Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

Oakland Press
April 27 2012

4-year-old White Lake girl’s birthday wish: To send boots to orphans
in Armenia WITH VIDEO

Published: Friday, April 27, 2012

By MONICA DRAKE

For her fifth birthday, Mia Dalbis decided she doesn’t want any
presents from her friends and family.

Instead of presents for herself, the White Lake Township girl is
asking people to donate winter boots to orphans in Armenia.

`I saw a little girl on TV that decided to deliver boots to an
orphanage. I thought maybe I could do that because we both have lots
of stuff already,’ said Mia.

Mia said it made her sad when she heard some kids don’t have parents.

Her mom Debbie Dalbis said when her daughter first said she wanted to
give up her birthday presents after watching a show on the Disney
Channel, she wasn’t sure if she was serious.

`She’s young, so I wasn’t sure if she understood the concept of giving
up her birthday. But she kept on asking and asking,’ said Debbie.
`When she told me, `I have more than enough; I have a mommy and daddy,
I have lots of shoes and tons of toys,’ I told her, `Let’s do it
then.”

Mia’s birthday is May 16, and she is asking everyone who attends her
birthday party to bring a pair of youth-size new winter boots for
infants through 16 year olds. So far, Mia’s family and teachers at her
daycare have donated 60 pairs of winter boots to send to Armenia.

Mia’s dad Nick said, `We’re so proud of her. She has lots of things,
and if she’s willing to accept presents for someone else, that’s great
… Our kids ask `What color pair of boots do I wear today?’ There are
kids who don’t have any.’

In deciding what country to donate the boots to, Debbie helped Mia
pick Armenia because it’s part of their heritage, and more than 1,200
orphans live in 15 orphanages throughout the country. The facilities
provide the children’s basic needs of food and clothing, but they
cannot keep up with the ongoing need for shoes for all the children.
Continued…

12See Full Story
The family will be donating all of the boots to the nonprofit
organization Share-a-pair. For a donation of $10, Share-a-pair is able
to purchase one quality pair of shoes.

`The kids walk to school, and their shoes have holes in them,’ said
Debbie. `When I was looking on the Internet, shoes for orphans is one
of the biggest needs they have. People donate food and even regular
clothes. But shoes are in great need in general because they outgrow
them. It’s not like we can fill the demand one time.’

On Friday morning, Mia made a presentation in front of her daycare
class at Wee Friends Child Care, located at 105 E. Ruggles St., in
Highland, showing them a video of the orphans in Armenia who will
receive the boots.

Janet Dipiazza, one of Mia’s teachers, said, `When the students were
watching the video, I was trying to show them that these kids look
like them, could be them. Yet, they have so much, and these children
don’t,’ said Dipiazza. `We have all these boots from just one little
girl’s idea.’

Laura Palmer, the owner of Wee Friends Child Care, sent a letter out
to all the parents last week to tell them about what Mia is doing and
to ask them to donate a pair of boots as well. Debbie said their goal
is to donate 300 pairs of boots to Armenia.

Wee Friends Child Care teacher Jessica Warren said she was very
impressed when she heard about what Mia is doing.

`It makes me want to cry that she has a big heart like that,’ said
Warren. `You don’t think kids think about stuff like that, but they
do. They’re more aware than we think they are. I think that’s a really
unselfish thing to do.’

Contact Monica Drake at 248-745-4687 or email her at
[email protected]. Find her on Twitter @monica_adele.

FYI

To donate a pair of boots for Mia Dalbis’ birthday to send to orphans
in Armenia, send them to Suburban Landscape Supply 960 Ladd Road,
Walled Lake, MI 48390 by May 19. To send $10 to Share-a-pair for the
organization to purchase a pair of shoes, send a check to The Paros
Foundation, 918 Parker St., A14, Berkeley, CA 94710 or visit
paros-foundation.org/shareapair.

From: Baghdasarian

SERJ TANKIAN PRESENTS VIDEO CLIP FOR NEW SONG

news.am
April 28, 2012 | 03:07

Famous rock singer of Armenian origins, leader of System of a Down
band Serj Tankian presented a new video clip on his new single Figure
It Out from his new solo album Harakiri.

