Representatives of Russian special services and Egyptian law enforcement agencies conduct joint investigation to detect the whereabouts of the terrorist, who exploded the A321 airliner with Russian passengers on board on October 31, 2015, reports.
Russian and Egyptian specialists established the identity of several terrorists, who were directly related to the accident with the Airbus A321 aircraft en route from Sharm el Sheikh to Saint Petersburg.
Special services are currently looking for six people, Â the alleged person among them, who planted the bomb in the cabin of the aircraft.
The bomb was placed in the cabin by an employee of the Egyptian airport. The suspect got employed at the airport shortly before the day of the disaster and then disappeared after the tragedy occurred.
The perpetrator was working at the airport as a loader. He was one of the people who were loading passengers’ luggage onto the airplane and was allowed to go to the airfield.
After the airplane crashed, the loader disappeared from the airport. Security services found out that the suspect went to Turkey.
The largest catastrophe in the history of Russian and Soviet aviation took place on October 31, 2015, when Airbus A321 of Kogalymavia crashed over the Sinai Peninsula killing all 224 on board. The plane was carrying only Russian tourists, who were coming home from holidays in Sharm-el-Sheikh resort.
On November 17, the head of the Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, officially announced that there was a terrorist attack on board the crashed aircraft.
Today, UNDPI Armenia organized an event dedicated to International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.
Flowers and candles were displayed around the memorial as multiple people came and paid their respect towards the victims and the day itself.
Notable people at the event itself included representatives of the Jewish Community, UN Staff including Resident Coordinator Bradley Busetto, along with UNDPI and UNHCR representatives.
The United Nations established an International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust to promote and make aware of the fundamental importance of humanity.
The Football Federation of Armenia has announced its support for UEFA Secretary General Gianni Infantino’s candidacy in the upcoming FIFA presidential elections.
FIFAÂ has confirmed that five candidates will battle for the presidency of football’s world governing body when voting takes place on 26 February.
Those five are Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, Gianni Infantino, Tokyo Sexwale and Jerome Champagne.
The election, prompted by Sepp Blatter’s decision to stand down amid a growing corruption scandal at Fifa, will be held in Zurich.
Blatter has been in charge since 1998.
Sheikh Salman, head of the Asian Football Confederation, and Infantino, the Uefa general secretary, are seen as the frontrunners.
Uefa president Michel Platini was the early favourite to succeed Blatter but was banned from football for eight years by Fifa’s ethics committee.
The Frenchman has taken his case to Fifa’s appeals committee and is expected to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if that fails.
David Babayan, Spokesman for the President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, took to Twitter to comment on today’s vote on two anti-Armenian reports at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
“PACE rejected one anti-Armenian, pro-Azerbaijani and antidemocratic report, but accepted another one. It is not a sign of PACE compromise approach towards Azerbaijan and Armenia. It is a sign of PACE’s week immune system,” David Babayan said.
“Democratic structure should not compromise between democracy and bribery, between values and prices,” the Spokesman said.
Today the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) held a heated debate on two reports on Nagorno-Karabakh: “Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan”, by rapporteur Robert Walter (UK) and “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water,” by rapporteur Milica Marković (Bosnia and Herzegovina). The Parliamentary Assembly the report by Walter and the one by Markovic.
French President Francois Hollande will participate in the annual meeting of the Co-ordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France on January 28, according to the President’s agenda posted on his official website.
CCAF (Co-ordination Council of Armenian organisations of France) is the representative body of the French-Armenian Community. It unites the major political, cultural, educational, religious and social organisations of the Armenian community.
The main objective of the Council is to co-ordinate the intra-community activities, to fight the denialism of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turkish Governement in 1915, to defend the interests of the Armenian community and represent the collective viewpoint on matters of public policy, while serving as liaison between the community and the State bodies.
British Standards Institution (BSI) has given Zvartnots Terminal, located in Yerevan, Armenia Energy Management System ISO 50001 certification emphasizing the company’s firm commitment to continuous improvements in energy efficiency.
The program was launched in 2015 and is intended to provide the energy team with a recognized framework for integrating energy performance into their management practices. It specifies requirements applicable to energy use, measurement, documentation and reporting, design and procurement practices for equipment, systems, that contribute to energy performance. Full commitment from all levels and functions of the organization assured the successful implementation and timely results.
Marcelo Wende, General Manager of AIA said: “We are committed to minimize our energy consumption by maximizing energy efficiency in a continual improvement cycle and to provide a safe and comfortable environment to our passengers and employees”.
