Author: Andres-Papazian

RAFFI HOVHANNESYAN: IT WOULD BE PREFERABLE IF INCIDENTS, ENSUING IN RESIGNATION OF TWO OFFICIALS, WERE SOLVED LEGALLY

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 10, 2010 – 19:39 AMT 15:39 GMT

Heritage party leader Raffi Hovhannesyan commented on the resignation
of Yerevan Mayor and Justice Minister at news conference in Yerevan.

“It would be preferable if incidents, ensuing in the resignation of the
two officials, were solved legally. Many officials in Armenia remain
unpunished for beating common citizens, specifically journalists,
with cases being hushed up, unlike the recent incident,” Heritage
leader stated.

From: A. Papazian

PACKAGE OF DOCUMENTS ON RESPONSE TO CRISIS SITUATIONS SIGNED AT CSTO SUMMIT IN MOSCOW

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 10, 2010 – 19:18 AMT 15:18 GMT

CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha announced completion of CSTO
legal base formation after the summit.

A package of documents on response to crisis situations was signed
at the Moscow-hosted CSTO summit, RIA Novosti reported.

From: A. Papazian

BAKU KEEPS DENYING EXTERMINATION OF ARMENIAN KHACHKARS IN JULFA

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 10, 2010 – 19:12 AMT 15:12 GMT

Azerbaijan addressed a letter related to the screening of 21st Century
Vandals: Julfa documentary screening to European Parliament President
and the head of the committee for cooperation in South Caucasus.

As Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry official spokesman Elkhan Polukhov
stated, the letter stresses the fact of falsified information on
Azerbaijan’s attitude to historic landmarks, noting that propaganda
of this scale is unacceptable, 1news.az reported.

On the initiative of Armenian members of European Parliament (EP),
EP hosted a screening of 21st Century Vandals: Julfa documentary on
Azerbaijan’s extermination of thousands of Armenian khachkars.

From: A. Papazian

TAJIKISTAN TO ASSUME CIS CHAIRMANSHIP IN 2011

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 10, 2010 – 20:03 AMT 16:03 GMT

The next CIS summit is scheduled for September 2011 in Dushanbe,
CIS Executive Committee Chairman Sergey Lebedev stated.

As Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced at CIS leaders meeting,
Tajikistan will assume CIS chairmanship next year, CIS Executive
Committee press service reported.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT: IF AZERBAIJAN UNLEASHES NEW MILITARY VENTURE, ARMENIA WILL HAVE TO RECOGNISE DE JURE THE NKR

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 10, 2010 – 20:14 AMT 16:14 GMT

Should Azerbaijan resume hostilities, Armenia will have to recognize
de jure the independence of Karabakh and take measures to provide
NKR safety, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan stated at CSTO summit
in Moscow.

“Armenia is categorically opposed to a military solution to the
Karabakh problem,” Armenian President said. “In the event Azerbaijan
unleashes a new military venture, Armenia will be left with no choice
but to recognise de jure the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh and provide
for the safety of its population by all means,” RIA Novosti cited
the President as saying.

From: A. Papazian

YEREVAN CITY HALL WORKS IN NORMAL REGIME DESPITE MAYOR’S RESIGNATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 10, 2010 – 18:43 AMT 14:43 GMT

On December 10, Yerevan city hall hosted as meeting led by the acting
Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan.

The meeting focused on discussion of work issues, with Margaryan
giving city economy as well as citizen requests-related assignments,
Yerevan Mayor’s Office press service reported.

Yerevan Mayor Gagik Beglaryan resigned his position on December 8. The
decision was prompted by the incident between the Mayor and employee
of the presidential staff’s protocol department Aram Kandayan.

The incident occurred on December 3, at Yerevan-hosted concert of
Spanish tenor Placido Domingo. Beglaryan’s spouse and her friend
took seats next to that of Armenian President’s, which, according
to the protocol, are meant for the Catholicos of All Armenians,
parliamentary speaker and Armenia’s Prime Minister. Aram Kandayan
asked Beglaryan’s wife to change her seat.

However, Mrs. Beglaryan, outraged by the request, complained about
it to her husband, who, in turn, asked the head of the presidential
staff Karen Karapetyan to set up a meeting with Kandayan. Beglaryan
drove Kandayan to the territory of Metaks factory, which belongs to
the ex-mayor, and severely beat him.

On December 9, Spokesman for the Armenian President Armen Arzumanyan
told journalists that the incident, indeed, took place. However,
according to him, there was neither abduction, nor severe beating.

From: A. Papazian

CONCEPT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT DISCUSSED IN RA GOVERNMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 10, 2010 – 18:09 AMT 14:09 GMT

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan presided over a sitting of
the National Council for Sustainable Development.

Chairperson of the Association for Sustainable Development of Humanity
NGO Karine Danielyan submitted a report on clarification of basic
provisions and approaches of the Concept on Sustainable Development
of Armenia within the framework of Rio+20 process, the RA governmental
press service reported.

The RA bill on Application of Genetically Modified Organisms also was
discussed during the sitting. The Prime Minister instructed members
of the Council to submit in written form all the suggestions voiced
during the sitting to the RA Ministry of Nature Protection to include
them in the bill.

