Month: May 2008

KHACHATUROV OFF TO BRUSSELS

A1+
[12:17 pm] 14 May, 2008

The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic
of Armenia, First Deputy Defense Minister, Colonel-General Yuri
Khachaturov will participate in the spring sitting of the Chiefs of
General Staffs of the Armed Forces of NATO member states and partner
countries to be held at NATO headquarters in Brussels on May 14.

The sitting will feature representatives of about 60 countries from
NATO member and non-member states, from the Partnership for Peace
and the Mediterranean Dialogue, Ukraine and Russia. The meetings are
aimed at exchanging experience and forming military opinions on the
high level.

Colonel-General Yuri Khachaturov will participate also in the sitting
of the Military Committee of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council
and the sitting on Kosovo behind closed doors. .

PAUL MURPHY USED "ARMENIAN GENOCIDE" EXPRESSION

Panorama.am
21:01 13/05/2008

The British Government has condemned desecrating Armenian khachkar
commemorating Armenian Genocide in Cardiff. It took place on 27
January, in the day of Holocaust, reported New Generation cultural
union.

Paul Murphy the state secretary of Wales said that "he condemns the
desecrating of Armenian Genocide monument in Cardiff in 2008 January".

"I condemn the rude attempts to desecrate the monument. It comes
to prove that we need to treat seriously racism; brutal and hateful
attempts and we should join to stand them. I hope that when the guilty
are revealed it would smoothen the pain," said the state secretary
of Wales.

ARMED CLASHES STOPPED IN BEIRUT, CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE REMAINS

Yerkir
13.05.2008 15:29

Yerevan (Yerkir) – Shahan Gantaharian, the chief editor of the Azdak
newspaper published in Beirut, has told Yerkir that the situation in
Lebanon is relatively calm.

He, however, added that while armed clashes have stopped, there still
are signs of civil disobedience. "The army continues to be placed in
mountainous Lebanon and northern Lebanon," Gantaharian said. "This
situation continues to be tense, there are political statements from
both camps and abroad. The statements by US President George Bush are
remarkable where he called for backing the Lebanese government and
that maintaining democracy in Lebanon is in the interests Israel. The
Saudi Arabia embassy has also shut down."

He said that Amr Musa, the secretary general of the Arab League,
is expected to visit tomorrow.

As for the mood in the Armenian community, he said that the situation
in the Christian districts is relatively normal. "Schools continue to
operate, stores are open. The situation is normal in Armenian Anchar
too though some events have happened on the roads leading to Anchar,"
Gantaharian added.

He also said that there are some 40 casualties and about a 100 wounded
according to the Interior Ministry.

ARTHUR BAGHDASARYAN RECEIVES CONGRATULATIONS

armradio.am
14.05.2008 16:42

Secretary of the National Security Council at RA President’s Office
Arthur Baghdasaryan received congratulations from the State Secretary
of the Security Council of Belarus Viktor Sheyman and the Secretary of
the Security Council at the President’s Office of Uzbekistan M. Atayev
on the occasion of his appointment, President’s Press Office reported.

NA SPEAKER MET WITH THE NEW AMBASSADOR OF TURKMENISTAN

armradio.am
14.05.2008 17:02

On May 14 Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Tigran Torosyan
received the newly appointed Ambassador of Turkmenistan Shokhrat
Jumayev.

The Ambassador informed the Armenian Parliament Speaker about the
political, economic reforms implemented in Turkmenistan and expressed
the willingness of his country and people to deepen the relations
with Armenia in all spheres. Mr. Jumayev attaches special importance
to raising the economic ties to the level of political relations,
development of interparliamentary cooperation. The Ambassador expressed
willingness to do the utmost for deepening the traditionally friendly
relations between the two countries and peoples. He thanked Tigran
Torosyan for participating in the inauguration of the President
of Turkmenistan, assessing his visit to Ashgabat as an expression
of respect.

The Speaker of the National Assembly congratulated the Ambassador on
assuming office and expressed hope that his tenure in office will be
remarkable for the development of interstate and interparliamentary
relations. Turning to the level of economic and political relations,
the Speaker noted that the economic development of the two countries
opens new opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation.
From: Baghdasarian

SOFTWARE PIRACY INCREASES IN ASIA-PACIFIC: INDUSTRY GROUP

France24
May 14 2008
France

The Asia-Pacific’s average PC software piracy rate in 2007 increased
to 59 percent of the software in use in the region from 55 percent
the previous year, said the Business Software Alliance (BSA), which
works to fight piracy.

The increase was largely because of China’s growing share of the
region’s overall PC market, it said.

Losses from software piracy in the region rose to more than 14 billion
US dollars in 2007 from almost 12 billion dollars in 2006, BSA said
as it released a global study of the problem.

BSA’s members include Microsoft, Apple, McAfee and other major
industry players.

It says piracy includes illegal manufacture, the retail sale of
pirated software, unauthorised downloading or uploading, and use of
unlicensed software by businesses.

Jeffrey Hardee, BSA’s vice president and regional director, said the
Asia-Pacific market for PC software is growing rapidly as incomes
rise in emerging economies.

The high growth rate for PC sales in countries such as China, India,
Indonesia and Vietnam, which have large populations, is resulting in
a higher loss from piracy compared with mature markets, he said.

