Author: Chavushian

4,453 CASES OF LEASE OF IMMOVABLE PROPERTY RECORDED IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, JULY 23. ARMINFO. A total of 4,453 cases of lease of
immovable property were recorded in Armenia in the first half of 2004,
a 61.8% increase as against the first half of 2003, and a 28.4%
increase as against the second half of 2003.

The press service of the RA State Registry of Immovable Property
reported that 39.1% of the deals were effected by legal entities. In
the first half of 2004, 344 flats, 133 private houses, 1,292 social
facilities and 138 production facilities, as well as one garage and
2,534 land units, were rented in Armenia.

Armenia looks at US Millennium Challenge Account aid spending

Arminfo
19 Jul 04

YEREVAN

The Armenian government today held a sitting of the board of trustees
under the Millennium Challenge Account [MCA].

It was said at the sitting that the priority of the programme, planned
to be realized from the MCA fund, was the subject matter of the
discussions with broad sections of society from regions and community
administrations and public organizations, Arminfo news agency learnt
from the governmental press service.

Moreover, some fresh proposals on the programme were initiated and
discussed. The report said that the information on the MCA programme
had been placed at web site of
the Finance and Economy Ministry [of Armenia].

Let us recall that within the framework of the MCA, the USA is
planning to give Armenia about 350m dollars in 2004-07.

Armenia’s GDP grows by nine per cent in first half of 2004

Noyan Tapan news agency
20 Jul 04

YEREVAN

Armenia’s GDP grew by 9.1 per cent in January-June 2004 in comparison
with the same period last year and totalled 600,035,600,000 drams
(about 1.12bn dollars). The republic’s industrial output grew by 4.5
per cent in the reported period, while agricultural output and retail
trade turnover increased by 6.8 and 10.1 per cent respectively. Exports
and imports went up by 7.2 and 3.8 per cent respectively.

The GDP deflation index reached 106.2 per cent, and there was a
4.5-per-cent growth in consumer prices in comparison with December
2003.

The population’s money incomes increased by 19.2 per cent, whereas
expenditure went up by 18.2 per cent, the Armenian National Statistics
Service said. There were 115,000 officially registered unemployed as
of late June.

In the reported period, the rate of the dram for the dollar was 558.18
drams.

The Mercury, Australia
Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia
Advertiser, Australia
July 15 2004

