Author: Nahapetian Lilit

NA SPEAKER MEETS WITH MEMBERS OF NA AD-HOC COMMITTEE ON EVENTS OCCURRED ON 1-2 MARCH

Noyan Tapan
Aug 25, 2009

YEREVAN, AUGUST 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA National Assembly Speaker
Hovik Abrahamian met with members of NA Ad-hoc Committee on Events
Occurred on 2008 1-2 March and Their Reasons.

According to the RA National Assembly Public Relations Department,
the NA Speaker said that the regular term given to the Committee by
parliament’s decision expires on September 15 and he knows that the
Committee is ready to introduce a brief conclusion. H. Abrahamian
said that Committee’s work has always been in the center of his
attention. In his affirmation, the parliamentary Committee’s conclusion
should be exhaustive and unbiassed as far as possible, it should give
answers to questions set before the Committee by National Assembly’s
decision. He also said that Committee’s conclusion will be also
important for PACE as its last Resolution N 1677 stipulated that the
parliamentary Ad-hoc Committee’s report will make it clear whether
criteria of impartiality and trustworthiness are met, whether there
is a need of additional examination. According to Hovik Abrahamian,
Council of Europe’s evaluation is important, but the parliament
should be first of all accountable to our people and it is society,
political forces that expect exhaustive and reliable answers from
the National Assembly.

The NA Speaker in his speech said that he is also aware of the
difficulties the Committee had during its activity, he is aware
that not always state bodies, various officials in time and properly
responded to Committee’s applications and inquiries, they were not
always ready to come to the Committee and to answer the questions. "I
also understand that the answer of many of the questions set before
you by the parliament also directly concerns the work done by the
special investigation service as the parliamentary Committee is not
an investigation body and even if it wishes it very much it cannot
and has no right to surpass its powers." He also gave assurance that
the whole information accumulated during committee’s activity will be
presented in the unbiassed way in the final conclusion. The NA Speaker
also expressed willingness to listen to Committee members’ views over a
number of issues, in particular, over legality of policemen’s actions,
use of special means, clarification of death circumstances of ten
victims and over materials given by the fact-finding committee members.

NA Ad-hoc Committee Chairman, NA Vice-Speaker Samvel Nikoyan thanked
the NA Speaker for assistance. Mentioning that thanks to NA Speaker’s
support Committee’s work proceeded more quickly and efficiently,
Mr Nikoyan presented the work done assuring that the Committee will
present unbiassed and brief conclusion in the estabished term. The
Committee Chairman and members presented their views over questions
set by Hovik Abrahamian.

At the end of the meeting Hovik Abrahamian reiterated that confronting
the facts and information accumulated during the work the Committee
should give an unbiassed conclusion that will be reliable for society
and expressed his readiness for any kind of assistance and support.

Armenian Central Bank: Gradual reduction of interest rates to boost
economy

2009-08-22 14:48:00

ArmInfo. Armenian Central Bank Council has discussed both gradual and
sharp reduction of interest rates taking into consideration low use of
liquidity and selected gradual reduction of interests as the most
reasonable measure to boost economy without endangering price
stability.

CB Council has repeatedly declared that in conditions when GDP is
falling sharper than envisaged and there is certain inflation pressure
from the external sector, there is low internal inflation environment.
Nevertheless, the Council mostly connected the 2.7% deflation in July
with significant fall of the prices of agricultural produce
characteristic to the given season. This testifies to lack of deflation
trends. Nevertheless, the Council has arrived at a conclusion that the
forecasted inflation will be at the lowest target limit. In such
conditions, the Council considered grounded the policy of active
increase of the refinancing volumes and reduction of the
refinancing-rate to contribute to sooner rehabilitation of the local
economy.

Armenian CB Council reduced the refinancing-rate from 5.5% to 5.25% on
August 11 2009. Interests of deposits and Lombard loans are 2.25% and
8.25% restively.

FruitNews.ru
August 17, 2009 Monday

Armenia: Grape crop expected to total 185,600 tons in 2009

ABSTRACT
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, grape harvest is expected to
stand at 185,600 tons in Armenia in 2009. As of today, processing
enterprises are ready to purchase about 137,000 tons of grape. Over
45% of total purchases fall at the Yerevan Brandy Company (owned by
France-based Pernod Ricard) and Yerevan Brandy-Wine-Vodka Factory
‘Ararat’. In all, there are 24-25 enterprises specializing in grape
processing in Armenia. The area of vineyards expanded by 3,800
hectares for the last three to four years.

