Monthly Archives: December 2013

Who runs the web? Not Kim! Beyonce dethrones Kardashian as Bing’s most-searched for person in 2013

Posted on by
Reply

բեյոնսե

Singer Beyonce was named the most-searched person in 2013 on Bing, the online search engine said on Monday, edging out 2012’s list-topper reality television star Kim Kardashian, who came in second.

Women continued to dominate the most-searched list for a second year running, as singers Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Madonna rounded out the top five. Canadian pop star Justin Bieber, who ranked second place in 2012, dropped to sixth place this year.

Rapper Nicki Minaj and pop singer Miley Cyrus, who both made the list in 2012, also were in the top ten this year, joined by troubled actress Amanda Bynes, who came in at No. 8.

Pop culture continued to lead web searches, but Obama cracked the list at No. 10 as the only politician in the top ten, faring better than last year, when he was ranked 46th on the list.

 

 

Քիմ Քարդաշյան

Search engine Bing annually releases list of its most-searched terms and phrases, breaking it down across topics such as entertainment, sports, technology and news.

The birth of Prince William’s and Kate Middleton’s first child in July topped the most searched news stories of 2013, followed by the Boston Marathon bombings in April.

Facebook led the most-searched social media sites, while online video streaming site Netflix topped the most-searched streaming sites.

Man rings 999 after getting toilet roll holder stuck up his bottom

Posted on by
Reply

Toilet roll holder designed by Ana Mir, the magazine / loo roll

A man was forced to call the emergency services after a toilet roll holder got stuck up his bottom at his house in Newport, South Wales.

The unidentified man was reportedly unable to move and decided to dial 999 from his mobile phone.

Firemen then removed the object, with paramedics providing medical attention at the scene.

The Fire Brigades Union in Wales is quoted by the Mirror as saying: ”We do have to deal with wacky things.

‘Sometimes someone will tell you a story and you just think: “I can’t top that”.

‘To be honest, if I managed to get myself into one of these sorts of scrapes, the last thing I would want would be a whole crew of firefighters coming to see me.’

At the invitation of President Serzh Sargsyan, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin has arrived to Armenia on a state visit

Posted on by
Reply

4863

 

At the invitation of President Serzh Sargsyan, today the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin has arrived to Armenia on a state visit.

The delegation of the RF President comprises Ministers, high-level officials from the Presidential Administration, governors, and heads of the leading Russian companies representing different areas. Among those who have arrived to Yerevan are, in particular, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, First Deputy of the Chairman of the Government Igor Shuvalov, Minister of Education and Science Dmitri Livanov, Minister of Energy Alexander Novak, Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov, Minister of Regional Development Igor Slyunyev, Minister of Transportation and the Russian Co-Chair of the Armenian-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation Maxim Sokolov, Minister of Agriculture Nikolay Fyodorov, First Deputy Minister of Defense Arkadi Bakhin, Deputy Minister for Economic Development Alexei Likhachev, Head of the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation Alexander Fomin, Director General of Rosatom Company Sergei Kirienko, Head of the Federal Tourism Agency Alexander Radkov, President of Rosneft Company Igor Sechin, President of VTB Bank Andrei Kostin, Chairman of the Gazprom Board of Directors Alexei Miller, member of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Co-Chair of the Armenian-Russian Parliamentary Cooperation Commission Nikolai Ryzhkov, Senior Vice-Chair of the Russian Railways Company Valeri Reshyetnikov and other officials.

At the Shirak airport of Gyumri, after the official ceremony of welcoming the President of the Russian Federation, Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Vladimir Putin at the V. Ajemian State Drama Theater participated at the opening of the Third Interregional Forum “Russia. Armenia. Customs Union.” At the plenary session of the Forum, which is conducted with the participation of the representatives of the central and regional state bodies, representatives of non-governmental sector and numerous businessmen (over five hundred) the two Presidents made welcoming remarks.

Before that the Presidents of the two countries visited the exhibition presenting marzes of Armenia and regions of Russia which is aimed at the development of cooperation between the regions of the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation and at revealing Armenia’s potential and new opportunities for cooperation from the perspective of Armenia’s membership in the Customs Union.

At the Gyumri State Drama Theater Serzh Sargsyan and Vladimir Putin through the direct television space bridge observed the ceremony of full commissioning of the 5th energy unit of Hrazdan hydro-power station. Since January 2013, the hydro-power station has been working in the probationary-productive regime.

At the Forum venue, the Presidents of Armenia and Russia participated also at the stamp cancelling ceremony dedicated to the XXII Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. The two stamps issued on the occasion, show sports in which the Armenian team will participate at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi: the first depicts skiing, while the second is dedicated to downhill skiing. The left corner of the stamps depicts the Sochi hills.

After the opening of the Third Armenian-Russian Interregional Forum, Serzh Sargsyan and Vladimir Putin in Gyumri, on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the 1988 earthquake in Spitak will place a wreath at the Memorial dedicated to the victims of the earthquake and will pay tribute to their memory. Later, they will visit the military base n. 102 dislocated in Gyumri.

