Month: December 2008

Interfax, Russia
Nov 28 2008

November inflation stands at 0.1% in Armenia

YEREVAN Nov 28

Armenia’s consumer prices have gone up by 0.1% in November, and by
5.1% in January-November, the country’s National Statistic Service
said in a report.

Prices for food products, including alcohol and tobacco, have dropped
by 0.1% month-on-month in November, and prices for non-food
commodities have declined by 1.7%. Tariffs for services have increased
by 1.5%.

The Armenian government forecasts this year’s inflation at 4% plus or
minus 1.5% percentage point. However, the International Monetary Fund
expects inflation to total 7.5% in the republic.

Consumer prices in Armenia grew by 6.6% in 2007.

RIA OREANDA, Russia
Nov 28 2008

VivaCell-MTS Invests AMD 33.2 mln in Revival of Dilijan Art School

Yerevan. "OREANDA-NEWS . November 28, 2008. VivaCell-MTS announces the
completion of renovation works of Dilijan Art School. The school
renovation included the stage, rest rooms, rooftop, as well as the
faÕ»ade of the building. On top of that, a heating system was
installed. This project was accomplished thanks to VivaCell-MTS AMD
33.2 million of social investment.

Dilijan Art School after Honored Art worker, painter Hovhannes
Sharambeyan, has not seen any renovation since the date of its
foundation in 1970. VivaCell-MTS extended hand for support out of the
belief that this will revive this long forgotten school. And now,
after undergoing total interior and exterior renovation, the school
marks its new beginning.

By encouraging our children to embrace art, we preserve our
self-identity by means of engaging in arts, and we pass on our
heritage to the younger generation. We cant be indifferent to the
annoying fact that many young Armenians are now at the risk of
forgetting their heritage and culture, – VivaCell-MTS General Manager
Ralph Yirikian noted.

The rejuvenated educational institution will from now on carry out its
traditional mission using modern approaches. It will care for the
preservation and development of national traditions in the sphere of
decorative-applied arts and fine arts. The school will again host the
disintegrated hobby and creative groups.

No doubt, nowadays the rebirth of this kind of educational institution
is of paramount importance for all communities of Armenia, and this
was the major argument for VivaCell-MTS to invest in the Art School in
Dilijan, a small town of hospitable people surrounded by wonderful
forests.

RIA OREANDA, Russia
Nov 28 2008

IMF Announced Statement Concerning Armenia

Yerevan. OREANDA-NEWS On 28 November was announced, that Mr. Murilo
Portugal, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), issued the following statement in Yerevan at the conclusion of
his visit to Armenia during November 21-22:

"I am pleased to be in Armenia for the first time. The main purpose of
my visit has been to participate in the commemoration of the 15th
anniversary of the dram.

"In this context, I had the privilege to meet the President and the
Prime Minister, as well as the Minister of Finance, the Chairman of
the Central Bank of Armenia, and other representatives of the
government and parliament. We had very productive discussions, and I
would like to thank the Armenian authorities for their warm welcome
and excellent hospitality.

"I have been very impressed by the performance of the Armenian economy
over the last several years. Armenia has achieved high GDP growth, low
inflation, and a significant reduction in poverty.

"I am pleased to note that economic performance has remained strong
during the last few months, when the global financial crisis has
worsened. The impact of the crisis on Armenia has been limited.

"The Armenian banking system continues to perform well. Financial
soundness indicators do not indicate significant vulnerabilities. The
banking sector remains profitable and well-capitalized, nonperforming
loans are low, and the overall level of liquidity is still
comfortable. Banks continue to receive capital inflows from
international investors.

Remittances have grown quite rapidly.

As most of these inflows come from Russia, the continued growth of
remittances will remain closely linked to economic developments in
Russia.

"Inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) also remain strong, and
there are no indications that any planned investment projects have
been cancelled.

"Falling food and oil import prices should benefit Armenian
consumers. At the same time, Armenian exports of base metals may
suffer from lower international prices.

"The IMF is pleased to have been able to support Armenia’s economic
reform program over the last few years, and we will continue to do
so. On November 17, the IMF Executive Board approved a new three-year
IMF program under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility. Under the
new program, Armenia will be eligible to draw SDR 9.2 million or about
USD 14 million over the next three years, at an annual interest rate
of 0.5 percent. The main purpose of the program is to signal the IMF’s
continued support for Armenia’s macroeconomic policies and structural
reform agenda in the country’s transition to emerging market economy
status, thus facilitating Armenia’s integration into the world
economy.

"I am encouraged by the meetings held yesterday and today. I sensed
strong ownership of reforms, which is good for Armenia’s continued
economic success. The IMF stands ready to assist Armenia with policy
and technical advice, as well as financial support in implementing its
reform agenda, and I wish the authorities success in this endeavor."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WPS Agency, Russia
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
November 28, 2008 Friday

ARMENIAN EXPERT ASKS RUSSIA TO GIVE AZERBAIJAN PART OF DAGESTAN AS
RECOMPENSE FOR KARABAKH

ARMENIAN POLITICAL TECHNOLOGIST SUGGESTS A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF
NAGORNO-KARABAKH AT RUSSIA’S COST; Armenian political scientists
suggests a quaint solution to the problem of Karabakh.

"Russia has the means of settling the conflict over Karabakh. All it
has to do is offer Azerbaijan part of its territory (4,000 square
kilometers)," Stepan Grigorjan of the Center for Globalization and
Analysis of Regional Cooperation (Armenia) said.

The political scientist said there were two ways of settling the
Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict – one involving Russia and the other
Europe. "The European solution stipulates complete integration of
Armenia and Azerbaijan into Europe so that the status quo will be
preserved but the problem at hand will never even be raised again
because there are no borders within the European Union. And both
capitals will be given international guarantees of security, of
course," Grigorjan said. "The Russian solution comes down to the
following. Since Russia is Armenia’s ally and friend, it should give
up part of its land on the border with Azerbaijan, say, in Dagestan
(4,000 square kilometers will be a fair chunk) and turn it over to
Azerbaijan. It is Putin who decides everything in Russia these
days. We know that what he says, goes. If the Armenians succeed in
persuading Putin therefore, this solution may be applied. Russia in
its turn will be given permission by Azerbaijan to use Azerbaijani
territory or oil and gas export and guarantees from Armenia and
Azerbaijan that they will never apply for NATO membership. As for
Karabakh, it will get guarantees from the international community and
Azerbaijan and will remain autonomous from Armenia."

Grigorjan admitted that whoever was calling Karabakh Armenian
territory irritated him. "It’s those who scream that Karabakh is
Armenia who are a real menace," he said. "They irritate me. Enough is
enough. Karabakh does not belong to Armenia. It belongs to the people
of Karabakh. It is the people of Karabakh who should decide if they
want to join Armenia or not."

Source: Regnum news agency, November 25, 2008
Translated by Aleksei Ignatkin

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Nov 29 2008

Western Hypocrisy on Armenian Issue

by Mehmet Kamis

The Armenian issue has always been used by the West as a problem that
is kept shelved and repeatedly brought to the agenda when the time is
right for Western interests.

The West treats this issue as a vehicle for cornering Turkey and
making it do whatever they want it to do.

After they obtain what they seek from Turkey, they shelve it again
only to put it to use once again when it is needed. They do whatever
is needed to prevent Turks and Armenians from becoming friendly
again. Indeed, Armenians started to concentrate on Turkey’s forced
migration and make a blood feud out of it after they migrated to
Western countries, didn’t they? Those who have created animosity and
hatred between Armenians and Turks, who had been living peacefully for
a thousand years, have used this issue for their own interests. This
is most successfully done by France. It uses the genocide claims like
the sword of Damocles against Turkey. Recently, the US, too, has
repeatedly used a bill on Armenian genocide as leverage while
bargaining with Turkey.

