EastDay.com, China
Aug 25 2004
Zou Shiming secures first ever Olympic boxing medal for China
Light flyweight Zou Shiming achieved a historic breakthrough for
Chinese boxing as he beat his Armenian opponent on points 20-12 in
Athens Tuesday to secure the first ever Olympic boxing medal for his
country at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
With rapid attacks and extremely flexible paces, the 23-year- old Zou
outclassed Aleksan Nalbandyan of Armenia in the four-round
quarterfinal match to book a berth in the semifinals of the 48kg
category.
As the losers of semifinals share bronze medal at Olympic boxing
tournament, Zou has secured at least one bronze medal for China, the
best ever result for Chinese boxers at the Olympic Games.
“I can’t say anything to you now as I am just watching the match of
my opponent in the semifinals,” said Zou when Xinhua reached him via
mobile phone.
In the semifinals scheduled for Aug. 27, Zou will take on Cuban boxer
Varela Yan Bhartelemy, who beat South Korean Hong Moo Won 30- 11 on
points in another quarterfinal match.
“We have aimed at a major breakthrough at this Olympic Games, but we
didn’t give much pressure to ourselves,” said Li Qingsheng, head
coach of the Chinese boxing team.
“Therefore, Zou played all his matches in a fairly relaxed manner and
fully displayed his strength,” Li added.
Though the Armenian boxer played quite well in the previous rounds,
Zou felt he was quite sure of beating him after “some careful
analysis of his techniques”, said Li.
Zou established an early lead 4-1 in the first round and had since
well controlled the match. He was 9-3 ahead at the end of the second
round and 15-6 at the end of the third.
Zou, a native of Zunyi city, Guizhou Province in southwest China, was
a silver medalist in light flyweight at the 2003 world boxing
championships in Bangkok.
Zou had defeated Rau Shee Warren of the United States and Endalkachew
Kebede of Ethiopia to reach the quarterfinals.

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
Aug 25 2004
Armenian, Russian Troops Begin Joint Maneuvers
By Hrach Melkumian 25/08/2004 09:37
Underscoring their close defense ties, Armenia and Russia began on
Tuesday regular joint military exercises near Yerevan involving
hundreds of troops, military hardware and air force.
Officials said elements of Armenia’s Fifth Army Corps and the Russian
military base stationed in the country will practice military
operations and try to improve their interoperability during the
three-day maneuvers.
They said the troops will fire live rounds from light and heavy
weapons, including tanks and helicopter gunships.
`We are strategic partners and have a cooperation plan for 2004
singed by our defense ministers. The holding of such events is part
of it,’ Colonel-General Mikael Harutiunian, chief of staff of the
Armenian armed forces, told RFE/RL.
`We have held such joint exercises for the last several years,’ he
said. `They are not directed against any other third country. Their
aim is to improve the combat readiness and cooperation of the
Armenian Armed Forces and 102nd Russian military base.’
The military alliance with Russia is a key component of Armenia’s
national security doctrine which sees a military threat from
neighboring Turkey. Russia has been the main source of external arms
supplies and training for the Armenian military for over a decade.
Harutiunian added that Armenia stands ready to hold similar exercises
with `other countries,’ apparently alluding to Yerevan’s growing
participation in NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP) program. Armenia
hosted a first-ever NATO-led exercise on its soil in June 2002 and
intends to take part in similar drills to be held in Azerbaijan next
month.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Aug 25 2004
Elmar Mamedyarov Does Not Disclose Subject of Upcoming Meeting with
Armenian Foreign Minister
25/08/2004 09:49
TURAN — Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov confirmed yesterday
that he will meet with Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan in
Prague on 30 August.
He however evaded a question about subject of negotiations in Czech
capital.
Nor did Mamedyarov answer if activization of Russia’s role in
settlement of the Karabakh conflict could be expected in light of
recent meetings between Foreign Ministers of Russia and Azerbaijan,
and Presidents of Russia and Armenia. Mamedyarov promised to clarify
these issues after meeting in Prague.