 

Netanyahu Gives Pope Book by Father on Inquisition

Posted on by
Reply

Նաթանյահու, պապ,ինկվիզիցիա

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given Pope Francis a book about the Inquisition in Spain that was written by his late father.

Netanyahu presented a Spanish translation of the 1995 book, “The Origins of the Inquisition,” to Francis during their 25-minute private audience Monday.

Netanyahu’s father, Ben-Zion Netanyahu, was an Israeli historian who died last year. A Zionist activist who opposed partitioning Palestine between Arabs and Jews, he was best known in academic circles for his research into the Catholic Church’s medieval inquisition against the Jews of Spain.

“To his Holiness Pope Franciscus, a great shepherd of our common heritage,” the Israeli leader wrote on the inside front page of the book.

Later Monday, Netanyahu met with Italian Premier Enrico Letta.

 

Falling stars! Aerial photographs show the moment 65 women jumped out of planes from 18,000 feet to join in formation and break vertical skydiving record

Posted on by
Reply

Ուղղահայաց սքայդայվինգի ռեկորդ

 

Sixty-three women from around the world linked hands as they plunged head first toward the Arizona desert on Saturday, shattering the female vertical formation skydiving record, the U.S. Parachute Association said.

The skydivers leaped from three aircraft at 18,000 feet near Eloy, about 65 miles southeast of Phoenix, said Nancy Koreen, the association’s director of sport promotion.

The women were from countries that included the United States, the UK, Canada, Australia, Mexico, France, Norway, Sweden and Germany.

The record came on the twelfth attempt.

It shattered the all-women head-first record set by 41 women in 2010, Koreen said.

‘Everyone has to perform together, which is what makes the record so challenging,’ Koreen, who took part in the successful attempt, told Reuters.

 

Ուղղահայաց սքայդայվինգի ռեկորդ

Judges of the Swiss-based Federation Aeronautique Internationale verified the record attempt at the site, she said.

Vertical skydiving is regarded as more difficult than freefall, belly-to-earth skydiving.

Skydivers hurtle toward the earth at higher speeds – some times as fast as 170mph – in a position that makes control more of a challenge.

 

THE SECRETARY-GENERAL — MESSAGE ON The International Day

Posted on by
Reply

պանգի մունof Persons with Disabilities

“Break Barriers, Open Doors: For An Inclusive Society For All”

3 December 2013

 

More than 1 billion of us live with disabilities.  We must remove all barriers that affect the inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in society, including through changing attitudes that fuel stigma and institutionalize discrimination.

 

In September, during the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on Disability and Development, United Nations Member States discussed the many ways that exclusion not only impacts the lives of persons with disabilities, but affects the development of communities and society as a whole.  They re-committed to taking national and international action to support disability-inclusive development.  The UN system will continue to support those efforts. We need to work harder to ensure that infrastructure and services support inclusive, equitable and sustainable development for all.

 

This includes guaranteeing meaningful participation in processes that affect the rights and interests of persons with disabilities by providing an enabling environment.  To that end, we are inaugurating a UN Accessibility Centre at the UN headquarters.  I call on the rest of the UN system and our partners to follow this lead.

 

On this International Day of Persons with Disabilities, I call on Governments, members of the UN system, businesses and civil society to break barriers and open doors of opportunity for all persons with disability.  Together, let us build an inclusive society for all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Israeli Troops Return Fire After Attack From Syria

Posted on by
Reply

The Israeli military says its troops have come under attack from Syria and have fired back in retaliation.

The military says a mortar round landed on the Israeli side of the frontier Monday and then gunfire targeted an Israeli patrol. There were no injuries on the Israeli side. The troops returned fire toward their attackers in Syria.

Gunfire and mortar rounds from Syria have periodically hit inside the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. Israel believes most of the fire is errant spillover from the Syrian civil war. But in some cases, it has accused forces in Syria of intentionally firing into the Golan.

Israel has generally kept its distance from the civil war, saying it has no interest getting dragged into a conflict where nearly all factions involved are hostile to Israel.

 

China launches first moon mission

Posted on by
Reply

China launched its first lunar probe early Monday, which, if all goes well, will make it only the third nation — after the United States and the Soviet Union — to soft-land on the moon.

The Chang’e-3 blasted off from a Long March 3B rocket in Sichuan province located in southwest China and is expected to land on the moon’s surface in mid-December.

The new space effort comes just over a decade after the country first sent an astronaut into space.

Unlike the soft-landing of the U.S. and the Soviet Union’s unmanned spacecraft, Chang’e-3 will be able to survey the landscape first and determine the safest spot.

Researchers say an impact crater named Sinus Iridum, or Bay of Rainbows, is its likely destination. In 2010, China’s previous lunar mission captured images of the crater while scouting potential landing sites for the 2013 probe.

On landing, the spacecraft will release Jade Rabbit (called Yutu in Chinese) — a six-wheeled lunar rover equipped with four cameras and two mechanical legs that can dig up soil samples, a designer for the rover told Xinhua last month. The slow-moving rover will patrol the moon’s surface for at least three months, according to Xinhua.