Month: October 2008

CELEBRATING WORLD HABITAT DAY AND THE LAUNCH OF NEW PROJECT IN NSHAVAN

armradio.am
08.10.2008 14:14

With great excitement and hope for a better future the village Nshavan
in the region of Ararat embraced the new project of Habitat for
Humanity Armenia, which celebrated the World Habitat Build on Monday,
October 6, with a build week in Nshavan. The event also marked the
start of an unprecedented project to eradicate poverty housing in
this agricultural community of 2,400.

A ceremony at the village hall of Nshavan, about 40 minutes from
Yerevan, took place on Monday at 11 a.m. The population of Nshavan,
together with distinguished guests including the RA Deputy Minister
of Urban Development, as well as Archbishop Vicken Aikazian, member
of the International Board of Directors of Habitat for Humanity,
as well as representatives of Armenian and international NGOs were
attending the opening ceremony, which took place in front of the
village hall of Nshavan.

The United Nations-designated World Habitat Day on Monday, 6 October,
calls for the recognition of the state of human settlements and
the basic need for adequate shelter for all. Habitat for Humanity’s
World Habitat Build in Nshavan, will mark the observance throughout
the week to accommodate various groups of volunteers who will help
finish the half-built houses of two families and mark the launch of
a communitywide strategy to eradicate poverty housing.

=0 A"We are here to celebrate the beginning of a new start to improve
the housing conditions of the inhabitants of Nshavan and many other
villages and towns in Armenia," said Habitat for Humanity Armenia
executive director Irina Vanyan. "I am very thrilled to find so many
adherents here and the excitement with which Habitat for Humanity
Armenia and its project is greeted in Nshavan is indeed encouraging. If
the project has such a strong support from the community than it will
definitely succeed." Ms. Vanyan also thanked the tens of local and
international volunteers who had arrived Nshavan to give the partner
families a hand up in making their dream of having a simple, decent,
and affordable home a reality. She particularly thanked the volunteers
of Armenian NGOs IESEC, AMSE, Luysi Ashkharh, and Clean Yerevan.

"Today we are actually celebrating the commitment the partner families
and the people of Nshavan are going to make to end poverty housing
in your village," said Habitat for Humanity Europe and Central Asia
Program Director Lucija Popovska. "The real heroes today are the
families who have inspired us to help build their and many other
peoples’ homes in their community," she added.

"Habitat for Humanity’s commitment to the village Nshavan is serious,"
added Ms. Popovska. "Our objective is that when Habitat for Humanity
leaves this community, nobody will be living in poverty housing."

Karlen Gevorgyan, RA Deputy Minister of Urban Development,
congratulated the people of Nshavan on the launch of the Habitat for
Humanity project in their village. "I am convinced that these projects
will find success in Nshavan and many other villages throughout
Armenia," said the Deputy Minister. "We are also extremely glad on
the new partnership between Habitat for Humanity Armenia and the RA
Ministry of Urban Development to more effectively tackle the issue
of poverty housing throughout Armenia and help an increasing number
of families in living in decent homes," said the Deputy Minister.

"We are extremely happy that the project of Habitat for Humanity
Armenia kicked off in Nshavan," said Marzpet Hakobyan, the Mayor
of Nshavan.

"The need of our village to adequate housing is indeed pressing
and we hope that at the end of the project’s activity in Nshavan,
our village will have a nicer look with its renovated houses."

Towards the end of the opening celebration, Archbishop Vicken Aykazian
blessed the project and its mission to help an increasing number of
families in Armenia in dropping off the burden of living in inadequate
shelters.

"Helping to our neighbors, our friends, and other people is a duty
assigned by God to every Human Being. Helping people in Armenia to
have better homes is the mission of Habitat for Human ity in Armenia."

Within the hours following the opening ceremony, the official guests
joined their efforts to that of the local and international volunteers
and the partner families in building their homes. During the build
week, more volunteers, including Habitat for Humanity international
board chair Ron Terwilliger, will lend the families a hand up.

Habitat’s self-help approach has worked for nearly 300,000 families
in more than 90 countries, and it’s working in Nshavan and throughout
Armenia. Habitat for Humanity earlier this year recommitted itself to
improving housing conditions in Armenia, where about 40 percent of
the country’s 3 million population live in substandard shelter. In
addition to Nshavan, Habitat is tackling a communitywide project in
Khachik, not far from the border with Azerbaijan.

The two completed homes will be blessed and dedicated on Saturday,
October 11.

FRANCE’S ORANGE WINS ARMENIA CELLULAR TENDER

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.10.2008 12:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Oragne, a world-famous subsidiary of France Telecom
has been chosen to become Armenia’s third cellular operator after
submitting the highest bid for a relevant government license, said
Susanna Tonoyan, a spokesperson for the Armenian Ministry of Transport
and Communications.

