Arthur Petrosyan will head the Armenian national team from November 1, 2016, the Football Federation of Armenia said after completing talks on the appointment of the head coach.
Arthur Petrosyan previously played for the Armenian national team and is currently coaching the Swiss “Zurich-2.”
Varuzhan Sukiasyan quit as head coach after the unsuccessful start of the 2018 World Cup qualification campaign.
The fourth Václav Havel Human Rights Prize – which honours outstanding civil society action in defence of human rights – has been awarded to Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad. The €60 000 prize was presented at a special ceremony today at the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg, on the opening day of the autumn plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
At the age of 21 (in 2014), Nadia Murad was kidnapped by ISIS in northern Iraq together with thousands of other women and children. She was kept in slavery and abused for three months until she managed to escape and flee to Germany. Since then, she has become a human rights activist, bringing the plight of the Yazidi community, in particular the forced sexual enslavement and human trafficking of women and children captured by ISIS, to the forefront of international attention. She was a candidate for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize; in September 2016, she was appointed as the first United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking.
The two other shortlisted nominees – Gordana Igric, a journalist from Serbia and an active defender of human rights and media freedom, and the International Institute of Human Rights/René Cassin Foundation, which has worked since 1969 to promote human rights and peace through teaching and research, also received diplomas during the ceremony.
“This year would have marked the 80th anniversary of Václav Havel. He is not with us any more, but his legacy is more relevant than ever,” PACE President Pedro Agramunt said during the ceremony. “Through his writing and his political activity, he forewarned about the danger of hatred and prejudice, and the importance of tolerance, co-existence, and respect for human rights and the rule of law. In times when we are facing renewed challenges to the unity of Europe, when diversity is becoming a dividing element, and people are starting to look at each other with suspicion and mistrust, we must turn back to his message,” he underlined.
The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize is awarded each year by the Parliamentary Assembly, in partnership with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation, to reward outstanding civil society action in defence of human rights in Europe and beyond. Nominations of any individual, non-governmental organisation or institution working to defend human rights are taken into consideration. The Prize consists of a sum of € 60 000, a trophy and a diploma.
The Prize is awarded in memory of Václav Havel, playwright, opponent of totalitarianism, architect of the Velvet Revolution of 1989, President of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic and an enduring symbol of opposition to despotism.
Photo: AFP
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has said he will donate the money from the Nobel Peace prize to help the victims of the 52-year conflict in his country, the BBC reports.
He was awarded the prize for reaching a peace agreement with the Farc rebel group last month.
The deal was rejected a few days later by Colombian voters in a referendum.
About 260,000 people have been killed and more than six million internally displaced in Colombia.
“Last night, I met with my family and we have decided to donate those eight million Swedish krona ($925,000) to the victims,” said Mr Santos.
He made the announcement in the city of Bojaya, in the north-western region of Choco, after taking part in a religious ceremony for people affected by the conflict.
Georgian Government delegation headed by Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvli is due in Armenia today.
The Georgian PM is expected to meet with Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan and Prime Minster Hovik Abrahamyan.
Members of the delegation will visit the Tsitsernakaberd memorial to pay tribute to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims.
A car has exploded after ramming the gates of the Chinese embassy in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, with at least one person killed, reports say.
Kyrgyz security officials quoted by the local AKIpress news agency described the blast as a terrorist attack.
The news agency also quoted the chief of security at the Chinese embassy as saying that no staff there had been injured.
The Russian TASS news agency says one person was killed, two were wounded.
Local reports say that the person killed was the driver of the car.
Kyrgyz security officials are at the scene conducting an investigation.
Different districts in Damascus, including the Armenian-populated Bab Tuma neighborhood came under rocket attack yesterday, the Aleppo-based Kantsasar newspaper informs.
According to SANA, five people were killed, dozens were injured.
As of 9 a.m. 51 citizens had applied for treatment after the clashes between police and demonstrators outside the seized police station in Yerevan’s Erebuni district late on Wednesday, Minister of Health Armen Muradyan told reporters after the government sitting today. He said 28 of them were police.
“All of them have received necessary treatment and none is in danger,” the Minister said.
Speaking about the condition of those injured during the Sunday attack, Minister Muradyan said policeman Gagik Mkrtchyan was in grave condition, but there are positive trends.
Photo: REUTERS/Pavel Mikheyev
Two gunmen attacked a police station in central Almaty late Monday morning, killing three police officers in a gun battle. While fleeing from the police station, one of the gunmen shot and killed a local resident before hijacking his car, the police said.
The police said it has detained one suspect, identified as a 27-year-old former convict who was wanted for the murder of a woman. The other man remained at large.
The attack comes a month after 20 people were killed in the Kazakh city of Aktobe when groups of gunmen attacked a military base and a gun shop. Authorities in this Central Asian nation then described the violence as a terrorist attack and blamed it on radical Islamists.
President Francois Hollande says 50 people injured in the Bastille day attack in Nice are now “between life and death” – in addition to the 84 known to have died.
French President Francois Hollande has described the attack as “despicable”.
He said Nice was one of the most beautiful cities in the world and that the attack had taken place on the day of celebration of liberty.
He said 84 people had died and another 50 injured, who he described as being “between life and death”.
He said the victims were French as well as foreigners and that there were a number of children among the dead.
Local reports have named the attacker as 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel.
Mohamed Bouhlal belongs to a family who resides in Msakin near the city of Sousse, a Tunisian security source told BBC Arabic, on condition of anonymity.
Bouhlal’s parents are divorced and they live in France.
Mohamed used to frequently visit Tunisia, the source added, saying the last time was eight months ago, before he went back to France.
The 31-year-old, said to have been married with three children, was not known by the Tunisian authorities to have been involved in any terrorism activities on Tunisian soil.
However, he was known by to the authorities in connection with drugs and alcohol-related offences.
Earlier, the Tunisian government issued a statement condemning the attack “in the strongest possible terms”.
“Tunisia stands by France in its fight against terrorism and supports any measure taken by the French government to protect its territory and the security of its citizens and visitors,” the statement said.
Anush Elbakyan, 25, has received a in the “Outstanding News Report – Serious Feature” nomination.
Anush Elbakian is a recipient of two other prestigious awards – a Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize for Marathon bombing coverage and Online Journalism Award of the Online News Association.
Photo: Aravot.am