Author: Chatinian Lara

Interfax, Russia
June 19 2009

ALMOST ALL LAST YEAR’S YEREVAN RIOTERS TO BE AMNESTIED

The Armenian Parliament has accepted President Serzh Sargsyan’s
proposal to declare an amnesty, an Interfax correspondent said.The
president proposes to amnesty persons sentenced to the maximum of
three years of imprisonment; persons on probation, who have not
violated their probation terms; persons serving sentences other than
imprisonment (an administrative fine, etc.), invalids of group 1 and
2, persons over 60 and under 18 years old, WWII veterans and those who
participated in combat operations to defend Armenia.

The amnesty will also be extended persons who committed crimes during
the riots in Yerevan on March 1, 2008, and were sentenced to no more
than five years of imprisonment.

Meanwhile, the amnesty will not apply to MP Sasun Mikaelian arrested
in connection with the March 2008 riots because he is serving a
sentence for another offense, too. Mikaelian is charged with
"organizing mass riots" and with "illegal possession of arms and
ammunition."

The amnesty will be extended to Armenia’s ex-deputy prosecutor general
Gagik Dzhangirian, ex-revenue minister Smbat Aivazian, MPs Akop
Akopian and Miasnik Malkhasian charged with "organizing mass riots."

To what extent the amnesty will be applied to MP Khachatur Sukiasian
and editor-in-chief of the Aikakan Zhamanak opposition newspaper,
Nikolu Pashinian, both of whom are currently wanted, will be clear
once these individuals will voluntarily show up and appear before
court.

After the February 19, 2008 presidential election the Armenian
opposition led by ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosian organized protests
to defy the election results. On March 1 opposition protests turned
violent, as result of which ten people were killed and more than 250
were injured in clashes with police.

State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan
June 19, 2009 Friday

US CONGRESS SUBCOMMITTEE TO ALLOCATE 10 MILLION DOLLARS OF AMERICAN
TAXPAYERS TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH

Washington June 18

US Congress State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee has endorsed the
2010 FY budget. Budgetary appropriations for national security,
counter-terrorism, healthcare and fight against AIDs as well as aid to
various countries will make up USD 48.843 billion

Chair of the subcommittee Nita Lowey said aid to US allies in the
fight against terror is the most important investment to US security.

However, subcommittee which is also comprised of members of
congressional Armenia caucus disregarded for Obama`s administration,
maintaining military aid parity between Azerbaijan and Armenia and
decided to allocate American taxpayers` $10 million to the separatist
regime of Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to Executive Director of the US-Azeris Network Adil Bagirov,
aid to Armenia`s army, which committed outrage on humanity in
Azerbaijan, is absolutely unacceptable. He urged members of the
Network to contact their congressmen and senators to voice their
protest. The bill will be put to vote in a week at the House
Appropriations Committee.

BOOK FAIR IN GYUMRI

The Civilitas Foundation
Saturday, 13 June 2009 09:43

The Civilitas Foundation was pleased to participate in a book fair
which took place in Gyumri on the 12th of June, 2009, organised by the
"Art Bridge" bookstore-café (Yerevan), and Gyumri’s "Elav" bookstore.

A sunny afternoon on the newly-renovated Rizhkov Street in central
Gyumri saw a lot of activity in front of the "Elav" bookstore. Tables
were laden with books on various subjects – history, art, religion,
science, novels and textbooks – some of which were being made available
to the citizens of Gyumri for the first time. The books were, of
course, marked at discounted rates for this special occasion.

Moreover, three authors had arrived to present and sign copies of their
recently-published works, an event which took place at a different
location in Gyumri, the quaint Dzitoghtsyan-Merkurov museum complex.

Vartan Oskanian’s collection of speeches – Speaking to be Heard –
made its Gyumri debut after having been first presented in Yerevan,
Beirut, Aleppo and Karabakh in April and May. In his short speech, Mr.

Oskanian said that it would be impossible not to present the book
in Gyumri, which is not only Armenia’s second largest city, but was
also a scene of important events in Armenia’s foreign policy in the
beginning of the 20th century.

Tatul Hakobyan, a renowned journalist, spoke about his Kanach yev Sev:
Artskhyan Oragir ("Green and Black: A Journal on Artsakh"), and Janna
Hakobyan presented a historical novel, alongside her other works.

After the presentations, autographs and reception, the director of
the museum, Sona Harutyunyan, gave a tour to the authors and guests,
presenting the history and culture of the city of Gyumri.

ANTI-TRAFFICKING PROGRAM TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN ARMENIA

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
18.06.2009 00:34 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Since May 2009, Armenian subsidiary of "People
In Need" Czech Organization, jointly with "Hope and Help" Social
Organization, sponsored by EU, have been implementing a program
entitled "Awareness raising and creation of mobilized system to
prevent child trafficking in Armenia".

The program will cover all Armenian regions.

