Month: August 2008

MESSIAH CAUGHT ON A WET WICKET?
Arthur Hagopian

The Age
Aug 9 2008
Australia

It is possible that cricket, a game venerated all over the
Commonwealth, is older than currently thought. In fact, Jesus may have
played the game (or a similar bat-and-ball combination) as a child,
according to an ancient Armenian manuscript.

Long before the English launched cricket some 300 years ago,
similar games were being played as early as the 8th century in the
Punjab region, Derek Birley writes in his Social History of English
Cricket. But an Armenian scholar says there is good reason to believe
that similar games were played in the Middle East long before that
time.

Dr Abraham Terian, recently a visiting professor at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem as Fulbright Distinguished Chair in the
Humanities, points to a rare manuscript as his source.

He notes that in the Armenian Gospel of the Infancy, translated into
Armenian in the 6th century from a much older lost Syriac original,
a passage tells of Jesus playing what may well be the precursor of
cricket, with a club and ball.

Dr Terian discovered the manuscript more than a decade ago at the
Saint James Armenian Monastery in the Old City of Jerusalem.

His English translation of the book has been published by Oxford
University Press.

He says he has now identified the same passage in a couple of other
manuscripts of the same gospel, of which some 40 copies exist in
various archival collections in Europe and the Middle East.

Dr Terian says the gospel relates how Jesus, at the age of nine,
had been apprenticed to a master dyer named Israel in Tiberias,
on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

"Jesus is instructed to watch Israel’s house and not leave the
place while the master goes away on a tour to collect clothes to be
dyed. But no sooner has Israel left the house, than Jesus runs out
with the boys," Dr Terian says.

"The most amazing part of the story of the nine-year-old Jesus playing
a form of cricket with the boys at the seashore, is that he would go
on playing the game on water, over the sea waves," which Dr Terian
says echoes allusions to Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee, as told
in the gospels.

"But the apocryphal story shows that for a ball game even Jesus would
forget work and would go to have fun with the boys!" he says.

CONJOINED TWINS AT RVTH
by Hatab Fadera

WOW
08/8/8/conjoined-twins-at-rvth
Aug 8 2008
Gambia

For the first time in the history of childbirth in The Gambia,
one Ramatoulie Jallow, a resident of Serrekunda London Corner,
on Wednesday afternoon, went under the knife in a major caesarean
operation that led to the birth of conjoined female twins.

The caesarean birth was reported to have been successfully conducted
at the Gambia Family Planning Association (GFPA) Clinic in Kanifing
by Dr Ndabo Manneh-Camara, following a thorough examination. The
twins are joined at their stomachs. They were later referred to the
Neonatal Unit of the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital.

Dr Ndabo Manneh-Camara, a medical doctor of the GFPA Clinic, who
conducted the operation, said this development was the first of its
kind in the country and such a case is very rare in the world.

"I have been in the field [of medicine] for 21 years, but this is
the first time that I have came across such a case," Dr Camara said.

The insight

The GFPA’s medical doctor explained that the mother of the twins –
married with three children – came to her clinic at around 1:00 pm
on Wednesday with labour pain.

"When I checked her, I realised that her abdomen was very big and
that everything was not normal. The moment I realised that she was
not in active labour, I quickly suggested a scanning. The scanning
report revealed a multiple pregnancy and this suggested a delivery by
operation, which I had initially suggested," Dr Manneh-Camara said,
adding that "I wasted no time in going ahead with the operation".

According to Dr Manneh-Camara, during the course of the operation, she
realised that the twins were joined and could not be separated. She
disclosed that after the operation, she referred the twins to the
RVTH Paediatric Unit for further investigations.

However, Dr Manneh-Camara, who has undoubtedly earned fame for herself
as the first Gambian doctor to handle such a rare and major maternity
case, admitted that she was unsure of whether the twins share the
same organs, but noted that their mother’s condition is normal.

