Author: Jirair Kafian

Photo: EPA

A powerful cyclone carrying winds of up to 263km/h has made landfall in Queensland, Australia, the BBC rports.

Cyclone Debbie, a category four storm, has left at least 45,000 homes without power and damaged buildings, although it is too early to say how many.

PM Malcolm Turnbull told parliament he had activated a disaster response plan.

More than 25,000 people were urged to evacuate their homes ahead of predictions the cyclone would be Queensland’s most damaging since 2011.

The system is expected to remain for several hours after crossing the coast between Bowen and Airlie Beach.

Children in Armenia start thinking about their careers at a very young age — around six months or so, Bryant Rousseau writes in . 

When an infant’s first tooth arrives, typically in four to seven months, a celebration takes place known variously as the “agra hadig” or “atam hatik.”

As part of the ritual, objects symbolizing different professions are arrayed in front of a child: a microphone for an entertainer, a stethoscope for a doctor, scissors for a tailor or money for a banker. Whichever object the baby chooses first is thought to be a sign of where the child’s professional aptitude lies.

With the appearance of teeth, a child can begin to eat solid food, and the acquisition of this skill is believed to be a propitious time to foretell what the future holds, said Yulia Antonyan, a professor in the department of cultural studies at Yerevan State University in Armenia’s capital.

There are no obligatory objects, but sets available for purchase will often include traditional artisan tools and choices epitomizing a more modern lifestyle. Parents are free to add to or omit from the mix as they wish.

The ceremony begins by pouring various cereal grains over and around the child. Typically but not always, the baby’s head is protected by a piece of fabric, a pair of hands or sometimes even an umbrella.

The ritual sprinkling is thought to ensure that the child will have healthy, even teeth. It could also have fertility associations, akin to throwing rice at a wedding, according to Levon Abrahamian, a cultural anthropologist in Yerevan.

Today, teeth-shaped cakes, toys, candy and balloons are popular party favors at these celebrations, which are widely practiced in Armenia and across the Armenian diaspora.

In the earliest written references to the ritual, from the 19th century, just two objects were put before the teething child. The prediction then was not about an adult profession but the sex of the next sibling: Grasping a knife meant a brother was on the way, a comb (or mirror) a sister.

“The divination for the future profession was developed much later in the urbanized and modernized environment of Soviet Armenia and the diaspora,” Professor Antonyan said, “when the future career would determine the baby’s life.”

Photo: Reuters

Moonlight has won best picture at the Oscars – but only after Faye Dunaway initially announced La La Land had won, the BBC reports.

Dunaway’s co-presenter Warren Beatty said “Emma Stone, La La Land” had been written in the envelope he was given.

The team from La La Land were in the middle of their acceptance speeches when the mistake was discovered.

La La Land won six Oscars including best actress for Emma Stone. Damien Chazelle, director of La La Land, became the youngest filmmaker to win a best director Oscar, at the age of 32.

Stone, who won the coveted best actress prize, said backstage: “I’m so excited for Moonlight. Of course it was an amazing thing to hear La La Land and I would love to win best picture. But we are so excited for Moonlight. I think it is one of the best films of all time.

“Is that the craziest Oscar moment of all time? Cool! It’s going to be history.”

Host Jimmy Kimmel said after the show that Beatty had been given the wrong envelope.

“The referendum held on February 20 is yet another evidence of the determination of the people of Artsakh to organise their public life by democratic processes,”Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandia said in a statement.

“The current Constitutional Referendum is aimed at choosing the system of governance that the people of Nagorno-Karabakh consider more relevant to their needs,” he added.

“It is commendable that more than hundred international observers representing three dozen countries assessed the Referendum as well organized, transparent and in line with international standards,” Minister Nalbandian said.

“The exercise of fundamental freedoms is a universal right that cannot be subject to limitations. For quarter of a century Nagorno-Karabakh has been conducting processes inherent to democratic societies and there is no doubt that the people of Artsakh have certainly gained the right to live according to the same universal values that the free democratic world enjoys,” the Foreign Minister added.

“Once again the people of Artsakh demonstrated that their will to build democratic society is irreversible notwithstanding all odds of continuous use of force and threat of force, economic blockade and other hostile actions perpetrated by Azerbaijan. It does not come as a surprise that the ongoing democratic processes in Artsakh are met with such an extreme discontent in Azerbaijan – a country notorious with its human rights violations,” Minister Nalbandian concluded.

Beyonce’s dancers wore jewelry by Armenian designer Marianna Harutunian at the Grammy Awards.

