Author: Khoyetsian Rose

CLASSICAL FANS IN FOR A REAL TREAT

Inverness Courier
08 July, 2009

FOR classical music lovers Inverness Town House will be the place to
be as Inverness Chamber Music announces the line-up for its forthcoming
autumn and winter evening series.

The new season, which will bring a selection of international talent
to Inverness, complements the society’s monthly series of lunchtime
concerts held all year round, also at the Town House. "If you haven’t
been to a concert in The Town House yet, then there is a treat in
store for you," Inverness Chamber Music’s James Munro commented.

"The main hall is a comfortable elegant space where you will get
a friendly welcome and be entertained by the very best professional
musicians from all round the world who delight in coming to perform in
Inverness. "Artists relish the acoustics of this 180-seater venue and
are especially full of praise for the excellent Bosendorfer grand piano
which was purchased in 2006 with grants from Inverness Common Good Fund
and 2007 Highland Year of Culture." Obviously, because of its size,
the Town House is ideal for small scale, or chamber, music rather than
full size orchestras. Once defined by the historian Charles Burney as
"such music as was not intended for the church, for the theatre or for
a public concert room", today it is much fairer to think of chamber
music as the music of friends, played in an intimate environment,
Munro suggested. Inverness Chamber Music grew out of such a group
of friends who came together to play, or as one of them admits, to
"murder", Schubert’s "Trout Quintet", but soon decided that they were
going to have to start promoting concerts and call on professionals
if they were ever to hear the piece played properly.

Two of the original members of that group are still on the team 15
years later – chairman Alison Marr and secretary Paul Crowe – with
James Munro taking on the role of treasurer, Joan Gamblin and Howard
Spenceley responsible for the hospitality and marketing roles. Together
in their enthusiasm and musical passion, they bring the evening series
of nine concerts to Inverness each year, though in recent seasons
Inverness Chamber Music has been given marketing and box office support
through Eden Court. The first concert of the 2009/10 season, which
runs from September to May is a piano recital on 16th September by
the Perth raised musician Alasdair Beatson with a programme by Bach,
Beethoven, Ades, Ravel and Schumann. The Anglo-Swedish Kungsbacka
Piano Trio, perennial Inverness favourites, return on 14th October,
playing works by Dvorak, Haydn and Schubert. Schubert is back on the
menu on 12th November from what is widely regarded as one of the great
chamber music ensembles, the Fitzwilliam String Quartet. They will be
joined by Moray Welsh, formerly principal cello with the Philharmonia
Orchestra, for a performance of Schubert’s String Quintet. It is now
a tradition that the audience at the pre-Christmas concert enjoy some
seasonal mince pies and mulled wine, which they can enjoy alongside
the music of Thistle Brass, featuring horn player Tim Hunter from
Alness, who bring their rumbustious mix of classics and jazz to the
Town House on 11th December. The 2010 concert season begins on 18th
January with popular Scottish pianist Steven Osborne, who will be
joined by his wife, the clarinettist Jean Johnson. Another group
of Inverness favourites, the Carducci String Quartet visit on 16th
February to play one of the great string quartets, the "American"
by Dvorak, and on 16th March two more artists return by popular
demand for a fourth visit. Peter and Zoltan Katona, guitar playing
identical twins from Hungary, take a break from their globe-trotting
career performing in huge arenas to enjoy the atmosphere of one of
their favourite venues, Inverness Town House. Every November some
of the best classical musicians come to Elgin for the annual Moray
Piano Competition, when part of the prize is a concert in Inverness
Town House the following spring. In past years this has resulted
in the Town House hosting outstanding performances by the likes
of the Russian Anna Kavalerova, Anne Macgregor from Greenock and
the Anglo-Iranian pianist Yasmin Rowe. This year’s winner will be
invited to play in Inverness during April 2010. Another tradition for
Inverness Chamber Music is for the last concert of the season to be
light-hearted, end-of-term party. This season will conclude on 12th
May with a visit from The Diamond Divas, three glamorous sopranos from
London and their very flamboyant accompanist. The lunchtime concert
series runs parallel with, but independent from, the Inverness Chamber
Music evening series. Instead of a programme of established artists
with an occasional emerging talent, the lunchtime series sets out
to provide performance experience for young professional musicians
at the beginning of their careers, with the occasional established
name brought in as seasonal highlights. The series was started three
years ago by former Inverness area arts officer, Adrian Clark, and
is currently run by Inverness Arts Forum. It is more informal and
more flexible than the evening series, with the audience welcome to
bring their lunch with them, a broader range of music and extra events
organised at fairly short notice. The next concert will be tomorrow
by the young Armenian violinist Ani Batikian and the Japanese pianist
Ayako Kanazawa. In August a spin-off event from the Nairn International
Jazz Festival is planned to follow up on Larry Fuller’s performance
last year. On 2nd September there will be the world premiere of "The
Poet’s Return", a suite for harp and clarsach, played by Beauly harpist
Hannah Phillips. The work commemorates the visit to Inverness by
Robert Burns in September 1787 and has been commissioned by Inverness
Arts Forum from the distinguished Scots composer Edward McGuire, with
the help of a generous grant from the Highland 2007 Legacy. Other
lunchtime events include entertaining bass-baritone Donald Maxwell,
with accompanist Sheila Bruce, reminiscing about his career in the
world’s opera houses on 25th November; the Russian pianist Artem
Akopyan playing Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky on 20th January 2010;
outstanding young cellist Philip Higham with pianist Simon Lane on
23rd February in a concert supported by the Tunnell Trust for Young
Musicians; and on 2nd March the violin duet of Rafal Zambrzycki-Payne,
winner of the 1996 BBC Young Musician of the Year, and Agnieszka
Marucha, leader of the Danish Chamber Players. In addition there
are at least three more concerts being organised showcasing the
best of Scots traditional music, in partnership with the Highland
Council TMC Project. Inverness Chamber Music season tickets are
already on sale from the treasurer, James Munro, on 01463 710363 or
[email protected]. Tickets for individual concerts will go on sale
nearer the time.

