Category: News

Photo: AP

Microsoft has agreed to pay a Californian woman $10,000 (£7,500) after an automatic Windows 10 update left her computer unusable.

Teri Goldstein said her Windows 7 computer had automatically tried to update itself to Windows 10 without her permission.

She said the update had made her machine unstable, leaving her unable to use it to run her business.

Microsoft said it had dropped its appeal to save on legal costs.

Microsoft has been aggressively pushing the latest version of its widely used operating system, which is currently available as a free download for computers running Windows 7 and 8.

However, many people have chosen not to upgrade, because they are running old hardware, have software that does not run on Windows 10, are concerned over the software’s tracking features, or simply do not want it.

Photo: AFP/ADEM ALTAN

Putin has received Erdogan’s message where he apologized for death of Russian Su-24 pilot and expressed readiness to resume relations with Russia, Kremlin spokesman has said.

According to the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Erdogan “is sorry” and is willing to deal with the crisis in the relations between two countries, Sputnik News reports.

“Shooting at each other is the alternative to the lack of meetings and negotiations,” Vice-President of the Armenian National Assembly Edward Sharmazanov said.

Commenting on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s latest speech, Sharmazanov said “it was retreat not only from the St. Petersburg meeting, but also the agreements reached in Vienna.”

“There is no need in the implementation of the investigation mechanism on the line of contact between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops in this stage,” Aliyev said during a meeting with servicemen and military officials in Baku. He sees the mechanism as a way of freezing the conflict.

Sharmazanov said the Minsk Group Co-Chairs should express a stance on Aliyev’s remarks.

Asked whether it’s expedient to continue the meetings, the Vice-President of the National Assembly said: “I’ve always said that negotiations are better than absence of meetings. Shooting at each other is the alternative to the lack of meetings and talks, while peace remains our primary goal.”

In the speech Ilham Aliyev once again hinted at the step-by-step settlement of the Karabakh conflict and declared he would never allow creation of a second Armenian state “on the historical lands of Azerbaijan.” In response to that Sharmazanov said “Whatever its status, Nagorno Karabakh will never be part of Azerbaijan.”

Georgian Defense Minister Tinatin Khidasheli signed a decree on abolition of compulsory conscription to the republic’s armed forces, Interfax reports.

The Georgian Defense Ministry will cease to perform compulsory military conscription starting on June 27, the minister told reporters.

“The armed forces do not need servicemen who were forcefully enlisted,” she said.

As defense minister she is entitled to adopt such a decision; however, her successor can abolish it if this is deemed prudent, Khidasheli said.

Armenia expects more countries to recognize the 1915 massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire a century ago as genocide after remarks by Pope Francis and the stance taken by Germany’s parliament, President Serzh Sargsyan has said.

Germany’s lower house adopted a resolution this month declaring the killings of Christian Armenians by Ottoman forces in World War One a “genocide.”

During a visit to Armenia on Friday, the pope departed from his prepared text to use the term, angering Turks.

“The principled position of the pope and the views expressed by the Bundestag will pave the way for new recognitions by other nations,” President Serzh Sargsyan told in an interview.

“Germany is a very important and significant actor on the international stage and this decision will serve as a good example for other nations to follow and to learn from it,” he said.

Sargsyan criticized Turkey’s position over its aspiration to join the European Union, saying Ankara was trying to use a policy of dictatorship to bring pressure to bear on the bloc.

“I don’t think that Turkey is … an actor that can impose its views, or exercise pressure, on the European Union,” he said.

“I don’t honestly see any prospects that would pave the way for Turkey joining the EU.”

Artak Barseghyan
Public Radio of Armenia

“NATO views the countries of the South Caucasus as potential partners with Georgia being an aspirant for membership. I do not see NATO membership as realistic for Georgia any time soon, however. There is no consensus in the Alliance on Georgia’s membership,” Paul Stronski, Senior Associate at Carnegie Foundation, said in an internet press conference for Armenian media.

“On Armenia, as an ally of Russia, it is firmly in Russia’s security orbit.  But, NATO will still continue to engage with Armenia and appreciates the partnership it has had with NATO throughout the past twenty years.  I’d also note that Armenian military reform is generally modeled after NATO and the United States, so there are clear incentives on the Armenian side to keep good ties with NATO despite Yerevan’s security alliance with Moscow. However, I do not see the relationship between NATO and Armenia getting any closer in the immediate future,” he said.

“I do not see any prospects for NATO membership for Armenia or Azerbaijan.  Neither country seems interested in membership.  NATO says the door is always open, but many NATO members are not keen to enlarge the alliance any further east,” he added.

Is there a possibility for exclusion of Turkey from the Alliance, considering that Turkey is playing back-door games with ISIS and in light of deterioration of relations between Ankara and Brussels?

