Author: Chatinian Lara

ELECTION AND FINANCE

KarabakhOpen
08-06-2007 14:20:27

Each of the five presidential candidates, in accordance with the law,
submitted a document on the pre-election collateral of 1 million
drams. If the candidates get less than 5 percent of votes, the money
goes to the state budget, if the candidates gets more than 5 percent,
the money is returned to the candidates.

The chair of the CEC Sergey Nasibyan says the pre-election funds of
the candidates should not exceed 6 million drams. The money must be
spent on the election campaign. Reception and spending of these funds
will be controlled by the CEC.

Bank accounts for the pre-election funds can be opened in any bank
of NKR.

According to the Electoral Code, the funds accrue from the own funds of
the candidates, the party, the supporters of the candidates, donations
of organizations and individuals. According to Sergey Nasibyan, there
is no timing on setting up the fund, it can be set up over the last
few days of the campaign.

The candidates need the money not only for the nomination but also
for the election campaign, to buy airtime on TV and radio. The law
provides for 80 minutes of free airtime on the Public Television to
each candidate, and if the candidate wishes to buy airtime, he has
to pay 30 thousand drams per minute on TV and 15 thousand drams per
minute on the radio.

The other TV and radio companies set their prices, but according
to Sergey Nasibyan, all the TV and radio companies, as well as the
republic newspaper must provide equal opportunities for all the
candidates.

EXCAVATIONS OF TIGRANAKERT IN ARTSAKH CONTINUE

Lragir.am
08-06-2007 15:43:05

The Yerkir Union of NGOs initiated and funds the expedition of the
Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Armenian Academy of
Sciences to Artsakh which resumed on May 18, 2007 the excavations
of Tigranakert, a town founded by the Armenian King Tigran Great in
the first century BC in Artsakh. The expedition is led by Dr. Hamlet
Petrosyan.

On the first days of the excavations on the left bank of the Khachen
River, the mountain near the village of Nor Maragha, the archeologists
discovered a fragment of the 3.5 meters wide wall, built of large
pieces of stone, the gate of the fortress and the remains of the
tower built on the edge of the rock. The length of the wall is 20
meters. The archeologists suggest that the fortress had been built
earlier than the town funded by Tigran Great, possibly in the period
of the Kingdom of Urartu (8-7 centuries BC) or under the Armenian
Yervanduni kings (6-4 centuries BC).

This year the excavations of Tigranakert will last until August 15.

The project of historical and archeological study of Tigranakert
was launched by the Yerkir Union in 2005. In the first year of the
project the exact location of the town was discovered, in 2006 the
archeologists started digging in different parts of the town and
around the town, revealing part of the wall of the citadel, part of
a dam and part of the central part of the town with remains of an
early Christian basilica.

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.