Author: Chalian Meline

NKR FM ON POSSIBLE EUROINTEGRATION: OPTIMISTIC FORECASTS PREMATURE
Pan Armenian News
15.06.2005 05:43
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Karabakh has the system of cultural values alike
that of Europe, NKR Foreign Minister Arman Melikian stated in his
interview with H2 Armenian TV Channel. “But we should understand that
the European Union is not a charitable organization. Different talks
about the eurointegration do not mean that within next 10-15 years
the South Caucasian states will become members of the EU. Presently
the admission of Turkey’s is being questioned. The fact that the
EU Constitution was not adopted in France and Netherlands means
that Europe itself has problems with Eurointegration process. “I
suppose presently it would be more reasonable to create conditions
for integration into the European structures”, Arman Melikian said.

AZG Armenian Daily #109, 15/06/2005
Economy
ARMENIA WILL JOIN COUNTRIES WITH AVERAGE INCOME IN 1-2 YEARS
^_Representative of WB Assures
At the press conference at World Bank’s Yerevan office yesterday Shigeo
Kazu, vice-president of WB European and Central Asian region, said
that Armenia will join countries with average income in 1-2 years. But
before this, he said that his last visit to Armenia was 3 years ago
and that he has noticed obvious progress since then. In particular
he pointed out the increase of Armenia’s gross domestic product. The
WB representatives said that Armenia was in the list of states that
had the best cooperation with the WB in the period of 1993-2002.
Shigeo Kazu highlighted the elaboration of long-term projects with
the Armenian government that will enable to bring new investments
including ones directed at development of infrastructures. As to the
external debt, our country does not have serious problems in contrast
to the situation a few years back when the external debt of Armenia
equaled to the 50 percent of GDP. Now it amounts only to 35 percent
of GDP. Armenia reached the indices of 1989-1990 with its per capita
distribution of the gross domestic product. Kazu noted that Armenia is
more prepared to compete in the world market today than it was in 1989.
The WB representative thinks that reforms in neighboring Georgia
have launched only lately, after the rose revolution. Now Georgia
is trying to catch up with Armenia and may well do that using its
capacity for transits.
Azerbaijan has just entered a period that will last 12-15 years and
during whish the country will mobilize its oil resources.
Roger Robinson, head of the WB Yerevan office, dwelled on the projects
of the WB implemented in Armenia. He informed that the WB carried
out 4 projects during the last 4 years with an overall cost of $70
million. In the coming financial year the World Bank will carry out
4 more projects on $60 million. For the project in the forthcoming 4
years the Bank will spend $220 million. As Robinson put, Armenia now
gets those resources as it maintain good cooperation with the WB. He
also noted that the Bank is involved in all spheres and there is no
need to direct finances only for one specific sphere.
Asked about the economic importance of open Armenia-Turkish border,
the WB regional vice-president said that it is very difficult to
separate economy from politics. That issue, he thinks, is more to
the politicians to solve than to the World Bank.
By Ara Martirosian

Turkish legislator calls for cultural exchanges with Armenia
AP Worldstream; Jun 14, 2005
A legislator from Turkey’s governing party called Tuesday for
increased cultural exchanges with Armenia after visiting the landlocked
country with which Turkey has no diplomatic relations.
Turhan Comez met with the head of the country’s parliament and students
at Yerevan University during his three-day visit.
Relations between the two countries are tense and visits by legislators
are unusual.
Comez called for more exchanges of legislators, journalists and
students, saying that Turks and Armenians could start repairing
relations by laying common ground.
“The base of this work is dialogue,” Comez said in an interview with
CNN-Turk television. “We’re trying to take positive steps toward
resolving the problems.”
Several informal earlier attempts at dialogue faltered amid disputes
between Turks and Armenians over the massacre of Armenians at the
time of World War I. Armenians say that Ottoman Turks slaughtered
1.5 million Armenians in a planned genocide and have demanded that
Turkey recognize the killings as genocide.
Turkey says the death toll is wildly inflated. Many Turks also fear
that Armenia is pressing for recognition of the killings as genocide
as a step toward making territorial claims against Turkey.
Turkey is under pressure from the European Union to address the
genocide issue as its bid for membership in the EU progresses.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 during Christian
Armenia’s six-year war with Muslim Azerbaijan. Armenia says the border
closing is devastating its economy.
In a meeting with an Armenian legislator in Yerevan, Comez said that
he would make a speech in the Turkish parliament to open the border
but only if the legislator addressed his parliament and said that
the events of World War I were not genocide.
Last week, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said that
universal acceptance that the massacres were genocide remains on
Armenia’s foreign policy agenda but that Turkey would not have to
yield on that question before relations could be restored.

AT ONCE 4 SNAKES FOUND IN ONE OF PARKS IN YEREVAN
YEREVAN, JUNE 13. ARMINFO. Those walking in a park located at the
beginning of Gay Street near the Monument for Freedom Fighters
saw snakes on June 11 late in the evening. The Municipality and the
Directorship of the Zoo were immediately informed of it. The following
day at 14:30 a relevant specialist arrived at the park to find the
snakes, but useless. The same day, a snake bit a 45-year resident
of Shirak region Nushik Ghazaryan, who were taken to hospital. Her
condition is serious, the Emergency Situations Department reports.

Armenian pro-government parties join centre-left alliance
Arminfo
8 Jun 05
YEREVAN
The Armenian Progressive Party and the Justice Party have joined a
political alliance of centre-left forces, the leaders of the
aforementioned parties, Tigran Urikhanyan and Artur Baloyan, said
today at a joint press conference.
The Armenian Renewed Communist Party and the Women’s Party of Armenia
joined the alliance of the centre-left forces earlier.
A declaration published today on the occasion of the unification of
the two parties said that socialist forces are joining the
alliance. The alliance’s main tasks are to achieve social justice,
find a settlement to the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict that will be
favourable for Armenia, return hundreds of thousands of emigrants who
left Armenia and achieve international recognition of the 1915
Armenian genocide. The aims of the alliance are also to establish
stability and peace in the country, ensure progressive development,
carry out constructive reforms, take justified and lawful joint
actions, the declaration said.
Another two or three centre-left forces are expected to join the
alliance in a few weeks, the leader of the Progressive Party, Tigran
Urikhanyan, told the press conference. Furthermore, talks will start
with right-wing forces of which at least 10 parties and organizations
will join the alliance.
At the end, the alliance will turn into a mighty political union that
will take part in the next parliamentary elections. “We are for
dialogue and unification of all the forces that share our views. We
are not on the same path with the supporters of revolutions who are
calling for the change of the government, which will inevitably lead
to destruction and public disturbances,” Urikhanyan said.
He also confirmed that the Armenian Progressive Party intends to back
Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan’s candidacy in the next
presidential elections “if he expresses the wish to run for the
presidency, if not, we shall make a decision before the elections”.
Justice Party leader Artur Baloyan asked in his speech at the press
conference not to confuse his party with the opposition Justice bloc
led by Stepan Demirchyan. “Our party was established in 1999 when
Stepan Demirchyan’s bloc did not even exist. According to official
figures, we polled 0.6 per cent of the vote in the 2003 parliamentary
elections and consider ourselves to be a serious and independent
political force,” Baloyan said.

A1plus
| 14:10:25 | 09-06-2005 | Politics |
TRAFFICKING OF PEOPLE IN ARMENIA DOES NOT STOP
According to the data provided by the UN, about 1000 Armenian women work as
prostitutes in the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, at that most of them
fell victims to trafficking. The Armenian government attempts to achieve the
standards of extirpation of the trafficking of people, however not very
successful so far.
Last year Armenia was included in the 2-ng category of states under
observation. To note, Article 132 of the Criminal Code calls for 4-8 years
of imprisonment for the trafficking of people. However last year 15 out of
16 verdicts were passed in accord with Article 262, which calls for light
punishment. And only once the accusation for trafficking was charged.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Karabakh election campaign democratic, Armenian presidential aide says
Hayots Ashkarh, Yerevan
8 Jun 05
Excerpt from Vaan Vardanyan’s report by Armenian newspaper Hayots
Ashkarh on 8 June headlined “Clashes and enmity are ruled out”
An interview with the Armenian president’s advisor on national
security issues, Garnik Isagulyan. He comments on the upcoming
parliamentary elections in the NKR [Nagornyy Karabakh Republic].
[Hayots Ashkarh correspondent] Mr Isagulyan, you have recently
returned from Karabakh, what is your impression of the election
campaign that has started there?
