Day: January 12, 2024
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NPR News: 01-12-2024 2AM EST
Irvine is getting closer to erecting a memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian genocide within the Great Park, the Orange County Register reports.
Early plans for the memorial, approved by the Great Park Board on Tuesday, Jan. 9, include a potential location, the size of the memorial and how the memorial will be funded. City leaders unanimously approved the Orange County Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee’s proposal and directed staff to work with the committee in developing a schematic design and budget.
The proposed location is what will be called the Heart of the Park, a yet-to-be-completed area of the Great Park in its expansion over 300 acres of amenities. Because it is surrounded by a dense forest, the location will provide privacy and peace, said assistant city manager Pete Carmichael.
And the size of the memorial will be consistent and commensurate with the vertical and horizontal area provided within the surrounding forest, approximately 20 feet wide and 15 feet high, said Lauren Jung, the city’s senior management analyst.
The Orange County Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee, comprised of 11 members representing various Armenian organizations from around the county, hopes for construction to begin in the first half of 2026 and be completed in 2027, according to a staff report.
The Heart of the Park, where the memorial will be located, is slated for initial grading beginning this year with subsequent construction starting in 2026. That area “is a mix of quiet contemplation and social interaction,” Carmichael said.
The process of homing an Armenian genocide memorial in Irvine began in 2022 after a video surfaced in which Mayor Farrah Khan appeared to joke and laugh with representatives of local Turkish groups, among them a man who has been outspoken in denying the genocide.
Khan, at the time, said the genocide was not a topic of conversation and the video was released out of context. Members of the Armenian community met with Khan, and she said she would support finding a place in the city for a memorial.
US and UK forces have carried out air strikes against Houthi rebel targets in Yemen, the BBC reports.
US President Joe Biden says the strikes are in response to attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthis on ships in the Red Sea since November.
The Houthis control much of Yemen and say they are supporting ally Hamas by targeting shipping headed to Israel.
The Houthis’ deputy foreign minister warns US and UK will “pay a heavy price” for this “blatant aggression”
Royal Air Force warplanes helped carry out the “targeted strikes” against military facilities, says UK PM.
PM Rishi Sunak adds that the strikes are “limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defenses.”
The Netherlands, Australia, Canada and Bahrain provided support as part of the mission, says Biden.
Strikes are reported in the capital Sanaa, the Houthi Red Sea port of Hudaydah, Dhamar and north-western Houthi stronghold of Saada.
Iran’s foreign ministry has condemned the strikes on Yemen as a “clear violation of Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and a violation of international laws.
The attacks “will have no result other than fuelling insecurity and instability in the region”, the ministry’s spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a post on the ministry’s Telegram group.
Meanwhile the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah also condemned the strikes on Yemen.
“The American aggression confirms once again that the US is a full partner in the tragedies and massacres committed by the Zionist enemy in Gaza and the region”, said the Iran-backed group, according to a Reuters report.