Month: October 2006

ARMENIAN ARMED FORCES FIRED ON AZERBAIJANI POSITIONS

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Oct 26 2006

Armenian Armed Forces continues to violate the ceasefire, APA Garabagh
bureau reports.

Armenian Armed Forces’ units in occupied Talish village of Terter
region fired on opposite positions of Azerbaijani Armed Forces with
machine and submachine guns since 00.00 to 01.30. The enemy was
silenced by response fire. No casualty was reported.

Armenian Armed Forces’ units in occupied Bash Gervend village of
Aghdam region also fired on opposite positions of Azerbaijani Armed
Forces this night.

IRAN-ARMENIA GAS PIPELINE TO BE PUT INTO OPERATION AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

Regnum, Russia
Oct 26 2006

Iranian gas will be supplied to Armenia via Iran-Armenia gas pipeline
ahead of schedule, the High-voltage Electric Lines Company director
Saak Abramyan, whose company ordered construction of the pipeline’s
Armenian section, stated to a REGNUM correspondent. According to him,
it is supposed that the pipeline’s operation will start on December
20, 2006 instead of January 1, 2007.

Also, Saak Abramyan informed that construction works at 38-km section
of 40-km Megri-Kajaran section had already been finished.

Construction of the 40-km section is assessed to cost $35mln; 80% of
the sum will be loaned to Armenian side by Iranian development bank;
the rest will be grated from own resources.

It is worth reminding; according to Armenian-Iranian agreement, the
section’s construction, which will guarantee penetration of Iranian
gas deep into the Armenian territory, should be finished till 1
January 2007. It will enable connection of Armenian and Iranian gas
distributing systems and to arrange coordinated functioning. The
system’s preliminary carrying capacity will slightly be inferior to
amounts, recorded in main Armenian-Iranian agreement. According to
the latter (signed in May 2004), amount of Iranian gas, supplied
into Armenia will total 1.1bln of cubic meters at initial stage;
since 2019 it will total 2.3bln of cubic meters. The agreement was
concluded for 20 years. In order to reach the planned figures, the
Armenian side will additionally lay 197 km of pipe, which will pass
through Kajaran, Sisian, Jermuk, and Ararat settlements.

Also, it is worth stressing; later in June, the Gazprom Company
Deputy CEO Alexander Ryazanov stated that the company was going to
purchase the Iran-Armenian gas pipeline. According to him, the gas
pipeline’s putting into operation will enable guaranteeing Armenian
gas supply’s reliability. "There are problems concerning gas transit
into Armenia via Georgia because Georgia permits itself unsanctioned
gas extraction," Ryazanov said.

LIBRARY READIES FOR CHRISTMAS
By Anna Bakalis, [email protected]

Ventura County Star , CA
Oct 26 2006

Volunteers trim trees representing various countries and cultures

What does Vatican City, Japan and Santa Claus all have in common?

Over the next few days, a tree is being decorated in each of their
honor at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi
Valley.

The 13th annual "Christmas Around the World" exhibit will open to
the public Nov. 15 and be on display through Jan. 7, continuing a
tradition meant to teach how different cultures celebrate the holidays.

On Wednesday, several community groups, museum staff members and
volunteers were decorating some of the 37 trees on the lower level
of the Air Force One Pavilion. The room, closed now to the public,
is also the future home of the Discovery Center, an interactive
children’s exhibit to open next year.

"I think this one is my favorite," said volunteer Glenda Muller,
standing near the Russia tree, fully decorated with handmade beaded
eggs. Muller has volunteered with the library for seven years, and
helping with the tree exhibit is a highlight for her.

Soon, placards will be put up to explain how each country celebrates
the holidays. But for now, volunteers such as Muller are having fun
trimming the plastic trees, just unpacked from last year. Pieces of
plastic trees lay on the floor, as did plastic wrap that held more
delicate ornaments.

In 1993, the first Christmas tree exhibit had 26 trees, each one
representative of a country that Reagan visited while in office. Now
there are 11 more in the exhibit, including several Central American
countries, and a few themed trees, such as a Santa Claus tree. And
outside the exhibit room, a 17-foot-tall Christmas tree will be on
display in the corner of the Air Force One Pavilion. At the entrance
to the museum, a White House tree will be on display.

Menorahs given to Reagan while in the White House will also be on
display in the rotunda.

