Queen Elizabeth II turns 91April 21, 2017 - 17:38 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Britain marked Queen Elizabeth II's 91st birthday on Friday with gun salutes, as the monarch celebrated quietly at home. A troop of the Royal Horse Artillery rode horse-and-gun carriages past Buckingham Palace before staging a 41-gun salute in Hyde Park at noon (1100GMT). Outside the palace, a band of guardsmen in scarlet tunics and bearskin hats played "Happy Birthday" during the Changing of the Guard ceremony. There was a second salute with 62 guns at the centuries-old Tower of London. The queen is Britain's oldest and longest-reigning monarch, having become queen on Feb. 6, 1952. She is also the world's longest-reigning living monarch since the death of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej last year. The queen usually spends her birthday privately. She also has an official birthday, marked in June — when the weather is better — with the "Trooping the Color" military parade. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |