Category: News

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry released the 2016 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, which looks at how 188 countries, including the U.S., were tackling this serious crime throughout 2015 and into 2016. For the fourth year in a row, Armenia is a Tier 1 country, recognized as fully committed to fighting trafficking in persons.

The annual report looks at 188 countries, describing the scope of human trafficking, government anti-trafficking efforts, and human trafficking trends all over the world, including in the United States.

The Armenian section of this year’s report highlights the pivotal role played by Armenia’s Anti-TIP Working Group, which includes representatives from government, civil society, and international organizations.

“The success of the working group demonstrates what can be achieved when government and civil society listen to one another and work together,” U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills, Jr. said. “The working group is a model for tackling complex, challenging problems.”

Other significant developments which contributed to Armenia’s upholding its ranking is continuation of government allocations for counter-TIP activities, adoption of relevant laws, prosecution of traffickers, prevention and awareness raising activities, as well as establishing of official TIP victims identification commission and finalization of TIP victims’ compensation mechanism.

The report’s Armenian section, in both English and Armenian translation, is available on the Embassy’s webpage:

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Francois Hollande on Thursday discussed by phone the settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine, the Kremlin reported.

“Vladimir Putin informed Francois Hollande of the June 20 three-party meeting with Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan in St. Petersburg,” the statement said.

“The leaders of Russia and France expressed the hope that the results achieved at that meeting would contribute to the promotion of the peace process. The parties agreed to continue active joint work within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group in that important sphere,” it said.

The two presidents also discussed other urgent issues on the international agenda witha special emphasis on efforts to settle the Ukrainian crisis.

 

The Spanish city of Paiporta officially recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide on June 30.

All forces represented in the City Council voted to support the measure.

Paiporta thus joins the ranks of more than 20 Spanish cities that have adopted similar institutional statements.

Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for 100 LIVES

 

Asbarez – On June 30, 100 LIVES and Aurora Prize Co-Founder Dr. Noubar Afeyan was named one of Carnegie Corporation of New York’s “Great Immigrants: Pride of America” honorees. Afeyan’s distinction identifies him as one of the most prominent and influential naturalized citizens in the United States. As Americans prepare to celebrate the most patriotic of their holidays on July 4, Carnegie Corporation of New York pays tribute to the role immigrants play in strengthening the country and its democratic society.

The Carnegie Corporation recognizes significant naturalized citizens every year to salute the legacy of Andrew Carnegie and other immigrants. Previous honorees include Aurora Prize Selection Committee Co-Chair Elie Wiesel, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, TV producer Lorne Michaels, and CEO and co-founder of Argo Tea Arsen Avakian, among others.

Afeyan has contributed a great deal to the American community, while honoring his Armenian descent. As founder, senior managing partner, and CEO of Flagship Ventures, Afeyan has helped build and foster more than 35 successful life science and technology startups. He has also contributed to the successful launch of 100 LIVES and the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, a new $1 million humanitarian award to be presented on April 24 of each year in Yerevan, Armenia. Afeyan also served as chairman for the National Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide Centennial events that took place in May 2015 and brought over 2,000 Armenians to Washington, D.C.

Afeyan serves on a number of public and private company and organization boards, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, MIT Board of Trustees, UWC Dilijan College in Armenia, and an organization promoting economic development in Armenia.

Each year since 2006, the philanthropic foundation has recognized the contributions of naturalized citizens with its “Great Immigrants: The Pride of America” initiative. For 2016, the corporation named 42 honorees who represent some 30 different countries of origin, a wide range of personal immigration stories, and inspiring professional accomplishments.

“These accomplished Americans are immigrants like our forefathers, who founded this nation of nations,” said Vartan Gregorian, the president of Carnegie Corporation of New York. “They are representative of the millions of immigrants who have come to the United States for economic opportunity, education, political or religious asylum, security, or reunification with families and relatives. They, like all Americans, share a common faith in this country.”

