Category: News

The Rio Olympics ended with a spectacular carnival-inspired closing ceremony, and the official handover to 2020 hosts Tokyo, the BBC reports.

The colourful ceremony, lasting almost three hours, celebrated Brazil’s arts and was held in a wet Maracana.

Among the highlights were Tokyo’s impressive showcase and a vibrant carnival parade.

“These were a marvellous Olympics, in a marvellous city,” said International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach.

“Over the last 16 days a united Brazil inspired the world, in difficult times for all of us, with its irresistible joy for life.”

Bach officially closed the Games of the 31st Olympiad after 16 days of competition, featuring 11,303 athletes from 206 nations and a refugee team.

One of the biggest cheers of the night came when Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appeared dressed as computer game character Super Mario, rising out of a huge green pipe in the stadium.

The ceremony, watched by billions around the world, featured the parade of athletes and a dramatic extinguishing of the Olympic flame.

Armenian Church of the Holy Resurrection in New England hosted its annual summer festival Sunday, according to ,

The Stanley Street parish hosted hundreds of people, many of whom share family ties, according to the church’s pastor, Kapriel Mouradjian.

“A lot of people here are related to one and other,” he explained. “It’s like two degrees of separation.”

Local families were joined by fellow Armenians from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island. In a few weeks, many of them will head to Springfield, Mass., where St. Mark Armenian Church will be hosting its annual picnic.

Members of the New Britain church spent over a week preparing food for Sunday’s event, expecting to serve over 400 meals. On the menu were lamb kebab, shish kebab, rice pilaf, tabouleh and a khema sandwich, filled with spiced minced meat.

“We make a lot of money for the church today,” said Violet Terdjanian, one of the cooks. “We work a few hours and then we eat. It’s nice to see people come and enjoy.”

The event has been happening since the church building was consecrated in 1982. Before that, the church was on Erwin Place and the festival was held at Falcon Field.

 

In October, the parish is hosting another celebration, in honor of its 75th anniversary.

Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has thanked the country’s State Security Service (SSS) for  that had the potential to instigate a major threat, Agenda.ge reports.

Kvirikashvili’s comments come several hours after a special briefing by the SSS, which revealed the agency had taken definitive action to prevent a terrorist attack on several sections of the Russia-Armenia pipeline that goes through Georgian territory.

Kvirikashvili said thanks to the actions of the SSS, this “huge threat” was averted.

“I would like to take this opportunity to express gratitude to each person involved in this operation, as a major disaster was averted. Making such timely and effective decisions and actions is of utmost importance,” said the PM.

He refused to make any further comment as an investigation is now underway into the incident.

Earlier today the SSS announced seven people had been arrested for attempting to blow up several sections of the gas pipeline, located in at Saguramo Village about 21km from Georgia’s capital Tbilisi.

The people were arrested and charged with terrorism-related offences on August 20 moments before they were due to blow up the pipeline.

Five people were charged with organizing a terrorist act, illegal purchase and possession of explosives and military weapons. The other two were charged with other illegalities in relation to the case.

 

 

 

There can be no negotiation process unless Artsakh is involved in talks, Executive Director of the Foundation Against the Violation of Law (FAVL), Armenia’s first Human Rights Defender Larisa Alaverdyan told a press conference today. She said the process under the aegis of the Minsk Group is living a crisis.

“Whatever we call the process under way within the framework of the Minsk Group, it is in crisis. The lack of agreement on meetings and the cautious statements of the Co-Chairs come to prove this,” she said.

Larisa Alaverdyan said the steps of the Armenian side are unclear to her. “The OSCE has other institutes beside the Minsk Group – the OSCE Fact-Finding Mission, for example.” She noted that Azerbaijan applies to the mission on every occasion, while we never do.

Director of the Modus Vivendi Analytical Center, political scientist Ara Papyan noted that “the document on the table today is not new. It comes from the 1994 agreement.”

He said “the last document that has been spoken about is that of Kazan” and added that the solution of the issue in that format is unacceptable.