Orange offered 51.5 million euros ($72 million) for the license, well
above the government’s minimum asking price of 10 million euros. The
two other bidders, Tele2 AB of Sweden and the British-Irish group
CEO Blackrock Communications, offered 45.6 million and 31.7 million
euros respectively.

Orange will operate with +374 (0) 55 and +374 (0) 95 codes. If by
the end of the first operation year the operator fails to distribute
more than 60 per cent of the numbers, the Public Services Regulatory
Commission of the Republic of Armenia is entitled to appropriate the
unused ones.

The new operator will be provided with GSM frequencies and possibility
of 3G services.

WORKSHOPS FOR JOURNALISTS: "BIOETHICS, HUMAN RIGHTS AND MASS MEDIA"

UNESCO (Communiqués de presse
D=27545&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.ht ml
07-10-2008 9:53
France

Series of workshops devoted to the 60th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and arranged for Armenian journalists.

The agenda includes the following:

a training workshop "Bioethics, Human Rights and Mass Media" with
the main goals to promote human rights, popularize ethical norms,
standards and the main principles of the UNESCO Universal Declaration
on Bioethics and Human Rights among the journalists community in
Armenia as well as initiate a public debate on bioethical issues and
integrate bioethics in the agenda of mass media in the country.

a series of roundtables in a form of 3-4 hours discussions on the
universal importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
the significance of realization of its principles as well as different
aspects of human rights, including Gender Equality, Press Freedom,
Ethics and Tolerance in Mass Media.

Date du début 07-10-2008

End Date 10-10-2008

Type d’événement Workshops Endroit de l’événement Yerevan, Armenia
Organisateur Social and Human Sciences Sector and Communication and
Information Sector of the UNESCO Moscow Office in cooperation with the
Armenian National Commission for UNESCO, National Bioethics Committee
of the Republic of Armenia and Armenian Union of Journalists

–Boundary_(ID_5phIDMiM3ASUwm4TIPDqjA )–

TWO YEARS WITHOUT ANNA
By Nina Ognianova

CPJ Press Freedom Online
October 7, 2008 2:58 PM ET
NY

Anna Politkovskaya (Novaya Gazeta)I met Anna Politkovskaya in person
only once, in 2005. She was in New York to collect yet another
journalism award, and stopped by CPJ one October afternoon.

I remember her crossing the lobby with an even, determined step. She
had an urgency about her–that rare focus that comes only with absolute
clarity about one’s mission in life. Politkovskaya’s passion was
almost tangible–neither her low voice nor her poised delivery could
camouflage it. It radiated from her whole being–her hand gestures;
her steady gaze; the way she tossed back her strikingly gray hair.

She was not one for small talk–she did not care about my ice-breaker
about the weather. Neither did she wish to tell me about this new prize
she was about to receive. She went straight to the point–the human
rights crisis in Russia’s North Caucasus. She talked about the abuses
she had witnessed and reported on for years; of the war in Chechnya,
which she felt many Russians chose to pretend did not exist.

She talked about the aftermath of the 2002 Moscow theater siege, in
which 129 hostages died–all but two as a result of a botched rescue
operation. She talked about the 2004 school hostage crisis in Beslan,
where 330 people–mostly children–were killed when troops stormed
the building. She spoke of the many questions that these tragedies
had left unanswered–questions authorities hated her for asking. She
lamented that the number of reporters who would ask those questions was
diminishing. "There is so much to write about Beslan," she told me,
"but it gets more and more difficult when all the journalists are
forced to leave."

Politkovskaya did not talk about her own brushes with danger, the
numerous cases of harassment and intimidation she had endured at the
hands of federal and local security agents–the mock execution in
detention, the three days she spent in a pit without food or water
in Chechnya, the poisoning en route to Beslan …. She deflected all
my attempts to shift the conversation to her own experience.

She had come to talk about her colleagues and their plight. She had
come to be their voice. And so we talked about her friend at a small
newspaper in North Ossetia, who struggled to report on the aftermath
of Beslan but was refused access every step of the way. She talked of
her colleague in Nizhny Novgorod, who had been charged with inciting
ethnic hatred because he had printed a Chechen rebel’s statement in
his publication. She talked about the soldiers’ mothers who had come
to Novaya Gazeta to seek help because they had no one else to turn to.

(Novaya Gazeta)In a first-person piece, one year before she was
gunned down in the elevator of her Moscow apartment, Politkovskaya
tried to make sense of the reasons why the Kremlin had branded her
"a pariah." She asked: "So what is the crime that has earned me
this label of not being ‘one of us’? I have merely reported what
I have witnessed, no more than that." She continued: "I am not an
investigating magistrate but somebody who describes the life around
us for those who cannot see it for themselves, because what is shown
on television and written about in the overwhelming majority of
newspapers is emasculated and doused with ideology. People know very
little about life in other parts of their own country, and sometimes
even in their own region.

The Kremlin responds by trying to block my access to information,
its ideologues supposing that this is the best way to make my writing
ineffectual. It is impossible, however, to stop someone fanatically
dedicated to this profession of reporting the world around us."

Today, as our colleagues from Novaya Gazeta gather on Novopushkinsky
Square in Moscow to honor Anna’s memory, we at CPJ stand with them
in solidarity. We remember Anna for her courageous journalism, her
compassion for those without voice, her dogged pursuit of truth,
and the humanity she preserved against all odds.

_______________

Memories of Anna:

Dmitry Muratov, Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief and 2007 recipient of
CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award:

About Politkovskaya one can talk without end. … Our mutual
existence could be characterized as a constant conflict. Mind you,
these conflicts were only professional, work-related. We never had any
personal battles. Our relations were friendly and good-natured. But
we constantly we had work-related conflicts. …

I’d tell her: "That would be all! You have to leave Chechnya
already. Enough!" … And she’d tell me: "You know, you are probably
right. But I cannot leave the weak without my help." And this was
the key quality about Politkovskaya–Politkovskaya was always on the
side of the defenseless. And Politkovskaya always criticized those
powerful with passion, fervor, and strong arguments. Thanks to her
articles, many were released from prisons; some who had been abducted
in Chechnya were recovered; elderly people were rescued from harm and
given assistance. … She defended the weak with all her ferocity,
and with all her mighty temperament. She heeded absolutely nothing–not
a single warning.

Yevgeniya Albats, deputy editor of the independent newsweekly The
New Times:

My memories are very personal: We were friends with Anya when we both
studied at Moscow State University, in the journalism department. I
won’t write about that here. I’ll just say one thing:

The last time Anya and I saw each other was at the first conference of
the Other Russia [opposition coalition], in the summer of 2006, where
we both spoke. We talked a lot between the sessions–about our kids,
of course. Well, what else could two 48-year-old women who have known
one another all their lives talk about? Anya told me that her daughter,
Verochka, was to give her a granddaughter the next February. And I
remembered Verochka when she was in a stroller. We talked about our
problems with the kids, about how each of us managed those problems
or–quite more often–didn’t.

We also talked about politics. And then she, just like that,
half-jokingly, said: "I know it is not my fate to die in bed, of old
age." Just like that, out of the blue.

The next time I saw her was by the entrance of her apartment house;
she was on a stretcher, covered with a white sheet.

Aleksei Simonov, president of the Glasnost Defense Foundation in
Moscow:

Anna was a very beautiful woman. Even her gray hair made her look
beautiful. She had an air of unattainability about her. And, one day,
all that was shattered into pieces, smashed by some nasty, heavy boots.

To hell with her killers!

Sergei Buntman, deputy editor-in-chief of the independent radio
station Ekho Moskvy. (This commentary first appeared on Ekho Moskvy’s
Web site.)

Three months after the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, Hrant Dink,
editor of the Armenian newspaper Agos, was killed in Turkey. Turkey is
a country that, like us, cannot come to peace with its past. Dink, by
bringing up the painful topic of the 1915 genocide, had earned himself
a conditional prison term on charges of insulting the Turkish people.

But right after he was murdered, the Turkish government did not wait
for special invitations, for questions asked at press conferences
abroad; it did not utter cynical formulations, but simply said that
a bullet in Hrant Dink was a bullet in the heart of Turkey.

Tens of thousands of people came into the streets, wearing badges that
said: "I am an Armenian." Of course, not everyone agreed with that. But
some of the biggest newspapers published headlines that said: "We
are all Hrant Dinks," and "Hrant Dink–this is Turkey."All right, so
perhaps Turks are southern people, emotional, prone to hyperbole. Can
we say, like them, "We are all Anna Politkovskayas"? We can’t. We must
do a hundred times more to even begin to accomplish all that she did
for our society and our freedoms, for compassion and for justice. But
we can say: "Anna Politkovskaya–this is Russia." Particularly if we
want our country to be as she was–one with the victims, not with
their executioners. If we want this to be true, we must fight for
it. We alone must do this. Because Anya is no longer here to do our
job for us.

SMALL US BUSINESSES FEEL PINCH OF TIGHTENED CREDIT
By Mike O’Sullivan

Voice of America
07 October 2008
Los Angeles

As the U.S. Federal Reserve System announced measures to ease the
credit crisis Tuesday, small business owners around the United
States say the tight credit market is hurting them. Mike O’Sullivan
reports from Los Angeles, the financial crisis is affecting nearly
all businesses, including car dealers, fast-food restaurants, and
retail stores.

Alfred Minas, an Armenian immigrant, runs a Los Angeles shoe repair
shop, and he says business is terrible. "Seems like people are
panicking. People with money, they’re holding back. People with no
money, still they don’t have money. Business is just going down day
by day," he said.

Economist Eduardo Martinez of the Los Angeles County Economic
Development Corporation says some businesses are feeling the squeeze
at both ends, with banks reluctant to lend and few customers willing
to spend any money. "Especially car dealers, people who are dealing in
furniture, they’ve been hit pretty hard by the downturn in consumer
spending, not having that many customers go to their showrooms, but
now, they’re having a hard time getting the funds to be able to order
products to fill their showrooms."

He says the downturn is hurting franchise businesses like McDonald’s,
which have been investing in new equipment to offer high end
coffees. Banks are reluctant to lend to franchise owners for the
upgrade.

Martinez says the uncertainty in European credit markets is also
hurting local business because major British, German, French and
Dutch firms have Los Angeles operations in entertainment, banking,
finance, and manufacturing.

Some business owners hope to ride out the storm. Brothers Peter
and Charlie Woo, immigrants from Hong Kong, founded Megatoys 20
years ago. The company manufactures toys in Asia, imports them to
the United States and exports them to Latin America. Chief executive
Charlie Woo says the company foresaw a downturn and took preventive
action by securing its line of credit.

"And also, we’ve got a very widespread customer base. We sell to large
retailers such as Wal-Mart and K-Mart, and we also sell to the small
mom-and-pops [family-owned stores] as well as export to Central and
South America. In general, everybody’s quite pessimistic, but we’ve
got a pretty big customer base."

He adds that a weak U.S. dollar hurts the import businesses.

Farhad Besharati Iranian immigrant Farhad Besharati offers tours
to Europe through his business called Atlantic Tour and Travel. He
says the credit crisis means empty seats on airlines. "When people
cannot apply for a loan or credit, definitely it affects all
businesses. Because before, they used to get home equity [loan] or
credit card or something and then they could travel and they paid
slowly, but now it’s impossible."

Economist Eduardo Martinez says most businesses need to borrow to
stay in business. And with banks reluctant to lend, even businesses
with low overhead expenses are faced with customers reluctant to part
with their money.

AFRICANS READY TO SIGN CONVENTION BANNING CLUSTER MUNITIONS

Joy Online
Tuesday, 7 October 2008, 8:46 GMT
Ghana

A total of 28 African countries have affirmed their commitment to
sign the convention on banning the use of cluster munitions by the
end of the year.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions is an international treaty that
bans cluster bombs and provides assistance to affected communities
to be opened for signature in Oslo, Norway, on December 3, 2008,
the International Day for Persons with Disabilities.

A total of 107 states adopted the Convention in Dublin, Ireland,
in May 2008, a statement issued in Accra by Foundation for Security
and Development in Africa (FOSDA) to the Ghana News Agency on Monday
stated.

The statement said the continent’s position was made at the just-ended
African Regional Conference on Cluster Munitions held in Kampala,
Uganda.

According to the statement, the Africa Regional Conference adopted
the "Kampala Action Plan" outlining a series of strong actions by
civil society organisations across the continent to persuade African
governments to sign the Convention.

The Kampala Conference is the second in a series of regional meetings
arranged to build support for signing the convention banning the use
of cluster munitions.

Cluster bombs or munitions are large weapons which are deployed
from the air and from the ground and release hundreds of smaller
sub-munitions.

Sub-munitions released by airdropped cluster bombs are often called
"bomblets," while those delivered from the ground by artillery or
rockets are usually referred to as "grenades."

Air-dropped or ground-launched, they cause two major humanitarian
problems and risks to civilians. First, their widespread dispersal
means they cannot distinguish between military targets and civilians
so the humanitarian impact can be extreme, especially when the weapon
is used in or near populated areas.

The Kampala Conference said many sub-munitions used in the past had
failed to detonate on impact and become de facto antipersonnel mines
killing and maiming people long after the conflict has ended.

The Conference said these duds were more lethal than antipersonnel
mines, adding that incidents involving sub-munitions duds were much
more likely to cause death than injury.

Fourteen countries were identified for having used cluster munitions –
Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Israel, Morocco, the Netherlands,
Nigeria, Russia (USSR), Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, UK, US,
and FR Yugoslavia.

According to the FOSDA statement, a total of 34 states are known to
have produced over 210 different types of cluster munitions whilst
more than two dozen countries have been affected by the use of cluster
munitions including Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, and Cambodia.

The rest are Chad, Croatia, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia,
Grenada, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Montenegro, Saudi Arabia,
Serbia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Uganda, and Vietnam,
as well as Chechnya, Falkland, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Western Sahara.

A total of 42 African governments attended the Kampala Conference,
which discussed the treaty on cluster munitions, of which 28 announced,
most for the first time, their intent to sign the Convention on
Cluster Munitions.

The countries were Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central
African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo, DR Congo, The
Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Lesotho, Madagascar,
Malawi, and Mali.

The rest are Mauritania, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal,
Seychelles; Uganda, Togo and Zambia.

VOCALIST-SONGWRITER SONYA KAHN’S NEW SINGLE WHISPERING SOULS VOCALIZES THE SUBJECT OF GENOCIDE

Top40-Charts.com
2008-10-07
NY

Los Angeles, CA. (Top40 Charts/ Media Monster Communications) –
Music has always punctuated moments in time. Today’s mainstream
and Independent music artists are taking a stand to express their
thoughts and ideas about life in the name of the world, war, peace
and life. Vocalist-Songwriter-Musician -Producer, Sonya Kahn has
just released WHISPERING SOULS, the new edgy rock single available
at cdbaby.com/cd/sonyakahn2 and video viewable on her new web channel
at Youtube.com/sonyakahn This is a song she felt passionate and felt
driven to write, record and produce. ‘Life, history and current
events inspired me to write this song. I had to get this off of
my chest, talk about wars, about genocide. So many tragic earlier
historical events have happened in the past like the Jewish Holocaust
and Armenian Genocide – My family was affected by genocide on both
sides. People didn’t prevent genocide that went on more recently
in Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia and sadly it’s continuing. So this is
something I am very passionate about and always will be. I wanted to
write about all those innocent souls killed during different political
events that could be prevented if humans cared about each other more
than they do about money and power,’ states Kahn. ‘I hope people will
take their time to listen to my lyrics and let it in to awaken some
emotions. It’s a very moving, honest song with an important message we
all can use…to care more about each other and think twice about our
spiritual values. God is in each of us, we are part of the Universe
and have an obligation to protect each other and cherish what we’ve
been given,’ she explains. She also has created a discussion group
called Sonya Kahn’s Speak Out Symphony groups.myspace.com/sksos where
she will be addressing more about genocide, war, even Hollywood and
business ethics as she stays true to being an artist of expression.

WHISPERING SOULS is anything but a ‘whisper’ in terms of
production. Kahn is a classically trained artist born in Russia and
she has a Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree in concert piano performing
and musical theory.

Her experience roars in this track, highlighting her musical knowledge
and production skills, painting the song’s story instrumentally
like a musical Michelangelo. WHISPERING SOULS has a strong majestic
arrangement – very theatrical, almost James Bond motion-picture feel
to it. ‘It’s about a very important subject with strong message,
so the song naturally was going to be a big one. Starting from drum
sounds I already knew it was going to sound powerful, the level of
distortion/tone for guitars, string arrangements, piano riffs to the
tempo, intensity, harmonies and energy,’ Kahn explains.

Representing three generations of gifted musical performers in her
family, Sonya Kahn came to America only five years ago. She took it
upon herself to learn a new language specifically so she can write,
produce and sing songs in English. Self-motivated, this determined
music multi-hyphenate prevailed with her tenacious ambition and music
expertise to do it herself. ‘I am very passionate about this topic
and being a musician – songwriter/producer I feel responsible to do
my work, to play my part and spread the message, make people think
twice about their choices. Maybe this is an energy force that has to
come out and finds an artistic outlet. I’d like to think that I am
one of those chosen outlets. When purpose meets creativity the fusion
is powerful and that’s when I feel happy… feel like my creation is
important,’ Kahn explains.

Kahn just completed her 13-track CD, NEW BEGINNING, available at
iTunes, CDBaby.com, Digistation.com and soon in stores. This CD
features heartfelt rock power ballads, feisty driving rock songs,
and a few dance-beat murmurs and is on Sonya’s own label Mozarta
Muzik, where she performed wearing many hats singing, songwriting,
playing piano and guitar, arranging, and producing her own album. She
has over 650,000+ profile views on Myspace (myspace.com/sonyakahn),
one of her songs was featured on an Indie film soundtrack, and she has
a full enterprise of merchandise, downloads and wallpaper available
on her website sonyakahn.com.

TOKAREV, ISMAILOV, MARTIROSIAN WIN!
By Alexey Sukachev

fightnews.com
October 7, 2008

Four local shows were staged on Friday and Saturday nights in different
regions of Russia. While a temporary center of Russian pro boxing made
its way to the north-western part of the country (events in Vyborg
and St. Petersburg), tournaments in Kazan and Ramenskoye were also
marked with new faces and attractive encounters.

Vyborg

Last Saturday Alexander Yagupov of Colosseum Box Promotions
conducted his hugest tournament this year which featured several
heated match-ups between established fighters and a number of young
guns in the undercard. Local sport club "Favorite" supported.

Headlining the show was tough and extremely experienced WBO #11
cruiserweight Ali Ismailov, 34, against Contender III alumni Max
Alexander, 27, of Camden, NJ. Two-time former Olympian (2000 and 2004)
for Azerbaijan, Ismailov used his usual aggressiveness to press
defensive-minded Alexander around the ring. The American import
had his little share of success in early rounds forcing Ismailov
to stay back with his jab while initiating clinches and grabs when
Ali was able to break through Alexander’s outer defense to close
quarters. In middle rounds it became obvious that Max hadn’t enough
power neither to stop the onrushing foe nor to cope with his physical
power and determination; however, it was American’s uppercut that
bothered Ismailov most though never too much. In later rounds Ali
started looking for a finishing punch to knock Alexander out but
never succeeded. At the end of a fight night all three judges gave
the victory to Ismailov with lopsided scores: 100-90 (thrice). With
a harder-than-the-scores-tell win over American guest in a non-title
bout, WBO Latino king Ismailov moves up to 14-1-1 with 9 KOs while
Alexander drops down to less impressive 14-3-2, 2 KOs.

In what seemed to be the most compelling match-up of the evening,
Russian-based Armenian Gennady Martirosian (14-1, 4 KOs) scored the
biggest win of his life to date with a well-earned unanimous decision
over Hungarian kayo artist Attila Kovacs (24-2, 17 KOs), who was 22-0
since losing his third only pro encounter. Light-hitting but busy
Martirosian used his superior speed to fool slow Kovacs and to wear
his opponent down with a relentless bodypunching. Attila was down
in round four after a slip and looked increasingly tired down the
stretch. Martirosian punctured his unanimous decision over Hungarian
with some successful exchanges at the end.

Uzbek puncher Sherzod Nazarov (9-3, 8 KOs) had never lived up to
expectations during his clash with Spanish-based Columbian Nacho
Mendoza (24-4-2, 15 KOs) and failed to make a quantum leap in
his opposition suffering a brutal six-round kayo loss. Nazarov was
brainlessly aggressive since round one taking too many punches only to
pin his opponent to the ropes without any subsequent success. Sherzod
was briefly down in round one after a quick Columbian counter
double. He won next three rounds on sheer aggression but was decked
again in round five and saved by the bell. It was clear Nazarov had
nothing left and Mendoza proved the point in the sixth stanza knocking
Sherzod out with another series of hooks.

Other results

Maxim Maslov (6-0, 4 KOs) W6 Remigiyus Ziasus (7-16, 5 KOs) Daniel
Peretyatko (14-18, 5 KOs) TKO5 Stanislav Lukyanchikov (0-4) Ulugbek
Buribaev (8-0, 7 KOs) TKO2 Alexander Lykov (1-9-1) Sherzod Alimjanov
(11-0, 9 KOs) TKO2 Leonty Vorontsuk (19-35-1, 6 KOs) Samariddin
Kholboev (6-2, 2 KOs) W6 Ravil Mukhamadiarov (7-24, 6 KOs) Mikhail
Makarov (7-0, 2 KOs) W6 Sergey Bazenkov (1-4)

Kazan

The most active Russian promoter German Titov joined his efforts with
local boss Rinat Yusupov to arrange a five-bout show at KRK Pyramide,
highlighted by two national championships, on Friday night.

In the featured fight of the evening, 23-year old Chelyabinsk native
Vasily Lepikhin (5-0, 3 KOs) put on a boxing clinic by beating his
previously undefeated Barnaul opponent Rudolf Asaturyan (8-1, 4 KOs)
to the punch and scoring a knockdown in round four. As a result,
Lepikhin acquired Russian light heavyweight belt, previously owned
by Asaturyan, with a unanimous decision over ten rounds.

In a minor upset, light hitting Fariz Kasimov (7-1-1, 1 KOs) showed an
unexpected power to floor local favorite Timur Gimaev (7-1-1, 2 KOs)
in the ninth round and to receive a well-earned unanimous decision
over him along with a vacant Russian light welterweight title.

Hot prospect Maxim Vlasov (13-0, 5 KOs) was once scheduled to take
part in the show but his match with tough Belarus journeyman Yuri
Tsarenko was abruptly cancelled due to Tsarenko’s health issues.

Other results: Shavkhat Madaminov (8-1, 2 KOs) TKO 8 Takhir Ibragimov
(0-18) Valery Volozhenin (11-0-1, 5 KOs) MD 6 Tolgat Dosanov (10-11-1,
4 KOs) Albert Valeev (5-1, 3 KOs) UD 6 Mahsud Jumaev (2-5-1)

St. Petersburg

Meanwhile, on Friday night at Casino Conti, IBF #9 cruiserweight Vadim
Tokarev (25-1-1, 18 KOs), the only fighter to defeat Ismailov in pros,
made his bright return after a year-long layoff stopping overmatched
Chris Thomas (16-9-2, 8 KOs) of USA in round three. After two
relatively even rounds Tokarev exploded with a brutal attack dropping
Thomas to his knees early in round four. The American was able to get
up only to be floored again soon after that; this time for the count.

Also, Alexander Kotlobay (11-1-1, 7 KOs) has quickly demolished Belarus
Igor Shukalo (15-15, 8 KOs) to capture the WBC CISBB 200lb belt.

Ramenskoye

A tiny card, established by Makha Shermat on Oct. 4, was highlighted
with another victory for rising bantam prospect Sakhib Usarov (10-0, 5
KOs) who scored a unanimous eight-round decision over Zhanat Zhakiyanov
(3-1, 1 KO).

ALARM OVER PLAN TO TRANSFER JERUSALEM LAND TO RUSSIA
By Julie Stahl

CNSNews.com
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
VA

Sergei’s Courtyard in Jerusalem (Photo by Julie
Stahl/CNSNews.com)Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – To the dismay of many
Israelis, the cabinet on Sunday voted to approve the transfer of nine
acres of prime property in downtown Jerusalem to Russia.

The building and garden, known as Sergei’s Courtyard, were purchased
by Russian royalty in the 1800s and have passed through a number of
sovereign hands through the years.

For more than a decade, Moscow has been demanding that the property
be handed over to the Kremlin.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in Russia this week, has told
Russian officials of the Israeli government’s decision to turn the
land over to Russia, a spokesman said/

But many Israelis are unhappy that Olmert will get nothing in return
for the "gift" that he’s giving to the Russian government.

There is a public outcry demanding to know why this step was taken,
said Jerusalem City Councilman Nir Barakat.

"I can clearly say that it’s against the interest of the City of
Jerusalem. It’s weakening Jerusalem," Barakat told journalists in
Jerusalem on Monday. "It [sets] a precedent for future demands of
other people for land in the center of the city, and I think it’s a
bad deal."

Israel considers Jerusalem to be its undivided, eternal capital.

The Russians secured the compound from the Turkish Ottoman Empire in
1858 to be used for pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. It was confiscated
by the Turks during World War I, requisitioned by the British after the
war, and passed on to Israel following its War of Independence in 1948.

In 1964, Israel purchased 90 percent of the land from the Russian
Orthodox Church. But Sergei’s Courtyard, named for the Grand Duke
Sergei Alexandrovich, the son of the tsar, was not included.

When diplomatic relations between Israel and Russia were restored in
the early 1990s, negotiations began on the property.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said that former Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon agreed to transfer the land as a way of
improving relations between Israel and Russia and restoring a climate
of cooperation and cultural affinity between the nations.

"It was a gesture meant to create goodwill" and not a deal for
which Israel would receive something tangible in return, Palmor
told CNSNews.com.

Some Israelis are trying to stop the deal from going through. The
Legal Forum for the Land of Israel appealed to the High Court this
week to stop the transfer of the property, said the Forum’s attorney
Itzhak Bam.

The legal group argues that Olmert, as the prime minister of
a caretaker government, has no authority to make such a big
decision. Olmert resigned as prime minister last month, but has not
yet stepped down.

The court is expected to discuss the appeal on Sunday, said Bam.

It’s not clear that the property really does belong to Russia,
Bam added. Russia should have taken its claim to court and not to
political leaders, he said. But beyond that, Bam said, Israel has no
business giving Russia such a gift.

"Russia plays an extremely negative role in the Middle East and
Israel. It sends weapons to Iran and Syria. The weapons [reach]
the hands of Hezbollah [and are used against Israel]. Russia is not
friendly to Israel. Russia strongly supports all the forces that
[want to] destroy Israel," Bam charged.

It is an act of "supreme stupidity" to give Russia the property as a
gift. Russia will take Sergei’s Courtyard and continue to sell weapons
to Iran and Syria. It is clear that if Russia wants to reassert itself
as a superpower in the Middle East, it will continue to sell weapons,
he said.

"[Getting the properties back] is seen by Russia as an important step
in resuming its past greatness, back to its imperial role in the Middle
East," said Bam, who immigrated to Israel as a child from the former
Soviet Union. "Israel doesn’t have to help them to make this step."

Land in the Holy City

Jerusalem is unique in the world. During its history, all the churches
tried to consolidate their hold on the Holy City by buying land. So
did the Russian Orthodox Church, said Israel Kimhi, from the Jerusalem
Institute for Israel Studies.

There was a kind of a competition between the European powers to
acquire land, he said.

A lot of land is owned by various churches here, with the Greek
Orthodox Church being the biggest owner, Kimhe told CNSNews.com. The
Italians, Germans, Russians and Armenians are among those who also
owned land here.

Around the Old City of Jerusalem alone, churches own thousands of acres
in bits and pieces. They also own lands in Jaffa, Ramle, Nazareth,
and near the West Bank city of Hebron but most of the properties are
in Jerusalem, Kimhe said.

The Greek Orthodox Church owns properties, which it has allowed
Israel to use under to long-term lease agreements. Those properties
include land on which the Knesset, the prime minister’s residence
and a Jerusalem neighborhood are built.

The Israeli Ministry of Labor and the Society for the Protection of
Nature in Israel are currently based at Sergei’s Courtyard.

Putin was so interested in this little corner of Jerusalem that he
visited the compound when he was in Israel in 2005. "It’s troubling
that an international power is looking at such a small courtyard,"
said Kimhe.

In an editorial in the Jerusalem Post on Monday, the editors wrote
that the Israeli government should be able to exercise the right of
eminent domain over the "relics of yesteryear’s imperialism" as it
does over its own local residents.

If Russia can claim to be Sergei’s heir, even though his holdings were
explicitly designated as private, then can’t Israel claim the property
that "the self-same Sergei forcibly took from 30,000 Muscovite Jews
whom he cruelly expelled from the city mere months after his Jerusalem
guest house went up?" the paper asked.

There is no reason for Israel to turn Sergei’s Courtyard into a
possible "de facto extraterritorial Russian toehold in our capital,"
it said.

"Capitulation to Moscow in this matter, apart from being unlikely to
purchase Russian goodwill on the critical Iranian issue, could well
open up a Pandora’s Box of other territorial demands," the Post said.

RUSSIAN SKINHEAD ATTACKS INCREASE IN WAKE OF GEORGIAN WAR
Paul Goble

Georgiandaily
October 07, 2008
NY

After a decline in the first nine months of 2008, the number of
Russian skinhead attacks on ethnic minorities increased last month,
in part because many non-Russians returned to cities in the Russian
Federation after holidays but also in part because of the anti-minority
sentiment whipped up during the Russian invasion of Georgia.

Last week, the Moscow Human Rights Bureau released its report for
the first three quarters of this year. It found that there had been a
decline in the number of attacks on ethnic and religious minorities
for the first eight months compared to the same period in 2007,
a finding that Russian news outlets celebrated.

But the Moscow Bureau reported that the number of attacks, deaths
and wound inflicted, and what it described as "terrorist attacks"
on minorities, such as blowing up of a Moscow cafe frequented by
minorities or a firebombing of an Orthodox Church in Karelia, had
all gone up during the last month of that reporting period.

During that month, the bureau said, there had been 27 xenophobic
attacks which had resulted in 11 deaths and 34 injuries. The most
frequently attacked groups were Azesrbaijanis, Daghestanis, Armenians,
Uzbeks, Ingush, Tajiks, Chinese, people from the Arab world, Russians
and Japanese

The presence of Russians on this list, the bureau’s experts said,
"in a majority of cases" reflects not an outbreak of russophobia but
rather the involvement of ethnic Russian skinheads who have suffered
injuries or deaths when they have attacked members of ethnic or
religious minorities.

In an article published in "Gazeta" yesterday, the bureau’s Semen
Charniy pointed out that the earlier decline so many Russian outlets
have noted was the product of the departure of many non-Russians to
their homelands over the summer and that the increase in September
followed their return to Russian cities.

But Charniy stressed one aspect of the Moscow Bureau’s report that had
received less attention earlier. The violence of skinhead attacks on
minorities is increasing: "If earlier, most of the cases involved
beatings," he noted, "the now, the main goal [of the skinheads]
is not to beat but to kill."

And President Dmitry Medvedev pointed out that Russian officials
"are beginning to encounter [such attacks] in places and for reasons
about which [no one] had thought before," an indication that xenophobic
attacks are spreading and being directed at groups beyond those, like
"persons of Caucasus nationality" who had been the primary objects
of hate crimes earlier.

Charniy did not link the recent decline to Moscow’s stepped up
enforcement program – something Medvedev is committed to doing –
or the upsurge to the nationalist anger toward minorities during and
after the Russian military action in Georgia. But both are clearly
part of the explanation.

On the one hand, the bureau reported, 19 individuals were convicted
of hate crimes. And on the other, anti-immigrant groups, encouraged
by anti-Georgian messages in the Russian media, stepped up their
activities in August and September against many groups but not
Georgians.

Three things are striking about this report and the reaction it has
generated. First, skinheads are becoming more active and violent
rather than less across Russia. Second, they are being energized by
the government’s own nationalistic propaganda even as Moscow promises
and in some cases acts against them.

And third – and this is by far the most important aspect of this
situation – Russian skinheads whose passions are inflamed about a
particular ethnic or religious minority as a result of media coverage
or an actual development may very well strike out at members of other
readily identified minorities rather than the one they say they are
angry at.

Thus, as German Pastor Niemuller reminded the world 70 years ago, no
one can feel comfortable when radical nationalists attack minorities
because when the former get away with beating or killing the latter,
the members of ever more groups are at risk, however safe they assume
themselves to be.