JAPAN LEADS THE WAY WITH QUAKE-RESISTANT TECHNOLOGY
HIROKO NAKATA

The Japan Times
Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Lessons from deadly ’95 earthquake could save lives worldwide

When a massive earthquake hit the western part of Japan more than a
decade ago, a highway collapsed, railroads and telephone lines were
partially cut, and many buildings were toppled.

Nagahide Kani, executive director of the Japan Society of Seismic
Isolation, speaks at his office in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward in
June. YOSHIAKI MIURA PHOTO

The 1995 7.3-magnitude Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake wreaked havoc
on Hyogo Prefecture. In the biggest natural disaster in postwar Japan,
6,434 people lost their lives – some crushed to death under buildings,
others dying in the fires caused by the temblor.

The earthquake changed people’s minds in Japan, and Italy, which
has highly advanced quake-resistant technologies, should do more to
disseminate these technologies, said Nagahide Kani, executive director
of the Japan Society of Seismic Isolation, an industry group engaged
in developing quake-resistant technology.

"Before the quake, people wouldn’t accept seismic-isolation
technologies," he told The Japan Times in a recent interview. "But
the number of buildings introducing the technologies jumped in 1995,"
he said.

In Italy, the host country of this year’s Group of Eight summit, a
6.3-magnitude earthquake hit L’Aquila on April 6, killing more than
290 people and injuring over 1,000.

Many of the brick buildings that help to create the historic atmosphere
of L’Aquila crumbled as few of them employed quake-resistant systems,
experts said. As a result, more than 10,000 buildings were damaged
or destroyed.

"Italy’s seismic-isolation technologies are very advanced, but they
are not wide spread," Kani said.

In Japan, thanks to the huge earthquake in 1995, quake-resistant
technologies grabbed the spotlight and more Japanese buildings
introduced the seismic-isolation system, or base-isolation system,
as it protects a structure by installing components between a building
and its foundation, decoupling it from the shaking ground.