New this year is a fireplace near the U.S. tree where visitors can
have a picture taken they can later purchase in the museum store.

Also, for the first time, the library will offer booklets that include
descriptions of all the trees on display, describing each country
and their traditions.

The book will be available in the Museum Store for purchase.

Altogether, more than 100 people will help in putting up the exhibit,
which will include toy soldiers, trains, some snow. Christmas music
will filter through the exhibit.

"We do this every year," said Lilo Holzer, who was putting the
finishing decorations on a tree.

Holzer and other members of the Swiss Matterhorn Club, who usually
decorate a Swiss tree, this year are hanging long, shiny icicles on
the Iceland tree.

The Armenia Relief Society decorates a tree every year. The tradition
in Armenia is to make ornaments using straw. But for longevity’s sake,
the group hand made intricate and delicate ornaments out of white
drinking straws.

The icing will come on Nov. 6, when the snowflakes are placed around
the room and on the trees, finishing the winter landscape.

"This is a part of the holiday journey," said Carol Cohea, a staff
member who helped coordinate the volunteers. "It’s a tradition for
families to visit when they’re back in town."

105-YEAR-OLD REALIZES DREAM OF CITIZENSHIP
By Teresa Watanabe, Times Staff Writer

Los Angeles Times , CA
Oct 26 2006

Iranian-born Sona Babai was among 7,000 others who became U.S. citizens
at ceremonies in Pomona. She joined family here six years ago.

Sona Babai counts good health, a loving mother-in-law and 10 children
as the biggest blessings of a long and fruitful life.

But there was one more thing she wanted: American citizenship.

So the native of Iran placed her hand over her heart, pledged
allegiance to the flag and Wednesday became one of the nation’s newest
citizens to be sworn in.

At 105 years old, she is also one of the oldest.

Before a stage festooned with American flags, Babai joined 7,000 others
from 132 countries who became American citizens at naturalization
ceremonies Wednesday at the Pomona Fairplex. But the petite woman
with clear brown eyes and snowy white hair cut a distinctive figure
as several news cameras recorded her slow walk to the front of the
cavernous hall, stooped but steady, unassisted except for a cane.

When a ceremony official announced, "Excuse me, we have a lady
that’s 105 years old – and she’s walking!" the crowd erupted in claps
and cheers.

Babai said she wanted to naturalize as a sign of gratitude to America
for embracing her children, four of whom live here, and allowing
their families to thrive as restaurateurs, business consultants,
architects, engineers, dentists and other professionals.

"America is a big umbrella that lets a lot of people underneath to be
safe," Babai said in her native Azari language, which was translated
by her son, Antoine Babai. "Because of the good hearts of American
people, I want to be part of them."

Marie Sebrechts, spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship
and Immigration Services, said research indicated that Babai was
the fourth oldest person ever to naturalize. The oldest, she said,
was a 117-year-old Armenian immigrant who became a citizen in Los
Angeles district ceremonies in 1997.

Antoine Babai said his mother still threads needles, has 20/20 vision
and needs no hearing aid. Her mind is still so sharp she can tell her
daughter in Tehran in exactly which cabinet in which room to find a
particular household item, he added.

Both nature and good nurturing account for her longevity, the family
said. Her eldest brother lived to age 117, and her younger siblings
range in age from 95 to 101.

Growing up in the unpolluted environment of a rural farming village
in northwest Iran also helped, Antoine Babai said. In her native
Gharahbagh, a 400-person village of vineyards and almond trees,
Babai’s family grew their own food, slaughtered their own livestock
for meat, churned their own butter and heated their ovens with patties
of animal dung.

"There were no preservatives, no chemicals, nothing," Antoine
Babai said. "I believe one reason she’s lived this long is that the
foundation of her life was natural."

Babai herself says as much when asked the secret of her longevity.

"Clean air, fresh food and good family," she said.

But Babai also endured hardships. She lived through three major
political upheavals in Iran, including the Islamic Revolution that
she criticizes for using religion to justify such acts as seizing
private property. Many of her relatives were killed in the eight-year
Iran-Iraq War, she said.

As a child, she used to hide in water wells to escape murderous tribes
who would ravage her village.

She was even kidnapped at age 12 as a bride for a distant relative
smitten by her beauty, according to her son. But the adventure had
a happy ending. She produced 10 children over an 84-year marriage
and grew to love her mother-in-law so much that she still kisses her
picture every night at bedtime.

