Category: News

Asbarez – Award winning pianist Sergei Babayan will perform in recital as part of the Philip Lorenz Memorial Keyboard Concert Series at Fresno State. The performance will take place at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 9 in the Concert Hall on the Fresno State campus.

The concert is co-sponsored by the Armenian Studies Program of Fresno State. Babayan will be performing works by Schumann, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and Brahms.

Acclaimed for the immediacy, sensitivity, and depth of his interpretations, Babayan’s performances reveal an emotional intensity and bold energy, equipping him to excel in repertoire ranging from Rameau to Ligeti. Winner of the 1989 Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition in Cleveland, this Armenian pianist returns to Fresno for another display of his “unequaled touch, perfectly harmonious phrasing and breathtaking virtuosity” (Le Figaro, Paris).

One of the most charismatic personalities on today’s concert stage, Babayan’s vibrantly expressive performances have spirited audience acclaim worldwide. Ever since his arrival in the United States, on his first trip outside of the Soviet Union in 1989, his breathtaking virtuosity and a wide- ranging tonal palette have brought him critical praise and accolades.

Babayan was born in Armenia to a musical family and started to play the piano at the age of three. He began his musical studies at the age of six under Luisa Markaryan and later with George Saradjev. He continued his studies at nineteen with Mikhail Pletnev at the Moscow Conservatory and completed post-graduate work there in 1989 as a student of Professor Vera Gornostaeva. He also studied privately with Lev Naumov in Moscow.

After making his New York recital debut in 1990 at Alice Tully Hall to great critical acclaim, Babayan embarked on a busy schedule that has included solo appearances with The Cleveland Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Osaka Symphony, among others.

General tickets for the Concert are available for $25 per person, for seniors tickets are $18, and tickets for students are $5.00 per person. Ticket reservations for the concert may be made by calling 559-278-2337.

Parking will be available in Lot P1 (Shaw and Maple entrance to campus). For more information please contact the Armenian Studies Program at 278-2669 or visit fresnostate.edu/armenianstudies.

The Concert is supported by The Thomas A. Kooyumjian Family Foundation, The Ararat Foundation of Alexandria, Virginia, Grace Jelalian Shahinian Armenian Concerts Fund, and the Leon S. Peters Foundation.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed a US-Russia agreement over a truce deal in Syria and urged all sides to stick to the peace deal to reportedly take effect on February 27.

The cessation of hostilities is meant to be “a first step towards a more durable ceasefire,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Monday about the agreement, which is meant to take effect on February 27.

“The Secretary-General strongly urges the parties to abide by the terms of the agreement,” he said.

Ban said the truce that was announced Monday “contributes to creating an environment conducive for the resumption of political negotiations,” which had been scheduled to resume this week.

U.S. chocolate maker Mars Inc announced a recall of Mars and Snickers bars as well as some other products in Germany on Tuesday after bits of plastic were found in one of its products, Reuters reports.

“We want to avoid having consumers who bought one of the (affected) products consume them,” Mars said in a statement on its German website.

It said the recall affected all Mars and Snickers products, Milky Way Minis and Miniatures as well as certain kinds of Celebrations confectionery boxes with best-before dates ranging from June 19, 2016 to Jan. 8, 2017.

It did say what the total volume of the affected products was or what financial impact the recall would have.

The German offices of privately held Mars were not available for immediate comment.

With a vote of 96 to 7 the National Assembly elected Deputy Justice Minister Arman Tatoyan as Human Rights Defender.

In compliance with the new constitutional changes, his candidacy was proposed by the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs.

According to the Constitution, the Human Rights Defender is elected by 3/5^th of the total number of MPs.

 – Monday was a day of celebration, laughter, good food and poignant memories.

The Kardashian-Jenner family gathered together for a sit-down Armenian-style dinner to commemorate what would have been the late Robert Kardashian’s 72nd birthday.

And everyone, from Kris to Kylie, made sure their social media followers were keeping up as they posted details from the elaborate affair.

The 60-year-old family matriarch hosted the dinner on the cabana of her Calabasas, California mansion with her daughters Kim, Kourtney, Khloe, Kendall and Kylie helping to make it the special occasion it deserved.

Even Kris’ boyfriend Corey Gamble was among the celebrants.

Kim went around the table with her video camera, commenting on all the exquisite dishes.

The sumptuous buffet spread included such traditional dishes as stuffed vine leaves, hummus and pita bread, bulgur wheat and rice dishes, Armenian string cheese and baklava (pakhlava) pastry.

Kris set out her fine china – white with a delicate grey border design – and gleaming silverware, cloth napkins and chic wine goblets.

Squat white candles were placed down the center of the stone table and comfy pillows were planted on the backs of some of the chairs.

Photo: Getty Images

 

A memoir apparently written by a Canadian serial killer has been withdrawn within hours of appearing for sale online, the BC reorts.

Former multi-millionaire pig farmer Robert Pickton was convicted in 2007 of murdering six women. Charges relating to 20 other deaths were suspended.

Another inmate helped him smuggle the book out of prison, CTV reported.

The publisher requested its removal from retailer Amazon and apologised to victims’ families, reports said.

Officials in British Columbia had earlier vowed to prevent Pickton, who says he is innocent, from profiting from sales of the memoir, entitled Pickton: In His Own Words.

“It is not right that a person who caused so much harm and hurt so many people could profit from his behaviour,” said the province’s Minister for Public Safety, Mike Morris, in a statement.

British Columbian officials also asked Amazon to stop selling the memoir, which was published by Colorado-based Outskirts Press, a firm that specialises in helping authors self-publish books.

Amazon users had also called for it to be removed and gave it the lowest possible rating. The company has not yet commented on the book’s appearance on its site.

Cargo shipments of the rechargeable lithium batteries used in countless consumer products should no longer be allowed on passenger planes because they can create intense fires capable of destroying an aircraft, a U.N. aviation agency has concluded, the Associated Press reports.

The decision late Monday by the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization’s top-level governing council to ban the shipments isn’t binding, but most countries follow the agency’s standards. The ban is effective on April 1.

“This interim prohibition will continue to be in force as separate work continues through ICAO on a new lithium battery packaging performance standard, currently expected by 2018,” said Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, the ICAO council’s president.

Lithium-ion batteries are used in a vast array of products from cellphones and laptops to some electric cars. About 5.4 billion lithium-ion cells were manufactured worldwide in 2014. A battery is made up of two or more cells. A majority of batteries are transported on cargo ships, but about 30 percent are shipped by air.

The ban doesn’t apply to batteries packaged inside equipment like a laptop with a battery inside, for example.

PRBA – The Rechargeable Battery Association, which opposed the ban, said in a statement that the industry is preparing to comply with the ban, but there may be “significant disruption in the logistics supply chain,” especially for batteries used in medical devices.

Photo: Reuters

 

The Syrian government and the main opposition umbrella groups say they accept the terms of a deal to cease hostilities from Saturday, the BBC reports.

The government said it would halt “combat operations” in line with the plan announced by the US and Russia.

But the opposition said its acceptance depended on government forces ending sieges and air strikes of civilians.

The deal will not apply to the two main jihadist groups in Syria, Islamic State (IS) and the rival al-Nusra Front.

Al-Nusra is an affiliate of al-Qaeda and forms part of a major rebel alliance.

Under the terms of the agreement announced by the US and Russia on Monday, the Syrian government and opposition were required to indicate by noon on Friday whether they would comply with the cessation of hostilities.

Armenian Minister of Finance Gagik Khachatryan and World Bank’s Regional Director for the South Caucasus Mercy Tembon signed a loan agreement today, under which the World Bank will provide Armenia with a loan of $55 mln with a 25 year maturity period, of which 14.5 mln will be soft loan.

The “Local Economy and Infrastructure Development Programme” loan agreement signed with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) envisages improvement of infrastructure and institutional capacities in Ararat, Vayots Dzor and Lori provinces, thus boosting the development of tourism in the regions.

Photo: Getty Images

 

Vienna is the world’s best city to live in; Baghdad is the worst, and London, Paris and New York do not even make it into the top 35, according to international research into quality of life.

German-speaking cities dominate the rankings in the study, with Vienna joined by Zurich, Munich, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt in the top seven.

Paris has tumbled down the league, falling 10 places to 37th, just ahead of London at 39th, almost entirely because of the city’s vulnerability to terrorist attacks.

US cities perform relatively poorly in the study, largely because of issues around personal safety and crime. The highest ranking city in the US is San Francisco, at 28th; Boston is 34th. Canadian cities, led by Toronto, far outrank their US rivals in the table.

Armenia’s capital Yerevan is ranked 182nd among 230 cities. The list includes two Russian cities –Moscow and Saint Petersburg, ranked 167th and 174th respectively. Georgia’s capital Tbilisi is 188th, Azerbaijan’s Baku is placed 197th. Istanbul (122^nd) is the only Turkish city included in the ranking.

The capital cities of Armenia’s partners in the Eurasian Economic Union are placed as follows:  Minsk – 190th, Almaty – 176th, Bishkek – 210^th.

The study examined social and economic conditions, health, education, housing and the environment, and is used by big companies to assess where they should locate and how much they should pay staff.