Author: Hagop Kamalian

Photo: Alamy

A suicide attack in a popular shrine in southern Pakistan has killed at least 72 people, police say, the BBC reports.

The bomber blew himself up among devotees in the shrine of Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in the town of Sehwan in Sindh province, police said.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has condemned the attack, which has been claimed by so-called Islamic State.

It is the deadliest in a string of recent bombings claimed by IS, the Pakistani Taliban and other militants.

The shrine, one of the country’s oldest and most revered, was crowded as Thursday is considered a sacred day for Muslims to pray there.

Armenia has expressed concern over the recent missile test by North Korea.

“We are deeply concerned by the recent missile test by the  Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which violates Un Security Council resolutions and endangers the stability and peace in East Asia,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a Twitter post.

North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Monday.

The missile flew east towards the Sea of Japan for about 500km.

The European Ombudsman Institute (EOI) has issued a statement on the arrest and extradition of Alexander Lapshin. The statement reads:

“It is a matter of deep concern that  journalist and blogger Alexander Lapshin was arrested and then extradited.

The described situation tends to turn to an unacceptable situation violating freedom of expression and media.

Considering the fact that visits of civil society representatives and journalists to Nagorno-Karabakh have invaluable significance in humanitarian sense. Any action towards territorial limitation for fulfilling media representatives’ democratic mission is strongly condemnable. This decision on Alexander Lapshin’s extradition is a real threat to freedom of expression and media that lie at the heart of European values.

Apart from this, the extradition of Mr. Alexander Lapshin is very worrisome because of real possibility of his torture and inhuman treatment. Clear sign of ill-treatment against Mr. Lapshin is that his arrest and transfer into another region was widely covered in the media: handcuffed, apprehended by military in masks and with guns. Such treatment of a journalist is impermissible.

IThe European Ombudsman Institute welcomes the importance of reactions protecting freedom of speech in any territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions, already delivered by the OSCE special representative for freedom of the media, some EU officials and human rights organizations.

For preventing such kind of vicious practice it should be preliminary confronted with strong condemnation.”

Jose Mourinho has praised the form of Manchester United winger Henrikh Mkhitaryan, according to Manchester United’s official website.

Mkhitaryan has become a key player for Mourinho, getting on the scoresheet  in yesterday’s 4-0 FA Cup win over Wigan.

Mourinho has been full of praise for the winger, who has scored four goals and provided three assists in his 19 United outings.

“Since he came into the team, we and Micki himself thought he was ready,” Mourinho said after the Old Trafford win.

“He had a good impact immediately, then he had a break with the injury against Tottenham, and then he came back and played quite well.

“So we are happy with him.”

On January 23, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved President Donald Trump’s Secretary of State nomination of Rex Tillerson by a party line vote of 11 to 10, clearing the path for approval by the full Senate.

As genocide denialists are calling upon President Trump and his team to guarantee that the Armenian Genocide will not be recognized by his administration, Trump’s cabinet nominees are taking a considered view of this important human rights issues, the Armenian Assembly of America reports.

Responding to a question for the record posed by New Jersey’s senior Senator, Bob Menendez (D-NJ), the Secretary of State nominee, for his part, said: “The tragic atrocities of 1915 remain a painful issue in the relationship between Armenia and Turkey, and it is in the U.S. interest to ensure peaceful and stable relations between the two countries. If confirmed, I will support a full accounting of the historical events and an open dialogue between Armenia and Turkey in the interest of regional stability.”

Additionally, President Trump’s U.S. Representative to the United Nations nominee Nikki Haley responded to Senator Menendez’s question about supporting a U.S. declaration calling the Armenian Genocide as such and whether the failure to do so hereto speaks ill of our values and encourages the continuation of such crimes. She promised: “I will never shy away from calling out other countries for actions taken in conflict with U.S. values and in violation of human rights and international norms.”

Focusing on Turkey’s violations of basic freedoms, Tillerson made it clear that he is “very concerned about many of the measures recently taken by the Turkish government.” He stated: “Religious freedom is a core American principle and an important aspect of international peace and stability. If confirmed, I will work with Turkey to safeguard religious minorities and promote respect for their cultural heritages, including the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Halki Seminary.”

