Author: Kharatian Ani

Speed loss probably caused Black Sea crash – Armenian air chief-1

15:11|06/ 05/ 2006

YEREVAN, May 6 (RIA Novosti)-Bad weather most likely caused a dramatic
loss of speed that led to an Armenian Airbus crashing into the Black
Sea Wednesday, killing 113 people, the chairman of Armenia’s aviation
association said Saturday.

Dmitry Adashyan said, “In my opinion, which is based on preliminary
information, the main version of the liner’s loss was a loss of speed,
which fell to below the minimum ‘critical’ speed.”

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said Wednesday that bad
weather was most likely to have caused the crash and Adashyan, who
is also a former head of Armenia’s civil aviation authority, echoed
the idea.

He said that after losing speed the plane’s nose section dropped and
fell into a spin.

“The resistance of a ‘wet’ plane increases several times and so the
engines might not have had enough power, which could have caused the
nose to drop,” he
said.

Adbashyan also said lighting could have been responsible for the
tragedy.

“The Airbus might have crashed after a lightning strike,” he said.

The A-320 operated by Armenia’s Armavia was flying from the Armenian
capital, Yerevan, to Adler airport, which services the popular Russian
resort of Sochi, when it crashed six kilometers off the Russian coast
early Wednesday morning.

Adbashyan said he hoped that the flight recorders would be recovered
from the seabed on Saturday. He added that many parties wanted to find
them, particularly France-based Airbus, which was seeking confirmation
that a technical malfunction was not responsible for the tragedy.

“We know where the ‘black boxes’ are and bringing them to the surface
is only a technical matter,” he said.

Experts said earlier they believed the recorders were at a depth of
680 meters (2,230 feet).

CONDOLENCE BOOK OPENED IN BSECO ARMENIAN REPRESENTATION IN ISTANBUL

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.05.2006 00:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Condolence Book was opened in the BSECO (Black Sea
Economic Cooperation Organization) Armenian permanent representation
in Istanbul. All who wish can make condoling notes over the crash of
Armavia-owned A-320 jet, Marmara Istanbul based newspaper reported
with a reference to Armenia’s permanent representative in the BSECO
Karen Mirzoyan.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
—————————————— —-
PRESS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
375010 Telephone: +37410. 544041 ext 202
Fax: +37410. 562543
Email: [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE

05-05-2006

‘Mesrop Mashtots and the Armenian Alphabet’ Conference at Oxford University

On April 28, a conference entitled ‘Mesrop Mashtots and the Armenian
Alphabet’ was held at Exeter College of Oxford University.

Theo M. van Lint, Calouste Gulbenkian Professor of Armenian Studies
at Oxford University, Dr. Joseph J. S. Weitenberg, Chair of Armenian
Studies at the University of Leiden, Netherlands, Dr. Vrej Nersessian,
Head of the Christian Middle East Collection Section of the British
Library, Erna Shirinyan, Head of the Manuscripts Division of Yerevan’s
Matenadaran, and others delivered speeches at the Conference.

Vahe Gabrielian, Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, opened the
Conference. In his speech, he stressed the role of the Alphabet in the
History of Armenia and in the formation of the identity of the Armenian
nation, as well as its political significance and lessons learned.

>From March 20 till April 30, an exhibition of medieval Armenian
manuscripts and printed books was held at the Bodleian Library of
Oxford University, with specimens of the 11-18th centuries.

Oxford’s Armenian collection dates back to 1635. Calouste Gulbenkian
Chair of Armenian Studies at Oxford University was founded in 1965.

ARMENIA GOVT TO ISSUE FUNERAL AID TO FAMILIES OF AIR CRASH VICTIMS

ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 4 2006

YEREVAN, May 4 (Itar-Tass) – The Armenian government will pay 3,300
dollars for the funeral of each victim of the air crash that claimed
113 lives.

Cabinet minister Onik Abraamyan said at a government meeting that
families of the dead could collect this money at social welfare
offices on Friday.

Considering that the Russian government made the decision to pay
compensation to families of Russian citizens who died in the crash,
Armenia will help only to its nationals, Abraamyan said.

“If Russians of Armenian nationality have the wish to bury their
relatives in Armenia, we are ready to give both financial and material
help,” he said.

He said that Armenian businessmen had come up with an initiative to
open special bank accounts.

A shareholder of the air company Armavia, to which the plane was
registered, Mikhail Bagdasarov, said on Public Television that
20,000-dollar compensation would be paid to each bereaved family.

The company spends several million dollars in insurance payments
every year, the businessman said.