China’s software piracy rate had fallen in three previous years but
held steady at 82 percent from 2006 to 2007 as PC shipments to homes
and small businesses grew rapidly, BSA said.

Excluding Australia, Japan and New Zealand, the Asia-Pacific piracy
rate would be higher than 70 percent, it said.

Expanding usage of the Internet in the region could also worsen piracy
through illegal downloading of software and unauthorised sharing of
files, Hardee said.

Bangladesh had the highest Asian piracy rate in 2007, at 92 percent,
followed by Sri Lanka’s 90 percent, BSA said. Vietnam was third-highest
with 88 percent.

Armenia’s 93 percent piracy rate was the highest in the world and
the United States had the lowest rate at 20 percent, BSA said.

Global research group IDC conducted the study of 108 countries,
BSA added.

RUBEN VARTANYAN DIES

Arlington Connection
May 14 2008
VA

RUBEN VARTANYAN, 70, Music Director of the Arlington Philharmonic
and internationally known maestro, died at his home in Arlington on
Wednesday, May 7. The cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage.

Maestro Vartanyan had been an Arlington resident since arriving in
the area in 1988. He had served as the music director of the previous
Arlington Symphony for 13 years, and took the helm of the Philharmonic
when it was created in 2005.

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia to musical parents, Vartanyan spent
his early childhood in Armenia. At the age of ten, he enrolled in
the Central Music School in Moscow, and later entered the Moscow
Conservatory of Music where he earned a degree in piano performance
and a Ph.D. in Opera and Symphony Conducting. From 1980 through 1988,
Maestro Vartanyan was the conductor of the renowned Bolshoi Opera in
Moscow, leading more than 500 performances.

During his international career, in addition to his time as Bolshoi
Opera conductor, Vartanyan was also the music director of the National
Symphony of Bolivia. He was the first assistant conductor-in-training
under the legendary Herbert von Karajan at the Vienna State Opera
and Vienna Philharmonic Opera.

More recently, in addition to his tenure with the Arlington Symphony,
Maestro Vartanyan was the music director of the National Lyric
Opera Company in Washington, D.C. and conducted the Williamsburg,
Va. Symphonia. He has held conducting seminars at the Shenandoah
Conservatory and at George Mason University, and has taught a number
of private students in the D.C. area.

The last concert he conducted was with the Arlington Philharmonic
on March 9th, 2008. He became a U.S. citizen, and once expressed that
"This is a country that I love immensely. This is my country forever."

ARMENIAN MINISTER STRESSES IRAN’S RIGHT TO USE PEACEFUL NUCLEAR ENERGY

Islamic Republic News Agency
May 14 2008
Iran

Armenian Defense Minister underlines Iran’s right to use peaceful
nuclear energy.

Seyran Ohanyan in a meeting with Iran’s Ambassador to Yerevan Ali
Saqqaeian on Wednesday said, "It is the right of Iran and all other
countries to use peaceful nuclear energy technology in the framework of
NPT to advance their countries’ goals and interests." The ambassador,
for his part, conveyed Iran’s Defense Minister’s felicitation message
to the new Armenian minister and invited him to visit Iran.

In the meeting the two sides expressed satisfaction over the mutual
ties level and called for strengthening the existing relations.

They also underlined implementation of signed agreements between the
two defense ministries and emphasized solving Karabakh dispute upon
Minsk Group Agreement.

GEORGIA QUITS POST-SOVIET AIR DEFENSE TREATY

Xinhua

May 14 2008
China

MOSCOW, May 14 (Xinhua) — Georgia Wednesday formally withdrew from
an air defense treaty signed by post-Soviet states, Interfax news
agency quoted a statement of the Georgian Foreign Ministry assaying.

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Treaty on Cooperation in
Air Defense, inked in 1995 by Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine,
was designed to create a joint air-defense system.

Georgia informed Russia earlier this month about its decision to
withdraw from the pact, amid tensions between Tbilisi and Moscow.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LITERACY, ATTENDED BY ARMENIAN DELEGATION, STARTS IN AZERBAIJAN

Today.Az
ety/44985.html
May 14 2008
Azerbaijan

A regional conference UNESCO "Resolution of problems of literacy
in Europe on subregional basis: establishment of partner relations
and promotion of application of innovative approaches" started in
Baku today.

According to Day.Az, during the opening of the conference, head of
Heydar Aliyev’s Foundation, Milli Medjlis deputy, country’s first
lady Mehriban Aliyeva, UNESCO director general Koishiro Matsuura and
others will deliver a speech at the opening.

During the press conference on the conference opening, Azerbaijan’s
Minister of Education Misir Mardanov stressed importance of conduction
of such conferences in Azerbaijan.

He said the ties between Azerbaijan and UNESCO are growing each year.

"I think the conduction of this conference in Baku is significant. As
for Azerbaijan, I should noted that most population of the country
can read and write. And each resident of Azerbaijan has access to
schools", said Mardanov.

In turn, deputy head of UNESCO on education Nicholas Burnet announced
that though the literacy level in Europe is quite high, it is important
to hold such conferences.

"I am grateful to Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev’s Foundation because they
agreed to arrange this conference", said Burnet.

It should be noted that the said conference is the fifth in the
series of six regional and subregional conferences of UNESCO. The
conference will be attended by representatives of 30 countries,
including from Armenia.

The conference will last until May 16.