Category: News

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US scientists have urged the World Health Organisation to take urgent action over the Zika virus, which they say has “explosive pandemic potential,” the BBC reports.

Writing in a US medical journal, they called on the WHO to heed lessons from the Ebola outbreak and convene an emergency committee of disease experts.

They said a vaccine might be ready for testing in two years but it could be a decade before it is publicly available.

Zika, linked to shrunken brains in children, has caused panic in Brazil.

Thousands of people have been infected there and it has spread to some 20 countries.

The Brazilian President, Dilma Roussef, has urged Latin America to unite in combating the virus.

A deputy foreign minister of Armenia hails the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly’s (PACE) decision to reject Robert Walter’s anti-Armenian report on Nagorno-Karabakh.

Speaking to , Shavarsh Kocharyan said he believes that an effective solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict would be possible only in case of the PACE’s consistent approach to the issue.
The official said he regrets that the same attitude was not shown to the Bosninan delegate’s report regarding Nagorno-Karabak’s Sarsang reservoir.

“The foreign minister has repeatedly stated that any attempt to change the negotiations’ format or move the discussions to another platform could frustrate the process, undermining the peaceful settlement efforts. The same opinion is backed by the countries co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group,” he added.

The Assembly, which is holding its Winter Session in Strasburg from January 25 to 29, rejected Robert Walter’s report, “Escalation of Violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and Other Occupied Territories of Azerbaijan”, with a vote of 66/70 at its plenary session on Tuesday.

Melica Markovic’s report, “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water”, was accepted with a vote of 98 “for” and 71 “against”.

Photo: Getty Images

 

Social media giant Facebook said that profits more than doubled in the fourth quarter of 2015, the BBC reports.

Net profit for the three months to December rose to $1.56bn, up from $701m.

The company also said that 80% of its advertising revenue in that period came from mobile advertising, up from 69% a year earlier.

Shares jumped 8.7% in after-hours trading in New York on the better than expected results.

Revenue for the full year jumped 44% to $17.9bn, with net profit rising about $800m to $3.7bn.

The results mean that Facebook has now beaten analysts’ expectations for ten consecutive quarters.

 

From the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, our sacred sanctuary established by Christ, We extend Our Pontifical blessings and congratulations to the brave officers and soldiers of the Armenian Armed Forces, and all Armenians throughout the world on the occasion of Armed Forces Day.

The formation of the Armenian Army is a great achievement of our independent state which is the result of the struggle, love and devotion of our brave soldiers for the Homeland.

Today, through the feats of our soldiers and commanders; and sometimes by sacrificing their lives, the borders of our country are intact and protected. The valiant spirit of the Armenian soldier gives encouragement to our people, guiding us to serve to our Homeland with devotion, zeal and love for each other.

In front of the Holy Altar, we pray that our Heavenly Lord blesses and keeps all the soldiers and commanders victorious.

And may the grace, love and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us. Amen

Reuters – There have been 13 popes named Leo in the history of the Roman Catholic Church but perhaps none of them was as famous as the Leo who entered the Vatican on Thursday – Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio.

DiCaprio, who is known as Leo, was received by Pope Francis, the Vatican said, without giving details.

But the one-line announcement was enough to send photographers and television crews scrambling to stake out the Vatican’s gates to try to catch him coming out.

Footage issued later from Vatican television showed that the audience was connected to their mutual concern about the environment and climate change.

DiCaprio, speaking Italian, thanked the pope for receiving him and then, switching to English, gave him a book of paintings by 16th century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch.

Pointing to one painting, DiCaprio told the pope it had hung over his bed as a boy and said “through my child’s eyes it represented our planet.”

“It represents to me the promise of the future and enlightenment and it is representational of your view here as well,” he said. He later gave the pope a check for an undisclosed sum which appeared to be a donation for papal charities.

Last week, the 41-year-old Oscar nominee was honored at the 22nd Annual Crystal Awards held at the World Economic Forum in Davos for his foundation’s support of conservation and sustainability projects.

The pope wrote a major Catholic Church document known as an encyclical last year in defense of the environment and has often said that time was running out for mankind to save the planet from the potentially devastating effects of global warming.

The pope gave DiCaprio a copy of his encyclical and asked the actor to pray for him.

Photo: DHA 

The Executive Committee of the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies (H.R. Network) issued a statement endorsed by 28 Nobel laureates in support of Turkish academics who have come under fire for signing a petition calling for an end to military operations in southeast Turkey, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

In a statement released on Jan. 19, the committee, which uses the international stature of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to advocate in support of non-violent academics, said it was “alarmed” by the increasingly “repressive and inflammatory” reactions of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government against opposition voices.

The H.R. Network expressed concern that “intolerant individuals” and university officials who have joined government officials in accusing the academics, “solely because they publicly expressed humanitarian concerns about the grave crisis in southeastern Turkey.”