The designer took to social media to express her delight. “Excited to see my golden Halos on Beyoncé’s dancers in tonight’s Grammy Performance,” she said in posts on and .

Marianna Harutunian also made gold stackable rings for Beyoncé’s dancers.

Marianna Harutunian is a California-based celebrity jewelry designer. Lady Gaga,Nicki Minaj, Pink, Beyonce, Madonna, Carrie Underwood, Katy Perry and others are among her clients.

Armenia and the European Union are close to the final stage of negotiations on a new Framework Agreement, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian told a press conference today.

“We have held eight rounds of negotiations since the start of the talks in December 2015. The next round of negotiations is expected in February. I think we are close to the final stage, as we’re reached agreement on the overwhelming majority of the provisions of the new agreement, both political and economic ones,” Minister Nalbandian added.

An important EU delegation will visit Armenia in the near future, and it will provide another opportunity to make corrections in the negotiation process.

“I think we’ll be able to declare in the near future that we have completed the negotiations,” Edward Nalbandian stated.

On January 24, Armenia’s Ambassador to the US Grigor Hovhannnisyan received Ambassador Richard Hoagland, the newly appointed US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group for Nagorno Karabakh.

Mr. Hoagland will be joining the Russian and French co-chairs of the Minsk Group over the next five month period.

“Ambassador Hoagland is a senior diplomat who brings into the Minsk process years of experience and in-depth knowledge of the CIS and Central Asian regions,” the Armenian Embassy said in a Facebook post.

Mexico will not pay for Donald Trump’s border wall, the country’s president has said in a message to the nation, the BBC reports.

Enrique Pena Nieto said he “lamented” the plans for the barrier, adding that “Mexico doesn’t believe in walls”.

But he made no mention of cancelling or postponing a trip to Washington on 31 January to meet the new US president.

Mr Trump has signed an executive order for an “impassable physical barrier” and has insisted Mexico would reimburse the US for it.

Building a 2,000-mile barrier along the Mexican border was one of Mr Trump’s key pledges in the presidential election campaign.

He spoke of a “crisis” on the southern US border as he signed the directives during a ceremony at the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday.

The orders also called for hiring 10,000 immigration officials to help boost border patrol efforts.

“A nation without borders is not a nation,” he said. “Beginning today the United States gets back control of its borders.”

Turkey is preparing to turn a new page in its history by fulfilling Erdogan’s long-time dream of establishing a presidential system in the country. Expert of Turkish studies Mushegh Khudaverdyan says “Turkey is thus making a step backward.”

“Turkey is returning to the model of governance of the Ottoman Sultans,” Khudaverdyan told a press conference today.

Speaking about the possible influence of the constitutional changes on the Armenian community, editor-in-chief of the Marmara daily Rober Hatechian “the changes fall in the orbit of the conflict between the authorities and the opposition.” “They are not related torelated to national minorities,” Hatechian told Public Radio of Armenia.

Commenting on the rumors on Turkey’s plans to build a wall at the Armenian border, Khudaverdyan said “the information is being checked.”

“Turkey is situated at the crossroads of Europe and Asia and suffers from threats of contraband and terrorist attacks. The intention to build a wall may well fit into this logic. The intention could also be a continuation of the plans to build a wall at the border with Iran rather than a step targeted against the Republic of Armenia,” the expert said.

Mushegh Khudaverdyan added, however, that he does not see perspectives of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations in the foreseeable future.

On December 27 Tigran Mkrtchyan, Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to Lithuania had a meeting with Viktoras Pranckietis, Speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas.

The Seimas Speaker commended the level of bilateral political dialogue and the progress achieved in economic cooperation.

The interlocutors noted that the trade turnover over the last years has greatly increased and there are sufficient conditions for its improvement.

The sides highlighted the development of cooperation in the format of inter-parliamentary friendship groups. The Speaker in his turn underlined that the Armenia-Lithuania inter-parliamentary friendship group, re-convened following the Seimas elections, is one of the three biggest groups of the Lithuanian parliament, containing 48 MPs and consisting of one-third of the Seimas members.

The interlocutors touched upon the process of negotiations on Armenia-EU new framework agreement, the visa liberalization perspectives. The Speaker underlined, that Lithuania supports Armenia’s cooperation with the EU.

Talking about the Artsakh issue, Ambassador Mkrtchyan presented to his interlocutor the continuous destructive behavior of official Baku, the anti-Armenian propaganda conducted on the top level.

The Seimas speaker reaffirmed Lithuania’s stance in Nagorno-Karabakh issue, expressing support to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs aimed at a peaceful resolution of the issue.