Category: News

The program of modernization of the Meghri checkpoint at Iran’s border has kicked off. The project aims to create conditions conducive to business and commodity turnover.

“Modernization of the Meghri border crossing point is the continuation of the program of modernization of the northern checkpoints of Bagratashen, Gogavan and Bavra,” said Armen Sakapetyan, deputy chief of the State Revenue Committee.

He added that the “improved conditions will provide an opportunity to apply procedures meeting modern standards.”

The program is implemented by the UN with financing from the European Union and the International Center for Migration Policy Development.

The modernization of the checkpoint at the country’s southern border will boost the commodity turnover between Armenia and Iran.

The two countries intend to implement on-line data exchange within the framework of the joint use of the border crossing point.

Vartan Gharpetian will serve his third year on the Glendale City Council as the city’s mayor thanks to a unanimous vote by council members Monday, where new and returning faces were officially sworn in to their roles as civil servants, reports.

City Council incumbents Ara Najarian and Zareh Sinanyan took their oath of office for another four years of service alongside first-time Councilman Vrej Agajanian. Unopposed candidates Ardy Kassakhian and Rafi Manoukian will continue their roles as city clerk and city treasurer, respectively.

Before Gharpetian took on his new role, acting Mayor Paula Devine received recognition for her contributions to the city by state Sen. Anthony Portantino and a representative from the office of Assemblywoman Laura Friedman.

Mayors serve one-year terms and are selected by fellow council members. No city code governs the annual process, but members are encouraged to elect someone with experience on council.

Gharpetian, whose swift selection as mayor occurred late in the meeting, spoke at length about his goals to complete ongoing city projects “in a timely manner” and start those that have already been approved.

“I’m looking forward to working with all [city employees] for the betterment of our city and its residents,” Gharpetian said. “Together, we will continue to keep our city a beautiful and dynamic, safe place to live.”

Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan held a consultative meeting to discuss the prospects for Armenia’s digital development. A top-level task force was said to have been established based on the statement issued by the heads of EEU-member States. On May 26, 2017, the task force will report back progress in its activities to the heads of EEU-member States’ governments.

In this context, reference was made to the definition of priorities in different areas of digitalization, the formation of structures and institutions responsible for implementation of the digital development strategy, the EEU digital agenda goals, the key targets for expected performance until 2025 and so on. The meeting noted that the global economy is proceeding along the lines of digitization, and Armenia needs to have its own “digital visiting card.”

Highlighting the digitization of the management subject in all areas, Prime Minister Karapetyan said it might be a strong incentive to improve management efficiency.

“This is extremely important. We had to take this step regardless of the Eurasian Economic Union’s program. For example, by digitizing budget, garbage collection and many other services, we can enhance the efficiency of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development. Will digitalization result in more businesses, increased capacity? Yes of course. Digitization implies additional savings. We will understand why municipal budgets fall short of receipts due to incorrect planning and the reasons behind imbalances. The same is true for other sectors,” the Prime Minister said, adding that each department should know its digitalization agenda.

Based on Armenia’s digital development vision, a Prime Minister-headed national governing council shall be established for support of digital development in Armenia. Karen Karapetyan instructed those responsible to set up a working group within the Council that will develop and submit the structure of digitization and the planned activities.

Photo: AFP

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to press for a ceasefire to halt the war in Syria, the BBC reports.

The two spoke by telephone for the first time since the US launched air strikes against Syria nearly a month ago, straining relations.

White House and Kremlin statements suggested a productive conversation.

Other topics discussed included North Korea and the timing of a future face-to-face meeting.

In a statement on Tuesday, Mr Putin called for a full investigation into the incident and condemned “any use of chemical weapons”.

A White House statement said: “President Trump and President Putin agreed that the suffering in Syria has gone on for far too long and that all parties must do all they can to end the violence.

“The conversation was a very good one, and included the discussion of safe, or de-escalation, zones to achieve lasting peace for humanitarian and many other reasons”.

Is ‘s solo effort at Sunderland our Goal of the Month for April?

Watch the contenders here:

— Manchester United (@ManUtd)

Armenian captain could win another award for his left-foot finish against Sunderland. April witnessed some excellent goals from Manchester United’s first team, Reserves and Academy sides, and voting is now open on

Marcus Rashford has a pair of important efforts in the Goal of the Month poll – the opener in probably the best game of the period, United’s 2-0 home win over Chelsea, and the extra-time winner as the Reds eventually overcame Anderlecht to reach the Europa League semi-finals.