“I am neither an expert on Turkey nor ISIS, so I cannot really answer this question.  I think many governments in the West are frustrated with Turkey right now given Erdogan’s increasing authoritarianism, and unpredictable foreign and domestic politics. But, Turkey is a long-standing and important member of the NATO alliance.  The goal of the alliance is to increase the security of its members, and I still think that most NATO members believe that Turkish membership in NATO enhances their security.  I do not see their exclusion from the alliance anytime soon,” the expert said.

Photo: Reuters 

Israel and Turkey have normalised relations, ending a six-year rift over the killing by Israeli troops of 10 Turkish activists on a Gaza-bound ship, the BBC reports.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was an important step that would boost his country’s economy.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed hope it would help improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

The deal will allow Turkey to deliver aid to the Palestinian territory and carry out infrastructure projects.

Israel will also pay $20m into a compensation fund for the dead activists’ families.

The agreement, which will be signed on Tuesday, was formally announced by Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and Mr Netanyahu in separate speeches in Ankara and Rome on Monday.

Israel and Turkey were close allies before Israeli commandos intercepted the Turkish-owned ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a flotilla attempting to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza, on 31 May 2010.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has slammed Pope Francis for using the word ‘genocide’ during his trip to Armenia, accusing the Pontiff of “pursuing an unconditional commitment to Armenian perspective of the controversy.”

In a statement released on its official website Monday, the ministry said: “Pope Francis’ bias on historical events and marginalizing attitude during his visit to Armenia does not comply with his frequently-emphasized efforts to build peace between different groups.”

The ministry said it was disappointing to see that Pope Francis had no contribution to establishing highly-needed peace and stability in Eastern Caucasus in the wake of recent clashes at the Karabakh line of contact.

The statement added that Pope Francis was instead expected to put efforts in establishing peace and friendship for the coming generations.

Pope Francis says he decided to use the word ‘genocide’ in his speech at the Armenian presidential Palace, because “it would have sounded strange not to say at least the same thing I said last year.”

Asked Sunday en route home from Armenia why he decided to add “genocide” into his prepared remarks, Francis said it was simply the term that he had always used in Argentina, where he was close to the Armenian community.

“In Argentina, when you spoke of the Armenian extermination, they always used the word “genocide.” I didn’t know another. At the cathedral in Buenos Aires, we put a stone cross in the third altar on the left, remembering the Armenian genocide. The archbishop came, two Armenian archbishops, the Catholic and the Apostolic, they inaugurated it… also the Apostolic Archbishop in the Catholic Church of St. Bartholomew made an altar in memory of St. Bartholomew… but always… I didn’t know. I another word come from this word. When I arrived in Rome, I heard another word: “The Great Evil” or the “terrible tragedy,” but in Armenian, I don’t know how to say it… and they tell me that no, that that is offensive, that of “genocide,” and that you must say this. I’ve always spoke of three genocides in the last century… always three! The first was the Armenian, then that of Hitler, and the last is that of Stalin… there are small ones, there is another in Africa, but as in the orbit of the two great wars there are these three… I’ve asked why… “but some feel like it’s not true, that there wasn’t a genocide”… another said to me… a lawyer told me this that really interested me: the word “genocide” is a technical word, it’s a word that is not a synonym of “extermination.” You can say extermination, but declaring a “genocide” brings with it actions of reparation… this is what the lawyer said to me,” Pope told reporters.

“Last year, when I was preparing the speech, I saw that St John Paul II had used the word, that he used both: Great Evil and genocide. And I cited that one in quotation marks… and it wasn’t received well. A statement was made by the Turkish government. Turkey, in a few days called its ambassador to Ankara, who is a great man, Turkey sent us a top ambassador, who returned three months ago… But, Turkey has the right… The right to protest, we all have it,” the Pope said.

Speaking of his use of the word ‘genocide on the first day of his visit to Armenia, the Pope said: “In this speech at the start there wasn’t a word, that is true. I respond because I added it. But after having heard the tone of the speech of the president and also with my past with this word, and having said this word last year in St. Peter’s publicly, it would have sounded strange not to say at least the same thing. But there, I wanted to underscore something else, and I don’t think I err that I also said: in this genocide, as in the other two, the great international powers looked in the other direction. And this was the thing. In the Second World War some powers, which had photographed the train lines that led to Auschwitz had the possibility to bomb and didn’t do it. An example. In the context of the First War, where was the problem of the Armenians? And in the context of the Second War where was the problem of Hitler and Stalin and after Yalta of the area… and all that no one speaks about. One has to underscore this. And make the historical question: why didn’t you do this, you powers?”

“I don’t accuse, I ask a question. It’s curious. They looked at the war, at so many things… but not the people… and I don’t know if it’s true, but I would like to know if it’s true that when Hitler persecuted the Jews, one of the words, of the thing that he may have said was “Well, who remembers today the Armenians, let’s do the same with the Jews.” I don’t know if it’s true, maybe it’s hearsay, but I’ve heard this said. Historians, search and see if it’s true. I think I answered. But I never said this word with an offensive intention, if not objectively,” the Pope said.