Author: Raffi Khondkarian

Photo: AFP

 

Syrian rebels have left the last areas they held in Aleppo’s old city, an activist monitoring group has said, the BBC reports.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the pull-back came after days of heavy fighting, as government forces moved to split the remains of the rebel enclave in Syria’s second city.

The rebels have held the area around the ancient citadel for four years.

The Syrian military now holds more than two-thirds of eastern Aleppo and is seeking to control the whole city.

Tens of thousands of civilians are still trapped in the last of the rebel-held districts.

Photo: Getty Images

 

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that he will let hundreds of thousands of migrants travel on to Europe if pushed by the EU, the BBC reports.

He was reacting to a non-binding vote by the European Parliament to freeze talks on EU membership for Turkey.

The MEPs were alarmed by Mr Erdogan’s “disproportionate” response to a failed coup attempt in July.

The migrant numbers reaching the Greek islands have dropped since an EU-Turkey deal in March to curb the influx.

President Erdogan accused the EU of breaking its promises. As part of the March deal, Turkey was promised aid, visa-free travel for its nationals and accelerated membership talks.

“Listen to me: these border gates will be opened if you go any further,” he warned the EU on Friday.

A spokeswoman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ulrike Demmer, said the deal was in the “interest of all parties” and that “threats on either side are not helpful”.

More than 60 cases of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani side were registered at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces last night, the NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The rival used weapons of different calibers as it fired over 870 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions.

The Azerbaijani side used 60 and 82mm mine throwers in the direction of the military posts located in the northeastern and grenades in the northern direction of the Defense Army.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep full control of the situation at the frontline and confidently fulfill their military duty.

Photo by Ali Fawaz

 

Lebanon’s parliament elected former army commander Michel Aoun as president on Monday, filling a post that had been vacant for more than two years and injecting hope that the country’s long-running political paralysis would come to an end, the Associated Pess reprts.

Aoun, a Maronite Christian, enjoys a wide base of support among Lebanon’s educated Christians.

Aoun secured a simple majority of votes in parliament after a tension-filled, chaotic session that saw several rounds of voting because extra ballots appeared in the ballot box each time. In the end, the transparent box was placed in the middle of Parliament, where lawmakers cast their votes in front of two witnesses who watched to make sure no extra ballots were put in.

“We haven’t voted in a long time. We’re learning again,” Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri joked of the nearly two-hour process.

In the end, Aoun garnered 83 votes out of 127 lawmakers present at the session. He had been widely expected to achieve a two-thirds majority in the first round, but failed by two votes.

Members of parliament broke out in applause after Aoun was finally declared president. His supporters across the country erupted in cheers as they watched the proceedings on screens set up in the streets. Celebratory gunfire could also be heard in the capital.

The Azerbaijani side violated the ceasefire regime about 55 times at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces last night.

The rival used weapons of different calibers as it fired more than 1,000 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions.

The Azeri forces used sniper rifles in the southern and eastern directions of the line of contact, the NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep control of the situation at the frontline and confidently continue with their military duty.

The Russian embassy in Damascus has been shelled from the areas controlled by al-Nusra Front and Faylaq al-Rahman militants, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, Sputnik News reports.

“The Russian diplomatic mission came under mortar shelling on October 3. One of the mines exploded on the embassy area near its residential department. Fortunately, no one was wounded. The diplomatic mission sustained material damage. Another two mines went off next to the embassy.”

Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan received a delegation led by Head of IMF Armenia Mission Hossein Samiei.

The Prime Minister and the Head of the IMF Mission discussed issues related to bilateral cooperation, current state of Armenia’s economy, upcoming changes in the tax code, improvement of the business environment, attracting investment, as well as fiscal and monetary policy.

Karen Karapetyan and Hossein Samiei stressed the importance of continued implementation of steps and programs aimed at improving the business environment and infrastructure.

Referring to the 2017 State budget bill, Prime Minister Karapetyan stressed that the Government is going to propose a realistic budget, without exaggerating the existing difficulties or overestimating the possibilities. Karen Karapetyan highlighted the need to ensure proper control and increased predictability from the perspective of effective functioning of government.

During the meeting, the interlocutors touched upon a number of other issues of mutual interest.

Newly-appointed Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan has instructed the State Revenue Commission to ensure the unconditional implementation of tax regulations by major manufacturers and importers.

Speaking at the first Government sitting he chaired, Karen Karapetyan stressed the importance of carrying out tax inspections exceptionally at entities considered risky, and to refer to small and medium-sized enterprises in extreme cases. He urged to exclude the possible biased behavior of tax inspectors and ensure transparency.

The Prime Minister also instructed the Public Services Regulatory Commission, the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to hold joint discussions and submit proposals on the review of gas and electricity tariffs. He called to maximally reduce the prices for socially vulnerable layers of society.

On September 7, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission conducted a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, in the Omar pass.

From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistant of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Gennadie Petrica /Moldova/ and staff member of the Office Peter Svedberg /Sweden/.

From the opposite side of the Line of Contact, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistant of the Personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Jiri Aberle (Czech Republic) and Personal Assistant of the OSCE CiO Simon Tiller (Great Britain).

The Monitoring passed in accordance with the agreed schedule. No violation of the cease-fire regime was registered.

From the Karabakh side, the monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense.

Photo: Suren Stepanyan

 

 – The little robot makes odd beeps as it spins around the room, detecting fires with its thermal sensors and extinguishing flames with a strong blast of air.

Its mission accomplished, the beeps die down and the machine comes to an abrupt halt.

Rather than being the brainchild of experienced engineers in a hi-tech lab, the firefighter robot was designed by Armenian schoolboys Rafael and Sahak Sahakyan – brothers aged 18 and 14.

It is one of several inventions to come out of Armenia’s youth robotics programme, which aims to establish engineering groups in every school by 2019. Already there are 121 after-school clubs, catering for pupils between 12 and 18.

The government hopes the scheme will improve the quality of engineering education and encourage inventors of the future.

At the brothers’ school in Gyumri, one of the poorest cities in Armenia, more than 20 pupils gather after lessons every week to design and create robots.

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