Five people were hurt, one of them critically, when a log ride at the Castle Park amusement park in Riverside malfunctioned on Saturday afternoon.

The accident took place shortly after 4 p.m. at the park at 3500 Polk Street in Riverside.

One patient was taken to a hospital in critical condition, Riverside City Fire Department Battalion Chief Bruce Vanderhorst said.

One person suffered injuries described as moderate, while three other people were treated for minor injuries, he said.

Officials could not immediately confirm a witness account indicating one of the log-shaped cars carrying passengers had overturned, tossing out at least one person.

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ՀՅ Դաշնակցութիւնը Բազմամարդ Հանրահաւաքով Մեկնարկը Յայտարարեց Իշխանութիւնները Յանուն Երկրի Լրջանալու Եւ Զգաստութեան Հրաւիրելու Շարժումին.

Երէկ` 23 մայիսին, ժամը 19:00-ին (Հայաստանի ժամանակացոյցով) Երեւանի Ազատութեան հրապարակին վրայ համախմբուած էին մեծաթիւ հայորդիներ` ընդառաջելով ՀՅԴ Հայաստանի Գերագոյն մարմինի կոչին` համախմբուելու եւ  վերջին օրերուն երկրին մէջ ստեղծուած իրավիճակին նկատմամբ իրենց մտահոգութիւնները յայտնելու, յատկապէս դատաիրաւական համակարգին վերաբերեալ վարչապետ Նիկոլ Փաշինեանի մօտեցումներուն լոյսին տակ, որոնք կրկին հանրային-պետական կեանքի ալեկոծման պատճառ դարձան:

«#Լրջացէք #Յանուն Երկրի» կարգախօսը կրող հանրահաւաքին ընթացքին խօսքեր արտասանեցին եւ Դաշնակցութեան տեսակէտներն ու մտահոգութիւնները արտայայտեցին ՀՅԴ Բիւրոյի եւ ՀՅԴ Հայաստանի Գերագոյն մարմինի անդամներ:

Source: http://www.aztagdaily.com/archives/439002?fbclid=IwAR02FtrVnBx4pWiDcJrHHbPq7E3c7NOKgMWYGJk-i1C8zdCFeBMvJBXOx9A

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Since 2017, when the N.S.A. lost control of one of its tools, EternalBlue, it has been used by hackers to cut a path of a destruction around the world. But over the past year, the cyberweapon has boomeranged back and is now showing up all across America.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/25/us/nsa-hacking-tool-baltimore.html?ref=headline&nl=top-stories

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AB 1320, the Divestment from Turkish Bonds Act, passed the full California Assembly floor 59-0. Last year, the State Senate and Assembly passed the Divestment from Turkish Bonds Act but the bill was vetoed by former Governor Jerry Brown,

California has a long history of divesting from countries that violate human rights, South Africa (apartheid policy), Sudan (Darfur genocide), and Iran (international terrorism, human rights violations). A divestment from Turkish bonds over Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide, the continued funding of a campaign of genocide denial, and the recent erosion of democratic principles would send a clear message internationally that California, the fifth largest economy in the world, demands justice for 1.5 million Armenians killed.

“California is sending a clear message to Turkey to stop their deceitful campaign of genocide denial,” stated Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian.

AB 1320 prohibits the boards of the California Public Retirement System (CalPERS) and California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) from making additional or new investments, or renewing existing investments issued, owned, controlled, or managed by the government of Turkey after federal sanctions are imposed on Turkey.

“We are grateful to the California State Assembly and to Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian for once again unanimously passing the Divest Turkey bill following then-Governor Jerry Brown’s disappointing last minute veto of the same bill last year. We look forward to successful passage in the Senate and to its signing by Governor Newsom in the near future,” said Armenian National Committee of America- Western Region chairman Nora Hovsepian, Esq.

“The ANCA-WR initiated this legislative movement several years ago after the Armenian Youth Federation and All-ASA student campaign successfully passed it on all nine University of California campuses in order to bring California’s fiscal policy in line with its strong position on human rights and the Armenian Genocide, and together we will continue to work diligently to secure divestment of public funds from the Turkish government through all possible avenues,” she added.

The boards shall liquidate investments only upon action taken by the federal government. More specifically, CalPERS and CalSTRS must liquidate any of the investments described above within six months of the passage of federal sanctions on Turkey.

This bill also requires the boards of CalPERS and CalSTRS to submit reports to the Legislature and the Governor, within a year of when the federal government issues sanctions against Turkey. The report will detail a list of investments that they have already liquidated and a list of investments that potentially can be liquidated.

California is home to the largest Armenian-American population in the United States.

