Author: Greg Madatian

World number two Novak Djokovic has confirmed that former world number one Amdre Agassi will be his new coach, Eurosport .

Six states signed today in Nicosia (Cyprus) the .

Armenia, Cyprus, Greece, Portugal and San Marino as well as Mexico, one of the Organisation’s observer states, were the first to sign the convention, which is open for signature to any country in the world.

Adopted in the framework of the Council of Europe’s action to fight terrorism and organised crime, the new convention seeks to stop the looting of antiquities and their trafficking through the art markets. It makes a criminal offence their unlawful excavation, importation and exportation, acquisition and placing on the market, and the falsification of documents in this context.

By bringing national legislations up to the same standards, the treaty will close the existing loopholes and enable much more effective cross-border co-operation in investigating, prosecuting and sentencing persons suspected of the offences listed in the convention.

Crucially, the convention protects the cultural property of any state, be it party or not to the treaty.

The signing took place in Nicosia during a Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers meeting bringing together Foreign affairs Ministers of the Organisation’s 47 Member States. The treaty will enter into force after five ratifications.

The new treaty fills a gap in international law, since none of the existing conventions deal with criminal law issues. It complements the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, the 1972 UNESCO Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage and the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects.
Protection of cultural heritage is important for the Armenian people that have suffered immense losses of cultural legacy throughout its history and most recently in Azerbaijan by the hands of its government and in Syria by the terrorist groups. In this regard we welcome the adoption of the Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property,” Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech

 

Controllers and scientists must wait until Thursday to hear from Cassini, the BBC reports.

The probe was due early on Wednesday to make the first of 22 dives in between Saturn’s cloudtops and the inner edge of its spectacular rings.

The daredevil flights are designed to gather pictures and other science data of unprecedented resolution.

But Cassini was out of radio contact for the duration of the plunge and is not scheduled to re-establish communications for another day.

Because the probe was moving so fast – at over 110,000km/h – there was some risk attached to flying through the ring plane.

An impact with even a tiny ice or rock particle at that velocity could do a lot of damage, and so the decision was made to point Cassini’s big antenna in the direction of travel, to act as a shield.

But, of course, that meant it could not also then talk to Earth at the same time.

Assuming all goes well, 21 similar dives will be made over the course of the next five months before the probe dumps itself in the atmosphere of Saturn. With so little fuel left in its tanks, Cassini cannot continue its mission for much longer.

The US space agency (Nasa) is calling the gap-runs the “grand finale”, in part because of their ambition. They promise pictures of unparalleled resolution and science data that finally unlocks key puzzles about the make-up and history of this huge world.

“We’re going to top off this mission with a lot of new measurements – some amazing new data,” said Athena Coustenis from the Paris Observatory in Meudon, France.

“We’re expecting to get the composition, structure and dynamics of the atmosphere, and fantastic information about the rings,” she told the BBC.

A key objective is to determine the mass and therefore the age of the rings. The more massive they are, the older they are likely to be – perhaps as old as Saturn itself.

Scientists will do this by studying how the velocity of the probe is altered as it flies through the gravity field generated by the planet and the great encircling bands of ice.

Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has registered as a candidate in Iran’s presidential election, despite being told not to by the Supreme Leader, the BBC reports.

Mr Ahmadinejad, who served two terms between 2005 and 2013, filed paperwork for the 19 May poll at the interior ministry in Tehran.

Last year, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned him that such a move was “not in his interest and that of the country”.

But Mr Ahmadinejad told reporters on Tuesday that had been “just advice”.

President Serzh Sargsyan sent today a letter of condolences to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on the tragic explosion in Saint Petersburg metro station, which took innocent lives and left many injured.

The President of the Republic of Armenia expressed confidence that the Russian municipal and federal authorities would do their utmost to identify the reasons of the occurred incident.

President Sargsyan asked to convey his condolences and words of support to all those who lost their relatives and close people as well as he wished speedy recovery to all those injured.

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Austria’s Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, today joined the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ call for the sides to renew engagement in the political settlement process as expressed in their statement on 29 March.

“The fighting and the violence we witnessed one year ago – the worst in the past two decades – caused destruction, suffering and human losses. It was a vivid reminder of how quickly the machinery of war can undermine efforts for peace. On this occasion, we call on all sides to refrain from any actions that jeopardize the ceasefire. All sides must live up to their commitment to strictly observe their international humanitarian obligations – war crimes can never be justified,” said Kurz.

Recalling the outbreak of violence in April 2016 along the Line of Contact, he underlined his hope for fresh impetus in the negotiations: “Clashes and serious violations of the ceasefire on the Line of Contact, resulting in casualties, were of particular concern to us throughout the past year. It is now high time for a focus on pragmatic and practical steps for confidence-building as well as a resumption of substantive negotiations,” emphasized Kurz.

In this context, Kurz voiced his regret at the further loss of lives since the tragic events in April 2016 and expressed his condolences to the affected families. “The aftershock of the fighting one year ago has made it more difficult for Armenians and Azerbaijanis to believe in peace, but as I have stated on numerous occasions, there is no military solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We should plan for peace now, and not allow war to return with all of its terrible consequences,” Kurz added.

Kurz also commended the work of Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk and his team, illustrated by the active facilitation of a humanitarian operation by the International Committee of the Red Cross in February 2017 to retrieve the remains of the deceased servicemen.

“The OSCE Chairmanship stands ready to contribute to the efforts of the sides to further advance and implement the agreements reached during the summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg in 2016,” concluded Kurz.