Category: News

All major political forces have halted the election campaign after the death of the son of a candidate running for Gyumri Mayor’s Office.

Arshak Grigoryna, the son of Vardevan Grigorian from Prosperous Armenia Party, was admitted to Gyumri Medical Center with a gunshot wound in the head at about 13:20 today.

The investigation has revealed that the young man was wounded as a result of gunshot in the basement of their house.

Criminal case has been launched under Articles 110.1 (Causing somebody to commit suicide or make an attempt at a suicide by indirect willfulness or by negligence, by means of threat, cruel treatment or regular humiliation of one’s dignity) and 235.1 (Illegal procurement, transportation, keeping or carrying of weapons, explosives or explosive devices, except smoothbore long-barrel hunting guns, ammunition) of the Criminal Code.

On September 19, while paying a working visit to New York, Edward Nalbandian, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, had a meeting with Sebastian Kurz, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria.

Edward Nalbandian and Sebastian Kurz exchanged views on different issues of bilateral relations, discussed ways of expanding cooperation and strengthening collaboration within the framework of international organizations.

Within the context of preparation works of Austria’s chairmanship at the OSCE, Sebastian Kurz presented to Edward Nalbandian the priorities of the Austrian chairmanship and the steps to be undertaken for their implementation.

Upon the request of the Foreign Minister of Austria, Edward Nalbandian briefed on the efforts exerted by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and Armenia towards the advancement of the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

President Serzh Sargsyan has signed a decree appointing members of government.

David Harutyunyan has been appointed as Head of Government Staff.

Ashot Manukyan has been appointed Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.

Ignaty Arakelyan has been appointed Minister of Agriculture.

Vahan Martirosyan has been appointed Minister of Transport and Communication.

Vardan Aramyan has been appointed Minister of Finance.

Vache Gabrielyan will retain his post as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of International Integration and Reforms.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Armenia’s independence, Acting Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces visited the Yerablur Pantheon today to pay tribute to those who sacrificed their lives for the sake of freedom and independence of the Motherland. They were accompanied by the senior leadership of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia.

President Serzh Sargsyan has signed a decree, appointing Alexan Harutyunyan as First Deputy Head of the Staff of the President’s Office.

The President earlier relieved him of the duties of Armenia’s Ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and Chile.

On September 19, Edward Nalbandian, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, had a meeting with Abdolreza Fazli, Interior Minister of Iran.

During the talks held in New York reference was made to issues concerning the development of good neighborly relations between the two countries.

In the course of the meeting the sides discussed the further expansion of effective cooperation established between the Police of Armenia and the Ministry of Interior of Iran.

Edward Nalbandian and Abdolreza Fazli commended the significant increase of mutual visits since the Memorandum on Visa liberalization between Armenia and Iran entered into force.

On 20 September Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received the delegation of the French Alfortville city at the head of its mayor Luc Carvounas.

Issues related to the cooperation between Alfortville and a number of Artsakh towns were on the  agenda of the meeting.

The Head of State highlighted such cooperation, noting that there were all preconditions for widening and deepening the relations.

The Michigan State University (MSU) has been granted $1.2 million to develop new less commonly taught language courses, reports.

Center for Language Teaching Advancement, or CeLTA, faculty have been awarded funding by the Mellon Foundation for 38 months to create new language programs through a partnership with the Big Ten Academic Alliance.

Though MSU already offers 29 less-commonly taught languages, or LCTLs, CeLTA faculty hope to add many more, including Armenian, Burmese, Gaelic, Hmong, Serbo-Croatian and Sinhala, according to the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages’ website.

The new LCTL courses will be taught via CourseShare, an online distance-learning program used throughout Big Ten Academic Alliance schools.

Although LCTL learners agree that access to these languages is important, some students think the university could be doing more.

“Hopefully in the future MSU will show its commitment by hiring a full-time, in-person teacher instead of relying solely on digital language instruction,” doctoral student Shelbi Meissner said.

Armenia’s Acting Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier on the sidelines of the 71^st session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The interlocutors exchanged views on issues on OSCE agenda, as well as urgent international and regional issues.

The parties discussed the current state of the process of settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

Edward Nalbandian and Lamberto Zanier referred to the activity of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, the programs it implements and the perspectives of their expansion.