Author: Virabian Jhanna

HEAD OF YEREVAN POLICE EXPLAINS SITUATION AROUND INCIDENT AT “YERKRAPAH” UNION

Yerevan, April 10. ArmInfo. Nerses Nazarian, head of the Yerevan
Police, explained the situation around the incident with “Yerkrapah”
Union of Volunteers.

He said that the information about the clash that happened between
the policemen and the members of “Yerkrapah” union is false. At the
same time he added that the policemen of Kanaker-Zeytoun community
tried to enter the edifice of the union, when chasing a criminal.

Being unaware of the situation, the members of the union got irritated
with the behavior of the policemen and hindered their work.

“There was no clash, they just argued a bit,” he said. He added that
he personally met with General-Lieutenant Manvel Grigorian, head of
the union, and discussed the situation.

While the members of “Yerkrapah” union and the policemen were argued,
the chased criminal managed to escape.

THERMAL POWER PLANT DEAL AT CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

Lragir.am
12 April 06

MP Manuk Gasparyan stated April 11 that he is going to appeal to the
Constitutional Court against the deal of selling the fifth generating
unit of the Thermal Power Plant of Hrazdan to Russia. Manuk Gasparyan
says it is a criminal bargain, attacking the country’s interests.

The member of parliament is convinced that the government of Armenia
has already sold the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline to Russia. Manuk
Gasparyan believes that the pipeline is the core of this deal.

His argument is the information on the official website of Gasprom.

The Russian company first announced about buying the gas pipeline,
then rephrased the sentence. Particularly, Gasprom announced about
buying the fifth generating unit of the Thermal Power Plant of Hrazdan
and other objects of the gas sector of Armenia.

“You see they artfully concealed it but the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline
was included in that deal. They simply hid the name. It is there by
hundred per cent. Besides, they will give the hydropower plant on
Arax to Iran to calm Iran,” says Manuk Gasparyan.

He also mentions that after the fifth generating unit of the Thermal
Power Plant of Hrazdan is transferred to Gasprom the latter will have
82 per cent of shares of Armrusgasard instead of the former 45 per
cent. Hence, Armenia loses 25 per cent of shares and the right to veto.

Manuk Gasparyan also states that the Armenian leadership accepted a
bribe from Russia, that is a sum much over the price of these objects.

FORMER COACH OF ARMENIAN FOOTBALL TEAM HELPS TWO DARK-SKINNED FOOTBALL PLAYERS TO ESCAPE FROM COUNTRY

Yerevan, April 10. ArmInfo. The case of the Armenian “Pyunik” football
players Apoula Edel Bete and Carl Lombe is expected to plunge into
an unexpected turning.

Fourth finalist of UEFA Cup 2006, Romanian Club “Rapid” from
Bucharest, was concerned with the escape of the football players,
in particular, Sport Director of the Club Mikhai Stoika, who had
worked at the Armenian national team and at “Pyunik” as a second
coach several years ago. Organizing the escape of players to Romania,
“Rapid” representatives signed a contract with the football players
forging a number of documents. The lawyer of the players informed of
the forgery, Russian Mass Media report.

THE TEMPERATURE WILL REACH 30 DEGREE C ON APRIL 15

A1+
[12:19 pm] 11 April, 2006

In comparison with the previous year this April is warmer. This fact
has aroused public concern.

According to the Chief of the Hydrometereological Service Department
Zarui Petrosyan the warm weather is not queer at all, “The sudden
changes of southern and northern warm and cold currents at the
end of March are not unusual and abnormal. Such normal changes are
characteristic of this period. The temperature of last April was 22
– 23 degree C and this year it has reached to 23 – 24 degree C. The
temperature will still rise during the coming 10 days for 2 – 5 degree
C. The rain will fall only after the noon. The highest temperature
will be on April 15 – about 30 degree C.

Thus there is no need to worry.”

There are cases of freezing in this time of the year.