The A-320 passenger plane that was en route from Yerevan to Russia’s
sea resort of Sochi crashed into the Black Sea in the night to
Wednesday when it was in a landing approach to the Adler airport.

Passengers included 26 Russia’s citizens.

Of 113 passengers of the plane that plunged to a 600-metre depth,
bodies of 53 have been recovered. Identities of 20 have been
established, an emergency staff member told Itar-Tass.

First bodies will be transported to Armenia by air on Thursday evening.

Abraamyan said that Russian authorities would continue search
operations in the crash area until bodies of all victims were found.

LITHUANIAN FM EXPRESSES CONDOLENCES OVER ARMENIAN PLANE CRASH IN BLACK SEA

Baltic News Service
May 3, 2006 Wednesday 3:06 PM EET

The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry has expressed heartfelt condolences
to Armenian leaders and families of those killed in an Armenian plane
crash in the Black Sea.

The plane, an Airbus A-320, crashed into the Black Sea near the Russian
seaside resort of Sochi in heavy rain on Wednesday. All 113 people
on board were presumed killed, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said.

The plane unsuccessfully tried to land at the airport of Adler
several times and then crashed into the sea. The aircraft’s fuselage
is located at around 300 meters depth.

At least five children were traveling by the plane, its crew was
comprised of eight persons.

DIVINE SERVICE TO TAKE PLACE AT SAINT GREGORY THE ILLUMINATOR MOTHER CATHEDRAL OF YEREVAN ON MAY 6

Noyan Tapan
May 03 2006

ETCHMIADZIN, MAY 3, NOYAN TAPAN. Under the head of Karekin II Supreme
Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, the divine service for
souls of people died in the accident of the aircraft of the May
3 Yerevan-Sochi flight, will take place presided by His Holiness
at 18:00, May 6, at the Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral of
Yerevan. Noyan Tapan was informed about it by the Information Services
of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

OVER 200 MASS MEDIA IN ARMENIA

Lragir.am
03 May 06

There are over 200 mass media in Armenia, announced Member of
Parliament Hranush Hakobyan during the celebration of the Day of
Freedom of Press at the Armenian office of the UN. According to
her, if in the early 90s there was only one TV channel and several
newspapers in Armenia, today the situation has changed fundamentally.

According to Hranush Hakobyan, there are problems related with freedom
of press in Armenia, but these are secondary against the achievements
in freedom of speech over these years. “Fifteen years is too little
time to reach a level of culture that Europe has,” announced Hranush
Hakobyan, adding that Europe rose to this height after struggle that
lasted for a century.

AMERICAN, ARMENIAN STUDENTS REACH OUT IN ONLINE DEMOCRACY PROJECT

Source: U.S. Department of State
NewsBlaze, CA
May 2 2006

Eighth-grade students in two countries develop interactive community

What does independence mean, and can it represent something else in
a different country? How does my democracy compare with your democracy?

These are core questions in a collaborative project between
eighth-grade students in the United States and Armenia.

Ten students from the Maryland School for the Deaf (MSD) recently
visited Washington to show off their contribution to the project:
a virtual tour of famous monuments, statues and buildings in
Washington. The Americans made the online video especially for students
at Charants School #67 in Yerevan, Armenia.

In exchange, the Armenian students are compiling a video of interviews
with people in their country, including their family members,
about life under the former Soviet Union and after Armenia declared
independence in 1991.

The exchange of videos is part of an online interactive partnership
entitled Independence and Democracy: A Friendship of Cultural and
Historical Exchange.

Martin O’Brien, a social studies teacher at the MSD in Frederick,
Maryland – located about an hour from Washington – and Aida Eichibyan,
an English teacher at Charants School #67, developed the program to
familiarize students with each others’ cultures and national histories,
with a focus on issues related to freedom and democracy.

The program, which is part of the Armenia School Connectivity
Program (AmSCP), is sponsored by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau
of Educational and Cultural Affairs. It is carried out by Project
Harmony, an American nongovernmental organization that promotes
cross-cultural learning through international student exchanges and
online interaction.

Since October 2005, the Armenian and American students have been
communicating using an online Web forum to post information on a
variety of topics ranging from leisure activities and family life to
their views on freedom and democracy.

In addition to explaining their cultures via the Internet, students
also have been conducting research and preparing their online videos
to share with each other.

During a visit to the State Department April 26, the MSD students
unveiled their video of Washington. “My students produced this movie
over two busy days,” said O’Brien. “They wrote the script and filmed
each other as they signed information to the camera talking about
various places” using American Sign Language.

