About 50 cases of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani side were registered at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces last night, the NKR Defense Ministry reports.
The rival fired over 900 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions. More intensive firing was reported in the eastern (Martuni) direction of the line of contact.
The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army confidently continue with their military duty and resort to response actions in case of extreme necessity.
Fierce debate has broken out after fans raised two Turkish flags at a Lebanese basketball match, apparently in an attempt to anger Armenian players and fans, reports.
The flags were photographed on Sunday during a game between the Riyadi and Homenetmen clubs in Lebanon’s basketball league. Homenetmen are a Lebanese-Armenian team, representing the estimated four percent of the Lebanese population who are of Armenian descent, according to Minority Rights Group.
The recent flag waving appears to have been pre-planned and deliberately provocative, as one Riyadi fan, Mohammed Khoder, tweeted on Sunday morning “Tonight we’ll be raising the turkish flag in the basketball game against homentmen ‘Armenian Lebanese team’! BURNNN”. The tweet was later taken down.
A Riyadi fan page posted the following unapologetic message on Facebook: “If you want to prevent us from raising the Turkish flag at the stadium, then prevent them from singing the Armenian national anthem at their stadium.”
Meanwhile, one Lebanese blogger called the flag-waving “disgusting, disgraceful, hurtful and despicable.”
Riyadi club issued a statement on their Facebook page, “denouncing” and “rejecting” the raising of the Turkish flag, emphasizing that no provocative chanting took place during the game, and that the flags were flown after it had finished. The club also offered assurances that it would increase its efforts to prevent a repeat of what happened.
Tourism-related issues were high on the agenda of consultations conveneted by President Serzh Sargsyan in the city of Jermuk.
“Despite the positive results registered in the field of tourism, there is still a huge potential,” Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan said at a meeting with representatives of the relevant state agencies.
He noted that the development of tourism is an “interrelated chain of economic development, where all links should be strong and active to make it possible to achieve a final result.”
“We have to be aware that the field can only develop thanks to combined efforts of all of us,” the President added.
Speaking about the choice of the venue of the consultation, President Sargsyan said “Vayots Dzor province is where the most significant southern route passes. It take to spiritual-cultural centers like the Noravank Complex, the Areni caves, Tatev Monastery, Zorats Karer and, of course, to the heroic land of Artsakh.”
According to Serzh Sargsyan, “this southern route has the potential of becoming a component of more large-scale regional tourism packages involving Armenia, Iran and Georgia.”
President Sargsyan recalled Pope Francis’ visit to Armenia, which was held under the slogan “Pilgrimage to the first Christian nation.” The Pontiff publicly called it a “pilgrimage to Armenia, which, according to President Sargsyan, was a positive message that should be built upon.
Referring to other examples, the President pointed to the recovery of the oldest shoe and the most ancient vinery found in Armenia and reminded that the events were widely covered by world media.
Upon the conclusion of the meeting, President Sargsyan instructed to set up a tourism council involving representatives of the private sector, international organizations, local self-government bodies and the Armenian Apostolic Church with a view of coordinating the work of the tourism-related state bodies and territorial development agencies.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has handed in his resignation to Italy’s president, three days after losing a referendum he had staked his career on, the BBC reports.
He had promised to wait until the Senate passed the 2017 budget, which it did earlier in the day.
President Sergio Mattarella will start consultations with political parties over forming a caretaker government at 18:00 (17:00 GMT) on Thursday.
In the meantime, Mr Renzi is to act as a “caretaker prime minister”.
The consultation, which is due to end on Saturday afternoon, will look at where support lies for a new government, a presidential aide, Ugo Zampetti, told reporters on Wednesday.
Photo: AP
In a speech hailing the work of Holocaust survivor and Nobel peace laureate Elie Wiesel, Barack Obama’s U.N. Envoy Samantha Power lamented the injustices that continue to this day. Among these, she listed: “Genocide denial against the Armenians.” Power didn’t elaborate, the Associated Press reports.
The term has long been taboo for U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama, who have instead talked of mass atrocity and historical tragedy. But Obama’s U.N. ambassador last week went further than her boss by describing the event as genocide.
According to AP, those five words risk infuriating Turkey, which has fiercely opposed any genocide reference and whose strategic role as a key American partner and NATO ally in an unstable part of the world has led U.S. officials to exercise extreme caution when referencing the century-old massacre. They’re also surprising given Power’s status as the nation’s second highest-ranked diplomat and what sounded like her implicit criticism of Obama.
When he first ran for president, Obama promised he would recognize the killings as genocide if elected. But he has repeatedly stopped short of doing so. Marking Armenian Remembrance Day in April, Obama called the killings the first mass atrocity of the 20th century and a tragedy that must not be repeated.