But according to the data of the Hydrometereological Service there
won’t be frost cases theoretically, “The probability of freezing is
small. An abrupt fall of temperature by 2 – 3 degree C was fixed in
2003 and by 1 degree C in 2004. There were severe frosts in Ararat
valley in 2004 as a result of which we did not have apricot this
year. We have had warm temperature since last year. Nobody can
exclude the possibility of temperature fall in 2 years’ time. The
weather does not have a definite plot; none of us can foresee its
further changes. We can only predict the changes of the coming 5
days. The average time of freezing is from April 25 to May 13. The
climate got warmer gradually this year. There is no need to fear the
overflows as the snow level is 2000 meters height in the country,”
added Zarui Petrosyan.

As for the keen public interest towards the weather changes Zarui
Petrosyan says that it is determined by the extreme changes of global
climate in comparison of which the Armenian climate is milder and
warmer.

“Mainly elderly women are interested in climate changes as they affect
their blood pressure and cause headaches. It is normal,” says one of
the Hydrometereological Service workers.

RA PRESIDENT RECEIVED CHARLES AZNAVOUR

ArmRadio.am
10.04.2006 12:35

RA President Robert Kocharyan received today famous singer, public
figure Charles Aznavour, who arrived in Armenia with the first flight
of the “Air France” Company.

Warmly welcoming the guest, the President noted that he should pay
at least one or two visits to Armenia annually and should visit not
only Yerevan but also other marzes to get to know whole Armenia.

“I’m glad to see that the life in the country progresses,” Charles
Aznavour said. The interlocutors discussed humanitarian issues, and
turned to the process of implementation of the programs by “Aznavour
in Armenia” Fund and the new initiatives. Robert Kocharyan informed
that a number of interesting programs including various spheres are
being discussed currently with the French side.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Bush Administration Going to Boost Military Aid to
Azerbaijan

07.04.2006 23:37 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Bush administration is going to
increase the volume of the military aid to Azerbaijan,
Department of State Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli stated
at a briefing. The executive has already submitted the
budget inquiry to the Congress.

According to Ereli, the decision should be viewed as a
support to the policy of `civic control over the armed
forces and the military cooperation targeted at
stability in the region as well as the integration,
operative compatibility and training of the states of
the region.’

According to some informal sources, the U.S. intends
to allocate Azerbaijan $28 million for the support of
democratic reform, $4.5 million as military assistance
and $885 thousand for the training of the military,
reported ITAR-TASS

MSN Money
April 7 2006

Armenian Official Denies Pipeline deal

All Associated Press News

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) – Armenia’s energy minister denied Friday that
the impoverished Caucasus Mountain nation had struck a deal with
Russia’s state-run gas monopoly to hand it control of part of a new
Armenian-Iranian gas pipeline.

OAO Gazprom a day earlier announced that it had struck a 25-year-deal
giving Gazprom’s Armenian joint venture ownership rights to the
Armenian segment of a planned pipeline bringing Iranian gas to the
country and an electricity power generating unit.

IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES
By Eleni Kostopoulos, Copy Editor

SUNY The New Paltz Oracle, USA
April 6 2006

We are the generation of MySpace, iPods and camera phones. We don’t
write letters-we e-mail. We don’t call-we text message. Why walk into
a crowded mall when you can just buy it on eBay? In an effort to beat
its international competitors, it’s evident that our nation is driven
by technological advancement, and at this rate, our offspring will
be probably be taking online physical education classes.

In retrospect, it’s slightly unfortunate that we love to distract
ourselves from reality by means of electronic devices, using the
excuse of convenience or mere entertainment. But, while we take two
steps forward in such advancement, we seem to be regressing in many
other areas of society, and distractions are more convenient than ever.

South Dakota recently passed a constricting anti-abortion act,
an event that shattered the battles that so many women in our
history have fought and suffered for. Our current national debt
is $8,380,174,381,070.26 and will have risen by millions more in a
matter of 24 hours (if you live in this country, then that’s YOUR
money). There is a brutal genocide in Darfur, comparable to Armenia,
the Holocaust and Rwanda, and our intervention has been minimal.