“The Armenian Assembly greatly appreciates Senator Menendez’s long-standing commitment and leadership on Armenian issues and the questions he raised for the nominee,” stated Executive Director Bryan Ardouny.  As Tillerson awaits a final vote by the full Senate, more responses to questions regarding U.S.-Armenia relations and the region are anticipated.

“We look forward to working with the new Administration and Congress to further strengthen the permanent bonds between the United States and Armenia as well as expand economic opportunities for Armenia,” Ardouny said.

 

 

 

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is interested in building a wind farm in Armenia’s Gegharkunik province.

UAE representatives visited the region about two years ago to study the power and direction of the wind, Governor of Gegharkunik province Rafik Grigoryan told .

He said they last visited the province in December and will return in March with the final calculations.

“According to preliminary agreement, they plan to build a wind farm with a capacity of 70 MW,” the Governmor said. He said another wind farm could be built in the border village of Aghavnadzor.

Rafik Grigoryan added that “investors in solar energy projects are also interested in certain areas in Gegharkunik province.”

 

 

 

After the closure of the OSCE Office in Baku, the OSCE Office in Yerevan has been the only full-functioning representation in the region.

“The role of the office is valued by the OSCE presidency, the secretariat, other OSCE bodies, as well as the overwhelming majority of the participating states, except one” Spokesman for the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tigran Balayan told .

He added that the OSCE acts on the basis of consensus decision-making. “Despite large-scale support, it has not yet reached consensus on the decision to extend the activities of the Yerevan Office,” Balayan said.

The Spokesman said the negotiations continue, and Armenia is a party to talks. He refrained from disclosing further details of the negotiations, saying it would be ‘inexpedient’ at this point.

With support from its Argentinean-Armenian benefactor Hovsep Tahta, the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund has donated five computers and one server to the National Library of Armenia. This is the second technology-assistance project for the institution to be carried out through the support of the benefactor. In 2013, Tahta donated a large-format scanner, a server, and 15 computers to the library.

“During his visit to the library last year, as Mr. Tahta was being shown the periodicals and other publications we’ve been digitizing, he was deeply moved when he recognized a newspaper from his childhood — published in Istanbul, it was the newspaper which his father used to read at home,” said Tigran Zargaryan, director of the National Library of Armenia, and continued, “Subsequently Mr. Tahta decided to help expand our library’s digitization capabilities.”

Zargaryan added that thanks to the scanner donated by the benefactor, to date 2 million Armenian-press pages and 6,650 Armenian books (comprising a total of 1.7 million pages) have been digitized and are now accessible online.

Currently the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund is building a kindergarten in Noragyugh, a village in Artsakh’s Askeran Region, through Tahta’s sponsorship.

Asbarez – His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia will spend Armenian Christmas Eve and day in Aleppo, his first to the city, since the Syrian conflict began six years ago and since the cease fire was declared after government forces reclaimed it.

According to the press service of the Catholicosate, Aram I will arrive in Aleppo at 1 p.m. Thursday, January 5 and will be greeted by clergy and the community at the St. Mary’s Church.

On Friday, January 6, the pontiff will celebrate Christmas Mass and present a sermon at the same church. Following Mass, the Catholicos will meet parishioners and accept Christmas greetings.

On Saturday morning, the Catholicos will visit community institutions and churches to acquaint himself with their condition and gain first-hand perspective on the situation.

At 4 p.m. on Saturday, the Catholicos will visit the Holy Trinity Armenian Catholic Church, after which he w

ill visit the Bethel Armenian Evangelical Church. He will meet parishioners and community members at aforementioned churches.

Security issues continue to affect farming activities of people in Tavush region living in communities along the international border with Azerbaijan.

As an alternative to field cultivation, the ICRC piloted a new project in Barekamavan village.

Through a detailed economic survey, teh ICRC identified some of the most vulnerable households and offered them options that matched their needs and capacities.

As a result, 20 families in Barekamavan received beekeeping supplies and livestock to start income-generating activities. Next year, the ICRC will continue the project in other border villages of Tavush.