AB 1320 will now be debated in the California State Senate.

Adrin Nazarian represents the 46th Assembly District, serving the San Fernando Valley communities of Hollywood Hills, Lake Balboa, North Hills, North Hollywood, Panorama City, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Valley Glen, Universal City, Van Nuys, and Valley Village.

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Cengiz Candar,

The US administration’s top Syria envoy, James Jeffrey, who is trying to broker a deal between Turkey and Syrian Kurdish groups for a proposed safe zone in northeast Syria, recognizes the irreconcilable positions of the two parties, and is trying to buy some time through continuing the talks, a source in Washington close to the envoy told Al-Monitor.

Turkey’s fateful Istanbul election rerun is fast approaching. For Turkey, it is more than just an election in Istanbul, as the vote could determine whether the Recep Tayyip Erdogan era in Turkish political history expires or not.

President Erdogan has transformed the June 23 election do-over into a showdown over his authoritarian rule involving Turkey’s highly polarized society; these divisions were deliberately crafted by Erdogan himself to consolidate his base.

Another inevitable development is approaching as well: An economic collision for Turkey’s debt-ridden economy. The developments in the foreign policy sphere will bear a strong influence both on the Istanbul election and the Turkish economy as Ankara is under intense pressure — if not crossfire — from Washington and Moscow.

On May 21, an alarming news report heralded dire consequences for Turkey.

CNBC reported, “Turkey has a little more than two weeks to decide whether to complete a complex arms deal with the US or risk severe penalties by going through with an agreement to buy a missile system from Russia, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. By the end of the first week of June, Turkey must cancel a multibillion-dollar deal with Russia and instead buy Raytheon’s US-made Patriot missile defense system — or face removal from Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program, forfeiture of 100 promised F-35 jets, imposition of US sanctions and potential blowback from NATO.”

The report continued, “As it stands now, the US State Department’s current offer is the final one, multiple sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity told CNBC when asked whether the deadline had room for more extensions.”

A few hours later, Reuters reported that Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Turkey is preparing for potential US sanctions over its purchase of S-400 missile defense systems. Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu have persistently emphasized that Turkey will keep its promise on the S-400 deal. The delivery is expected to begin in July. According to the Reuters report, Akar, with some nuance and caveat, reiterated the Turkish position.

The Reuters report said, “While Washington has warned that Ankara faced sanctions under its Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) if it presses on with the deal, Turkey has said it expected US President Donald Trump to protect it.”

Reuters also said the Turkish lira has been sliding in part over worries about the potential US sanctions. The news agency added, “Among its other disputes with Washington is the strategy in Syria east of the Euphrates River, where the United States is allied with Kurdish forces that Turkey views as foes.”

Nicholas Danforth, a Turkey expert in Washington, said of Akar’s statement, “Ankara still seems to be pushing for ‘We buy the S-400s and you don’t sanction us solution.’”

Akar’s words that Turkey, in its talks with the United States, sees “a general easing and rapprochement on issues including the east of the Euphrates, F-35s and Patriots,” seem unlikely to hold water.

A source in Washington close to James Jeffrey, the US special envoy to Syria who is trying to broker a deal for northeastern Syria east of the Euphrates, told Al-Monitor Jeffrey is trying to buy time.

The source, who did not want to be identified, said Jeffrey is confronted with the irreconcilable positions of Turkey and the Syrian Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that control northeastern Syria. The Kurdish forces that the Turkish government declares as its primary adversary provide the military command and the backbone of the SDF.

When it comes to Syria, the predicament of Turkish-US relations hinges on what the source described as “the John Bolton factor.” The US national security adviser, who is considered to be the mastermind of the latest American political moves against Iran, has no interest in conceding northeastern Syria to Turkey, which seems as if it has more in common with Tehran than Washington.

Ankara is aware that unless it compromises with Washington in the Syrian theater, adverse consequences will bear a further lethal impact on the Turkish economy, which is already in crisis.

A showcase of Erdogan’s weakened hand has been the onslaught of the Syrian army, with Putin’s encouragement, in Idlib; this has drawn ire from Turkish leaders from Erdogan to Cavusoglu to Akar.

In Metin Gurcan’s Al-Monitor assessment, “Turkey is trying to maintain warm relations with Russia to revive de-escalation efforts in Idlib and to continue its dialogue with the United States to establish a safe zone in Kurdish-dominated areas. However, this strategy apparently has yet to satisfy the United States or Russia. The Idlib offensive is a clear signal of this failure. Metaphorically speaking, the Idlib offensive is Russia’s way of telling Turkey that it won’t allow Ankara and Washington to set up a new game in Syria without its consent.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on April 29 had said that the situation in Idlib cannot go on like this forever, adding that the Syrian government has every right to ensure the safety of its people on its territory.

Fabrice Balanche, a French expert on the Levant and a fellow at the Washington Institute, said that Idlib will be overrun by the Syrian army before fall and that the operation to reclaim Idlib started in late April. In a recently published interview, Balanche outlined Russia’s modus operandi in Idlib and Turkey’s helplessness against it: “Russia forced the hand of Erdogan, who proved to be unable to enforce the terms of the Sochi agreement of September 2018, to create a demilitarized zone and free movement on the Aleppo-Latakia and Aleppo-Hama highways. … By provoking an influx of refugees and jihadis who might seek refuge in Turkey, Moscow urges Ankara to buy the Russian S-400 air defense system to create a break between the Americans and the Turks. There is currently a showdown between these three countries.”

It should be seen as coincidental that Erdogan explained Turkey’s unswerving commitment to go forward with the S-400 deal a day after the heavy bombing in Idlib by Russian aircraft and Syrian artillery. The Russian and Syrian military action jeopardized the safety of Turkish military personnel stationed in Syria’s northwestern province, which is mainly under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadi organization in Syria that is a former al-Qaeda branch.

Idlib, with its potential for a flow of hundreds of thousands of new refugees into Turkey, which is already hosting almost 3.6 million Syrians, is a nightmare for Ankara. UN officials emphasized that Idlib could become the “worst humanitarian tragedy of the 21st century.”

Turkey’s overriding interest in Idlib is to keep the situation calm to avoid a bloody military solution that would swell the ranks of millions of refugees, Aron Lund said in a May 21 report. He quotes Dmitri Trenin, the director of Carnegie Moscow Center, as saying that “maintaining some sort of a status quo in Idlib is preferable to either supporting a Syrian offensive or pressuring Turkey hard on Sochi commitments. Russia has been tolerant of Turkey’s apparent failure to fulfill its part of the Sochi agreement.”

That means Russia is still trying to keep Turkey on board to create deeper fissures in NATO and between Turkey and the United States. That also means that Turkey cannot tear away from the S-400 deal that easily.

Turkish foreign policy had never been so squeezed between Washington and Moscow and at the mercy of both or either of them. While the disastrous consequences of Erdogan’s foreign policy and its adverse effects on the economy are imminent, the election rerun in Istanbul has become even more important.
Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2019/05/turkey-syria-united-states-russia-ankara-squeezed.html#ixzz5orXl8l47

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Acting Minister of Culture Nazeni Gharibyan was elected on Friday the Chairwoman of the Management Board of the National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet. As the ministry of culture reported the vote took place at the Board sitting. The Board also elected balet dancer Sergey Safaryan as the Secretary of the Management Board.

As reported earlier, Constantine Orbelian, Artistic Director of the Armenian National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet filed a lawsuit against Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Acting Minister of Culture Nazeni Gharibyan,

The San Francisco-born conductor and pianist who combined the post of the Opera Artistic Director and Director General was dismissed by Gharibyan as chief executive for arguments he is not allowed to combine the two top positions by law. Orbelian now demands to nullify Pashinyan’s decision to temporality put the duties of the culture minister on Nazeni Gharibyan and the latter’s order to terminate his powers.

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Wikipedia is taking Turkey to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over a two-year ban imposed on the site in the country, BBC reports.

The Wikimedia Foundation says it filed the petition on the grounds that a ban on its online encyclopaedia violated the right to freedom of expression.

Access to Wikipedia has been blocked in Turkey since April 2017.

Officials said at the time that “an administrative measure” had been taken, but gave no reason for the ban.

Turkish media said authorities had asked Wikipedia to remove content by writers “supporting terror”.

“We are taking this action as part of our continued commitment to knowledge and freedom of expression as fundamental rights for every person,” the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organisation which runs Wikipedia, said in a statement.

“We are doing so only after continued and exhaustive attempts to lift the block through legal action in the Turkish courts, good faith conversations with the Turkish authorities, and campaigns to raise awareness of the block and its impact on Turkey and the rest of the world.”

Announcing the move on Thursday, Katherine Maher, the chief executive of Wikimedia, said the decision to turn to the Strasbourg-based court followed two years of discussions with Turkish authorities and a fruitless challenge in the country’s highest court, the Financial Times said.

Ms Maher said the Turkish ban, which prevents access to the collaborative site in all languages, was “the most expansive” imposed on the site by any country until China followed suit last week.

Turkey has temporarily blocked social media sites including Facebook and Twitter in the past, usually following protests or terrorist attacks.

Prior to the ban, more than 300,000 articles had been published in Turkish on the Wikipedia site.

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