“We cannot control energy prices, but we can control how we manage energy. Since the launch of the program we reduced waste, increased efficiency and more importantly were able to develop the culture of continuous improvement within the organization at all levels. I hope that similar efforts are initiated by other organization not only in Armenia but in the region.”
Press Statement by Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian following the 16th meeting of Armenia-EU Cooperation Council
2016-01-18
Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,
In the framework of the 16th session of Armenia-EU Cooperation Council, together with our EU colleagues, we have had extensive discussions on the further development of Armenia – European Union relations, which included such issues as: Political dialogue, negotiations on a new framework agreement between Armenia and the EU, that would adequately reflect the depth and essence of our partnership, mobility, human rights, pace of reforms and others.
2015 was a special year for the Armenia-EU cooperation. We witnessed high level visits, an intense and constructive dialogue with an impressive number of bilateral meetings, simultaneous negotiations on Armenia- EU agreements in various areas.
The Eastern Partnership summit in Riga in May 2015 was a success with Joint Declaration reaffirming our shared vision of the Partnership based on mutual interests and commitments, supporting sustained reform processes in partner countries and highlighting the main directions for the further developing and strengthening of comprehensive cooperation in all areas of mutual interest.
Armenia welcomed the European Neighborhood Policy review process. We highly appreciated the EU initiative to engage the partner countries in this process. We are pleased to note that on 14th December 2015 the EU Council endorsed the principle of differentiation to be applied to the partners, taking into account the progress made in implementation of their commitments and reforms.
We expressed our appreciation to the EU for its continued support and assistance provided to our country over the years which have been instrumental for the effective implementation and sustainability of the reform process and institutional capacity building in Armenia.
Last month’s launch of the negotiations on a new legal framework of Armenia – EU relations was a new threshold in our relations. We hope that the new agreement will reflect the depth and essence of our bilateral relations and set new guidelines for mutually beneficial cooperation.
Based on shared values, Armenia is interested in working with the EU on to the continuous promotion of human rights and rule of law, consolidation of democratic institutions and improvement of judiciary, good governance, fight against corruption, strengthening the civil society. We are thankful to the EU for its valuable support in this regard.
Constitutional reform in Armenia that the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe characterized as of “extremely high quality” and “ in line with international standards”, was approved by the nation-wide referendum last December. It is another important step also aimed at advancing many of the mentioned goals.
Dear Colleagues,
During recent months alongside the deliberations on the legal basis of our relations, the Armenian side has been actively engaged in negotiations with the relevant bodies of the European Commission regarding our participation in a number of EU programs. We are glad to state today that negotiations on Armenia’s participation in the EU Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 are successfully concluded and we expect the Agreement to be signed shortly.
We look forward to develop our cooperation in the transport area as well, in this respect we underlined the importance of timely starting of negotiations on the Common aviation area.
We attach great importance to people to people contacts, and view enhanced mobility of our citizens as an important prerequisite for bringing our societies closer. It is almost two years now that the EU-Armenia Visa Facilitation and Readmission agreements are being implemented. We believe that time has come to move forward towards the Dialogue on Visa liberalization as it is enshrined in Joint Declaration of Eastern Partnership Riga Summit.
I have presented our European colleagues on the worldwide events on Armenian Genocide centennial, which we marked last year. Several thousands commemoration events held on all continents, supported by the four fundamental pillars. Those are remembrance, gratitude, prevention, and revival. These four notions are also deeply symbolic for the commemoration of all other crimes of genocide committed throughout the human history. I have used this opportunity to express our gratitude to the European Parliament, EU countries for their principled position on this issue and expressions of support and sympathy to Armenia.
I also talked about Armenia’s active engagement in efforts of international community on prevention of genocides and crimes against humanity. We thank the EU countries for their support to Armenian initiatives within the UN formats.
I briefed the Council on latest developments related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and in particular on the results of the meeting between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Bern. The agenda of that summit was dictated by the escalation of situation as a result of Azerbaijan’s provocations, gross violations of cease-fire regime. Unfortunately, the relative calmness in the conflict area has ended with resumption of gross violations of cease-fire regime by Azerbaijan.
We also touched upon regional security issues and other topics of international political agenda.
By the time 10,000 Syrian refugees have arrived in the country, Canadians will have fine-tuned their welcome act into a national ritual.