RESULTS OF MARCH 1 REPORT TO BE A SURPRISE TO SOCIETY

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.08.2009 18:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ NA Interim Committee dealing with March 1-2, 2008
incidents is to submit its final report in September, Committee member,
ARFD MP Artsvik Minasyan told a news conference. According to him,
dissolved fact-finding group submitted a 2250-page material reflecting
expert examination results, as well as comments and investigation
results. Minasyan is unaware to what extent society will be satisfied
by the report, but he is sure results might have been better had
opposition had proactive participation in committee work.

"Report results will be a surprise to society in the negative meaning
of the word. The group didn’t resolve its tasks," Minasyan said,
expressing dissatisfaction with inquest results as well.

Committee has several times invited ex-Presidents Levon Ter-Petrosyan
and Robert Kocharyan to discussion, but they made no response to
committee’s appeals, speaker said, "Both ex-Presidents make mistake
by refusing to meet with committee members," he added.

FRANK PALLONE: U.S. RECOGNITION OF NKR WILL BE DIFFICULT
by Emil Sanamyan

o/article/2009-08-20-frank-pallone-u-s–recognitio n-of-nkr-will-be-difficult&pg=2
Thursday August 20, 2009

Veteran member of Congress discusses Armenian-American agenda

Washington – A member of Congress for more than 20 years, Rep. Frank
Pallone, Jr., a New Jersey Democrat, is a national leader on
Armenian-American issues and a founding co-chair of the Congressional
Caucus on Armenian Issues; he also chairs the Energy and Commerce
subcommittee on Health.

The interview that follows is based in large part on questions we
solicited from the Armenian Reporter readers last week. Washington
Editor Emil Sanamyan put them to Rep. Pallone on August 13.

Karabakh policy

Armenian Reporter: Kosovo, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia have recently
set precedents of international recognition without the consent
of countries that claimed sovereignty over them. Should friends of
Armenians in the United States initiate Nagorno-Karabakh’s recognition
instead of deferring to talks with Azerbaijan?

What work can be done in Congress to achieve this goal?

Rep. Frank Pallone: I believe personally that the United States
should recognize Nagorno-Karabakh. I certainly would be willing to
do whatever I can to have that happen.

But I will say that it will be difficult, because a lot of members
of Congress are not that familiar [with the subject], I assume that
the State Department would be against it, and I am not sure how much
Armenia itself would be pushing for it. So it would probably be hard
to do.

And while I support recognition of NKR, I do not know if the Armenian
community wants to prioritize that. The community has to prioritize
the issues and spend their time on things that are more likely [to be
successfully accomplished]. And [since] this issue would be difficult,
I would not recommend that they prioritize it.

AR: There has been quite a bit of criticism in Armenia of the outgoing
U.S. envoy for Karabakh, Matt Bryza, as biased in favor of Azerbaijan
and Turkey. What can Congress do to have a Karabakh envoy who would
better reflect U.S. respect for Armenians’ self-determination and
democratic choice, and appreciation of security challenges Armenians
are facing?

FP: Matt Bryza is only reflecting the policy of the State
Department. The State Department takes a position that Nagorno-Karabakh
doesn’t have the status of a state. And they have traditionally
highlighted territorial integrity over self-determination.

But they are wrong in this case because they do not realize that
Nagorno-Karabakh has every right to be an independent nation. So,
what you really need to do is to have the State Department change
its position.

They have to realize that according to the Soviet legal framework,
Nagorno-Karabakh had self-government and certain rights, including
holding a referendum and becoming an independent country, which is
what had happened.

So it’s not simply an issue of territorial integrity versus
self-determination. Nagorno-Karabakh is a successor state to the
Soviet Union, and no different from Armenia or Russia in that respect.

AR: Armenia has been historically carved up by imperial powers and the
current state occupies only a fraction of its historic homeland. Today,
Armenians are urged to make substantial territorial concessions as
part of a Karabakh settlement with no such concessions by the other
side. How can Armenian-Americans get their pre-history and their
interests to be better appreciated in the United States?

FP: Simply because Nagorno-Karabakh is a small area with a relatively
small population, it is difficult for the State Department, and any
administration to focus on it.

The argument that should be made is that this a powder keg. In other
words if you do not work to solve this situation and come up with a
compromise, there is a potential for another major war in the Caucasus
that would have major implications for several neighboring countries,
Turkey and Russia especially. And that this strategic concern must
be appreciated.

