Author: Hera Lylozian

Leave Trail of 50 Dead in Benue State (Makurdi) In the late hours of Thursday, August 8, 2024, the world was watching the high drama of the Paris Olympics. American pundits were watching Donald Trump’s Mar a Lago Presser. But Akika Tsav, a farmer and resident of Ayati village in Central Nigeria, was watching his world fall apart. Tsav’s peaceful town of Ayati in Benue State, Nigeria, was again heading into mourning. Ayati, a tranquil precinct in Ukum County, Benue State, has been ravaged by wave after wave of jihadist terrorist attacks in recent years. Located 121 miles northeast of…

Being married to a stranger at fourteen or fifteen, being raped, beaten and humiliated by her husband and his relatives, and giving birth to her first child a year later — this is the life of girls and young women who are victims of early and forced marriages in the North Caucasus. They can be kidnapped or forced into marriage by their own parents who fear for the “honour” of the family. Mediazona recounts a report by the human rights project AD REM on this practice, which is hardly researched in Russia. In 2009, 18-year-old Zaira Bopkhoeva from Ingushetia was abducted by a local resident named Khalid. Two…

DUSHANBE — Exorcism is a key source of income for Sabohiddin Shodiev, a popular cleric in his rural community on the outskirts of Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. Shodiev — not his real name — says that every week he treats about 15 clients who ask him to expel what they believe is an evil spirit, or jinni, possessing them, or to rid them from “an evil eye.”The 53-year-old cleric has been practicing exorcisms — which he learned to do from his father — for more than two decades. Most of Shodiev’s clients come from Dushanbe and nearby districts, but…

Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday after Wall Street rose to its highest level since early 2022, slightly below its record high, following a report showing inflation in the United States is behaving pretty much as expected. Benchmarks declined in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul but rose in Tokyo and Sydney. U.S. futures edged higher while oil prices slipped. The Bank of Japan’s quarterly “tankan” report measured business sentiment among major manufacturers at plus 12, up from plus 9 in October and plus 5 in June. The survey measures corporate sentiment by subtracting the number of companies saying business conditions are negative…

Latest Developments The third-most senior Hamas figure, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed on January 2 in a Beirut blast that Lebanese authorities blamed on Israel. Arouri was among at least four people who died in an Israeli drone strike on a Hamas media office in the southern Dahiyeh suburb of the Lebanese capital, a Hezbollah stronghold, authorities said. Israeli officials had no immediate comment. After Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, Arouri was the top-ranked Hamas official. He pursued an especially aggressive Palestinian terrorism strategy, with a focus on the West Bank, where he ordered the 2014 abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers, sparking a…

On December 11-12, in Geneva, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Vahan Kostanyan participated in the Human Rights 75 High-Level Event dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. UN member states presented their pledges and commitments in human rights and a number of related areas, the foreign ministry said in a press release.  In his remarks Deputy Foreign Minister underscored Armenia`s unwavering commitment to genocide prevention and reiterated the readiness to spare no effort towards strengthening international mechanisms and responses aimed at preventing gross violations of human rights. The head of the Armenian delegation also noted…

Germany will provide €84,6 million in aid in the form of grants and loans to Armenia. The aid was announced by Germany’s Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Niels Annen. Annen is in Yerevan to participate in the first session of the Armenian-German Intergovernmental meeting. Armenia’s Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan said the aid will be directed to vocational technical education and new projects in renewable energy. Kerobyan said that trade turnover between Armenia and Germany tripled in the past three years. The November 22 talks were the first intergovernmental negotiations between Armenia and…

President of Iraq, Abdul Latif Rashid, visited Gyumri as part of his official trip to Armenia. He was accompanied by Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan. During his visit, the Iraqi president toured the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies and participated in the Connecting Innovations Armenian-Iraqi Tech Initiative at Sev Berd castle. Khachaturyan expressed his belief in Armenia’s potential for technological development and emphasized that further cooperation and the strengthening of political relations would contribute to the region’s growth. He highlighted the longstanding friendship between Armenia and Iraq, stating, “We must now look ahead and do everything we can to make Armenia…

Foreign ministers from South Korea, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan reaffirmed their commitment to enhancing youth cooperation during the 16th Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, the host nation’s embassy said Friday. According to the embassy, the meeting underscored a sustainable future for both Central Asia and South Korea, recognizing the potential of youth in both regions and the need to formulate policies and strategies for future partnerships. Turkmenistan is celebrating 2023 as the “Year of Youth” and has proposed several initiatives to bolster youth engagement. Turkmenistan’s proposal includes creating a comprehensive strategy for international cooperation between…

Stocks in Asia rose on optimism that ongoing diplomatic efforts may help prevent the Israel-Hamas war from expanding into a wider conflict. An Asian equity gauge snapped a two-day decline while contracts for US equities slipped after both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 rose on Monday. Rio Tinto Plc climbed the most in a month following a report which showed the miner recorded a higher-than-expected increase in copper production for the third quarter. Gold fell for a second day while a gauge of the dollar traded in a narrow range. Haven bids have eased as investors monitor ongoing…