Month: August 2008

ENTRANCE EXAM TESTS, ORAL EXAMINATION PROCESS REQUIRE IMPROVEMENT IN ARMENIA

ARKA
Aug 12, 2008

YEREVAN, August 12. /ARKA/. Entrance examinations held this year
showed that tests on a number of subjects and oral examination process
require improvement in the country, Armenian Minister of Science and
Education Spartak Seyranyan said.

It is quite difficult to establish knowledge of entrants based on
tests consisting of 80 questions in such disciplines as "History of
Armenia" and "General History", unlike language subjects and math,
the Minister told journalists. Similar problems occurred in preparing
tests on chemistry, biology and geography that will be included in
the uniform state exams system next year, he said.

In September the Ministry will start preparing guidebooks to be
distributed to entrants in November the latest so that they have
an idea how the exams on these three disciplines will be held, the
Minister said.

The Minister also pointed out the problems occurred during the oral
examinations this year, particularly discontent of entrants and
their parents as no appeal procedure is provided for in the case of
oral exams.

Seyranyan stressed the necessity to bring oral examination process
closer to the test system when entrants answer verbal questions in
written (like TOEFL).

"We will try to find an option that will satisfy entrants on the one
hand and will not turn exams into a primitive proc ess on the other
hand," the Minister said.

Apart from language disciplines, in all other cases oral exams should
be maximally brought close to tests to avoid any display of bias,
Seyranyan said.

About 65,000 students study in 16 state-owned higher schools in
Armenia.

According to the Ministry, 10,001 students entered the universities
in Armenia this year (2,242 – in state-funded section, 3,327 in
paid departments and 4,401 with no right of adjournment of military
service).

RIO TINTO, NMDC TO JOINTLY EXPLORE MINING RESERVES

Business Standard
August 13, 2008, 16:09 IST
New Delhi

Global mining major Rio Tinto and state-run NMDC Ltd are set to enter
into an agreement to explore global and domestic iron ore reserves,
a top official of the Indian company said.

"We will be entering into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with
Rio Tinto on August 18 for scouting mining resources in different
parts of the world including in India," NMDC Chairman Rana Som said
over phone from Hyderabad.

The MoU envisages a strategic partnership between the two
leading mining companies for prospecting iron ore reserves, both
internationally and domestically, he added.

"The two companies may also contemplate entering into a joint venture
once they identify mining properties," Som said.

NMDC has already entered into a joint venture agreement with country’s
Spice Energy and is about to acquire iron ore mines in Armenia,
Eritera and Congo.

Asked about the price negotiation with Japanese and South Korean steel
mills for supply of iron ore, the NMDC Chairman said the matter was
pending with the government.

"We have made our point that high freight charges and ad-valorem
export duty on iron ore are hitting our margins. It is now up to the
government to decide whether we should seek higher price for our high
quality iron ore from Japanese and Korean mills or not," he said.

NMDC is seeking up to 97 per cent increase in iron ore prices from
foreign steel makers, a move that could have similar repercussions
on the domestic market, which may result in higher steel prices.

TRANSPORT MINISTRY: NO CONSUMER COMMODITY SHORTAGE SEEN IN ARMENIA

ARKA
Aug 13, 2008

YEREVAN, August 13. /ARKA/. No consumer commodity shortage is seen in
Armenia in connection with war in South Ossetia, Transport Minister
Gurgen Sargsyan said at a press conference on Tuesday.

He said that demand for some products, such as fuel and petrol,
grew thrice this week though there is absolutely no ground for panic.

The minister urged people not to panic. He said the cargoes intended
for Armenia are shipped as usual.

"Today 60 cars with cargoes came to Armenia", Sargsyan said.

In his words, 18 cars with wheat are on their way to Armenian now.

"Ten containers with petrol, 12 with aviation fuel, 11 containers
with diesel, four cars with wheat and 24 cars with other goods have
been received", the minister said.

He also said that all the restrictions on petrol sales are groundless
and artificial.

SOME ARCA ATMS TO BE OUT OF OPERATION ON AUGUST 12, 13 AND 14

ARKA
Aug 13, 2008

YEREVAN, August 13. /ARKA/. Armenian Card – ArCa processing center
informs all cardholders that some ATMs belonging to payment system
member banks will be out of operation on August 12, 13 and 14 because
of repair of ArmenTel Telecommunication Company’s cables.

Shahen Hovhannisyan, executive director of Armenian Card, said 15%
of Yerevan’s ArCa ATMs will be out of operation.

He also said that all those wanting to carry out operations with cash
can do it in bank offices.

ArCa member banks issue ArCa Debit, ArCa Classic, ArCa Gold, ArCa
Business, ArCa Affinity, ArCa Co-branded and ArCa Platinum cards.