The shortlist includes submissions from the same game at Sunderland: Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s excellent shot on the turn from the edge of the area and Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s left-foot finish across the Black Cats’ acclaimed young goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford.

The only overseas entry in this month’s poll comes next, with Matthew Olosunde marking his return to his native United States by scoring a cracker in the Dallas Cup for the Reds’ Under-19 team.

After Rashford’s brace, two strikes from United’s Under-18s are separated in the shortlist by Anthony Martial’s stunning counter-attack at Turf Moor when he broke from inside his own half, outran Burnley’s Joey Barton and played a one-two with Ander Herrera before sweeping the Reds ahead.

Either side of Martial’s effort, one can see Zak Dearnley bursting down the left flank at The Cliff to roll the ball in at West Ham’s near post and Callum Gribbin’s sweet left foot firing in the first of United’s five goals as Reading were defeated 5-2 at home on Saturday.

The Pegasus Airlines has delayed the launch of flights to Armenia’s capital Yerevan.

“The Turkish Pegasus Airlines will not fly to Armenia starting this June,” Sergey Avetisyan, Head of the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia, told reporters today.

The to start low-cost flights to Zvartnots Airport from June 1, 2017.

“It’s no secret that Armenian citizens often fly to Istanbul. The company has probably carried out marketing research and decided to enter the Armenian market,” Avetisyan said.

He added, however, that the air company has notified in a letter that the launching of flights will be delayed for some time because of certain technical problems.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors added its voice Tuesday to those calling on the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide, reports.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger recommended sending a letter to President Donald Trump.

“Now is the time to put our words into action,” Barger told her colleagues. “We need our national leaders to call what happened between 1915 and 1923 what it is, a genocide.”

She noted that Trump, like past presidents, stopped short of that designation, referring instead to “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century” when mourning the killings of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians.

Supervisor Hilda Solis said officials should not be “intimidated by the threats that are made by the Turkish government,” which has long denied that a genocide occurred.

Even without using the word genocide, Trump’s April 24th statement drew criticism from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which claimed it included “misinformation and false definitions.”

The board will also urge the county’s congressional delegates to support House Resolution 220, sponsored by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, which would formally recognize the genocide.

A longtime advocate for the Armenian community, Peter Darakjian, told the board there were no local survivors left to share the horror of the genocide, now that a 101-year-old woman had died.

“History seems to repeat itself if it goes unrecognized. Genocide seems to do the same,” Darakjian said. “Enough already, after 102 years.”

Los Angeles County is home to more than 200,000 Armenians, the largest such community outside of Armenia.

Gradual restoration of Turkey’s internal political situation will create conditions for the steady development of relations with Russia, President Vladimir Putin said as he opened talks with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Wednesday, TASS reports.

“We proceed from the understanding that the internal political situation will be eventually restored and this will create greater conditions for the steady development of Russian-Turkish relations,” Putin said.

“It is good that we have a chance to meet in due course and discuss key issues of bilateral cooperation and major international developments, including on such pressing issues as the Syrian crisis,” Putin said.

“The mere fact of this mode of our joint work shows that Russian-Turkish relations are taking on more significance and are being restored to its full format,” he said.
Putin heartily welcomed the Turkish delegation, thanking Erdogan for having accepted the invitation to come to Sochi. The Russian president stressed that bilateral relations are developing “as we had planned with you.”

In his turn, Erdogan noted that the two leaders will have a good opportunity on Wednesday to discuss both aspects of bilateral cooperation and regional issues. “I’m sure that those steps that we are taking together will change the fate of the whole region,” Erdogan said.

Photo: Reuters

A suicide attack on a convoy belonging to the Nato mission in Afghanistan has killed at least eight people in Kabul, officials say, the BBC reports.

The victims were all civilians, a government spokesman said. About 25 other people were injured, including three US service members.

The attack on the group of military vehicles happened next to the US embassy during the morning rush hour.

No group has said it was behind the bombing.

The blast follows a threat by the Taliban to target foreign forces.

One of the vehicles was badly damaged, along with several other passing cars.