The French government plans to extend a state of emergency imposed after the Paris attacks in November to cover the Euro 2016 football tournament, Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said, the BBC reports.
Given the scale of the event, security has to be ensured, he said in a radio interview.
The proposed two-month extension will require parliamentary approval.
The European football competition involves 24 national teams and runs from 10 June to 10 July.
Armenia has improved its media freedom ranking and is currently placed 74th in the 2016 World Press Freedom Index released by the Reporters Without Borders.
Other countries in the region are placed as follows: Russia – 148th, Georgia – 64th, Turkey – 151st, Azerbaijan – 163rd, Iran – 196th.
The 2016 World Press Freedom Index reflects the intensity of the attacks on journalistic freedom and independence by governments, ideologies and private-sector interests during the past year.
Seen as a benchmark throughout the world, the Index ranks 180 countries according to the freedom allowed journalists.
Three north European countries head the rankings. They are Finland (ranked 1st, the position it has held since 2010), Netherlands (2nd, up 2 places) and Norway (3rd, down 1).
At the other end of the scale, Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea, in last place, were the worst performers.
The Index is based on an evaluation of media freedom that measures pluralism, media independence, the quality of the legal framework and the safety of journalists in 180 countries.
The Index is not an indicator of the quality of the journalism in each country, nor does it rank public policies even if governments obviously have a major impact on their country’s ranking.
Prominent musician and political activist, Serj Tankian has composed a special track called “Aurora’s Dream.” The composition will be the theme music for the upcoming inaugural Aurora Prize ceremony to be held in Yerevan, Armenia on April 24, 2016. The Aurora Prize was born of the 100 LIVES initiative, which is rooted in the inspiring stories of courage and survival during the Armenian Genocide one hundred years ago.
Rep. Adam Schiff took to the house floor to present an open letter to President Obama:
I dearly hope, as do millions of Armenians descended from genocide survivors around the world, that he will take this final opportunity as President to speak plainly about the genocide. To say that the Ottoman Empire committed the crime of genocide when it sought to wipe out the Armenians, and very nearly did. That their campaign of extermination nonetheless failed. And that, above all, we will never forget and we will never be intimidated into silence.
Mr. President, there is no higher moral calling than speaking the truth in the face of genocide denial. Please, this year, add your voice to the millions who speak out for those who died in the desert, for the victims of the Armenian Genocide.
The Armenian Genocide Commemorative Committee has released the schedule of events to commemorate the 101st Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in Sydney and Melbourne, the Armenian National Committee of Australia reports.
This year, the National Armenian Genocide Commemoration Evening will be held on Sunday 24th April from 7pm at the Willoughby Concourse Concert Hall, Victoria Avenue, Chatswood. The keynote speaker will be Professor Peter Stanley, Professor at the University of NSW (Canberra).
Statement
by Armenia in Relation to the Seventh Forum of the
United Nations Alliance of Civilisations
In the early hours of April 2, 2016 Azerbaijan unleashed large-scale offensive operations against Nagorno-Karabakh thus violating trilateral agreements of 1994 on cease-fire and of 1995 on the cease-fire consolidation, signed by Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, which do not have time limits. Azerbaijan has violated basic principles of international law, the decisions and declarations adopted by the OSCE Summits and Ministerial Councils, blatantly disregarding the statements of the presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries – the Russian Federation, United States of America and the French Republic, on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution.
From the very beginning of the Azerbaijani offensive the civilian infrastructures and civilian population, including children and the elderly, became intentional and indiscriminate targets. Among the first civilian victims were a 12 year old boy who was killed in front of the school building as a result of a Grad missile attack and two other schoolchildren wounded.
In one of villages in Karabakh three elderly persons, including a 92 year old woman, were brutally tortured, mutilated and killed. Moreover, three captive soldiers of the Nagorno-Karabakh armed forces were beheaded by Azerbaijani armed forces in ISIL style, which was subsequently celebrated in the towns and villages and publicized through social networks. Furthermore, during the exchange of bodies of the deceased between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan carried out through the mediation of the International Committee of Red Cross and the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman in Office, it was registered that the bodies of deceased transferred by the Azerbaijani side had the evidences of severe torture and mutilation.