Armenian Card Company is a full member of MasterCard Europe. It also
operates the processing of VISA (Third Party Processor).

DUBLIN RESTAURATEUR FEARS FOR HIS FAMILY’S LIFE
By Sarah Neville

Herald.ie
Wednesday August 13 2008
Ireland

A DUBLIN based Georgian restaurant owner is frantically trying to get
his family back to the city after they travelled home for a summer
break to their home country.

His relatives made the trip to Georgia for a break and were there
when the conflict with Russia began.

George Motsonelidze, the owner of Nikala on Dublin’s Talbot Street,
has been looking for possible flights to get members of his family,
including his mother, back to Ireland.

What was supposed to have been a break from the cold and wet summer
we are experiencing in Ireland has now become a source of great
worry. George’s family travelled to their home country in search of
sunshine and to visit old friends and have now found themselves in
a country embroiled in international conflict.

He is still worried for his relatives, despite an outline peace
deal brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the early hours
of today.

The deal would end fighting sparked by Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili’s decision to launch a military offensive last week in
the pro-Russian region of South Ossetia.

Bombing

"Saakashvili was mad to go and bomb a town in the middle of the night,"
a senior official in Sarkozy’s office told reporters.

"He gambled, he lost," the official said, adding that Russia’s
reaction was too heavy-handed and Moscow was increasingly perceived
as the aggressor.

The Dublin-based restaurant owner is now trying to arrange flights
to get his family home.

George’s task is made even more complicated by the fact that there are
no direct flights between Dublin and Georgia. He said his relatives
will need to travel to Armenia, which is further south, to get a
flight home.

Getting out of the country shouldn’t be a problem because according
to another Georgian living in Dublin, Mukran Mikaeirdze, work and
other services are carrying on as normal in the areas that are not
being bombed.

"They all have Irish passports," George said of his relatives.

Mukran, who is a friend of George’s, is keeping in close contact with
his family. "The situation is calm but mobilised," he said.

The Georgian said that he is glued to the news channels trying to
get each update as the situation continues.

He added that the Irish Georgian community were bonding together and
praying at the Christian Orthodox Church on the Navan Road in Dublin
for an end to the violence.

PROGRAM OF ASSISTANCE IS OPERATING

Azat Artsakh Daily
13 Aug 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]

By the decree, signed between NKR government and "Karabakh Telecom"
company, "KT" will render assistance of 5 million drams for realizing
different programs in the system of NKR Health Service. On August 9
NKR Premier Ara Harutyunyan, accompanied by the executive director of
"K.Telecom" company Ralf Eirikyan, was in the medical institutions
of Stepanakert, where the works were foreseen by the means allocated
by this company.The first visit was in the first aid station.

There A.Hrutyunyan and R. Eirikyan got acquainted with the newly
acquired reanomobile.The new medical equipment would give a chance to
transfere patients safely to Erevan. The guests got acquainted with
possibilities of reanomoblie, then visited republican antiepidemic
station, skin-venerealogical dispensary and republican infant hospital.

Rehabilitation works are foreseen in the above-mentioned medical
institutions, modern medical equipments will be acquired

STEPSTONE IS NUMBER ONE PROVIDER OF CHOICE IN THE TELCO SECTOR DEUTSCHE TELEKOM AG, TELEFONICA, S.A AND MTS SELECT STEPSTONE AS THEIR PREFERRED TALENT MANAGEMENT PROVIDER

MarketWatch

Aug. 13, 2008

LONDON, Aug 13, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — StepStone (OSE:STP), the
leading global provider of Total Talent solutions, today announced
three major new contracts in the telecommunications sector.

Deutsche Telekom AG, one of the world’s leading innovators in the
IT and telecoms sector, Telefonica, S.A., the world’s number three
telecoms provider, and MTS, the biggest mobile telecommunications
provider in Russia and the CIS, have selected StepStone’s total talent
solutions to help them manage recruitment and talent at a global level.

The new customers join a growing number of high-profile
telecommunication providers who manage their talent resources with
StepStone’s Total Talent Solutions, including Vodafone, O2, Mobistar,
Base, AT&T, Cable & Wireless, T-Mobile NL and Versatel.

Deutsche Telekom has 242,000 employees and operations in some 50
countries. It has selected StepStone to manage its talent globally,
making it the latest DAX 30 listed company to implement StepStone’s
talent management solution.

Telefonica has over 240,000 employees, revenues of EUR 57bn and serves
over 230 million customers in 24 countries. Telefonica has purchased
the full integrated StepStone Talent Suite, and is running a pilot
of the solution with 600 employees.

MTS boasts over 83 million subscribers throughout Russia, Armenia,
Belarus, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, where it is licensed to
provide GSM services, have a total population of more than 230 million.