Her link to America began as it has for so many immigrants: through
a desire to give her children a first-class education and unlimited
opportunities.

Neither Babai nor her husband Mokhtar, who died in 1991 at age
103, ever learned to read or write. But they knew the value of an
American education, so Antoine and another son came to the U.S. to
study advertising design and engineering, respectively, at Louisiana
State University.

The two brothers eventually settled in Palm Desert and opened a French
restaurant. Two sisters followed and settled in Irvine. Today, Babai
boasts six children, 13 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

The children obtained a green card for their mother and brought her
to Palm Desert six years ago, after their father died in Tehran.

Her request to become a citizen surprised Karan Kler, executive
director of Coachella Valley Immigration Service and Assistance Inc.

But he said Babai told him: "By becoming a citizen, I can show to
the world that it is never too late to give back."

Because of his client’s medical conditions, Kler managed to obtain
waivers excusing her from the English and civic tests required of
most prospective citizens. But Babai sailed through her interview
with immigration officials – telling them, among other things, that
she would bear arms to defend the United States.

War was not on her mind Wednesday. Asked what she would do as a new
citizen, Babai replied:

"I’m an American. I’m going to vote."

STATE STRUCTURES AND NGOS FOR THE SAKE OF HUMAN DIGNITY AND SECURITY DEFENCE

National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia
Oct 26 2006

On October 24 Mr. Tigran Torosyan, President of the National Assembly,
received the delegation headed by Mr. Valentin Varennikov, deputy of
the State Duma, President of the International League for the Defence
of Human Dignity and Security, General of the Army. The MP Mr. Hrant
Khachatryan and Mr. Fadey Sargsyan, Adviser to the Prime Minister of
the Republic of Armenia, participated in this meeting.

Expressing thanks for the reception Mr. Varennikov conveyed best
regards of Mr. Boris Grizlov, Speaker of the State Duma of the Russian
Federation and presented the objective of their mission, which is
to establish the NGO – International League for the Defence of Human
Dignity and Security also in Armenia. Its necessity was substantiated
with the necessity to work with the state structures, for finding the
solutions of the issues, which are especially of great importance
for the society. Mr. Varennikov noted that there are already 12
countries in the League, which will become a year old in November,
and also 20 countries will join in near future. The Center of the
Strategic Research of the League studies the level of the conflicts,
the probability of the technogenic catastrophes in different countries
and sends relevant letters to the governments of those countries,
warning about necessity of defence of human dignity and security. The
League also takes measures on preventing the consequences of the
conflicts and catastrophes.

Mr. Tigran Torosyan, President of the National Assembly, welcomed
the establishment of the National League for the Defence of Human
Dignity and Security in Armenia, highlighting the right of dignity
and protection of a person and expressed readiness to assist in the
activity of the National League as well as the International League.

Mr. Tigran Torosyan noted that, unfortunately, the human dignity
is not always highly evaluated in the modern world, however he is
optimistic and ready to promote in overcoming the difficulties.

WHITING WINNERS ARE CHOSEN
By Julie Bosman

New York Times
Oct 26 2006

Five fiction writers, three poets and two playwrights have been
awarded $40,000 each as the winners of the annual Whiting Writers’
Awards for emerging authors.

The awards, which were presented last night at a ceremony in New York,
are given to writers early in their careers who possess exceptional
talent and promise. Past winners have included Jonathan Franzen,
Colson Whitehead, Jorie Graham and Sarah Ruhl.

A long list of prospective winners is selected by an anonymous group
of literary professionals; then a smaller committee of writers,
scholars and editors selects the 10 winners. The Mrs. Giles Whiting
Foundation has given the awards since 1985.

This year, the foundation chose winners from what it said was an
unusually diverse set of backgrounds, whose writing is "reflective of
their heritage and different sensibilities." Among them are a Navajo
poet, the daughter of an immigrant farm worker, an Armenian-American
novelist, a Chinese-born novelist, a Korean-American poet and the
son of an Irish dairy farmer.

The fiction winners were Charles D’Ambrosio, who is the author of
"The Dead Fish Museum," a short story collection published in April by
Alfred A. Knopf; Yiyun Li, a native of China whose collection of short
stories, "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers," was published by Random
House last year; Micheline Aharonian Marcom, who was born in Saudi
Arabia and now teaches at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., and whose
most recent novel is "The Daydreaming Boy," published by Riverhead;
Patrick O’Keeffe, who was born in Ireland, and is the author of "The
Hill Road," a collection of stories published by Viking last year;
and Nina Marie Martínez, the daughter of a Mexican-American farm
worker, and the author of a novel, "¡Caramba!"

from Knopf.