[Garnik Isagulyan] First of all, I should note that the NKR
parliamentary elections are of great importance from the regional
point of view, as well as from the point of view of the NKR’s
international image as an independent state. For this reason,
developing a civilized election process is very important.
On the whole, the election race is taking place within a civilized
framework, in line with all democratic norms. NKR state television has
provided equal airtime for election propaganda. There is also paid
airtime and there is no obstacle to using that. I would like to say
that for the first time 11 mandates of the NKR parliament will be
given to deputies elected under the proportional representation
system. For this reason, more parties will take part in this election
campaign than previously.
[Passage omitted: Isagulyan mentions the parties that will take part
in the elections]
[Correspondent] Will [NKR leader] Arkadiy Gukasyan support anybody?
[Isagulyan] At a meeting with the NKR president, he assured me that he
does not intend to meddle in the election campaign. He said that free
and fair elections are much more important since their international
and political price is much higher than local, narrow party or group
interests.
[Correspondent] Anyway, who is coming forward as a pro-government
party and who is in the opposition? How much of administrative
resources do they have?
[Isagulyan] On the whole, the National Democratic Party [NDP] appears
to be the pro-government party. On the contrary, the bloc of the
Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun [RFD] and Sharzhum [Movement]
88 represents the radical opposition. The Free Motherland Party may be
considered as a centrist party. As for the administrative resources, I
think the authorities support no-one. On the other hand, the NDP and
the opposition have such resources. While the former has strong
positions in the state administration, the leader of the Sharzhum-88
is the Stepanakert [Xankandi] mayor, several village governors are RFD
members, and it is clear that each will try to use their potential as
much as possible.
[Correspondent] Has a party of oligarchs been established in Karabakh?
[Isagulyan] Opponents try to define the Free Motherland Party in this
way. I do not agree because I had contacts with members of this
party. One or two of them are economists, but there are no
representatives of large businesses among them. Karabakh is different
from Armenia in this sense. First, the potential of the local plants
is very modest. Second, they have not made a habit of driving
foreign-made cars or having bodyguards, acquiring a special status and
emphasizing it, as some rich people do in Armenia.
[Correspondent] What forces will win?
[Isagulyan] Although in fact seven political forces are taking part in
the elections, the bloc of the RFD and Sharzhum-88 and the Free
Motherland Party are the obvious front-runners. To win one of the 11
seats under the proportional representation system, a party is to
overcome a 10-per-cent threshold, compared to 5 per cent in
Armenia. The remaining 22 mandates will be contested under the
first-past-the-post system.
[Passage omitted: minor comments]

Ekklesia, UK
June 8 2005
Religions called to honesty, peace and common action -08/06/05
In the face of religiously motivated conflict and division, the need
for the world’s religions to undertake a “critical and realistic self
assessment” while making “overcoming violence in all its forms” an
“urgent priority” was stressed by the World Council of Churches’
(WCC) moderator, Catholicos Aram I, speaking in Geneva today.
His Holiness Aram I is head of the See of Cilicia of the Armenian
Apostolic Church (Antelias, Lebanon) and has been moderator of the
WCC Central Committee since 1991.
In a keynote speech opening the WCC-sponsored ‘Critical moment in
interreligious dialogue’ conference being held at the Geneva
Ecumenical Centre from 7-9 June 2005, Aram I emphasized that dialogue
alone is not enough.
Religious communities are called to work together in order to move
towards common action, he said. Moreover, in the midst of the “moral
vacuum” of today’s globalized world, this active cooperation must be
grounded in common values.
“Values, not interests, must be the guiding principles of
interreligious collaboration”, Catholicos Aram I stressed.
The programme of religions’ common action starts by promoting mutual
understanding and building peace with justice. While recognizing that
they have always had their “own share in the emergence of the culture
of violence,” and needed to deal with that, religions must firmly
commit themselves “to peace and non-violence,” he emphasized.
The need for common action was also stressed by WCC general secretary
the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia in welcoming the 130 conference participants
from ten world religions.
After almost 35 years of involvement in dialogue, the Council has
“come to realize the interreligious truth of an old ecumenical
principle: that which we can do together we should not do
separately,” he said.
Kobia also emphasized that, as a consequence, “interreligious
relations and dialogue should no longer be at the margin of the WCC
but at its centre. It has become a core issue for us and this
conference is one way of saying it”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Interfax, Russia
June 8 2005
Baku response to Russian arms transfer politically motivated –
opinion
YEREVAN. June 8 (Interfax) – Baku’s negative response to the transfer
of Russian military hardware from Georgia to Armenia has political
rather than military motives, head of the Armenian parliamentary
defense, national security, and internal affairs commission Mger
Shakhgeldian told Interfax on Wednesday.
“The Russian military bases in Armenia are a component of the
republic’s national security,” he said.
“Armenia is interested in developing a regional security system in
the South Caucasus,” Shakhgeldian said. “The international community
has taken quite a positive view of the idea to set up a regional
security system in the South Caucasus in the future, and we believe
it is possible and necessary to build such a structure in the
future,” he said.

Results
The Guardian – United Kingdom
Jun 08, 2005

Football
EUROPEAN UNDER-21 C’SHIP QUALIFYING
Group Five
Belarus (1) 3 Scotland (0) 2
Kovel 3 Whittaker 57
Staschenyuk 48 Clarkson 86
Afanasiev 51 1,000
Group One: Czech Rep 2 FYR Macedonia 0; Finland 1 Holland 2. Group
Two: Denmark 7 Albania 0; Greece 0 Ukraine 1; Kazakhstan 2 Turkey
1. Group Three: Estonia 0 Portugal 5; Luxembourg 0 Slovakia 2. Group
Seven: Spain 4 Bos-Herz 2. Group Eight: Iceland 0 Malta 0.
Tennis
ATP STELLA ARTOIS C’SHIP (Queen’s Club)
First round: D Tursunov (Rus) bt J Bjorkman (Swe) 7-5 6-3; T Dent (US)
bt T Behrend (Ger) 6-4 6-3; R Gasquet (Fr) bt J Tipsarevic (Ser) 6-1
7-6; G Muller (Lux) bt J Benneteau (Fr) 6-2 6-3; J Delgado (GB) bt G
Monfils (Fr) 6-2 6-4; M Mirnyi (Bela) bt T Berdych (Cz) 7-6 3-6 6-2; M
Philippoussis (Aus) bt R Sluiter (Neth) 6-4 6-0; J Hernych (Cz) bt A
Clement (Fr) 6-4 2-6 6-2; P-H Mathieu (Fr) bt M Baghdatis (Cyp) 4-6
7-6 6-4; I Karlovic (Cro) bt M Mertinak (Slovak) 7-6 7-6; J Blake (US)
bt J Morrison (US) 6-4 3-6 6-3.
Second round: T Zib (Cz) bt J Haehnel (Fr) 6-3 6-4; L Hewitt (Aus) bt
X Malisse (Bel) 6-7 7-5 7-5; R Stepanek (Cz) bt G Carraz (Fr) 6-2 4-6
7-5; T Henman (GB) bt R Ginepri (US) 7-6 4-6 6-1; S Grosjean (Fr) bt G
Garcia Lopez (Sp) 7-5 6-3.
ATP GERRY WEBER OPEN (Halle)
First round: D Norman (Bel) bt C Rochus (Bel) 6-4 3-6 6-1; J C Ferrero
(Sp) bt V Voltchkov (Bela) 6-7 6-4 6-4; Yeu-Tzuoo Wang (Tpe) bt M
Llodra (Fr) 7-6 6-7 6-2; F Santoro (Fr) bt A Pavel (Rom) 7-5 6-2; R
Federer (Switz) bt R Soderling (Swe) 6-7 7-6 6-4; P Kohlschreiber
(Ger) bt J Johansson (Swe) 7-6 6-1; R Schuttler (Ger) bt D Nalbandian
(Arg) 6-3 6-3; N Zimonjic (Ser) bt N Kiefer (Ger) 6-7 6-3 6-4.
WTA DFS CLASSIC (Birmingham)
First round: M Sequera (Ven) bt L Raymond (US) 6-1 6-0; N Grandin (SA)
bt L Cervanova (Slovak) 6-1 6-4; E Dominikovic (Aus) bt M Shaughnessy
(US) 6-4 7-6; L Granville (US) bt A Keothavong (GB) 6-2 6-0; J Jackson
(US) bt K Brandi (Pue) 3-6 7-5 6-0; R Fujiwara (Japan) bt A Jidkova
(Rus) 4-6 6-3 6-3; M Vento Kabchi (Ven) bt S Obata (Japan) 7-5 3-6
7-5; M Tu (US) bt M Weingartner (Ger) 7-6 6-2; M Kirilenko (Rus) bt Y
Fedak (Ukr) 6-3 6-2; T Tanasugarn (Tha) bt R Vinci (It) 6-1 6-2; N
Pratt (Aus) bt C Castano (Col) 7-5 7-5; N Vaidisova (Cz) bt S Cohen
Aloro (Fr) 6-3 6-2; E Daniilidou (Gr) bt Yoon-jeong Cho (Kor) 6-1 1-6
6-4.
Second round: M Sharapova (Rus) bt A Kremer (Lux) 6-3 6-0; J Jankovic
(Ser) bt S Mirza (Ind) 6-1 7-5; A Chakvetadze (Rus) bt E Linetskaya
(Rus) 4-6 6-4 6-4.
LTA WILD-CARD PLAY-OFF (Raynes Park)
Men: First round: C Eaton (Surrey) bt H Lalji (Middx) 6-4 6-3; N
Bamford (Herts) bt J Murray (Scot) 6-4 7-6; M Kasiri (Middx) bt T Burn
(Surrey) 6-4 6-4; M Smith (Cheshire) bt M Lee (Sussex) 6-3 6-1; R
Hutchins (Surrey) bt N Rooney (Warks) 6-4 6-1; M Lowe (Leics) bt A
Mioto (Kent) 6-3 7-6; C Lewis (Wales) bt R Jones (Wales) 7-6 6-2; I
Flanagan (Notts) bt A Kennaugh (Surrey) 6-1 6-2.
Women: First round: H Bagshaw (Herts) bt T Wigan (unattached) 6-2 6-3;
H Fritche (Wales) bt M Berry (Suffolk) 6-1 0-6 6-3; K Baker (Herts) bt
R Dandeniya (Surrey) 6-3 4-6 6-3; N Khan (Susex) bt G Stoop (Cambs)
6-4 6-4; J Curtis (Cornwall) bt K Miles (H&W) 6-1 6-2; S Coles
(unattached) bt R Fong (Yorks) 6-4 6-4; A Hawkins (Wilts) bt A
MacKenzie (Yorks) 3-6 6-3 6-1.
Baseball
MAJOR LEAGUE
Philadelphia 8 Arizona 10; Pittsburgh 3 Baltimore 4; Atlanta 2 LA
Angels 4; Milwaukee 4 NY Yankees 3; Chicago Cubs 1 Toronto 4; St Louis
7 Boston 1; Colorado 3 Chicago WS 9; Los Angeles Dodgers 5 Detroit 3.
Basketball
NBA PLAY-OFFS
Eastern Conference finals: Miami 82 Detroit 88 (Detroit win series
4-3).
Cricket
SECOND TEST
West Indies v Pakistan
Jamaica: Pakistan won by 136 runs
PAKISTAN: First innings 374 (Younis Khan 106, Asim Kamal 51,
Inzamam-ul-Haq 50; Collymore 7-78).
WEST INDIES: First innings 404 (B C Lara 153, W W Hinds 63, R R Sarwan
55; Shabbir Ahmed 4-64).
PAKISTAN: Second innings 309 (Inzamam-ul-Haq 117no, Shoaib Malik 64;
Collymore 4-56, Best 4-46).
WEST INDIES: Second innings (overnight 114-6)
D S Smith c Kamran Akmal b Danish Kaneria 49
R R Sarwan hit wicket b Danish Kaneria 8
B C Lara c Kamran Akmal b Danish Kaneria
*S Chanderpaul lbw b Danish Kaneria
W W Hinds c Younis Khan b Abdul Razzaq 19
*C O Browne c Kamran Akmal b Shabbir Ahmed 10
D B Powell c Yasir Hameed b Danish Kaneria 12
T L Best c Shahid Afridi b Shabbir Ahmed 4
R D King c Kamran Akmal b Shabbir Ahmed 4
C D Collymore not out 7
Extras (lb6, nb9) 15
Total (52.5 overs) 143
Bowling: Shabbir Ahmed 18.5-4-55-4; Abdul Razzaq 14-5-37-1; Danish
Kaneria 20-8-46-5.