"Trafficking is a crucial issue in our society, especially so in
Armenian regions. The problem is mainly caused by poverty and we have
to do our best to raise trafficking awareness in order to prevent
this misfortune," program coordinator Galust Nanyan said.

DISPLEASURE OF BIG BUSINESS OF ARMENIA WITH THE LAST PACKAGE OF TAX DRAFT LAWS IS CAUSED WITH ITS ‘RELACTANCE’ TO DOCUMENT TRADE BARGAINS

ArmInfo
2009-06-16 14:59:00

ArmInfo. Displeasure of the big business of Armenia with the last
package of the tax draft laws is caused with its ‘relactance’ to
document trade bargains, Armenian National Assembly peaker’s advisor on
economic issues Tatul Manaseryan told journalists today. To recall,
the draft law envisages appointment of controllers from the tax
structures to the big business facilities. ‘Big business negatively
treats these draft laws. As for the deputies of the parliament,
I think the parliament will not adopt the draft laws in the present
edition. Anyway, all the suggested reforms in this sphere should be in
this or that way directed to activation of circulation of the document
which will lead to reduction of the shadow business circulation’, –
he said. Not enough circulation of the document is also the result
of protest of small and medium-sized business against setting of
the cash registers. ‘Small and medium-sized business should present
bargain documents but big business, from which small and medium-sized
business companies often buy goods, do not do it. This puts small
and medium-sized business in an unfavorable state’, – Manaseryan said.

ECONOMY OF ARMENIA MAY USE OVER $10 BILLION OF CREDIT FUNDS

ArmInfo
2009-06-16 13:42:00

ArmInfo. The economy of Armenia may use over $10 bln of credit funds,
adviser to the Armenian National Assembly speaker on economic issues
Tatul Manaseryan told journalists today.

‘The country’s economy is able to use these funds, moreover, the matter
concerns several perspective sectors, in particular, high technologies,
which can contribute to development of the whole economy. Armenia’s
ability to return the foreign credit will be determined by correct and
transparent distribution of funds by the corresponding governmental
structures’, he said.

To recall, according to the Finance Ministry’s report on fulfillment
of Armenia’s budget 2008, foreign debt of Armenia as of the end of the
year made up $1,577 bln or 13,2% of GDP, as compared to $1,449 bln or
15,7% of GDP in 2007. The amount of service of the foreign debt from
the budget made up $54,1 mln. Armenia signed an agreement with IMF
during 2009 on receipt of $540 mln credit, as well as an agreement
with the World Bank – on signing of a credit programme for 2009 –
2012 to the total sum of $525 mln and with Russia – on receipt of a
stabilization credit to the sum of $500 mln. During 2009, Armenia
intends to attract additionally 300 bln drams (about $800 mln) of
credit funds.

NEW SCHOOL TO BE CONSTRUCTED IN ARTSAKH GISHI VILLAGE

Panorama.am
20:24 15/06/2009

The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund has begun construction of a new school
in Gishi, a village in Nagorno Karabakh’s Martuni Region. The project
is sponsored by the Vardanyan Family Foundation and the government
of Artsakh, the press office of the Fund says.

Designed to accommodate 300 students, the future campus will have
12 classrooms, a computer room, and laboratories for the study of
chemistry, physics, and biology. The school will also feature a
sizeable gym, a first-aid room, a library, an events hall, and a
cafeteria with a 140-person capacity.

"Of the wide range of projects implemented by the Hayastan All-Armenian
Fund, I would be hard-pressed to single out the most important ones,"
said Ara Vardanyan, the fund’s executive director. "I think all
of our projects are urgently needed. Still, it’s worth noting that
our school-building initiatives hold a special place in our hearts,
and continue to be carried out with particular care and a sense of
responsibility with respect to our present and future generations."

Gishi’s existing school, which is attended by 220 students, is in a
state of disrepair. Its two crumbling buildings were constructed in
1930 and 1968, respectively.

Commenting on the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund project, Gishi mayor
Gevorg Balayan expressed his strong belief that the new school will
help foster educational excellence, by improving the quality of the
pedagogical and learning processes alike.

Science Letter
June 9, 2009

RADIOANALYTICAL AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY;
Research from V. Chaltikyan and co-authors provides new data about
radioanalytical and nuclear chemistry

According to recent research from Armenia, "The cesium isotope Cs-135
has an extremely long half-life (tau(1/2) = 2.3 center dot 10(6) y)
and its high water solubility leads to the anxiety of exudation to
ground water during geological disposal. Such a LLFP Cs-135 would be
converted into Cs-136 (Its half-life is 13.16 d and it becomes stable
Ba-136) by neutron capture reaction."