After President Abdullah Gul went to Yerevan to watch the match
between the national teams of Armenia and Turkey, Turkish-Armenians
relations entered a period of thawing, and the second stage of this
period started when Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian came
to Istanbul. While he came for another purpose, this visit has made
significant contributions to the improvement of relations between the
two countries. Speaking to Today’s Zaman, Nalbandian even said they
were optimistic about the commission of historians proposed by Turkey
to investigate into the forced migration of Armenians. Now, it is said
that Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan is expected to visit Turkey in
response to Gul’s visit. Most likely, Sarksyan will come to Turkey to
watch the match between Turkish and Armenian national teams in 2009.

In this process of rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia, a strange
statement was made by the Vatican. The timing of the statement was
considerably striking. Cardinal Walter Kasper, chairman of the Papal
Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, said that "the Armenian
genocide was true" when Nalbandian was visiting Turkey. Speaking to
the Vatican radio ahead of a visit by several Armenian clerics to Pope
Benedict XVI, Kasper said, "Genocide is not an allegation, but is a
reality." Moreover, he indicated that the pope had used the term
genocide as well. What Kasper was trying to say was obvious. He was
telling Armenians, "Do not forget 1915 and the hatred we
manufactured."

After 1915, we saw World War I and World War II. The Germans killed
millions of Frenchmen while millions of Germans were killed by the
French and the British. The various sides of World War II, in which
about 40 million people died, soon forgot what had happened and became
allies. On the other hand, our conflicts are growing in size each day
and wearing ourselves out. Whenever we tend to forget about our past
issues, some people pop out to remind us of them.

One thing is certain: it is never the Armenian side which benefits
from this hatred and animosity. Armenia is an Eastern Christian
nation. They must be aware of the fact that big Christian states have
been using them for 100 years. The countries that incited them against
the Ottoman Empire in the 1900s are not reaping what they have sown
against Turkey. But, Armenians gain nothing from this.

So many things happened in the early 1900s. Armenians killed many
civilian Turks seeing the recruitment of many male Turks into the army
as an opportunity. In a rare measure, the Ottoman Empire forced them
to migrate to other places. During this migration, many Armenians
died. Such incidents had happened many times since the creation of the
Earth. For example, hundreds of thousands of innocent people were
killed in Iraq during the last several years. If a record of such
events had been kept throughout history, no nation could remain
unashamed towards another nation, and there would be nothing but
hatred on earth. How many years can a nation live with feelings of
revenge? Moreover, can revenge amend things? It will do nothing but
produce new causes for revenge.

Billboard
November 29, 2008

COMMENTARY: THINK GLOBAL, HEAR LOCAL

ROBERT KASHER

The Increasingly Digital Music Business Needs To Break Down Borders

The mobile revolution has the potential to give music distributors a
new lease on life — as only they have the resources, connections and
marketing savvy to address the global market. Technology, not
government, is pushing a new global agenda based on the opportunities
presented by the digital world. And this needs to prompt us to build
the infrastructure to make that potential a reality.

Digital technology lets us access anything, from Sa Ding Ding’s latest
Chinese pop video to Iranian folk music and Ukrainian hip-hop. Jazz
fans in Tokyo can keep up with the latest releases from their
favorites in New York and Paris. Latin music has found a growing
market in India as Indian music has in Brazil, all because music that
previously was felt to be marginal now finds the interested on the
Internet.

This lets previously isolated cultural communities expand
dramatically. Armenian music, for example, is no longer trapped in its
geographic base in the Caucasus and a few concentrated pockets of
population around the world. It can reach the Armenian diaspora, a
market four to five times larger than the local one. Likewise, Jay-Z
fans in Dacca, Bangladesh, give his music a twist by mixing it with
local beats and vocals.

Despite these advances that are reshaping the tastes of listeners
around the world, we are burdened with a distribution and licensing
system that remains locked into geography. Latin America still lacks a
good digital and mobile distribution system in spite of the fact that
mobile adoption there covers almost 98% of the population.

Aside from piracy, we also lack consistent international structures to
handle the copyright and tax issues that a truly global marketplace
would create. How can we address the first issue without a global
consensus on the second?

We have structures in place in the international music community to
address these issues. But when we look at providing "global"
solutions, we invariably run through a series of international music
divisions that are jealously guarding their turf. If we can’t break
down the barriers within corporations, how can we address them across
countries?

Conferences and conventions bring together the players who can solve
these problems, but there are still too few forums for them to
communicate. Since the Internet lets so many artists create global fan
communities, promotion is far ahead of the law. By using viral
marketing and social networking, artists are breaking out of the legal
structures suited to the era of vinyl and establishing an ad hoc
infrastructure for the digital world.

With rare exceptions, individual artists lack the clout and resources
to adequately tap the opportunities that are opening for them. That’s
where an industry long battered by technology should be able to make a
stand for its survival — by opening itself to new ways of thinking
that define the world not in the narrow terms of geographical
territories but as an open series of communities that can transcend
old boundaries. ****

Robert Kasher is founder/leading executive of the Global Reader
service from MPS Mobile.

PRESS RELEASE
November 30, 2008
Support Committee for Armenia’s Cosmic Ray Division
Contact: Joseph Dagdigian <[email protected]>
Tel: 978-772-9417
Web:

CRD Hosts Astroparticle Symposium in Armenia

Symposium on Mt. Aragats – From September 29 to October 3 the Cosmic
Ray Division (CRD) of the Alikhanyan Physics Institute hosted The
International Astroparticle Physics Symposium: `Forecasting of the
Radiation and Geomagnetic Storms by networks of particle detectors
(FORGES-2008)’ symposium at CRD’s International Conference Center, Nor
Ambert, on Armenia’s Mt. Aragats.

The focus of the symposium was on establishing future networks of
particle detectors distributed at different latitudes, longitudes, and
altitudes in order to issue warnings of approaching radiation and
geomagnetic storms. Such storms are caused by energetic eruptions on
the sun’s surface which expel massive amounts of electrically charged
particles towards the earth, often interfering with electronic systems
on earth and damaging satellites in space. Thus the ability to
accurately forecast the occurrence and severity of such events is
extremely important.

With 40 conference participants from Italy, Germany, Great Britain,
Croatia, Greece, Ukraine, Russia, Costa Rica and Armenia – CRD’s
scientists and engineers presented over 20 scientific papers
describing their research. Many of the Armenian presenters were young
Armenian scientists, engineers, and students who were trained by CRD’s
head Prof. Ashot Chilingarian and his staff of senior scientists and
engineers. Among the Armenian presenters from the CRD were Prof Ashot
Chilingarian discussing "Surface Particle Detectors in Space Weather
Forecasting", and "Discrete Optimization Problems in Space Weather
Forecasting"; Gagik Hovsepyan presenting "Detection of Elementary
Particles by Plastic Scinillators"; Aram Yeghikyan who presented `DVIN
– Data Visualization Interactive Network for Data Interchange’; and
Karen Arakelian whose topic was `Assembling and Tuning of SEVAN
Measuring Units’. SEVAN (Space Environment Viewing and Analysis
Network) is a network of detectors designed by CRD scientists in
Armenia and being deployed in a number of countries.

Armenian presenters from outside Armenia included Dr. Suren
Chilingaryan from the Karlsruhe Research Center in Germany and
Dr. Vahe Perumian from University of California. Other presenters
included Dr. Nat Gopalswamy from N.A.S.A., the United States space
agency.

SEVAN Network – During the conference CRD’s talented young scientists
and engineers conducted a training session on the installation and
operation of CRD’s SEVAN network of Astroparticle detectors. The
United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs and the International
Heliophysical Year (IHY) has launched a small instrument program as
one of the United Nations Basic Space Science (UNBSS)
activities. SEVAN, a network of particle detectors located at the
middle to low latitudes, aims to improve the fundamental research on
particle acceleration in the vicinity of sun and space environment
conditions. The first SEVAN modules are undergoing operational tests
at Aragats Space Environmental Center in Armenia. The network will
grow with detectors deployed in Croatia and Bulgaria. In 2009 SEVAN
detectors are planned to be installed in Slovakia and Costa
Rica. Research groups from Croatia and Costa-Rica were introduced to
the SEVAN detector operation and data analysis at this conference.
The SEVAN network is funded by international scientific institutions.

Foreign attendees stayed at newly renovated guest facilities at CRD’s
Nor Ambert research center on Mt. Aragats. These essential renovations
were funded in part by the support of the Diaspora. Besides the
weighty scientific discussions, attendees took time off to visit the
Ambert Fortress on Mt. Aragats, Echmiadzin, art and history museums in
Yerevan, and the natural beauty of Mt. Aragats. Attendees continue to
send letters of appreciation to the CRD for the well run conference
and the hospitality exhibited by their Armenian hosts.

Space Research Conference in Montreal – Beside the conference hosted
on Armenia’s Mt. Aragats, the CRD exhibited a strong presence at the
37th Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) conference in Montreal,
Canada from July 13-23, 2008. COSPAR’s objectives are to promote
international scientific research in space and to provide an open
forum for the discussion of problems that may affect scientific space
research. The COSPAR Scientific Assembly provides the world’s largest
interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of recent results in space
research. CRD’s head, Professor Ashot Chilingarian, participated in
COSPAR conference as Armenia’s official representative to this
organization and a member of COSPAR’s Council. Professor Chilingarian
presented 3 reports based on ongoing research at the Cosmic Ray
Division.

International Heliophysical Year 2008 Workshop in Bulgaria – Cosmic
Ray Division scientists, engineers, and students participated in the
`2007 Heliophysical Year and Basic Space Science’conference, sponsored
by the U.N., N.A.S.A., and the European and Japanese space
agencies. The conference was hosted by the Solar-Terrestrial
Influences Laboratory of the Bulgarian Academy of Science in Sozopol,
Bulgaria on June 2-6 2008. The Outer Space Office of the United
Nations, in cooperation with other agencies, has organized
international workshops on basic space science every year since 1990
-particularly for the benefit of scientists and engineers from
developing nations. The Armenian delegation to the conference included
5 CRD staff members, together with 2 students from Yerevan State
University who worked on projects at the CRD under the direction of
CRD scientists. The students’ attendance was supported by the U.N.
and N.A.S.A. The Armenian delegation delivered 4 oral and 8 poster
presentations, based on data from CRD’s Aragats Space Environmental
Center and on initial results from CRD’s SEVAN cosmic ray particle
detector network.

During the conference a project meeting was held with research
partners from Germany, Switzerland, and Israel. It was decided to
install new electronics for the Aragats Multichannel Muon Monitor at
CRD’s Aragats research station and to send CRD physicist and recent
PhD recipient Artur Reymers to visit Bern University for 2 weeks in
August 2008. During meetings with Bulgarian and Croatian groups, SEVAN
detector construction was explained. Visits of Armenian experts to
Bulgaria and Croatia for final detector assembly were planned for late
2008. The current status of the newly established Neutron Monitor Data
Base project was discussed and clarified with Swiss representative
Rolf Bitgofer from Bern University. Attention was given to the CRD’s
DVIN-5 computer program, which allows scientists to visualize cosmic
ray data, and to neutron monitor electronics developed by the Armenian
group, now undergoing testing at the CRD.

More news on the Cosmic Ray Division’s impressive accomplishments is
available on the Support Committee for Armenia’s Cosmic Ray Division’s
web site at <;www.crdfriends.o rg . This
site has a link to CRD’s web site in Armenia where more technical
information is presented, as well as photographs of CRD’s facilities
on Mt. Aragats and conference photos.

CRD’s impressive accomplishments could not have been made without the
generous support of the Diaspora. CRD’s staff wishes to express it’s
gratitude for the trust and continued support of the Diaspora.

Posted: Sunday, 30 November 2008 11:38AM

3 People Shot Outside Murray Hill Church

NEW YORK (AP) — There was a shooting in Murray Hill just after 4:00
a.m. Sunday.

Three people were shot as they were leaving a party being held at the
Armenian Church on 34th Street and 2nd Avenue.

EMS tells 1010 WINS that two male victims were taken to Bellevue
Hospital.

The third is unknown at this time.

None of the injuries are considered to be life-threatening.

The suspects are still on the loose.

TM & Copyright 2008 CBS Radio Inc.

e-Murray-Hill-Church/3404694