Author: Lara Antonian

Celebrations are taking place around the country on the day the Queen turns 90, the reports.

Crowds lined the streets in Windsor as the monarch took part in a walkabout, and royal gun salutes have been fired from each of the UK’s capital cities.

The Queen, who was accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh during her walkabout in Windsor, was presented with a birthday cake at the Guildhall by the Great British Bake Off champion Nadiya Hussain, who had created an orange drizzle cake with a butter cream and marmalade filling.

The monarch unveiled a plaque marking The Queen’s Walkway – a 6.3km trail that links 63 significant points in Windsor.

The trail was designed to recognise the moment the monarch broke the record on 9 September 2015 held by her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria by being on the throne for 63 years and seven months.

The Queen will light symbolic beacons in Windsor later.

The Queen had been “a rock of strength for our nation” and the Commonwealth, Prime Minister David Cameron said, as he and fellow politicians paid tribute in the House of Commons.

Mr Cameron said: “Her Majesty The Queen has lived through some extraordinary times in our world.

“From the Second World War… to the rations with which she bought the material for her wedding dress.

“From presenting the World Cup to England at Wembley in 1966 to man landing on the moon three years later.

“From the end of the Cold War to peace in Northern Ireland.

“Throughout it all, as the sands of culture shift and the tides of politics ebb and flow, Her Majesty has been steadfast – a rock of strength for our nation, for our Commonwealth and on many occasions for the whole world.”

Earlier, a photograph was released showing the monarch with young members of the Royal Family.

The image, one of three taken by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, shows the Queen surrounded by her five great-grandchildren and her two youngest grandchildren.

The other Leibovitz photographs show the monarch walking in the grounds of Windsor Castle with four of her dogs and sitting with her daughter, the Princess Royal.

 

 

The Armenian community of Georgia has issued an appeal to the country’s President and Prime Minister, calling for recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Reminding that April 24, 2016 will mark the 101st anniversary of the genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, the community notes that the fact of the genocide has been recognized and condemned by more than 20 countries, including Canada, Italy, France, Sweden, Argentina, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Russia, Poland, Vatican and others)

“The fact has also been acknowledged by 47 of the 50 US states, as well as by a number of international organizations, such as the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, the European People’s Party, etc,” the statement reads.

For the sake of justice and democratic values, representatives of the Armenian organizations of Georgia call on the authorities to join the civilized community of the world, to respect the will of the people of the Republic of Georgia and initiate the discussion of the issue of Armenian Genocide recognition in the Georgian Parliament.

His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, received Nobel Prize laureates Aaron Ciechanover, Ada E. Yonath, Dan Shechtman, John Robin Warren, Ei-ichi Negishi.

The scholars have arrived in Yerevan at the invitation of the Yerevan state Medical University within the framework fo the “Nobel Days in Armenia” event.

Greeting the Nobel Prize winners and wishing them new achievements in their scientific activity, His Holiness Karekin II said “it’s a pleasure to host renowned scholars, who have made a great contribution to the wellbeing of the mankind, at the religious center of all Armenians.”

“Emphasizing the importance of the “Nobel days” event, His Holiness noted that it’s a unique opportunity for young scholars to communicate with world-known workers of science.”

During the meeting the Catholicos spoke about the recent military actions unleashed by Azerbaijan and their disastrous consequences. He also referred to his two-day visit to Artsakh.

His Holiness called on the Nobel Prize laureates to raise their voice in support of re-establishment of peace in the Middle East and the South Caucasus. The Catholicos stressed the importance of a condemning stance of the international community for the prevention of such developments.

 

 

On April 6-7, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan will conduct an official visit to the Federal Republic of Germany.

In the framework of the visit, the President of Armenia will meet with the highest leadership of Germany – President Joachim Gauck, Chancellor Angela Merkel, President of Bundestag Norbert Lammert, Minister of Foreign Affairs, OSCE Chairman-in-Office Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Photo: Getty Images

 

Oil prices have fallen below $40 a barrel after Saudi Arabia said it would freeze production only if other major producers did the same, the BBC reports.

The comments by deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman are seen as a challenge to Iran.

It has vowed to increase oil production following the lifting of Western sanctions.

In the Bloomberg interview, the prince also spoke about his plan for a giant public investment fund.

Worth more than $2 trillion, it would be designed to reduce Saudi Arabia’s reliance on income from oil.

Part of the plan would be a sale of shares in the state-owned oil firm Aramco, which could start as soon as next year, according to the interview.

On March 31 Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, who is in the US within the delegation headed by the President of Armenia, met James Warlick, the US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia drew the attention of the US Co-Chair to the continuous violations of the ceasefire by Azerbaijan. “Ignoring the joint statement of the Co-Chairs and the OSCE Chairmanship Special Representative to respect ceasefire during religious holidays, Baku has intensified the gross violations of ceasefire in the wake and during the Easter.”

Edward Nalbandian emphasized: “Such provocations of Azerbaijan have become routine. The same is happening during the negotiation process. If previously Baku was undermining the negotiations through various means, attempting to shift the issue to other fora, now, probably witnessing the inefficiency of its steps, it has not made up anything but rejecting meetings with the Minsk Group Co-Chairs.” Minister Nalbandian underlined that this is indeed a futile attempt to exert pressure on the negotiation process and the Co-Chairs.

The sides exchanged thoughts on the possibilities of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement through exclusively peaceful means.

Photo: AFP

A suicide bomber killed at least 65 people and injured more than 280 others, mostly women and children, at a public park in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Sunday, striking at the heart of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s political base of Punjab, Reuters reports.

The blast occurred in the parking area of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, a few feet away from children’s swings.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which occurred in a busy residential area during the Easter holiday weekend. Police said it was not clear whether the attack had deliberately targeted mainly Muslim Pakistan’s small Christian minority.

Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze will pay an official visit to Armenia March 24-25 at the invitation of Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

The Georgian Foreign Minister will be hosted by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

The meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the two countries will be followed by a press conference.

Today the European Court of Human Rights published a judgment on the case of Zalyan and Others v. Armenia (application nos. 36894/04 and 3521/07). The case concerned the complaint by three former servicemen that they had been subjected to torture while performing their military service, being suspected of having murdered two other servicemen. One of the applicants also complained that he had been unlawfully deprived of his liberty.

In today’s Chamber judgment  in the case, the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been:

no violation of Article 3 (prohibition of torture and of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights as regards the applicants’ alleged torture;

a violation of Article 3 of the Convention on account of the lack of an effective investigation into their complaints of having been subjected to torture; and

a violation of Article 5 §§ 1, 2 and 3 (right to liberty and security) in respect of one of the applicants, Mr Zalyan.

The Court considered that there was insufficient evidence to corroborate the applicants’ allegations of having been tortured, largely as a result of the authorities’ failure to comply with the applicable procedural rules, under which the applicants would have had to be placed in a detention facility where they would have undergone a compulsory medical examination. At the same time, the Court found that the applicants had raised an  arguable claim of having been subjected to ill-treatment.

Contrary to their obligation to carry out an effective investigation, the prosecution authorities had failed to make any serious attempts to investigate those allegations.

As regards Mr Zalyan’s detention, the Court considered, in particular, that prior to 24 April 2004, he had been deprived of his liberty for the purposes of the criminal investigation while the alleged disciplinary penalty imposed on him had been only a formal pretext. As for the period from 24 August to 4 November 2004, there had been no court decision authorising his detention.

The applicants, Arayik Zalyan, Razmik Sargsyan, and Musa Serobyan, are Armenian nationals who were born in 1985 and live in Vanadzor and Gyumri (Armenia). According to the applicants, on 19 April 2004, while performing their military service on the territory of the unrecognised Nagorno Karabakh Republic, they were taken to the office of their military unit’s commander for questioning in connection with the murder of two servicemen in December 2003. The applicants maintain that they were beaten, threatened and verbally abused by law-enforcement officers in order to force them to confess to the murder. Subsequently they were taken to the military prosecutor’s office, where the ill-treatment continued before they were transferred to the military police department. During the next two days they were again questioned several times – officially as witnesses, although they were already being suspected of the crime – and they were continually beaten and threatened with the aim of extorting a confession. They were not allowed to eat or sleep, and were transferred between several law enforcement agencies blindfolded and handcuffed.

The Court held that Armenia was to pay Mr Zalyan 20,000 euros (EUR) and the other two applicants EUR 15,000 each in respect of non-pecuniary damage.

Armenia firmly supports Russia’s position on the Syrian issue, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I reiterate that we firmly support Russia’s stance on the Syrian issue, welcome the agreements with the United States on the cessation of hostilities and commitment to a political settlement in this matter,” Sargsyan said.

The leaders of the two countries discussed a wide range of issues on bilateral agenda, referred to the perspectives of development of integration processes within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union and exchanged views on international and regional challenges.

Presidents Sargsyan and Putin discussed issues related to the current stage of settlement of the Karabakh conflict and the perspectives of furthering the process.

President Sargsyan thanked Putin for the efforts towards the resolution of the Karabakh conflict and assured of Armenia’s commitment to the peace process.