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October 2, 2023

Dr. Elyse Semerdjian, a scholar on the Armenian genocide who is on staff at Clark University, believes “the Biden administration has blood on its hands” over its handling of the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.

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“Joe Biden courted the Armenian community under the pretext that he was going to acknowledge the Armenian genocide, which he promptly did,” she said. “But, as a scholar of genocide, I have to ask: what good is that if this genocide is also happening under his watch?”

The conversation then delved into the question of whether the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh could be classified as genocide a term some seem remiss to use, despite the horrors unfolding.

Dr. Semerdjian, drawing from her expertise in the field of genocide studies, explained historical patterns of deprivation and related tactics have been used as tools of genocide in the past.

With that in mind, the international community’s reluctance to use the legal label of genocide raised concerns about the lack of accountability, tough stances, and necessary action to halt such acts.

Semerdjian said she believes a “green light” is being sent to continue the “genocidal conditions” being perpetuated at the hands of Azerbaijan, the nation that overtook Nagorno-Karabakh after nine months of an imposed blockade of the Lachin corridor.

This blockage prevented ethnic Armenians living in the region from receiving food, medicines, and resources. Semerdjian has joined other experts in critiquing the West’s refusal to stop Azerbaijan from taking these actions and essentially invading the area.

Now, most residents of Nagorno-Karabakh have fled, pouring into Armenia and sparking questions about what comes next and how the refugee crisis will further devolve.

Semerdjian said the situation might not end here, either, as some fear Armenia will be conquered next, allowing for a “corridor to Turkey” to take form; Turkey has sided with Azerbaijan in the dispute.

“As long as there is no accountability or pushback from the international community, especially the United States, we’re going to see more of this and it’s happening under [Biden’s] watch,” she said.

In terms of potential solutions, Semerdjian called for international efforts to assist Armenians seeking safe passage out of the conflict zone. She also stressed the need for guarantees of Armenian sovereignty and territorial integrity, given the potential threats to Armenia itself.

Joel Veldkamp, head of international communications for Christian Solidarity International, also recently spoke with CBN Digital about the crisis.

Its our worst nightmare come to life right before our eyes, Veldkamp said. We saw it coming, we warned people it was coming, the Armenians warned people that it was coming, and we tried to amplify their voices as much as we could.

Please continue to pray for the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenians more broadly.

***As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up for Faithwires daily newsletter and download the CBN News app, developed by our parent company, to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***

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NHL draft Round 1 reaction: Smart and questionable picks, best remaining prospects

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NHL draft Round 1 reaction: Smart and questionable picks, best remaining prospects

That was one interesting first round of the NHL draft — fitting for a Las Vegas show.

Everything from Beckett Sennecke going No. 3 overall and swearing on TV, to Celine Dion and Michael Buffer’s surprise appearances, to Zeev Buium falling into Minnesota’s lap at 12. Plenty of pick-swap trades, as expected, but nearly every lottery pick stayed put.

The use of technology inside Sphere with player mosaics was different and cool, allowing for innovative graphics, introduction videos and an immersive experience.

Centralizing the draft in Vegas at Sphere was a fun and unique approach given how different it is from an NHL arena. Using celebrities with ties to respective teams to draft players was well done. The trade horn brought some spunk and was especially funny when it was played while commissioner Gary Bettman was attempting to announce a trade. The NHL deserves high marks for stepping outside the box and executing the draft in a fun and unique way.

Here’s a rundown of the smart and questionable selections from the first round, and a look at the best remaining prospects on the board for Rounds 2-7 on Saturday.

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UK

Jay Slater: ‘Massive search’ for missing teenager set to begin almost two weeks after 19-year-old’s disappearance

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Jay Slater: 'Massive search' for missing teenager set to begin almost two weeks after 19-year-old's disappearance

A “massive search” for British teenager Jay Slater will get under way in Tenerife today, almost two weeks after the apprentice bricklayer went missing.

The Civil Guard said they would step up their search for the 19-year-old after appealing for volunteer associations, such as firefighters, and individual volunteers with experience in navigating difficult terrain to help them.

Police and volunteers will begin their search at 9am in the village of Masca, near Mr Slater‘s last-known location, and attempt to retrace his last-known steps.

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Appeal for volunteers in Jay Slater search

In a statement, police said: “The massive search will be carried out on Saturday, 29 June from 9am.

