Category: News

The Armenian national team has returned from Rio. The team was welcomed at the airport by hundreds of fans and supporters.

 

 

Italy has declared a state of emergency in the regions worst hit by Wednesday’s earthquake as hopes of finding more survivors fade, the BBC reports.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has pledged €50m (£42m) in funds for rebuilding.

At least 267 people are now known to have died and 400 were injured. Teams have continued to search the rubble of toppled buildings for a second night.

However, hundreds of aftershocks have hampered the efforts of the 5,000 rescuers.

Another magnitude-4.7 tremor struck early on Friday.

On 27–29 August UWC Dilijan College in Armenia will host the 5^th annual meeting of the Central and Eastern Europe Wikimedia affiliates, Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2016 (#WMCEE2016), organized by Wikimedia Armenia and the Wikimedia Foundation and supported by the Scholae Mundi Armenia Foundation.

The meeting will bring together leading professionals from the most important fields of the Wikimedia movement, as well as officials from the Wikimedia Foundation led by the Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Katherine Maher who will take part in this conference for the first time.

Participants from 27 countries, including Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Iran, Israel, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine and the USA will gather at UWC Dilijan College in order to discuss topical issues in the Wiki movement.

During the three-day meeting, participants will present the activities undertaken in their Wikimedia affiliates, and the Wikimedia Foundation representatives will present free/open source software news, examining the social and technical aspects of the topics in relation to free knowledge and free content.

“Wikimedia CEE Meeting in Armenia became possible due to the hard work of the Armenian wiki-community. This conference is very significant both for Wikimedia Armenia and UWC Dilijan. I hope that after the conference the college students will also contribute to Wikipedia, editing in their native languages. I hope that our collaboration with the Scholae Mundi Armenia Foundation will continue with new initiatives”, said Susanna Mkrtchyan, the president and co-founder of Wikimedia Armenia.

The meeting is a unique opportunity for the Armenian Wiki community to learn more about the Wikimedia movement, to show what programmes are being implemented in Armenia and to exchange experience.

“It’s a great honour for us that UWC Dilijan College is hosting such a significant conference for Wikimedia, in which the technology of equal access to a quality education in Armenia will form part of the discussion. We hope that the cooperation of the Scholae Mundi Armenia and Wikimedia Armenia foundations will lay the groundwork for further disseminating the world’s best educational practices in the country”, said Veronika Zonabend, co-founder of Scholae Mundi Armenia.

The Presnensky District Court of Moscow has detained Aram Petrosyan charged with taking hostages in a branch of Citibank in Moscow, until October 24, reports.

Petrosyan’s defense asked the court to put him under house arrest, noting that the accused had admitted his guilt and was ready to cooperate with investigators.

According to investigators, on the evening of August 24 Petrosyan entered a branch of Citibank at Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street in central Moscow, where he took four people hostage. He threatened to trigger explosion of an object resembling a bomb. After several hours he released all hostages and surrendered. Bomb that he threatened to explode turned out to be a hoax.

The Investigative Committee stated that Petrosyan wanted to bring attention to his problem and did not want to kill anyone. Later he admitted his guilt in full and provided testimony against himself.

Before capture of hostages, a video has been released on the Internet, featuring a man resembling the one who took hostages. Video message was published under the name of Aram Petrosyan. In particular, he said that on August 24 he is going to commit “a violation of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation”. He said that he intends to commit a crime because of bankruptcy, which, according to him, turned into epidemic in Russia.

He demanded Russian authorities to create a body that would deal with the issue of bankruptcy.

On 26 August Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan visited the Alashan site of the Martakert region and met with the Talish residents who had left their houses and settled there in the aftermath of the war unleashed by Azerbaijan from 2 to 5 April of the current year, NKR President’s Press Office reports.

Issues related to improving the social and living conditions of the Talish residents were discussed during the meeting.

The President underlined that the state would do everything possible for proper solution of the existing issues giving appropriate instructions to the heads of the concerned structures.

Prime-minister Arayik Haroutyunyan and other officials accompanied the President.

Manchester United were drawn in Group A of the Europa League on Friday afternoon alongside Fenerbahce, Feyenoord and Zorya Luhansk.

