Category: News

Syria’s electricity network is down across the whole of the country for unknown reasons, state media say, the BBC reports.

They cited sources as saying power had been cut in all provinces and teams were trying to determine the cause.

In most parts of war-torn Syria, electricity is already available only two to four hours a day, if at all.

Photo: AP

North Korea has fired several short-range projectiles into the sea, South Korea’s defence ministry said, the BBC reports.

It comes hours after the UN Security Council unanimously voted to impose some of its strongest ever sanctions against North Korea.

A South Korean spokesman told the Yonhap news agency the projectiles were fired at about 10:00 local time (01:00 GMT) from Wonsan on the east coast.

He said they were still trying to determine exactly what was fired.

Yonhap quoted officials as saying all the objects fell into the sea.

The new UN measures are a response to North Korea’s recent nuclear test and satellite launch, both of which violated existing sanctions.

They will result in all cargo going to and from the country being inspected, while 16 new individuals and 12 organisations have been blacklisted.

Issues related to Armenia-NATO relations and perspectives of cooperation were discussed at a conference in Yerevan co-organized by the Armenian Institute of International and Security Affairs, the Armenian Center for National and International Studies with the support of the NATO Office in Tbilisi and the Embassy of Poland in Armenia.

Armenia-NATO relations are seen by many as ‘exceptional,’ as Armenia continues the effective cooperation with the North-Atlantic Council despite being part of a different security bloc.

“Some objective and subjective factors have somehow affected the relations over the past years, but the cooperation continues to develop dynamically,” said Styopa Safaryan, founder of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies.

Poland’s Ambassador to Armenia Jerzy Marek Nowakowski noted that there is will on both sides to implement different programs of cooperation.

“There are broad opportunities for cooperation and the North-Atlantic Alliance is ready to provide necessary assistance for the development of comprehensive relations. The cooperation must not be necessarily military, since the Alliance is not just a security organization, but also a system of values. I’m confident that the deepening of cooperation between Armenia and NATO will continue, since Armenia’s interests ties it to democratic states,” the Ambassador stated.

Political dialogue has always had an important place in the Armenia-NATO relations ever since 1992, said Gagik Hovhannisyan, Head of Foreign Ministry’s NATO Division. He briefed on a number joint programs.

Photo: AFP

An Emirates Airbus A380 jet has made what is believed to be the current longest non-stop scheduled commercial flight by distance, the reports.

The plane covered about 14,200km when it touched down in Auckland, New Zealand on Wednesday.

It was expected to be the world’s longest non-stop commercial flight by duration as well, but landed too early.

The return flight to Dubai left around 22:20 local time (15:20 GMT), according to New Zealand media.

The Auckland-Dubai portion was estimated to take around 17 hours and 15 minutes, but in the end took only 16 hours and 24 minutes, according to the New Zealand Herald.

The new route reportedly reduces the current travel time by three hours.

The inaugural flight was made by an A380, but the route will normally be operated by a Boeing 777-200LR.

Emirates said it expects “high demand” for the new route.

The Georgia State Senate has passed S.R.991,  resolution marking April 2016 as Genocide Prevention and Awareness Month, the Armenian Assembly of America reports.

The full text of the resolution is provided below: 

1 Recognizing the month of April, 2016, as Genocide Prevention and Awareness Month at the

2 Capitol; and for other purposes.

3 WHEREAS, the goal of Genocide Prevention and Awareness Month is to educate the public

4 about the history of previous and contemporary genocides; how to advocate against future

5 genocides; to focus attention on the specter of genocide so that policies, strategies, and

6 programs geared toward combating the evils of genocide can be developed; and to

7 commemorate the victims of genocide; and

8 WHEREAS, during World War II, a Polish lawyer of Jewish decent, Raphael Lemkin,

9 coined the term “genocide” to describe the coordinated plan of actions aimed at the

10 destruction of essential foundations of the life of certain groups with the aim of annihilating

11 a group itself by disintegrating a group’s social institutions, culture, language, national or