Asked about what is responsible for such a phenomenon, Dr Manneh-Camara
attributed it to genetic factors, which occur at the early stages
of pregnancy.

Specialist care

Noting that the operation for a possible separation of the conjoined
twins is not available in the country yet, the veteran doctor called
for urgent financial assistance to facilitate an overseas operation
in order to save the young lives.

"Their parents are not financially strong and only urgent intervention
from all stakeholders can complement their efforts to separate the
twins overseas," she added.

Dr Tamsir Mbowe, director of Health and Medical Services, who has
visited the conjoined twins at the Neonatal Unit, said the twins have a
"high chance" of survival.

"The good news is that the visceral organs of the twins are not
connected together according to the CT Scan conducted at the RVTH,"
he added.

Urgent assistance

Dr Mbowe, himself a well-known gynaecologist, said two hospitals
have been identified to conduct the operation in Europe at a cost of
D1.6 million. He then called on the public to assist in meeting the
financial cost of the special operation for the separation of the
twins in Europe.

Ramatoulie Jallow, the mother of the twins, who is currently admitted
at the GFPA Clinic, also appealed for assistance to save the lives
of her twins.

Yankuba Dibba, the executive director of GFPA, stressed that the twins
need urgent financial aid in a bid to also go under the knife overseas.

Willing individuals, organisations and institutions, who wish to
help can render assistance by contacting 991 4535/ 776 4535, or
[email protected].

Scientific evidence

Conjoined twins are extremely rare, occurring in as few as one in
every 200,000 births. The twins originate from a single fertilised egg,
so they are always identical and of the same sex.

The developing embryo starts to split into identical twins within the
first two weeks after conception. However, the process stops before
it is complete, leaving a partially separated egg which develops into
a conjoined foetus.

The birth of two connected babies can be extremely traumatic and
approximately 40-60% of these births are delivered stillborn with 35%
surviving just one day.

Historical records over the past 500 years detail about 600 surviving
sets of conjoined twins with more than 70% of those surviving pairs
resulting in female twins.

Historical records

The earliest known documented case of conjoined twins dates from the
year 945, when a pair of conjoined twin brothers from Armenia were
brought to Constantinople for medical evaluation. It was here that
they were determined to be acts of God and the birth of conjoined
twins was considered a proof that the male’s sexual prowess was truly
twice that of the average man.

However, the Moche culture of ancient Peru depicted conjoined twins in
their ceramics dating back to AD 300. The English twin sisters Mary
and Eliza Chulkhurst, who were conjoined at the back (pygopagus),
lived from 1100 to 1134 and were perhaps the best-known early example
of conjoined twins.

Other early conjoined twins to attain notice were the "Scottish
brothers", allegedly of the dicephalus type, essentially two
heads sharing the same body (1460-1488, although the dates vary);
the pygopagus Helen and Judith of Sz_ny, Hungary (1701-1723), who
enjoyed a brief career in music before being sent to live in a convent;
and Rita and Cristina of Parodi of Sardinia, born in 1829. Rita and
Cristina were dicephalus tetrabrachius (one body with four arms) twins
and although they died at only eight months of age, they gained much
attention as a curiosity when their parents exhibited them in Paris.

INTOXICATIONS: WHEREAS CHILDREN HIDE FROM PARENTS

Panorama.am
20:34 07/08/2008

In these hottest summer days food intoxications is getting more and
more threatening. At the same time no increase has been fixed in the
amount of intoxication cases. In Norq infection hospital the stream
of the disease is in the frames of allowable and does not exceed
the figure of the previous year. They say "few intoxication cases
are registered".

Panorama.am found out that mostly children suffer from intoxications,
as they buy some food from the shops near their houses without paying
attention on the expire date.

Note that the specialists advise to drink 3-5 liters water in a day.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

"SPECIAL, URGENT, UNPRECEDENTED" NA SESSION

Panorama.am
20:36 07/08/2008

The Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan has held the general session of
the Government. All the 43 issues included in the agenda have been
affirmed.

The Prime Minister recommended to invite Special NA Session on 19
August. The session will be intended to discuss the following issues:
the legislative package presented by the State Tax Service and the
project to release more water from Lake Sevan according to the law.

Both issues have been described as "special, urgent and unprecedented".

HOVNANIAN ENTERPRISES SHARES SURGE

Associated Press
August 06, 2008: 01:17 PM EST

NEW YORK (Associated Press) – Shares of Hovnanian Enterprises
Inc. surged Wednesday afternoon, to lead a general rally in
homebuilding stocks.

The Red Bank, N.J.-based builder’s shares rose 39 cents, or 5.6
percent, to $7.32 in afternoon trading. Hovnanian shares have traded
between $4.25 and $17 during the past year.

Hovnanian, like many other homebuilders, has been incurring losses
due to the housing market downturn. The company in June posted
a second-quarter loss of $340.7 million _ its seventh straight
quarterly loss.

S. SARGSYAN: BLOOD OF OLYMPICS FLOW IN ARMENIANS VEINS

Panorama.am
20:37 07/08/2008

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s interview to Chinese "Xinhua"
information agency.

Mister President, what types of sports do you like the most? What
would you like to wish to the Olympic teams of Armenia and China? What
expectations do you have from Armenian Olympic team?

Armenia is a country of sports. It is due to our famous Armenian
sportsmen and Sport of Armenia, in general, that our tiny country
is famous in the world. Irrespective of the small population of
Armenia, our country managed to mark its own place in the biography
of world sports and Olympics. Yet in the 4th century Armenian King
Varazdat became an Olympic Wrestling Champion, many other Armenian
sportsmen, today, keep high records and victories in the registers
of the winners. So, this is to say that blood of Olympics flow in
Armenians’ veins.

I like sport, as otherwise it is impossible. I am the President of
Armenian Chess Federation; this is a type of sport where Armenians and
Chinese sportsmen have been always fixing perfect results, besides our
national team currently is the Olympic Champion. Like other Presidents
I am happy when Armenian sportsmen have victories and I am unhappy when
something lacks to have a successful performance. Today, everybody in
Armenia keeps under attention Beijing and Olympics Games. Of course,
I agree with the slogan of Olympics, but I also think that every
Armenian sportsman is in Beijing to have successful performances and
to receive golden medals. I am leaving for Beijing with high mood;
I am going to be close to our sportsmen and to encourage them.

Do you think that sport have any connection with politics?

First, sport has close links with relationship, and then with
competition. There are various examples in the world history
when due to sport countries and nations came closer and started
good relationship. For example, let’s remember Chinese American
relationship in the beginnings of 1970 and so called "Ping Pong
Diplomacy". Moreover, in our days Zhuang Zedong is famous both in
sport and politics.

It is already seven years when you visited China as Minister of
Defense of Armenia. How do you feel now leaving for Beijing? How
do you evaluate the work of Chinese Government to get prepared to
the Olympics?

You’re right it was seven years ago I visited China. Then I was the
Minister of Defense of Armenia. That last visit to your huge country
had great impression on me. Now I am following the development of
China, and I am happy with the successes of Chinese people. I am
leaving for China to eyewitness all the changes conducted in your
country. I have no doubts that China and Chinese people have done
everything to guarantee perfect Olympics Games. I know that Chinese
Olympic Team is prepared to the Games seriously.

Armenian and Chinese People have rich common history. In the recent
years the bilateral relationship of these countries is developing
fast. How do you evaluate the perspectives of development? What are
the specific fields of the cooperation?

China is a relative country for us. The present stage of our
relationship has strong legal basis, including more than 40 interstate
and inter-governmental memorandums. The reforms, developments,
modernizations in China are being followed by Armenians.

Certainly there is development in the trade circulation, agriculture,
high technologies and humanitarian fields. We have also collaboration
in sports and culture. Although I can see more huge potential of
collaboration and measures should be taken to improve that. Armenia
received the invitation to take part in "Expo 2010" international
exhibition which is to be conducted in Shan Hang.

ARTIST WINS GOLD MEDAL FOR LEBANON IN BEJJING OLYMPIC GAMES
By Mohammed Zaatari

Daily Star
d=1&categ_id=1&article_id=94889
Aug 8 2008
Lebanon

BEIRUT: A painting by Lebanese artist Lina Kilikian won the gold
medal at an international exhibition of art in China preceding and
accompanying the 2008 Olympic Games opening on Friday in Beijing. For
the exhibit entitled Colors and the Olympics, in which hundreds of
sculptures and paintings by about 700 artists from 81 countries
around the world were competing, Kilikian submitted three works,
one of which won.

Kilikian will travel to the Chinese capital on Saturday to receive the
gold medal and an Olympic torch as an award for her winning painting
called "The Terrestrial Globe During the 21st Century."

Kilikian said she produced the painting in August 2006 – just after
the war with Israel – in Mount Lebanon’s Bolonia, amid hundreds of
families fleeing from the bombing.

"I was holding a blank paper and some painting pens, so I drew what
I was feeling at that moment. I drew the way wars can change the
landmarks of the terrestrial globe and hurt human beings along with the
pollution and the catastrophes of the nature," she told The Daily Star.

"This painting reflects the suffering of the earth and human
beings. Yet, it leaves some white spaces for hope. That is how I
was seeing the globe at that moment. I am proud of this award, and
I offer it to my country, Lebanon, which has started paving the way
to stability and prosperity," she added.

Kilikian is a multi-faceted artist who is interested in abstract
and religious art, and in the creation of cities. With her numerous
paintings and murals, she has participated in various exhibitions in
Lebanon and around the world.

Kilikian also serves as president of the Lebanon chapter of the
Association of Women Innovating in the Mediterranean.

BLOOD IS SPILLED ON JAGGED EDGE OF KREMLIN’S FORMER EMPIRE
Daniel McLaughlin

Irish Times
Aug 9 2008
Ireland

Russia is not only protecting its people in South Ossetia but
confronting Georgia, a former ally now aligned with the US, writes
Daniel McLaughlin

THE FORMER Soviet Union is studded with so-called frozen conflicts,
but none has flared up with the ferocity of South Ossetia.

Armenia and Azerbaijan still argue over Nagorno-Karabakh, Moldova has
made little ground trying to woo its separatist region of Transdniestr,
and Georgia is intent on reasserting control over the spectacular,
sub-tropical Black Sea region of Abkhazia.

They, and the dispute over South Ossetia, are the jagged edges that
remained when the Kremlin’s empire peeled apart with relatively
little bloodshed.

In the 1990s, Russia played a game of geopolitical containment in
its backyard, as Boris Yeltsin sought to quell rebellion in Chechnya
while holding the restive Russian Federation together in the teeth
of a communist revival and regular financial turmoil.

However, enriched by record energy prices and emboldened by the
pugnacious Vladimir Putin, Russia has sought to reassert its influence
over what it calls the "near abroad", an area in which it resents
the growing influence of the United States and European Union.

Of Russia’s neighbours, Georgia has become a particular worry to
the Kremlin that Putin passed on to his protege, Dmitry Medvedev,
earlier this year.

Georgia’s US-educated president Mikheil Saakashvili has had the
Pentagon help train his armed forces to bring them closer to the
standard required by Nato, which he hopes to join as soon as possible.

His eagerness to take a chunk of the Kremlin’s former dominions into
Nato has won him major support from Washington and the EU, as has
Georgia’s importance as a transit route for gas and oil heading west
from the Caspian and bypassing Russia.

Saakashvili’s disappointment was immense, then, when Nato refused to
put Georgia formally on the path to membership at this year’s summit,
after Germany and France complained that such a move would anger
energy-rich Russia.

Georgian officials say that those countries’ fear of Moscow’s wrath
emboldened the Kremlin to step up provocations in South Ossetia and
Abkhazia, and recent months have witnessed a series of shootings and
bomb blasts which Tbilisi has blamed on Russia and the separatists,
and vice versa.

In its bid to prevent Kosovo’s independence, Moscow threatened to
respond to any such declaration by recognising the sovereignty of
South Ossetia and Abkhazia – even though it is ultimately terrified
of any precedent that could embolden separatists in Russia’s Caucasian
republics, like Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan.

"It boils down to Kosovo independence, Nato’s Bucharest summit and
possibly also Russian internal politics and the transfer of power,"
said Svante Cornell, co-director of the Stockholm-based Institute
for Security and Development Policy.

"Irrespective of who triggered this recent action, the general
direction of Russian policy is clear, which is: we are taking control
of these territories, and we’re not even pretending that we’re not."

But among experts on Russia and the Caucasus, there seemed to be no
consensus on why South Ossetia’s slowly thawing frozen conflict had
suddenly become a torrent.

While each side blamed the other for provoking all-out fighting,
some analysts suggested that both Tbilisi and Moscow may have seen
this as a good time to change "facts on the ground" in the Caucasus –
with Georgia hoping Russia would react slowly as Medvedev settles into
the Kremlin, and Russia banking on Washington being distracted by its
presidential election campaign, and the EU fearful of the threat to
Russian fuel supplies.

Other commentators said Saakashvili had little choice but to move
against what Georgian officials call a criminal regime funded by
Russian handouts and the profits of smuggling, and with an ever-growing
arsenal of weaponry from its sponsor to the north.

"At the end of the day, the Georgians realise that time is not on
their side and they could not let South Ossetia and Abkhazia become
even more messy and Russian influence even stronger," said Tomas
Valasek of the Centre for European Reform.

Contraband, arms – and now Russian troops and mercenaries – enter South
Ossetia via the Roki Tunnel, a 3.5km-long pass through the Caucasus
that links the province with Kremlin-controlled North Ossetia. Russian
and South Ossetian peacekeepers do their utmost to prevent their
erstwhile Georgian colleagues and monitors from the Organisation
for Security and Co-operation in Europe from observing what comes
through the tunnel and then makes its way to the separatist capital
of Tskhinvali along a road that has been freshly laid by the Russians.

For many Georgians, the true purpose of this so-called Road of Life
was revealed yesterday, as it carried Kremlin men and armour towards
Tskhinvali, and a waiting Georgian military that has been beefed up
by recent investment, new equipment and US training.

"This could be a prolonged and bloody conflict with an unpredictable
end," said military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer. "It’s a hell of a
logistical nightmare to try and take and keep South Ossetia against
a rather fine Georgian military."

FILMMAKER AND CONGRESSMAN GET INTO SCUFFLE
Gary Detman

First Coast News
ws-article.aspx?storyid=115918&catid=82
Aug 8 2008
FL

MEMPHIS — A scuffle between a filmmaker and a U.S. Congressman from
Tennessee is caught on tape.

Congressman Steve Cohen, who is running for re-election, held a press
conference in his Memphis home Wednesday when the altercation started.

Peter Musurlian is making a documentary about the election and entered
the home trying to interview the Congressman.

That’s when the two got into an argument and Cohen shoved Musurlian
out of the house.

Musurlian says he plans to file assault charges Thursday.

The filmmaker, who is Armenian, is upset that Cohen didn’t support
a Congressional referendum recognizing the killing of 1.5 million
Armenians in the early 1900s as genocide.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MANY ETHNIC CONFLICTS ERUPTED AS SOVIET UNION COLLAPSED
By Jonathan S. Landay

McClatchy Washington Bureau
6970.html
Aug 8 2008
DC

WASHINGTON — Until heavy fighting erupted Friday, the feud between
Georgia and its rebel enclave of South Ossetia was one of the "frozen
conflicts," or stalemated territorial contests between ethnic groups
ignited by the former Soviet Union’s collapse.

