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Armenian international Gael Andoinian, 20, has signed the first professional contract with Olimpique de Marseille. The center back previously played at Olympique de Marseille 2 and his contract expired on June 30.
Speaking to the club’s official website, Andonian said he feels proud. “In the first team I will continue to develop as a player. We have to work hard to prepare for the new season,” Andonian noted.
Asbarez – The Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Bird’s Nest Orphanage Seta Khedeshian said His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia has ordered the suspension of plans to
According to Lebanon’s Aztag daily, Khedeshian told Voice of Van radio station that the Catholicos decided to suspend plans in order for the Catholicosate to provide a more comprehensive explanation to the public, and to create a calmer atmosphere so that the issue is analyzed in a broader way.
Over the past few months, several reports were published claiming that there were plans to build a luxury beach resort on two-thirds of the historic Bird’s Nest Orphanage plot in Jbeil, Lebanon. In early February, the Board of Directors of Bird’s Nest informed the public that plans for the site envision relocating the 33 individual graves to 2 collective tombs on the upper part of the Bird’s Nest plot. Around two-thirds of the graves are of orphans; one-third are of genocide survivors or employees of the orphanage born before 1915. The decision to relocate the bodies was purportedly made to “bring the remains of these orphans closer to the grave of Maria Jacobsen, the founder of the orphanage.”
Russia is holding talks on supplies to Armenia of Iskander-M tactical missile systems, the contract has not been signed yet, a military source told TASS on Thursday.
“The contract has not been signed, talks are underway,” the source said.
He underscored that “all information on such contracts is secret.”
Earlier, Konstruktorskoye Byuro Mashinostroyeniya, or KBM (Machine-Building Design Bureau), which is the key manufacturer of Iskanders, said that the systems will not be exported until 2016. Nevertheless, they have been put on a list of products allowed to be sold abroad.
In particular, last year it was reported that Kazakhstan is interested in the export version of Iskanders. In June, the delegation of Saudi Arabia visited the Army-2015 forum in the Moscow Region to hold talks on acquisition of the systems.
“We are concerned at credible reports of excessive use of force by police officers, including against journalists, in their handling of protests in Yerevan on 23 June, and call on the authorities to investigate the incidents thoroughly and promptly,” Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement.
“As protests continue to take place in the country, the Government must ensure that the policing of demonstrations strictly complies with international human rights norms and standards, including the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement,” she said.
“We welcome the statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, expressing the Government’s commitment “to democracy, fundamental freedoms and protection of human rights in Armenia”. We encourage the Government to ensure that this commitment is translated in the way it responds to these protests, and we encourage all parties to engage in a constructive dialogue and to refrain from violence,” the statement reads.
The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) today elected Armen Harutyunyan as judge to the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Armenia.
Mr Harutyunyan, having obtained an absolute majority of votes cast, is elected a judge of the European Court of Human Rights for a term of office of nine years which shall commence no later than three months after his election.
Judges are elected by PACE from a list of three candidates nominated by each State which has ratified the European Convention on Human Rights.
A former police intelligence chief is required to serve up to 860 years in prison in a wiretapping case, in which he has been found guilty of wiretapping 48 people, including several government officials, journalists, judiciary personnel and businessmen, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.
Ramazan Akyürek, the former chief, was indicted on the charge of “heading a terrorist organization” and sentenced to more than eight centuries in prison over the case filed by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on June 9.
AkyĂĽrek had previously been and was sent to prison on Feb.27.
Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist, was shot dead on Jan.19, 2007, while AkyĂĽrek was the Trabzon Police department head.
Akyürek was among 50 police officers from various ranks whose names appeared in a 130-page indictment with charges of “forming and running a criminal organization,” “fabricating false documents,” “illegally keeping private information,” and “violating private life and communication privacy” in the wiretapping investigation, led by prosecutor Alpaslan Karabay.
All the 50 were accused of forming a terrorist organization serving the goals of the alleged “Fethullahist Terrorist Organization.”
The indictment also contained a report made by the Turkish Interior Ministry that stated the executive assistant of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) head Devlet Bahçeli and his advisors had been wiretapped.
“Wiretapping people from a political leader’s inner circle begets wiretapping that political leader. The wiretapping done right before the parliamentary elections on June 12, 2011, could have had a bearing on the fate of a political party and the country’s domestic politics,” it stated.
A 102-year-old German woman will become the world’s oldest person to be awarded a doctorate on Tuesday, almost 80 years after the Nazis prevented her from sitting her final exam, the BBC reports.
