Author: Vardan Badalian

Daniel Sturridge struck an injury-time winner as England came from behind to beat Wales and secure their first victory at Euro 2016, the BBC reports.

England keeper Joe Hart’s dreadful blunder allowed Gareth Bale’s 30-yard free-kick to creep in and put Wales ahead just before the interval in Lens.

Manager Roy Hodgson’s side were jeered off at the break and, with England’s campaign – and arguably his future – on the line, he gambled by introducing Jamie Vardy and Sturridge for the struggling Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane.

The roll of the dice worked as Vardy scrambled in an equaliser from close range after 56 minutes before constant England pressure saw Sturridge work his way into the area and poke past Wales keeper Wayne Hennessey at the near post.

England move top of Group B and need a point against Slovakia on Monday to earn automatic qualification into the last 16, while Wales must beat Russia to guarantee a top-two finish.

Hovhannes Aivazovsky’s “The Survivor” has been auctioned for £499.000 at MacDougall’s, RIA Novosti reports.

The painting is dedicated to a survival from a shipwreck –one of Aivazovski’s favoriute topics.

The picture of the Syrian city of Palmira was auctioned for £461.800

Manchester United have joined the likes of Arsenal in the race to sign Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Borussia Dortmund this summer, according to reports.

The Red Devils are preparing to bring in a number of players during the summer transfer window as Jose Mourinho looks to stamp his authority at Old Trafford.

Arsenal, Tottenham and Juventus are also believed to be in the running to land Mkhitaryan this summer.

But is now reporting that United have already made enquiries about the player’s situation as Mourinho looks to secure his first signing since being appointed as the club’s new manager last week.

A dagger entombed alongside the mummy of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun was made with iron that came from a meteorite, researchers say, the BBC reports.

The weapon was one of a pair of daggers discovered by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1925 within the burial wrappings of the teenaged king.

The origin of its unrusted iron blade has baffled scientists because such metalwork was rare in ancient Egypt.

Tutankhamun was mummified more than 3,300 years ago.

Italian and Egyptian researchers used “a non-invasive X-ray technique” to confirm the composition of the iron without damaging it, according to a study published in the journal of Meteoritics and Planetary Science.

The German Bundestag’s historic vote earlier today officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide shines a global spotlight on U.S. President Barack Obama’s continued complicity in Turkey’s denial of this still unpunished crime, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

“The Bundestag’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide—made all the more powerful by its honest reckoning with Germany’s own role in this still unpunished crime—further isolates Turkey, while shining a global spotlight on the Obama Administration as the leading international enabler of Ankara’s campaign of genocide denial,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “There is still time for President Obama to follow Germany’s lead, reject Turkey’s gag-rule, and speak honestly about the Armenian Genocide.”

Prior to his election, President Obama was clear and unequivocal in promising to properly characterize Ottoman Turkey’s murder of more than 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children between 1915 and 1923 as genocide. In a Jan. 19, 2008, statement he wrote: “The facts are undeniable. An official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy. As a senator, I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 and S.Res.106), and as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.”

President Obama has broken that pledge in annual Armenian Remembrance Day statements issued on or near April 24th, the international day of commemoration of this crime.

The U.S. first recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1951 through a filing which was included in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Report titled: “Reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.” The specific reference to the Armenian Genocide appears on page 25 of the ICJ Report: “The Genocide Convention resulted from the inhuman and barbarous practices which prevailed in certain countries prior to and during World War II, when entire religious, racial and national minority groups were threatened with and subjected to deliberate extermination. The practice of genocide has occurred throughout human history. The Roman persecution of the Christians, the Turkish massacres of Armenians, the extermination of millions of Jews and Poles by the Nazis are outstanding examples of the crime of genocide.”

President Ronald Reagan reaffirmed the Armenian Genocide in 1981. The U.S. House of Representatives adopted legislation on the Armenian Genocide in 1975, 1984 and 1996.  This year, West Virginia became the 44th U.S. state to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

Under Congressional mandate, the U.S., between 1915 and 1930, embarked on an unprecedented humanitarian campaign providing the equivalent of over $2 billion in today’s dollars to help save Armenian Genocide survivors.

An EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo made two sharp turns before plunging into the Mediterranean Sea, Greece’s defence minister says, the BBC reports.

Panos Kammenos said the Airbus A320 had “turned 90 degrees left and a 360-degree turn to the right” and dropped more than 6,700m  before disappearing from radar.

Sixty-six people were on board, most of them from Egypt or France.

A major search is under way in seas south of the Greek island of Karpathos.

Greek and Egyptian armed forces are involved in the effort, and France has offered to send boats and planes.

Egypt’s Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi told a news conference it was too early to rule out either terrorism or a technical failure as the reason behind the plane’s disappearance.

He said search efforts were concentrating on an area of the Mediterranean near the Greek island of Karpathos, but no wreckage had yet been found.

On May 10, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Karen Mirzoyan, during his working visit to Yerevan, met with EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, Herbert Salber.

During the meeting, Karen Mirzoyan briefed Herbert Salber on the military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against the NKR in early April, as well as on its consequences, stressing that it had become an unprecedented violation of the trilateral ceasefire agreement of 1994.

Karen Mirzoyan noted that striving to undermine the negotiation process and by rejecting all the initiatives aimed at the stabilization of the situation, Azerbaijan had attempted to resolve the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict by military means.

The NKR Foreign Minister drew the attention of the Special Representative of the European Union to the fact that the Azerbaijani aggression against the NKR was accompanied by numerous war crimes, as well as a gross violation of the laws and customs of war and norms of international humanitarian law.

