Category: News

Greco-Roman wrestler Arthur Aleksanyan won Armenia’s first gold medal at Rio Olympics.

Aleksanyan beat Cuba’s Yasmany Daniel Lugo Cabrera in the men’s Greco-Roman 98 kg final.

Arrmenia had not claimed Olympic gold since 1996.

– “The Promise,” the Armenian Genocide-themed feature produced by Kirk Kerkorian’s Survival Pictures will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The festival also announced on Tuesday that “The Promise” will be featured as one of the event’s coveted opening weekend galas on September 11.

The film, which hails from award-winning director of Hotel Rwanda, Terry George, stars Golden Globe winner Oscar Issac, Academy Award winning actor Christian Bale and Charlotte Le Bon in the lead.

“Michael, a humble Armenian apothecary, leaves his village to study medicine in cosmopolitan Constantinople. Chris, an American photojournalist who has come to the country to partly cover the geopolitics, is in a relationship with the talented Ana, a Paris-educated, Armenian artist. When Michael meets Ana, their shared heritage sparks an attraction that explodes into a romantic rivalry between the two men. After the Turks join the war on the German side, the Ottoman Empire turns violently against its own ethnic minorities. Despite their conflicts, everyone must find a way to survive — even as monumental events envelope their lives,” reads the film synopsis on the TIIF website.

Sources told Asbarez in June that “The Promise” is eyeing to hit theaters as early as December.

George, who was nominated for a best director Oscar for “Hotel Rwanda,” co-wrote “The Promise” with another Academy Award nominated screenwriter Robin Swicord. In March 2013, George was a guest of the Armenian State Pedagogical University, where the Irish filmmaker compared the Armenian Genocide to the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.

The film, which also stars, Charlotte Le Bon, James Cromwell, Marwan Kenzari, Jean Reno, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Angela Sarafyan, among others, completed shooting in Europe last fall and is in post-production.

After shooting was completed on the film, Survival Pictures co-manager and a producer of the film, Eric Esrailian told Asbarez in an email that “Kirk will be proud,” referring to Kerkorian. “That makes all of the hard work even more special.”

The entertainment blog, The Playlist, gave an early prediction that “The Promise” will be on a short list for Academy Award consideration in 2017.

Armenian Greco-Roman wrestler Mihran Arutyunyan beat Rasul Chunayev of Azerbaijan in the men’s Greco-Roman 66 kg semifinal and secured at least a silver medal.

Arutyunyan will face Davor Stefanek of Serbia in the final.

Arthur Aleksanyan, in turn, beat Cenk Ildem of Turkey in the men’s Greco-Roman 98 kg semifinal and is set to face Yasmany Daniel Lugo Cabrera of Cuba in the final.

Armenia’s Simon Martirosyan lifted a combined 417kg to win a silver medal in men’s 105kg weightlifting at the Rio Games.

Martirosyan, 19, lifted 190kg in the snatch and 227kg in the clean and jerk.

Ruslam Nuradinov of Uzbekistan claimed the title with a combined 421kg and set a new Olympic record.

The Spanish city of Benalmadena has officially recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide.

The City Council and all political forces represented in it unanimously voted in favor of the institutional statement.

More than 20 Spanish cities have already recognized the Armenian Genocide.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has noted the high economic effect of Armenia’s integration with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), TASS reports.

“Armenia for us is a strategic partner in the Caucasus and we systematically build our relations of alliance along the most sensitive lines and in the international scene, the CIS space first and foremost,” Putin said during narrow format negotiations with his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan on Wednesday.

“Incidentally, I was very pleased to see that and I would like to congratulate you. I’ve taken a look at last year’s statistics. Since Armenia joined the EAEU your GDP has grown 10%,” Putin said.

He believes this is a very positive sign. Putin voiced the hope that the positive trend will be preserved.

At the beginning of the meeting Sargsyan said that in the course of his working visit to Moscow he was going to discuss with Putin current interaction between the two countries and to exchange opinion of various issues on the regional agenda. Sargsyan said that in January-June 2016 Russian-Armenian trade was up 12% and commodity export to Russia reached a record-high. He attributed the growth to Armenia’s accession to the EAEU. Sargsyan said his country had no major problems in bilateral relations with Russia.

Armenia joined the EAEU in 2015.

Putin added that he will inform Serzh Sargsyan about the results of the talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement with Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev.

“I met with Azerbaijani President (Ilham) Aliyev in Baku just recently, and, of course, we could not overlook the issue you’ve just mentioned – the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement,” Putin said opening talks with the Armenian leader. “Of course, I will be glad to inform you about the results of our talks in Baku.”

The Russian and Azerbaijani presidents held talks in Baku on August 8.

Manchester United have completed their transfer of Paul Pogba from Juventus for a world-record transfer fee of £89m.

The French international has completed his medical at the club and signed a five-year deal, with the 105m Euros fee also potentially increasing through several add-on clauses. Paul joins on a five-year contract, with the option to extend for a further year.

Paul Pogba, 23, has been with Juventus for four seasons, making 124 appearances and scoring 28 goals. He joined the Bianconeri from United in 2012.

The midfielder has been capped by France on 38 occasions, scoring 6 goals and was a member of the recent squad that reached the final of Euro 2016.

Paul Pogba said:

“I am delighted to rejoin United. It has always been a club with a special place in my heart and I am really looking forward to working with José Mourinho. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Juventus and have some fantastic memories of a great club with players that I count as friends. But I feel the time is right to go back to Old Trafford. I always enjoyed playing in front of the fans and can’t wait to make my contribution to the team. This is the right club for me to achieve everything I hope to in the game.”

José Mourinho said:

“Paul is one of the best players in the world and will be a key part of the United team I want to build here for the future. He is quick, strong, scores goals and reads the game better than many players much older than he is. At 23, he has the chance to make that position his own here over many years. He is young and will continue to improve; he has the chance to be at the heart of this club for the next decade and beyond.”

The 31st Summer Olympic cauldron was lit in Rio de Janeiro’s legendary Maracana stadium marking the start of the most expected sporting event of the last four years.

About 74 thousands spectators were present during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games held in South America for the first time. Before the start of the official ceremony the organizers presented Brazil’s history through modern computer design.

Afterwards, athletes from 205 countries of the world made an honorary circle in the stadium. Armenia’s flag bearer was swimmer Vahan Mkhitaryan. Armenia is represented by 33 athletes.

The president of the IOC, Thomas Bach, and the president of the Rio-2016 Organising Committee, Carlos Nuzman, welcomed the athletes urging them to remain faithful to the Olympic ideology. The honor of lighting the Olympic cauldron was given to Olympic bronze and “Pierre de Coubertin’’ medalist Cordeiro de Lima.

The Azerbaijani side violated the ceasefire 31 times at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces last night, NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The rival fired more than 350 shots from firearms of different calibers in the direction of the Armenian positions.

Private of the NKR Defense Army Gevorg Arthur Harutyunyan, born in 1996, was mortally wounded in mine explosion at about 15:00, August 2nd.

Investigation into the details of the case is under way.

The NKR Defense Ministry shares the sorrow of the heavy loss and expresses its support to the families and friends of the soldier.

On August 10, President Serzh Sargsyan will conduct a work visit to the Russian Federation.

In the framework of the visit, President Sargsyan in Moscow will meet with President Putin. At the high-level negotiations the parties will discuss pivotal items on the cooperation agenda of the two strategic partners such as political, trade, economic, and humanitarian, as well as issues related to the development of integration processes in the Eurasian area.

Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Vladimir Putin will also exchange views on some pressing international and regional issues.