Colin Tenwick, CEO of StepStone commented: "StepStone has a long
established presence in the aviation, automotive and utilities sectors;
and it is very encouraging to see our capabilities so enthusiastically
adopted by some of the world’s leading telcos. Our portfolio of
software-as-a-service solutions, managed services, and our commitment
to exceeding our customers’ needs are among the many reasons that
StepStone has built such a strong presence in this demanding sector.

About StepStone StepStone was founded in Norway in 1996 and
pioneered the development of online recruitment. Today, StepStone
is a leading global provider of Total Talent Solutions, ranging
from careers websites to on-demand software for e-recruitment and
talent management. StepStone’s portfolio of Total Talent Solutions
ranges from recruitment through on-boarding, training, career and
succession planning, performance management and more. In addition,
StepStone is Europe’s number two operator of careers websites (based
on ComScore data). Covering 13 European countries, its portfolio of
online properties allows recruiters to source candidates quickly and
effectively through individually focused campaigns.

Thousands of organisations, including Amey, Aviva, AXA BMW, British
Airways, Fiat, Royal Bank of Scotland and Xerox use StepStone’s
products and services to help them find, recruit, retain and develop
qualified staff globally. StepStone is the only European-headquartered
vendor to be recognised as a ‘leader’ by Gartner, Inc’s "Magic Quadrant
for E-Recruitment Software, 2008" report and has also been awarded
the highest rating for Employee Performance Software by Bersin and
Associates.

BMI CANCELS GEORGIA FLIGHTS

ebookers
Aug 13, 2008
UK

European Airlines

Falling in line with several other carriers, bmi has also cancelled
its flights to the Georgian capital Tbilisi following the attack of the
airport by the Russian troops. Most notably, as per the present move,
all the services of the airline stand cancelled until at least Monday,
the 18th of August.

At the outset, Georgia and Russia have been engaged at war in the
province of South Ossetia, located to the north of Tbilisi. The
war signs started from as early as Friday. As part of the war,
the Russian Aircraft bombed the airport and following this, all the
flights operated in and out of the airport were eventually cancelled.

The carrier operates its services to this destination three times
a week thereby connecting Heathrow and Tbilisi, with the services
departing on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The return journey is
scheduled on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. The airline noted that due
to the cancellation of flights to this destination, those passengers
who have purchased tickets for travel might re-book to Yerevan in the
neighbouring Armenia or to Baku. As another alternative, the customers
can also opt to retain their tickets to Tbilisi. The tickets will
remain valid for travel up to four weeks from the original date of
the scheduled journey.

According to a statement made by a bmi spokesman, it appears that the
passengers who have booked their tickets on the scheduled departure
from Tbilisi to Heathrow yesterday were actually transferred to
Yerevan or Baku for availing the services heading to the UK.

GOOGLE EXPLAINS GEORGIA MAP BLANK

Web User

August 13, 2008
UK

Anyone looking on Google Maps at Georgia in recent days for further
information about the conflict with Russia in the past few days will
have drawn a blank.

Google Maps doesn’t currently display cities or roads in Georgia or
its neighbours Azerbaijan and Armenia, for the simple reason that
the data Google has isn’t good enough, the company explained.

"We never launched coverage in those countries because we simply
weren’t satisfied with the map data we had available," said Dave
Barth of Google.

"We’re constantly searching for the best map data we can find, and
sometimes will delay launching coverage in a country if we think we
can get more comprehensive data," Barth continued.

However, feedback the company has received about the blank maps has
caused Google to have a rethink.

"We’re hearing from our users that they would rather see even very
basic coverage of a country than see nothing at all. That certainly
makes sense, and so we have started preparing data for the handful
of countries that are still blank on Google Maps," said Barth.

Georgia has recently committed itself to a truce in its hostilities
with Russia over the disputed South Ossetia region.

However, Georgia said that it had suffered attacks on its web
infrastructure, meaning key websites were inaccessible to surfers
for several days.

TWO MORE BRONZE MEDALS: LOOKING FORWARD FOR TODAY

Panorama.am
14:47 13/08/2008

In the 29th Summer Olympic Games Armenian boxer Hovhannes Danielian
(48kg rate) had a victory over a boxer from Cameroon and passed to
the next stage. Armenian wrestler Arman Adikian has been defeated in
a meeting with Hungarian Tamash Lorints. Arsen Djulfalakian is to have
a meeting with Ukrainian Vladimir Shatckikhi. Today two other Armenian
sportsmen Ara Khachatryan and Gevorg Davtian will have their turns.

Note that Armenian sportsmen Roman Amoian and Tigran Gevorgi
Martirosian have won two bronze medals.

China is the leader by its 14 golden medals. By today Turkey has
one silver, Azerbaijan one golden, two silver and Georgia one bronze
medals. Russian sportsmen received two golden, five silver and three
bronze medals.