World’s oldest man dies at age 111

oldest-man-in-the-world

 

A 111-year-old New Yorker who had been certified as the oldest man in the world has died.

Alexander Imich died Sunday morning at a senior residence in Manhattan, his niece, Karen Bogen, confirmed to CNN.

Imich was certified as the oldest man in the world this April by the Gerontology Research Group of Torrance, California.

Imich was born in Poland on February 4, 1903, according to a longtime friend in New York, Michael Mannion.

His wife, who was a prolific artist and therapist in New York, died in 1986, according to Bogen.

They had no children.

Mannion told CNN that when Imich learned he was the oldest man in the world, he “enjoyed the attention.”

A 116-year-old Japanese woman, Misao Okawa, is the world’s oldest living person, according to the Gerontology Research Group. The title of world’s oldest man now goes to Sakari Momoi, also of Japan, who was born just a day after Imich in 1903, the group said.

 

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Garegin Melkonyan was relieved of the office of Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia

կառավարությունBy Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan’s decision, Garegin Melkonyan was relieved of the office of Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia and was appointed to serve as First Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia.

Garegin Melkonyan

Date and Place of Birth
April 8, 1975, Yerevan

Education
1992-1997, Yerevan State University, Faculty of Oriental Studies

Work Experience
1996-1997, Ministry of Trade, Services and Tourism, Chief Specialist
1997-1999, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Head of International Agreements Division
1999, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Head of Export Infrastructure Department
2000-2001, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Head of Department of Tourism
2001-2002, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Head of Foreign Economic Policy Department
2002-2005, Ministry of Trade and Economic Development, Head of Foreign Economic Policy Department
2005-2011, Armenia’s Trade Representative to the European Union
2011 -2014, Deputy Minister of Economy
As of June 10, 2014, First Deputy Minister of Economy

Other Details
Anania Shirakatsi medal awarded under a presidential decree, attended a number of educational programs abroad

Marital Status
Married, with two sons

U.S. Embassy Expands English Access to Remote Areas of Armenia

ԱՄՆ դեսպանատուն

 On June 10, the U. S. Embassy in Armenia, together with Children of Armenia Fund (COAF), launched a new English learning initiative that will expand English learning resources in remote areas of Armenia.  The Expanding English Access – Reaching Remote Regions with New Technologies project was initiated and is funded by the U.S. Department of State and implemented in partnership with COAF.   The project will reach language-learners in Armenia’s remote regions, where resources for learning English are either limited or non-existent.  The program is intended for post-high school youth in regional towns via the Internet and selected regional libraries and schools.  The recruitment focused on the 17-35 year-old demographic, a group that does not generally have access to classroom resources or instruction if not attending university or private classes.  The curriculum is composed of two streams – social and business English. It includes two online classes twice a week and one face-to-face communicative English class with a local teacher once a week. The pilot phase includes approximately 150 participants from Armavir, Gavar, Yeghegnadzor and Goris.

25 students swept away after Indian dam’s sluices release flood of water downstream without warning

River Beas1

 

Rescuers searching a Himalayan river for dozens of Indian students, who were swept away when a dam released a rush of water, have retrieved four bodies.

The 25 students from the southern city of Hyderabad had been taking photographs on the banks of the Beas River on Sunday when they were engulfed by the water from the Larji hydropower station near the mountain resort town of Manali in Himachal Pradesh.

They had been on a 10-day field trip with around 48 students, some of whom managed to scramble to safety.

Police in Manali said four bodies were recovered Monday morning after the search resumed at dawn. They said a shortage of boats and divers was hampering the operation.

 

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McCartney Postpones Some US Tour Dates to Recover

Փոլ Մքարտնի

Paul McCartney is rescheduling U.S. tour dates as he continues to recover from a virus he received treatment for last month.

The former Beatles singer announced Monday tour stops scheduled for mid-June will be postponed to October. He was supposed to kick off the U.S. leg of his tour Saturday. Instead his first show will be July 5 in Albany, New York.

McCartney says he’s taking his doctor’s advice and will take more time to rest. Last month he cancelled his “Out There Japan Tour 2014” because of his illness.

U.S. tickets for the seven original June dates will be honored at the new dates. The tour wraps up Oct. 28 in Louisville, Kentucky.

McCartney turns 72 next week.

 

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Pakistani Taliban claims responsibility for Karachi airport attack; 28 dead

Պակիստանի օդանավակայան

 

The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for an hours-long attack at the country’s largest and busiest airport that killed at least 28 people.