“Bearing in mind that this is an abrupt, rocky area, full of unevenness and with a multitude of ravines, paths and roads, the collaboration of all those associations of volunteers who can help in this raid that is intended to be carried out in a directed and coordinated manner is requested.”

Sky’s North of England correspondent Shingi Mararike in Tenerife said the search “is perhaps a final push from the Civil Guard to make some kind of headway”.

Mr Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, disappeared after trying to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus on Monday last week.

More on Jay Slater

He was last pictured at Papayago, the nightclub hosting the end of the New Rave Generation festival, late on 16 June.

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Slater seen by cafe owner

After the event ended, he got in a car with two men, travelling to a small Airbnb in Masca, where a local cafe owner told Sky News he tried to catch a bus back to Los Cristianos, where he was staying.

Ofelia Medina Hernandez said she saw him at 8am on 17 June, and added: “He asked twice what time the bus came.

“He came back and he asked me again, and I told him again, at 10 o’clock. Later I got in my car, and I saw him, he was walking quickly, but I didn’t see him again after that.”

She said he was walking in the wrong direction.

Read more on Sky News:
‘My son went missing – I know how Jay’s parents feel’
Spanish police release new footage of search for Jay Slater
Jay Slater’s father describes ‘nightmare’ of son’s disappearance

A missing persons sign for Jay Slater in San Tiago del Teide. Pic: Adele-Momoko Fraser
Image:
A missing persons sign for Jay Slater in San Tiago del Teide. Pic: Adele-Momoko Fraser

Last phone call

It comes after one of Mr Slater’s friends told ITV’s This Morning about his last video call with the 19-year-old.

Brad Hargreaves said he saw the missing teenager’s feet slide on rocks during a call at around 8.30am, saying that is how he knew Mr Slater was not on a road.

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He then said Mr Slater went down a “little drop” in one of his last video calls, and added: “He said, ‘look where I am’.

“He didn’t seem concerned on the phone until we knew how far away he was. I said, ‘put your location on’. He said: ’15-minute drive, 14-hour walk’.

“I don’t know if it’s accurate or not so I said to him: ‘It’s only a 15-minute drive, get a taxi’.”

Search teams coordinated by the Civil Guard have since mounted a huge manhunt using helicopters, drones and search dogs to scour mountainous areas of the island, but are yet to find the teenager.

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Jay Slater: Today feels like the beginning of one last push to try to find missing teenager

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Jay Slater: Today feels like the beginning of one last push to try to find missing teenager

In a corner of Tenerife, a winding, narrow road takes you towards a small village called Masca. At points on the route, the view of the sea below and the mountains above is breathtaking.

This place, with its handful of houses and cafes, nestled among ravines and rockfaces, is about a 40-minute drive from the parts of the island most British tourists know, but it might as well be a world away.

There isn’t the bustle of the resort towns in the south, with their clubs and bars. Instead, there are vast expanses of land that are arid and difficult to traverse on foot.

In the 13 days since the disappearance of Jay Slater, a 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Lancashire, the hikers and tourists who come to Masca have been joined by two more groups of people.

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Appeal for volunteers in Jay Slater search

The first are the emergency services, including the civil guard, volunteer firefighters and mountain rescue teams carrying out the so-far unsuccessful search for Jay. The second group are journalists like me, trying to understand a case shrouded in speculation and questions.

Jay’s journey

Those questions begin with Jay’s journey which started at Papayago, the nightclub where he was last pictured enjoying the end of the New Rave Generation (NRG) festival late on 16 June.

More on Jay Slater

The club is in Playa De Las Americas, not too far from Los Cristianos where he was staying. Full of British revellers and near the beach, the strip is an area Jay would have been growing familiar with, having been at the festival for two days.

But on the event’s third and final night, instead of going back to the accommodation he was sharing with friends, Jay jumped in a car with two men, travelling to a small Airbnb in Masca.

This is where the information about his movements and whereabouts begins to thin, aside from the testimony of one eyewitness we met on our first full day in Tenerife.

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Ofelia Medina Hernandez runs a cafe above the Airbnb and says she saw Jay at about 8am on 17 June.

“He asked twice what time the bus came,” she told us. “He came back and he asked me again, and I told him again, at 10 o’clock.

“Later I got in my car, and I saw him, he was walking quickly, but I didn’t see him again after that,” she added.

Map showing Jay Slater's last known location on Tenerife, Masca, Los Carrizales where police are searching and Los Cristianos, where Jay's accomodation was

Despite the door to the Airbnb being just yards from a bus stop which would have taken him back down south, Medina Hernandez described Jay walking in the wrong direction.

Another key component of the timeline is a conversation Jay had with a friend on the phone at around 8.30am that day. He told them he was walking back after missing a bus – a journey that would take 11 hours on foot.

He also said he was lost, in need of water, and only had 1% charge on his phone.

His phone is believed to have been last located near an observatory around an 18-minute walk away, which is where the efforts of the emergency services were focused in the first week.

The search

That visible flurry of activity included emergency services using a helicopter, drones and sniffer dogs.

However, as the days went on, that sprawling search became a more tightly focused one, with smaller groups of officers looking at pockets of land, like ravines and caves.

Police search near Los Carrizales caves for Jay Slater. Pic: Adele-Momoko Fraser
Image:
Pic: Adele-Momoko Fraser

Despite allowing us to film them at a distance, the teams, led by the civil guard, have refused to give much guidance on the ground, instead choosing to release updates and footage via WhatsApp.

With no news conference or formal interviews on offer, they’ve largely kept journalists in the dark.

‘I just want him back’

One group who are hoping for information and updates more than anyone else are Jay’s loved ones.

A small group of his friends and family have stayed in Tenerife, clearly struggling to come to terms with the void left by his absence and the prospect he might not return.

A missing persons sign for Jay Slater in San Tiago del Teide. Pic: Adele-Momoko Fraser
Image:
Pic: Adele-Momoko Fraser

On the first Saturday after his disappearance, we met his dad Warren and brother Zak for the first time and their anguish was clear.

Speaking to us near Masca, after trying to retrace Jay’s steps, Warren said he was “just hoping that somebody has helped him off this mountain”.

“That’s all I want, that somebody has helped him get off this mountain. I just want him back and that’s it. He’s, my son.”

His voice then cracked and he walked away from the camera and repeated: “I just want him back and that’s it.”

Despite his visible pain, Warren has also to push this search forward in his own way. Two days later in the town of Santiago Del Teide, we meet him again.

Read more:
Friend says Jay slipped down hill in video call moments before disappearance

‘My son went missing in Ibiza – I know how Jay Slater’s parents feel’

Tenerife strip Papagayo nightclub exterior. Pic: Adele-Momoko Fraser
Image:
Pic: Adele-Momoko Fraser

That afternoon he was tearful again – but determined, handing out flyers with a small group of friends.

Their reason for choosing the town, which is 7km away from Masca, was because of a grainy CCTV image that suggested Jay was last seen in the town’s square.

Online speculation

The family hinging so much hope on that information was an insight into how this case isn’t just about what’s happening on the ground, but also the narrative online.

A Facebook group called Jay Slater Missing – Only Official Group reached more than 500,000 members in less than a week and was inundated with speculation around the case, before comments in the group were restricted.

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Police share new CCTV image

The noise on social media, coupled with the situation, have added to his family’s distress, something his mother Debbie Duncan who is also in Tenerife, alluded to in a statement.

“I have every faith in them down on the ground and the amazing searches they are carrying out along with more amazing guys up there,” she said.

“As a family we are in a living nightmare. We have no further updates other than Jay is still missing and we are just ignoring the social media side of things.”

Read more on Sky News:
Biden admits to poor debate
Has the Farage bandwagon crashed?
Reform canvasser says ‘I was a total fool’

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It’s clear though that social media has not only hurt the family, they also feel it’s helped them too, a point Debbie made when specifically thanking Paul Arnott.

A hiker from Bedfordshire, he has travelled from Fort William in Scotland to Spain and promised to stay however long it takes to find the teenager.

Never too far from the police search, Paul has been scrambling down ridges and climbing hills on his own while regularly updating his followers in TikTok.

Away from the small screen is the reality of the situation, as the search for Jay enters its 13th day.

It’s a period that promises to be pivotal, with the Spanish Civil Guard calling on volunteer agencies such as Civil Protection and firefighters, as well as “individual volunteers who are experts in rugged search terrain”.

In a case that has seen every twist and turn followed in places well beyond the rugged terrain of North West Tenerife, today feels like the beginning of one last push to try to find Jay Slater.

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