Author: Garnik Zakarian

Photo: Mikhail Sokolov/TASS

Three people were killed when a minivan carrying civilians was blown up by a landmine at a Ukrainian checkpoint near the contact line early on Wednesday, the speaker of the Donbass special operation, Andrey Zadubinny, has said, TASS reports.

“There were five people in the Volkswagen Transporter car (minivan) that struck a mine this morning at the Novomikhailovka checkpoint. Two were killed at the scene and another one died on the way to a hospital,” Zadubinny said.

The speaker said the minivan had arrived from the territory not controlled by Kiev. “It tried to bypass a line 600 meters from the checkpoint having ignored all the road signs and hit a mine,” he said.

Ukraine’s national police in the Donetsk region have confirmed the fact.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian had a working dinner with the heads of diplomatic representations of EU member states accredited to  Armenia at the initiative of the Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia Peter Switalski.

During the meeting reference was made to Armenia-EU relations, the results of the sitting of the Armenia-EU Cooperation Council held last month and the ongoing negotiations on a new framework agreement.

IHA Photo

 

A feature-length documentary film on the life of Ara Güler, the prominent Turkish-Armenian photographer, or “photo journalist” as he likes to call himself, has been nominated for the Washington Film Festival, reports.

Taking its name from Güler’s nickname, “The Eye of Istanbul” will make its U.S. premiere at the festival in March.

The movie is a cinematic portrait on the life and photographs of Güler. The documentary centers on the preparations of his retrospective photography exhibition in Istanbul and follows Güler as he selects his photographs for the exhibition and ponders the question of the future of his archives. The legendary photographer’s personality traits are also showcased in the film.

Commonly referred to as “Istanbul’s eye” – a term he does not like as he refuses to claim ownership of the historical city, Güler made his name mainly with his black-and white nostalgic photos of Istanbul that depict the city’s wide range of emotions. Many of his photos have also been turned into paintings.

With his gray hair and beard, the 87-year-old Istanbulite looks like a character in one of his famous photos. Despite his age, he is still sharp, funny and philosophical. Suffering from renal failure, the legendary photographer is full of stories about dialysis since he has to receive the treatment three times a week.

When he was 22, Güler received his first camera, a Rolleicord II. His career as a photographer started when he joined a local newspaper called Yeni Istanbul in 1950.

The team members behind “Eye of Istanbul” include Executive Producer Ümran Safter, Co-directors Binnur Karaevli and Fatih Kaymak, Director of Photography Zafer Bir, Project Consultant Nezih Tavlas, Script Writer Ahsen Diner, Researcher Işıl Sarıyüce, Video Editor Engin Yıldız and Composer Derya Türkan.

 

 

 

There have been no negotiations with the Armenian authorities on the supply of Iranian gas to Georgia, Armenian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Yervand Zakharyan told reporters after the government sitting today.

At the same time he noted that the topic was not on the agenda of the meeting of the Energy Ministers of Armenia, Russia, Georgia and Iran held last December.

Zakharyan reminded that Georgia and Gazprom are holding talks on gas supply, but there’s no information about the results of the negotiations so far.

 

Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has suggested there is a chance Mats Hummels, Henrikh Mkhitaryanand Ilkay Gundogan will leave Borussia Dortmund, but is adamant they will not all be sold at once, reports.

The trio all have contracts with BVB until June 2017, leaving the club potentially contemplating cashing in on them in the summer or risk losing the influential threesome at the end of next season.

Dortmund previously lost Robert Lewandowski to Bayern Munich on a free transfer, but Watzke is not too worried about the prospect of potentially losing another star for free.

“I can rule out that three players of their calibre will all leave at once,” Watzke told Bild.

“It should be our goal to bring in a player of the same level if someone leaves us on a free transfer in 2017. We will make that happen.”

Both Hummels and Gundogan have been linked with a move to the Premier League in the past, but Watzke does not think England is the preferred destination for top players any longer.

“The absolute star players do not necessarily go to England,” he added.

“They have not been able to celebrate a World Cup for 50 years and that will not change any time soon.

Two men aged 50 and 41 died of swine flu today after ten days of struggle, Press Service of the Armenian Ministry of Health reports.

The Ministry yesterday reported decrease in the number of patients diagnosed with swine flu. Three deaths have been confirmed after the statement.

“Congress still needs to act,” Obama said from the White House, surrounded by victims of gun violence and their families. “The folks in this room will not rest until Congress does. Because once Congress gets on board with common-sense gun safety measures, we can reduce gun violence a whole lot.”

“But we also can’t wait,” Obama added. “Until we have the Congress that’s in line with the majority of Americans, there are actions within my legal authority that we can take to help reduce gun violence and save more lives.”

12:04 p.m. – Obama defended his actions to strengthen background checks for purchasing guns, answering critics who say the measure would not make it harder for criminals to obtain firearms.

“Each time this comes up, we are fed the excuse that common-sense reforms like background checks might not have stopped the last massacre, or the one before that, or the one before that, so why bother trying,” Obama said. “I reject that thinking.”

Photo: Getty Images

Former El Salvador national team footballer Alfredo Pacheco has been shot dead, officials say, the  reports.

A man approached Pacheco, 33, and fired several shots at a petrol station in the city of Santa Ana, 76km (47 miles) west of the capital San Salvador.

Police say two other people were injured in the attack, the motive of which is being investigated.

The defender, who was El Salvador’s most-capped player, was banned for life in 2013 for match-fixing.

Pacheco and another 13 members of the national team were found guilty of receiving bribes to lose several matches between 2010-13.

He played 86 times for his country.

For years, El Salvador – a small nation in Central America – has had one of the highest murder rates in the world.

Earlier this month, Honduran international footballer Arnold Peralta, 26, was shot dead while on holiday in his hometown.

Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan received today Iran’s Energy Minister, co-chair of the Armenian-Iranian Intergovernmental Commission Hamid Chitchian. The interlocutors discussed a wide range of issues related to bilateral and regional cooperation, the activity of the Intergovernmental Commission.

The Prime Minister emphasized the importance of reciprocal high-level visits, which, he said, contribute to the further development and reinforcement of bilateral political, economic and cultural ties. He noted that the two countries are actively working to implement a number of joint projects, including the construction of the third Armenia-Iran power line.

Hovik Abrahamyan attached importance to the joint sitting of the Armenian, Georgian, Iranian and Russian Energy Ministries in Yerevan and welcomed the signing of a memorandum targeted at the development of regional energy cooperation and implementation of joint programs.

Hamid Chitchian said, in turn, that the memorandum will open wide perspectives for the development of cooperation in the field of energy, will ensure economic benefits and contribute to energy security in the region.

The hotly-anticipated latest addition in the Star Wars franchise, The Force Awakens, has had its world premiere in Los Angeles, the BBC reports.
Stars from the original series Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were joined by newcomers like John Boyega and Daisy Ridley at the event.

Security was tight, with a giant tent shrouding the red carpet.
The plot of the film remains a closely-guarded secret and a media embargo on reviews is in place until Wednesday.
But this did not deter fans camping out for days outside the TCL Chinese Theatre, which along with other LA venues screened the seventh Star Wars instalment.

Stormtroopers joined robots C-3PO and R2D2 on the red carpet as the human stars arrived.

“Now we have to live up to what the first films delivered,” said Harrison Ford, who is returning to his role as Han Solo.

Star Wars’ creator George Lucas said of the new entry in the series “it’s a film about families and what one generation leaves behind another generation has to deal with”.