Author: Mary Lazarian

Photo: AFP 2015/ KHALIL AL-MURSHIDI

 

At least 18 people were killed and 41 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt at the funeral of a pro-government Shi’ite Muslim fighter in a southwestern Baghdad district on Friday, police and medical sources said, Reuters reports.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, but the ultra-hardline Sunni militants of Islamic State who control large parts of the country’s north and west frequently set off bombs in the capital.

French footballer Karim Benzema has been placed under formal investigation in connection with a sex tape blackmail plot involving another player, the BBC reports.

The Real Madrid striker appeared before a judge in Versailles after being held in police custody overnight.

Police are investigating what part he played in an alleged attempt to extort money from fellow French international Mathieu Valbuena.

A source told AFP news agency that he had admitted involvement.

The 27-year-old star told investigators he had approached Mr Valbuena about the tape on behalf of “a childhood friend,” the report said.

According to French media, Mr Benzema mentioned the tape to the midfielder during a national team training session at Clairefontaine in early October, ahead of matches against Armenia and Denmark.

It was unclear whether he was offering friendly advice or trying to press his team-mate to pay the blackmailers.

The prosecutor’s office has confirmed that Mr Benzema is now under formal investigation for complicity in attempted blackmail and participation in a criminal conspiracy.

When a suspect is placed under formal investigation, he or she is then examined by a judge, who determines whether there is sufficient evidence for the suspect to be charged.

If formal charges do follow, Mr Benzema could face a minimum jail sentence of five years, the prosecutor said.

Meanwhile the court has banned the striker from contacting his France team-mate, or any other people charged in the case.

Correspondents say Thursday’s court judgement exposes the footballer to a lengthy period of doubt ahead of the Euro 2016 tournament that France hosts next year.

 

Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has been arrested over an alleged plot to blackmail fellow footballer Mathieu Valbuena with a sex tape, legal sources have said, reports.

The Real Madrid and France star arrived at the police station in Versailles, near Paris, early on Wednesday and was placed in detention, the local prosecutor confirmed, without giving further information.

The case also saw four other people arrested last month, including former French international footballer Disséjibril C.

Cissé took to live television the day after his arrest to insist that he was innocent.

The existence of any x-rated video involving Lyon player Valbuena and his partner, however, has not actually been confirmed.

The Yezidi community in Armenia plans to build a new temple which is supposed to also serve as a new cultural center, Yezidi Press reports.

The Yezidi businessman Mirza Sloyan who had already borne the costs amounting to one million euros for the local pilgrimage site, consented to undertake the finance again. The large project will be built in Analish village and is supposed to bear the name “Quba mêrê divanê”.

The Religious Council of the Yezidis approved of the temple´s construction and issued its blessing during the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in April of this year.

The famous Armenian architect Artak Ghula was commissioned to design the temple and presented a proposal shortly afterwards, which Yezidi representatives, however, rejected. A new design is therefore currently being worked on.

It is the third Yezidi temple to be built in the post-Soviet area. Only a few weeks ago, the Yezidi community in Georgia´s capital Tbilisi inaugurated the temple “Quba Siltan Êzîd“ togehter with international guests. 40,000 Yezidis live in Armenia according to the census of 2011. By constituting around 1.3 per cent of the population, Yezidis make up Armenia´s largest ethnic minority. In 2012, the Armenian government officially recognized the Yezidis´ ethno-religious identity.

Egypt’s Coptic Pope Tawadros II prayed on Sunday in Lebanon’s Armenian Orthodox Church for the slain victims of the Armenian Massacre at the hand of the Ottoman Empire, Ahram Online reports.

The pope also prepared the holy Chrism, an anointing mixture of virgin olive oil and other herbs that date back to biblical times, along with the Armenian Catholicos Aram I.

The pope landed in Lebanon on Friday and is scheduled to return home by midweek, Coptic Orthodox Church Spokesman Fr. Boulas Halim told Ahram Online.

Pope Tawadros’ visit included a meeting with the Copts of the Levant.

This is the second time Tawadros prepared the holy Chrism since his ordination in November 2012. The first time was in April 2014 at St. Pishoy Monastery.

Last April, Tawadros flew to Armenia to participate in the hundredth anniversary of the Armenian genocide in the capital Yerevan.

 

At the time, Tawadros said his visit represents pure religious support from the Coptic Church to its brotherly Armenian Orthodox church and is not political.

A start-up carrier hopes to establish a sustainable aviation business in Armenia. Taron-Avia, named after a canton of the Turuberan province of the historic Greater Armenia, aims to begin scheduled passenger flights to Russia this autumn, according to .

Although the carrier has almost ten years experience in the cargo business, this will be its first growth into scheduled passenger operations. It intends to launch operations from September 2015 using a small fleet of three Boeing 737-500s that have already been acquired and are currently undergoing pre-service maintenance in Jordan.

“We will be based in Yerevan,” confirmed the airline’s chief executive officer, Garnik Papikyan, in a recent interview. “From the Armenian capital, we mainly want to fly to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Rostov, Krasnodar, Adler/Sochi, Volgograd, Voronezh and others,” he told ATO news in the interview.