On this day

1099 – Three years after the First Crusade set out, the Christian
army storms Jerusalem and puts its Muslim inhabitants to the sword.
1601 – Austria’s Archduke Albert, with Spanish force, begins a
three-year siege of Ostend, the last Dutch stronghold in Belgium,
ultimately taking it.
1685 – Duke of Monmouth is beheaded in England for his part in
rebellion. It takes the inexperienced executioner eight blows of the
axe to sever his head.
1789 – France’s King Louis XVI is awakened and told that his
authority has collapsed with the fall of the Bastille.
1795 – La Marseillaise is officially adopted as the French national
anthem.
1815 – Napoleon surrenders to Captain Maitland of the Bellerophon at
Rochefort.
1822 – Turkish invasion of Greece begins, and Turks overrun peninsula
north of Gulf of Corinth.
1857 – British women and children, taken by Indians at Cawnpore in
India, are murdered.
1869 – Margarine is patented in France by Hippolyte Mege Mouries.
1883 – Death of Charles Stratton, renowned US midget showman better
known as General Tom Thumb.
1893 – Matabeles stage uprising against rule of British South Africa
Company.
1904 – Death of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, author of Three
Sisters and The Cherry Orchard.
1909 – Mohammed Ali, Shah of Persia, is deposed in favour of Sultan
Ahmad Shah, age 12.
1912 – The Commonwealth Bank of Australia opens its doors for the
first time as a savings bank.
1916 – Boeing Co, originally known as Pacific Aero Products, is
founded in Seattle, Washington, by William Boeing.
1918 – The Second Battle of the Marne begins during World War I.
1929 – Death of Hugo von Hofmannstahl, Austrian author and librettist
best known for his collaboration with composer Richard Strauss.
1945 – Italy declares war on Japan, its former Axis partner in World
War II.
1948 – UN Security Council orders truce in Palestine.
1953 – John Christie, infamous murderer of at least six women at Ten
Rillington Place, London, is hanged.
1958 – United States dispatches troops to Lebanon at request of
President Chamoun; South Africa resumes full membership in United
Nations.
1964 – Anastas Mikoyan succeeds Leonid Brezhnev as President of the
Soviet Union; The Australian newspaper begins publication in
Canberra.
1965 – US Mariner IV spacecraft sends to earth first close-up
photographs of planet Mars; US Congress passes legislation requiring
health warning labels on cigarette packets.
1974 – Officers in Cyprus favouring unification with Greece oust
Archbishop Makarios from presidency and the coup leads to Turkish
military intervention.
1975 – America’s Apollo and Soviet Union’s Soyuz spacecraft blast
into orbit for rendezvous in space.
1977 – Anti-drug campaigner Donald McKay disappears and is presumed
murdered in the southern NSW town Griffith.
1983 – Six people died and 48 are injured when Armenian terrorists
bomb a Turkish Airlines desk at Orly airport, Paris.
1985 – A gaunt-looking Rock Hudson appears at a news conference with
actress Doris Day to promote her cable television program. It’s later
revealed Hudson was suffering from AIDS.
1987 – Taiwan ends 38 years of martial law to pave the way for
multiparty elections.
1988 – Afghan rebels blast capital city Kabul with rockets, killing
20 people and wounding 24 others.
1990 – Tens of thousands of people march to Kremlin walls to protest
Communist Party control of Soviet government, army and KGB; Death of
British film actress Margaret Lockwood.
1991 – Western troops complete their pullout from Kurdish refugee
havens in Northern Iraq.
1993 – In a major purge of the federal Yugoslav army command, about a
third of its generals face replacement by officers who support
Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.
1994 – Former West Australian premier Brian Burke begins a two-year
jail term after being convicted of fraud; Tens of thousands of Hutus
continue to flee the Tutsi-led rebel advance in Rwanda, flooding
across the border into Zaire in one of the greatest human flights in
history; European Union leaders pick Luxembourg Prime Minister
Jacques Santer to head the European Commission, replacing Jacques
Delors.
1995 – The Sri Lanka military ends its biggest offensive in eight
years against Tamil Tiger rebels, fighting that left at least 300
people dead.
1996 – A cargo plane carrying members of a Dutch military band
crashes at Eindhoven air force base, killing 32 people.
1997 – Fashion designer Gianni Versace is shot dead outside his Miami
Beach mansion by serial killer Andrew Cunanan.
1998 – Nigeria’s military government orders the immediate release of
at least 400 people imprisoned under the late military ruler General
Sani Abacha.
1999 – China reinforces a longstanding threat to invade if Taiwan
declares independence and it also announces it has developed the
technology to make neutron bombs.
2000 – In a rare display of force, UN troops launch a rescue mission
that frees all 222 peacekeepers and 11 military observers trapped by
rebels inside a UN base in eastern Sierra Leone.
2000 – Zimbabwe launches the resettlement of black peasants on farms
seized from whites in all its eight provinces.
2001 – Bangladeshi Prime minister Sheikh Hasina leaves office after
five years, longer than any other Bangladeshi leader.
2002 – A Pakistan judge convicts four defendants in the kidnapping
and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl.
2003 – The White House Office projects a $US455 billion ($632.52
billion) federal budget deficit for the 2003 fiscal year, the largest
in dollar terms.

Soccer 365
July 16 2004

Dinamo light up UEFA Cup

Forty-eight clubs entertained dreams of UEFA Cup glory on Thursday
evening as the lesser-known and, in one case, the once-mighty drew
daggers and engaged in battle in the first round of qualifying.