Agence France Presse
Aug 25 2004

EQUATORIAL GUINEA
Coup suspects proclaim innocence
Two South Africans, who are on trial in Equatorial Guinea with 16
other people, on Tuesday denied playing any part in an alleged coup
plot against President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the
central African country wth an iron fist for 25 years.
One of the alleged masterminds of the putsch, South African Nick du
Toit, told the court earlier on Tuesday that four citizens of
Equatorial Guinea, who are among the accused, were all innocent.
South Africans Marius Boonzaaier and Sergio Patricio Cardoso told the
court they had been employed by Triple Option, a company in
Equatorial Guinea set up by Du Toit.
But they said they had never been aware of a scheme to oust Obiang
Nguema, who had himself seized power in a military coup on August 3,
1979.
Boonzaaier (48) and Cardoso (44), were both members of the South
African military before they were recruited by Du Toit, who admitted
to the court on Monday to playing a limited role in a coup bid.
The three South Africans have been on trial in Malabo since Monday,
along with five other South Africans, six Armenians and four
Equatorial Guineans, all accused of involvement in the alleged coup
bid.
South Africans arrested in early March
The South African and Armenian suspects were arrested in early March,
after Obiang Nguema declared on national television and radio that a
bid to oust him had been thwarted.
The four Equatorial Guineans now on trial in Malabo with Du Toit and
the other suspects include former deputy economic planning minister
Antonio Javier Nguema Nchama, who was also chairman of Triple Option.
Du Toit, who runs several businesses in the small oil-rich country,
told the court earlier on Tuesday he had only ever had strictly
professional ties with the four, who he said were all innocent.
Du Toit told the court he had been in charge of logistics for an
attempted putsch and had accepted the job at the request of one Simon
Mann, founder of the mercenary firm Executive Outcomes.
Du Toit accepted job at request of Simon Mann
Mann is alleged to have headed a group of 70 suspected mercenaries,
who were arrested in Zimbabwe on March 7 and accused by Obiang Nguema
of intending to join Du Toit and the other defendants in Equatorial
Guinea to take part in the coup.
Equatorial Guinea’s state prosecutor said on Monday he was seeking
the death penalty for Du Toit and prison terms ranging from 26 years
to 86 years for the other defendants.
That prompted South Africa to say on Tuesday that it would intervene
if Du Toit was sentenced to death.
“Our constitution outlaws the death penalty and therefore our
government will seek diplomatic intervention if the death penalty is
handed down,” foreign ministry spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa told AFP.
Boonzaaier and Cardoso told the court Du Toit had asked them to pick
up a group of people from Malabo airport on March 7 but insisted they
had not known why.
Boonzaaier said he had only heard about the alleged coup after he had
been arrested and Cardoso told the prosecutor he did not know why he
was on trial.