Representatives Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Jackie Speier (D-CA) – the two U.S. Representatives of Armenian heritage – have called for a vote on the Armenian Genocide Truth + Justice Resolution, a bipartisan genocide-prevention measure they describe as “a principled and practical approach to fostering improved relations between Turkey and Armenia,” reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

In a letter to Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Eliot Engel, Ranking Member of this panel, Reps. Speier and Eshoo noted that they had recently traveled to Armenia as part of the U.S. Presidential Delegation for the April 24th Centennial. Stressing their unique role as “the only Members of the U.S. House of Representatives of Armenian heritage, descendants of survivors of the Armenian Genocide,” they called on the Committee leadership to hold a hearing and vote in the Foreign Affairs Committee on H.Res.154, the Armenian Genocide Truth and Justice Resolution before the August District work period.

H.Res.154, a bipartisan measure spearheaded by Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Robert Dold (R-IL), Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA) and David Valadao (R-CA), and Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), has over 60 cosponsors. It builds upon the substantial record of U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide by calling upon the President work toward improved Armenian-Turkish relations based upon the Republic of Turkey’s full acknowledgement of the facts and ongoing consequences of the Armenian Genocide, and a fair, just, and comprehensive international resolution of this crime.

Dear Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel,

Earlier this spring on Capitol Hill we came together as colleagues to honor the women and men who died during the Armenian Genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923. In April, several of us traveled to Armenia as part of an official presidential delegation to participate in the 100th anniversary memorial events. We were honored to be part of this historic delegation, but remain disappointed Congress has not to this date recognized the Armenian Genocide, which President Obama recently called “the first mass atrocity of the 20th century.”

As the only Members of the U.S. House of Representatives of Armenian heritage, descendants of survivors of the Armenian Genocide, we ask you to hold a hearing and vote in the Foreign Affairs Committee on H.Res.154, the Armenian Genocide Truth and Justice Resolution.

This bipartisan genocide-prevention measure represents a principled and practical approach to fostering improved relations between Turkey and Armenia, which remains a priority of U.S. foreign policy. The adoption of this resolution would send a clear and powerful signal to those committing atrocities against minorities today that the United States will never compromise our moral stand against genocide for reasons of political expediency.

The first subcommittee hearing on the Armenian Genocide was held by Rep. Chris Smith in 2000 and Chairman Howard Berman convened a hearing and vote in 2010. Former and current Members have at length during special order hours and other debates on the genocide. As of this year, twenty-eight countries and 43 states have recognized the genocide, including Canada, England, France, and Russia. During Sunday services in April, Pope Francis called the massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians the “first genocide of the 20th century.” It is not the first time that the Pope has described the Armenian deaths as a genocide – Pope John Paul II did so in a written statement in 2001.

Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel, we respectfully ask you to bring the resolution to the Committee for a vote before the August District work period. We stand ready to meet with you to discuss the matter further and explore avenues for the timely adoption of this resolution.

The Police today restored the traffic on Baghramyan Avenue, which had been a site for round-the-clock protests against electricity price hike for almost two weeks.

The Police earlier removed the barricades after the protesters refused to do it themselves at about 12:30.

A number of people were detained, but the Police say they will be released within three hours.

The protests were sparked by the decision of the regulatory body to increase the price of electricity from August 1, 2015.

Hagop Kevorkian has been waiting for the same train for 22 years. He used to work as a conductor on services crossing the Turkey-Armenia border, but now he is the sole watchman at the decaying Akhuryan Station, in northern Armenia, 2 kilometers from the border, according to

“Trains came to the station loaded with all kinds of things. We would do customs checks and then unload the goods. One hundred fifty people used to work here. They were all from Akhuryan village. The trade supported the whole village,” Hagop said, sitting at his table in the gloomy station office surrounded by yellowing technical diagrams of train lines and wagons. “Now there’s nothing. I just sit here every day.”

Service between Akhuryan and Dogu Kapi (East Gate) in Kars province was halted in March 1993, after Turkey closed its border with Armenia in solidarity with its ally Azerbaijan amid the Nagorno-Karabakh War. It has not resumed. Today, Akhuryan Station, which sits outside Armenia’s second largest city, Gyumri, is a symbol of the human cost of the bitter impasse in relations between Turkey and Armenia.

“I have been here for 33 years. For 22 of those years, I have had nothing to do. There’s nothing here anymore,” Hagop said. Currently, he spends his days sitting alone, waiting, wearing the same uniform that he had worn during the Soviet era, smoking cigarettes and occasionally watching an ancient black-and-white television perched atop a filing cabinet.

Hope last came to Akhuryan Station in 2009, when the two countries signed diplomatic accords. The comprehensive deal foresaw the opening of the border and an exchange of ambassadors. With momentum building after the ratification of the protocols, steps were taken to reopen the station and resume cross-border rail links. Hagop said the station building was partly renovated, the platform spruced up and a new track laid. Then the agreement collapsed in 2010 after Turkey made it conditional on an Armenian peace deal with Azerbaijan.

President Serzh Sargsyan today received US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassador James Warlick.

The interlocutors discussed issues related to the current stage and perspectives of the Karabakh conflict settlement.

President Sargsyan reiterated Armenia’s willingness to continue to work with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to find a solution to the Karabakh conflict through peace talks.