Michel Aoun elected Lebanon’s new president

Lebanon's unicameral parliament on Monday elected Christian politician Michel Naim Aoun as the country's new president, according to TASS. The 81-year-old leader of the Free Patriotic Movement won support of the majority of lawmakers. Aoun failed to secure a two thirds majority in the first round. The second round took place in the parliament and the politician won 83 votes. The country's top post has been vacant since May 25, 2014 when Michel Suleiman left office. Over the past two years, Lebanon's lawmakers failed to agree on the presidential candidate who would suit both the Muslim and Christian parties. The vote in the parliament had been put off 45 times due to the lack of a quorum.

Expo 2016 Antalya

Azerbaijan`s booth has won the first place at Expo 2016 Antalya International Botanical Exhibition held on October 30 in Antalya, Turkey. The booth was named best for the exterior and interior garden works. Apart from Azerbaijan, China, Germany, Republic of Korea, Qatar, Thailand and Japan were awarded the first place. The Azerbaijani national booth which occupies an area nearly 2,000 square metres at Expo 2016 Antalya, was installed with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.It featured rich fauna, unique bio diversity and gardening culture of the country, as well as arts exhibitions inspired by natural beauty. Nepal, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Hetherlands and Singapore ranked second, while Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Turkmenistan and India finished third. Addressing the awarding ceremony, chairman of the organizing committee of Antalya Expo 2016, Turkish Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock Faruk Celik noted that within 191 days the exhibition has received 4.5 million local and foreign visitors. The number of those who reviewed the exhibitions exceeded 70,000. The participant countries in the international exhibition included 54. The International Botanical Exhibition Antalya Expo 2016 which openerd on April 22, started with the philosophy of "Cultivating a Green Life for Future Generations", it has adopted the theme of "Flowers and Children" along with the motto "A Green Life for Future Generations". History, Bio-Diversity, Sustainability and Green Cities make up the four subthemes of EXPO 2016 Antalya.

“Norman Quartet” has been held in Berlin

A summit "Norman Quartet" has been held in Berlin. According to Ria Novosti, Chancellor Angela Merkel met Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande and President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. The leaders of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine discussed the key issues of conflict settlement in the east of Ukraine, such as the holding of elections in the Donbass and breeding issues forces.

Oil prices have risen on the world markets

On NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange) cost of the US light crude oil increased $1.31 to stand at $51.60. Price of the Brent crude oil at the London ICE (Intercontinental Exchange Futures) rose $0.99 to trade at $52.67. The price of a barrel of Azeri Light crude oil increased $1.66 to stand at $53.82 on the world markets.

The Frankfurt Book Fair…

Books on Azerbaijan is presented at the annual Frankfurt Book Fair. Azerbaijan`s booth at the fair features books on national leader Heydar Aliyev’s and President Ilham Aliyev’s life and activities, as well as on Azerbaijan`s history, culture, and tourism potential. The Frankfurt Book Fair is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented, as well as the number of visitors. It is held annually in mid-October at the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Representatives from book publishing and multimedia companies from all over the world come to the Frankfurt Book Fair in order to negotiate international publishing rights and licensing fees. The fair is organised by a subsidiary company of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association. For five days more than 7,000 exhibitors from over 100 countries and more than 286,000 visitors take part. The Frankfurt Book Fair is considered to be the most important book fair in the world for international deals and trading.

Representatives of the member states of the Federation…

The 82nd congress of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) will be held in Baku on December 2-3, 2018, as the General Assembly decided at its 81st congress held in Tokyo. Representatives of the member states of the Federation, as well as members of the Council will attend the congress in Baku.

