THE MONKS PUSHED IT JUST TOO FAR

Birmingham Evening Mail
November 14, 2008 Friday

I’D have loved to have seen those mad monks knocking the bejesus out
of each other in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Greek Orthodox clergy beat up Armenian monks when one group accused
the other of pushing during a service.

Various Christian sects lay claim to the church and usually share it
amicably, apart from the odd unchristian poke and shove here and there.

Don’t you reckon the saints in heaven laughed at this fracas? It’s
edifyingly human an outburst like this, reassuring for us less
spiritual mortals.

Nov 14 2008

Opposition leader concerned about "weakening" of Armenia’s position
in Karabakh talks

Yerevan, 14 November: The chairman of the opposition People’s Party
of Armenia (PPA), Stepan Demirchyan, today voiced concern "about
the weakening of Armenia’s positions" in the negotiations on the
Karabakh settlement.

The PPA leader said at a news conference in Yerevan today that he
believes the final settlement of the Karabakh issue was unlikely to
happen in the coming one or two months.

Demirchyan said that the settlement of the conflict without the
participation of the Karabakh side and on the basis of the "Madrid
principles" would have negative consequences.

He said that his position was based on well-known excerpts from the
proposals of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.