“We condemn any threats, false accusations, and incitement to violence against our colleagues by the government of Turkey,” it said, while reminding the government of its obligation under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to ensure that its citizens are free to hold and disseminate their opinions.

“Surely, citizens of a democratic country such as Turkey, and its academics in particular, have a civic duty to remind their government, when deemed necessary, of its obligation to respect Turkey’s constitution, adhere to humanitarian standards for all of its citizens, and give priority to peaceful solutions in crisis situations,” the statement added.

Just a day after the committee’s statement, on Jan. 20, the European University Association (EUA) also published a press release expressing “deep concern” over the treatment of Turkish academics.

“The EUA would also like to underline that, irrespective of the content of the petition, freedom of expression is a core university value and a sine qua non of democratic societies,” the statement said, adding that the Turkish government and the country’s Higher Education Council (YOK) should respect freedom of expression.

The association added that it was “dismayed” by the detention of signatory academics at Kocaeli University, which is itself an EUA member.

Universities and prosecutor’s offices across Turkey have launched investigations into many of the 1,128 local and international academics and intellectuals who signed the petition titled “We Will not be a Party to this Crime,” arguing that the petition went beyond the limits of academic freedoms.

The investigations and detentions came soon after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan slammed the petition’s signatories, stating that human rights violations in the southeast are being committed by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants and not the Turkish state.

Photo: Reuters

On January 27, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received Herbert Salber, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia.

During the meeting the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation process was discussed. Minister Nalbandian briefed Herbert Salber on the results of the meeting between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan held last month in Bern.

Herbert Salber reaffirmed the support of the European Union to the efforts of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs aimed at an exclusively peaceful settlement of the issue.

The sides reflected on Armenia-EU cooperation, exchanged thoughts on the results of the 16th session of Armenia-EU Cooperation Council.

Armenia’s Foreign Minister and the EU Special Representative touched upon developments unfolding in the states and regions adjacent to the South Caucasus.

The Governments of Azerbaijan and Hungary have been asked by the European Court of Human Rights to respond formally to a case brought by the relatives of Armenian army officer Gurgen Margaryan, who was murdered by Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov in Budapest in 2004. Mr Margaryan’s relatives are represented by (based in Middlesex University), (Armenian NGO) and Nazeli Vardanyan, reports the 

Both men were attending a NATO-sponsored English-language course in Budapest. On 19 February 2004 Safarov murdered Mr Margaryan by decapitating him with an axe. In April 2006 Safarov was found guilty of murder by the Budapest City Court, and was sentenced to life imprisonment, with the possibility of conditional release after 30 years. The court found that Safarov had intended to kill two Armenian participants at the course on the anniversary of the beginning of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. After the Court of Appeal upheld this judgment in February 2007, Safarov began serving his sentence in a Hungarian prison.

In August 2012 the Hungarian Minister of Justice approved Safarov’s transfer to Azerbaijan with a view to his serving his sentence there (under the ). However, a few hours after Safarov was transferred on 31 August 2012, he was granted a pardon by the Azerbaijani President and set free. He was also promoted to major, awarded eight years’ salary arrears and offered a flat.

In a report published in December 2012, the Hungarian Ombudsman criticised the Hungarian Government for approving the transfer before any assurances about the treatment of Safarov had been received from the Azerbaijani authorities.

The victim’s family argue that Gurgen Margaryan’s right to life (Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights) has been violated by Azerbaijan – both because of his murder, and also because Ramil Safarov’s pardon has prevented the full enforcement of his sentence. They also argue that Mr Margaryan was the victim of an ethnically-motivated hate crime, which was later endorsed by Safarov’s pardon and release (in breach of Article 14 together with Article 2 of the Convention). In addition, they argue that Hungary has breached Article 2 of the Convention because it allowed Safarov to be transferred to Azerbaijan, without having obtained assurances that he would be required to complete his prison sentence in Azerbaijan.

The case is also brought by Hayk Makuchyan, an Armenian military officer whom Ramil Safarov was convicted of intending to murder during the same incident in Budapest.

Both governments are required to lodge their responses with the Strasbourg Court by May. The Court has also invited the Armenian Government to submit its comments, given Mr Margaryan’s nationality.

On 26 January 2016 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe  not to adopt a resolution on “Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan”, based on a report by the British former member of the Assembly, Robert Walter. The draft resolution (which called on Armenia to withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the Minsk process) was rejected by 70 votes against, 66 in favour and 45 abstentions.

On 16 June 2015, the Grand Chamber of the European Court found that both  and had violated the European Convention rights of civilian victims of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as they have been prevented from returning to their homes and land which they lost in the early 1990s. The Court has required the Governments to set up property restitution mechanisms for the victims of the conflict. The cases are discussed by Philip Leach in his blog . The implementation of the judgments will be considered by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in June 2016.

In December 2015, Thorbjørn Jagland, the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, opened an into Azerbaijan’s implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights (under Article 52 of the Convention).