Speaking from an undisclosed location, Pakistani Taliban commander Abdullah Bahar said the attack overnight at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport was retaliation for the death of former chief Hakimullah Mehsud.

Bahar warned more attacks will follow.

Late Sunday night, militants armed with guns, grenades and suicide vests stormed the cargo area of the airport.

The attack lasted five hours.

When it was over, 28 people were dead — including eight members of airport security forces, two Pakistan International Airlines employees and one ranger.

Another 24 people were injured, the military said.

All 10 militants involved in the attack were killed, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa said. Two of them detonated suicide vests, he said.

A building caught fire in the attack, but no planes were damaged, Bajwa said.

 

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Section of Paris bridge begins to collapse under weight of ‘love locks’ left by tourists – prompting calls for padlock ban

Tourists have been evacuated from one of the most iconic bridges in Paris after it began to crumble under the weight of thousands of ‘love locks’.

A chunk of the Pont des Arts bridge fell away on Sunday night and the police were called to seal off the area which remains closed today.

It is a popular custom for tourists to secure a padlock to the bridge branded with their names as a romantic gesture, but the weight of the locks is damaging the metal bridge, which was originally completed in 1804 but rebuilt in the 1980s following damage n the two World Wars.

It has become common practice for visitors to buy a padlock, attach it to a bridge, and then throw the key into the river, in Paris’s case the Seine.

The practice has been encouraged by American celebrities including Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, who spent a lot of time dating in Paris before their wedding in Italy last month.

A ‘Not Love Locks’ campaign was launched in Paris by two Americans in February, in response to some 700,000 padlocks appearing around the city.

Anne Hidalgo, the Socialist mayor of Paris, has so far resisted calls to take action over the vandalism, but the bridge collapse could change that.

 

Ponts des Arts

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Afghan candidate’s convoy attacked

afghanistan-convoy-attack

 

 

At least six people were killed and more than a dozen others injured when explosions hit a campaign rally for one of Afghanistan’s two presidential runoff candidates at a hotel in Kabul on Friday, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.

 

The convoy of candidate Abdullah Abdullah was attacked in Kabul, spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told CNN.

 

Abdullah and his running mates were not hurt, but the candidate’s car was severely damaged, Sediqqi said.

 

There were two explosions, Sediqqi said: One was a suicide attack and the other a possible roadside bomb.

 

Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani are campaigning for Afghanistan’s June 14 runoff election to succeed Hamid Karzai.

 

Abdullah, a former foreign minister, garnered 45% of the vote in the first round, and Ghani, a former finance minister, earned 31%.

 

 

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World’s biggest tumour weighing 30lbs and the size of a watermelon is removed from the uterus of Indian woman

 աշխարհի ամենամեծ ուռուցքը

 

The world’s biggest uterine tumour, weighing 30lbs and measuring 21 inches in diameter, has been removed from an Indian woman.

Doctors in the southern city of Chennai performed a complex operation on a 52-year-old woman identified as Latha.

She had been suffering breathlessness and fatigue for several years but had no idea the giant tumour – similar to the size of a watermelon – was growing inside her.

A month ago, the 52-year-old arrivied at Chennai’s Kumaran Hospital, bleeding heavily.

A team of four doctors performed the surgery, to remove the tumour.

Latha has recovered and been discharged from hospital.

 

 

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North Korea: We’ve detained another American

north-korea-detained-american

 

North Korea announced Friday that it has detained a U.S. citizen who it says entered the secretive country as a tourist in April and broke the law.

The news brings the number of Americans believed to be held in the communist nation to three.

In a brief English-language article, KCNA gave the American’s name as Jeffrey Edward Fowle, saying he arrived as a tourist on April 29. It didn’t give any other details.

Citing unidentified diplomatic sources, the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported that Fowle was part of a tour group and that he was detained in mid-May after allegedly leaving a Bible in a hotel where he had been staying.

The U.S. State Department said it was “aware of reports that a third U.S. citizen was detained in North Korea.” But it declined to provide any further information, saying it couldn’t share details about specific cases without written consent from an individual.

 

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Sword-wielding Sikhs clash at India’s Golden Temple during prayers to mark the deadly 1984 military assault at Amritsar

Sikh radicals1

A violent sword battle broke out at Sikhism’s holiest temple today during a special prayer ceremony to mark the government massacre that took place there 30 years ago.