The list of the problems our nation is facing is evidently endless.

Why are we letting history repeat itself? Why aren’t we learning
from our mistakes? Why are we spending more and more time browsing
the Web than caring about what is going on in the world?

Truth be told, I would much rather check that pending friend request
than spend a minute worrying about the horrid state this country is
in and how much of an ass President Bush is. But once in a while,
reality hits you. It’s not only about the country’s future-it’s about
your future and your children’s future. Sometimes, all it takes is
paying attention to what’s going on to at least build a foundation
toward making a change. So hit pause on the iPod, and pick up a
newspaper (unless you like to read and listen to music at the same
time, like myself). If you’re going to be online, forward an e-mail
to your friends about something going on that they would never make
an effort to read about. Overall, take a little time out to simply
pay attention–and then you can finish temporarily escaping it all
with your favorite guilty pleasure.

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ISSUE OF RA NA REPRESENTATIVES’ PARTICIPATION IN PARLIAMENTARY DEPUTIES’ 4th WORLD MARATHON IS NOT CLEAR YET

Noyan Tapan
Apr 05 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The 4th world marathon of parliamentary
deputies will be held on May 7 in the Polish city of Krakow. RA
National Assembly also received an official invitation to take
part in the marathon. “We have applied to groups and factions
and if we have a person running this distance we will take part
without fail,” RA NA Speaker Artur Baghdasarian said at the April
4 press conference. He said that besides the political activity,
the Armenian parliamentarians will actively take part in sports
and cultural events in the future. According to A.Baghdasarian,
there is a preliminary agreement with their Russian and Italian
colleagues about holding a football game. The game with the Italian
parliamentarians will be held after the parliamentary elections in
this country but the holding of the game is conditioned by the fact,
“what political power will formed in that country”. Meanwhile Artur
Baghdasarian expressed anxiety, whether NA groups and factions will
be able to form a good football team.

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

05-04-2006

Minister Oskanian Receives
EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Ambassador Peter Semneby

Minister Oskanian, on April 5, received Peter Semneby, the newly appointed
EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus. Ambassador Semneby is in
Armenia on his first working visit.

The Minister congratulated the ambassador on his appointment and wished him
good luck in his mission. He continued by noting how much Armenia
appreciated the activity of the EU representation in the South Caucasus, and
specifically the valuable work of Ambassasdor Heikki Talvitie, the first EU
representative.

During the lengthy discussion, Minister Oskanian and Ambassador Semneby
exchanged views on a vast range of issues relating to regional cooperation,
conflict settlement, and Armenia-EU relations.

They discused the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement process at length. In
this regard, Minister Oskanian presented Ambassador Semneby with recent
developments, as well as Armenia’s approach to the process of negotiations.

The Minister and the Ambassador also touched on the European Neighbourhood
Policy Action Plan with Armenia, as well as on some aspects of
Armenian-Turkish relations.

A joint press conference followed the meeting.

Minister Oskanian and Ambassador Semneby continued their talks over lunch,
together with Fokion Fotiadis, the European Commission’s Deputy Director of
the Directorate General for External Relations.

Ambassador Peter Semneby was born in 1959. He was educated at the Stockholm
School of Economics, University of Uppsala, University of Stockholm, and the
John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. His most recent
assignment was as Head of the OSCE Mission to Croatia between 2002 and 2005.
>From 2000 to 2002, he was Head of the OSCE Mission to Latvia. He was
responsible for European Security and Defense Policy in the Swedish Ministry
for Foreign Affairs from 1997 to 2000. Earlier, he had served at the Swedish
embassies in Germany, Ukraine and the USSR, and was a member of the OSCE
Mission to Georgia in 1992. In addition to his native Swedish, Ambassador
Semneby speaks English, French, German, Russian and Croatian/Serbian.