The winners for poetry were Sherwin Bitsui, who grew up in White Cone,
Ariz., on a Navajo reservation and is the author of "Shapeshift,"
a collection of poems from the University of Arizona Press; Tyehimba
Jess, whose first book, "Leadbelly" was published last year by Verse
Press; and Suji Kwock Kim, the author of "Notes >>From the Divided
Country: Poems," from Louisiana State University Press.

The playwrights honored by the Whiting Foundation are both residents of
New York: Bruce Norris, the author of the play "The Pain and the Itch,"
which just concluded a run at Playwrights Horizons, and Stephen Adly
Guirgis, an actor and playwright whose "Last Days of Judas Iscariot"
and "Our Lady of 121st Street" were among several plays presented by
the LAByrinth Theater Company, of which he is a member.

–Boundary_(ID_e64FcBwfvXnZuZC4tvKqOg)–

A DAY FOR FREE THINKING: TURKS TO CELEBRATE THE REPUBLIC’S INDEPENDENCE WITH A FORUM AND FOOD

News Observer, NC
Oct 26 2006

Photo: The youth folk dance group of the American Turkish Association
of North Carolina will perform at a festive reception that will follow
the panel discussions.

Thomasi McDonald, Staff Writer

The Turkish Republic was established Oct. 29, 1923, and the American
Turkish Association of North Carolina is sponsoring a day of
discussion, food and dance to celebrate the country’s independence.

"October 29th is Turkey’s Fourth of July," said Buket Aydemir,
secretary of the ATA-NC, which is holding the celebration Sunday at
UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.

The ATA-NC is a nonprofit started in 1987 to promote awareness of
Turkish culture and heritage in the Triangle and across the state.

There are more than 400 Turkish families living in the Triangle.

About 100 Turkish families and others interested in Turkish culture
are expected to gather for this weekend’s anniversary event.

The association has sponsored independence day celebrations since
the group was started, Aydemir said.

"It has been at different locations," said Aydemir, who has been
with the group 14 years. "We target Turkish Americans and partner
with student organizations at N.C. State and UNC. Of course, it’s
open to everyone."

The celebration’s theme is "At The Gate: Perspectives on the Republic
of Turkey." The day’s events at the UNC campus kicks off with a
series of panel discussions on U.S. and Turkish relations, Judaism,
Christianity and Islam, Turkish women and Turkish identity in the
United States.

A reception will follow, featuring "Turkish finger food," music and
a folk dance performance.

Organizers say the event has several goals: to promote awareness of
Turkey, to address myths and stereotypes and to promote discussion.

The awarding of this year’s Nobel Prize in literature to Turkish
writer Orhan Pamuk has focused attention on Turkey and the ATA-NC,
Aydemir said.

Pamuk attracted international notice last year when lawyers of two
Turkish professional associations brought criminal charges against him
after he told a Swiss newspaper the Turkish government was responsible
for the genocide of 1 million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds between 1915
and 1917. The charges were dropped in January.

"We are getting a lot of interest from high schools and colleges who
want information about the Turkish situation," Aydemir said.

SPECIAL REPORT: AXIS OF ALLIES
By Christopher Orlet

The American Spectator
Oct 26 2006

Writing last week in the Wall Street Journal Tunku Varadarajan made a
good case that Pakistan’s leader Gen. Pervez Musharraf has been for
the past five years two-timing the U.S. The general has "played the
Americans beautifully":

After five years of Pakistani collaboration with the U.S. military in
Afghanistan, not one Taliban leader of consequence has been captured
or killed. Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai, cries himself hoarse
over the Taliban functioning out of Pakistan’s western regions and he
is treated with open ridicule by Gen. Musharraf. There is precious
little, however, that George W. Bush can do about this: He cannot
now admit that a man he has called his "ally" for the past five years
has been double-crossing him nearly every minute of that time.

Nor can he admit that there is a "vast nuclear smuggling ring emanating
from Pakistan" (Washington Post), doubtless with Musharraf’s tacit
authorization, with Pakistani weapons finding their way to every
rogue nation that can scrape together a few bucks.