Figures prove how Japan moved to cope with possible massive
earthquakes.

In 1982, there was only one building that employed the system – a
two-story housing unit in the city of Yachiyo, Chiba Prefecture, west
of Tokyo. The number gradually rose to 80 buildings by 1994, but after
the 1995 earthquake, the figure soared to 2,200 buildings in 2009.

Quake-resistant systems for housing are also widely used in Japan. Some
5,000 Japanese houses have introduced vibration-isolation technologies,
Kani said.

The number in Japan stands out even among earthquake-prone
countries. In Italy, only 100 buildings have introduced
seismic-isolation technologies. Looking at other countries, there are
700 in China, 600 in Russia, 100 in the United States, 50 in Taiwan,
30 in Armenia and 10 in New Zealand. In future, China is likely to
see more buildings introduce the quake-resistant system as a massive
earthquake hit China’s Sichuan province in May 2008, Kani added.

When there is such a disaster, the destruction of hospitals is a
double blow. Collapsed hospitals endanger patients who cannot escape
the crumbling structures while the damaged medical facilities hamper
treatment of the injured.

In the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995, the fifth floor
of the seven-story Kobe City Hospital Organization Medical Center
West Hospital was crushed, burying more than 40 patients and nurses,
although most of them were rescued, according to local media reports
at the time.

"It is terrible for hospitals to collapse because they are supposed
to be where victims can be helped," said Kani.

Thanks to quake-resistant technologies, Kurihara Central Hospital in
Miyagi Prefecture, on the other hand, avoided a collapse in a big
earthquake in Miyagi and Iwate prefectures in 2008, enabling the
hospital to serve as the hub for rescuers.

Now certain types of buildings in Japan are increasingly introducing
the seismic-isolation system, such as hospitals, art museums, high-rise
housing, embassies, and data centers that preserve customer information
for banks, life insurers and nonlife insurers.

Production plants are also starting to introduce the system, after
the major impact on Japanese industry of the two recent earthquakes
in 2004 and 2007.

"Considering the importance of sustaining corporate activities,
companies don’t want to do business with those who do not take risk
management steps," Kani said.

Though quake-resistant technologies are widely disseminated in Japan,
they are not originally from here. The first such technology, called
"rubber bearing," was invented in New Zealand in 1977, and introduced
to an office building there and a courthouse in the United States,
Kani said, adding that it had a huge impact on the industry.

This technology using rubber bearings is most popular in Japan and
it is used around the world, according to Kani. By installing rubber
bearings, composed of layered thin rubber and thin steel plates,
under a structure, the building can move flexibly in a horizontal
direction and has strong resistance to quakes. Moreover, the bearings
do not buckle even under a heavy building because of the number of
steel plates, Kani said. It has been introduced in various structures
such as office blocks, housing and the administrative buildings of
Japan’s central government.

Two other systems were invented later that are suitable for lighter
buildings and less expensive, Kani said.

About a decade after the "rubber bearing" technology was introduced,
another type of base-isolation system, called a "sliding isolation
system," or a "slider," was developed. The system, which is also
placed under a building, consists of a bearing pad on top of a curved
surface. In a quake, this bearing pad slides on the curved surface
to absorb tremors and support the building.

Later, another technology, called the "rotating ball bearing" system,
was introduced. The system uses ball bearings that slide on parallel
rails.

Now the focus is on how to apply such quake-resistant technologies
to existing buildings, including old structures, which requires a
high degree of skill, Kani said.

Rather than isolating buildings from the ground, there are new
technologies to absorb shocks on buildings by using particular
materials, and components for pillars and walls. In addition,
some buildings even employ a system to control shocks that uses
computers. The number of buildings with such new technologies will
increase in the near future, Kani said.

"The development of quake-related technologies will never end,"
he said.

Despite the development of the technologies, Japan needs to work hard
to cope with possible earthquakes.

