Author: Toganian Liana

ARMENIAN, AZERI PRESIDENTS MAY MEET DURING WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM IN DAVOS

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.01.2009 14:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia and Ilham Aliyev
of Azerbaijan may meet during the World Economic Forum in Davos,
a reliable source told PanARMENIAN.Net.

OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs will arrive in Yerevan on January 20 to
negotiate a presidential meeting.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a Geneva-based non-profit foundation
best known for its Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland which brings
together top business leaders, international political leaders,
selected intellectuals and journalists to discuss the most pressing
issues facing the world including health and the environment.

ARRESTED AND CONVICTED PERSONS ON THE CASE ABOUT MASS DISORDERS IN YEREVAN HAVE SENT OPEN LETTER TO PACE CO-RAPPORTEURS

ArmInfo
2009-01-14 10:26:00

ArmInfo. The arrested and convicted persons on the case about March
1-2 mass disorders in Yerevan have sent an open letter to George
Kolumbier and John Prescott – PACE co-rapporteurs on monitoring of
fulfillment of PACE Resolutions 1609 and 1620 by Armenia.

The letter received by ArmInfo today says the co-rapporteurs said
before PACE summer session that the Armenian authorities fixed a
notable progress in fulfillment of the provisions of the aforenamed
resolutions. Meanwhile, the letter says, nothing was done towards
their fulfillment, about which the co-rapporteurs were well aware,
the document authors say. ‘You inflicted great harm to the case of
disclosure of March 1 circumstances, as well as to the image of the
authoritative European structures you represent. Now, you arrive in
Armenia to take away with you a fact of ‘pardon’ of our 9 friends,
having been ‘generously’ pardoned by the authorities just before
your visit to Armenia as an ‘evidence’ of doubtless progress. Thus,
you only increase the degree of your personal responsibility you will
certainly bear’, the letter says.

The open letter was signed by the arrested and convicted persons on
the case of mass disorders: ex-deputy Prosecutor General of Armenia
Gagik Jhangiryan, ex-FM of Armenia Alexander Arzumanyan, MPs Myasnik
Malkhasyan, Hakop Hakopyan, Sasun Mikaelyan, leader of ‘Tsekhakron’
party Shant Harutyunuan, member of the Political Council of ‘Republic’
party Smbat Ayvazyan, ex-Mayor of Abovyan Grigor Voskerchyan, Mushegh
Saghatelyan, Suren Sirunyan, Tigran Lazarian, Levon Lazarian,
Tatev Gasparyan and others.

Armenia and Turkey win FIFA Fair Play Award Tuesday 13 January 2009
Executive Office

The national football associations of Armenia and Turkey have received
the 2008 FIFA Fair Play Award for their part in encouraging dialogue
between two countries which otherwise do not have any form of
diplomatic relationship. The presentation took place at the 2008 FIFA
World Player Gala in Zurich on Monday.

Historic initiative
On 6 September last year, the President of Turkey, Abdullah Gül,
travelled to the Armenian capital Yerevan on the invitation of
Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan to attend the FIFA World Cup
qualifying Group 5 match between the two countries. French President
Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country held the EU presidency at the time,
dubbed the meeting a historic and brave initiative. The visit was also
welcomed by the international press, while the great majority of the
Turkish public expressed their approval in opinion polls.

‘Message of hope’
"As a result, sport, and more specifically football, has helped
alleviate a situation where traditional diplomacy had failed since
1991, the year Armenia gained independence," FIFA said in a
statement. "[Armenia and Turkey] have provided an extraordinary
example of the power of sport’s spirit, and have sent out a
considerable message of hope in a region which has a great need of
such messages," said UEFA President Michel Platini after the match in
September

Return invitation
The Turkish President announced that he did not wish the dispute
between the two nations to be part of his legacy for future
generations. President Gül has also invited his Armenian counterpart
to attend the FIFA World Cup qualifying match between the two sides in
Istanbul on 14 October.

Palestinian presentation
At the FIFA gala, Mr Platini joined FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter
in presenting the first Development Award to the Palestinian Football
Association for the construction of the Al-Husseini stadium in Al-Ram,
the country’s first international-class stadium. This enabled
Palestine to host their first home international on their own soil
against Jordan in October 2008.

THIS ENTREPRENEUR SEES NO DOWNTURN IN HIS BUSINESS
By Ramesh Mathew

Gulf Times
e.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=266259&version=1&amp ;template_id=36&parent_id=16
Jan 13 2009
Qatar

THERE are still a lot of opportunities for investment in Qatar,
feels an entrepreneur, who runs a manufacturing unit of mementos,
gifts, presentation boxes and packages.