DetNews.com, MI
Aug 25 2004
Gritty images tell story of auto industry’s past
By Eric Mayne / The Detroit News
WINDSOR – Louis M. Papp’s modeling career began and ended the same
day – but at least he worked with the best.
The 70-year-old Windsor businessman was a teen when renowned
photographer Yousuf Karsh showed up at Ford of Canada’s now-defunct
Windsor trade school, where Papp was a student. Karsh, who gained
fame for a 1941 portrait of Winston Churchill, had been commissioned
by Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. to document the company’s Windsor
operations for its 1950 annual report.
The photographer enlisted Papp and his classmates to pose for him.
`I was somewhat of an amateur photographer myself,’ Papp recalled.
`But when I saw his equipment, I knew he wasn’t a beginner.’
The photo featuring Papp is part of a long-forgotten collection of
Karsh images on display through Nov. 14 at the Art Gallery of
Windsor. They not only reflect Karsh’s distinctive use of light and
shadow, they are snapshots of an industrial era before automation.
There are gritty images of tradesmen with meaty forearms and brows
glistening with perspiration. Some workers are focused on the task at
hand – spray-painting or tending a foundry furnace – while others
smile directly at the camera, transporting the viewer back to a time
when people were more intimately involved in auto manufacturing.
`They give the machines life and movement,’ Karsh said at the time.
`It is really their skill that gives a car strength and beauty.’
The exhibition also mirrors the auto industry’s growth pattern.
One hundred years ago this month, Henry Ford chose Windsor as the
site of his first international expansion and opened a factory to
build a Model T precursor, the Model C. As the Canadian company grew,
similar to Ford’s evolution in Detroit, job seekers flocked there
from around the world.
Karsh’s subjects – with names such as Fraser, LaMarsh and Wasyke –
reflect an ethnic diversity that survives in Windsor today. And all
are depicted with a sensitivity that borders on reverence.
`He saw everyone exactly the same, whether it was a head waiter or a
head of state,’ said Jerry Fielder, curator of the Karsh estate’s
collection and a former assistant to the photographer. `Whenever he
was photographing anyone, they had 100 percent of his attention and
nothing else mattered.’
Karsh, whose work is included among the permanent collections at New
York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and London’s National Portrait
Gallery, emigrated from Armenia to Canada in 1924, eventually opening
a studio in Ottawa, the nation’s capital. The capital setting
afforded him access to political leaders and other influential
thinkers who sat for his most memorable portraits.
They included John F. Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev, Jawaharlal Nehru,
Fidel Castro, Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway, Muhammad Ali and
Andy Warhol.
Karsh also had some rather offbeat assignments, such as documenting
behind-the-scenes activity during filming for the 1969 movie, `Planet
of the Apes.’
Karsh, who died in 2002 at 93, was commissioned to shoot industrial
scenes for other annual reports and some of these photos are also
part of the Windsor exhibition. But the Ford shots, of which there
are about two dozen, are the focus.
The photos were so well-received when originally published that Ford
of Canada featured the shots in a national touring exhibition. In the
half-century since, however, the collection has gradually been
dismantled, with photos haphazardly dispersed to decorate boardrooms
and workshops.
Cassandra Getty, curator of the Windsor gallery exhibition, restored
the collection with help from Ford of Canada. Partly because of those
efforts, Fielder donated two Karsh pieces to the Art Gallery of
Windsor’s permanent collection.
One is a Churchill portrait and the other features Maurice Lehoux,
who worked in the paint shop at Ford’s former Windsor car plant,
where the automaker now builds engines. When Maurice’s photo was
taken, Karsh’s greatness was lost on Lehoux, said his widow, Gloria
Lehoux, 70, of Windsor.
`He thought it was just … nothing,’ she said with a shrug.
Gow Crapper considered the exercise a bit of a joke. Sylvia O’Neil
Crapper of Windsor recalled how her late father-in-law described the
day Karsh spotted him on the assembly line and chose him as a
subject.
`He said to Gow, `You come with me.’ So Gow said, `Hey fellas! I’m
going to Hollywood!’ ‘
Gow Crapper, who died in 1987 at the age of 62, received $1 for the
