Armenian News - NEWS.am presents daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 10.10.2019:
· WCIT 2019 drew to an end in Yerevan on Thursday.
The congress featured speeches by Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan; President of WITSA Yvonne Chiu; US National Security expert Richard Clarke, as well as President of VaynerX and VaynerMedia Gary Vaynerchuk, founder of GIPHY Alex Chung, TV star Kim Kardashian West, co-founder of Reddit and Initialized Capital Alexis Ohanian, rock musician Serj Tankian, founder of Acer Stan Shih and other reputable IT experts.
Serj Tankian, Alexis Ohanian, President of Synopsys Armenia Yervant Zorian and Minister of High Technological Industry Hakob Arshakyan announced the launch of the Highconnect pan-Armenian digital platform, which will unite all Armenians around the world.
During the closing ceremony, the best startups were selected and received the Armenian Tech Community Prize for the first time in the 40-year history of the congress. The first place and second place winners received $25,000 and $10,000, respectively.
In his closing speech, WITSA Secretary-General James Poissant expressed gratitude to all the organizers of the event and stated the following: “We will go back home, but everything that happened these days will always be in our hearts.”
The opening of the congress was marked by an unprecedented concert that featured performances of music composed through artificial intelligence for the first time in history and performances by Grammy Award-winning DJ Armin van Buuren.
· Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the start of the military operation in Syria.
According to Armenian MFA, the invasion would lead to deterioration of regional security, losses among civilians, mass displacement and eventually to a new humanitarian crisis.
As Pashinyan noted, “we call on the international community to launch effective measures to stop that unlawful act and to protect the rights of Syrian citizens, including representatives of national minorities, along Turkey’s border.”
Kantsasar Armenian newspaper in Syria reported that 8 people were killed, 20 were wounded, and one apartment was burnt Wednesday, as a result of Turkish missile attacks on Qamishli, Darbasiyah, and Ras al-Ayn towns.
The Armenian schools of Qamishli are closed Thursday for precaution.
According to Armenian MP, Mkhitar Hayrapenyan, at this point, Turks are bombing the city of Tell Abiad where 16 Armenian families permanently reside. Their evacuation is currently underway.
Although, according to Nazeli Elbakyan, responsible for public relations of the Center for Humanitarian Demining and Expertise, the humanitarian mission of Armenia in Syria operates as usual.
The Armenian Assembly of America, in its turn, supports bipartisan legislation proposed by US Senators Lindsey Graham and Chris Van Hollen to sanction Turkey for invading northern Syria.
· Former director of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund Ara Vardanyan says a decision was made to arrest him.
“It was decided to imprison me. I will not fully acknowledge the accusation and will fight until this absurdity is put to an end,” Vardanyan wrote on Facebook.
The reason for all this is the socio-political public activity of Ara Vardanyan, the lawyer of the former director of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund Ara Vardanyan, Yervand Varosyan wrote on his Facebook.
The godfather of the children became deacon of Etchmiadzin baptism, 27-year-old Nairi Srapionyan. He told NEWS.am that Kim was given the name Heghine and her sister Gayane.
According to him, the Kardashians were prepared for baptism, bringing with them crosses.
Kim Kardashian West on Wednesday also visited PicsArt’s office in Armenia where she had a meeting with Director of TUMO Center for Creative Technologies Marie Lou Papazian and the staff of PicsArt.
“She was excited that 50% of the company’s engineers are women,” representative of PicsArt Office in Armenia Nazeli Petrosyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.
By the way, Kardashians have already left Armenia.
· A murder has been recorded in Yerevan on Wednesday. Yerevan police received a message that shots were heard.
Before the arrival of law enforcement officers from the medical center Erebuni, they reported that they received a dead citizen with gunshot wounds.
At the scene, four cartridges and traces of blood were found. A criminal case has been opened,