Category: News

A cloth with a drop of papal blood has gone missing from the Cologne Cathedral, German police said. A churchgoer noticed the theft and alerted officials, who urged the thieves to return the relic,  reports.

The perpetrators dislodged a glass container holding the blood of John Paul II from the base of the pope’s statue, police said on Sunday. The theft took place during the previous night.

“Although the material value is low, the spiritual value is a lot bigger,” the cathedral’s provost Gerd Bachner said, according to the police statement.

The theft was first noticed by a visitor who alerted the cathedral usher on Sunday.

The Cologne Cathedral has housed the cloth since 2013, honoring the late pontiff who visited the church in 1980. The relic was placed in the container so believers could touch it.

Lawmakers in Ankara are meeting to discuss possible measures to take against Germany following last week’s vote on Armenian Genocide, which sparked anger in Turkey, Deutsche Welle reports.

Turkey’s Cabinet will also discuss the German parliament’s decision to label the killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as “genocide,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Sunday.

Ministers are expected to meet Monday – the first since Thursday’s Bundestag resolution, according to Anadolu Agency.

– Armenian American designer has joined the .

Carolyn Rafaelian founded fashion jewelry company Alex and Ani in 2004, taking over what had been her father’s Rhode Island jewelry factory to manufacture the new age, celestial-chic bangles that have become the brand’s staple.

To say growth has been explosive would be an understatement. In 2010, Alex and Ani — named after two of Rafaelian’s daughters — did an estimated $4.5 million in revenues. By 2015, sales had hit $500 million, catapulting the 49-year-old onto Forbes’ second annual list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women thanks to her majority ownership.

Rafaelian joins the ranks at #22, with an estimated net worth of $700 million, making her the second richest newcomer to the list, after Gail Miller, billionaire owner of basketball’s Utah Jazz.

She’s the richest self-made woman in the nation to derive her wealth from jewelry, and joins an impressive group of fashion and retail moguls on Forbes’ ranking that includes Spanx founder Sara Blakely, preppie-chic designer Tory Burch, and bridal tycoon Vera Wang.

Armenian Foreign Ministre Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday.

The President hailed the strong and stable relations between Armenia and Iran and attached importance to their further reinforcement and deepening. He added that the agreement on Iran’s nuclear program has opened broad perspectives for the development of bilateral trade and economic ties and stressed the need for practical steps towards that end.

The Iranian President and the Armenian Foreign Minister referred to the process of implementation of the agreements reached between the leaders of the two countries and the joint economic projects.

The parties agreed that the lifting of the visa regime between the two countries would serve an additional impetus for the intensification of ties between the business circles and boost tourism.

Ministry Nalbandian briefed Hassan Rouhani on the steps targeted at the elimination of consequences of the military actions unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh, the efforts towards implementation of the agreements reached in Vienna.

President Rouhani stressed Iran’s willingness to contribute to stability and peace in the region, and reiterated his country’s support for the exceptionally peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict on the basis of the principles of international law.

Minister Nalbandian hailed Iran’s balanced position on the Karabakh issue.

Iran’s President asked to convey his warm greetings to the President of Armenia and revealed his plans to visit Armenia in the near future.

Muhammad Ali has died at the age of 74, a family spokesman has said, the BBC reports.

The former world heavyweight boxing champion, one of the world’s best-known sportsmen, died at a hospital in the US city of Phoenix, Arizona, after being admitted on Thursday.

He was suffering from a respiratory illness, a condition that was complicated by Parkinson’s disease.

The funeral will take place in Ali’s hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, his family said in a statement.

The Armenian Holy Trinity (Zvartnots) Church in Aleppo has been seriously damaged. Almost all auditoriums of the college next to the church are half-destroyed, Kantsasar newspaper informs on its Facebook page.

Serious damage has been caused to the Aghajanian hall of the Church, all windows have been broken.

The Nor Kiugh neighborhood of Aleppo has been a target of heavy attacks over the past days.

Kantsasar reported earlier that four Armenians had been killed as a result of shelling. Their funeral was held at St. Astvatsatsin Church in Aleppo on Friday.

Turkish Ambassador to Berlin Hüseyin Avni Karslıoğlu returned to Turkey late on June 2, after the German Parliament approved a bill describing the 1915 massacres of Ottoman Armenians as genocide, th eHurriyet Daily News reports.

“This is an emotional decision. It is not a decision that was made in a rational framework. All of the speeches [of German lawmakers during the voting session] show this … We had many talks [with the German authorities] before the vote but the decision was already made,” Karslıoğlu told reporters on his arrival at Esenboğa Airport in Ankara.

“Our friendship and our relations with Germany will continue. We will act logically,” the ambassador said, adding that he will now hold extensive meetings at the Foreign Ministry to analyze the decision taken by the German Parliament and decide what measures will be taken.

Asked whether he had a return ticket, Karslıoğlu said “Turkish Airlines doesn’t run out of tickets.”

Former high-ranking FIFA officials Sepp Blatter, Jerome Valcke and Markus Kattner awarded themselves pay rises and bonuses worth $80m (£55m) over five years, say Fifa lawyers, the reports.

Football’s governing body revealed the contracts of ex-president Blatter, fired ex-secretary general Valcke and sacked former finance director Kattner one day after a Swiss police raid.

Documents and electronic data were seized during Thursday’s operation, which relates to investigations into Blatter and Valcke.

Germany has joined an ever-growing list of nations to officially recognise the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians by Turkey during World War 1, but New Zealand continues to stay silent, according to .

No New Zealand government has ever officially recognized the Armenian Genocide over fears Turkey would ban Kiwis from visiting the Gallipoli battlefields.

Auckland based genocide expert Maria Amoudian finds that perplexing.

“New Zealand is a really interesting case for political scientists like me, it’s a country that has always stood out as being ethically at the forefront, morally at the forefront, always for an underdog, and caring about issues like human rights,” she says.

“So it is a little bit baffling that on this one issue that it tends to shy away from even looking at it.”

The Government told Newshub that it considers historic issues between Armenia and Turkey are best left to those countries to work through.

The Greens are the only New Zealand political party that does recognize the Armenian genocide, and now they’re in a coalition opposition with Labor, political will on the issue here could be about to change.