Category: News

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has hailed Manchester United’s capture of the ‘dangerous’ Henrikh Mkhitaryan, the Daily Star reports.

Wenger reckons Mkhitaryan is one of the most exciting new additions to the Premier League.

He said: “Mkhitaryan has always been a very good midfielder but last year was the first year where he scored goals.

“I think he scored 10 goals in the Bundesliga so that of course makes him more dangerous.

“He will bring something to Man United.”

United boss Jose Mourinho signed the 27-year-old Armenian from Borussia Dortmund for around £27m in July.

Mkhitaryan scored 23 times in 51 Dortmund appearances last term and was in high demand at the start of the summer.

Brazil’s Senate has voted to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office for manipulating the budget, the BBC reports.

It puts an end to the 13 years in power of her left-wing Workers’ Party. Ms Rousseff had denied the charges.

Sixty-one senators voted in favour of her dismissal and 20 against, meeting the two-thirds majority needed to remove her from the presidency.

Michel Temer has been sworn in as president and will serve out Ms Rousseff’s term until 1 January 2019.

Photo: AP

 

Swiss prosecutors are investigating German football legend Franz Beckenbauer as part of a corruption inquiry, the BBC reports.

In March, football’s world governing body Fifa began looking into six men for their part in Germany winning the rights to host the 2006 World Cup.

Swiss prosecutors now say they have launched their own investigations, linked to that of Fifa.

Mr Beckenbauer, who headed Germany’s bid, has denied corruption.

Last October, he said he had made a “mistake” in the bidding process to host the competition but denied votes had been bought.

Germany beat South Africa 12-11 in the vote, which took place in July 2000.

Germany’s Spiegel magazine reported on Thursday that the investigation centred on payments made from 2002-2005 that added up to more than 10m Swiss francs (£7.7m; $10.2m).

Further details are expected to be released by Switzerland’s attorney-general later on Thursday.

It is not yet known how many football officials are being investigated in Switzerland.

Asbarez – Denver-based Emmy Award winning composer Denise Gentilini and writing partner, internationally celebrated singer/songwriter Lisa Nemzo, bring their original production, I AM ALIVE to Los Angeles for an exclusive showing for one weekend only this September.

Gentilini, who is of Armenian descent, has assembled a largely non-Armenian cast to tell the story of the Armenian Genocide with a completely new focus; celebrating those who survived. Gentilini was inspired by the story of her own grandparents who survived the systematic killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

Using her childhood memories of her grandparents as well as transcripts from interviews with them, Gentilini/Nemzo used direct excerpts from their firsthand accounts for some lyrics and dialogue in the musical. This personal connection has allowed them to craft a complex experience that explores the human side of a politically contentious topic alongside the love story that unfolds between two people in an unimaginable set of circumstances.

With the 100 year anniversary behind us, this production is meant to provide closure around the tragedy and provide a renewed focus on the human spirit.

I AM ALIVE is produced by Well Orchestrated Madness and directed by Christy Montour-Larson and will be shown only one weekend on the West Coast. Partner organizations include; Jewish World Watch, Mashdots College, United Armenian Council, ANCA-WR and AFFMA. Armenians of Colorado serve as the fiscal sponsor.

Today, on the occasion of Knowledge and Schooling Day, President Serzh Sargsyan attended the inauguration of a new unit of the Command and Staff Department of the Vazgen Sargsyan University of the RA Ministry of Defense and was present at the unveiling of the cross-stone memorial dedicated to the fallen graduates of the Military University.

Present at the ceremony were the relatives of the fallen graduates of the Military University, commanding staff of the RA Ministry of Defense and General Staff of the Armed Forces, Secretary of the National Security Council, RA Minister of Education and Science, Heads and Military Attaches of the diplomatic missions accredited to Armenia, Rectors of the higher education institutions of the Republic, and cadets.

After the unveiling and blessing of the cross-stone memorial dedicated to the fallen graduates, the President of Armenia and participants of the event laid flowers on the memorial and paid tribute to their memory.

At the ceremony dedicated to the inauguration, President Serzh Sargsyan congratulated those present on the occasion of the commencement of the academic year and opening of a new unit of the Command and Staff Department. The President toured the newly constructed premise of the Department, familiarized with the conducted works and conditions. According to the responsible officials, the use of the new unit of the Command and Staff Department provides opportunities to efficiently organize the process of training and retraining of the officers and to create infrastructural and institutional preconditions for the development of the theory of the military science. The Department comprises International, National Security, Military, and Warfare Chairs.

Address by President Sargsyan:

Generals, Officers, and Cadets,
Distinguished Guests,

This is a momentous day for Armenia: We have gathered at the leading educational institution for the training of the military personnel for our Armed Forces, the Vazgen Sargsyan Military University, on the occasion of the inauguration of a new unit of the Command and Staff Department for Senior Officers. We are indebted for the creation of this educational institution equally to the enthusiasm and diligence of the experts from our military agency as well as to the academic experience of the friendly and partner States.

For the first time in Armenia’s history the entire process of educating officers has been put on the institutional base – from the pre-draft readiness up to the stages of training senior and the highest officer cadre. I believe this is a serious achievement.
Officers actually constitute the backbone of the state, and I believe that it is strengthening through the continuous development of their knowledge and skills. Military education occupies a leading role in this process.

This institution for the highest military education at the battalion–brigade level will provide our commanders and staff officers with the ability to make decisions and act in the army-wide, coordinated, state-wide, and international operative environment ensuring at the same time their training as Masters in Army Management. I am confident that this Department will become an educational forge for the senior officers endowed with a critical, creative, and organized mindset.
Now I would like to address the cadets of the Department.

Distinguished Officers,

Today, the Master’s degree stage of your education is commencing. You will acquire knowledge and skills necessary for becoming the future leaders of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, and critical among these skills are science of governance and art of management.

Armenia is a unique country with distinctive challenges and exceptional role. Our homeland has many strong features, and the greatest among them is the Armenian people with their innovative mind and boundless passion for creating.

Knowledge and skills to be acquired at the Command and Staff Department will guide you in the implementation of complex tasks and neutralization of challenges; they will instill you with the lasting ability to penetrate the intentions of the superiors in uncertain situations and through the precise vision of the task to guide the actions of the subordinates. The military actions of last April come to prove once again that unconditional devotion to the task of defending our homeland endows our Army with the competitive advantage of combating face to face with adversary, without pinning any hopes on foreigners, neutralizing in a fight the army and arsenal of the enemy. That very competitive advantage from the day one of our battle for existence and through the years of army building has been and remains the trump card of our Armed Forces, and it must also be applied and developed by the graduates of the Staff and Command Department during their daily service and in combat activities.

Distinguished Officers,

You will form the future military leadership of the Republic of Armenia. I want you to view this stage of your life as the most important stage for becoming skilled and professional officers. I congratulate us all on the occasion of this beautiful day, and I have no doubt that knowledge and skills which you will receive here are greatly anticipated by our people, the political military leadership of the Republic of Armenia, your immediate commanders and colleagues but most of all by your subordinates.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian had a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. A number of issues on Armenian-Russian agenda were  discussed.

The Foreign Ministers of the two countries referred to the implementation of the agreements reached at Vienna an St. Petersburg summits, which will create conditions for furthering the process of peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

Tigran Martirosyan, 28, of Armenia, competing in the Men’s 69kg weightlifting event, has been disqualified from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, in which he ranked third, and for which he was awarded the bronze medal. Reanalysis of Martirosyan’s samples from Beijing 2008 resulted in a positive test for the prohibited substances stanozolol and dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol).