The war between Russia and Georgia [in August 2008] is a recent
example of the volatility in the Caucasus region.

Relations with Turkey

AR: Speaking of community priorities, how have you handled occasional
disagreements between Armenian-American priorities and those of the
Republic of Armenia? There were clearly divergent positions on the
Armenia-Turkey "roadmap" announced on April 22.

FP: Most people in the community that I talk to are in favor of
normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey. And of course
I would like to see more normal relations between the two countries,
including significant trade between them.

But Armenian-Americans also want genocide recognition and they felt
that the Obama administration was trading the roadmap for genocide
recognition. I believe that these two issues should be separated. The
president should make a public statement recognizing the Armenian
Genocide and Congress should pass its resolution. We should proceed
with the roadmap as well; one should not be in lieu of the other.

The Armenian government was very supportive of the roadmap, but
they did not want it to be an excuse not to recognize the Armenian
Genocide. And after April 24, Turkish leaders began to step back from
the "road map," and going back to their preconditions related to the
Karabakh conflict.

These are all separate issues. Normalizing Turkish-Armenian relations
should not be linked to the Karabakh conflict.

AR: Three or more administrations have been blocking congressional
resolutions on Armenian Genocide. Have Armenian advocacy groups ever
asked the administration for something in lieu of a congressional
resolution that would both show respect for the genocide’s victims
and also benefit the Armenian-American agenda? In your mind, what
could be such an alternative?

FP: I would note that the Obama administration is not opposed to the
resolution, I have not heard that. And President [Barack Obama]’s
position is that the Genocide occurred and should be recognized. But
[because] all the emphasis was on the "road map" in April, the issue
of the genocide was sort of put aside.

I do think that a presidential statement and a resolution by Congress
are necessary to memorialize the Armenian Genocide. And while genocide
recognition needs to remain a priority, the diaspora should spend time
to prioritize other issues as well. These would include a settlement
with regard to Nagorno-Karabakh as well as U.S. support of Armenia
economically and militarily. We have the two Armenian republics and
they need to be protected.

AR: Former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds recently repeated her
allegations about the Turkish government’s attempts to bribe and even
blackmail U.S. officials into supporting their agenda. Do you support
a congressional inquiry based on these troubling allegations?

FP: I am not familiar enough with her to express an opinion.

Armenia aid and trips

AR: On the subject of aid to Armenia, the Obama administration’s
first aid request differed markedly from promises candidate Obama
made in his campaign. Was that a reflection of the administration’s
lack of interest in Armenia, inertia from the Bush administration,
or both? Can you explain how the budget request process works?

FP: The request comes out of the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB), but the figures basically reflect the recommendations of the
State Department.

The Obama administration believed that their request was generous
because it was above President Bush’s request the previous year. They
ignored the fact that Congress appropriated significantly more and
that the Bush administration was not a friend.

So I told them that they cannot make their budget request based on
the previous administration because Bush was not a friend of Armenia
and they are. So, they have to be more generous and request more than
Congress appropriated the previous year.

There is also this tendency to expect that Congress would always add
aid to Armenia, and therefore the administration can request less. I
have told them that that’s the wrong approach for a friend.

Next year, we expect the administration to request at least as much
as Congress put in the previous year or make a more robust request.

AR: In the last several years there have been markedly fewer visits
by U.S. lawmakers to Armenia. What is the reason for that?

FP: That is totally a function of changes in the congressional ethics
rules. I used to go to Armenia every year, and I haven’t been back
for a few years now because when the ethics rules were changed about
four years ago, that precluded any trips being paid by advocacy groups
or individuals associated with them.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) or the Armenian
Assembly of America (AAA), and other Armenian groups can no longer
pay for the trips.

Government-funded congressional delegations are still available,
but those are normally subject to committee jurisdiction. So if you
are not a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, you may not be
included. And if they have a trip, they are more likely to go Iraq
or Afghanistan or some of the major trouble spots.

TRYING TO GET RID OF ARMENIANS, GEORGIA OPENS DOORS TO AZERIS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
18.08.2009 16:08 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Georgian-Azerbaijani relations will evolve according
to the same scenario, as relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia,
Haykazun Alvrtsyan , Director of Research Fund "Center for Study
of problems of Western Armenians" told press conference in Yerevan
today. According to him, the area of Kvemo Kartli, which has been
considered the territory of Georgia since 1921, is almost entirely
populated by Azerbaijanis.

"Georgia has spent so much energy to expel the Armenians from the
Georgian territory and populate with Georgians, but instead Azeris
came there. Trying to get rid of Armenians, Georgia "opened doors"
to Azeris," Haykazun Alvrtsyan said. He also noted that Azerbaijani
side creates a circle that is slowly coming to Javakhk that is already
a danger to Georgia.

"If Georgia lose Javakhk and Kvemo Kartli, the West will lose its
interest in it, without these territories they do not need it,"
Haykazun Alvrtsyan stressed, adding that it will also becomes
"a mortal" danger to Armenia, as it would affect the Armenians of
Javakheti. "Georgia needs to create normal conditions for Javakheti
and Kvemo Kartli," – stressed Haykazun Alvrtsyan.

SEVEN ARMENIANS REGISTERED IN GUINNESS BOOK OF RECORDS

ARMENPRESS
Aug 18, 2009

YEREVAN, AUGUST 18, ARMENPRESS: Seven Armenians are included in
Guinness Book of Records. Chairman of the "Unordinary Moving Activity
Registration" commission Vardan Tovmasyan told Armenpress that first
in the Guinness Book of Records was registered Robert Galstyan in
1991. With the help of rope with his teeth he pushed 10 m "Kraz"
truck the weight of which reaches 12 tons. The latest Armenian who
was registered in Guinness Book of Records was Artak Grigoryan who
was doing exercises in "cross" position on circles 25 seconds.

V. Tovmasyan said that the commission has sent to London video and
documents for registering record of Armenian coach David Fahradyan
who made 354 circles. Tovmasyan said that registration in Guinness
Book of Records takes 2-4 months. London’s chief headquarter receives
applications from different countries. There are cases when London
commission refuses to register the record without any comments. "We
hope we will get positive response in case of D. Fahradyan,"
Tovmasyan said.

FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD

Aysor.am
Saturday, August 15

The Armenian Church celebrates the Feast of the Assumption of St. Mary,
the Holy Mother of God, with grace. In the Calendar of the Armenian
Church, this feast is the fourth of five major feasts that are
commemorated, and is the oldest one dedicated to St. Mary.

According to the legend, following the crucifixion of Jesus Christ,
the Holy Virgin remains in Jerusalem, and lives under the care of
St. John the Evangelist. For nearly 12 years, St. Mary lives by
praying, fasting, and often visiting the empty tomb of her beloved
Son. During one such visit to the tomb, the Archangel Gabriel appears
and gives her the news of her imminent assumption to heaven. St. Mary
relays the news to her relatives and all Christians, asking them to
bury her in the valley of Gethsemane.

St. Mary also asks the Apostle John to celebrate a Divine Liturgy, so
she may receive Holy Communion one final time. After receiving Holy
Communion, St. Mary returns to her room. As the Apostles prepare to
mourn her death, St. John asks the Mother of God to leave an image
of her face on a board of wood. St. Mary takes the board, crosses
herself and brings it close to her face. Moistening the board with
her tears, she asks God that by means of the board, people would be
cured from disease.

As the Apostles surround St. Mary, an indescribable light appears. The
Son of God and the angels of heaven appear in the room. Seeing Christ,
St. Mary dies. The church calls the St. Virgin’s death sleeping fro
making clear that she was delivered to the heaven. St. Bartholomew
the Apostle was absent and did not participate in the burial service
of St. Mary. Upon his return to Jerusalem, he wishes to see St. Mary
for the last time. Per his request, the Apostles open the tomb,
yet they do not find the remains of St. Mary.

It means that Jesus Christ had delivered His mother to His heavenly
kingdom. The Apostles give the board of St. Mary to St. Bartholomew
for consolation. According to Moses of Khoren, St. Bartholomew
brings the board to Armenia. It is kept in the Province of Andzav,
in a location called Darbnots. Years later, a church is built there
in honor of St. Mary, and a convent is opened.

The Armenian Church has a deep and abiding respect towards
St. Mary. Special emphasis is placed on her being a mother, her
honesty, her unique spirit of humility, her virtuous behavior and
her unselfish dedication. For Armenian women, the Holy Virgin is
the embodiment of virtue, pious motherhood, and the protector of
family sacredness.

On the Feast of the Assumption of St. Mary, the Ceremony of the
Blessing of the Grapes is conducted, and the harvest for the entire
year is blessed on that day. Next day after the feast, on August 17
will take place All Saints Day.

MUSICIANS OF THE FUTURE, SONGS OF PAST LOSS
By Jim Quilty

Daily Star
Friday, August 14, 2009
Lebanon

BEITEDDINE: This week in August, Marcel Khalife pointed out to his
Wednesday evening Beiteddine Festival audience, is an historic one. The
program had already informed festival-goers that this concert was
being held in honor of Jeru­salem being the 2009 cultural capital
of the Arab world. It was also held in memory of Palestinian poet
Mahmoud Darwish, who died on August 9 of last year, at the age of 67.

Adding to the historical weight of the evening was another historic
end. On this day in 1977, the month-long siege of the Palestinian
refugee camp of Tal al-Zaatar ended with a massacre that some estimates
suggest left thousands dead. Khalife said he wanted to devote this
concert to the memory of those Palestinians and Leba­nese slain 32
years ago.

It was a sombre start to an otherwise festive event – the Lebanon
premier of "Ahmad al-Arabi." Composed 26 years ago, Khalife’s first
full-scale orchestral work is an opera with a libretto taken from
"Ahmad al-Zaatar," the poem Khalife’s friend Darwish wrote in 1977
in direct response to the Tal al-Zaatar massacres.

The evening was not overburdened by the past, however, thanks to
the 100-piece Palestine Youth Orchestra and Choir, under the baton
of Bri­tish conductor Sian Edwards, who shared top billing with the
Amshit-born musical icon. One of the musical institutions created
by the late Palestinian-American academic Edward Said, the PYO is
comprised of young musicians from Palestine and the Palestinian
diaspora community, and so embodies a glimpse into Palestine’s
musical future.

For the singer-composer’s fans, "Ahmad al-Arabi" be­longs to a wider
oeuvre of Kha­life tunes and lyrics that folks in this part of the
region have been committing to memory and performing, formally and
informally, for decades.

Ad­venture-seeking foreigners who found themselves in Lebanon in the
summer of 2006 will likely recall the opera’s "Samidoun" ("Steadfast")
chorus, made popular by resistance supporters during that summer’s
34-day war.

For anyone listening to it in the raw, however, "Ahmad al-Arabi"
may seem an unusual piece of music. The overture that opens the piece
has a distinctly baroque flavor – after the show, arguments could be
heard politely raging as to whether it was more redolent of Handel
or Pachelbel – specifically baroque as arranged for large orchestra
in the 1970s.

The apparent incongruity of the overture’s well-ordered to­nalities
is heightened by the subject matter of the lyrics.

In Darwish’s poem, Ahmad (a synecdoche of the Palestinian condition)
ponders how, no matter where he settles, it seems he will be forced
to leave. The only consolation lies in the strength that can grow,
like zaatar (wild thyme), from utter abandonment.

Khalife’s operatic collaboration with Darwish was performed in
Beiteddine as a cantata for four voices – two Palestinian (Basel
Zayed and Reem Talhami) and two Lebanese (Oumeima al-Khalil and
Khalife himself).

All voices comported themselves with elegant verve. The PYO was in
fine form, particularly the young clarinettist who stepped forward
to deliver a stirring solo – largely improvised by the sound of it –
that came remarkably close to mimicking the mournful cadences of the
Armenian doudouq. Among the vocalists, the clarity of tone in Oumeima
al-Khalil’s vocals were particularly crystalline.

Khalife’s manner as he recited from Darwish’s poetry was bard-like
and reverent, an aspect accentuated by Sian Edwards’ attentiveness
as he read. For those familiar with Darwish’s poem, the PYO choir’s
interpretation of Khalife’s arrangement further contributed to the
power and beauty of the text.

The festival program suggested that "Ahmad al-Arabi" would be followed
by "Ashiqa," a suite of choral-orchestral work composed by PYO head
Suhail Khoury. "Ashiqa" was indeed performed but not before Khalife
returned to the stage for an un-programmed set with his jazz ensemble –
which includes his sons Rami on piano and Bashir on percussion, as well
as a contrabass and, later, clarinet and assorted Arabic percussion.

The personnel change brought with it a profound change in the
evening’s musical mood. Significant as it is in the region’s music
history, and magisterial as it is in performance, "Ahmad al-Arabi"
has, unavoidably perhaps, a monumental stiffness about it. The more
relaxed jazz ensemble is much closer in form to the one man-one oud
performance of political songs that made Khalife a household name.

