Barcelona broke a 27-year old Spanish record by going 35 games unbeaten in all competitions with a 5-1 thrashing of nine-man Rayo Vallecano.
Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick – his 35th – as the hosts fell apart after Ivan Rakitic’s opener.
Diego Llorente and Manuel Iturra were both dismissed for Rayo, whose only goal was scored by Manucho.
Luis Suarez also had a penalty saved before Arda Turan completed the rout to move Barcelona eight points clear.
This season’s Greek Cup has been cancelled by the government after the semi-final first leg between PAOK Salonika and Olympiakos was abandoned because of crowd violence, the BBC reports.
PAOK fans threw flares and clashed with riot police after their team was denied a penalty with Olympiakos leading 2-1.
Greece’s deputy minister for sport Stavros Kontonis recommended the suspension of all competitive football.
But the Super League and other professional leagues will continue.
Charles Aznavour has responded to photographer Hayk Barseghyan’s call to raise funds for the homeless families in Gyumri.
Aznavour shared Barseghyan’s video on his Facebook page and added the following inscription: “27 years after the terrible earthquake in Armenia that left 25 000 dead, thousands of families are still homeless and hopeless in what is now the second largest city of the independent Republic of Armenia: Gyumri! This program is meant to help the most disadvantaged families.”
US President Barack Obama will host and convene the Fourth Nuclear Security Summit beginning on March 31 at the Washington Convention Center. Among the scheduled attendees are two leaders who rarely get together because their nations have been at loggerheads for decades.
“While it is important for world leaders to agree on how best to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of rogue nations or terrorist groups, the presence of Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia offers a rare yet historic moment for President Obama to take the lead in solving one of the most troublesome conflicts left from the break-up off the Soviet Empire,” S. Rob Sobhani writes in an article publsed by the Washington Times.
According to the author, President Obama may well be in a position to craft a breakthrough while the two leaders are in Washington that could create a new beginning for the people of Armenia and Azerbaijan by leading a robust diplomatic initiative to find a permanent solution fair to both sides.
“Mr. Obama needs to persuade the presidents of both Armenia and Azerbaijan that the United States won’t turn its back on them and that a workable solution can satisfy both nations, allow their citizens to live in peace and allow them to at long last develop the trust to be good and cooperative neighbors in a troubled region of the world,” the article reads.
Seventeen magnitude 0.5-1.4 earthquakes hit Armenia between 07:03 and 09:24 a.m. today, the National Survey for Seismic Protection reports.
The quakes measured 1-2 at the epicenter (10 km southwest of Gavar), according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
Asbarez – On Tuesday night, undergraduate student government bodies at both the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) overwhelmingly voted to divest over $74 million dollars of University of California bonds and investments in the Republic of Turkey for its continuous denial and perpetuation of the Armenian Genocide. UCSD and UCSB, within an hour of one another, became the seventh and eighth UC campuses to pass this resolution, respectively.
“Genocide and genocide denial go way past murder- it is a heinous act that aims to degrade an experience of a whole people and ethnicity,” remarked Seda Byurat, chairperson of the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee (AGCC) at UCSD, during her presentation to the Associated Students government body.
The resolution at UCSD, titled “A Resolution to Divest from the Republic of Turkey to End the Perpetuation of the Armenian Genocide,” passed with a unanimous vote of 25-0-0 at the Price Forum Center at around 7:45 PM. It was presented and lobbied for by the UCSD AGCC and received overwhelming support from official UCSD student organizations. Student organization co-sponsors at UCSD included the Asian Pacific Islander Student Alliance, Black Student Union, Kaibigang Pilipin@, Movimiento Estudiantiol Chican@ de Aztlan, Muslim Student Association, Native American Student Alliance, Queer People of Color, Students with Disabilities Coalition, and Multicultural Greek Council.
The resolution at UCSB passed with an overwhelming 21-0-1 vote at the Flying A Studio of the University Center at around 8:25 p.m., and was presented and lobbied for by the UCSB ASA and Armenian students on campus.
“We need to act as Armenian diasporans and use the resources that we have as college students to do something. It is our duty as diasporans to fight for our global Armenian community,” said Sose Abraamyan, vice-president of UCSB’s Armenian Students’ Association. “I’m so proud of our divestment team at UCSB but also the Armenian Youth Federation and All-Armenian Student Association for giving us this opportunity.”
These resolutions are part of a larger initiative called #DivestTurkey, which calls on all institutions to divest from the Republic of Turkey until Armenian genocide justice is realized, which is spearheaded by the Armenian Youth Federation Western United States (AYF), which is a grassroots community organization dedicated to social justice and empowerment of youth, the All-Armenian Student Association, campus Armenian Students’ Associations (ASAs), and other local activists.
AYF Central Executive chairperson Gev Iskajyan stated, “The #DivestTurkey initiative began in order to connect and provide resources for university students and activists on campuses across America to divest all holdings in the Republic of Turkey’s government until reparations for the Armenian genocide are met and until genocide is no longer a profitable venture.”
Within 13 months, undergraduate student government bodies at UC Los Angeles, Berkeley, Irvine, Davis, Riverside, Santa Cruz, San Diego, and Santa Barbara, and the UC Student Association, the official voice of over 240,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, have passed official resolutions calling on the UC to divest all financial holdings in the Republic of Turkey immediately and refrain from making any further investments in the Republic of Turkey in order to remove the UC’s complicity in the perpetuation of the Armenian Genocide.
“The AYF plans to continue building on the momentum of the #DivestTurkey initiative, working with colleges and universities in order to introduce similar resolutions in the coming weeks and months,” confirmed Iskajyan.
lists Armenia’s capital Yerevan among Europe’s 16 oldest continually inhabited cities.
While many of the world’s oldest cities, settled around the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East, are off-limits to travellers at present, Europe’s most ancient settlements are very much open to visitors.
The Telegraph reminds that Some 30 years before Rome was founded, the city that is now Armenia’s capital was serving as an important stop along the caravan routes from Asia to Europe.”
“It was invaded by Assyrians, Romans, Byzantines, Persians, Arabs, Seljuks, Mongols and Turks, and later by the Soviet Red Army in 1920. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the capital of the Republic of Armenia has seen the growth of cultural institutions (it is home to a bewildering number of museums). Tourism is also developing slowly – a handful operators currently offer guided trips to the country.”
Other cities in the list include: Zadar, Croatia; Mtskheta, Georgia; Cádiz, Spain; Mytilene, Lesbos, Greece; Lisbon, Portugal; Chalcis, Greece; Larnaca, Cyprus; Kutaisi, Georgia; Thebes, Greece; Trikala, Greece; Patra, Greece; Chania, Crete; Plovdiv, Bulgaria; Athens, Greece; Argos, Greece.
An exhibition titled “Armenia: The legend of existence” will be on display at the State Historical Museum of Moscow from March 11 to June 13.
More than 160 unique items from the three leading museums in Armenia – the History Museum, the Museum of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and the Matenadaran Institute of Ancient Manuscripts – will be showcased.
The exhibition will provide the visitors with an opportunity to learn about the centuries-long history of Armenia, its multifaceted cultural traditions.
On February 3, the City Council of the Brazilian city of Franco da Rocha unanimously adopted a decision on declaring Stepanakert and Franco da Rocha twin cities, with the aim of establishing friendly relations between them.
It is noted in the decision that it will serve as a basis for the implementation of various programs and agreements, which will promote the establishment of cooperation between the cities in social, economic, and cultural spheres.
The decision also provides for an exchange of information between the cities in the spheres of culture, tourism and sports.
The draft decision was introduced by member of the City Council Antonio Lopes da Silva and endorsed by Mayor Francisco Daniel Celeguim de Morais.
Municipality of Franco da Rocha is situated in the State of Sao Paolo and has a population of about 145.000.
President Serzh Sargsyan received today the Head of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office in Yerevan Ambassador Andrey Sorokin who is concluding his mission in our country.
The President thanked Ambassador Sorokin for his active work throughout his tenure in office and noted with satisfaction that under his leadership the OSCE Office in Yerevan in recent years worked efficiently and implemented many programs in different areas.
“Please be assured that you leave in Yerevan not only your accomplishments but also people who highly value your work as well as you human qualities. I wish you success in your future endeavors and in personal life,” said President Sargsyan and expressed hope that the new head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan will display the same vigor and readiness for cooperation, further strengthening relations between Armenia and the OSCE Office in Yerevan.
Andrey Sorokin thanked the President of Armenia for warm words and good wishes as well as for the trust and efficient cooperation of the Armenian state bodies with the OSCE Office throughout his tenure in Yerevan. He noted proudly that thanks to the programs implemented in recent years, strong foundation and excellent prerequisites have been established for the future close cooperation between Armenia and OSCE Office in Yerevan and implementation of new programs in a number of areas.