12 ethnic identities, religion, and economic existence while also destroying the personal

13 security, liberty, health, and dignity, as well as the lives, of individuals belonging to the

14 group; and

15 WHEREAS, throughout history, numerous genocides originated or stemmed from events that

16 occurred in April, and as a result, many institutions around the world have designated April

17 to be a month of genocide prevention and awareness; and

18 WHEREAS, when coining the term “genocide,” Raphael Lemkin was moved to investigate

19 the forced assimilation, deportation, and near eradication of the Armenian population and

20 other Christian communities, beginning in April, 1915, prompting Adolf Hitler to remark in

21 1939, “Who after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”; and

22 WHEREAS, in April of 1933, the Nazis issued a decree preparing the way for the “Final

23 Solution” defining non-Aryans as “anyone descended from non-Aryan, especially Jewish,

24 parents or grandparents”; and

25 WHEREAS, in 1975, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia, conducting

26 widespread killings of people belonging to specific groups, as well as an involuntary

27 relocation of all city dwellers to the countryside for forced labor in squalid conditions,

28 resulting in famine and starvation which turned the countryside into killing fields; these acts

29 resulted in the deaths of 2 million people; and

30 WHEREAS, the 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo, Srebrenica, and other cities in Bosnia and

31 Herzegovina, which ultimately led to the deaths of more than 200,000 Bosniaks, or Bosnian

32 Muslims; and

33 WHEREAS, the Al-Anfal Campaign (1984-1988), under the leadership of Saddam Hussein,

34 sought to destroy and depopulate the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq and notoriously used

35 chemical weapons to that end, which caused the deaths of over 180,000 Kurds and others,

36 the destruction of more than 4,500 villages (90 percent of villages in the region), and resulted

37 in creating millions of refugees and internally displaced persons; and

38 WHEREAS, in April of 1994, the Rwandan president’s airplane was shot down, which led

39 to the slaying of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus by the Interhamwe over the next three

40 months; and

41 WHEREAS, in April of 2003, the displacement and killing of Darfurians began by the

42 government of Sudan, and led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and the displacement of

43 millions, which continues unabated to this day; and

44 WHEREAS, DAESH, the so-called Islamic State, has forcefully caused the civilian

45 population of the Ezidi-Kurdhish religious minority in Iraq and Syria, beginning in 2014

46 through the present day, to flee from their ancestral towns, villages, and holy sites as a result

47 of forced conversion, killing, kidnapping, and enslaving of their population–particularly

48 women and children. According to their records, this is the 74th genocide throughout that

49 population’s history; and

50 WHEREAS, the Genocide Prevention Task Force released its report on December of 2008

51 to spotlight genocide prevention as a national priority; and

52 WHEREAS, in 2011, the President of the United States declared the prevention of mass

53 atrocities and genocide to be a “core national security interest and core moral responsibility”

54 of the United States and ordered the creation of the Atrocities Prevention Board in 2012; and

16 LC 111 0198

55 WHEREAS, the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust is a state agency whose mission is

56 to use the lessons of the Holocaust to educate the citizens of Georgia on the consequences

57 of unchecked hate and the need for social justice, and to encourage strong moral character

58 and citizenship; and

59 WHEREAS, the Georgia Coalition to Prevent Genocide operates as a proactive group with

60 a mission to develop a permanent antigenocide constituency in Georgia, and it depends on

61 citizen support to engage elected officials at the state and national levels through advocacy

62 and action and by creating awareness within the community; and

63 WHEREAS, it is abundantly fitting and proper to recognize the contributions of the Georgia

64 Coalition to Prevent Genocide, Am Yisrael Chai, Eternal-Life Hemshech of Holocaust

65 Survivors, the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust, the Jewish Community Relations

66 Council of Atlanta, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, the American Jewish

67 Committee (AJC) Atlanta Regional Office, and AJC’s ACCESS Atlanta in their efforts to

68 enhance the security and dignity of minority populations across the globe.