Armenian born-Vicken Deyirmenjian is a well-known name in Qatar for
making trophies, medals and presentation wares.

The young businessman, who heads the unit employing about 200 craftsmen
on Street 48 of Industrial Area, said he had enough reasons to be
confident about his business even in the face of global economic
slowdown. "As a businessman, one needs to bear in mind what the market
requires at this juncture. Entrepreneurs should work out their future
plans to suit the requirements of the market," he said.

Speaking to Gulf Times at his pavilion at the Doha Exhibition Centre
as part of the "Made in Qatar" exhibition, the entrepreneur said until
now he had not experienced anything that indicated a downward trend
in business in Qatar. "In our business, every customer comes to buy
something new and my company is meeting the demand," he said.

He said Qatar is a good place to do business and has a growing local
market for new products.

Deyirmenjian said he has enough orders to deliver at the local level
and he saw more chances to grow in coming years.

Echoing similar feelings, his wife Vacha also feels that Qatar provides
ample opportunities for entrepreneurs who take up challenges. "This
country is very much business-friendly and has a number of people
having a good disposable income," she said.

Stuff.co.nz, New Zealand
Jan 11 2009

Serj Tankian’s ‘Big Day Off’

By ELLEN IRVINE – Sunday News | Monday, 12 January 2009

TIME OUT: Serj Tankian says playing the Big Day Out music festival is
more like a ‘Big Day Off’ for artists.

Rocker Serj Tankian says artists like playing the Big Day Out festival
circuit so much they call it "The Big Day Off".

The tour starts in Auckland on January 16, and goes to the Gold Coast,
Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide before finishing in Perth on February
1.

That gives touring musicians a whoppping 11 days when they’re not
required on stage.

"You get a lot of time off, which is why we call it the Big Day
Off. I’ve had a great time (in the past), I’m really looking forward
to it," Tankian told Sunday News.

The Armenian-born, American-raised musician has played the festival
twice with System of a Down, which is in a "permanent hiatus".

"I have so many memories of Big Day Out. Just two years ago, I got on
stage in Auckland and did a song with Tool – that was really great,"
Tankian said.

"My most recent memory was Rage Against the Machine last year (where
he made a guest appearance with Tom Morello’s The Nightwatchman).

"I have done the tour twice with System and had an amazing time. I
always say my two favourite ever tours are the European festivals and
Big Day Out.

"They are the most fun tours to be part of – it’s summer time, it’s
very chill, everyone is having a good time."

This time around Tankian will be playing his unique brand of music
from his solo album Elect the Dead.

Leaving System to play on-stage as a solo artist didn’t faze Tankian
but he says the biggest challenge he faced was re-establiishing
himself as a solo artist.

"I’ve had to build that up again. That’s been a challenging process,
(but) the record’s been received really well.

"I’ve done all the things I wanted to do witha solo record. I’m going
to be putting out solo records for the rest of my life."

Tankian owns a house in New Zealand and has residency, spending about
three months each year here.

He’s worked with Kiwi artists including Bic and Boh Runga, and uses
his time here to write.

"i enjoy coming down there and spend as much time as I can away from a
hectic work schedule," he said.

"I do a lot of writing, which is nice. I need space to write. It’s a
beautiful thing."

But this summer he’s got another project in the pipeline – he will
perform Elect the Dead with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra on
March 16.

* Big Day Out, January 16, Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland.

Panorama.am
14:50 10/01/2009

WORLD AND EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIPS IN ARMENIA

World and Europe Championships are to be organized in Armenia, reports
the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs. World Youth Championship of
Boxing will be conducted on 22-31 May and European Youth Championship
of Judo on 11-13 September.

Source: Panorama.am

State Budget Project Affirmed in Parliament

December 29, 2008

NKR Government Information and
Public Relations Department

Today, with the majority of votes the NKR Parliament has approved the
project of the NKR State Budget 2009. The NKR Prime Minister Ara
Haroutyunyan noted in his brief speech that he is satisfied with the
results of the Budget discussions, which took place in the NKR National
Assembly, a constructive dialogue was carried on between the Executive
and the Legislative authorities. Though in the result of the world
economic crisis, an unfavourable condition to a certain extent was
created, without "Base Metals" the main tax-payer company, in the
second half of 2008, the private tax revenues increased by 50 percent
on the part of the other tax-payers. The total economic growth in the
Republic formed more than 14 percent. This index must be retained in
2009 as well,- the Prime Minister asserted. It was simultaneously
underlined that it is necessary to considerably raise the GDP in the
forthcoming year and to equalize it to the level of Armenia.
A.Haroytyunyan reported that a commission occupied with anti-crisis
problems, with the Prime Minister at the head will be created.

