Category: News

A 24-year-old resident of the Vachian village in Javakhk, Georgia has been arrested on suspicion of having killed an Armenian family in the same village, jnews.ge reports.

According to the Georgian Ministry of Interior Affairs, the suspect, identified as Nodar A., entered one of the houses in the village of Vachian. The hostess and her children spotted the man and showed resistance. As a result, Nodar A. struck the 37-year-old woman and her two daughter aged 16 and 18 with a blunt object in the head, leaving them killed.

To conceal the crime the accused set the house on fire and escaped from the site. The fourth member of the family, a 5-year-old boy, died of strangulation, the Ministry said.

The law-enfocement bodies arrested Nodar A. the day after the crime was committed. Two mobile phones belonging to the victims were found close to the scene of the incident.

The Ministry says that the man has confessed to killing the four. Investigation has een launched under Article 109.1 of the Criminal Code of Georgia (Premeditated murder under aggravating circumstance, premeditated murder of two or more persons).

The Gas and Transport Company of Georgia has officially informed Gazprom Armenia about the temporary suspension of Russian natural gas supply to Armenia from July 10 to August 10.

The suspension is connected with reconstruction works on the damaged parts of the gas pipeline along the Kazakh-Saguramo highway, Press Service of Gazprom Armenia Company reports.

The gas supply will be implemented from underground storage in Abovyan.

The Vatican says Pope Francis will meet with Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders during his Sept. 30-Oct. 2 trip to Georgia and Azerbaijan, adding a strong interreligious dimension to an already politically delicate trip, the Associated Press reports.

The Vatican on Monday released the itinerary for the Caucasus trip, which was originally planned as an extension of Francis’ recent visit to Armenia but was split up.

In Georgia, after meeting with the president, Francis will call on the spiritual leader of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II, and meet with the Assyrian and Chaldean Catholic community. In majority-Muslim Azerbaijan, Francis will celebrate Mass with the tiny Catholic community and meet with the chief imam, the Orthodox bishop of Baku and head of the country’s Jewish community.

The apricot blessing ceremony took place at St. Zoravar church on the opening day. The honorary stars of cinematographer Albert Yavuryan, directors Edmond Keosayan and Dmitry Kesayants were unveiled at Charles Aznavour square among other prolific masters of the Armenian Cinema.

Welcoming speeches were offered by Harutyun Khachatryan, Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film festival General Director, and Ralph Yirikian, General Director of VivaCell- MTS, General Sponsor of GAIFF for ten years.

During the opening ceremony it was announced that the European Film Academy is honoring Yerevan’s Parajanov Museum by awarding it “Treasure of European Film Culture.”

Earlier the Academy had decided to establish a list of Treasures of European Film Culture, much like the UNESCO World Heritage list, summing up places of historical cinematic value that need to be maintained and preserved not just for now but for generations to come.

At the end of the ceremony the opening film by celebrated Armenian filmmaker Hamo Beknazaryan “Zareh” was screened.

– Panos Aghzarian (b. 1994), an ethnic Armenian member of the Syrian Armed Forces, was killed in military clashes in Aleppo on July 10, according to a report by Aleppo-based Kantsasar news.

Fighting between the Syrian Army and rebel forces in Aleppo has intensified in recent days, with some reports claiming as many as 40 dead and nearly 300 wounded, including two ethnic Armenians—Hripsimeh Chazarian and Sosi Ghazarian-Hekimian—who were injured on July 9, according to Kantsasar.

Aghzarian’s death comes a little more than a month after five ethnic Armenians were killed in a week. Aleppo’s Armenian-populated Nor Kyugh and Zvartnots districts were attacked by more than 30 missiles on June 2, killing several civilians—including 4 ethnic Armenians. The attack, which reportedly came from militant opposition groups, injured several others and destroyed many buildings, including homes and stores. Vazken Jabaghchourian, Levon Kelkhacherian, Hovsep Janessian, and Khatchig Aboulaboutian were among those killed in the June 2 attack.

The NKR Defense Ministry reports 14 cases of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani side at the line of contact with the Armed Forces of Nagorno Karabakh overnight.

The rival fired more than 100 shots in the direction of the  Armenian positions.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep control of the situation at the frontline and confidently continue with their military duty all along the line of contact.

Armenian Ambassador to Lithuania Tigran Mkrtchyan handed his credentials to Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaitė today.

During the meeting reference was made to bilateral relations, and the perspectives of Armenia-EU negotiations.

Dalia Grybauskaitė said “Lithuania is interested in investing in Armenian economy.”

Amb. Mkrtchyan said, in turn, that “Armenia is interested in the further deepening of cooperation with Lithuania, reinforcement and expansion of relations in all directions of mutual interest.”

Ambassador Mkrtchyan briefed President Grybauskaitė on the negotiations on the Karabakh issue. The latter stressed that “Lithuania stands for exceptionally peaceful resolution of the conflict.”

A session of Iran’s Cabinet made decisions on abolition of visa requirements between Armenia and Iran, reports. 

Theresa May is set to become the UK’s next prime minister after Andrea Leadsom pulled out of the contest to become Conservative Party leader, the BBC reports.

The timing of the handover of power from David Cameron is currently being discussed, but could be within days.

Mrs May, 59, who backed staying in the EU, has been home secretary since 2010.

Mrs Leadsom, who campaigned to leave the EU, said the UK needed “strong and stable government” and that Mrs May was “ideally placed” to implement Brexit.

In a speech earlier on Monday setting out her leadership campaign platform, Mrs May – who rejected the argument that the next leader and prime minister had to have been someone on the winning side of the EU referendum – said: “Brexit means Brexit and we’re going to make a success of it.”

In her brief statement in Westminster, Mrs Leadsom – who was a leading light of the Brexit campaign – said a nine-week leadership campaign at such a “critical time” for the UK would be “highly undesirable”.

Two of Manchester United’s signings so far this summer are set to add to the impressive number of nationalities to have played for the club at first-team level over the years, according to the club’s official website. 

Ivory Coast defender Eric Bailly and Armenia skipper Henrikh Mkhitaryan will take the tally of different countries to have appeared for the Reds to 40.

On what his transfer will mean to fans in his homeland, Mkhitaryan told MUTV: “Everyone was waiting for this transfer deal and I’m very happy that everyone can be proud of me. It’s an honour for me to be the first Armenian in the Premier League, and I will try to meet their expectations.”

The 38 nationalities to have played for the club so far, with Germany being the most recent addition with Bastian Schweinsteiger, are displayed in our ‘United Nations’ infographic.

Not every player on our map has gone on to represent their country at international level, but it still highlights the diverse range of nationalities to have donned the famous red shirt.

Bailly and Mkhitaryan’s fellow new arrival Zlatan Ibrahimovic will become the fourth Swede to play for United, after Jesper Blomqvist, Bojan Djordjic and Henrik Larsson.