The education ministry warned June 16 that more than 7,300 school
buildings are at high risk of collapse in the event of a powerful
earthquake. A survey by the ministry on the nation’s 124,976 public
schools also found that the quake resistance of 41,206 buildings is
insufficient. The ministry said 7,309 could crumble if hit by a quake
measuring an Upper 6 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7.

SISTEMA REPORTS RESULTS OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

TMC Net
[July 07, 2009]

Jul 06, 2009 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) — Sistema, a diversified
public financial corporation in Russia and the CIS, announced the
decisions made at the Annual General Meeting of its shareholders
(the AGM) on June 27. The company noted in a June 29 release that
the Board of Directors was expanded from 10 to 13 members. The AGM
approved the election of three new members to the Board of Directors:
Leonid Melamed, President and CEO of Sistema, Rajiv Mehrotra, member of
the Board of Directors of Sistema Shyam Teleservices, Robert Kocharyan,
an independent director. The Board of Directors, therefore, comprises
4 independent non-executive directors and consists of 13 members.

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The shareholders approved the election of the members of the Board of
Directors as follows: – Alexander Goncharuk – Alexander Gorbatovsky –
Vladimir Evtushenkov – Ron Sommer – Dmitry Zubov – Vyacheslav Kopiev –
Robert Kocharyan – Leonid Melamed – Rajiv Mehrotra – Evgeny Novitsky –
Stephan Newhouse – Robert Skidelsky – Sergey Cheremin At the statutory
Board meeting following the AGM, the Board of Directors appointed
Vladimir Evtushenkov as Chairman. The AGM approved the company’s
Annual Report and annual financial statements for 2008. The AGM also
made a decision not to pay dividends for 2008.

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INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO West, September 1-3, 2009. Los
Angeles, CA. Gorislavtsev and K. Audit was appointed as Sistema’s
Russian Accounting Standards auditor for 2009, and Deloitte & Touche
CIS was appointed as Sistema’s US GAAP auditor for 2009. The AGM also
elected the Audit Committee. Robert Kocharyan was born in 1954 in
Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. From 1998 to 2008,
Kocharyan was the President of Armenia. Prior, from 1997 to 1998, he
served as Prime Minister of Armenia. From 1994 to 1997, Kocharyan was
President of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. From 1992 to 1994, he served
as Chairman of the State Defense Committee and Prime Minister of the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. In 1991, he was elected a deputy of the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s Supreme Soviet of the first convocation. In
1989 and in 1990, Kocharyan was a deputy of Armenia’s Supreme Soviet
and member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. Rajiv Mehrotra
was born in 1954. Mehrota is a founder of Shyam Group of India, where
he serves as Chairman and Managing Director. Mehrota is also one of
the founders of Shyam Telelink (now Sistema Shyam Teleservices),
one of the first CDMA 2000 mobile network operators in India. He
actively cooperates with the Association of Basic Telecom Operators,
and is a member of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce &
Industry (FICCI) Telecom Committee. Mehrota is a member of the Board
of Directors of Sistema Shyam Teleservices. ((Comments on this story
may be sent to [email protected]))

Tsvetana Paskaleva is presented with Garbis Papazian award for her
true dedication to Armenia
03.07.2009 23:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On July 3, Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall hosted an
award ceremony. Tsvetana Paskaleva was presented with AGBU Garbis
Papazian award for her courage in the honest and complete coverage of
the struggle of the Artsakh Armenians and true dedication to Armenia.
RA Cinematographers’ Union Chairman and Artsakh liberation war
participant Ruben Gevorgyan congratulated Tsvetana Pascaleva,
`Tsvetana, as well as other Artsakh war participants could be spoken
of for hours. At the front, I saw a fragile girl with flaming
eyes. Never could I imagine she will be capable of bearing the burden
of war together with us. She greatly contributed to our victory.”
The award ceremony featured a screening of `My dears, living and dead’
film by Tsvetana Pascaleva. During the ceremony, Armenian Philharmonic
Orchestra, under the guidance of conductor Eduard Topchyan performed
Avet Terteryan’s Symphony No.3.