Participants of the sitting elected Karine Danielyan to the post of
the Council Secretary. The Prime Minister instructed to support the
newly elected Secretary in formation of another sitting’s agenda.

From: A. Papazian

FORMATION OF LOGISTIC CENTERS TO STIMULATE CUSTOMS ACTIVITY

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 10, 2010 – 18:02 AMT 14:02 GMT

Chairman of the Armenian State Revenue Committee Gagik Khachatryan
said that the institution of customs brokers allows reducing contacts
between enterprises and customs employees, as well as promotes
simplification of customs processes.

It constitutes an important anti-corruption lever, Khachatryan told
a conference organized by the Association of Customs Brokers and OSCE
Office in Yerevan.

He noted that the Association has been established through joints
efforts of the Committee and OSCE, while its positions will strengthen
in future, as institutions of brokerage activity, training and revenues
declaration are far from being perfect, what is proved by numerous
shortages in closure of deals.

Besides, Khachatryan noted that logistic centers should be created
in future, which will both close deals and perform all activities
related to the customs institution, including to warehouses.

From: A. Papazian

SPECIAL OLYMPICS ARMENIA ORGANIZES COMPETITIONS IN ATHLETICS, BASKETBALL AND FOOTBALL

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 10, 2010 – 18:42 AMT 14:42 GMT

On December 3-5, 2010, on the occasion of the International Day
of Persons with Disabilities, Special Olympics Armenia held sports
competitions in athletics, basketball and football.

The event, which took place in Vanadzor, involved 120 athletes of
ages 12-15 representing special, mainstream and sports schools.

The games were held with the support of the government of Armenia,
namely, the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs, VivaCell-MTS and
Lori regional authority.

This has been VivaCell-MTS’ regular support to the individuals with
mental disabilities involved in Special Olympics Armenia. The Armenian
delegation consisting of seven athletes attended the Special Olympics
European Summer Games held in Warsaw, Poland, in September 2010.
Armenian Special Olympics 19-year-old athlete Suren Balasanyan,
who competed in 50 m run and softball throw, won the 1st place and
a gold medal at the Games, reported the press office of VivaCell-MTS.

From: A. Papazian

TWELVE TALES FOR CHRISTMAS
Philip Pullman

guardian.co.uk
Friday 10 December 2010 14.53 GMT

Philip Pullman introduces a special series of podcasts running each
day until Christmas in which a collection of our greatest writers
read and discuss their favourite short stories

Also in tomorrow’s Review: an interview with Chinua Achebe, Wagner’s
sexiest opera and our critics’ recommendations of the best books to
give this Christmas

Losing the plot: Philp Pullman considers Anton Chekhov Photograph:
Hulton/Sam Frost

In this week’s Guardian Review we launch a special series of podcasts
running each day until Christmas in which a collection of our greatest
writers read and discuss their favourite short stories.

We begin tomorrow with Philip Pullman reading Chekhov’s The Beauties.

Here he explains why he chose this “masterpiece of minimalism”:

“A schoolboy is accompanying his grandfather as they drive in their
carriage along a dusty road across the steppe on a sultry August day.

They stop for refreshment at the house of an Armenian friend of the
grandfather. The boy, the grandfather and their Ukrainian driver are
all struck by the beauty of the Armenian’s daughter.

“Some years later, now a student, the boy is on a train that stops
for some minutes at a country station. He gets out to stretch his
legs, and sees a girl on the platform talking to someone in one of
the carriages. She is very beautiful.

“And that’s all. Is that a story? It’s about as spare and empty of
plot as a story could be; two impressions that barely even amount
to anecdote. Like Waiting for Godot, it’s a story in which nothing
happens, twice.

“But it shows how little a short story needs a plot. I like plots,
and I work at them a lot; perhaps that’s one reason why I’ve never
written a successful short story. The greatness of this one depends on
more impalpable things. Chekhov’s genius lies in the way he manages
to convey with such apparent effortlessness a profound sense of the
mystery of beauty, and of the sadness of those who observe and think.

The narrator of this apparently inconsequential tale fixes on exactly
the right details, from a myriad of possible ones, to strike at the
heart. It’s a masterpiece of minimalism.”

For the next 12 days listen to a short story by a master of the form
read by one of today’s top writers. They are:

Philip Pullman The Beauties, by Anton Chekhov (Saturday December
11) Willliam Boyd My Dream of Flying to Wake Island, by JG Ballard
(Sunday 12 December) Anne Enright Fat, by Raymond Carver (Monday 13
December) Colm Toibín Music at Annahullion, by Eugene McCabe (Tuesday
14 December) Margaret Drabble The Doll’s House, by Katherine Mansfield
(Wednesday 15 December) Jeanette Winterson The Night Driver, by Italo
Calvino (Thursday 16 December) Rose Tremain Extra, by Yiyun Li (Friday
17 December) Julian Barnes Homage to Switzerland, by Ernest Hemingway
(Saturday 18 December) Tessa Hadley The Jungle, by Elizabeth Bowen
(Sunday 19 December) Helen Dunmore My Oedipus Complex, by Frank
O’Connor (Monday 20 December) Ali Smith Conversation with My Father,
by Grace Paley (Tuesday 21 December) Helen Simpson The Kitchen Child,
by Angela Carter (Wednesday 22 December)

From: A. Papazian