O’Brien, who participated in an exchange to Armenia in 2005,
interpreted for his students.

The eighth graders also are planning to make a video tour of the homes
of American Founding Fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson
in the future, he said.

“I am so excited and I can’t wait to see their videotape and what
life is like in Armenia,” said MSD student Shayna Unger.

“Our students love the connection of learning from other students
overseas,” O’Brien said. “I can talk in the classroom about these
things, but when another student who is there [in Armenia] talks to
them about these topics, it is phenomenal.”

The Maryland School for the Deaf, which was established in 1868, is
one of 15 U.S. schools participating in the 2005-2006 Armenia School
Connectivity Program through Project Harmony. Through AmSCP, more than
320 schools in Armenia have been provided with computer classrooms
and Internet connections, giving students, educators and community
members free access to outside information and computer training.

49tsop.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/Top-Story.html

DARCHINYAN READY TO KNOCKOUT MALDONADO ON CASTILLO-CORRALES III CARD
Paul Upham Contributing Editor

SecondsOut
May 2 2006

By Paul Upham: Reigning IBF/IBO flyweight world boxing champion Vic
“Raging Bull” Darchinyan and Team Fenech were the special guests of
Wests Tigers – the reigning NRL rugby league football champions – at
their Concord Oval training facility on Tuesday morning in Sydney,
Australia. During the visit, Darchinyan sparred some rounds with
Tigers great Benny Elias.

“Last year the Wests Tigers were relatively unknown, but showed skill
and determination to win the NRL Championship,” said Darchinyan.

“Players such as Benji Marshall and Scott Prince proved how hungry
they were to win. I see a lot of similarities with my career. I have
won two world titles so far, but with every fight I want to show how
hungry I am to become the undisputed boxing champion of the world.”

Considered by many to be one of the hottest new stars in world boxing,
Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan – Australia’s only current male boxing
world champion – will next defend his world titles against undefeated
28 year-old Mexican Luis Maldonado 33-0-1 (25) on a card that will
see them as the main support bout to one of the world’s ‘Fights of
the Year’ in Jose Luis Castillo vs. Diego Corrales III on June 3 at
the Thomas & Mack Centre in Las Vegas, USA.

Darchinyan, who is promoted by prominent American Gary Shaw and
trained by three-time world champion Jeff Fenech, first won the IBF
flyweight world title in December 2004 against long reigning world
champion Irene Pacheco.

“The most knowledgeable people in American boxing can see how talented
Vic Darchinyan is,” said Fenech. “In this next fight in front of the
world, he will once again show that he is one of the most exciting
boxers competing today.”

30 year-old Darchinyan, the Armenia born Australian citizen, has
an undefeated record of 25 wins, 0 losses and 20 knockouts. In his
last fight on March 3 at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez,
California in the USA, the hard-hitting southpaw knocked out IBF
mandatory challenger Diosdado Gabi from the Philippines spectacularly
with one punch in round 8.

The impressive knockout win over Gabi was televised by American
network SHOWTIME across the USA as the main event of their “SHOBOX:
The New Generation” series to an audience in the millions and has
led to his next fight on SHOWTIME “Championship Boxing” on one of
the most highly anticipated fight cards of the year.

“Maldonado is a good fighter,” said Darchinyan. “But on June 3,
I will knock him out.”

PRESS RELEASE

Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia & New Zealand
10 Macquarie Street
Chatswood NSW 2067
AUSTRALIA
Contact: Laura Artinian
Tel: (02) 9419-8056
Fax: (02) 9904-8446
Email: [email protected]

2 May 2006

REMEMBERANCE OF A BELOVED ARMENIAN SON

Sydney, Australia – His Eminence Archbishop Aghan Baliozian, Primate
of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia and New Zealand
returned from Bangkok this morning having presided over a church
service at Anglican Christ Church in Bangkok on Saturday, 29th April,
2006.

During the Divine Liturgy, Archbishop Baliozian reflected on
the Glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and the solemn
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide that was commemorated only a few
days earlier. In the requiem service, a special remembrance was held
for the late Dr Bob Der Kevorkian, a devoted family man, an admired
and highly regarded business pioneer of Thailand and a beloved son
of the Armenian nation, whose untimely death a year ago was grieved
and mourned by so many.

Dr Der Kevorkian was a dynamic force and patriotic Armenian. He left
behind a grand legacy having made his mark through philanthropic works,
but more importantly touching the souls of all who knew him with his
deep spirit of kindness.