OSCE CHAIRMAN CALLS TO BUILD ON POSITIVE IMPETUS OF KARABAKH PROCESS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
02.07.2009 19:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Greek Foreign
Minister Dora Bakoyannis during her visit to Baku, urged Azerbaijan
today to build on the progress that has been achieved in the
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process and in deepening democratic
reforms.

"A more secure, more stable and stronger Europe is in all our
interests. Azerbaijan plays an important role in helping to promote
our common security in the South Caucasus and the whole OSCE area,"
she said, following a meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov.

"Addressing the region’s protracted conflicts is one of the top
priorities of the Greek OSCE Chairmanship. I am encouraged by the
latest developments in the negotiation process, which is facilitated
by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs, and the intensified dialogue between
the Presidents and Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia to
achieved a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict."

"We must continue to build on this positive momentum."

During her visit Dora Bakoyannis met Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov, Bayram Safarov, the Representative of the Azerbaijani
Community of Nagorno-Karabakh, and representatives of Azerbaijani
political parties. She will meet President Ilham Aliyev and Oktay
Asadov, the Speaker of Parliament, later today.

Bakoyannis noted the co-operation between Azerbaijan and the OSCE,
including with its Office in Baku, the Representative on Freedom of
the Media and its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

"A robust civil society, a free press and open political participation
represent key commitments we share as OSCE states," she said. "In this
regard I welcome the positive decision by Azerbaijan’s Parliament at
the end of June to help ensure that amendments to the law on NGOs do
not restrict, but facilitate, the activities of civil society. I am
confident that we can deepen the constructive co-operation between
the OSCE and Azerbaijan to further reforms."

The OSCE Chairperson will travel to Yerevan this evening for talks
with Armenian authorities and political parties on Friday.

WESTON HIGH STUDENTS RAISE AWARENESS OF GENOCIDE IN DARFUR
By Ruthie Wittenberg

Weston Town Crier
Thu Jul 02, 2009, 02:27 AM EDT

WESTON – A rally to raise awareness of the genocide in Darfur took
place at Weston High School on June 10. It was initiated and organized
by Weston High students, with sophomore Alexander Kaye one of the
main drivers behind the event.

The idea arose when Don Benson, the teacher of a 10th-grade world
history class, assigned a research project on genocide. The students
conducted research on countries affected by genocide, such as Armenia,
Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Sudan.

Benson asked his students to draw connections and to observe
commonalities between each of the genocides and to present their
findings.

According to Benson, upon learning about Darfur, Kaye stood up and
declared, "I don’t want to say I lived through this period in history
and did nothing to stop it."

Upon deciding to organize the rally, Kaye and his classmates were
faced with several challenges. To begin with, there was no logical
date on which to hold the event. In addition, because it was late
May and the school year was drawing to a close, such an event would
require teachers to give up some of their teaching time in close
proximity to final exams.

Furthermore, in the search to find an informative and meaningful
speaker, the students found they were not taken seriously.

Nevertheless, Kaye’s leadership with the support of his teachers
enabled the rally to take place.

Benson considers the event to be a success not only because $325 was
raised in support of the cause, but more importantly, the awareness
of the atrocities in Darfur was elevated within the Weston High
School community.

Panther Alier, a refugee during the civil war which took place in
Sudan in the 1980s and one of the "Lost Boys of Sudan," spoke at the
rally. A noted activist for human rights and for the plight of the
Sudanese, Alier spoke movingly about the war and genocide through
his personal experience.

The money raised through a couple of bake sales and with outside
donations will all be sent to the organization Save Darfur.

Aside from its noble intentions and successes, this experience was
distinctive as one completely carried out by the students. In the
words of Benson, this was "an event fully inspired by students (and
one in which) everyone participated."

Faculty commented after the rally that it was one of the best
assemblies of the school year.

There has been some discussion about a follow-up rally in the fall,
once school has resumed. Benson predicts students both in and outside
of his world history class are likely to remain active with the cause.

