Category: News

Photo: AFP

At least 33 tourists who spent a cold Thursday night trapped in several cable cars high above the French Alps have been rescued, officials say, the BBC reports.

The tourists were suspended above the glaciers of Mont Blanc at an altitude of about 3,800m (12,468ft) after wires carrying the cars became tangled.

They were among 110 people initially trapped when the cable cars ground to a halt on Thursday afternoon.

The cars are believed to have stopped after cables tangled in high winds.

Those trapped overnight were freed on Friday after rescuers managed to restart the cars by relaxing the tension of tangled cables.

At least two people were killed when a train derailed near Pontevedra in north-western Spain on Friday, the BBC reports.

About 60 passengers were on the Portuguese train when it derailed at 09:30 (07:30 GMT) near the town’s station, El Pais news website reported.

One carriage came off the tracks completely, the other two partially.

Emergency workers are at the scene. The crash was at O Porrino, on the coast, just south of Santiago de Compostela and north of Portugal.

In July 2013 Spain suffered one of its worst train crashes in the same region, when a high-speed train derailed near Santiago de Compostela, killing 79 people and injuring some 170. The driver failed to brake in time before a bend.

Deputy Chairman of the Armenian National Assembly Edward Sharmazanov had a meeting with Vice-President of Uruguay, President of the Senate Raul Sendic.

The parties attached importance to the further expansion and development of bilateral cooperation and stressed that “Armenia and Uruguay are friendly countries despite difference.”

Edwarrd Sharmazanov said that “by becoming the first country to recognize the Armenian Genocide in 1965, Uruguay broke the darkness of Turkish denial.”

“We have to join efforts to fight Turkey’s policy of denial. Turkey should finally face its own history,” he said.

Raul Sendic, in turn, attached importance to the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide by the international community.

The Karabakh issue was also on the agenda of the meeting. In this context Sharmazanov noted that “Azerbaijan should respect the principle of full realization of Artsakh people’s right to self-determination. Azerbaijan is the only party creating obstacles in the process,” he added.

Raul Sendic noted that “Uruguay backs the peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict and stands against any attempt to solve the issue in a military way.”

On 8 September  President Bako Sahakyan was present at public prayer for the Fatherland served by Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II at the Shoushi Ghazanchetsots cathedral of Christ the Savior, NKR President’s Press Office reported.

Chairman of the NKR National Assembly Ashot Ghoulyan, other high-ranked official, representatives from Armenia and Diaspora partook at the event.

President Serzh Sargsyan has accepted the government’s resignation.

The President has instructed the members of government to continue working until a new cabinet is formed.

Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan announced his resignation at the government sitting Thursday. Later the day the Republican Party of Armenia approved Karen Karapetyan’s nomination for Prime Minister.

Photo: Alexei Druzhinin/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev has been appointed Uzbekistan’s acting president, TASS reports.

Uzbekistan’s parliament recommended the Central Election Commission to organize presidential elections in accordance with the country’s law.

Uzbekistan’s first President Islam Karimov died after suffering a stroke at the age of 78 on September 2.

They took stock of the discussions underway to find a negotiated, peaceful and lasting solution to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, under the auspices of the co-chairs of the Minsk Group.

Harlem Désir and Elmar Mammadyarov also discussed the development of relations between Azerbaijan and France, as well as between Azerbaijan and the EU.

Photo: Yekaterina Shtukina/Russian government's press service/TASS

Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov was appointed chairman of the state security service on Thursday by President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Reuters reports.

No new cabinet head was named. Deputy Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev will serve as acting prime minister, according to the order published by Nazarbayev’s office.

Under the constitution, Nazarbayev will now need to propose a new prime minister to the lower house of parliament, which is dominated by his supporters.

Masimov has run the government since April 2014, his second stint as prime minister after heading the cabinet in 2007-2012.

Germany’s foreign minister says Turkey has approved plans for German lawmakers to visit their country’s troops at a Turkish air base, ending a standoff that had strained relations, the Associated Press reports.

Turkey had refused to allow German lawmakers to visit personnel stationed at the Incirlik Air Base since the German Parliament’s June vote to label as genocide the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago.

Germany has troops and aircraft at the base to support the campaign against the Islamic State group.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Thursday that Ankara has now approved a visit. He said that “with this decision by the Turkish government we have moved a step forward.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Turkey’s president Sunday at the Group of 20 summit in China.