Category: News

Photo: AP

 

European Union leaders and Turkey have finalised a deal to try to halt the mass movement of migrants into Europe, the BBC reports.

European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted there was “unanimous” agreement between Turkey and the 28 EU leaders.

Under the scheme, from midnight Sunday migrants arriving in Greece will be sent back to Turkey if their asylum claim is rejected, EU sources said.

In return, EU countries will resettle thousands of Syrian migrants living in Turkey.

For Turkey, the deal will also bring financial aid and faster EU membership talks.

The Ankara-based bilingual Kurdish- magazine “Rosa” has been banned for its reference to the Armenian Genocide, Akunq.net reports, quoting the Kurdish Rudaw.net website.

The “Rosa” literary magazine is published in Kurdish and Turkish. Its editor-in-chief Mehmet Salih Ersari said the Gaziantep Penal Court of Peace ruled to ban the publishing of the magazine on grounds of “propagandizing a terrorist group.”

Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian met with Foreign Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Karen Mirzoyan today.

During the meeting, Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Artsakh thoroughly discussed issues on the process of peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Edward Nalbandian and Karen Mirzoyan touched upon the cooperation between the MFAs of Armenia and Artsakh, issues of training of the diplomats.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry reacted angrily to the statements made by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan during the latter’s official visit to Athens on Tuesday, saying they are “obsessive and one-sided.”

during the Armenian official’s visit, Tsipras spoke of the Armenian and Pontic-Greek genocide, which form part of the two countries’ common past.

“The statements in question are the products of a pathetic mentality proving that the relations and solidarity between Greece and Armenia is built upon a joint hostility and slander language directed against the Turkish identity,” the spokesperson of the Turkish ministry, Tanju Bilgiç said in a statement.

“Turkey and the Turkish people will never give credit to those bringing to the fore at every opportunity a dictum of history which is unlawful, disconnected with realities, one-sided and obsessive,” it added.

The ministry also said the three officials referred to “historical events during the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire” which contained “grave allegations against Turkey and the Turkish identity.”

 

 

 

The 30-minute program of the Yazidi service of Public Radio of Armenia has always played an important role in helping the Yazidi people preserve their national identity, religion and traditions, but it’s high time to improve the program. The leadership of Public Radio of Armenia intends to update the Yazidi service. Executive Director Arman Saghatelyan met with representatives of the Yazidi community of Armenia today to listen to their opinions and proposals.

A country with a world-spread Diaspora could not stay indifferent towards its own ethnic minorities. With this in mind, the Public Radio of Armenia has given voice to the Yazidi community by airing a 30-minute program every day for 26 years now.

“We’ll try to fill the gaps, by providing listeners with information related to Yazidis of the world, launching discussions on issues of concern featuring Armenian and international experts,” said Gayane Gasparyan, head of the Overseas Service of the Public Radio of Armenia. According to her, the “program will refer to the Yazidi communities all over the world and reflect the problems they face in different countries of the world.

The Azerbaijani side fired more than 600 shots from weapons of different caliber in the direction of Armenian positions last night.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army resorted to targeted retaliatory measures to silence the activeness of the rival.

The NKR Ministry of Defense reports that private of the Defense Army Hovhannes Harutyunyan, born in 1997, was fatally wounded because of violating the rules of use of weapons in one of the military units located in the southern direction of the Defense Army.

Investigation into the details of the incident is under way.

The NKR Defense Army said in a statement it shares the sorrow of the heavy loss and expresses condolences to the families and friends of the soldier.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has been handed a return to Borussia Dortmund, with the Reds facing the German side in the Europa League quarter-finals, the BBC reports.

Klopp, 48, left Dortmund last summer after leading them to two Bundesliga titles and a Champions League final.

Sevilla, trying to win the competition for the third successive season, face Athletic Bilbao in an all-Spanish tie.

La Liga rivals Villarreal meet Czech side Sparta Prague, while Portugal’s Braga face Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine.

The quarter-finals will be played on 7 and 14 April.

Liverpool will travel to Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion in the first leg.

For the eighth time in a row Armenia will observe the Earth Hour on Saturday, March 19. Capital Yerevan, the cities of Abovyan, Armavir, Artashat, Dilijan, Echmiadzin, Gavar, Goris, Hrazdan and Vanadzor, will join the worldwide grassroots movement uniting people to protect the planet organized by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Millions of people across the globe will turn off their lights for 60 minutes on Saturday night starting at 8:30pm local time in a symbolic show of support for “Earth Hour” campaign against climate change. The major monuments will also go dark for an hour.

The event first took place in 2007, when 2.2 million residents of Sydney participated by turning off all non-essential lights. Following Sydney’s lead, many other cities around the world adopted the event in 2008.

Many of the world’s most iconic attractions, including Sydney Opera House, the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower will take part.

Last year more than 150 countries participated in the event which saw some of the world’s most iconic landmarks dim, and this year the movement has spread to Palestine, Tunisia, Suriname and Rwanda.

 

The German outfit comfortably beat a much-changed Spurs side for the second week running, with the striker scoring twice on the night and Heung-min Son adding a consolation, according to Goal.com.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice as Borussia Dortmund eased into the Europa League quarter-finals with an aggregate 5-1 win over Tottenham.

The striker ended any slender hopes Spurs had of overhauling a 3-0 deficit from the first leg when he beat Hugo Lloris from long range in the 24th minute.

Aubameyang took his tally for the season to 35 with a second goal in the 70th minute, with Lloris failing to keep out a powerful drive that deflected into the net off the Frenchman’s right arm.

Neven Subotic’s weak back pass allowed Son Heung-min score, although his effort was no more than a consolation for a Tottenham side who were thoroughly outplayed over the two legs.

A woman who invited US President Barack Obama to her home in Cuba has received a response from the president, as direct mail links between the two countries were restored, thе BBC reports.

Ileana Yarza, 76, wrote to Mr Obama in February, inviting him to have “a cup of Cuban coffee” at her home in Havana.

The president’s letter, thanking Ms Yarza, was dispatched to Cuba on Wednesday.

It was among the first batch of letters to reach Cuba from the US in 50 years.

Direct postal service between the two countries was suspended at the height of the Cold War, meaning mail was re-routed through other countries – usually Mexico or Canada.

Ms Yarza wrote to Mr Obama on 18 February after finding out he would be visiting Cuba in March, telling him: “There are not many Cubans so eager as I to meet you in person.”

The president thanked Ms Yarza for her support, adding that the letter “serves as a reminder of a bright new chapter in the relationship between [their] two nations.”

An American president has not traveled to Cuba in almost 90 years. But on March 20, President Obama will set foot on the island country that’s only 90 miles off the coast of Florida. The visit is a historic milestone after more than a year of progress from the day in December of 2014 when the President first announced he was abandoning a failed, Cold War-era approach to Cuba in favor of a new course to normalize relations.