GEORGIA-SOUTH OSSETIA

South Ossetia is a mountainous enclave of about 70,000 people bordering
Russia. One-third of its population is Georgian. Ossetians, who speak
a language related to Farsi, seek union with North Ossetia, which is
inside the Russian Federation.

Georgia, whose 4.4 million people speak Georgian and Russian, voted
for independence after the former Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991.

Ethnic clashes erupted in 1989 as the Soviet Union headed toward
breakup, prompting the deployment of Soviet troops. Sporadic unrest
continued after Ossetian leaders declared their intention to secede.

The bloodshed abated after Russia, Georgia and Ossetian leaders agreed
to form a tripartite peacekeeping force in 1992. But talks failed to
resolve the standoff, and tensions flared anew after the 2004 election
of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who declared his intention
to reclaim the enclave.

South Ossetia, which receives political and economic support
from Russia, voted to secede in 2006, but the referendum wasn’t
internationally recognized. The dispute became enmeshed in the larger
tensions between the United States and Russia over the expansion of
NATO, which Georgia is seeking to join with American backing.

GEORGIA-ABKHAZIA

Georgia also is grappling with breakaway Abkhazia, a region of about
250,000 people on the Black Sea whose separatist leaders receive
strong backing from Moscow.

Ethnic Georgians were a majority of the population there when the
Soviet Union collapsed and Georgia became independent. Ethnic Abkhaz
began agitating for independence and fighting erupted, prompting
Georgia to send in troops.

Georgia charges that Moscow provided the assistance that allowed
Abkhaz rebels to drive out the Georgian troops in 1993. Thousands of
ethnic Georgian civilians also fled.

U.N. military observers and Russian peacekeeping troops, whom
Georgia accuses of shielding the separatists, have kept a fragile
peace. Negotiations have made no progress.

Abkhazia formally declared independence in 1999, but hasn’t been
internationally recognized. It’s under an international economic
embargo, but receives goods from Russia via rail. Moscow also has
given Russian passports to most Abkhaz.

MOLDOVA-TRANS-DNEISTER

Trans-Dneister, most of whose population speaks Russian and Ukrainian,
declared independence in 1990 from Moldova, which is dominated
by Romanian speakers. The declaration has never been recognized
internationally.

Hundreds of people died in fierce fighting that erupted after Moldova
became independent, prompting Russia to send troops. The narrow strip
of territory between the Dneister River and Ukraine has since gained
notoriety as a center of international organized crime.

Trans-Dneister’s leaders held a referendum in 2006 that reaffirmed
the independence declaration and set a goal of union with
Russia. Negotiations on ending the dispute have made no progress.

NATO has demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from
Trans-Dneister. But Moscow continues to maintain a base there,
ostensibly to protect a stockpile of weapons whose removal the
separatist leadership has blocked.

NAGORNO-KARABAGH

Nagorno-Karabagh is a region in Azerbaijan, an overwhelmingly Muslim
former Soviet republic. The enclave’s population is mainly ethnic
Christian Armenian.

Ethnic clashes erupted in 1988, prompting ethnic Azeris to flee
the enclave and neighboring Armenia, and ethnic Armenians to flee
Azerbaijan. The number of displaced people is estimated at about
1 million.

Heavy combat erupted after the territory declared independence in
1991 and its intention to unite with Armenia.

Aided by Armenia, ethnic Armenian forces defeated Azerbaijani forces,
then pushed beyond Nagorno-Karabagh’s limits, creating a buffer zone
that they still control.

Up to 30,000 people are thought to have died before Russia brokered
a 1994 cease-fire. Internationally mediated talks between Azerbaijan
and Armenia have failed to resolve the dispute.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress