Author: Chatinian Lara

TIGRAN TOROSYAN ELECTED AS ARMENIAN PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER

Regnum, Russia
June 7 2007

Republican Tigran Torosyan has been elected as the speaker of the
Armenian parliament today. The election was uncontested. From 114
MPs, who participated in the secret ballot, 112 voted for approving
Torosyan as speaker, 2 were against it, a REGNUM correspondent informs.

As Tigran Torosyan announced that the parliamentary elections in
Armenia met democratic standards. At the same time, he expressed
confidence that next elections "will be better." "For the 15 years
since Armenian independence foundation was laid and all attributes of
the statehood established. Macroeconomic indices that we reached for
the last six-seven years, allow us being proud of the country." He
reminded that the previous parliament made an important step by
elaborating amendments to the constitution. "The amendments will more
and more influence development of civil society," Torosyan noted.

Speaking on priority tasks of the parliament, he noted that in order
to augment the economic successes, it is necessary, first of all,
stir social and political reforms. "The Nagorno Karabakh conflict is
still a priority problem today. In this connection, activity of the
MPs is very important. Armenia has parliamentary missions in various
international institutions, but it is needed for their effective
work that the parliament also carries out great work on the issue,"
Torosyan said.

It is worth mentioning, opposition parties Orinats Yerkir and
The Heritage refused to take part in the first session of the new
parliament today, during which the voting on Torosyan’s candidature was
held. Both parties together have 15 seats in the 131-seat parliament.

Tirgan Torosyan was elected as parliamentary speaker and thus preserved
the post since June 2006. In 2006, the position became vacant after
Artur Bagdassaryan resigned and the Orinats Yerkir party led by him
announced it was leaving the ruling coalition and switched to the
opposition camp.

POLAND GO DOWN TO SHOCK DEFEAT IN ARMENIA

Reuters
Jun 06 2007

YEREVAN, June 6 (Reuters) – Poland lost valuable points in their
Euro 2008 qualifying campaign when they suffered a shock 1-0 defeat
in Armenia on Wednesday.

Hamlet Mkhitaryan fired a free kick into the top corner in the 70th
minute to give the home team their second win in seven games.

Despite the defeat the Poles still lead Group A with 19 points from
nine matches, five points ahead of both Portugal and Serbia, who have
two games in hand each.

Serbia can cut the deficit to two points if they beat Finland later
on Wednesday.

ELMAR MAMMADYAROV MEETS OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 6 2007

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov is meeting with
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Mathew Bryza, Yuri Merzlyakov, Bernard
Fassier and Personal representative of OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej
Kasprzyk, APA reports.

The co-chairs said they will not make statement on the negotiations
and answer all questions in today’s press conference.

The co-chairs’ visit to the region is connected with the preparation
for the meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents Ilham Aliyev
and Robert Kocharian in St. Petersburg on June 10.

The co-chairs will leave Baku for Yerevan and met Armenian officials
and leadership of separatist regime controlling occupied Azerbaijani
territories.

AVERAGE ANNUAL PRECIPITATIONS IN ARMENIA DECREASE BY 5.8% WHILE TEMPERATURE RISES BY 0.7 DEGREES

Noyan Tapan
Jun 05 2007

YEREVAN, JUNE 5, NOYAN TAPAN. This year’s slogan of June 5 –
International Day of Environmental Protection is "Melting Ice: Vital
Subject". According to the message of the UN Secretary-General on the
occasion of this day, the result of human activities – greenhouse gas
emissions have caused the global warming. Now the concentration of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than ever before in the
past 600 thousand years, and the speed of this process is increasing.

During the event dedicated to International Day of Environmental
Protection, Deputy Resident Representative of the UNDP Armenia Office
Alexander Avanesov said that Armenia has no strategy and action plan of
climate change adaptation. Whereas, according to him, studies conducted
in 1930-1990 show that the average annual amount of precipitations
has decreased by 5.8% in Armenia, while the temperature has risen by
0.7 degrees. "We have developed a joint program in cooperation with
the UNDP Global Ecological Fund. The program deals with the problem
of Armenia’s mountainous forest ecosystems endangered as a result of
climate change," A. Avanesov said.

The presentation of the film "Poisoning in the Name of Profit" made by
the coalition of Eco-Armenia NGOs took place at the event. According to
the script writer Inga Zarafian, the earth’s depths in Armenia contain
almost all groups of metals – ferrous, noble, non-ferrous, precious
metals. "Mining industry is undergoing development in Armenia, in the
past three years the number of mining companies has increased 1.5fold,
which has caused huge damage to the environment," I. Zarafian stated.

UN URGED RA GOVERNMENT TO TAKE PART IN SOLUTION OF PROBLEM OF GLOBAL WARNING

ArmInfo
2007-06-05 13:23:00

UN urged the government of Armenia to take part in solution of the
problem of global warning and its consequences.

As deputy Permanent Representative of UNDP in Armenia Alexander
Avanesov said today at the event dedicated to the World Environment
Protection Day, it is the time to consolidate the power structures,
public organizations and the Mass Media in solution of the actual
problem of temperature anomalies on Earth. He also said that
temperature rise by 0.7 degrees has been fixed in Armenia over the
last 60 years of tool surveys. Moreover, the number of precipitations
over the indicated period reduced by 5.8%. As Avanesov noted, such
weather anomalies only in Armenia may lead to further growth of the
territory desertification (by 33%), as well as evaporation of the lake
Sevan (by 14%). In addition, the global warming may cause reduction
of flora by 14%. "The global warming-fight within 2007 must become
a priority one in the whole world", he emphasized.

To note, as scientists think, both increase of average temperatures
(in some regions of the planet to 6,4 degrees) and increase of the
World Ocean level (to 59 cm) will be observed on the planet within the
whole millennium. The influence of tropical cyclones on the climate
will become stronger, that will entail drought or floods in different
regions of the planet. The scientists note that the cataclysms will
be a result of the anthropogenic factor, namely, increase of hotbed
gas emissions.

ARMENIAN DIASPORA OF LEBANON DID NOT SUFFER FROM CLASH OF LEBANESE ARMY WITH PALESTINIAN EXTREMIST GROUP ‘FATKH AL-ISLAM’

ArmInfo
2007-06-01 16:53:00

The Armenian Diaspora did not suffer from clash of the Lebanese army
with the Palestinian extremist group "Fatkh al-Islam", Ambassador of
Lebanon to RA Gebrael Geara said. He said that the country’s Armenian
population lives far from the places of operations and it is "safe
and sound". "I have multiply noted that, fortunately, no Armenian
died during the recent tragic events in Lebanon. They are in safety",
the Ambassador said.

LEO PLATVOET CALLED ON BAKU AND YEREVAN TO COOPERATE IN SETTLING PROBLEM OF MISSING PEOPLE

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.05.2007 16:38 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Leo Platvoet, rapporteur of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Missing People and POWs
in the South Caucasus calls on Azeri and Armenian authorities to
cooperate in establishing fates of people who have missed during the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Platvoet stressed the importance of close
cooperation of Azeri and Armenian authorities both with international
and local structures. "A commission on missing people functions in
Nagorno Karabakh, which cooperates with Armenia but does not cooperate
with Azerbaijan," Platvoet said, "Trend" reports.

TEENAGER CONFESSED TO OVER 30 HATE CRIMES
by Aleksey Ivlev

RusData Dialine – Russian Press Digest
May 29, 2007 Tuesday

A teenager studying to paint icons has claimed involvement in more than
30 murders in Moscow, law enforcement sources said. Suspect Artur Ryno,
18, has claimed responsibility for 37 racially motivated murders that
he said he committed to "clean up the city," Vremya Novostey reports.

Ryno, a student at an icon painting school, has told investigators
that he began his murder spree on Aug. 21, the same day a bomb killed
13 people at Moscow’s Cherkizovsky market, the report said. On that
day, Ryno said, he and a group of skinheads provoked a fight with
a group of people from Central Asia, during which he stabbed one of
the migrants to death, the report said.

City prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said she
could not immediately comment on the reports and that details on
the investigation would be available "sometime next week." Ryno and
fellow student Pavel Skachayevsky, 18, were arrested last month on
suspicion of killing Armenian businessman Karen Abramyan. Abramyan,
46, was stabbed 20 times on the evening of April 16 in southwest
Moscow and died in the hospital.

Ryno and Skachayevsky were detained on a tram with their clothes
covered in blood and in possession of a bloody knife, and the crime
was captured on a surveillance camera. Ryno confessed to a string of
racially motivated murders after being shown the surveillance footage,
while Skachayevsky had denied any wrongdoing, Vremya Novostey writes.

The night before Abramyan’s murder, Khairullo Sadykov, 26, a street
sweeper from Tajikistan, was stabbed 35 times outside an apartment
building in eastern Moscow. Ryno confessed to Sadykov’s murder too.

Most, if not all of Ryno’s and Skachayevsky’s victims were foreigners
and were stabbed at least 20 times to delay the body identification
process, it said. Last year, 53 people were killed and 460 others
were injured in apparent hate crimes, according to the Sova human
rights center.

Levon Aronyan to participate in a chess tournament in Elista

ArmRadio.am
26.05.2007 15:00

Leading Grand Master of Armenia, Olympic Champion and World Cup holder
Levon Aronyan will leave for Elista, the capital of the Republic of
Kalmikia of the Russian Federation, to participate in the tournament
of World Champion challengers to start on May 27. Levon Aronyan’s
first rival is Magnus Karlsen of Norway. The winner will later compete
with the winner of the Michael Adams-Alexey Sherov match.

Armenian opposition parties demand fresh election

Arminfo
25 May 07

Yerevan, 25 May: The People’s Party of Armenia, the Republic Party,
the New Times Party, the Impeachment bloc and the Hnchak Social
Democratic Party of Armenia have signed a joint statement not
recognizing the results of the 12 May parliamentary election.

The statement was voiced in the opposition rally in Yerevan
today. About 2,000 people took part in the rally. The document states
that even during the election campaign the ruling parties made serious
fraud, such as bribing of voters, using the administrative resources
and others.

The statement also stresses that during the day of election and while
counting the votes serious violations of the Election Code took
place. The five parties that signed the joint statement demanded that
a fresh parliamentary election be held.