use of his likeness – the same fee paid to Karsh’s other Ford
subjects. Crapper’s widow, Shirley, has the original image Karsh shot
of her husband.
Signed by the famed photographer, Fielder estimated its value at
between $5,000 and $8,000.
Papp, who now coordinates overseas joint ventures through his
company, Manufacturing Advisory Services, doesn’t have a copy of his
photo. He recalled seeing it once, many years ago, and was unaware it
was part of the Windsor exhibition – until his daughter visited the
gallery.
`I had to do a double take,’ Patricia Papp said.

Detroit Free Press, MI
Aug 25 2004
LOCAL VOICES: Cleanse world of genocide
Collective action can end Darfur atrocities
BY VICTOR BEGG DAVID GAD-HARF AND THE REV. DANIEL KRICHBAUM
We are blessed in metro Detroit to have a great number of activists
committed to improving interfaith and inter-race relations in our
community.
The connections we have built allow us to ensure positive and
constructive solutions to problems that may arise between our groups
and maintain an atmosphere of acceptance, tolerance and civility.
Taking a look into our history books underscores the importance of
working together to foster intergroup relations.
Toward the end of World War I, the Ottoman Empire began a program of
ethnic cleansing targeting the Armenian population. During the
Holocaust, over 6 million Jews and an equal number of non-Jews were
slaughtered in Europe. In the mid-1990s, 800,000 Rwandans were killed
in that African country’s program of mass murder. Around the same
time, Muslims in the former Yugoslavia were subjected to genocide.
Is it conceivable that such ethnic cleansing that so stained the 20th
Century continues today?
Not only is it conceivable, but it is happening. As we speak, blacks
in Sudan’s Darfur region are being killed, raped and displaced by
militiamen known as the Janjaweed. These militias are supported by a
Sudanese government that continues to allow the Janjaweed to commit
these atrocities against fellow Muslims in the African nation. Both
the U.S. Congress and UN Security Council have issued resolutions
condemning the ongoing genocide.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan also have visited the Darfur area, but these minimal efforts
are not enough. The Save Darfur Coalition (), made
up of more than 80 organizations, including representation from major
faith groups and humanitarian organizations, has designated today,
Aug. 25, as the Day of Conscience.
Across North America, communities are engaging in interfaith efforts
to raise public awareness about the horrific situation in Darfur and
to demand that the international community take immediate and
decisive action to stop the ethnic cleansing.
So what can each of us do today and in the coming days, weeks and
months to end this great tragedy unfolding before us? Each of us
should write to President George W. Bush and urge him to declare what
is happening in Darfur genocide (he has not done so, even though such
a declaration would solidify support for Darfurians). We can also ask
our members of Congress to express their outrage that genocide can
still occur and speak publicly about the issue.
Our religious clergy can bring this issue to the attention of their
congregations. We can pledge financial support — no matter how large
or small — to the relief organizations trying to provide food,
water, health care and shelter to over one million refugees of this
crisis.
The value of every action — whether individual or collective — can
bring an end to this great human tragedy.
Who knows what could have been had more people stood up to Hitler, if
more nations had spoken out against Slobodan Milosevic in Bosnia?
Here in metro Detroit, we are committed to improving our
understanding of, and relations among, all religious, racial and
ethnic groups despite our differences. One important lesson that we
have learned is that no matter which faith we hold so dear, we are
all commanded to respect life, care for those in need and create a
better world.
It is this belief that underscores today’s Day of Conscience. Let us
act now to raise awareness of the atrocities being committed in
Sudan. Let us act together, quickly, so that this new century does
not carry the bloody stains of the previous one.
VICTOR BEGG is vice chair of the Council of Islamic Organizations of
Michigan; DAVID GAD-HARF is executive director of the Jewish
Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit; THE REV. DAN KRICHBAUM is
executive Director of the National Conference for Community &
Justice. Write to them in care of the Free Press Editorial Page, 600
W. Fort St., Detroit, MI 48226.