At least six people were injured as dozens of Sikh radicals clashed with supporters of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC) at the revered Golden Temple, in Amritsar, Punjab State.

It is understood the scuffle erupted over who would speak first at the service, held to remember victims of military offensive Operation Blue Star that left hundreds dead on June 6, 1984, when soldiers stormed the compound in a bid to flush out separatist insurgents holed up in the temple.

Earlier today, hundreds had gathered at the temple to mark the massacre’s anniversary.

But proceedings took an ugly turn when Simranjeet Singh Mann, local head of Sikh political party Shiromani Akali Dal, and his supporters forcibly tried to deliver a speech from the temple’s rostrum.

The situation was made worse by the fact that police personnel are not permitted inside the Golden Temple.

 

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Ukraine Says 15 Rebels Killed in Border Clashes

ukraine-prorussiarebelsAt least 15 pro-Russian rebels were killed in clashes with government troops at a border crossing with Russia, an aide to the Ukrainian interior minister said Thursday.

Speaking on a television show late Thursday, Anton Herashchenko said Ukrainian border guards clashed earlier in the day with armed men who came from Russia in trucks and an infantry vehicle and tried to cross the border at the village of Marynivka in eastern Ukraine.

Herashenko said the attackers were supported by about a hundred rebels who came from the Ukrainian side of the border. Five Ukrainian troops were injured and 15 rebels were killed, and their bodies were taken to a nearby town, he said.

His account could not be confirmed independently.

Minister requested the Ambassador to take effective measures to decrease the tension on the contact line

On June 6 Minister of Defence of the Republic of Armenia received Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk.

During the meeting the Minister requested the Ambassador to take, within his capacity, effective measures to decrease the tension on the contact line, since ongoing escalation in the shaped operational environment is prone to entail unforeseen consequences for the Azeri side.

Ambassador expressed his concerns and promised to take measures to de-escalate the current situation at the contact line.

President took part in groundbreaking ceremony of new figure skating school and visited companies of Grand Holding

Սերժ Սարգսյան, Իրինա Ռոդնինա

MHM88371

 

 Today, President Serzh Sargsyan took part in the groundbreaking ceremony of a new figure skating school to be built in Yerevan’s Malatia-Sebastia administrative district. The thrice Olympic champion in figure skating, the multiple world and European champion, the Russian public figure and State Duma Deputy Irina Rodnina also participated in groundbreaking ceremony of the school to be built in the vicinity of the new velodrome. She has been directly engaged in the school establishment program and expressed readiness to promote the development of figure skating in Armenia after the school is put into operation. The school construction is financed by Chief Executive Officer of Monarch Group of Companies and the Armenian businessman Sergey Hambardzumyan who is going to donate the school to Yerevan. Head of that construction company Sergey Hambardzumyan was also present at the ceremony. The total construction value is close to 5 million US dollars. It is to start in June and according to the executives, will be finished in a short space of time – in 2015. The school will have a skating-rink with 500 seats and auxiliary buildings.

Սերժ Սարգսյան, Գրանդ Քենդի

Later on, the President of Armenia visited Grand Tobacco and Grand Candy companies which make part of Grand Holding. The president toured the workshops, familiarized with the investments made by the company being considered as one of the leading native manufacturers, as well as with its recent years’ works aimed at putting new modern workshops in action and increasing the factory’s production potential. Serzh Sargsyan was told that the companies making part of Grand Holding keep on successfully implementing all the programs and abide by Hrant Vardanyan’s business traditions. This is proved by the economic indicators of the first five months of this year. The executives assured that they plan to maintain the same growth rates throughout the whole year. The acquisition of new production lines by Grand Tobacco during 2014 will lead to the creation of 100-130 new jobs. At the other company of Grand Holding, Grand Candy, the President of Armenia was informed that the number of the company’s 410 types of products will increase at least by 15. Currently, Grand Candy employs 3100 workers whose number is going to increase by 150 by the end of this year. All in all, Grand Holding employs around 6500 people.

At the end of the tour, Serzh Sargsyan held a meeting with the leadership of Grand Holding. The president welcomed the steps being taken to promote the company and wished Grand Holding further successes.
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Thousands in Nepal Hug Trees in World Record Bid

 ծառ գրկելու աշխարհի ռեկորդ

 

More than 2,000 people gathered in Nepal’s capital on Thursday in a bid to set a world record for the largest tree hug.

