Author: Tatoyan Vazgen

Police have identified Khalid Masood as the man who carried out the Westminster attack, as the death toll rose to five, the BBC reports.

Masood, 52, was born as Adrian Elms in Kent and was shot dead by police. He had not been the subject of any current police investigations.

PC Keith Palmer, 48, Aysha Frade and US tourist Kurt Cochran, 54, were killed on Wednesday, while a 75-year-old man died on Thursday evening.

The so-called Islamic State group has said it was behind the attack.

Three women and five men were arrested in London and Birmingham on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts following Wednesday’s attack.

Global development practitioners are gathering at the  in Yerevan, Armenia to explore opportunities and mechanisms to promote impact investment for development.

The United Nations Development Program and the INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Initiative say the event may be the first conference focused on scaling impact ventures from incubation to acceleration and expansion to support development goals.

The Summit is a first of its kind collaborative dialogue that convenes a wide range of impact business leaders, social venture philanthropists, United Nations officials and other development practitioners, as well as social entrepreneurs, philanthropic organizations, government representatives and leading academics.

The Summit will bring together key stakeholders from the growing impact investment ecosystem, in order to create new models of collaboration between investors, ventures, governments and international development organizations.

The IID Summit includes a set of events, including a series of TEDx talks, showcase-sessions for pioneering impact ventures that present fresh solutions for the SDGs, interactive discussions, a thematic exhibition, and more.

The Summit will take place at the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies  – a venue intentionally selected as an example of an innovative impact venture that directly supports development. Several other social enterprises have contributed to the Summit.

 

The Azerbaijani side used firearms of different calibers as it violated the ceasefire 55 times at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces last night.

The rival fired over 1,000 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions, Artsakh Defense Ministry reports.

The Azeri forces used a 60 mortar and a grenade launcher in the northeastern direction of the line of contact.

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

 

 

 

Diaspora Armenians will observe the parliamentary elections on April 2, thus ensuring a more active participation in the political life of the Motherland. More than 200 Diaspora Armenians have already applied for carrying out an observation mission, most observers are expected to arrive from Georgia.

After having actively reacted to the April and June events, Diaspora Armenians believe it’s high time to change the level of relationship with Armenia.

Those, who do not hold Armenian citizenship and are not eligible to vote in the elections, will participate in the electoral processes as observers.

Canadian Armenian actress Arsine Khanjyan, film director Atom Egoyan, frontman of the System Of A Down Serj Tankian have joined the initiative.

To correctly understand and interpret the processes taking place on April 2, the observers will take special training courses a few days before election day to get better understanding of the legislative and judicial fields.

The Constitutional Referendum in Nagorno Karabakh cannot affect the negotiations within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group, RIA Novosti quotes the Press Service of the Russian Ministry of Foreign affairs as saying.

“We do not recognize Nagorno Karbakah as an independent country and consider that its status should be determined through political negotiations within the framework of the Minsk process,” the Ministry said.

“We don’t think the process of peaceful settlement could depend on the conduct of the Constitutional Referendum,” the Ministry said.

The Nagorno Karabakh Republic will hold a Constitutional Referendum on February 20.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will visit Russia February 21-22 to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, Spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova told reporters today.

“The visit will follow up the rich Armenian-Russian dialogue targeted at the further development of allied cooperation in the political, economic and humanitarian fields,” Zakharova said.

“Talks will focus on urgent issues of bilateral cooperation and foreign policy issues, including the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,” she added.

Special attention will be paid to issues of cooperation within common integration frameworks and other international organizations.

Agencia Prensa Armenia – The Armenian National Committee of South America delivered a letter to the Ambassador of Belarus in Argentina in protest for the decision to extradite Russian Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan.

“We wish to convey our most sincere concern over the decision of the Republic of Belarus to grant the extradition of the digital journalist Alexander Lapshin to the Republic of Azerbaijan,” said the letter signed by the Armenian National Committee of South America and Armenian Youth Federation of South America.

“Due to his trip to Nagorno-Karabakh in 2012 he was included in the ‘blacklist’ made by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry. Subsequently, he was accused of violating two clauses of Azerbaijan’s criminal law 281.2, which punishes those who damage the territorial integrity of that country, and 318.2 that prohibits crossing Azeri borders without the required documents. Both laws have prison terms of up to eight years.”

“As Argentine citizens descendants of Armenians we need to transmit you that we consider extremely dangerous for Lapshin to be handed over to the Azerbaijan authorities, and we hope to be able to arrange a meeting as soon as possible so that we can discuss the matter,” the text reads.

– NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has joked about her unpronounceable last name and says ‘just call me Gladys.’

But the new premier of New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian, is a pioneer – not just because she’s first Liberal woman to hold the job.

She’s part of Australia’s small but successful Armenian community. The 2011 census estimates there are about 10,000 Armenian speakers in Australia.

But a tragic history hangs over the Armenian diaspora. And could this complicate life for the new premier?

The ABC Radio has talked to  Stepan Kerkysharian, founding director of SBS Radio, about the Armenian identity, the Armenian Genocide, the Karabakh issue, etc.

AP Photo/Hassan Ammar

Russia, Iran, Turkey agree to set up ceasefire monitoring mechanism in Syria, says a joint statement made by the three countries following talks on the Syrian settlement in Astana. The document was read out by Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister, Kairat Abdrakhmanov. Russia, Iran and Turkey see Astana as efficient platform for the Syrian talks, TASS reports.

Russia, Iran and Turkey are committed to the principles of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and believe that there is no military solution to the conflict in that country, the statement said.

“Russia, Turkey and Iran reaffirm their commitment to the sovereignty, independence and unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic,” he said. “They express their conviction that there is no military solution to the Syrian conflict and that it can only be solved through a political process based on the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 2254.”

Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan had a meeting with the President of Greece, Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

The Armenian Defense Minister expressed gratitude for the warm welcome in Greece and pledged willingness to further intensify and deepen the relations between the two countries built upon a firm historical basis.

Issues related to the development of military and military-technical cooperation between Armenia and Greece were discussed at the meeting. Reference was made to other issues of reciprocal interest.