The IOC Disciplinary Commission, composed for this case of Denis Oswald (Chairman), Gunilla Lindberg and Ugur Erdener, decided the following:

1. The Athlete, Tigran Martirosyan
   • is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008 (presence and/or use, of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an athlete’s bodily specimen),
   • is disqualified from the Men’s 69kg weightlifting event in which he participated upon the occasion of the  Olympic Games Beijing 2008,
   • has the bronze medal, the diploma and the medalist pin obtained in the Men’s 69kg weightlifting event withdrawn, and is ordered to return these.
2. The IWF is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned event accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
3. The National Olympic Committee of Armenia shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
4. The National Olympic Committee of Armenia shall notably secure the return to the IOC, as soon as possible, of the medal, the medalist pin and the diploma awarded in connection with the Men’s 69kg weightlifting event to the Athlete.
5. This decision enters into force immediately.

Other athletes disqualified from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 include Alexandru Dudoglu of Moldova, Nadezda Evstyukhina of Russia, Tatyana Firova of Russia, Marina Shainova of Russia and Intigam Zairov of Azerbaijan.

The chief strategist of the Islamic State group, whose calls for attacks against the West during Ramadan led to mass bloodshed, has been killed in Syria, IS-affiliated media say, the BBC reports.

The Amaq news agency said Abu Muhammad al-Adnani died in Aleppo province.

The Pentagon said an air strike had targeted Adnani in the town of al Bab and the results were being assessed.

Reports of his death come as IS is suffering a series of military reverses in both Syria and Iraq.

Adnani – who was also the group’s spokesman – was “martyred while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo”, Amaq said, without giving details about how he died.

Fighting has escalated around the city in recent weeks, with rebels breaking a siege by government forces and Syrian and Russian warplanes bombing rebel-held areas.

The informal meeting of OSCE Foreign Ministers in Potsdam tomorrow will discuss the Karabakh issue, OSCE Chairman-in-Office, German Foreign Minister Frank Walter- Steinmeier has said in a statement issued ahead of the meeting.

“In the crisis-ridden world of today, the OSCE is perhaps more important than ever – in crisis management in eastern Ukraine, Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh and other conflicts in Europe as well as in the maintenance of peace and security,” he said.

Mr. Steinmeier added that reference will be made to the strengthening of fundamental freedoms and democratic standards and will address new challenges such as international terrorism or the consequences of flight and migration.

An important issue on the agenda is the arms control. “I think now is the right time to gain a momentum for more transparency, risk prevention and confidence building here,” the OSCE Chairman-in-Office said.

The Nagorno-Karabakh Forum will be held in Uruguay on Friday, September 2, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the declaration of independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic,  reports.

“The Nagorno-Karabakh Forum in Uruguay is a space composed of social activists, academics and legislators that aims to enrich and promote the country’s position of support for a peaceful resolution in the conflict involving the Republics of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and threatens the stability of the entire South Caucasus,” said the Armenian National Committee of Uruguay, the organizers of the initiative.

According to the organizers, the members of the forum will develop and publish investigations and organize discussions on the issues pertaining to Nagorno-Karabakh.

The forum, which is sponsored by the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia, will be attended by Robert Avedisyan, Permanent Representative of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic to the United States, who will read a message sent by President Bako Sahakyan supporting the initiative.

Other participants include Senator Rafael Michelini, Senator Ruben Martinez Huelmo and Deputy Daniel Radio, Deputy Susana Pereyra, Deputy Pablo Abdala, Belela Herrera, theformer Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, Historian Gerardo Caetano and Oscar Lopez Goldaracena, lawyer and human rights specialist.

“This forum is a contribution to the understanding and the search for a peaceful solution from the South American region,” said Alfonso Tabakian, Director of the Armenian National Committee of South America. “It is composed of renowned personalities from different areas of Uruguay, which will be a bridge so that the public opinion in that country could approach the topic and understand the reality of the conflict without the defects or pressures that may present in the diplomatic tensions or blackmailing by the economic powers,” said Tabakian.

“We are convinced that given the solidarity and democratic characteristics of the Uruguayan people, they will understand the issue and will support the struggle for the sovereignty of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

On January 4, 2015, the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry issued a statement pleading for international recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh and its right to self-determination.