Ingeborg Rapoport (then Syllm) finished her medical studies in 1937 and wrote her doctoral thesis on diphtheria – a serious problem in Germany at the time.
But because of Nazi oppression she has had to wait almost eight decades before being awarded her PhD.
Her mother was a Jewish pianist.
So, under Adolf Hitler’s anti-Semitic race laws, Ingeborg was refused entry to the final oral exam. She had written confirmation from Hamburg University that she would have received her doctorate “if the applicable laws did not prohibit Ms Syllm’s admission to the doctoral exam due to her ancestry.”
On June 2 the first resident-Ambassador of Japan to Armenia Eiji Taguchi handed over the copies of his credentials to Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.
Congratulating the Ambassador on the occasion of his appointment and wishing him a fruitful activity, Minister Nalbandian attached importance to the opening of the diplomatic mission of Japan in Yerevan. Minister Nalbandian expressed hope that the opening of the mission would give a new impetus to the development of bilateral relations. Edward Nalbandian expressed gratitude for Japan’s continued support to Armenia since the independence.
Thanking for the reception and wishes, Ambassador Eiji Taguchi reassured that would exert maximum efforts for the strengthening and deepening of bilateral friendly relations.
During the meeting the sides touched upon a wide range of issues related to the Armenian-Japanese agenda, attached importance to the development of parliamentary ties, discussed the steps taken to deepen trade and economic cooperation, exchanged views on the strengthening of interaction within the International organizations as well as holding political consultations between Foreign Ministries.
Minister Nalbandian expressed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ support to the newly established Embassy of Japan in the implementation of its mission.
Reality star Kim Kardashian is featured as cover girl for the June issue of Vogue Brasil that was taken during Kim’s 21-day blonde hair phase, the reports.
‘Bombshell effect: better representative of the curvaceous silhouette rising in the red carpets,’ the caption read in Portuguese.
‘This is the second cover of the June edition, which celebrates the body, Vogue Brasil starring Kim Kardashian – symbol of the new silhouette for high in the red carpets,’ the publication captioned another photo.
The objective of the cover shoot was to show Kim like a Marilyn Monroe in the 2015 updated version and, by coincidence, the reality star was already blond at the time.
Kim famously underwent a hair transformation from March 5 through the 26th, dying her hair bleach blonde with peroxide chemicals for over three times within the short three weeks, but returned to her black hair before the visit to Armenia.
Vogue Brasil is the second publication in which she immortalized her blonde hairstyle.
For the April issue of Elle France magazine, Mrs Kanye West made sure her platinum locks would forever remembered.
Kim’s first solo Vogue cover was for the Australian version back in January. And perhaps one of Kim and husband Kanye’s most memorable moments was landing the April 2014 issue of Vogue US together ahead of their May nuptials.
Armenia will take part in the leading book and author event for the North American publishing industry, Book Expo America (BEA), for the first time, reports.
BEA combines the largest selection of English language titles and is the largest gathering of booksellers, librarians, retailers, and book industry professionals in North America. This year BEA has more than 2,000 exhibits, 500 authors, and over 60 conference sessions.
BEA’s conference program will begin at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, May 27, with the show floor opening at 1 p.m. and closing at 5:30 p.m. In addition to Wednesday afternoon, the exhibit floor will be open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. On Thursday, May 28, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, May 29.
BEA 2015 welcomes China as the global market forum Guest of Honor. Global Market Forum is part of the BEA Content & Digital Conference and is open to all BEA. Its delegation will include more than 100 of the most important Chinese publishing houses and groups attendees. China will hold a series of panels at which participants will discuss the Chinese publishing market and explore ways publishers can work with Chinese companies.
The Armenian Pavilion in BEA will showcase the Armenian culture and heritage through books and writings, which form part of a long standing tradition and culture.
Books published recently in Armenia and abroad will be represented in the Armenian pavilion. Publishers and booksellers from Armenia will participate in the pavilion. A great importance will be given to the books on the Armenian Genocide published all over the world.
The opening of the Armenian Pavilion in BEA will be on the 27th of May at 3:00 p.m.
During the opening there will be presentations of books and readings by Matthew Karanian, Scout Tufankjian, Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte, Dana Walroth, Nancy Kricorian, Marian Mesrobian MacCurdy and Sona Van.
Ambassador of Armenia to the U.S., Tigran Sargsyan, will attend the book exhibition as well.
The participation in BookExpo America is supported by the State Commission on Coordination of the events for the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.