Sadly, the case of Pakistan is not unique. Another so-called ally,
Saudi Arabia, has also been playing the U.S. like one of Antonio
Stradivari’s fiddles. The Saudis have never been big fans of Team
USA. In fact, 87 percent of Saudis hold an unfavorable opinion of
the U.S. And their own leaders aren’t going to win any popularity
contests either. The Saudi royal family is nothing if not a web of
contradictions: an ally of the U.S. in the War on Terror and a main
target of Osama bin Laden, while at the same time an exporter of
radical Wahhabism. In fact, the only thing the Saudis export more of
is oil.

If any Muslim state should be pro-American, it is fellow NATO member
Turkey. A secular, nominally democratic nation, Turkey longs to
modernize and move closer to the West, while paradoxically keeping
Western society at arm’s length. (About three-quarters of Turks favor
EU integration, while a recent Pew Global Attitudes poll showed that
only 16 percent of Turks held a favorable view of Christians, just
one percentage point higher than their dislike of Jews.) Politically,
Turkey is a shambles, a secular government kept that way by a powerful
military that was seriously embarrassed recently when novelist Orhan
Pamuk won the Nobel Prize for Politics…errr, Literature, despite
the government’s recent attempts to have him locked up for "insulting
the Republic." Not long ago Pamuk had the bad taste to bring up the
(1915-17) Armenian genocide. The Nobel laureate deserved some kind
of award, if only because he is hated by both the Islamicists and
the Turkish military, which means he must be doing something right.

As Pamuk’s novels amply demonstrate, there is in his homeland an
intense hate of "Europeanized" Turks, a revulsion that is only kept
from violent outbreak by a thuggish military that routinely uses
torture and the threat of torture to maintain a semblance of order.

The Turkish rural majority is rabidly anti-American. A recent poll
shows that a mere 12 percent of Turks hold a favorable opinion of
the U.S. As for our allies in the capital Ankara, the Turks not only
opposed the War in Iraq, their parliament voted to forbid U.S. troops
from crossing into Iraq from Turkish soil.

EGYPT IS ANOTHER so-called friend who is an ally in name only. An
impressive 98 percent of Egyptians surveyed have an "unfavorable
attitude" toward the U.S., according to a Zogby poll. Perhaps Egyptians
hate the U.S. so much because their military is the second largest
recipient of American foreign aid, which tends to be used to prop up a
double-dealing dictatorship that encourages the spread of anti-American
propaganda ("vicious and loony lies," according to James Glassman of
the American Enterprise) which tends to feed Muslim extremism.

And thanks to Saudi meddling, Asian Muslim nations are experiencing
an upsurge of anti-Western feeling as Wahhabism replaces the mainly
peaceful, moderate version of Islam long practiced by Asians.

Wahhabism takes its most radical form in terrorist factions like
Islamic Defenders’ Front, Darul Islam, Laskar Jihad, and Jemaah
Islamiah, groups that seem determined to prove to their Arab
co-religionists that they are indeed true Muslims, and who are
responsible for the many terror attacks in Bali and the Philippines.

Jemaah Islamiah, a member of the al Qaeda network, maintains that
it will not cease its terror campaign until a pan-Islamic state,
consisting of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippine
island of Mindanao, is established.

This is especially troubling considering that Indonesia is the
world’s fourth most populous country with the world’s largest
Muslim population. And nowhere do terrorists get off so easily as
in Indonesia. Human Right’s Watch reports that "Abu Bakar Bashir,
believed by many to be the spiritual head of the terrorist organization
Jemaah Islamiyah, was convicted in March 2005 of criminal conspiracy
behind the 2002 Bali bombings. Due to poor conduct of the prosecution,
he was acquitted of the more serious charge of planning a terrorist
attack. He received a sentence of only thirty months, which was
further shortened to twenty-five-and-a-half months in an August 2005
Independence Day sentence reduction."

The standard response is that these allies should be cut a generous
amount of slack, since they must delicately balance the conflicting
ideals of their Muslim populations and their Western allies, which
must be why they tell Bush and Rice one thing and their Muslim masses
another. This would explain the Musharraf-Bush-Karzai love-in at
the White House last month, while back home in Islamabad the natives
were hearing that the U.S. threatened to bomb Pakistan back to the
Stone Age if Musharraf didn’t cooperate in the War on Terror. Such
two-timing works to the general’s advantage, of course. A recent BBC
poll showed that 88 percent of Pakistanis believe that Musharraf was
pressured to support the War on Terror.