This performance, mostly comprised of newer arrangements of much-loved
tunes from the 1980s, was a perfect complement to the solemnities
of the cantata. Part-way through the third number, the pianist and
bassist veered the piece into jazz improv territory, which saw the
younger Khalife stand for a spate of his patented poundings of the
piano’s insides.

Another highlight of the concert’s midsection was a second imaginative
solo by the PYO’s clarinettist. The clarinet isn’t necessary the first
instrument to come to mind when one thinks of Palestinian music –
redolent, as it is, of the Klezmer music of Ashkenazi culture. Then
again, as one audience member observed, certain Israelis have devoted
so much energy to appropriating Palestine’s material culture for
themselves, it’s about time Palestine stole something back.

It was coming near midnight by the time the Khalifes’ jazz incarnation
had had their fill of the stage. Reem Talhami and the PYO stepped
into the breach with Suhail Khoury’s mutable "Ashiqa," a piece more
than slightly redolent of the work of American compose Aaron Copland,
particularly during his "Billy the Kid" phase.

Alas, the Khalifes’ jazz ensemble proved a hard act to follow. Some in
the Beiteddine audience preferred to leave early and beat the traffic
than enjoy Talhami’s lilting and passionate interpretation. That’s
their loss.

JUNIOR MINER SOARS ON GOLD DRILL RESULTS

Stockhouse
8/12/2009 5:24:49 PM

Gold assays made more than a few shareholders happy Wednesday, while
financial results propelled a health care play.

TORONTO (SHfn) – Gold assays made more than a few shareholders happy
Wednesday, while financial results propelled a health care play.

Lydian International (TSX: T.LYD, Stock Forum), shares surged 105%
to 84 cents on Wednesday after the micro cap explorer announced the
first results from a 14000 metre step-out drilling program recently
initiated at its Amulsar gold discovery in Armenia, which included
82 metres at 2.5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.

As well, shares of Healthscreen Solutions (TSX: V.MDU, Stock
Forum) gained 18% to 10 cents as the provider of physician practice
enhancement services and electronic medical record software reported
third-quarter revenue that surged 33% to $3,501,141, while net income
from continuing operations was $156,552, compared with a loss of
$735,368 during the same period last year.

WGI Heavy Minerals (TSX: T.WG, Stock Forum), meanwhile, announced
a 15% increase in second-quarter revenue to $7.02 million, while
net income for the quarter was $0.28 million, or a penny a share,
compared with a net loss of $0.72 million, or three cents a share,
in Q2 2008. WGI stock popped 22% to 28 cents.

Alhambra Resources (TSX: V.ALH, Stock Forum) shares soared 150%
to 25 cents after the junior explorer reported that the five member
panel of judges representing the Supreme Court of the Republic of
Kazakhstan heard the company’s appeal to overturn the decisions of the
lower courts of Kazakhstan, which invalidated the original agreement
whereby Alhambra purchased Saga Creek Gold Company LLP. As a result
of this hearing, the Supreme Court issued a verbal ruling reversing
the decisions of the lower courts and dismissed the plaintiffs’ claim.

And, Wescan Goldfields (TSX: V.WGF, Stock Forum) Wednesday said
drilling has begun on its Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan coal exploration
project. Wescan will initially explore a large block of coal permits,
approximately 86 kilometres wide lying north of the Pasquia Hills
in an area where potential depth to coal may be shallow. Within
this northern block, Fugro Airborne Surveys has identified a number
of priority geophysical anomalies that may be related to laterally
extensive coal deposits. Its shares powered 32% higher to 25 cents.

Top Canadian Small/Micro-cap Advancers (as of 4 PM Eastern) Eloda
Corporation (TSX: V.ELA, Stock Forum) + 100% Lehman Trikes (TSX:
V.LHT, Stock Forum) + 88% Yangaroo (TSX: V.YOO, Stock Forum) + 60%
Brazilian Diamonds (TSX: T.BDY, Stock Forum) + 50% SFK Pulp Fund (TSX:
T.SFK.UN, Stock Forum) + 43% Top Canadian Small/Micro-cap Decliners
Kingsman Resources (TSX: V.KSM, Stock Forum) – 39% OSE Corp. (TSX:
V.OSE, Stock Forum) – 33% Advantex Marketing Int’l (TSX: T.ADX,
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