Nearly 9 million legal permanent residents (LPRs) are currently eligible to naturalize and become U.S. citizens. In keeping with the mission of its founder, Andrew Carnegie, the corporation is committed to the integration of immigrants with the goal of helping them become citizens who can participate fully in our democracy. Together with grantees and partner organizations, the “Great Immigrants” initiative works to raise awareness about the naturalization process and provide helpful resources that will assist LPRs, including the free online application system Citizenshipworks. Carnegie Corporation also supports the New Americans Campaign, the nation’s largest network of non-profits focused on naturalization.

The 2016 Great Immigrants and their countries of origin are:

Noubar Afeyan, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, philanthropist (Lebanon)

Selu Alofipo, artist, White House “Champion of Change” honoree (Island of Samoa)

Samantha Bee, actress, comedian (Canada)

Len Blavatnik, industrialist, philanthropist (Ukraine)

Roberta Capp, assistant professor, University of Colorado Medical School; Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science recipient (Brazil)

Jim Carrey, actor, comedian (Canada)

Mariano Castillo, journalist; Soros Fellowship for New Americans recipient (Peru)

Marcelo Claure, president and CEO, Sprint (Bolivia)

Nadia Comaneci, five-time Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics (Romania)

Ronald J. Daniels, president, Johns Hopkins University (Canada)

Michaela DePrince, ballerina, Dutch National Ballet (Sierra Leone)

Jaha Dukureh, founder, Safe Hands for Girls (Gambia)

John L. Estrada, U.S. ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago (Trinidad and Tobago)

Florent Groberg, U.S. Army captain, retired; Congressional Medal of Honor and Bronze Star Medal recipient (France)

Peter Blair Henry, dean, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University (Jamaica)

Farnam Jahanian, provost, Carnegie Mellon University (Iran)

Sally Jewell, U.S. secretary of the interior (England)

Jan Koum, co-founder and CEO, WhatsApp (Ukraine)

Fei-Fei Li, director, Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab and Stanford Vision Lab (China)

Viet Long, brigadier general, U.S. Army (Vietnam)

Iqram Magdon-Ismail, co-founder, Venmo (Zimbabwe)

Vikram Malhotra, chairman of the Americas, McKinsey & Company (India)

Mehret Mandefro, physician, anthropologist, filmmaker (Ethiopia)

Michael Moritz, chairman, Sequoia Capital (Wales)

Bharati Mukherjee, National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author (India)

Peter A. Nadosy, managing partner, East End Advisors (Hungary)

Graham Nash, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter

Jaqueline H. Nguyen, judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit (Vietnam)

Deogratias Niyizonkiza, founder and CEO, Village Health Works (Burundi)

Bennet Omalu, forensic pathologist, discoverer of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, CTE (Nigeria)

Jorge M. Pérez, chairman and CEO, Related Group of Florida (Argentina)

Thuan Pham, CTO, Uber Technologies, Inc. (Vietnam)

Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google (India)

Ana Luz Porzecanski, director, Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, American Museum of Natural History (Bolivia)

Wolfgang Puck, chef and restaurateur (Austria)

Azita Raji, U.S. ambassador to Sweden (Iran)

Shaiza Rizavi, partner, Gilder, Gagnon, Howe & Co. (Pakistan)

Isabella Rossellini, actress, model, filmmaker (Italy)

Aziz Sancar, Nobel Prize-winning biochemist; president emeritus, Aziz and Gwen Sancar Foundation (Turkey)

Piers J. Sellers, former NASA astronaut; deputy director, NASA Sciences and Exploration Directorate (England)

Hari Sreenivasan, anchor and senior correspondent, PBS NewsHour (India)

Fernando Valenzuela, Major League Baseball pitcher, retired (Mexico)

Carnegie Corporation of New York was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding. In keeping with this mandate, the corporation’s agenda focuses on the issues that Andrew Carnegie considered of paramount importance: international peace, the advancement of education and knowledge, and the strength of our democracy.

Armenia’s leading chess player Levon Aronian is ranked 5th in FIDE’s July ranking. World Champion Magnus Carlsen is on top of the list followed by Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) and Fabiano Caruana (USA).

Other Armenian Grandmasters are ranked as follows: Gabriel Sargissian – 56^th, Vladimir Akopian – 62^nd, Sergei Movsessian -76^th.

Photo: SPL

Researchers say they have found the first clear evidence that the thinning in the ozone layer above Antarctica is starting to heal, the BBC reports.

The scientists said that in September 2015 the hole was around 4 million sq km smaller than it was in the year 2000 – an area roughly the size of India.

The gains have been credited to the long term phasing out of ozone-destroying chemicals.

The study also sheds new light on the role of volcanoes in making the problem worse.

Ryan Giggs has ended his 29-year stay at Manchester United by agreeing a settlement with the Old Trafford club, the reports.

United are expected to release an official statement in the coming days.

Giggs, 42, had a year remaining on his contract as assistant manager but new boss Jose Mourinho intends to fill that role with long-time friend Rui Faria.

Unable to reach agreement over another role at the Premier League club, Giggs, who made a record 963 appearances for United, has decided to move on.

Cardiff-born Giggs has passed all his coaching badges and has never made any secret of his desire to move into management.

Giggs was also disappointed to be overlooked in favour of former Chelsea and Real Madrid boss Mourinho, whose appointment was confirmed in May.

Giggs joined the United academy on his 14th birthday, turning professional aged 17 in November 1990 and making his first-team debut against Everton on 2 March, 1991.

Portugal are the first team into the Euro 2016 semi-finals after a penalty shoot-out win over Poland in Marseille, with the game ending 1-1 after extra-time, Reuters reports.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lewandowski scored the opening spot-kicks for each side and Portugal were leading 4-3 when Jakub Blaszczykowski saw his spot-kick pushed around the post.

That left it to Ricardo Quaresma to send Portugal into the last four, where they will face Wales or Belgium, and he found the roof of the net in style.

Robert Lewandowski notched his first goal of the tournament after less than two minutes to put Poland in front, converting smartly from Kamil Grosicki’s cut-back from the left.

However, his new Bayern Munich team-mate Renato Sanches, handed his first international start at the age of 18, pulled Portugal back level on 32 minutes when a deflection helped his rifled effort find the corner of the net.

Ronaldo missed a golden opportunity with five minutes remaining when he swung and missed a lovely lofted ball over the top from Joao Moutinho, ensuring the match would go into extra time.

The Public Television Company of Armenia has officially confirmed its participation in Eurovision Song Contest 2017. This time the artist will be chosen through a new, groundbreaking television project called “Depi Evratesil” (To Eurovision).

Through a three-month-long music competition Armenia’s previous entrants at Eurovision will search for their successor.

“If you are Armenian or of an Armenian heritage, aged 16 and older, if you think you have something to show to the world and if you’ve ever dreamed of rocking that big stage of Eurovision, then it’s your time to shine!” Public TV said in a statement.

The call for applications starts on July 6th. To register for the auditions, fill in and submit the online application at before 23:59 (Yerevan time), August 25th.

The winner will get a chance to represent Armenia at Eurovision Song Contest 2017.

“It is high time the Azerbaijani leadership understands that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue will be resolved within the framework of realization of the right of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination and Azerbaijan’s responsibility for the aggression against the self-determined Nagorno-Karabakh Republic,” Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said in comments to Armenpress.

He said “Baku’s constant statements that the Karabakh conflict should be solved within the framework of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan “distort the essence of the negotiation process.”

Asked about the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister’s statement about a possible summit on Nagorno Karabakh in Paris in August this year, the Deputy Foreign Minister said: “We highly value the efforts of all the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries aimed at organizing a meetings on the highest level. However, it is at least inexpedient for one of the invitees, not the inviting side, to speak about a meeting, which is still under consideration.”