12:03, 6 July 2022
YEREVAN, JULY 6, ARMENPRESS. Member of Parliament of Armenia Vahe Hakobyan from the opposition “Hayastan” faction denies the reports according to which he is going to step down.
“There is no such thing”, the lawmaker told ARMENPRESS, commenting on the media reports.
On July 1 the Parliament of Armenia terminated the powers of Vahe Hakobyan as Chairman of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs for non-attendance.
17:24, 4 July 2022
YEREVAN, 4 JULY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 4 July, USD exchange rate down by 0.43 drams to 407.52 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 0.45 drams to 425.90 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.05 drams to 7.41 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 2.91 drams to 494.73 drams.
The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.
Gold price down by 281.26 drams to 23550.32 drams. Silver price down by 9.32 drams to 258.44 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.
20:38,
YERERVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Chaired by Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan and Vice President of the National Assembly Hakob Arshakyan, a consultation was held today, during which issues related to holding the STARMUS VI Science and Art Festival in Armenia were discussed.
Representatives of the international organizing team of the festival, the Armenian interdepartmental working group took part in the consultation.
Garik Israelian, the founding director of the festival, also took part in the consultation via video link.
During the consultation, issues related to the content and technical works of the events planned within the framework of the festival were discussed, the process of fulfillment of the agreements and recommendations reached as a result of the previous meeting was presented.
Relevant instructions were given to those responsible for organizing such a large-scale, significant festival in Armenia at a proper level.
, 20:00
The name behind the Leicester indie rock powerhouse has a dark secret behind it – how did they choose the title Kasabian and what does it have to do with Charles Manson?
Kasabian were formed in Leicester in the late 1990s and became natural heirs to the swaggering guitar rock that made Oasis superstars. Now, having parted company with original singer Tom Meighan, guitarist and frontman Sergio Pizzorno, bassist Chris Edwards, drummer Ian Matthews and new guitarist Tim Carter - are set to return with their seventh studio album, The Alchemist's Euphoria in August 2022.
But why did Kasabian choose that name? What does Kasabian actually mean?
The name of the band refers to Linda Kasabian, who was the getaway driver for the Manson Family and was present at the horrendous murders that took place in August 1969 which took the lives of Sharon Tate, her unborn baby and six other people.
Sharon Tate in the film Valley Of The Dolls, 1967. Picture: ARCHIVIO GBB / Alamy Stock Photo
Guitarist and founder member Sergio Pizzorno told Radio X: “We were definitely into our serial killers. We liked that name, so we chose that.”
Serge added: “Kasabian also means ‘butcher’ in Armenian.” According to Google Translate, “butcher” in Armenian is actually “msagorts” or “մսագործ”, so who do we believe?
However, Robert Kasabian, the musician who young Linda Drouin married in September 1967, actually had family roots in Armenia, so maybe there’s something in it…
The case forms a key part of Quentin Tarantino’s film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie. In the film, actor Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Pitt) find themselves entangled in the lives of actress Sharon Tate and her husband, movie director Roman Polanski in Hollywood during the summer of 1969. The character of Linda Kasabian appears fleetingly, played by actress Maya Hawke.
Linda Kasabian Press Conference, 19 August 1970. Picture: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Born in Biddeford, Maine in June 1949, Linda Kasabian dropped out of school, ran away from home and was married by the time she was 16. By 1968 she had married a second time to Robert Kasabian and had given birth to a daughter.
It was in the summer of 1969 that Kasabian became estranged from her husband and wound up at the Spahn Movie Ranch in Los Angeles, where she met Charles Manson. It wasn’t long before Linda became a fully-fledged member of Manson’s “family”.
The infamous mugshot of Charles Manson from April 1968. Picture: IanDagnall Computing / Alamy Stock Photo
Kasabian was soon inducted into the practice of “creepy crawling” – sneaking into people’s houses and stealing items to sustain the group. As the only member of the family with a driving licence, she was essential in getting the group to and from the location of their latest crime.
On 8 August 1969, Linda Kasabian drove Charles “Tex” Watson, Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkel to the house of Polish film director Roman Polanski in the Hollywood hills. Polanski was a way filming, but at the house were his heavily pregnant wife Sharon Tate and her friends Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski and Abigail Folger.
As Linda Kasabian waiting outside in the car, the other members – on Manson’s instruction – brutally murdered the inhabitants of the house and another person, eighteen-year-old Stephen Parent, who chanced upon the crime as it was in progress.
The rented house where Sharon Tate and her friends were found dead on 9 August 1969. Picture: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo
Kasabian later claimed she tried to stop the murders by telling the others that someone was coming… but it was too late.
She accompanied the four killers – plus Leslie Van Houten and Steve “Clem” Grogan – the next night, when the couple Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were both murdered in a similar manner.
The events of those two August nights shocked the Hollywood community who wondered if they themselves would be next.
In Manson’s warped mind, the murders were there to cover up a previous killing he’d been involved with by trying to pin the crimes on radical black activists who – he claimed - were going to start a race war that would bring about the end of the United States.
Charles Manson during his trial in 1970. Picture: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
When the law finally caught up with the Manson Family, Kasabian turned herself in and agreed to co-operate with prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi in exchange for immunity. Despite a campaign of intimidation and threats from other members of the Family that were camping outside the courtroom, Kasabian took the stand on 27 July 1970.
As the young girl gave her evidence, Manson was sat in the dock and slowly drew his finger across his throat. When Susan Atkins whispered “You're killing us!”, Kasabian replied “I am not killing you, you have killed yourselves.”
Susan Atkins outside the Grand Jury Room, December 1969. Picture: Ralph Crane/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images
On 25 January 1971, the defendants were found guilty and faced the death penalty – which was later commuted to life imprisonment. Manson died in prison in 2017, while Atkins died in 2009.
