Author: Chalian Meline

SUPERJET COMPLETES HIGH-ALTITUDE TESTS
Gregory Polek

Aviation International News
Sept 23 2009

The second Sukhoi Superjet SSJ100 successfully completed its
high-altitude flight test campaign in Armenia this week, Sukhoi
Civil Aircraft (SCAC) announced yesterday. According to SCAC, the
tests confirmed all design takeoff and landing characteristics and
ensure safe and reliable operation from airfields situated as high
as 10,000 feet.

On September 21, S/N 95003 landed at SCAC’s flight test center in
Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, after executing a series of tests from
Shirak International Airport in Gyumri, Armenia, which sits at 5,000
feet. Built in 1961, the airfield now meets ICAO first class airport
requirements after a 2007 upgrade, although surrounding mountains
allow takeoffs and landings on its 10,564-foot runway only from its
southern side.

Performed by SCAC senior test pilot Alexander Yablontsev, test pilot
Vadim Shirokikh with the help of CIS Interstate Aviation Committee
(MAK) test pilot Mikhail Torokhov, the program of tests included
continued takeoff and one-engine inoperative (OEI) missed approach
flights. The crew performed the majority of takeoffs with one engine
at maximum takeoff weights.

Sukhoi expects the Superjet to gain domestic certification by the
end of the year and to deliver the first airplane to launch customer
Aeroflot early next year.

NALBANDYAN: ANY STEP-BACK FROM THE PRINCIPLE OF THE BORDER OPENING WITHOUT PRE-CONDITIONS WILL THREAT THE WHOLE ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROCESS

ArmInfo
2009-09-23 12:10:00

ArmInfo. Any step-back from the principle of the border opening without
pre-conditions will threat the whole Armenian-Turkish process, Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan said today over the meeting with
ambassadors non-residents of several countries accredited in Armenia,
which took part in the events held in Yerevan dedicated to the 18th
anniversary of the independence of Armenia.

The minister presented the process on normalization of the
Armenian-Turkish relations and said that the parties have negotiated
and come to the accord on settlement of relations and opening of the
border without pre-conditions.

For their part, the diplomates supported the Armenian-Turkish
settlement process and expressed hope that the parties will move
forward respecting the arrangements made.

Nalbandyan also specially mentioned that ‘the Karabakh status and
reaching mutual understanding in the matter is the key to resolving
of the Karabakh conflict. This will create a basis for resolving of
the conflict on the basis of the international law principles’.

SASUN MIKAYELYAN IS UNDER SUPERVISION

22/sasun-mikayelyan
07:44 pm | September 22, 2009

Politics

NA Deputy Sasun Mikayelyan’s health condition is satisfactory.

"Doctors are still examining him to find out the reason for his
complaints," said press speaker for the Penitentiary Department of
the RA Ministry of Justice Arsen Babayan to "A1+".

According to him, Sasun Mikayelyan is constantly under doctors’
supervision. They show him support when he has complaints and continue
to investigate his health condition.

Let us remind that NA Deputy Sasun Mikayelyan was transferred from
the "Yerevan-Kentron" penitentiary to the "Prisoners’ Hospital"
on September 12.

He said that he had heart problems and high pressure. He also felt
the pieces of mines in his body.

Arsen Babayan also informed that Independence Day was celebrated
in all penitentiaries, but he didn’t know if Sasun Mikayelyan had
participated or not.

Let us mention that during the meeting organized by the Armenian
National Congress near the Saryan statue, Sasun Mikayelyan had called
Gagik Jhangiryan and asked him to congratulate everyone on Independence
Day on his behalf.

STUDENT ETHAN BOROIAN BECOMES X FACTOR SENSATION

Get Surrey
2057611_student_ethan_boroian_becomes_x_factor_sen sation
Sept 22 2009
UK

AN American-born teenager studying at Royal Holloway in Egham has had
hundreds of thousands of hits for YouTube videos of his audition for
The X Factor.

Ethan Boroian, 19, wowed the judges with his rendition of the Kings
of Leon hit, Use Somebody.

He has since been the subject of national media interest as well as
receiving the avid attention of hundreds of supporters.

Fielding questions from new-found fans on his MySpace page, Boroian
said he was single, revealed he had Armenian heritage, and admitted
he had never bothered auditioning for American Idol because The X
Factor was "much better".

He was born in Chicago, moved to France at the age of two and began
playing the guitar at 13.

Boroian used to be in a band called Jona’s Basement but now continues
to write his own music.

Videos on YouTube also show him performing Rhianna’s Umbrella and
Hey Ya by Outkast at Royal Holloway’s open mic night in support of
Black History Month in November 2008.

IRANIAN ARMED FORCES START A MAJOR PARADE

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
22.09.2009 13:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Iranian armed forces start a major parade on the
first day of week-long ceremonies held to commemorate eight years of
defense during the 1980’s war with Saddam-ruled Iraq.

The parade, which began Tuesday morning, included marches and aerial
maneuvers by parachute jumpers, fighters and helicopters.

The main branches of Iran’s armed forces, the Islamic Revolution
Guards Corps (IRGC), the Iranian Military, and the Basij voluntary
force all took part in the event, Press TV reported.

"Iranian armed forces will cut off the hands of any attackers before
they pull the trigger," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an
address at a parade broadcast on state television.

Hundreds of troops marched past the official podium packed with top
officials, followed by military hardware including Ghadr, Sejil and
Shahab-3 long-range missiles which are made in Iran.

Television commentators said the Shahab-3 missile had a range of
2,000 km (1,250 miles), putting Israel within striking distance.

The official IRNA news agency reported that a military plane crashed
near Tehran, but later dropped the report from its website.

CLINTON TO MEET MAMMADYAROV

Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am
Sept 21 2009
Armenia

On September 25, 2009 U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will
meet with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

Within the framework of the 64th Session of UN General Assembly
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is likely to be discussed. Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili arrived in New York to take
part in the session.

Ilham Aliyev will deliver a speech on September 23, whereas Mikheil
Saakashvili — September 24. No information on Serzh Sargsyan’s visit
is available. It was pre-announced, that Armenian and Azerbaijani
Presidents will meet in New York, however RA Presidential Press
Service refuted the information.

NKR PRESIDENT’S CONGRATULATION ON THE DAY OF INDEPENDENCE OF ARMENIA

armradio.am
21.09.2009 16:58

On 21 September President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Bako
Sahakyan sent a congratulatory letter to President of the Republic
of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan. The message reads:

"Honorable Mr. Sargsyan,

I cordially congratulate you on the Independence Day of the Republic
of Armenia.

September 21, 1991 has opened a new chapter in the history of the
Armenian people. Building independent statehood was a difficult,
but at the same time respectable path our people could successfully
overcome. The Armenian people restored the right to be the arbiter
of their own destiny, to have an independent, free and sovereign state.

Even today under the global financial and economic crisis the
leadership of Armenia is doing everything possible to take up
different challenges and to lay a stable foundation for socio-economic
development. I am confident that under your presidency the Republic
of Armenia will achieve new success, will celebrate new victories
and the cherished dreams of the Armenian people will come true.

I wish you peace, good health and all the best in the name of
prosperous and bright future of Armenia and Artsakh."

Interfax, Russia
Sept 19 2009

Over 50 hurt in hate crimes in Russia this year – rights groups

MOSCOW Sept 19

Human rights groups have expressed concerns about the attacks based on
xenophobia and ethnic intolerance, which continue in Russia.

"In the period between January and mid September, 169 attacks
occurred, in which 53 people were killed and at least 218 were
injured," Alexander Brod, director of the Moscow Bureau for Human
Rights, told Interfax, citing the results of a monitoring.

In the same period in 2008, at least 92 people died at the hands of
nationalists and at least 300 were injured, and in 2007 at least forty
were killed and some 230 were injured, Brod said.

According to Brod, Moscow and the Moscow region, St. Petersburg and
the Leningrad region, Nizhny Novgorod, and Stavropol lead in attacks
based on ethnic intolerance this year.

Victims of racist attacks this year were mostly Uzbeks (13 killed and
nine injured), Russians (five killed and nine injured), Kyrgyzis (four
killed and ten injured), Tajiks (five killed and 13 injured),
Armenians (two killed and nine injured), Dagestanis (two killed and
four injured), Vietnamese (three killed), and Azerbaijanis (two killed
and 12 injured), Brod said.

Rights groups believe that most hate crimes are committed by skinheads
and members of various radical nationalist organizations. Most victims
of such attacks are people with origins in the Caucasus and Central
Asia, and also sexual minorities and members of young people’s
subcultures.

POLITICAL EXPERT: SCHEDULED OPENING OF BORDER WITH TURKEY TO ALLOW TO SEPARATE ARMENIA FROM RUSSIA

ArmInfo
2009-09-17 16:26:00

ArmInfo. The scheduled opening of the border with Turkey will allow
to separate Armenia from Russia, deputy Director General of Russia’s
Strategic Culture Foundation Andrey Areshev told ArmInfo.

"The scheduled opening of the border with Turkey is a very ambiguous
act for the Armenian economy, that will have both positive and
negative consequences. This will also allow to separate Armenia
from Russia. Anyway, this is the interpretation by some prominent
western political experts on what is happening on the Armenian-Turkish
"track"", he said.

Areshev emphasized that the same political experts directly
connect possible signing of protocols on establishment of diplomatic
relations between Ankara and Yerevan with a in the Karabakh conflict
settlement. "Apparently, the notorious Madrid principles are meant
under this "progress", to say more specifically – surrender of part
of the territories between Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh in Kelbajar,
Lachin, Kubatly and Zangelan regions", he said.

HERITAGE PARTY APPLIES TO ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER DEMANDING TO INITIATE REFERENDUM REGARDING PROTOCOLS ON NORMALIZATION OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS

ArmInfo
2009-09-16 12:42:00

ArmInfo. Today, Chairman of Heritage party board Armen Martirosyan and
Head of the party faction Styopa Safaryan applied to Prime Minister
of Armenia Tigran Sarkisyan, on the party’s behalf, demanding to
organize a referendum regarding the protocols on normalization of
the Armenian-Turkish relations, the party press service told ArmInfo.

The address says, in particular: .

To recall, Armenia and Turkey have agreed to start internal political
consultations around the "Protocol on Establishment of Diplomatic
Relations Between the Two Countries" and the "Protocol on Development
of Bilateral Relations" signed during the negotiations under the Swiss
mediation. It is scheduled to complete the political consultations
during six weeks, after which the two protocols will be signed and
submitted to the two countries’ parliaments for approval.