As part of the Leadership Forum in Washington, President of the National Assembly Ararat Mirzoyan met with Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to discuss bilateral cooperation opportunities and projects.

The chief of Armenia’s top legislative body briefed the US parliament official on the developments in the country, thanking her for a valuable contribution to the US-Armenia relations.

Pelosi, for her part, highly praised the democratic reforms in Armenia.

According to the National Assembly’s press service, the sides also discussed other issues of mutual interest.

I propose burning [Venice Commission President] Gianni Buquicchio. Naira Zohrabyan, a member of the opposition Prosperous Armenia faction in the National Assembly (NA) and chairperson of the NA Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs, on Tuesday wrote this in a Facebook post.

“The Armenian political establishment is in shock since yesterday,” she wrote, in particular. “Can you imagine? The Venice Commission has had the audacity to express its viewpoint—with quite harsh emphases, in that—on the judicial boundlessness that has been created in the country.

“And since various representatives of the [Armenian] authorities and their adjunct analysts have already begun the ‘vetting’ process of Venice Commission President Gianni Buquicchio, proposing the latter to not put his nose into the affairs of New Armenia, I have a proposal: (…) to demonstrate a humane approach and to burn Buquicchio at once. He will be the second Italian, after Giordano Bruno, who will be given to the fire for his ideas.

“And if more seriously, the statements of various representatives of the [incumbent Armenian] authorities leave a bad déjà vu impression on me [in connection with the respective conduct at the time by the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia].

“But before burning [Buquicchio], recall a bit that when Armenia was becoming a member in the Council of Europe in 2001, we [Armenia] have assumed the commitment to follow and execute the recommendations of the Venice Commission.”

President Donald Trump’s team has settled on a sanctions package to punish Turkey for receiving parts of a Russian missile defense system and plans to announce it in the coming days, said people familiar with the matter, according to the Bloomberg report.

The administration chose one of three sets of actions devised to inflict varying degrees of pain under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, the people said, without identifying which set had been chosen. The plan needs Trump’s approval.

One of the people said the intention is to announce the sanctions late next week. The administration wants to wait until after Monday’s anniversary of a 2016 coup attempt against Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to avoid fueling further speculation that the U.S. was responsible for the uprising, as Erdogan’s loyalists have claimed.

The plan was developed after days of discussions between officials at the State and Defense departments and the National Security Council. It awaits a sign-off by Trump and his top advisers, the people said, requesting anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter

Some drugs had a major impact on the development of medicine and science and changed the whole world.

Here we list the top five most important drugs developed:

Penicillin

Prior to the invention of penicillin, outbreaks and epidemics of infectious diseases killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world. In 1928, bacteriologist Alexander Fleming (Scotland) discovered that a colony of mold fungi had grown in a Petri dish with staph bacteria.

The colonies of bacteria around them became transparent – they collapsed. Fleming was able to isolate a substance that destroys bacterial cells, penicillin.

Now the most important thing is not to lose antibiotics because of the development and spread of resistance to them: if nothing is done to combat resistance, antibiotics can lose 

Insulin

The discovery of insulin is another important medical achievement. Before it has been developed, people with type 1 diabetes were doomed to death. On January 11, 1922, Frederick Banting (Canada), after animal experiments, made the first successful injection of insulin to humans.

Today, insulin shots provide an opportunity for hundreds of thousands of people with diabetes to live a full life.

Antiretroviral Therapy

In the past, HIV infection inevitably led to death: the virus weakened the human body and led to the development of AIDS: the person died due to infections or oncological diseases actively developing against the background of extremely weakened immunity.

Much has changed since the creation of drugs that suppress the HIV. The first antiretroviral drug approved for use in March 1987 was Zidovudine (Zidovudine, ZDV), also known as azidothymidine (AZT). Today, it is still one of the key components of highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Unfortunately, today antiretroviral therapy (ART) is not available to all patients with HIV, but many organizations are doing everything possible to make it more accessible.

Hormonal contraception

Creating hormonal contraception was a real breakthrough, because these drugs have opened up the possibility of avoiding unplanned pregnancies and abortions.