Speaking about the steps of the Armenian side, Ara Papyan stressed the need to change the “ground and essence” of the negotiation process. “The principle of territories against nothing should be cancelled,” he said.

According to the political scientist, there are both positive and negative factors in the geopolitical developments. “The positive factor is that there are opportunities Armenia should use to develop relations with the West, thus creating an alternative,” he said.

Larisa Alaverdyan does not exclude the perspective of a large-scale war. “The possibility is high, considering the lack of cusses in diplomacy. That means that Azerbaijan’s failed nasty attack in April was a signal to our authorities to reinforce the armed forces,” she said.

Alaverdyan said she has no expectants form the Minsk Group, but added that she’s not against meetings. “Meetings at least mean there should be no war.”

Ara Papyan does not expect from a possible Paris meeting, either.

On 22 August Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received defense minister of the Republic of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan, NKR President’s Press Office reports.

A number of issues related to army building and cooperation between the two Armenian states in this sphere were discussed during the meeting.

NKR prime-minister Arayik Haroutyunyan, vice-premier Arthur Aghabekyan, defense minister Levon Mnatsakanyan, RA deputy defense minister-head of the logistic support department Movses Hakobyan and other officials partook at the meeting.

A total of 29 children were killed in a suicide attack targeting a wedding party in the Şahinbey district of the southeastern province of Gaziantep late on Aug. 20. The total death toll in the attack has risen to 54, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Some 29 of the victims of the deadly suicide bombing in the Beybahçe neighborhood were identified as being under the age of 18 after the identification process.

A total of 44 victims have been identified and laid to rest so far, including 31 males and 13 females. The autopsy and identification processes of another seven victims are also ongoing.

The death toll in the suicide attack, meanwhile, rose to 54 in the early hours of Aug. 22.

Another three wounded people who were receiving treatment at hospitals succumbed to their injuries, bringing the death toll to 54.

A total of 66 wounded are still receiving treatment at hospitals in the province, with 14 in a critical condition.

The State Security Service of Georgia says it has thwarted a planned terrorist act on the Russia-Armenia gas pipeline, Gruzia Online reports.

According to the source, seven people have been detained on suspicion of plotting the blast, employee of the Poti Patrol Police Levan Mamporia among them.

The detainees are accused of being linked to a terrorist organization.

The suspects prepared to carry out an explosion of an open section of the gas pipeline near the Saguramo village, some 20 kilometers from Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, teh State Security Service said.

Armenia fetched four medals at 31^st Summer Olympic Games in Rio and came in 42^nd among 206 countries in the medal count.

Greco Roman wrestler Arthur Alexanian (98 kg) won the first gold medal for Armenia after a 20-year break.

Armenia was deprived of a second gold medal after a biased decision of the arbiter in the men’s 66 kg Greco-Roman wrestling final. The Serb wrestler was given the gold, while Armenia’s Migran Arutyunyan won a silver medal.

Weightlifters Simon Martirosyan (105 kg) and Gor Minasyan (+105 kg) both fetched silver medals.

Manchester United fans have already created brilliant chant for Henrikh Mkhitaryan who joined United from Borussia Dortmund earlier this summer, reports.

Supporters have finally managed to get over the trickiness of the Armenian’s seven-syllable name since his £27million signing at the beginning of July.

“Whoa Mkhitaryan, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, he’s our midfield Armenian,” is how the simple but effective chant goes, to the tune of Sting’s classic Englishman In New York. 

And Mkhitaryan is clearly loving his new chant after he ‘liked’ the video of Twitter.

أهزوجة مختاريان
Whoa Mkhitaryan,
Henrikh Mkhitaryan,
he’s our midfield Armenian.

— ماجد السهلي . (@maged_aloosh)

Gor Minasyan won the third silver medal for Armenia at Rio Olympics in  men’s +105kg weightlifting with a combined 451 kg.

Ruben Aleksanyan came in forth with a result of 440 kg.

Georgian Lasha Talakhadze won the gold medal with a record 473 kg. His compatriot Irakli Turmanidze cam in third with a result of 448 kg.