According to the presentation by the Head of the Government certain
steps to reduce and prevent the consequences of the financial and
economic crisis have been already taken. Particularly, changes with
this aim were implemented in the tax legislation.

The Prime Minister touched upon other undertakings and attitudes of the
Government due to which the outlined social and economic programmes
will be possible to implement in 2009.

Science Letter
December 30, 2008

ASTROPHYSICS;
New findings from V.G. Gurzadyan and co-authors describe advances in
astrophysics

"We continue investigation of the hidden plane-mirror symmetry in the
distribution of excursion sets in cosmic microwave background (CMB)
temperature anisotropy maps, previously noticed in the three-year data
of the Wilkinson microwave anisotropy probe (WMAP), using the WMAP 5
years maps," scientists in Yerevan, Armenia report (see also
Astrophysics).

"The symmetry is shown to have higher significance, chi(2) < 1.7, for
low multipoles l< 5, while disappearing at larger multipoles, chi(2) >
3.5 for l> 10. The study of the sum and difference maps of temperature
inhomogeneity regions, along with simulated maps, confirms its
existence," wrote V.G. Gurzadyan and colleagues.

The researchers concluded: "The properties of these mirroring
symmetries are compatible with those produced by the Sachs-Wolfe
effect in the presence of an anomalously large component of
horizon-size density perturbations, independent of one of the spatial
coordinates, and/or a slab-like spatial topology of the Universe."

Gurzadyan and colleagues published their study in Astronomy &
Astrophysics (Large scale plane-mirroring in the cosmic microwave
background WMAP5 maps. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2008;490(3):929-932).

For more information, contact V.G. Gurzadyan, Yerevan Physics
Institute, Yerevan 375036, Armenia.

Publisher contact information for the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics
is: EDP Sciences S a, 17, Avenue du Hoggar, PA Courtaboeuf, BP 112,
F-91944 les Ulis Cedex a, France.

ANC MV MEETS WITH REPRESENTATIVE NIKI TSONGAS

armradio.am
30.12.2008 13:14

Armenian National Committee of Merrimack Valley (ANC MV) activists
met with Congresswoman Niki Tsongas (D-MA-5) to discuss issues
of concern to the Armenian American community, including Armenian
Genocide recognition and Nagorno Karabakh self-determination.

During the meeting, past ANC MV chairmen Joe Dagdigian and Stepan
Dulgarian explained the history of Nagorno Karabakh and the continuous
human rights violations committed by the Azeri government. ANC MV
chairwoman Pearl Teague encouraged Tsongas to take more decisive
action on this issue and support appropriate aid and other economic
and political policies regarding self- determination for the people
of Nagorno Karabakh.

Activist John Dagdigian shared his views regarding genocide
recognition and Stepan Dulgarian also shared his family’s personal
experience. Tsongas who had co-sponsored H. Res. 106, the Armenian
Genocide resolution, shortly after being sworn in to the 110th
Congress in October 2007, expressed her commitment to this issue
and the importance of its recognition. "The mass murders committed
by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians was genocide," said
Tsongas. "Other countries have acknowledged dark chapters in their
past and it is time for Turkey to do the same. The Armenians and the
descendants of those who were victimized deserve justice." The ANC MV
also provided materials to the representative as well as encouraged
her to take a leadership role during the 111th Congress on important
Armenian issues.

"We are grateful to have Congresswoman Tsongas serving the 5th
Congressional district of Massachusetts. Several Armenian Americans
reside in the district and our community looks forward to working
with her in the upcoming Congress."

NKR DEFENSE ARMY’S COUNCIL CONVENES A SITTING IN STEPANEKERT

armradio.am
29.12.2008 12:47

On 27 December at the Officer’s Palace of capital Stepanakert took
place a meeting of the NKR Defense Army’s Military Council convoked
to sum-up the activities of the army in 2008. During the meeting
President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakyan delivered
a comprehensive speech, Central Information Department of the Office
of the NKR President reported.

In his speech the head of state particularly said:

"Generals and officers, Respected participants,

I am glad to greet all of you. It is the hard and consecutive work
carried out army and people that has enabled us to gather today and sum
up the results of the year in the conditions of tranquility and peace.

During the current year we succeeded in defending and further
strengthening the borders of our country, raising fighting efficiency
of the Defense Army, ameliorating social conditions of the servicemen,
solving a number of security issues.

Aggressive and anti-Armenian policy waged by the authorities of
Azerbaijani, sharp drastic increases in military spending, frequent
violations of the cease-fire regime require us to be more vigilant
and purposeful in strengthening defense potential of the country. The
issues related to state security, army building, combat readiness of
the servicemen represent call of the times for us.

As a suprem e commander-in-chief today I can declare with great
satisfaction and pride that the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Defense Army
is strong and battle-worthy, it is ready to rebuff any encroachment of
the enemy. The neutralization of the enemy’s subversive actions in this
March and November by our soldiers is the best evidence of that. The
state has valued the subversive and heroism of the servicemen.

It is symbolic that servicemen representing different generations
fought together against the enemy. This is the embodiment of smooth
alternation of generations and a strong commitment to keep good
traditions. I have given appropriate instructions to the government for
employment assistance to officers demobilized from the armed forces.

The results of current and general inspections, as well as military
maneuvers also show high level of combat readiness and fighting
strength. It is worth mentioning that successful completion of the
recent offensive war games has demonstrated that the Defense Army not
only effectively protects our borders but if necessary it is able to
transfer military operations deep into the territory of an aggressor
state and enforce it to accept peace.

However, we must keep being watchful not to allow the enemy event think
about taking the initiative and dictate his will to us. Everybody must
realize that the independence and security of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic are not matter of speculations once and for all.

Activi ties directed to strengthening our borders make efficient
patrolling carried out in the positions.

I have given instructions and orders concerning army building, the
situation along the line of contact, amelioration of social conditions
of the servicemen and other related issues during consultations with
the supreme command staff of the army. The last such consultation
took place on 15 of December. I was reported that the discussed issues
have been brought to the notice of appropriate chains, so I will not
touch upon those questions.

However, I would like to underline once again the importance of
issues related to armaments, logistics, intelligence, aid defense,
military discipline. Elaborating effective ways to find solve these
issues will have a palpable impact on strengthening the country’s
defense capacity and combat readiness.

I consider positive considerable reduction of the enemy’s activities
along the line of contact, which were the results of proper exercise
of intelligence activities and control of the situation.

I consider important maintaining proper discipline in military
units. Of course, in military units exercising combat duties along
the line of contact in a situation of constant tensions extraordinary
cases cannot be excluded.

However, necessary steps should be taken to minimize cases of
deaths and injuries of servicemen that take place under other
circumstances. Special attention should be paid to the issue of

carrying out daily duties of the commanders and officers on the basis
of utmost responsibility, high discipline and self-conscience, maximal
attentiveness towards the subordinate. Any inappropriate causality
casts negative impact on the morale and fighting efficiency of the
army, on its image and on further strengthening the society-army ties.

The fighting efficiency of the army is directly connected with social
conditions of the servicemen and their families. For this very reason
the state keeps in the spotlight the progress of work related to
these issues.

The defender of the Fatherland should be as free of everyday
necessities of life as possible, so that to carry out his duties
adequately. Within this context I consider positive the fact
that in 2008 around 130 servicemen were provided with comfortable
apartments. This practice will be of a continuing nature.

The authorities pay special attention to the needs of the
families of the perished, missing-in-action and wounded freedom
fighters. Serious work has been carried out to solve their social
problems, including those related to housing, life conditions, health
and education. Parallel with this I consider important assistance of
the state in full integration of the disable into the society. The
program of providing hand operation cars to the first disability group
freedom fighters pursues this very purpose. I am confident that this
policy will have a positive impact on further stre ngthening healthy
moral and psychological atmosphere both in the armed forces and in
the society.

In different fields of activities in our country, in public life,
in ameliorating socioeconomic conditions of veterans and the disable,
in patriotic upbringing of the younger generation the Union of Freedom
Fighters of Artsakh plays an important role. The authorities of the
Nagorno Karabakh Republic rated high active participation of freedom
fighters that contribute to the development and prosperity of the
Fatherland and will keep providing assistance to the activities of
the union in every possible way

Dear participants, I would like to mention that the participation
of the President of the Republic in such meetings will become
traditional. This will enable to make more effective the activities
of the Defense Army, a sphere of vital importance to our country.

Summarizing my speech, I would like to congratulate the whole personnel
of our army on successful completion of the year and praiseworthy
realization of the assigned task. I also congratulate you on the
coming New Year and Christmas and wish everybody personal happiness,
good health and peace."