Clinical trials of hormonal contraceptives kicked off in the 1920s on the initiative of Ludwig Haberlandt (Austria), who published an article about the possibility of using an effective contraceptive in animals. After the suicide of the scientist, the tests were stopped, including the actions of activist Margaret Sanger. It was only in 1960 that the first contraceptive pill was invented and released, which they started using in the US.

Modern contraceptives are much safer than those used in the past century. Moreover, they have therapeutic effects and are used to treat certain diseases.

Aspirin

Since ancient times, medicines made from willow and other plants rich in salicylate have been used in the fight against fevers and to relieve pain. Chemist Raffaele Piria (Italy) was the first to remove from the willow bark a stable form of salicylic acid, suitable for cleaning in 1838, and later, in 1853, Charles Frederick Gerard synthesized acetylsalicylic acid for the first time.

Today, aspirin is widely used as an analgesic, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory agent.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the COAF SMART Center of the Children of Armenia Fund (COAF) in Debed village of Lori province,

The PM toured the Center, got acquainted with the investment program and the works carried out so far.

COAF SMART is an informal education environment, providing equal opportunities to 150.000 young and elderly peoples of villages.

In his remarks the Armenian PM said it’s a great honor for him to visit the Center, adding that he planned this visit long ago because he has repeatedly heard about this successful project.

“I really expected what I saw here. I want to specifically thank for the efforts made as a result of which we have such a center of revival in Armenia’s heart which is the birthplace of Tumanyan”, Pashinyan said.

Talking about the revolution the PM said in reality the revolution in Armenia started earlier than it took place. Of course, political processes launched in 2018, but developments were taken place earlier which were not perceived by many as revolutionary and the economic foundation of the revolution. Pashinyan said the economic base of the revolution are the people who implemented new ideas in the business, science and economy, as well as programs being out of the traditional oligarchic circles.

“We see that there are various initiatives. And we also see the change of attitude of several figures of the Diaspora on the actions in Armenia”, he said, adding that today the situation is different, the perception among the Diaspora has changed and people came to the conclusion that the logic of charity should change into a logic of development. “That is to implement programs which will change the people”, he noted.

According to him, the new formula should be the following: programs must be implemented so that people will believe in themselves. This is the formula of the revolution that took place in Armenia, according to the PM. Pashinyan said previously people were believing in the political leaders, had hopes with them. But in 2018 they believed in themselves and understood that they are a decisive force.

The Armenian PM stated that this process started long ago. “The revolution tells children the following: you can change the world. This is the key point of these programs –to help the people to believe in their strengths. So you see that a person aged 40 or 50 studies with a child in the same room. When I was a lawmaker I studied English together with 9th grades school-children at the American University of Armenia”, he said.

Pashinyan highlighted that today it is necessary to build the highway of hope. He emphasized the presence of such educational Centers through which the child prepares for tomorrow.

COAF SMART is the world’s most innovative initiative for the advancement of rural communities. COAF SMART seeks to empower Armenia’s village youth through resources and opportunities to explore their intellectual curiosities and push the boundaries of the fields of study that compel them.

The Ministry of Health encourages citizens to avoid swimming in the coastal areas of Lake Sevan, where brighter algae are observed.

An official from the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia informed “Armenpress” that cyanobacter (cyanobacter) or bacterial algae meet all over the world, especially in non-flowing, nutrient-rich waters. Some species produce toxic substances (toxins) that affect the health of animals and people, which can be influenced by people drinking, swallowing, or swallowing “blown” water.

“If you swim in such water, you may experience the following symptoms: asthma, eye irritation, rash, especially mouth and nose, skin irritation, allergic reactions. In case of swallowing indifferently water may cause stomach aches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, throat pain, headache, muscle and joint pain, cookies in the oral cavity, liver problems.

In order to avoid such health problems, the Ministry of Health encourages:

• Do not abstain in places where algae is observed,
• prohibit children from swimming in unauthorized places;
• In case of the above symptoms, seek medical advice immediately.

Although laboratory studies have shown that the most risky areas are the beaches adjacent to Vardenik and Martuni communities, the algae can be alive, altering the proportion of species depending on air and water temperature, wind direction and strength.
Therefore, we recommend once again to avoid swiming where there are algae in the water, “the message says.

A number of Armenian citizens threw Garbage on Monday at the entrance of Yerevan City Hall building.

Sona Aghekyan, a former member of the Yerevan Council of Elders, has released a video from a protest rally near Yerevan Municipality.

“We bring the street garbage to the municipality to make it clear that every day we are going to clean up one of the streets in Yerevan. Yerevan is not a garbage dump. Yerevan is the capital,” she said.

SINGAPORE – Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is making his first official visit to Singapore at the invitation of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

The visit reaffirms the warm and friendly relations between both countries, and will be an opportunity to deepen bilateral cooperation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday (July 7).

On Monday, Mr Pashinyan will receive an official welcome at the Istana.

He will pay courtesy calls on President Halimah Yacob and Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin, and also call on PM Lee, who will host an official lunch.

While in Singapore, Mr Pashinyan will also visit the Economic Development Board and meet business leaders at a roundtable organised by the Singapore Business Federation.

He will visit the Singapore Botanic Gardens, where an orchid will be named in his honour, as well as the Armenian Church.

At the First Botanic Garden in Armenian Street, he will unveil a sculpture of Vanda Miss Joaquim flowers.

The sculpture was contributed by the Armenian community, whom Mr Pashinyan will be meeting on his trip, which ends on Tuesday.

The Armenian Prime Minister is accompanied by his wife, Madam Anna Hakobyan, as well as the Minister of Economy Tigran Khachatryan, Minister of High-Technological Industry Hakob Arshakyan, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Avet Adonst and senior government officials.

Mrs. Anna Hakobyan, Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of the “My City” and “City of Smile” Charitable Foundations, met with Mrs. Tran Nguyet Tui, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, in Hanoi on July 5. At the meeting, Anna Hakobyan presented her impressions in Hanoi, stressing that she had noticed the goodness in the eyes of the Vietnamese people. According to Hakobyan, the basis of that kindness is traditional Vietnamese music, which is impossible to feel bad or anger when you hear it.

“It is very important for your visit and it can be a stimulus for the further development of relations between the two countries. I know that Armenia has centuries-old history and rich cultural heritage. And every year Armenia has a large flow of tourists. I hope you will be able to visit your historic country, “said Tran Nguyet Tui.

“Thank you very much for warm hospitality and hospitality. Your country is wonderful, and I really fell in love with your city. It is very beautiful and very comfortable. I am delighted with the hospitality of your people. I hope you and your spouse will find time and visit our country. I invite you to Armenia and I am convinced that as I have loved your country, you will love Armenia as well, “said Anna Hakobyan, adding that reciprocal visits will contribute to the friendship between the two peoples and the two peoples. In response, Tran Nguyet Tui stressed that Armenia and Vietnam have centuries-long friendship, and today it is necessary to make efforts to further develop these relations. “We are grateful for the support that Armenia has rendered to Vietnam both during and after independence,” said the prime minister of Vietnam. At the meeting the interlocutors spoke about the importance of women’s role and the maintenance of peace.

    “On the road to my husband, we were talking about how powerful the Vietnamese people were able to fight and maintain their independence. It was a brave step. I know that the acquisition was not easy, there were victims and losses, but the state, the country is worth it, “said the prime minister’s lady.

“It is because of these victims that our country attaches so much importance to peace,” said the prime minister of Vietnam. By agreeing, Anna Hakobyan said that Armenia has been involved in a war for 30 years already. He has told about the history of Artsakh and Artsakh. In this context, Anna Hakobyan presented her campaign “Women for Peace”, stressing that the goal of the campaign is to raise the issue of preserving peace through women, mothers and sisters, and urge to resolve conflicts rather than weapons but peacefully. Tran Ngueet Tou welcomed the initiative, adding that peace is an exceptional value. During the meeting, the spouses of the prime ministers of the two countries also spoke about their other initiatives. Anna Hakobyan presented the activities of the “City of Smiles” Foundation, and Mrs. Tue told how she supports people with blood diseases.