Umpires: D B Hair and D R Shepherd.
Cycling
DAUPHINE LIBERE
Stage Two (Givors to Chauffailles; 187km): 1 S Dumoulin (Fr) AG2R) 4hr
47min 6sec; 2 A Charteau (Fr) Bouygues Telecom; 3 F Finot (Fr)
Francaise des Jeux; 4 F Bessy (Fr) Cofidis) all same time; 5 R Hunter
(SA) Phonak) at 3.16sec; 6 T Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole; 7 S
O’Grady (Aus) Cofidis; 8 J Antonio Flecha (Sp) Fassa Bortolo; 9 E
Franzoi (It) Lampre – Caffita; 10 E Gasparotto (It) Liquigas; 11 J
Engoulvent (Fr) Cofidis; 12 D Becke (Ger) Illes Balears; 13 N Nuyens
(Bel) Quick-Step; 14 M Quinziato (It) Saunier Duval; 15 S Baguet (Bel)
Davitamon – Lotto); 16 A Geslin (Fr) Bouygues Telecom; 17 G Bortolami
(It) Lampre – Caffita; 18 E Rigotto (It) Domina Vacanze all st.
Leading overall standings: 1 Dumoulin 10hr 8min 6sec; 2 Finot at
20sec; 3 Charteau 21; 4 Bessy 28; 5 Hincapie 3.06; 6 L Leipheimer (US)
Gerolsteiner 3.07; 7 A Kashechkin (Kaz) Credit Agricole 3.09; 8 F
Landis (US) 3.11; 9 L Armstrong (US) Discovery Channel 3.12; 10 O
Pereiro (Sp) 3.13; 11 A Contador (Sp) Liberty Seguros 3.15; 12 J Ivan
Gutierrez (Sp) Illes Balears 3.19; 13 D Rebellin (It) Gerolsteiner st;
14 F Jose Lara (Sp) T-Mobile 3.20; 15 S Botero (Col) Phonak; 16
Vinokourov both st; 17 Hunter 3.22; 18 R Verbrugghe (Bel) Quick-Step
st.
Fixtures
Football
WORLD CUP QUALIFYING
EUROPEAN ZONE
Group One
Czech Republic v FYR Macedonia (4.0
Finland v Holland (7.0)
Romania v Armenia (6.30)
Group Two
Denmark v Albania (7.0)
Greece v Ukraine (7.30)
Kazakhstan v Turkey (4.0)
Group Three
Estonia v Portugal (6.15)
Latvia v Liechtenstein (4.30)
Luxembourg v Slovakia (7.0)
Group Four
Faroe Islands v Rep of Ireland (7.30)
Group Five
Belarus v Scotland (7.0)
Group Seven
Spain v Bosnia-Herzegovina (9.0)
Group Eight
Iceland v Malta (7.05)
ASIAN ZONE: Second round
Group One
Kuwait v South Korea (6.45)
Saudi Arabia v Uzbekistan (7.05)
Group Two
Iran v Bahrain (3.35)
Korea DPR v Japan (11.35)
SOUTH AMERICAN ZONE
Colombia v Ecuador (8.0); Paraguay v Bolivia (0.15); Chile v Venezuela
(1.0); Argentina v Brazil (1.45); Peru v Uruguay (2.0)
CONCACAF
Mexico v Trinidad & Tobago (1.0); Panama v USA (1.30); Costa Rica v
Guatemala (3.0)
INTERNATIONALS
Germany v Russia (7.45)
Sweden v Norway (7.15)
EUROPEAN UNDER-21 C’SHIP QUALIFYING
Group One
Romania v Armenia (3.0)
TOULON UNDER-20 TOURNAMENT
Semi-finals
France v England (4.0)
Portugal v Mexico (6.30)
WOMEN’S EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
Group A
Denmark v England (6.0; Ewood Park)
Sweden v Finland (8.0; Bloomfield Road)
Rugby union
BRITISH & IRISH LIONS TOUR
Taranaki v British & Irish Lions (8.10).
Cricket
FRIZZELL COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP
First Division
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan v Kent
Lord’s: Middlesex v Surrey
Second Division
Bath: Somerset v Worcestershire
Headingley: Yorkshire v Lancashire
(all 11.0)