Karen Mirzoyan also recalled that the NKR authorities had repeatedly warned the international community that the lack of decisive and targeted condemnation created a false sense of permissiveness in Baku and paved the way for new military ventures.

The NKR Foreign Minister emphasized the importance of visits by diplomats and representatives of international organizations to the NKR for getting the objective picture of the current situation and obtaining comprehensive information about the causes and consequences of the Azerbaijani aggression.

 The sides noted the importance of efforts aimed at the exclusion of further attempts to destabilize the situation and creation of necessary conditions for the resumption of the peaceful settlement process of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict.

The interlocutors also exchanged views on a range of issues of mutual interest.

Cyprus’ Armenian community has expressed optimism that the Armenian Genocide will get international recognition very soon, its representative Vartkes Mahdessian, said at the Cyprus Parliament on Thursday, reports.

Addressing Parliament, and referring to the 101 years since the Armenian Genocide took place, Mahdessian stated that thus far 29 countries have recognised it, eight coming in 2015.

According to Mahdessian, 2015 was a pivotal year for Armenians, since new dynamics were created to raise awareness among public opinion.

In addition five countries have criminalised the denial of recognition of the Armenian Genocide, opening new paths for Armenians, outlined Mahdessian.

The Armenian community’s representative underlined the fact that Cyprus was the first European country, and second in the world, to recognise the Armenian Genocide by a Parliament resolution and also passed a law criminalising its denial.

Mahdessian closed by saying that Armenians “stand by the Cypriots` side and show solidarity in their efforts to reunite the island,” divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion.

 

– More than 3,500 community members heeded the calls from the Armenian Youth Federation on Friday and gathered in front of the Azerbaijani Consulate on Wilshire Boulevard to protest Baku’s savage attacks on Artsakh, where civilians and children were also targets of the Azeri aggression.

At one point during the peaceful rally, the protesters, who were huddled on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Granville Avenue, began to cross the street northbound and staged a spontaneous sit-in in the middle of the street, blocking eastbound and westbound traffic.

Chanting, “Not One Inch,” protesters the protesters sent a clear message to the Azerbaijani authorities that no amount of aggression and gunfire will force Armenians to concede any territory in Artsakh.

The Los Angeles Police Department, which was caught when protesters staged the sit-in, worked with organizers to ensure the safety of the protesters and those around them. The organizers thanked LAPD for their service, as well as the community around the consulate building for understanding the just cause for which the protest was staged.

In fact, the messages delivered by the speakers were loud and resolute. That as long there is a threat to Armenians anywhere in the world—and in this instance to the population of Artsakh—the nation will come together to defend the homeland.

AYF member Verginie Touloumian invited the crowd to observe the moment of silence in memory of the those who lost their lives in defense of Artsakh and proceeded to read the names of those soldiers, civilians and the 12-year-old boy who died during last week’s attacks by Azerbaijan.

Areni Hamparian, a member of the AYF Junior Organization, delivered a moving speech, in Armenian, declaring that as long as there was an existential threat on Artsakh, or any other Armenian land, Armenians will continue to fight for justice.

Puzant Berberian, a member of the AYF San Fernando Valley Sardarabad chapter spoke about attempts to distort facts and recounted Artsakh’s centuries old history as a bastion of Armenian culture and heroism.

AYF Central Executive Chairman Gev Iskajian directed his remarks to the Azerbaijani Consulate by delivering a clear message of resistance and condemnation, saying that a nation that won the Artsakh war in the first place, has the resolve and the means to ensure “not one inch” of land is conceded and that the brutal savagery on display by Azerbaijan would not be tolerated.

After rallying the crowd with messages of victory and heroism, Davit Arakelyan informed the crowd that the AYF’s “With Our Soldiers” campaign was busy working to ensure that our soldiers and families were taken care of and urged the community to assist in that effort, and encouraged to community to support Artsakh though the Armenian Relief Society’s fund that was established after last week’s attacks.

His message was clear: Armenians in Los Angeles and around the world will continue to fight until justice prevails and a Free, United and Independent Armenia is established.

The protesters vacated the street peacefully and moved to the front of the consulate building, where after singing the Armenian National Anthem, they collectively pledged their resolve and solidarity to Artsakh.

This was part of the Western US community mobilization effort in the wake of the renewed attacks on the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, with members and activists coming together to voice their unified protest against this, the most large-scale attack on Karabakh since the 1994 cease-fire agreement.

At a meeting in Moscow today, the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Russia continued the discussions on the escalation of situation in the Karabakh conflict zone.

Edward Nalbandian underlined that “the large-scale military actions unleashed by Azerbaijan have struck a serious blow to the negotiation process on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group. According to him, urgent practical steps are needed for stabilizing the situation.

Sergey Lavrov noted, in turn, that from the very start of the escalation Russia has been taking efforts to cease the fire. He said the use of force in the Karabakh conflict zone is unacceptable and attached importance to the maintenance of the agreement on ceasefire. He emphasized the need to exclude the reoccurrence of the situation, and stressed the importance of creating conditions for the continuation of the negotiation process under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

The Armenian and Russian Foreign Minister stressed the importance of implementation of the proposals of the OSCE Minsk Group towards the reinforcement of the ceasefire regime.

Sergey Lavrov informed Edward Nalbandian about the results of the Russian-Azerbaijani talks in Baku.

The Ministers referred to issues on Armenian-Russian and international agenda. They discussed the situation in the Middle East, protection of minorities, especially Christians, the efforts of the international community in the fight against terrorism.