Tuesday was expected to be the day that the 10,000th Syrian refugee arrives in Canada. Two planes carrying 465 refugees were scheduled to arrive at Toronto Pearson International Airport sometime Tuesday, although it’s not known when they will land. Pearson reported some flight cancellations and delays due to snowy weather conditions earlier in the day.
A plane carrying 155 was also bound for Montreal.
When they land, hundreds of volunteers and aid workers will have already arranged shelter, food and clothing for their first night in Canada. Most refugees who land in Toronto will stay at a hotel such as the Toronto Plaza Hotel in North York, where they will find a hot meal and even winter coats.
From there, many will be picked up by volunteer private sponsors who have helped set them up with an apartment and guarantee their financial security for at least one year.
About half of the refugees who have arrived so far have been privately sponsored by groups such as the Armenian Community Centre of Toronto. Since Dec. 10, when the first plane arrived, the centre has accepted more than 700 refugees, says one of the refugee sponsorship organizers, Apkar Mirakian.
It was during that first arrival, Mirakian said, that the refugees started what became a kind of welcome tradition. Instead of bee-lining for the community centre, where they would meet their sponsor family, they headed straight to the adjacent church.
“They wanted to go to the church, because they had to thank God and Canada. God because he gave them an opportunity for living now, and Canada because it gave them an opportunity to live in Canada,” Mirakian said.
Mirakian said that volunteers have been doing everything to make sure the Syrian’s transition to Canadian life is as smooth as possible, but that there are no guarantees.
“I hope there won’t be any regrets, when they don’t find a job or they come into difficulty. We’re trying to keep them — nobody falls through the wire mesh, we’re trying to hold them all together,” Mirakian said.
The biggest obstacles facing refugees right now are finding shelter and work.
“The rest will fall into place, when they’re working and have a place to live.”
Right now, most refugees are spending their first night in Canada at a hotel near the airport. But when vacancies run out — possibly as early as next week — refugees will be headed to Canadian Forces Bases Valcartier, Kingston and Borden.
Space is available for 6,000 people at various bases and facilities throughout Ontario and Quebec, with an additional 7,000 spots also in reserve if needed, the Forces say on their website.
The Red Cross is working with the government to prepare the bases in advance. Chiran Livera, a spokesperson for the organization, said the Red Cross Canada doesn’t expect any refugees to arrive at the military in the next few days, but that they are prepared to welcome them as soon as they are needed.
“We’ve been on the bases for the last couple of weeks now,” Livera said. “We’re ready to go.”
It might not be ideal — escaping war-torn Syria only to spend your first few nights on a military base. But Livera said the facility is well equipped and provides a lot of services, such as private rooms, recreational facilities and internet access.
“In that sense it’s like a little town,” he said. “For sure there will be soldiers there doing their regular work that they normally do, but I think everyone is there to support the refugees and they will receive a very hospitable welcome.”
Approximately 70 Canadian Armed Forces members have returned from Jordan and Lebanon, where they were part of a broader government effort to bring 25,000 Syrians to Canada by the end of next month.
“All it takes is seeing one little one the same age as my daughter — smiling because they are going to Canada,” said Maj. Drew Willis, who was among 68 soldiers who arrived to waiting family members early Tuesday at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown in New Brunswick.
About 150 soldiers remain overseas helping process applications and conduct medical tests on the thousands of Syrians who are still passing through the screening process.
Mirakian, who is of Armenian origin, said that when he immigrated to Canada in 1967 he was overwhelmed by the help that Canadians gave him, and he wants to repay the favour.
“That’s why I want to help, that’s why I’m here. Because I’m a Canadian of Armenian origin and Canada has always taught me to be a different man than the rest of the world,” he said.
President Serzh Sargsyan participated in a New Year and Christmas reception at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today.
Addressing the participants, President Sargsyan summed up the passing year, referred to the achievements, omissions, difficulties and challenges of 2015 and spoke about the plans for and expectations from 2016.
Underlining that 2015 was a memorable year for all Armenians, the President emphasized the role of the Foreign Ministry in the organization of the events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
Serzh Sargsyan also referred to Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union, the start of talks on a new legal document with the European Union, stressing that the realistic decisions on involvement in integration processes will be of great significance from the perspective of Armenia’s further development.
Speaking about the Karabakh conflict settlement, President Sargsyan said he regrets no progress was achieved in the negotiations this year, but added that the process continues and renewed efforts are needed in that direction next year.