ARMENIAN NEWS: BREAKING NEWS 24.07.2018

We are discussing with our State Department associates the chances for holding [Armenian] Prime Minister [Nikol] Pashinyan’s and [US] President [Donald] Trump’s meeting within a short time, and that matter is on the agenda.

Armenia’s Ambassador to the US Grigor Hovhannissian, on Monday told the aforesaid to the state-funded Public Television of Armenia. The ambassador added that the initiative for such talk had come from the US Congress members.

At least 60 people have died in the forest fires broke out east of Athens on Monday, Reuters reported.

As reported earlier, 156 people were injured, including many children, while 11 are in a critical condition.

An anomalously hot weather has been recorded in Greece, while in some parts of the country the air temperature reaches +40 ° C.

The Center for Crisis Management of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia on Tuesday contacted the hotline of Armenia’s embassy in Greece, in order to get information on whether there were any Armenians among those affected by the forest fires that are raging in Greece.

And the embassy said that there were no Armenians among the affected.

It was noted that in the case of a respective petition, Armenia is ready to help—within the limits of its capabilities—Greece, in putting out the forest fires.

Just like in previous years, the bellicose statements by the Azerbaijani leadership have continued this year too, Republic of Artsakh Minister of Defense and Defense Army Commander, Levon Mnatsakanyan, noted at a press conference in capital city Stepanakert.

In his words, however, ceasefire violation has dropped sharply.

“The [present-day] situation [at the Line of Contact with Azerbaijan] can be assessed [as] stable calm, but with trends of tension; there had not been such calm situation [before],” the minister stressed. “However, an increase in tension is possible in September, October.”

Sevan Startup Summit has reached the international level. The event, which kicked off on July 22, gathered startups and specialists from 35 countries of the world in the tent camp on the shores of Lake Sevan.

In a conversation with the Armenian News -NEWS.am correspondent, the director of the Seaside Startup Summit, Vahagn Rapyan said that about 800 participants of the summit live in the tent camp this year, but several hundreds of visitors, mentors, lecturers and investors come to them during the day, so there are at least 1500 people in the camp during the day.

"According to our calculations, more than 5,000 people will attend the summit this year," Rapyan said.

The weapons which Azerbaijan has acquired from Israel are operative tactical missiles, whose range is 300 kilometers, Republic of Artsakh Minister of Defense and Defense Army Commander, Levon Mnatsakanyan stated at a press conference in capital city Stepanakert.

“We too have a similar weapon,” Mnatsakanyan highlighted. “We also have a potentiality to hit [Azerbaijan].”

And when asked about the chances of shelling the Mingachevir Reservoir in Azerbaijan, the Artsakh defense minister responded as follows: “We have a chance to paralyze Azerbaijan’s economy; but I don’t see its occasion yet.”

National Assembly “Republican Party of Armenia” Faction MP and Yerkrapah (Defender of the Land) Volunteer Union Board’s now ex-Chairman, General Manvel Grigoryan, has been stripped of the title of Honorary Citizen of Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin) town.

The Vagharshapat municipal council on Tuesday reached such a decision.

Vagharshapat Acting Mayor Diana Gasparyan reported on the matter of stripping Grigoryan from the aforementioned title.