Before entering government, Power was a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who wrote extensively about America’s responses to genocide. Officials say she has lobbied hard behind the scenes for Obama to formally recognize the Armenian killings as genocide.
Kurtis Cooper, Power’s spokesman, said the genocide reference came in the context of honoring Wiesel’s life and were meant to “convince others to stand up, rather than stand by, in the face of systemic injustice, mass atrocities and genocide like the one he was forced to endure.” He said they don’t reflect a change in administration policy.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said there has been no change in U.S. policy.
“The president and other senior administration officials have repeatedly mourned and acknowledged as historical fact that 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their deaths in the final days of the Ottoman Empire, and stated that a full, frank and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all our interests,” Toner said.
President Ronald Reagan in 1981 did refer to the “genocide of the Armenians.” But presidents since have avoided such language.
President Jimmy Carter came close to saying genocide in 1978 by describing a “concerted effort made to eliminate all the Armenian people” and calling it “probably one of the greatest tragedies that ever befell any group.” He noted that unlike after the Holocaust, no justice occurred akin to the Nuremberg trials of top Nazi officials.
As a campaign surrogate eight years ago, Power released a video imploring Armenian-Americans to vote for Obama, saying he would follow through on his promise to talk frankly about what happened.
PHOTO: AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Thousands of civilians have left rebel-held eastern Aleppo districts, as the Syrian army continues its offensive to take full control over the city, the BBC reports.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said as many as 10,000 residents fled to government-controlled western areas and a Kurdish-run northern district.
Syrian state media put the number at more than 1,500, while Russia said that 2,500 civilians had left.
Giuseppe Galati (Italy, EPP/CD) and Alan Meale (United Kingdom, SOC), co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of obligations and commitments by Armenia, will make a fact-finding visit to Yerevan on 22-23 November 2016.
Discussions will focus on the electoral reform, the 2017 parliamentary elections, the implementation of the constitutional reform, including the reform of the government and judiciary, as well as the reform of the police and the establishment of an independent mechanism for complaints against the police.
In Yerevan, Mr Galati and Mr Meale are due to meet, in particular, the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the President of the National Assembly, and the Minister of Justice. Talks are also scheduled with the Armenian delegation to PACE, the judicial authorities, and the Head of the National Police.
Pope Francis on Monday morning greeted members of the German national football team in the Vatican. Germany beat San Marino 8-0 on Friday evening in the qualifying stages of their defense of the World Cup, Radio Vatican reports.
“I have often heard it said that your victories are team victories,” Pope Francis said, noting the official nickname of the German squad is Die Mannschaft (The Team).
“Truly, competitive sport not only requires a great deal of discipline and personal sacrifice, but also respect for others and team spirit,” – the Pope continued – “This carries you to success as ‘Die Mannschaft ‘ and at the same time causes you to recognize your responsibility on the football pitch, especially to the young people who often see you as role models. It also causes you to make a mutual commitment to work together to support some important social causes.”
In particular, Pope Francis thanked the team for their support for the Sternsinger (‘Star Singer’) collection at Epiphany, where children from over 10,000 Catholic parishes all over Germany go door-to-door singing carols and collecting money, which is used to help children in poor countries around the world. The initiative was begun in 1959, and is now the world’s largest fundraiser by children, for children.
“This initiative shows how together we can overcome barriers that seem insurmountable, and which penalize needy and marginalized people,” – the Holy Father said – “In this way you contribute to building a more just and united society.”
The Azerbaijani Armed Forces have been taking provocative steps last night and this morning, the NKR Ministry of Defense reports.
Starting from 12:15 today the rival has been shelling the military positions in the northeastern (Talysh and Yarymja) directions of the frontline, the Ministry said.
More intensive shelling has been reported in the direction of Yarymja village.
The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army are taking measures to pressure the activeness of the rival.
The NKR Defense Ministry declares that the Azerbaijani side bears full responsibility for the increased tensions at the line of contact.
Photo: AFP/Getty Images
At least 58 cadets and guards have been killed after militants attacked a police college in the Pakistani city of Quetta, officials say, the BBC reports.
Three militants wearing suicide bomb vests entered the college late on Monday, reportedly taking hostages.
A major security operation lasted for hours and all attackers were killed.
No group has said it carried out the assault, but Quetta has seen similar attacks by separatists and Islamist militants in recent years.
Hundreds of trainees were evacuated from Balochistan Police College as troops arrived to repel the militants. Local media reported at least three explosions at the scene.
The police academy is home to hundreds of students and many of the cadets who died were killed in the blasts, said Major General Sher Afgan of the Frontier Corps.