Category: News

PHOTOS: KYODO/REUTERS

 

More than 300 passengers and crew were evacuated from a Korean Air plane in Tokyo, Japan after a fire broke out in its left engine, the BBC reports.

Flight 2708 was preparing to take off from Haneda airport en route to Seoul on Friday morning, said officials.

The engine was sprayed with foam by fire crews on the runway, which was temporarily closed.

No injuries were immediately reported and the cause of the fire is not yet known.

There were 302 passengers and 17 crew members on board.

Located right next to Tokyo Bay, Haneda is Tokyo’s most central major airport and is increasingly used for international flights.

US President Barack Obama is to visit Hiroshima on Friday, where the US dropped the world’s first nuclear bomb, the BBC reports.

The visit, after the G7 summit, will be the first to the Japanese city by a serving US president.

Mr Obama has said he will not be issuing an apology for the nuclear attack, but will honour all those who died in World War Two.

He told Japanese media the visit would show that “even former adversaries can become the strongest of allies”.

“Hiroshima reminds us that war, no matter the cause or countries involved, results in tremendous suffering and loss, especially for innocent civilians,” he wrote in the Asahi newspaper.

The nuclear bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 killed at least 140,000 people. Two days later a second nuclear bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing another 74,000.

HayPost will participate in the biggest international philatelic exhibition: World Stamp Show – NY 2016.

World Stamp Show -NY 2016 is a major once-a-decade eight day international philatelic exhibition which will take place May 28 through June 4 in New York, USA.

More than 120 philatelic associations and organizations and over 50 national postal operators from all over the world will take part in the event. HayPost will participate at such a major exhibition for the first time and will present Armenian philately in a strategically situated boot, thus bringing recognition to Armenia and Armenian philately. At the event Armenian stamp issuances from 2013 -2016 will be presented.

In the Framework of the event HayPost will cancel and put into circulation two souvenir sheets dedicated to “World Stamp Show 2016” and “Rio 2016” Olympic Games.

Continuing the innovative philatelic tradition HayPost CJSC has prepared a surprise for the philatelic society. The perforation of the new souvenir sheet is performed in the form of an apple (New York is also commonly known as the Big Apple)

In the Framework of the World Stamp Show a philatelic competition will be organized at which HayPost SJCS will also take part in a philatelic competition organized in the   Framework of the World Stamp Show – NY 2016.

The situation at the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagono Karabakh and Azerbaijan remained calm last night, the NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The rival used  mostly artillery weapons of different calibers as it violated the agreement on ceasefire. Sniper rifles were also used in some directions.

The font divisions of the NKR Defense Army remained committed to the agreement on ceasefire and confidently continued with their military duty.

Lusine Avanesyan
Public Radio of Armenia
Stepanakert

The Last Bell rang in all Artsakh schools today except those in war-affected Talish and Mataghis. Children from the two villages now attend schools in neighboring settlements.

The heroes of the April war, who are only a few years older than today’s graduates, were special guests in all schools.

The soldiers, who protect the border just several kilometers away, congratulated the parents, students and teachers for organizing the graduation ceremony, which symbolizes the return to peaceful life.

For the full report in Armenian click .

 

 

 

Azeri aggression should be stopped, American –Armenian writer, Pulitzer Prize winner Peter Balakian told reporters in Yerevan today.

“The more people are informed about the history of Artsakh, the better the world will perceive the Armenian historic presence there. I hope this will contribute to finding a right diplomatic solution to the Karabakh issue,” the writer said.

By a presidential decree, Peter Balakian has been awarded RA Presidential Prize for Year 2015 for the significant contribution to the process of recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Author Peter Balakian won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for Ozone Journal. Balakian’s Ozone Journal (poems) was published by the University of Chicago Press.

“In the book I’ve tried to present the world it its diversity and explain all that’s happening in the reality surrounding us through an Armenian experience,” Balakian said about the book.

Balakian’s Ozone Journal (poems) was published by the University of Chicago Press. The long poem in Balakian’s new book is a sequel to his acclaimed “A-Train/Ziggurat/Elegy” (2010). While excavating the remains of Armenian Genocide survivors in the Syrian desert with a TV crew, the persona navigates his own memory of New York City in a decade (the 1980’s) of crisis—as AIDS and climate change make a context for his personal struggles and his pursuit of meaning in the face of loss and catastrophe. Whether his poems explore Native American villages of New Mexico, the slums of Nairobi, or the Armenian-Turkish borderland, Balakian’s poems continue to engage the harshness and beauty of contemporary life in a language that is layered, sensual, elliptical, and defined by wired phrases and shifting tempos. Ozone Journal creates inventive lyrical insight in a global age of danger and uncertainty.

 

 

 

The Karabakh issue should be solved through negotiations within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship, Iran’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia Seyyed Kazem Sajjad told reporters today.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has always lived peacefully with its neighbors and has always tried to prevent military actions between the Armenian and Azerbaijani parties,” the Ambassador said.

“The issue should be solved through negotiations within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship,” he said.

Asked about his country’s stance on the perspectives of deployment of peacekeepers at the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, the Ambassador said: “We’ve always called on both parties to show restraint. The issue of peacekeepers depends on the decisions of the leaderships in the two countries.”

Speaking about the perspectives of development of Armenian-Iranian relations after the lifting of sanctions against Iran, Mr. Sajjad said “considerable growth has been registered in the field of tourism, which, in turn, contributes to the organization of reciprocal business visits, cultural exchange and development of economic ties.”

As for the Armenia-Iran railway project, the Ambassador said “Iranian specialists have already been invited to visit Armenia to hold discussions on the issue.”

The Ambassador participated today at an international conference dedicated to poet Saadi Shirazi organized at the initiative of the Yerevan State University. The event has brought together more than 80 participants from Armenia, Georgia and Iran.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will meet with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in early June.

The Minister announced the plans at the National Assembly.

The City of Geneva has authorized the construction of the “Lanterns of Memory” in the Trembley Park, reports.

Although the project was born a decade ago, the Armenian community received the permission to install the street lights in memory of the Armenian Genocide last week.

However, the fight is not yet over. Lawyer and SVP National Councilor Yves Nidegger has confirmed he will file an appeal against the authorization of the project at the request of 14 residents opposed to the construction works.

“The Trembley Park is a green area. Therefore, nothing can be built there, except possibly public interest facilities directly related to the use of the said area. This is not the case here since the applicant is a private association, pursuing private interests,” the lawyer says. The lawyer also highlights the scale of the project. “There are nine monumental candelabra nine meters high and ten meters in diameter. The impact on the park is huge and will change its character.”

Commenting on the decision, project coordinator Stefan Kristensen said he was “confident in the success of the process. This is an important step and we’re very satisfied.” He’s convinced that the motives behind the opposition to the project are primarily political. “It is painful and shocking to see people here to side with the deniers,” he said.

The course of the work was fraught with difficulties. Back in 2014 the Swiss Foreign Ministry recommended not erecting an Armenian genocide memorial in Ariana Park as originally planned.

A deal has been agreed for Jose Mourinho to become Manchester United’s new manager, after three days of talks, the BBC reports.

Negotiations between Mourinho’s agent Jorge Mendes and senior United officials have concluded, although no contract has been signed.

An official announcement from the club is expected on Friday.

The Portuguese will replace Dutchman Louis van Gaal, who was sacked on Monday, two days after United won the FA Cup.