PUBLIC TELEVISION OF ARMENIA HOLDS THE FIRST PLACE IN RATING OF ARMENIAN TV CHANNELS ‘UNPLEASANT AIR’

ArmInfo
2009-06-29 17:54:00

ArmInfo. The Public Television of Armenia holds the first place in
rating of Armenian TV channels "Unpleasant air" held by Union of
Experts organization, Head of the organization Narek Malyan said at
a press-conference, Monday.

According to him, the monitoring of Armenian TV channels was held
from February till March 2009 by 110 Armenian experts, among them
intellectuals and men of culture. "During the monitoring of 17 TV
channels numerous shortcomings and mistakes connected with advertising
were found out, particularly, we found out advertisements very often
lasting 40 minutes.

There were also flaws in air connected with the language. Very often,
the advertisement is in Russian, English and even Italian, while
actually it is to be in Armenian",- the expert said.

Speaking of the reasons of "victory" of the Public Television, Malyan
said that they are conditioned by the requirements to PTA. The Public
TV channel shouldn’t strive for rating, on the contrary, it should
provide high-quality product and leave a positive trace in the society
as the dotations of PTA ensure its financial independence.

Malyan added that the "Unpleasant air" prize will be awarded to PTA
over this week.

K.MASIMOV SAYS THERE EXIST OPPORTUNITIES OF DEEPENING OF ARMENIAN-KAZAKH ECONOMIC COOPERATION

ARMENPRESS
June 29, 2009

ASTANA, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS:"We have had a number of efficient
talks with the Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and there
exist certain directions on which the Armenian -Kazakh economic
cooperation can be enhanced," Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim
Masimov told Armenpress.

According to him, at present the working groups study all those
spheres in which the cooperation is possible to be promoted. K. Masimov
confessed that a number of steps undertaken in the Kazakhstan financial
sphere have been taken from the Armenian experience.

"There is a stable financial-banking system established in Armenia
and being one of the leaders in CIS it could successfully confront
the first blows of world financial-economic crisis," he noted.

K. Masimov also considered the policy implemented by the Armenian
Government in the small and medium-sized enterprises as succeeded
stressing that in this direction they also have much to pick up and
are ready to work with Armenian partners.

TCA Arshag Dickranian Armenian School
1200 N. Cahuenga Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90038

Tel: 323-461-4377
Fax: 323-323-461-4247
Contact: [email protected]

TCA Arshag Dickranian School Commencement Ceremony
At Walter And Laurel Karabian Hall

Los Angeles, June 29, 2009 – TCA Arshag Dickranian School held a wonderful
Commencement Ceremony for its 12th grade, 8th grade and 5th grade on
Saturday June 28th 2009 at 5:00 p.m. at its fancy Walter and Laurel
Karabian Hall. Honorary guests included Ms. Eleanor Dickranian, Ms.
Cynthia Dickranian-Norian, Ms. Laurel Dickranian-Karabian, Archbishop
Hovnan Derderian, keynote speaker Mr. Ara Agishian, Vice-Chairman of Board
of Trustees Mr. Parsegh Kartalian and Chairman Mr. George Mandossian,
among other board members.

The Commencement Ceremony started after teachers entered The Walter and
Laurel Karabian Hall and when the American, Armenian and School anthems
filled the hall. Ms. Kathrin Bosnoyan, an alumnus of Arshag Dickranian
School, greeted students, honorary guests and teachers and gave a
heartening speech about her experience graduating from Arshag Dickranian
School. Ms. Kathrin Bosnoyan continued by inviting the Homeroom Teacher of
the 5th grade, Ms. Suzan Kim, and the Chairperson of The Educational
Committee, Ms. Arpi Avanessian-Idolor, to present Diplomas to the students
of the 5th grade. She also invited Ms. Gia Aivazian, who is the Secretary
of The Board of Trustees, and The Homeroom Teacher of the 8th grade, Mr.
Vatche Semerjdian, to present the 8th graders with their Diplomas.

Chairman Mr. George Mandossian invited Ms. Cynthia Dickranian-Norian to
join in presenting the High School Diplomas to the graduating students,
along with Mr. Krikor Soukiassian, who is the Homeroom Advisor of the 12th
grade, and principal Mr. Vartkes Kourouyan. Graduating student Hovhannes
Hekimian followed by delivering an inspiring speech to his classmates, the
school and the audience and he received The Senior Valedictorian Medal.
Mary Yerkatian, who received The Senior Salutatorian Medal, also gave a
touching speech, thanking her school, classmates and her family for all
the support and wonderful experiences.

The students who successfully completed the requirements of the 12th grade
at Arshag Dickranian School include: Arevik Aleksanian, Michael Atanesyan,
Armine Caradanian, Ani Darakchyan, Hovhanes Ekimyan, Alysa Gekozyan, Vahan
Hovsepian, Levon Karapetyan, Ruben Khachtarian, Annie Krisian, Nina
Lusinyan, Yeva Manukyan, Rima Nadjarian, Andranik Samsonyan, Anahid
Sarkisian, Elizabeth Seropian, Narine Sulian, Harout Torkomian,
Christopher Tufenkjian, Hmayak Vardanian, Marianna Yeranosian and Mary
Yerkatyan.

Following the presentation of the diplomas, Mr. Ara Agishian, who is a
well established lawyer and currently Chairman of the Armenia Fund,
congratulated the students and encouraged them to strive after their goals
and never forget their Armenian heritage. Mr. Ara Agishian had kindly
sponsored one of the graduating students at Arshag Dickranian School.
Vice-Chairman of Board of Trustees of TCA Arshag Dickranian School, Mr.
Parsegh Kartalian gave a speech on behalf of The Board of Trustees, which
was followed by a farewell message from Mr. Vartkes Kourouyan. The
ceremony was concluded with the blessings of Archbishop Hovnan Derderian,
primate of Armenian Church Western Diocese. Parents and guests cheered and
congratulated graduating students with flowers, balloons, hugs and kisses.

Located at 1200 North Cahuenga Blvd., Los Angeles, the TCA Arshag
Dickranian Armenian School is a federally tax exempt, Pre-K to 12th grade
private educational institution. For more information visit

Israel attempts to stop S-300 air defense supplies to Iran

MOSCOW, June 29 (RIA Novosti) – Israel has intensified its efforts to
prevent deliveries of Russian S-300 air defense systems to Iran under
a 2007 contract, an Israeli newspaper said on Monday.
According to the Haaretz daily, "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and asked him to prevent
the arms deal from going through."
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak met a week ago at the Paris
Airshow with Gen. Nikolai Makarov, chief of the General Staff of the
Russian Armed Forces, and reportedly "asked that he also intervene to
prevent the arms sale."
Israel and the U.S. insist that the delivery of advanced air defense
systems to Iran would undermine the military balance in the region,
and Russia has until recently delayed the implementation of the deal.
Although Russian sources said in March that Iran had not yet received
any S-300 air defense systems and the deal relied on the leadership in
Moscow, Russia had reiterated its commitment to fulfill the contract,
which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Haaretz said that during the visit of Foreign Minister Avigdor
Lieberman to Moscow several weeks ago, Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev told the Israeli official that some payments under the
contract had already been made.
Arms deliveries to Iran are also important to Russia because Moscow is
quickly losing its positions on key Asian arms markets in China and
India.
In light of the recent developments and ahead of a meeting between
U.S. President Barack Obama with his Russian counterpart next week,
Israel has launched "intensive diplomatic efforts…in order to
restore the earlier Russian commitment not to complete the deal," the
newspaper said.
The latest version of the S-300 family is the S-300PMU2 Favorit, which
has a range of up to 195 kilometers (about 120 miles) and can
intercept aircraft and ballistic missiles at altitudes from 10 meters
to 27 kilometers.
It is considered one of the world’s most effective al
e systems, comparable in performance to the U.S. MIM-104 Patriot
system.