The release of the video clip is scheduled for May 1. As Tankian
informed, the album itself will be released this May.

“This album differs from the other albums which I have recorded as
a solo artist so far. There is more driving and punk and also gothic
influence and electronic elements from the 80’s,” Tankian told to a
radio station.

To note, Tankian’s first solo album ‘Elect the Dead’ was released in
2007 followed by ‘Imperfect Harmonies’ in 2010.

From: Baghdasarian

MIGRATION FLOW MANAGEMENT STRENGTHENING PROGRAM SUMMED UP IN ARMENIA

tert.am
27.04.12

A strengthening program aimed at the management of migration flows
was summed up in Armenia on Friday.

Introducing the outcomes, the deputy chief of the State Migration
Service, Irina Davtyan said that awareness-raising events and
trainings had been organized as part of the initiative to prevent
illegal emigration and promote migrants’ voluntary return to Armenia.

Speaking of the achievements, she pointed out to the revised
legislation and the launch of an online portal.

“There were both positive and negative developments. While launching
this program, we all had a lot of good expectations, but realized later
that it does not fully meet our objectives. Following the replacement
of the porgram manager, the project was reborn and yielded results,”
she said.

Davtyan noted that they have done a great deal of work to raise
people’s awareness of illegal migration issues.

Within the frameworks of the program, twenty-seven business projects
were implemented, creating 110 jobs. The illegal migrants who returned
to Armenia benefited from lawyer’s assistance and were offered jobs.

The program was launched in 2009 with the purpose of enhancing
Armenia’s migration legislation and raising public awareness.

From: Baghdasarian

FLOWER GATHERING IN TSITSERNAKABERD

Panorama.am
27/04/2012

Today, at 10:00, at the Tsitseranakaberd Memorial the Foundation for
the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC) has launched
the symbolic colorful event known as flower gathering.

FPWC in cooperation with VivaCell-MTS and the Armenian Genocide
Museum-Institute, organized the flower gathering at the height of the
Genocide Memorial complex. The event took place with the support of
many volunteers, organizations and representatives of international
organizations, schools and university students, who implemented the
FPWC-initiative and gave a new life to those flowers which were deposed
on April 24th, next to the Eternal Flame of the Genocide Memorial.

Every year on April 24th, thousands of people pay tribute to the
memory of the Genocide victims by bringing flowers to the Eternal
Flame. A few days later these flowers droop, die and become garbage.

However, since 2010, for three years the flower gathering event has
given a second life to these Memorial flowers which are since then
recycled.

During the flower gathering event which is part of the Earth Day
campaign, the stalk of the flowers are chaffed to become compost for
the development of the memorial gardens, and the flower petals are
carefully collected, dried and then processed.

Recycled paper is used in a very symbolic way, such as for thank-you
letters and invitations to the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.

“Although we have initiated this, we strive to make the flower
gathering an event that with us or without us becomes a beautiful
tradition and has a continuous character” said the founder of the
Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC)
Ruben Khachatryan.

“Besides being a means to pay tribute to the memory of the innocent
victims, these flowers can serve to our common cause. Memorandums,
certificates of gratitude, invitations printed on paper made from
recycled flowers are unique in that they make every single flower
visible. The flowers reassert the undeniable fact of the Armenian
genocide perpetrated in the early 20th century and call everyone to
remember about it, serving as an ambassador to foreigners visiting
Armenia,” mentioned VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian.

From: Baghdasarian

AMERIABANK PROFIT IN FIRST QUARTER TOTALS ABOUT 1 BILLION DRAMS

/ARKA/
APRIL 27, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, April 27. /ARKA/. Ameriabank Development Director Tigran
Jrbashyan said it earned about one billion drams in profit in the
first quarter 2012. According to the bank’s financial statements for
the first quarter 2012, its profit grew by 42.35% compared to the
first quarter of 2011.

“We were able to meet our projections. Our annual task is to secure
at least a 30% rise in profit. We were able to ensure it in the first
quarter,’ he said.

He said other performance indicators also saw a serious rise. Thus,
according to the bank’s financial statements for the first quarter,
Ameriabank’s credit investments amounted to 136.5 billion drams at the
end of March, having increased by 0.5% over the same period of 2011.

Ameriabank is a universal bank providing investment, corporate and
limited retail banking services. ($1 – 392.49 drams).

From: Baghdasarian

ISRAEL’S NEW TIES TO AZERBAIJAN WORRY NEIGHBORING IRAN
By Sheera Frenkel

McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Thursday, 04.26.12

JERUSALEM — The burgeoning relationship between Israel and Azerbaijan
is raising eyebrows throughout the Middle East, not least of all
because Azerbaijan is Iran’s neighbor to the north and shares close
cultural and demographic ties with Iran.

Trade between Israel and Azerbaijan now totals $4 billion annually, the
highest figure for Israel’s business with any of the now-independent
countries that were part of the former Soviet Union, and there’s
a frequent exchange of officials, most recently Israeli Foreign
Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who visited Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku,
this week. “Our relationship is very intense,” Lieberman said.

Azerbaijan’s position between Iran and Russia has long made it a
diplomatic “den of spies,” where various, often hostile, countries –
including the United States, Iran, Russia and Israel – could gather
intelligence on one another.

But it’s the nature of Israel’s trade with Azerbaijan that’s drawn
the most interest. In February, Azerbaijan agreed to pay state-run
Israel Aerospace Industries $1.6 billion for a wide range of military
products, including drones and anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense
systems. That’s nearly a quarter of the money Azerbaijan’s government
takes in each year, $7.8 billion. Azerbaijan also provides about 30
percent of Israel’s energy needs.

“Baku has an important role in Israel’s regional aspirations,” said
an Israeli diplomat who’s worked on several trade deals that involved
Azerbaijan. He couldn’t be named because he wasn’t authorized to
discuss the subject with a reporter.

Speculation on how far the relationship goes is rampant. Israel,
after all, has been threatening to take military action against Iran’s
nuclear program. A recent report in Foreign Policy magazine alleged
that, in addition to the commercial ties, Israel has acquired access
to airfields in Azerbaijan’s north that might be used in any attack
on Iran.

Azeri and Israeli officials have denied the story. In a recent news
report on Israeli preparations for a possible strike on Iran broadcast
by Israel’s Channel 2, unnamed Israeli officials said there were
“better, more practical options” than airfields in Azerbaijan. The
program didn’t elaborate on what those might be, however.

That hasn’t made Iranians any happier about the Azeri-Israeli
alliance. Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran have worsened steadily,
and earlier this year Iranian officials summoned Azerbaijan’s
ambassador to Tehran to the Foreign Ministry over reports that
the Azeri government was allowing Israeli Mossad agents to gather
intelligence along the Azerbaijan-Iran border.

In Azerbaijan, military analysts have speculated that access to Azeri
airfields could be intended for drone missions over Iran, rather than
a strike.

“There have been Western powers looking at the airfields in Azerbaijan
for a long time and wanting to use them.. Israel may have found a
way,” said Arastun Orujlu, a former Azeri counterintelligence officer
who’s the director of the East-West Research Center in Baku. He said
it was well-known that Israel produced some parts for its drones in
Azerbaijan and kept a large fleet outside Baku.

Azerbaijan has had Israeli drones since at least 2008, when they
were first seen in a public parade. Last September, an Azeri drone of
Israeli origin was shot down over Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory that’s
the subject of a dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia. That same
month, the Azeri government announced that Israel’s Aeronautics Defense
Systems had licensed it to build drones based on the Israeli model.

Under a deal struck this February, Azerbaijan is expected to acquire
60 Israeli-designed unmanned aerial vehicles.

Speaking to the Azeri news station News.Az, Azerbaijani political
expert Rovshan Ibrahimov said Lieberman’s visit to Baku this week
was the most recent in a long line of moves by Israel to threaten
Iran through Azerbaijan.

“The arrival of Lieberman is part of the situation escalated around
Iran by Israel. Here are some aspects of the fact that Israel is
trying to show Tehran that it can at any time strike Iran, and for
this makes certain steps to ensure the support of its allies in this
plan,” he said.