Those barbaric acts of Azerbaijan, going beyond elementary norms of civilized world constitute violations of core international instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Convention on the Rights of the Child, etc. In this context, it is also imperative to specifically mention the blatant violation by Azerbaijan of Geneva Convention of 1949, which inter alia addresses groups exposed to specific risks, such as children, women and elderly and its additional protocols of 1977, 1989.
Azerbaijan demonstrates its total disregard for international human rights law and international humanitarian law. Persistent violations of human rights inside Azerbaijan, consistent attacks and imprisonment of its civil society representatives, the media and human rights defenders, coupled with the regular dissemination of intolerance and hatred against the Armenian people provides breeding ground for the criminal military adventurism of the Azerbaijani regime.
At the time of the gathering of the Seventh Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan continue to violate the cease-fire, with new human losses. Since the beginning of Azerbaijani aggression and up today as a result of Azerbaijan’s aggression hundreds were killed and wounded, including civilians. This is a manifestation of the absurdity of celebrating more peaceful and socially inclusive world, building mutual respect among peoples of different cultural and religious identities in a country, which is engaged in barbarity and killings a few hundred kilometres away from the venue of the Forum. This is an affront to the image and the integrity of the Alliance.
In this dire situation the convening of the Seventh Forum should have been cancelled in Azerbaijan – a country that grossly violates the very aims, principles, values of the Alliance of Civilizations.
Armenia remains committed to the purposes of the Alliance and remains its Friend. However, given the circumstances. Armenia does not join the consensus on the Declaration of the Seventh Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations. Therefore, in the absence of consensus the Declaration cannot be adopted.
Armenia rejects the Seventh Forum, to be held in Baku, in its entirety, including its outcome.
On April 19, the following text was send to the member states of the United Nations Alliance of Civilization.
At a meeting in Strasbourg PACE President Pedro Agramunt and the Head of the Armenian Delegation to PACE Hermine Naghdalyan discussed the current situation at PACE in the context of debates on Nagorno Karabakh and the perspectives of taking the discussions to a more constructive field.
The Head of the Armenian delegation also pointed to the biased and unilateral wording in the statements of Mr. Agramunt during the recent escalation at the line of contact.
“We have always said that we don’t see the Parliamentary Assembly as a proper podium for consideration of the Karabakh issue but this becomes a necessity under certain circumstances,” Naghdalyan told .
Mrs. Naghdalyan dismissed the reports on sanctions used against the Armenian delegation.
“The question refers to the criticism related to the lack of co-operation of the Armenian parliamentary delegation during the preparation of the report on the Sarsang Reservior during the January session. And the discussions were a follow-up to that report with no legally binding consequences,” the Head of the Armenian delegation said.
She said dissemination of false information does no honor to media outlets and does not benefit the country.
She informed that the Armenian delegates are actively working to present materials and provide true information about the recent developments to colleagues at PACE.
A new documentary about the Armenian Genocide will premiere this week in Glendale, the reports.
“The Other Side of Home,” directed by Naré Mkrtchyan, follows the journey of an Armenian filmmaker and a Turkish woman whose lives have been defined by the genocide, which began more than 100 years ago, according to a news release.
The premiere will be at 8 p.m. Thursday at MGN Five Star Cinema, 128 N. Maryland Ave. It will run through April 28.
“It was important for us to create a documentary that tells a personal story about how this history-altering event affects us still today,” Mkrtchyan said in a statement. “Making this film, I realized that the sad reality is that genocide does not end the moment the killing stops. The effects actually continue and pass from generation to generation.”
The project was produced by Feeln, a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards.
On April 20, at 16.00, in accordance with the arrangement reached between the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan through the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, the Azerbaijani side handed over the body of a deceased serviceman near Bash-Karvend settlement.
has raised the market value of Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
The 27-year-old Armenian international, who currently plays for Borussia Dortmund, now costs €30 million (up from €28 million).
Mkhitaryan moved to Dortmund from Shakhtar Donetsk for €27.5.
The Armenian has scored 21 goals and provided 28 assists in all competitions this season.