Linda Kasabian, meanwhile, changed her surname to “Christian” and tried to rebuild her life. She told Larry King on CNN in 2009: “Trying to live a normal life which has been really hard to do. I raised four children.”
She added: “I went through a lot of drugs and alcohol and self-destruction and probably could have used some psychological counselling and help 40 years ago but never received it.”
TV producer Nick Godwin was making a documentary for the 40th anniversary of the murders in 2009 and tracked Kasabian down to a trailer park in an undisclosed location.
Godwin told Linda that there was an English band named after her and gave her a Kasabian CD to listen to – she was “pleasantly surprised”, the filmmaker later revealed.
The preliminary investigation into the case involving producer Armen Grigoryan has been completed, lawyers Ruben Melikyan and Armen Mashinyan said, citing the agency dealing with the probe.
“The case files have been made available to the defense lawyers for study,” they said in a statement on Saturday.
Court hearings on the case are expected to begin in July.
The lawyers reiterate that the act incriminated to Grigoryan does not contain elements of a crime under Armenia's Criminal Code and his prosecution is politically motivated.
Grigoryan was arrested in May on charges of “humiliating national dignity” of the residents of Shirak and Ararat Provinces and questioning their national identity in various interviews.
The main goal of the Resistance Movement is to build a strong Armenia, Ishkhan Saghatelyan, vice-speaker of the Armenian parliament, one of the leaders of the opposition said, at a rally in Yerevan.
He believes that Nikol Pashinyan's governance is a major obstacle to achieving this goal, and his removal is a priority task at this stage.
At the same time, the politician noted that the mission of the movement will not end with Pashinyan's departure.
"After Nikol Pashinyan's departure, the ideas and goals voiced by our movement will become the main functions of the state. The next power should be able to resist and overcome the challenges facing the state. I am sure we will be able to do it together," he said.
Saghatelyan said that the opposition movement is in the process of transformation. Special commissions and structures have been set up. The main task for the nearest period will be joint discussion of the ways and mechanisms to achieve the goals.
Concluding his speech, Saghatelyan proposed to go to the traditional procession through the city center, after which to return to the square and present plans for the near future.
20:26,
YEREVAN, JUNE 16, ARMENPRESS. World-famous rock musician, lead singer of System of a Down band Serj Tankian issued a video message urging to join him at the STARMUS VI festival to be held in Yerevan in September.
ARMENPRESS reports Tankian, in a video message posted on his "Instagram" page with more than a million followers, says in particular: "Dear friends, join me at the STARMUS VI Science and Art Festival, which will take place in Armenia on September 5-10."
Tankian reminds that the festival will include music, scientific conferences, lectures, symposia, etc.
The West has stopped working with Russia within the framework of Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement and the process of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Russian political scientist Sergey Markedonov stated this Thursday during a conference held in Yerevan.
According to the analyst, the Karabakh conflict has always been very different from the other conflicts in the post-Soviet expanse.
"Unlike other problematic cases, Russia and the West have always cooperated in the Karabakh issue. But today we see a change in this logic. The OSCE Minsk Group has ceased to function at the level of co-chairs. The West does not want to work with Russia. Stigmatization occurs in many directions. The formation of a new—Brussels—format for the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations is visible," Markedonov said, referring to the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders’ meeting mediated by the head of the European Council.
From the point of view of the Russian political scientist, it is paradoxical that Moscow does not deny everything the head of the European Council says.
"The important thing is something else: Moscow said all this in the beginning. However, there is an impression that Russia does not exist at all and has not been in the negotiation process, whereas Russia has developed many more options for a settlement," Markedonov assured.
13:21,
YEREVAN, JUNE 14, ARMENPRESS. Scottish football fans arrived in Yerevan to watch the UEFA Nations League B league Group 1 match between Armenia and Scotland on June 14.
Speaking to ARMENPRESS, they said they are very impressed with the Armenian capital, called Armenia a very beautiful country, and its people – friendly and hospitable.
“Our expectations on Armenians are exceeded. We didn’t believe that the locals would be so hospitable and warm to us. Everyone shows positive attitude to us”, football fan Alan Mckillop said.
The Scottish tourists said they haven’t managed to see a lot in Armenia, but plan to visit some beautiful sites before the start of the match.
“We are going to tour around Yerevan’s Opera Theater. As we do not have enough time to see all the beautiful sites, we decided to visit the interesting structures and institutions that we will meet along the way”, Paul Doherty said.
The Scottish football fans believe that their national team will win this match. They say if their team wins, they will celebrate the victory with an Armenian beer.
15:16,
YEREVAN, JUNE 14, ARMENPRESS. Armenian-American molecular biologist, neuroscientist, and Nobel Prize laureate Ardem Patapoutian visited the Yerevan State Medical University’s “COBRAIN” Scientific-Educational Center for Fundamental Brain Research where he planted the seed of the plant from which he obtained the well-known molecule.
After touring the Center, Ardem Patapoutian delivered a lecture on “How do you feel? The molecules that sense touch” topic in the Yerevan State Medical University.
“One of the reasons of my visit to Armenia is to get acquainted with the developments in Armenia’s science sector. I expect to lay a foundation for a new cooperation. The government tries to increase the funding for science, research, which is one of the first key steps for the development of the sector. I hope that the young students, after seeing my example, will try to achieve better results”, he said.
YSMU Rector Armen Muradyan said that their cooperation with Mr. Patapoutian started back in 2016 when he delivered his first lecture on perception of touch.
Ardem Patapoutian received a Nobel Prize for the discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.