council voted to oppose the candidacy, the BBC reports.

Rome’s Mayor Virginia Raggi, from the populist Five Star party, had said the city had to prioritise matters such as rubbish collection and corruption.

It means only Paris, Los Angeles and Budapest are left in the running after Boston and Hamburg also abandoned bids.

The International Olympic Committee is due to make a decision next September.

Committee chief Giovanni Malago said the decision meant Italy had been “made to look like fools” and would miss out on investment.

US reality TV star Kim Kardashian West is suing a celebrity gossip website for claiming that she faked being the victim of a robbery in Paris last week, the BBC reports.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for defamation and names both the site, MediaTakeout, and its founder, Fred Mwangaguhunga.

The star was tied up by gun-wielding robbers who broke into a Paris flat earlier this month, police say.

They made off with jewellery worth about $10m.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in New York said that after being “the victim of a horrific and traumatic armed robbery in France, Kim Kardashian returned to the US only to again be victimised, but this time by an online gossip tabloid that published a series of articles in early October 2016 referring to her a as liar and thief”.

The articles, it said, “claimed, without any factual support whatsoever, that Kardashian faked the robbery, lied about the violent assault, and then filed a fraudulent claim with her insurance company to bilk her carrier out of millions of dollars”.

Mr Mwangaguhunga refused to publish a retraction and an apology “for calling her a liar and a criminal”, the lawsuit added.

MediaTakeout has so far not commented.

A last-minute header by Robert Lewandowski  sent Pland to a 2-1 win over ten-men Armenia in a 2018 World Cup qualifier held at Warsaw’s National Stadium.

Armenia’s Gael Andonian was dismissed after earning a second yellow card on the 30th minute.

An own goal by Hrayr Mkoyan sent Poland to 1-o on the 48th minute.

Marcos Pizzelli scored the equalizer on the 50th minute with a left-footed shot to the centre of the goal.

Robert Lewandowski headed from very close range to the top left corner after an assist by Jakub Blaszczykowski in the injury time.