Author: Ophelia Vardapetian

A statue of Argentine football star Lionel Messi has been vandalised in Buenos Aires, the BBC reports.

The bronze statue, unveiled last June, was broken in half and the torso, arms and head removed.

The motive for the damage was not clear but city officials say repairs to the statue are already under way.

It was unveiled just as the striker announced he was retiring from the national team – a decision he later reversed.

The statue stood on Paseo de la Gloria (Glory Street), which also displays casts of other famous Argentine sports stars such as tennis player Gabriela Sabatini and basketball player Manuel Ginobili.

Statues in the area have previously been targeted by vandals or thieves.

“The statue of Lionel Messi… was victim of an act of vandalism that left the footballer’s sculpture without its top half,” the Buenos Aires municipal government said in a statement.

“The city government is already working on its repair.”

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has hilariously ruined Manchester United teammate Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s Korea advert, according to

As part of his Chevrolet promotional duties, Henrikh Mkhitaryan is thanking Korea for watching Manchester United this season.

Standing in the wings, is teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

As the Armenian pumps himself up you can actually see the moment Zlatan decides he is going to cause trouble.

Mkhitaryan meanwhile starts talking and proceeds to thank Korea for the their faithful viewing. But United’s number 22 doesn’t even make it halfway through when the hoardings behind him come crashing down.

Zlatan of course is the man responsible after booting a ball directly at them.

Knowing he’s done wrong, United’s number nine decides to scarper and dodges the ball thrown back at him by his teammate.

The Azerbaijani forces undertook an infringement attempt in the eastern and southern directions of the line of contact with the Karabakh forces between 23:00 and 23:30, October 20, the NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army were quick to spot the advancement of the special forces of Azerbaijan and threw them back to their initial positions, inflicting losses. No casualties are reported on the Armenian side.

Besides the act of sabotage, the rival violated the ceasefire about 50 times last night. The Azeri side used weapons of different calibers as it fired over 2,800 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions.

The rival used DShK large-caliber machine guns in the southern direction.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep full control of the situation at the line of contact and are ready to prevent any provocative step, the Defense Ministry said.

Bethania Lutheran Church in Solvang is gathering with Armenian Christian churches from the Los Angeles area to celebrate the life of the late missionary Maria Jacobsen on Sunday, October 23, when a bust in her honor will be unveiled, reports.

Jacobsen was a Danish Lutheran missionary, who traveled in 1915 from Denmark to the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) when she learned of the extermination of Armenians within its boundaries and on forced death marches to the Syrian desert. More than 1.5 million were killed in what has come to be known as the Armenian Genocide.

Jacobsen worked in the hospitals assisting Armenian people. The records she kept during this time have been credited as some of the most meaningful proof of the genocide, which Turkey still disputes. During her time in the eastern Ottoman Empire, she encountered numerous orphans of parents who were taken away by Turkish forces.

Her greatest work was directed at these orphans who she was able to find refuge for in Lebanon. She is credited by the Armenian people for saving the lives of up to 3,000 orphans during the genocide; children she hid in her care. She adopted three orphaned children. She found one by the side of a road, another was hiding in a tree.

When the genocide ended in 1922, Jacobsen moved many of the children to an orphanage she established near Beirut, Lebanon. She was buried there following her death in 1960.

He added, “I think this is an amazing person to honor, not only because of the work she did, but also because of her Danish heritage.”

Photo: AFP

US singer Bob Dylan has been awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature, the BBC reports.

The 75-year-old rock legend received the prize “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”.

The balladeer, artist and occasional actor is the first songwriter to win the prestigious award.

Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in 1941 and began his musical career in 1959, playing in coffee houses in Minnesota.

Much of his best-known work dates from the 1960s, when he became an informal historian of America’s troubles.

Songs like Blowin’ in the Wind and The Times They are A-Changin’ became anthems of the anti-war and civil rights movements.

His move away from traditional folk songwriting, paired with a controversial decision to “go electric” proved equally influential.

Dylan’s many albums include Highway 61 Revisited in 1965, Blonde on Blonde in 1966 and Blood on the Tracks in 1975.

Since the late 1980s he has toured persistently, an undertaking he has dubbed the “Never-Ending Tour”.

Dylan had long been tipped as a potential Nobel recipient, but few experts expected the academy to extend the prestigious award to a genre such as folk rock music.

On October 7, 2016 “HayPost” CJSC put into circulation two new stamps dedicated to the 150th birth anniversary of the Armenian artist, painter Arshak Fetvadjian (1866 -1947).

Fetvadjian was the designer of the postage stamps and currency of the first Republic of Armenia.

Arshak Fetvadjian travelled in the Eastern Armenia, painted Armenian architectural monuments and produced more than 2,000 works varying from pencil drawings to watercolors. He is also author of portraits, works with themes related to Armenian history, mythology and nationalism, as well as reproductions from Armenian miniature paintings.

The stamps were printed in “Cartor” Printing House, France, with print run of 40,000pcs per each. They have face values of 170 and 230 Armenian drams. The stamps depict Portrait of Arshak Fetvadjian and his painting “Woman playing the Mandolin”. The stamps were designed by David Dovlatyan, designer of “HayPost” CJSC.

The official cancellation ceremony of the stamp took place at the National Gallery of Armenia. The cancellation was carried out by the Director of National Gallery of Armenia, Arman Tsaturyan and the Acting Chief Executive Officer of “HayPost” CJSC , Hayk Avagyan.

Member of the House of Lords, Baroness Caroline Cox and her delegation visited the military positions located in the eastern direction of the NKR Defense Army.

At the frontline they asked about the frequency of the ceasefire violations, examined the living conditions of the servicemen and the peculiarities of military duty.

According to a decree signed by President Serzh Sargsyan, Armen Yeritsyan has been appointed as Minister of Emergency Situations.

A fire broke out at one well of Azerbaijan’s Guneshli oil field during maintenance works on Monday, Azerbaijan’s state energy company SOCAR said in a statement, Reuters reports.

The accident does not pose any threat to 49 workers on the oil platform, SOCAR said, adding the workers would not be evacuated.

Armenia’s Acting Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier on the sidelines of the 71^st session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The interlocutors exchanged views on issues on OSCE agenda, as well as urgent international and regional issues.

The parties discussed the current state of the process of settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

Edward Nalbandian and Lamberto Zanier referred to the activity of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, the programs it implements and the perspectives of their expansion.