Novinite, Bulgaria
Aug 25 2004
Winning Start for Bulgaria’s Nazaryan

Bulgaria’s Armen Nazaryan won his first wrestling battle in the
Olympics, defeating Elgharably of Egypt. Photo by
armennazaryan.tripod.com

Bulgarian wrestler Armen Nazaryan overpowered his first Olympic rival
on Wednesday.
Nazaryan, 22, won over Ashraf Elgharably of Egypt, in Pool C of men’s
Greco-Roman 60kg pool elimination.
The Armenia-born athlete, who is married to a Bulgarian, is two times
World and Olympic champion.

San Diego Union Tribune, CA
Aug 25 2004
Arrest is praised by U.S. authorities
By Anna Cearley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
TIJUANA – A man suspected of running a people-smuggling operation
along the California border was arrested yesterday by Mexican federal
agents in Mexicali.

Agustín Chan Montoya was “one of the most sought-after people
smugglers” in the area for U.S and Mexican authorities, said Abraham
Sarabia, spokesman for the Mexican attorney general’s office in
Tijuana.
Mexican federal authorities said Chan also had been smuggling
non-Mexicans. Authorities were exploring a connection between him and
a group of eight Iranians and Armenians detained in Mexicali last
week after a tip from U.S. authorities.
U.S. authorities praised the arrest of Chan, who is in his mid-30s.
Smuggling organizations of the type Chan is accused of operating are
believed to move thousands of people illegally into the United States
each year.
“It’s a very significant arrest in the eyes of U.S. law enforcement
authorities,” said Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement. “This is certainly someone who has been on our
radar screen.”
This was Chan’s second arrest in 20 months. He was captured in
January 2003 on an arrest warrant in Mexicali after a coordinated
investigation between U.S. and Mexican authorities, but he was
released from prison. It wasn’t clear if a judge had dismissed the
case or if Chan served a short sentence.
Immigrants caught in the Imperial Valley by U.S. Border Patrol agents
this year identified Chan through photos as the smuggler who had
arranged their trip, according to the latest Mexican arrest warrant.
The migrants, who were from various parts of Mexico, had used an
inflatable raft to cross a canal from Mexicali into the United
States. Their statements were taken by an official with the Mexican
attorney general’s office, which used them to build another case
against Chan.
The migrants said Chan “treated them in a violent and aggressive
manner and said that if they were captured to not implicate him or
his associates or else they would make their families suffer,”
according to the arrest warrant.
Mack wouldn’t say whether Chan’s arrest was a development from last
week’s detentions in Mexicali. Two of the detainees, U.S. citizens of
Iranian and Armenian descent who were presumed to be involved in a
smuggling operation, were deported to the United States.
Chan’s arrest “is part of the continuing cooperative effort between
U.S. and Mexican law enforcement on both sides of the border to
investigate smuggling activities in Mexicali,” Mack said. “It
definitely will be continuing.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AGBU PRESS OFFICE
55 East 59th Street, New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone (212) 319-6383
Fax (212) 319-6507
Email [email protected]
Webpage
PRESS RELEASE
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
AGBU APPLAUDS 2004 MANOOGIAN-DEMIRDJIAN GRADUATING CLASS
Graduates Achieve Early Admittance to Harvard, Yale, Columbia,
University of Pennsylvania, MIT, and Duke among others.
New York, NY – Addressing AGBU’s 2004 Manoogian-Demirdjian graduating
class, Principal Hagop Hagopian emphasized the importance of civic
responsibility, preserving and strengthening our Armenian identity and
spirit, and having the courage to meet present and future challenges.
The official commencement ceremony, which took place on June 19th,
marked, as noted by Valedictorian Armen Yerevanian, “two separate
events, one: a commemoration of the past; and two: a dedication to the
future and the hope that it brings.” Salutatorian Christina Tokatlian
also addressed the 46 seniors, expressing great pride in her Armenian
heritage, noting that “it is not being born Armenian, but living as
such, which makes us Armenian.”
Chairman of the Manoogian-Demirdjian School Board and AGBU Central
Board Member Sinan Sinanian provided the graduates with words of
wisdom and sound advice before introducing keynote speaker, the
Narekatsi Professor of Armenian Studies at UCLA, Dr. Peter
Cowe. Dr. Cowe stressed the importance of and need to preserve our
Armenian culture and homeland.
Taking the podium next, AGBU President Berge Setrakian, took the
opportunity to congratulate the 2004 graduating class and the school
itself for its strong record of achievement as exemplified by the
early acceptances to Harvard, Yale, Columbia, University of
Pennsylvania, MIT, Duke and Johns Hopkins University. “Throughout our
98-year history, our organization has devoted much energy, thought,
and resources to establishing educational programs that meet the needs
of Armenians wherever they may be throughout the world,” remarked
Setrakian.
President Setrakian continued to focus on the importance of education
and the needs of the future generation stating, “as AGBU approaches
its Centennial, we are taking great care to address our mission in
education in the context of immense complexities and diverse needs of
Armenians today…It is critical that we continue to support what is
working so well, improve if we can what is not, but most important,
create new initiatives that take into account the changing needs of
Armenian youth everywhere.”
“As we progress through the 21st Century and attempt to address an
even more fluid and rapidly changing social, political, and
technological climate, it is important for AGBU to reassess the
effective use of its resources, in terms of both human and financial
investments. And let me assure you, we are doing just that,” Setrakian
continued. In concluding his remarks, Setrakian made a special appeal
to the graduates: “AGBU needs your energy, intelligence, and
dedication now and throughout your lives to ensure that hand in hand
we will preserve and promote our Armenian identity and heritage. Good
luck and God speed.”
Founded in 1976, AGBU Manoogian-Demirdjian is one of the largest
Armenian schools in the Diaspora and continues to serve Southern
California’s growing Armenian community. For more information on AGBU
and its schools, visit

“FEAST FOR KERRY”
Azg/am
25 Aug 04
A Musical Festival on August 28
An unprecedented musical festival called “Feast for Kerry” is going to
burst out in Franklin, Massachusetts, in a campsite “Armenia” on
August 28.
The festival is aimed to do honour to the Democratic candidate John
Kerry who is respected by the Armenian community of the US for the 20
years of pro-Armenian policy in the Senate. Now Armenians hope that
John Kerry would be kind of Woodrow Wilson, American president
sensitive to the problems of the Armenians.
Armenians all over America will gather at the campsite to express
their support to the senator Kerry. The festival includes music of all
types, from folklore to jazz. A desk named “Kebab for Kerry” will be
open all day long.
Harut Sassounian of the California Courier was present at the
Democratic convention in Boston and writes that the Hye Dat National
Committee of America, that usually makes its decision public by the
end of the polls, this time was certain about the choice. The choice
was easy to take as “Bush administration has nothing to offer the
Armenian community” whereas Kerry has voted for the Armenian Genocide
acknowledgment and now is one of the supporters of the new
acknowledgment formula.
On the convention days in Boston Mr. Sassounian met many Armenians
even from Republicans who had come to unanimously support John
Kerry. “This is a good opportunity enabling Kerry to cooperate with
different representatives of the Armenian community in case of taking
the office”, writes Mr. Sassounian.
By Hakob Tsulikian