Majority Muslim nations and the West are not natural allies. Most
Muslim countries are undemocratic, or at best illiberal democracies
where separation of church and state and other basic freedoms are
wanting, where Sharia law trumps what’s known as Roman or British
law, where religious police or a thuggish military dispense a unique
brand of primitive justice. More and more Muslims are adopting
an anti-Christian, anti-American, and anti-modern desert Islam due
largely to the continuing exportation of Saudi and Egyptian preachers
of hate. We call these countries our allies, but only because
our vocabulary lacks a descriptive noun for such an unpleasant,
but necessary arrangement. Genuine allies share goals, values, an
interest in outcomes — they are those nations you can trust to get
your back. Britain is such an ally, Australia, Canada, Poland too.

Perhaps some industrious young linguist will come up with an
appropriate neologism. Ally isn’t cutting it.

Christopher Orlet is a frequent contributor and runs the Existential
Journalist.

dsp_article.asp?art_id=10540

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT PUTIN ACCUSES GEORGIA
By Osman KECECI (JTW)

Journal of Turkish Daily
Oct 26 2006

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Georgian leaders of
seeking to resolve their country’s territorial disputes by force. Mr
Putin told Russian TV viewers that in Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia
region "people are very concerned about the militarisation of
Georgia". Georgian authorities said Abkhazian separatist forces fired
rockets at Georgian-controlled territory Wednesday while Georgia’s
interior minister was in the vicinity, but injured no one. According
to the Georgian sources, Russian military backs almost all separatist
movement in Georgia. Russia frequently involve in the regional ethnic
and other problems. Armenian forces were supported by Russian Military
against Azerbaijan during the Karabakh War. Russia has ‘solved’
its territorial disputes in Chechenya by force.

Russia has deported hundreds of Georgians amid a bitter diplomatic
row. One of the deportees died last week from an asthma attack at a
Moscow airport while waiting to be deported from Russia. The Georgian
embassy says Tengiz Togonidze, 58, was denied medical attention during
five days of detention despite his requests to see a doctor.

Mr Putin was speaking in a live TV phone-in with Russians nationwide.

The pro-Russian separatist authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia
want independence from Georgia, but Tbilisi has vowed to reimpose
its rule in the rebel regions.

Mr Putin warned that it would be a big mistake for Georgia to resort
to force. "We cannot allow bloodshed in this region," he said, though
Russia is being accused by using only military force in Chechnya.

Mr. Putin argued that Russia did not have territorial ambitions in
the Caucasus. Russia has military bases in Georgia and Armenia and
refuses to withdraw its armies from Georgia.

"We’re not trying to increase our territory. We have enough territory,"
Mr. Putin said.

Russian-Georgian relations worsened last month after Tbilisi detained
four Russians whom it said were spies.

Russia responded by cutting transport and postal links with Georgia
and expelled hundreds of Georgians alleged to be living in Russia
illegally. Police also cracked down on Georgian businesses in Moscow.

KOSOVA ISSUE

Russia though support Abkhazian and Ossetian independence in Caucasus,
it is against Kosova’s independence in the Balkans. Mr.

Putin said Russia would be closely watching developments in Kosovo, the
mainly ethnic Albanian province which de facto broke away from Serbia.

Kosovo – still officially part of Serbia – is run by a UN
administration, but a final settlement is being negotiated. Many
observers expect Kosovo to get some form of independence, which might
be an imposed solution.

NEW GRADUATE PROGRAM AIMS TO PRODUCE QUALITY JOURNALISTS

International Journalist’s Network
Oct 26 2006

Aspiring journalists in Armenia now have another option for advanced
study, after the recent launch of a journalism master’s program at
Brusov University in Yerevan.

Brusov is also known as the Yerevan State Linguistic University. The
Dutch NGO Press Now helped the new program along with advice and
financial support.

According to a news release from Press Now, this is the university’s
first master’s program. The goal of the program is to produce quality
journalists who can make independent, fair news coverage more common
in the country.

This is Armenia’s second master’s program in journalism. Yerevan
State University also offers a program supported by the International
Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID).

For more information about the program at Brusov, contact the school’s
Center of Journalism at [email protected], or Albana Shala of
Press Now at [email protected] or telephone +31 20 5682015.

Press Now:

Bruso v: