Category: News

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received today Herbert Salber, the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia.

The interlocutors discussed the steps towards implementation of the agreements reached at the Vienna and St. Petersburg summits on Nagorno Karabakh.

Minister Nalbandian stressed the importance of unconditional implementation of the agreements in order to further the peace process.

Herbert Salber noted, in turn, that there is no alternative to a peaceful settlement and reiterated the EU support for the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

“It’s an honour for me to be the first Armenian in the Premier League,” Henrikh Mkhitaryan said in an interview with Manchester United TV.
Mkhitaryan said he is “very proud” to sign for Manchester United, adding: “This move is a dream come true for me.

“I am excited to play for a club with such an illustrious history and hope to be part of it for a long time.

“I thank the trust the club and Jose Mourinho have put in me.

“Finally, I believe playing for such a great club honours my father’s memory, and the inspiration and drive he gave to me when I was young.”

“A Dream come true!” Mkhitaryan wrote on Facebook.

‘I am very proud and excited to join Manchester United, a club which I have always admired for its great history and amazing fans. Can’t wait to work with the coach and my new teammates!” the Armenian international added.

Armenia is ranked 56th among 39 countries in the published by the World Economic Forum today.

According to the report, Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Israel, Singapore, the Netherlands and the United States are leading the world when it comes to generating economic impact from investments in information and communications technologies (ICT).

The Global Information Technology Report 2016 features the latest iteration of the Networked Readiness Index, which assesses the factors, policies and institutions that enable a country to fully leverage information and communication technologies (ICTs) for increased competitiveness and well-being.

Armenia’s neighbors in the region are placed as follows: Georgia 58th, Turkey – 48th, Azerbaijan 53rd, Iran – 92nd.

Armenia’s partners in the Eurasian Economic Union Russia and Kazakhstan are placed 41th and 39^th respectively, Kyrgyzstan is 95^th.

Manchester United has announced that Henrikh Mkhitaryan has completed his transfer from Borussia Dortmund. Henrikh joins on a four-year contract with the option to extend for a further year.

Mkhitaryan, 27, made 140 appearances and scored 41 goals for Borussia Dortmund after joining them in 2013. Last season he scored 23 goals and registered an impressive 32 assists across all competitions. Henrikh was voted Bundesliga Player of the Season for 2015/16 in a poll of his fellow professionals, and he was named in the Team of the Season following votes by the players’ union in Germany, VDV.

The midfielder is Armenia’s all-time top scorer, with 19 goals in 59 appearances since his international debut in January 2007. Henrikh captains his national team and has received the Armenian Footballer of the Year award on five occasions.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan said: “I am very proud to join Manchester United, this move is a dream come true for me. I am excited to play for a club with such an illustrious history and hope to be part of it for a long time. I thank the trust the club and Jose Mourinho have put in me. Finally, I believe playing for such a great club honours my father’s memory, and the inspiration and drive he gave to me when I was young.”

José Mourinho said: “Henrikh is a very talented footballer who has been in such prolific form for both his club and his country. He is a real team player with great skill, vision and also has a good eye for goal. I am delighted he has chosen to sign for United. I believe he will make an impact on the team very quickly as his style of play is suited to the Premier League. We are all looking forward to working with him.”

The x ranks Armenia 67th among 133 countries in the world.

The Index is produced by the U.S.-based nonprofit Social Progress Imperative, and is based on the work of leading economists.

It measures how well countries perform delivering social goods to their people, including education, health and wellness, housing, opportunity, personal rights, personal safety and tolerance. It compiles its scores based on more than 50 indicators.

Finland tops the ranking followed by Canada and Denmark.

In the Basic Human Needs Dimension, Armenia performs best on Water and Sanitation and has most opportunity to improve on the Personal Safety component. In the Foundations of Wellbeing Dimension, Armenia scores highest on Access to Basic Knowledge but lags on the Health and Wellness component. In the Opportunity Dimension, Armenia is strongest on Personal Freedom and Choice and has the most room to improve on Personal Rights.

Armenia’s neighbors in the region are placed as follows: Georgia 54th, Turkey – 58th, Azerbaijan 77th, Iran – 93rd.

Armenia’s partners in the Eurasian Economic union Belarus and Russia are placed 66th and 75th respectively, Kazakhstan is 76th, Kyrgyzstan is 79th.

Photo: BBC

 

British Prime Minister Tony Blair told U.S. President George W. Bush eight months before the 2003 invasion of Iraq “I will be with you, whatever”, and relied on flawed intelligence and legal advice to go to war, a seven-year inquiry concluded on Wednesday, reports.

It strongly criticized Blair on a range of issues, saying the threat posed by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s supposed weapons of mass destruction had been over-hyped and the planning for the aftermath of war had been inadequate.

Blair responded that he had taken the decision to go to war “in good faith”, that he still believed it was better to remove Saddam, and that he did not see that action as the cause of terrorism today, in the Middle East or elsewhere.

“The intelligence assessments made at the time of going to war turned out to be wrong. The aftermath turned out to be more hostile, protracted and bloody than ever we imagined,” the former prime minister told reporters.

“For all of this, I express more sorrow, regret and apology than you will ever know.”

The only Labour prime minister to win three general elections, Blair was in office for 10 years until 2007 and was hugely popular in his heyday, but Iraq has severely tarnished his reputation and legacy.

Responding to questions from journalists, Mr Blair says passionately while gesticulating with his arms that some people talk “as if I don’t care about the loss of life”, according to .

But he says: “I had to decide are more people going to suffer, are more people going to die if we leave this dictator in power.”

Asked whether he would apologise to the families of the British servicemen and women who lost their lives, Mr Blair says: “I can look the nation in the eye and say I did not mislead this country.. I made the decision in good faith on information I had at the time, and can say it is better we took the decision.”

Photo: Getty Images

 

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says he has sold football club AC Milan to a Chinese consortium, the BBC reports.

Berlusconi, who owns the Serie A team, made the remarks to local newspapers on Tuesday.

He said they will be paying at least €400m (£220m) over the next two years, which may value the club at up to €750m including debt.

“Milan has now embarked on this path towards China,” he said without disclosing the identity of the buyers.

However other media outlets, citing their own sources, said the terms of the deal are still being finalised.

Tens of thousands of Icelanders gathered in the capital Reykjavík to welcome home the nation’s football team after their Euro 2016 quarter-final, the BBC reports.

Led by drummers, the players made their way through the city in an open-top bus to the hill of Arnarholl, where fans greeted them with wild cheers.

Iceland’s first major tournament ended on Sunday when the tiny nation, one of Europe’s smallest, lost to France.

But not before they had dumped out the England side in the round of 16.

On their way to the last eight of the European tournament, they had also beat Austria and, in qualifying, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the Czech Republic.

Photo: Reuters

 

A suicide bomber has killed four security officers and injured five others near one of Islam’s holiest sites in the Saudi city of Medina, according to the interior ministry, the BBC reports.

The bomber detonated his explosives after being stopped outside the Prophet’s Mosque, a statement said.

The mosque is the burial place of the Prophet Muhammad and Medina the second-holiest city in Islam after Mecca.

Suicide blasts also struck two other Saudi cities on Monday.

– The head of the Catholic Church in Armenia says Pope Francis’ recent visit to the country has helped to strengthen and confirm people in their faith. The Pope visited the Armenian capital Yerevan, the northern city of Gyumri and the ancient monastery of Khor Virap on the Turkish border from June 24th to 26th. He will return to the region for a visit to Azerbaijan and Georgia at the end of September.

Among those accompanying the Pope during his stay in Armenia was Archbishop Raphael Minassian who is responsible for the Armenian Catholic Church throughout the Eastern European region.

The Archbishop says there has already been a visible result “in the soul of the people” who heard the Pope’s message during the Mass at Gyumri and it resounded deeply within them. The heart of that message, he says, was the simplicity, spirituality and modest style that the Pope showed in his approach to all people in Armenia.

Archbishop Minassian says people have already reacted by visiting churches more frequently and contacting their clergy. He recalls the profound silence of the 30.000 people attending the Mass who were “hypnotized” by the Pope’s presence and atmosphere of prayer.

Commenting on the political implications of the visit, he says: “For me, the genocide is a historical fact” so the Pope’s use of the word to describe the 1915 massacre is not so significant. Also he notes that since the battle of Vartanantz in 451, so many thousands of Armenian Christians have been martyred for their faith.

He says that of all the places in the world where he has served in his 43 years of priestly ministry, it is in the Caucuses region where people of all ages are most strongly attached to their Christian faith.

Asked about his hopes for the Pope’s visit to Azerbaijan and Georgia, Archbishop Minassian speaks of the Holy Father’s “magic” way of reaching out to people but he adds that all Christians have an obligation to be messengers of peace like him.