Author: Eduard Nalbandian

The Armenia Aircompany carried the first passengers from Yerevan to Tel Aviv today.

The maiden flight was preceded by a presentation at Zvartnots Airport.

Attending the event were Sergey Avetisyan, Chief of the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia, Andranik Shkhyan, Deputy General Manager of Armenia International Airports and Robert Oganesyan, CEO of Armenia Aircompany, directors of tourism agencies and others.

Sergey Avetisyan emphasized the importance of Yerevan-Tel Aviv flights and wished the Air Company safe and effective flights.

The Yerevan-Tel Aviv flights will be run twice a week on Thursdays and Sundays.

Germany’s foreign minister has said Berlin may pull its troops out of a base in Turkey if lawmakers aren’t allowed to visit. The latest spat comes as two Turkish generals reportedly applied for asylum in Frankfurt, reports.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel sharply criticized Turkey’s decision to block a parliament delegation from visiting Bundeswehr soldiers stationed at Turkey’s Incirlik base in an interview on Wednesday.

If “the German parliament is to be blackmailed, then the limit of tolerance has been reached,” Gabriel told German newspaper the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.

“I can only hope that the Turkish government will change its mind in the coming days,” he said. “Otherwise, the German Bundestag will certainly not leave soldiers in Turkey.”

Gabriel noted that if cooperative work is no longer possible out of Incirlik, including that members of parliament can visit soldiers at the base, “then we have to consider alternatives.”

Every April 18, radio amateurs worldwide take to the airwaves in celebration of World Amateur Radio Day. It was on that day in 1925 that the International Amateur Radio Union was formed in Paris.

Amateur Radio experimenters were the first to discover that the short wave spectrum — far from being a wasteland — could support worldwide propagation. Amateur Radio pioneers met in Paris in 1925 and created the IARU to support Amateur Radio worldwide.

Since then the IARU has worked tirelessly to broaden the range of bandwidths available to radio fans. Interest in Amateur Radio has only grown since those early days, with over 3,000,000 licensed operators spreading their voices across the globe today. It’s through this medium that people from different nations and cultures were able to spread ideas with great speed, long before the ability to shoot off an email or video chat was ever possible.

IARU has events all over the world to celebrate this great invention and to bring together people who still find value in being able to skip a radio across the ionosphere over thousands of miles and bring together two sides of the globe through little more than an oscillating wave of energy.

The European Union legislature has overwhelmingly backed plans to allow Ukrainian citizens into the bloc for short stays without visas, AP reports.

The EU parliament on Thursday approved the plans by a 521-75 margin – with 36 abstentions – to allow Ukrainians who have biometric passports to enter the bloc for up to 90 days within any 180-day period.

The legislation still needs to be approved one more time by the member states and should enter into force in June.

The visa waiver will apply to all members of the 28-nation EU except Britain and Ireland. The agreement will not give Ukrainians the right to work in the EU.

Serj Tankian says he hopes to give a concert in Artsakh.

“I would like to come and play in Artsakh one day and bring other artists with me, if possible.  The most important today is to speak about Artsakh and present it in different places and to different people,” Tankian told .

“Everyone should know that Artsakh is a beautiful country, and people here wait for everyone with smile and love. I hope we don’t have to wait long for my concert here,” the System Of A Down frontman said.

Serj Tankian, film directors Arom Egoyan and Eric Nazarian, actresses Arsine Khanjyan are visiting Artsakh at the initiative of the Tufenkian Foundation.

Theresa May has signed the letter that will formally begin the UK’s departure from the European Union, the BBC reports.

Giving official notice under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, it will be delivered to European Council president Donald Tusk later.

In a statement in the Commons, the prime minister will then tell MPs this marks “the moment for the country to come together”.

It follows June’s referendum which resulted in a vote to leave the EU.

Mrs May’s letter will be delivered by the British ambassador to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow.

The prime minister, who will chair a cabinet meeting in the morning, will then make a statement to MPs confirming the countdown to the UK’s departure from the EU is under way.

Distinguished representatives of the Kurdish community of Armenia,

I cordially congratulate you on the occasion of Navroz.

This beautiful spring holiday, awakening of nature and new year fill our hearts with joy. The citizens of Armenia share with their Kurd brothers and sisters the bliss of Navroz.

Distinguished Kurd compatriots,

I once again congratulate you on the occasion of this bright holiday and wish you high spirits, and let the coming spring fill you lives with optimism and happiness and warm up even more our centuries-long friendship.

Happy Navroz!

Photo: Reuters

 

Military action against North Korea is “an option on the table”, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said during a visit to South Korea, the BBC reports.

The policy of “strategic patience” had ended, he said, and the US was exploring a new range of diplomatic, security and economic measures.

He also defended the deployment of a US missile defence system in South Korea – a move that has angered Beijing.

Seoul and Washington say the system is needed to defend against North Korea.

Mr Tillerson spoke shortly after visiting the demilitarised zone which divides the two Koreas.

He arrived in South Korea from Japan, where he said that 20 years of efforts aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions had failed.

The Prime Ministers of Armenia and Georgia Karen Karapetyan and Giorgi Kvirikashvili discussed issues of bilateral cooperation as they met in Tbilisi today.

“We are willing to deepen the regional cooperation, intensify the commodity turnover and use the whole potential,” the Georgian Prime Minister said. He added that “Georgia attaches importance to the further deepening and development of cooperation with Armenia.”

Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan noted, in turn, that “the bilateral relations have entered a new stage. The Armenian Georgian cooperation keeps developing in an atmosphere of trust, which is a guarantee of the further development and reinforcement of relations. We are willing to discuss issues of cooperation both in bilateral and multilateral formats and seek ways for further intensification of collaboration.”

The Prime Ministers of Armenia and Georgia discussed a wide range of issues related to cooperation in the trade-economic field, agriculture, transport, tourism and culture. The interlocutors hailed the level of cooperation in the field of energy and discussed the perspectives of transport communication.

They attached importance to the Meghri Free Trade Zone and the perspectives of its use as a platform for making the markets of third countries more accessible.

The interlocutors also stressed the importance of preserving the rich cultural heritage.