Category: News

A massive fire swept through a temple in India’s southern Kerala state on Sunday, killing nearly 100 people and injuring more than 200 who had gathered for a fireworks display to mark the start of the local Hindu new year, Reuters reports.

Thousands of devotees had packed into the Puttingal Devi temple in the coastal district of Kollam. The fireworks display began at midnight and went on for hours.

The fire started when one of the crackers fell onto a shed where the fireworks were stored, said residents near the temple site, about 70 km from the state capital Thiruvananthapuram.

The agreement on ceasefire was mostly respected at the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan last night.

The NKR Ministry of Defense reports that the rival violated the ceasefire in the northern line of the line of contact, opening fire from 82mm mortars and 12 mm D-30 howitzers.

the front divisions of the NKR Defense Army remain committed to the agreement on ceasefire and confidently carry out their tasks.

On April 10th, 2016, Armenians gathered in front of the Azerbaijan’s embassy in Brussels, Belgium, to protest against the military aggression Azerbaijan unleashed against the Armenians in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) from April 2nd to April 5th.

Thousands marched in Yerevan in memory of the soldiers killed along the Nagorno Karabakh line of contact over the past days.

The participants of the March of Silence visited Yerablur Pantheon to pay tribute to the memory of the fallen soldiers.

The Ukrainian Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, has announced he will resign next week, blaming politicians’ failure to enact “real changes,” the BBC reports.

“I am resigning as Prime Minister and I would like to stress with dignity my national liability before the state. I see my competences wider than those of a head of government,” he said in a regular weekly televised address.

Mr Yatsenyuk, in office since former pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in February 2014, said he would inform parliament on Tuesday.

The current President, Petro Poroshenko, asked him to quit in February, saying he had lost support.

His government has been accused of inaction and corruption.

The Armenian and Azerbaijani sides exchanged bodies of those killed in action near the Bash Karvend settlement.

The bodies of eighteen soldiers were handed to the Armenian side, Spokesman for the NKR President David Babayan told Public Radio of Armenia.

The exchange was carried out with the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman–in-Office.

President Serzh Sargsyan had a meeting with Armenia’s first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan at the initiative of the latter.

Th hour-long meeting was dedicated to the recent development along the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, the expected developments in the negotiation process on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and the need for national unity against that challenge.

The meeting took place at Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s home.

Pope Francis will visit Armenia June 24-26 at the invitation of President Serzh Sargsyan and His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, President’s Press Office reports.

On April 9, Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian received OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Igor Popov, James Warlick, Pierre Andrieu and Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office.

The Co-Chairs informed Foreign Minister of Armenia about the meetings they had with the authorities of Artsakh in Stepanakert and the leadership of Azerbaijan in Baku.

Regarding yet another aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan which resulted in numerous human losses, Edward Nalbandian said, “It is clear to everyone that this offensive was pre-planned and prepared well in advance. Baku used against Nagorno-Karabakh its entire offensive military arsenal, acquired over recent years. We had on numerous occasions warned the international community, the Co-Chair countries on what happened. We had alerted that the absence of reaction to the threat of use of force by Baku would result in what we have witnessed these days.”

Edward Nalbandian stressed, that the large-scale military actions unleashed by Azerbaijan have seriously damaged the negotiation process of Nagorno-Karabakh settlement and the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. According to the Minister, urgent steps are required for the stabilization of the situation. The interlocutors exchanged thoughts on the efforts exerted in this direction.

The search for bodies of those killed during clashes along the Nagorno Karabakh line of contact continues with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Field Assistants of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office have also arrived at the scene.

The parties agreed a “period of silence” yesterday to recover the bodies of the dead.

After de-mining works, the ICRC and OSCE representatives approached the buffer zone.

No bodies of Armenians soldiers were found in the buffer zone, the search works continue.