Parliament members, students, office workers and even Buddhist monks took part in the attempt, gathering at a park on the outskirts of Katmandu. They said they were trying to set the record to celebrate World Environment Day by spreading awareness about the importance of trees.

The previous Guinness World Record for most people hugging trees simultaneously was 936 people in Portland, Oregon, last July.

Participants on Thursday held trees for two minutes as volunteers beat drums at the National Martyrs and Peace Park, on the northeast edge of Katmandu.

Most of the participants were students in their school uniforms.

 

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Iraq, Iran Top World’s Unhappiest Countries List

դժբախտ

 

Do you live in one of the world’s unhappiest places?

A new study released this week by Gallup cited Iran as the country with the highest negative emotions — a close second behind Iraq.

Just last month, six Iranians were arrested in the country for dancing to Pharrell’s “Happy” in the country’s capitol, Tehran. They have since been released.

Gallup measured negative emotions in 138 countries in 2013 by asking people whether they experienced a lot of anger, stress, sadness, physical pain and worry the previous day. Gallup compiles the “yes” results into a Negative Experience Index score for each country. The higher the score, the more pervasive negative emotions are in a country.

In another Gallup study ranking positive emotions, Paraguay ranks first in positive experiences, and Syria was the least likely country worldwide to report positive experiences.

Giving Iran a run for its money — at least as far as unhappiness is concerned — are these other countries:

  1. Iraq
  2. Iran
  3. Egypt
  4. Greece
  5. Syria
  6. Sierra Leone
  7. Cyprus
  8. Northern Cyprus
  9. Cambodia

10. Lebanon

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Kerry Calls Syrian Presidential Vote ‘Meaningless’

Քերի

 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says Syria’s presidential elections this week were “a great big zero” that won’t change anything.

He said Wednesday the vote was “meaningless, because you can’t have an election where millions of your people don’t even have an ability to vote.”

Kerry, who spoke during a one-day visit to the Lebanese capital, insisted that after the Syrian election, “the conflict is the same, the terror is the same, the killing is the same.”

Syrians in government-controlled areas voted Tuesday in a presidential poll all but guaranteed to hand President Bashar Assad another seven-year term. Voting did not take place in opposition-held areas.

 

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Obama vows to stand with Ukraine as he meets President-elect

Օբամա, պորոշենկո

 

U.S. President Barack Obama voiced his support for Ukraine’s newly elected President and called for the international community to “stand solidly behind” him Wednesday, on a visit to Europe dominated by the crisis in Ukraine.

Obama’s meeting with President-elect Petro Poroshenko can be seen as a sign of U.S. support for the government in Kiev as it battles to quell a pro-Russia separatist uprising in Ukraine’s east.

The two leaders were expected to talk about much-needed financial and political support for Ukraine, as well as its security concerns in the face of Russia’s activities.

The U.S. President will head to Brussels, Belgium, later Wednesday for a meeting of the G7 group of industrialized nations.

 

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German politician on country’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire uses his Phone A Friend to call Chancellor Angela Merkel… but she doesn’t pick up

When faced with a tricky question about East German washing machines, who should you call for help?

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to one politician appearing on the country’s celebrity version of ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ last night.

Wolfgang Bosbach, the deputy leader of Ms Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, was filmed using his ‘Phone A Friend’ lifeline to call his political ally twice on the TV quiz show.

But unfortunately for him, it appeared Ms Merkel was not playing along at home as she failed to pick up her phone both times.

Mr Bosbach, 61, had been left stumped by a question asking why the East German WM66 washing machine was so legendary.

Had he answered correctly, he would have won 500,000 euros (£407,000) to spend on good causes, according to The Local.

Mr Bosbach, who has been a Conservative German MP for 20 years, explained the Chancellor is ‘always happy to see me and hear my voice’, according to the BBC.

But after Ms Merkel’s phone went to voicemail for a second time, he joked that she was too busy ‘saving the world’.

Seconds later, Mr Bosbach decided to bow out of the show, broadcast on Germany’s commercial channel RTL, with 125,000 euros (£102,000).

Mr Bosbach, who joined the CDU parliamentary group in 1972, said he later received a text from the Chancellor asking him what he had wanted.

Ms Merkel then sent him another text, reading: ‘Ok whatever it was, warm greetings from am.’

Mr Bosbach said: ‘I’m not sure I would have done her a favour if she had answered the phone. I don’t know if she would have known the answer.’