The Reds were the first club drawn out of the bowl at the glitzy UEFA event in Monaco and Jose Mourinho’s men were later pitted against Robin van Persie’s Fenerbahce, as well as the Dutchman’s former club Feyenoord and little-known Ukrainian side Zorya. Here are the 12 groups in full:

GROUP A: Manchester United, Fenerbahce, Feyenoord, Zorya Luhansk.
GROUP B: Olympiacos, APOEL, Young Boys, FC Astana.
GROUP C: Anderlecht, Saint-Etienne, FSV Mainz, Gabala SC.
GROUP D: Zenit St. Petersburg, AZ Alkmaar, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Dundalk FC.
GROUP E: Viktoria Plzen, AS Roma, Austria Wien, FC Astra Giurgiu
GROUP F: Athletic Club, KRC Genk, SK Rapid Wien, US Sassuolo Calcio
GROUP G: AFC Ajax, Standard de Liege, Celta de Vigo, Panathinaikos FC
GROUP H: Shakhtar Donetsk, SC Braga, KAA Gent, Konyaspor.
GROUP I: FC Schalke, FC Salzburg, FC Krasnodar, OGC Nice.
GROUP J: Fiorentina, PAOK FC, Slovan Liberec, Qarabag FK.
GROUP K: Internazionale, AC Sparta Praha, Southampton, Hapoel Beer-Sheva FC

The probably of resumption of military actions is high, NKR Defense Minister, Colonel General Levon Mnatsakanyan said in an interview with agency.

“The behavior of the rival allows to conclude that it has not completely refused from its plans. Therefore, the resumption of military actions is possible any time in the future,” the Minister said.

He added, however, that “the April war has somewhat restrained the rival.” “This can be seen in their statements. Before they were declaring they would win the war in three days, while now they refrain from such rhetoric,” Colonel General Levon Mnatsakanyan said. He voiced hope the Azeri side would completely refuse from its intentions.

Speaking about Azeri threats to hit capital Stepanakert and civilian objects from Smerch multiple rocket launchers, the Minister said: “If Azerbaijan strikes Stepanakert, corresponding measures will be taken.” he did not go into detail about the measures, but noted that the response would be incomparable.

Referring to the losses the NKR Defense Army sustained during the April war, Minister Mnatsakanyan said: “Who says the losses were great? Of course, every loss is important to us, we deem any loss unacceptable. The military actions are cruel in the respect that they lead to human and material losses. Therefore, it is unacceptable to give any assessment as to whether the number of losses was great or not.” He added that “the losses of the Azeri side were several times greater than ours, even considering that they used the unexpectedness factor and elite military units. That’s why I consider that the NKR Defense Army has coped with its task with honor and valor. The rival has understood that all its aggressive steps are doomed to fail in the future.”

“We lost some positions as we did not expect attacks all along the line of contact,” he said, adding that “it actually did not affect the capacities of the Defense Army.” “The troops fulfill their task at the frontline. Of course, it would be better had we not lost the posts. However, in the short period of time we had before the ceasefire, we regained considerable part of the positions. Should the military actions continue, we’ll have broader opportunities. Nevertheless, I don’t think the losses are irretrievable. I believe we’ll still have a chance to regain our lost positions,” Minister Mnatsakanyan said.

According to preliminary information, there are no Armenians or citizens of the Republic of Armenia among the victims of the devastating earthquake in Italy, the Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations reports.

The Ministry keeps in touch with A. Hovhannisyan, second secretary at the Armenian Embassy in Italy. The Embassy, in turn, communicates with the local authorities.

Hotiline has been opened at the Armenian Embassy in Italy. Those affected by the devastating earthquake that struck central Italy on Tuesday can call +390687788654 for assistance.

The death toll in the Italian earthquake has risen to at least 267 as thousands of rescuers continue efforts to find survivors.

The Armenian neighborhoods of Aleppo came under rocket attack of the opposition militants on Wednesday, reports, quoting its sources in Aleppo.

According to the source, the rockets fell in the area adjunct to the Armenian Evangelical Church in Aleppo. Head of the Armenian Evangelical community of Aleppo, Rev. Harutyun Selimyan confirmed no fatalities were reported.

He said there were children taking exams at the school at the moment of the attack. “They were lucky to survive,” Rev. Harutyun Selimyan said. He added, however, that the attack had caused serious material damages.

Other districts of Aleppo were also targeted by militants. Six were killed, dozens were wounded.

Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata is said to have reached an agreement with manager Jose Mourinho over his role in the squad, accepting that he will have a reduced role in the squad compared to last season under the management of Louis van Gaal,  reports.

Mata played every single one of United’s league games last season, starting all but four of them, but looks set for a reduced role in the coming campaign even though he has started both of the club’s Premier League games so far.

The Spaniard even scored the club’s first goal of the season, striking the opener in a 3-1 win over Bournemouth, but the Telegraph report that he has accepted after talks with Mourinho that he will not have the same guaranteed first-team role he enjoyed under Van Gaal.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan is expected to come in and replace Mata on the right when he has bedded into his role at the club, but the Spaniard will not be sold this summer as Mourinho puts his own stamp on the squad.

A number of players are still expected to leave Old Trafford before Wednesday’s transfer deadline, but Mata – who had attracted interest from Everton at one point – does not look like being one of them.