"However intermingling Cs-133 of which the natural abundance is 100%
disturbs this nuclear converting reaction because Cs-133 also absorbs
neutrons and produces Cs-135 again. For separating Cs-135 from other
cesium isotopes, laser-chemical isotope separation (LCIS) is believed
to be suitable mainly due to the light absorption and emission
stability. Isotope separation of alkali metal Rb-85/Rb-87 was
successfully achieved, showed 23.9 of head separation factor by
LCIS. The measured isotope shift of Cs D-2 line is within the reach
of available semiconductor lasers having emission line width of less
than 1 MHz, which shows that the selective excitation of Cs-135 may
turn to be possible. It is known that cesium excited to the
6(2)P(3/2) state may forms cesium hydride while ground-state cesium
does not. Therefore if the lifetime of 6(2)P(3/2) state is
sufficiently longer than the inverse rate of the chemical reaction,
Cs-135 can be extracted as cesium hydride," wrote V. Chaltikyan and
colleagues (see also Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry).

The researchers concluded: "Applicability of the Doppler-free
two-photon absorption method for selective excitation and further
evaluation on Rydberg states and ionization should be investigated."

Chaltikyan and colleagues published their study in the Journal of
Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry (Perspectives of laser-chemical
isotope separation of a long-lived fission product:
cesium-135. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry,
2009;280(2):343-352).

For additional information, contact V. Chaltikyan, National Academy
Science, Institute Physics Research, Ashtarak 0203, Armenia.

Publisher contact information for the Journal of Radioanalytical and
Nuclear Chemistry is: Springer, Van Godewijckstraat 30, 3311 Gz
Dordrecht, Netherlands.

PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE NOT TO MAKE OUT ANYTHING WITHOUT ANDRANIK KOCHARYAN?

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
11.06.2009 19:45 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Without having members’ agreement, Fact-finding
Group’s former Chair Vahe Stepanyan gave all documents to the members
of the interim committee investigating March 1-2, 2008 incidents,
Andranik Kocharyan told journalists today.

"In the course of its activities, the group organized about 160
meetings with citizens, conducted interviews with a total length of
over 10 hours (100 GB of video and audio recording) and convened
140 sessions. Considering that the documents were submitted to
Samvel Nikoyan, I have strong doubts as to the effectiveness of the
committee’s work."

In view of the specified time-limit (which is one month), parliamentary
committee will be not manage to make out anything without the
assistance and recommendations of fact-finding group members,
Kocharyan finds.

Foreign Ministers of Armenia, Georgia discuss the opening of Upper Lars
Gita Elibekyan

"Radiolur"
08.06.2009 16:40
Tbilisi

The Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with
his Georgian counterpart Grigol Vashadze, following which the Foreign
Ministers of the two countries gave a joint press conference. During
the meeting the interlocutors discussed the issue of opening of the
Upper Lars checkpoint, other issues of bilateral interest. Reference
was made to the details of the official visit of the Georgian
President, Mikhail Saakashvili to Armenia on June 24-25.

"A few months ago I met Grigol Vashadze in Yerevan, and this is
a response visit," the Armenian Foreign Minister said at a press
conference. "Friendly and warm relations have been established between
us during this short period of time," he added.

According to Minister Nalbandian, the Armenian-Georgian relations
have reached a level, when there are almost no unsolvable issues in
the legal field, but there are new programs, on which it is possible
to reach consensus.

The Armenian Foreign Minister was asked to comment on Prime Minister
Tigran Sargsyan’s statement. To remind, the Prime Minister declared
the other day that "Armenia depends of Georgian infrastructures, and
our neighbor makes use of it: the shipment of goods from any point
of the world to Poti or Batumi actually costs twi ce as cheaper as
the transportation from Poti and Batumi to Armenia.

"Our partners have declared many times that it is really strange
that the cargo shipment from any point of the world to Poti costs
cheaper than from Poti to Armenia, and a question arises why it
is the case," Minister Nalbandian said. He added also that it was
natural for businessmen to search for alternative routes. "However,
I’m confident that this question, as well as the issue of Upper Lars
will be finally resolved," he stated.

Grigol Varshadze added: "I have informed my counterpart Nalbandian
about the problems connected with the opening of Upper Lars."

Touching upon the current level of the Armenian-Turkish relations,
the Armenian Foreign Minister stated: "The normalization of the
Armenian-Turkish relations has reached a point, when the ball is on
the Turkish part of the field."

The negotiations kicked off at the imitative of the Armenian side,
the Minister stated. "We have arrived at certain agreements that the
normalizations should take place without any preconditions. I hope we
will continue along that way, because this proceeds from the interests
of Armenia, Turkey and the region, as a whole," he noted.

The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has declared that
his country would not recognize the independence of South Ossetia:
the tension in Russia-Belarus relations could affect the relations
with Armenia. Asked to comment on this, the Armenian Foreign Minister
said: "We have very high-level allied relations with Russia and
close relations with Belarus. I don’t see any problems for their
development."

The Georgian Foreign Minister simply welcomed the statement of the
President of Belarus.