The event will bring together about 300 representatives of the International Olympic Committee

Vice President of the Azerbaijan National Olympic Committee, member of the Executive Council of the European Olympic Committees Chingiz Huseynzade and chief of the international relations department of the National Olympic Committee Anar Bagirov will attend the 45th General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees to be held in Minsk on October 19-23. Chingiz Huseynzade will also take part in a meeting of the Executive Council of the European Olympic Committees. The event will bring together about 300 representatives of the International Olympic Committee, National Olympic Committees, organisers of forthcoming Olympic Games (Pyeongchang 2018, Tokyo 2020, Beijing 2022), the organisers of the next Youth Olympic Games (Buenos Aires 2018) and the European Youth Olympic Festivals (Erzurum 2017, Gyor 2017), the presidents of international and European sports federations and other sports organizations.

“Reform program of official statistics”…

Representatives of State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan attend a high-level seminar on “Improvement of Official Statistics” organized by the Statistical Office of the European Union and a conference on “Reform program of official statistics” organized by the United Nations Statistics department for the administration of statistical organizations of Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asian countries, on October 3-7 in Minsk, Belarus. At the event, Azerbaijan is represented by Yusif Yusifov, Deputy Chairman of the State Statistics Committee and Gasim Aliyev, Deputy Head of Department in the State Statistical Committee. According to the Committee, the seminar, organized by Eurostat, informed the participants about the latest innovations in the field of quality management in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia countries. The event also exchanged views on the issues such as cooperation between Eurostat and these countries, as well as global assessment of national statistical systems, monitoring in the field of sustainable development. Informing about the Global Assessment held in Azerbaijan by European Economic Commission and the European Free Trade Association of UN, on September 12-16 in 2016, the representative of Eurostat emphasized the high level preparation by the State Statistics Committee to this event. Representatives of Belarus and Moldova, participating as an observer in the evaluation, recommended the countries preparing for this event to use the experience of Azerbaijan. The conference on “Reform program of official statistics” ordering to support UN "Sustainable Development-2030" program, aims at the study of new initiatives satisfying the need for official statistics. The event gave detailed information about in practices on progressive information technologies in transformation of official statistics, as well as data collection, processing and distribution. At the seminar and conference, representatives of the State Statistical Committee, made a presentation sharing the experience of their country.

Force India in 2017…

Sergio Perez says he will definitely be at Force India in 2017, ending months of speculation and uncertainty about his future, according to ESPN. Perez has been a key figure in the drivers' market this season after protracted negotiations between his sponsors and Force India. That uncertainty led to links and discussions with Renault and Williams, who are both yet to confirm next year's driver line-up, while rumours surfaced in Malaysia of a potential switch to Haas. However, Perez confirmed his future after qualifying seventh in Sepang. "I know where I am staying for next year so it's good news," Perez told Sky Sports. "I think this weekend we did a lot of progress on my future so I already know, I think there will be an announcement very soon." The news means Perez will remain alongside Nico Hulkenberg for a fourth consecutive season. Another year at Force India would keep Perez in prime position for a seat at Ferrari in 2018, assuming the Italian team drops Kimi Raikkonen after next season.

Russian tennis star Sharapova’s suspension…

The Court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed in its statement on Tuesday that it ruled to reduce the suspension term of Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova from 24 to 15 months. Shamil Tarpishchev, the president of the Russian Tennis Federation (RTF), told TASS earlier in the day that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reduced the suspension term for Sharapova, who was banned for two years over doping-related charges since January 26. Tarpishchev added that Sharapova could now officially return back to tennis courts starting April 26 next year. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has issued its decision in the arbitration procedure between Maria Sharapova and the International Tennis Federation (ITF)," CAS said in its official statement. "The CAS Panel in charge of the matter has reduced her period of suspension, by nine months, from two years to fifteen months, beginning on 26 January 2016." On June 9, Sharapova filed an appeal with the CAS in Switzerland’s Lausanne against her two-year suspension, which was imposed on June 8 by the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) Tribunal over anti-doping violations. Due to the imposed ban world’s former No. 1 Sharapova had to miss the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, held in August in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro. In early March, Sharapova announced that her doping tests revealed the presence of performance enhancing drug meldonium in the body system. Following the announcement, former World’s No. 1 was provisionally suspended from all tennis-related activities.