Lieberman denied that his trip was meant to intimidate. He said
his meetings with top officials in Baku, including President Ilham
Aliyev, focused on bilateral relations, although his office released
a statement that said Iran also had been on the agenda.

Read more
here:
.html#storylink=addthis#storylink=cpy

From: Baghdasarian

Barak warns: Egypt, Turkey will join nuclear arms race

At annual event honoring Independence Day, defense minister says ‘US
acknowledges Israel’s right to defend itself, current int’l pressure
won’t deter Iran from pursuing nukes’

,7340,L-4221309,00.html
Yoav Zitun Published: 04.26.12, 23:02 / Israel News

“A nuclear Iran would speed up a regional nuclear arms race that would
include Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak
said Thursday evening during an annual event held at the Air Force
House in Herzliya in honor of Independence Day.

During the reception, which was attended by senior security
establishment officials, Barak said a “nuclear, Islamist Iran would
act aggressively while using terror groups in the region.

Barak (L) with Vilnai at Thursday’s event (Photo: Moti Kimchi)

“Dealing with Iran’s determination is not devoid of risks and
complexities, but dealing with (a nuclear Iran) would be much more
dangerous and costly,” he said. “This is the time for the world to
prepare to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.”

The defense minister said the chances that the current amount of
pressure applied on Tehran would cause it to halt its nuclear program
are slim. “A British diplomat who served in Tehran for many years said
(the Iranians) do not say what they think and do not do what they say.
The Iranians are determined to deceive the world and obtain nuclear
weapons.

“The Iranian leadership’s fear of an American, Israeli or
international military operation is restraining it,” he said.

For Israel, Barak noted, curbing Iran’s nuclear aspirations “is a
complicated challenge that we do not have the luxury of ignoring. The
American administration is supporting Israel’s security-related needs,
and it is well-aware that Israel – due to its location and the threats
it is facing – evaluates the Iranian issue differently. Israel’s clock
is ticking faster.

“The American administration acknowledges Israel’s right to defend
itself. Israel will continue to be a regional force, from Tripoli to
Tehran, including Tehran. There is no room for panic or hysteria, but
not for immobility either,” the defense minister said.

From: Baghdasarian

Yerkir: Agriculture Minister set to resign

11:44 28/04/2012 » Daily press

Rumors circulate that Agriculture Minister Sergo Karapetyan plans to
resign, according to Yerkir. However, the paper did not manage to
clear up the rumor.

`Panic moods in Orinats Yerkir caused by candidate withdrawals,
especially by the obvious change in Serzh Sargsyan’s disposition, can
be the reasons behind his decision to quit as Agriculture Minister,’
the paper says.

Source: Panorama.am

From: Baghdasarian

Rain ruined Serzh Sargsyan’s meeting with voters

07:30 pm | April 28, 2012 | Politics

Leader of the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), RA President Serzh
Sargsyan was supposed to have meeting with voters in Davtashen
district of Yerevan today, but the venue of the rally was changed from
Tigran Petrosyan Square to school N 189 near the square.

After getting soaked in the rain, people simply left. There were
rumors going around that people had been brought in buses and that the
buses had been parked in yards so that they wouldn’t be seen.

From: Baghdasarian

Paruyr Hayrikyan: Levon Ter-Petrosyan carries heavy burden of the past mistakes

arminfo
Saturday, April 28, 22:12

When somebody makes a mistake and understands that, it reduces his
life for 14 years. The first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan
has been carrying the heavy burden of the past mistakes and will be
never able to get rid of it, the leader of the Union for National
Self-Determination, Paruyr Hayrikyan, said at today’s
press-conference.

He also added that the forthcoming parliamentary elections will be the
second true elections in the republic after the presidential ones in
1998. “The political atmosphere in the country has been changed much.
It is connected with the fact that the political forces have been
trying by all means to integrate in Europe…It is obvious that the
RPA is a front runner of the forthcoming election. The Armenian
National Congress and Prosperous Armenia Party will also overcome the
5% barrier. As for the Orinats Yerkir Party, Heritage and ARF
Dashnaktiutyun, they have been balancing at the edge of the barrier”,
– Hayrikyan said.

From: Baghdasarian