News & Views (Feb 21, 2012)

News & Views is a weekly summary of some of the week’s most important stories, links and material of interest to Ararat readers.

— According to The Telegraph, the UK is becoming a popular destination for foreign millionaires seeking a resident visa. Their report last week outlined this interesting fact [emphasis mine]:

Since April 2008, the number of foreigners entering Britain through the scheme has risen from 43 to 320, according to figures by McGrigors, a commercial law firm.

Behind Russia millionaires, Chinese investors are the second largest category of investor visa applicants, accounting for 15 per cent. Around 30 per cent went to high net worth individuals from the Former Soviet Union states, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine.

— Did you know there is a crater on the planet Mercury named for the 19th century Armenian painter Hakop Hovnatanian? According to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center:

Hovnatanian crater was formed by an object that impacted at a very oblique angle, causing the crater to appear elliptical. Although impacts at most angles produce circular craters, impacts with incidence angles <15º (from the horizontal) will create elliptical craters. The rays of Hovnatanian form a “butterfly” pattern, which also indicates an oblique impact.

It is pictured at the top of this post or you can see it here.

— Armenia appears to be the fourth most hacked nation in the world, just behind Russian, Oman and the US.

— Does the Turkish President want a new Hrant Dink trial?

— Remember that rumor we linked to last week that Steven Spielberg may make a film about the Armenian Genocide? It appears that it is false.

— Is it possible that Armenia produces the most waste per capita than any other nation on earth?

— Assyrian scholars have written a letter urging the Republic of Armenia to recognize the Assyrian Genocide. Among the signatories are names familiar to Armenians, including Prof. Israel W. Charny, Prof. David Gaunt and Prof. Henry C. Theriault.

— Keghart has transcribed a recent interview with Ethiopian-Armenian musician Vahe Tilbian, whose sound I would describe as global pop. You can listen to his dance track, “Don’t Stop,” here.

— ArtMika of the Unzipped: Gay Armenia blog spots homophobic language on the Facebook page of the Yerevan mayor, which is unbecoming of an individual in his prominent position. ArtMika writes:

To put it short, PR reps and some employees for the mayor office in Yerevan use nauseating, cheap, homophobic language to ‘counter-attack’ the arguments of environmental activists and other concerned Yerevan (and not only) residents.

— And finally, in one of the most bizarre micro-scandals of last week, The Armenian Weekly reported that Google Translate was translating “Ես սիրում եմ հայերին” (I love Armenians) to “I love Turkey” in English. The problem has since been corrected.

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News & Views is published every week. It is a summary of the week’s most interesting, provocatiove and thought-provoking links to articles, videos, photos and commentary of interest to the readers of Ararat.