Teen Archives

French Armenian teen missing since Paris attacks

November 16, 2015 By administrator

The police are searching for French Armenian Lola Ouzounian, 17, who has gone missing ever since the terrorist attacks on November 13 in Paris.

Chairman of the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations in France (CCAF), Mourad Papazian, told about the abovementioned to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“Lola Ouzounian was in the Bataclan Theatre during the terrorism; she disappeared after that,” Papazian said. “They are searching for her for three days; there is no information at this time.”

And French Armenian Hilda Tchoboian, who is an MP of the Rhône-Alpes Region of France, told us that Lola was at Bataclan with her father.

“They lost each other during the attack,” Tchoboian added. “The father is saved, whereas the girl is still being searched for.”

Simultaneous terrorist attacks occurred on the evening of November 13, in different parts of the French capital city.

According to official data, these attacks claimed more than 130 lives, but the media report about over 150 casualties.

A state of emergency has been declared in France.

Terrorist State of Turkey arrested teen for ‘insulting’ dictator Erdogan

October 22, 2015 By administrator

A Turkish teenager has been arrested by police forces for allegedly “insulting” the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reports say.

The Cihan News Agency said on Thursday that the teenager identified as U. E. was detained outside an Internet Café on Wednesday night.

The 15-year-old is expected to be brought before court later in the day, which will determine whether he will be charged or fined.

Details regarding the accusations brought against him have not been released.

It is illegal to insult the country’s president under Turkish law, and those found guilty of doing so are at risk of facing up to four years in prison. The law has led to the arrest and prosecution of a number of journalists, activists, intellectuals, students and even celebrities.

Last month, a 16-year-old Turkish youth was handed a suspended 11-month jail sentence for calling Erdogan a thief during a student protest last December.

Earlier, Bülent Keneş, the editor-in-chief of the Turkish English-language newspaper Today’s Zaman, was handed down a suspended jail term of 21 months by a court in the capital, Ankara, for insulting Erdogan in a message posted on Twitter.

Tolga Tanış, a US-based journalist, was also detained in June over suspicions that he insulted Erdogan in a book he had authored.

Rights groups and free speech advocates have criticized the government for suing people over expressing their opinions, describing it as a means of aggressive muzzling of dissent in Turkey.

Erdogan, a former premier who ascended to presidency last year, has faced growing popular dissatisfaction over what critics say is his growing autocratic manner.

Canada: Armenian Teen teenager Anya Pogharian invents portable, low-cost dialysis machine

August 18, 2015 By administrator

CTV Montreal

Montreal teenager Anya Pogharian has received international attention for a portable dialysis machine she created for a local science fair.

What started off as a science project may have a revolutionary impact for dialysis patients.

Montreal teenager Anya Pogharian has received international attention for a portable dialysis machine she created for a local science fair.

“I wanted to mimic the exact same circuit as a dialysis machine because I’m trying to see if the cost can be reduced while maintaining the functionality,” explained the teen inventor, who has spent well over 300 hours on the project, even though the science fair only required 10.

Inspired after a summer of volunteering at the Montreal General Hospital, the teen said she realized that a portable system could make a major difference.

Typically used by kidney disease patients, dialysis removes waste and excess water from the blood. It can be a time-consuming process.

“Dialysis normally takes hours in a hospital setting, several times a week,” she said, adding that a portable machine could help bring the treatment to those who need it abroad. “Like for example, 90 per cent of patients living in India and Pakistan who need the treatment to survive don’t have access to it. So, a lot of preventable deaths.”

She started researching the problem online and read owner’s manuals of dialysis machines to provide inspiration and insight into how to invent her own.

While dialysis machines currently cost about $30,000, her second prototype cost about $550 to build and is receiving international interest.

Hema-Quebec approached her with an idea to test it in their Quebec City lab. The results were impressive.

“We were expecting to run the system for 2.5 hours and after 25 minutes (the patient) was already in the zone where we wanted the level of potassium to be, so the system was quite efficient,” said Yves Blais, vice-president of research and development for Hema-Quebec.

They’ve invited Pogharian back to test her third prototype when it’s ready.

As she prepares to start her last year of CEGEP, Pogharian has a few projects on the side, including giving a Ted X talk and collaborating with a Harvard professor.

Developing her project is always top-of-mind, though.

“I just found it interesting, just really interesting and I saw there was a need and I figured, ‘Why don’t I try something?’” she said.