For the teams involved, the prize is a place alongside the likes of
Parma, Lazio, Newcastle United and AEK Athens in the first round
proper, with the prospect of a lucrative tie or the thrill of a
giant-killing.

One of the competing teams – Dinamo Tbilisi – already know what it
takes to triumph in European competition, having hoisted aloft the
European Cup-Winners’ Cup trophy in 1981 when they competed under the
Soviet Union flag. And they made a winning start to their UEFA Cup
campaign with a 3-2 victory at Belorussian outfit BATE Borisov.

There was more good news for another Georgian outfit, with FC Tbilisi
sneaking a 1-0 home win against Shamkir Azerbaijan thanks to Giorgi
Chelidze, whose 39th-minute goal settled the first leg.

The Armenians of Shirak Giumri could be heading for an early exit
after conceding a 2-1 lead after the home leg of their tie against FC
Tiraspol of Moldova.

Slovakian side FK Dukla Banska Bystrica look to be bound for the next
round after crushing Azerbaijan outfit FK Karabakh Agdam 3-0.

Meanwhile, Irish Eircom league side Bohemians gave themselves a good
chance of progressing with a goalless draw at Levadia Tallinn in
Estonia.

They crushed Dinamo Tirana 4-0 in Constanta, with all their goals
coming in the first half from Cristian Negru, Stefan Nanu, Victoras
Iacob and Iulian Apostol.

Two superb early goals by Peter McCann capped an excellent first half
display by Portadown at Shamrock Park against Zalgiris Vilnius.

However, strikes after the interval from substitutes Andzej
Maksimovic and Arturas Stesko left the Lithuanians with two crucial
away goals and a 2-2 draw.

ARMENIA, BRITAIN SIGN AGREEMENT ON CULTURAL CENTRES

Mediamax news agency
15 Jul 04

YEREVAN

The Armenian foreign minister and the British ambassador to Armenia,
Thorda Abbott-Watt, signed an agreement “On cultural centres” in
Yerevan today.

In line with the agreement, the British Council is declared to be the
official agency regulating cultural ties between Armenia and Great
Britain, the Foreign Ministry press service told Mediamax today. The
agreement also creates pre-conditions for founding a similar Armenian
cultural representative office in Britain.

The agreement gives Armenia and Britain the right to found cultural
centres in the two countries’ capital cities and other regions on the
basis of mutual consent.

Interfax
July 13 2004

Armenian president meets with Minsk group co-chairmen

Yerevan. (Interfax) – Armenian President Robert Kocharian met with
co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk group on settling the Nagorno- Karabakh
conflict from Russia, the U.S. and France, the presidential press
service told Interfax.

During the meeting, the sides discussed the current status of issues
surrounding the settlement, the message says.

On July 13, the international mediators will visit Nagorno-Karabakh
to meet with the Karabakh authorities, and on July 15, they will
leave for Baku.

Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan said last week that the
co-chairmen will familiarize themselves with the situation during
this visit. “I think that during this visit the co-chairmen will not
make any new suggestions to the sides, as the recent meetings of
presidents and foreign ministers of the two countries have not yet
given the co-chairmen a foundation for creating new suggestions on
settling the Nagorno-Karabakh problem,” Oskanyan said.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov told journalists on
Monday that the visit of the OSCE Minsk group’s co-chairmen may have
a positive effect on the negotiation process on the Nagorno-Karabakh
settlement.

“They [the co-chairmen] have not visited the region for six months.
We think that the co-chairmen should visit the region. They are in
Yerevan today, and they will visit Azerbaijan tomorrow. It is very
important that the co-chairmen discuss the situation at the site. We
will see what they come to Azerbaijan with after meeting the Armenian
president and the foreign minister,” Mamedyarov said.

Mamedyarov said that he does not expect any concrete suggestions from
the co-chairmen, who were permitted by Baku to visit Nagorno-
Karabakh. Mamedyarov said, however, that the co-chairmen’s visit to
Nagorno-Karabakh would give them a chance to familiarize themselves
firsthand with the situation in the conflict zone.

Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent areas in
bitter fighting with Armenia which began in the 1990s. The UN
Security Council has denounced the occupation of Azerbaijani lands
and demanded the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the territory.
Co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk group representing the United States,
Russia and France are attempting to resolve the conflict.

ArmenPress
July 13 2004

RUSSIA AND ARMENIA CAN INCREASE MUTUAL TRADE, RUSSIAN PM SAYS

MOSCOW, JULY 13, ARMENPRESS: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail
Fradkov said today that Russia and Armenia have all the opportunities
to increasing mutual trade turnover drastically.
“We have been successfully co-operating in the economic sphere,
trade turnover has grown 30% as compared to last year, but we should
take additional measures to use the remaining opportunities – the
trade worth $200 million is not the limit,” Fradkov said in his
opening remarks at the Tuesday talks with Armenian Prime Minister
Andranik Margarian.
The Russian premier noted that Margarian’s visit to Russia will
become a landmark in Russian-Armenian relations. According to
Fradkov, this is a busy year in terms of meetings between the Russian
and Armenian leaderships. “The dialogue is constantly filled with new
contents, and I think that today’s meeting will be made the most of,”
noted the Russian premier.
Fradkov said today’s talks should result in specific economic
steps, agreements and efforts to solve the remaining problems in the
economic sphere. Mikhail Fradkov also remarked that the dialogue
would be maintained in such spheres as energy, gas deliveries, high
technologies, and military and technological co-operation.

Azerbaijan investigates officer’s disappearance

BAKU (AFP)
Jul 09, 2004

Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said on Friday it was looking into the
whereabouts of one of its senior officers, who was reported to have
applied for political asylum while studying on a NATO course in
Belgium. Unconfirmed reports in the local media say that Lieutenant
Colonel Firuz Gassymov went absent without leave from his course in
Brussels and approached an unnamed foreign embassy to ask for asylum.
Defence ministry spokesman Ramiz Melikov declined to confirm the
reports but said: “Things are unclear at the moment. We are conducting
an investigation.”

If the reports are confirmed, it will be a serious embarassment for
Azerbaijan, an oil-rich former Soviet republic which prides itself on
the strength of its armed forces. But it is not the first time that
the military has created awkward moments for the country’s leaders.
Last year, almost the entire student faculty at Azerbaijan’s most
prestigious military academy went absent without leave in protest at
their living conditions. And earlier this year, an Azeri officer on a
NATO course in Hungary was charged with murder after an Armenian
officer studying alongside him was hacked to death with an axe as he
slept. The Azeri officer is now in jail in Budapest awaiting trial.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a war in the early 1990s over the
territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, a dispute which is still unresolved.
_Agence France-Presse_ () .

Pravda.RU:Russia

Armenian Foreign Minister to arrive in Moscow

11:22 2004-07-05
Armenian foreign minister Vardan Oskanyan will arrive in Moscow on an
official visit on Monday. An exchange of opinions on the entire
complex of bilateral relations as well as on most important
international and regional problems is expected to be conducted during
the visit.

An official spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry Alexander
Yakovenko reported that one of the priority issues to be discussed
will be the Russian-Armenian trade, economic, cultural and
humanitarian cooperation, and a special accent will be made on the
Nagorno-Karabakh problem.

The sides will also discuss the coordination of the efforts of the two
countries’ foreign ministries in the improvement of the situation in
the Caucasus, settlement of conflicts in the region, the creation of
the atmosphere of trust for developing all-Caucasian security.

The sides will also consider interaction with the CIS, by using the
Collective Security Treaty Organisation, (Russia, Belarus, Armenia,
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan) and the EURASEC (except Armenia
which, just as Ukraine and Moldova, has the status of an observer.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to hold
negotiations with Vardan Oskanyan.

The visit will last till July 7.

© RIAN