69 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE that the members of this body

70 recognize the month of April, 2016, as Genocide Prevention and Awareness Month at the

71 Capitol and commend the Georgia Coalition to Prevent Genocide for its dedicated efforts in

72 preventing genocide.

73 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate is authorized and directed

74 to make appropriate copies of this resolution available for distribution to the Georgia

75 Coalition to Prevent Genocide.

S.R. 991 was sponsored by State Senators Elena Parent, David Shafer, Renee Unterman, Joshua McKoon, Nan Orrock, and Harold Jones II.

Armenia is placed 116th (up from 123^rd) in the March edition of the FIFA World Ranking.

At the table’s summit Belgium continue to dominate, while Argentina, Spain, Germany and Chile stay closely pressed to the leaders. Four-time world champions Italy (14, plus 1) meanwhile, recorded the only positive movement in the top 20 this month.

The most impressive movers for March were Venezuela and Armenia. The South Americans climbed 6 places and gained 57 points to rise to 75th position, thanks to an impressive 1-0 victory over Costa Rica in Barinas on 2 February.

Armenia, meanwhile, enjoyed the biggest climb of the month (116, up 7).

The State of Georgia has adopted H.R. 1580, resolution recognizing the independence of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

The resolution notes that “the Nagorno Karabakh Republic has a long and storied history, holding a cherished place in the Armenian people’s history and culture.”

The resolution takes note of the fact that  the Nagorno Karabakh Republic declared its independence on December 10, 1991, after a long struggle that in some respects continues to this day, that the persistent demand for self-determination was an inspiration to people of many nationalities in the region, becoming one of the catalysts for the breakup of the former Soviet Union.

The document stresses that through the course of the last two decades, the people of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic have shown tenacity and perseverance in the face of war, massacres, economic deprivation, and other tremendous hardships; and for more than 20 years, the Nagorno Karabakh Republic has stayed true and faithful to its citizens by remaining independent while working to bring change and stability to the Caucasus region and by holding free and fair elections and referendums that were widely declared as a model for the region.”

“International observers, including the United States, have assessed the May 3, 2015, Parliamentary Elections in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic as free and transparent,” the document reads.

Therefore, members of the House of Representatives honor the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and its citizens; recognize the sacrifices, dedication, and resolve shown by the people of the republic in the face of extreme adversity; extend best wishes for peace, prosperity, and continuing success; and encourage the international community to give appropriate recognition to the Nagorno Karabakh Republic as a free, independent, and sovereign democracy.

The Swedish Royal Court says that Crown Princess Victoria has given birth to a son, her second child, the Associated Press reports.

The court says the baby boy was born at the Karolinska University Hospital in the Swedish capital at 8:28 p.m. (1928 GMT) Tuesday. Both mother and child are well, the court said, adding that Victoria’s husband, Prince Daniel, was at the hospital during the entire birth.

The royal baby is third in line to the thrown after his mother and elder sister, Princess Estelle.

Victoria’s father, King Carl XVI Gustaf, has been the monach since 1973. His duties are largely ceremonial in the Scandinavian country, a constitutional monarchy.

Garo Paylan, a member of Parliament of Armenian descent who belongs to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), gave a speech and showed some photos in the Turkish general assembly on Thursday, Today’s Zaman reports.

The photos showed some of the graffiti that had been daubed on the ruined walls of southeastern villages during the recent curfews. The words “Armenian bastards” could be clearly seen on the photos and the situation has triggered a serious racism debate in Turkey.

Paylan first showed the photos and then stated that the situation is in itself a crime. He said this crime was committed not only by the security forces but also by the prime minister.

Last week Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was in Bingol and said “the Armenian gangs cooperated with the Russians during World War I”.

Paylan wisely asked in Parliament whether it would be fair for him to say “Turkish gangs” about the Turks and Kurds who sometimes join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)? Lastly, he asked “what kind of racism is it?”, drawing a thunderous commotion in Parliament from Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputies.