Category: News

President Serzh Sargsyan received today the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria in Armenia Georgi Karastamatov who is concluding his diplomatic mission in our country, President’s Press Office reports.

President Sargsyan thanked Ambassador Karastamatov for his personal contribution to the consistent development of the Armenian-Bulgarian relations and underscored that in recent years the political dialogue between the two countries has noticeably intensified constituting a solid base and guarantee for the development and strengthening of the interstate relations in all areas.

Serzh Sargsyan expressed hope that the next ambassador of Bulgaria will also spare no effort to deepen the relations between Armenia and Bulgaria and to develop cooperation in a number of mutually beneficial areas. The President of Armenia wished all the best to Georgi Karastamanov in his future endeavors.

Ambassador Karastamatov thanked the President of Armenia for the high assessment of his work and for the assistance provided to him throughout his diplomatic tenure in our country. He assured that he was leaving Armenia with warm feelings and good impressions and would forever remain a friend of the Armenian people.

The Unicum Engineering Company will start producing night vision and thermal imaging cameras in Armenia.

The production will be organized on the territory of the Alliance Free Trade Zone, Minister of Economy Artsvik Minasyan said at the government sitting today.

The company is expected to produce up to 1,000 devises in the first year and increase the number to 5,500 in the future.

“The volume of production is expected to reach $5 mln by 2017 and exceed $12 mln in five years,” the Minister said.

The production will be mostly exported to Russia, he informed.

About $31 mln will be invested within the framework of the program (5 years), 10 new jobs will be created in the first year with an average salary of 150 AMD. The number of jobs is expected to reach 35 with 350 AMD average salary.

The Armenian national team is placed 102nd (up from 110th last month) in the new FIFA World Ranking published today.

Argentina tops the ranking followed by Belgium and Columbia.

The next FIFA World Ranking will be published on 11 August 2016.

Arthur Abraham (44-5, 29 KOs) will face Tim-Robin Lihaug (15-1, 8 KOs) in a WBO International Super Middleweight title fight on Saturday night at the Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin.

Speaking at a final press-conference Abraham insisted he is fully on the fight at hand as he looks to atone for his World title defeat to Gilberto Ramirez and land another shot at World honours.

‘’Things did not go right for me last time, but now we look to the future,’’ he said. ‘’I am fully prepared for this fight and ready to do whatever it takes to win. First, I must defeat Lihaug and then I hope for another World title challenge.’’

Lihaug, however, maintained his belief that he would defeat Abraham and take his place at the top of the super middleweight division.

The has enlisted Armenia’s Vayots Dzor among the 15 wine trails worth getting sidetracked on.

Today, the choice of wine routes and tours from the essential (Bordeaux) and the scenic (Cape Town) to the historic (Armenia) or the unexpected (Brazil) is greater than ever, the CNN writes.

The article reads:

“According to the Bible, Armenia was the first wine-producing region in the world, since it was on the slopes of Mount Ararat that Noah planted the first vine after the flood.

Archaeologists agree – at least on the long tradition: a 6,100-year-old winery was discovered not long ago.

The local Areni variety has been unchanged for centuries, being highly resistant against disease with a thick skin that helps shield it from cold extremes.

The easiest wine-growing region to get to from the capital, Yerevan, is Vayots Dzor, where a microclimate ensures 300 sunny days a year.

Most organized tours zoom in on the Areni Noir, an incomparable red that put Armenia on the map when it was launched internationally in 2012.”

The 15 best routes include also Hunter Valley (Australia), Napa and Sonoma (California), Alentejo (Portugal), Cape Winelands (South Africa), Route des Vins (Alsace, France), Santorini (Greece), Maipo (Chile), Okanagan (Canada), Tuscany (Italy), Bento Goncalves (Brazil), Mendoza (Argentina), Rioja (Spain), Moselle Valley (Germany), Bordeaux (France).

New United signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan will thrive under Jose Mourinho’s playing style and training methods, according to former Armenia coach Raymond Verheijen, according to . 

The midfielder, who is Armenia’s all-time top scorer, made the £26 million move to Old Trafford from Borussia Dortmund last week.

The 27-year-old is expected to slot in on the right wing of Mourinho’s new-look side and could make his debut in that famous red shirt against Wigan on Saturday.

Although he is the first Armenian to ever play in the Premier League, Verheijen believes Mkhitaryan’s time at Dortmund will stand him in good stead in adjusting to the rigours of English football.

“What I think has been very smart is that he went from Shakhtar to Dortmund and from Dortmund to United.” he told M.E.N. Sport.

“I think the Bundesliga has made him sufficiently strong to take the next step to the Premier League. He will need time to adapt, but I trust Mourinho and his staff to let him gradually adapt to that level.”

Known for his blistering pace, Mkhitaryan once joked that had he not made it as a footballer, he would have been a sprinter instead.

This was a quality that struck Verheijen, who has also worked with Manchester City, the Netherlands, Barcelona and Russia, when he was involved with the Armenia national team in 2012.

“There is one characteristic of him that I have almost never seen with other players and that is the fact that he has an acceleration after an acceleration,” he said.

“When he starts dribbling, he accelerates quickly but then, just before somebody tries to challenge him, he can accelerate for a second time. That is something that I thought was very special.

“That is a talent that he has which makes him difficult to defend, especially in the counter-attack. United need to make sure he gets the ball as quickly as possible.”

One of Mourinho’s hallmarks is “his less is more” approach to training, with extensive ball work sessions favoured over fitness focused drills without the ball.

Verheijen previously criticised Mourinho’s predecessors, Louis van Gaal and David Moyes, for over-training United’s players and feels Mourinho’s approach will get more out of Mkhitaryan et al.

“If you look with Chelsea winning the title two years ago, they played with the same XI in almost every game,” he said.

“I think the same will happen this year with United. He will have significantly less injuries than Van Gaal and Moyes and he will play with the same XI much more often.

“When you do play and train with the same XI more often, the communication between your players and the tactical understanding between your players increases dramatically.”

Photo: AFP

Turkey has said it wants to develop good ties with Syria – in an apparent reversal of its policy towards its war-stricken neighbour, the BBC reports.

Turkey has long said the only solution for regional peace would be for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to go.

But Turkish PM Binali Yildirim insisted good ties with Syria were needed “for the fight against terrorism” and for stability in the region.

Turkey has recently moved to end rifts with both Russia and Israel.

Turkey-Syria diplomatic ties were severed after the Syrian conflict began in 2011 and Turkey has since argued that only Mr Assad’s departure could bring stability.

But Mr Yildirim said in comments broadcast live on television: “It is our greatest and irrevocable goal: developing good relations with Syria and Iraq, and all our neighbours that surround the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

“We normalised relations with Russia and Israel. I’m sure we will normalise relations with Syria as well. For the fight against terrorism to succeed, stability needs to return to Syria and Iraq.”

Since taking office in May, Mr Yildirim has repeatedly said that Turkey needs to “increase its friends and decrease its enemies.”

Photo: NASA

The American space agency’s new Juno mission to Jupiter has returned its first imagery since going into orbit around the gas giant last week, the BBC reports.

The picture shows a sunlit portion of the planet, together with three of its big moons – Io, Europa and Ganymede.

The fourth major satellite – Callisto – is out of view.

Juno is currently moving away from Jupiter on a large arc, but will sweep back in during August, enabling its “JunoCam” to take even better images.

At the moment, scientists are just relieved to know that the equipment is in good health after its encounter with Jupiter’s harsh radiation environment during the spacecraft’s orbit insertion manoeuvre on 5 July (GMT).

The mission team is now turning on all the probe’s instruments to check their status.

Legal successors of a family killed in the Armenian city of Gyumri in 2015 have lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against Russia, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly’s Vanadzor office informs.

The family, including a six-month-old baby, was killed as a result of an armed assault on January 12, 2015. Valery Permyakov, a soldier at a Russian base in the Armenian town of Gyumri, was arrested and later charged with the murder of two or more persons under the Armenian Criminal Code.

On August 12, Permyakov was found guilty of desertion, theft of weapons and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The murder case was singled out for considering it in a separate procedure and passed to the Armenian authorities.

On October 13, Permyakov was found sane. According to experts, he was not in the heat of passion while committing the crime. He also could recognize the consequences of his actions.

On October 16, Permyakov was additionally charged with armed assault, home-invasion robbery and attempted border crossing.

He has pleaded guilty to killing seven members of the family.

In late June, a court in Armenia dismissed a lawsuit filed by the killed family successors seeking €450,000 in compensation from Russia for moral harm.

In the application filed with the ECHR the successors alleged that their rights had been violated under Article 2 (Right to life) and Article 13 (Right to effective remedy) of the European Convention of Human Rights.

They claim that Russia has not fulfilled its obligation for prevention of obvious threat to the victims’ lives, allegedly knowing that Permyakov could not be conscripted into the army and had no right to use weapon. They also insist in the complaint that Russia has not informed Armenian law enforcement officers about Permyakov’s desertion in time.

The fact that the successors of the murdered family have not received access to investigation conducted by Russian authorities is mentioned among procedural faults.  Thus, the applicants blew their chances for enforcement of their rights in the case including the right to file motions, challenge investigators’ decisions and others.