Author: Ani Basmajian

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will visit Warsaw on April 12 to attend the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of participating states of the Visegrad group and Eastern Partnership.

Photo: DSNS

 

Some 20,000 people are being evacuated after a series of explosions at a massive arms depot in eastern Ukraine described by officials as sabotage, the BBC reports.

The base in Balakliya, near Kharkiv, is used to store thousands of tonnes of ammunition including missiles and artillery weapons.

Rescue teams are overseeing a huge evacuation effort for people living in the city and nearby villages.

The total area of the dump spans more than 350 hectares, the military says.

Sabotage was said to be the cause of explosions followed by fire at an ammunition depot in the city of Balakliia in Ukraine’s Kharkiv Region, causing their detonation, the country’s military prosecutor said Thursday, according to Sputnik.

“As a result of sabotage, an explosion occurred (fire broke out) at 03:02 a.m. [01:02 GMT] at several rocket and artillery weapons storage sites (125 and 152 mm tank and artillery shells), which caused the detonation of ammunition,” Anatolii Matios wrote on his Facebook page.

Photo: EPA    

Lawyer Amal Clooney has urged the UN to act against so-called Islamic State by backing a UK-led investigation into the group’s atrocities in Iraq, the BBC reports.

Speaking at the UN, Mrs Clooney said IS had declared it will “destroy” the country’s Yazidi ethnic group through murder, rape and forced conversions.

The British-Lebanese human rights lawyer said IS was also attacking Christians, and Shia and Sunni Muslims.

Mrs Clooney, who is based in London, accused the UN of “inaction”.

She said: “The UN was created as the world’s way of saying ‘never again’ to the genocide perpetrated by the Nazis.

“And yet here we are, 70 years later, discussing the UN’s inaction in the face of a genocide that we all know about, and that is ongoing.”

The UK is drafting a Security Council resolution to establish a UN investigation, but Mrs Clooney said the Iraqi government needs to send a letter formally requesting the inquiry before the 15-member council can vote.

Russia will help Baku and Yerevan reach mutually acceptable solutions to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday after talks with his visiting Azerbaijani counterpart, Elmar Mamedyarov.

“Naturally, we spoke about the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement. Russia will continue to help the sides reach mutually acceptable solutions both in its bilateral relations with Baku and Yerevan and in the formal of trilateral meetings between Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, and, of course, in its capacity as Minsk Group Co-Chair,” he said.

“We believe the Karabakh conflict can be solved,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a joint press conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov.

He said the opinion is reinforced by the “results of long-term contacts, as a result of which common ground has been reached on a number of key issues of conflict settlement – security, humanitarian issue, return of territories surrounding Nagorno Karabakh, determination of the status of Nagorno Karabakh (with the opinion living there taken into consideration), defining the parameters of international peacekeeping forces, etc.”

Lavrov said there is understanding on a number of asepcts of final settlement and added that “two or three key issues are still being discussed. “We are far from the point where we can see the parties develop a common approach towards the remaining issues,” he said.

The Russian Foreign Minister underlined that “before we can resume substantial talks it’s important to deescalate the situation on the line of contact and the public environment.”

He stressed the importance of confidence-building measures, including the agreements reached in Vienna and St. Petersburg and the proposals worked out within the framework of the OSCE.

The participation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in talks is crucial for resolving the regional conflict, Armenia’s top diplomat told .

President Serzh Sargsyan has sent  a letter of condolences to the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani on the demise of the former President of the IRI Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

“Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani will be remembered by the Armenian people as a President of the neighboring country whose tenure in office was signified by the establishment of the initial interstate relations between the newly independent Armenia and Iran, which gave a new impetus to the centuries-long friendship of our two nations. Based on the strong foundation, which was formed in those years, today we continue to expand and deepen our cooperation,” the letter reads.

The Greater Worcester Armenian Chorale will present a special concert Jan. 8 in celebration of Armenian Christmas (which falls on Jan. 6), reports.

The program features traditional Christmas music in Armenian and English.

Mezzo-soprano Gohar Manjelikian is guest soloist. Born in Armenia and now living in Cranston, Rhode “How Great Thou Art,” an arrangement of sacred Armenian songs, is her first CD.

The concert will take place on January 8 at Soorp Asdvadzadzin Armenian Apostolic Church.

The Armenian Government approved today the decision on establishment of a Center for Strategic Initiatives Foundation and appointment of its Director General. The statute of the foundation was also confirmed.

The foundation aims to collect, develop, analyze, review, support and control the implementation of long-term strategic programs for Armenia’s economic development.

Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan attached importance to the creation of the Center. “It is the platform, where our perspectives, our vision of development of different spheres of economy will be shaped,” the Prime Minister said.

Greco-Roman wrestler Artur Aleksanyan has been named Armenia’s athlete of the year for the third time in a row. Aleksanyan won the Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro this summer.

The top 10 athletes of 2016 have been chosen as a result of survey among 35 sports journalists conducted by the Republican Federation of Sports Journalists of Armenia.

1. Artur Alexanyan, Greco-Roman wrestling
2. Mihran Harutyunyan, Greco-Roman wrestling
3. Simon Martirosyan, weightlifting
4. Gor Minasyan, weightlifting
5. Nazik Avdalyan, weightlifting
6. Harutyun Merdinyan, gymnastics
7. Andranik Karapetyan, weightlifting
8. Hripsime Khurshudyan, weightlifting
9. Varsham Beranyan, Greco-Roman wrestling
10. Artur Davtyan, gymnastics

Photo: AFP/Getty Images

 

Rebels have now lost more than 90% of the territory they once held in eastern Aleppo since government forces stepped up their offensive to regain full control of the city a month ago, the BBC reports.

Earlier on Monday, Lt Gen Zaid al-Saleh, head of the Syrian government’s local security committee, said rebel fighters did not “have much time” and needed to “surrender or die”.

Syrian state TV showed footage of people in Aleppo celebrating, amid reports the army was close to victory.

Syrian troops and militias have squeezed armed groups out of their last stronghold in Al-Firdous neighborhood and established full control over eastern Aleppo, Libankol news agency reports, saying people have rejoiced over the news.

It says crowds of people took to the streets in the west of the city to welcome the Syrian army.

For much of the past four years the city has been divided roughly in two, with the government controlling the western half and rebels the east.