Author: Chmshkian Vicken

FIRST GAMES OF ARMENIAN FOOTBALL CUP TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD ON MARCH 21

YEREVAN, MARCH 6, NOYAN TAPAN. 14 teams will take part in the 17th
tournament of the Armenian Football Cup, including 8 from the highest
group and 6 from the first. The tournament will start on March 21. It
will start from the 1/8 final. The second legs are scheduled for March
22.

Banants, the winners of the previous cup tournament of Armenia, and
Ararat, who are taking part in the final, will be included in the
quarter final. And the final, according to the tradition, will be held
on May 9.

TAJIK LEADER SENDS CONGRATULATORY MESSAGE TO ARMENIAN PRESIDENT-ELECT

Avesta website
March 5 2008
Tajikestan

Dushanbe, 5 March: Tajik President Emomali Rahmon hopes that relations
with Armenia will further develop during SerzhSargsyan’s presidency.

The president’s press service has told Avesta that a telegram sent
by Emomali Rahmon to the Armenianpresident-elect says: "Tajikistan
highly values partnership relations with Armenia which meet the
nationalinterests of both states."

In his message, the Tajik president expressed confidence that
multifaceted Tajik-Armenian relations would be boosted based on
equality and mutual respect during Sargsyan’s term in office as
Armenia’s president.

"Taking the opportunity, I express my readiness to make every effort to
further deepen and expand cooperationbetween Armenia and Tajikistan,"
the president said.

We recall that Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan won the 19 February
presidential election in Armenia.

ARMENIAN, GEORGIAN GAS ENGINEERS DISCUSS GAS TRANSIT PROBLEM

ARKA
March 5, 2008

YEREVAN, March 5. /ARKA/. Representatives of the Oil and Gas
Corporation of Georgia and of the ArmRosgasprom Company held a
technical meeting in Tbilisi on February 28-29 to discuss the issue
of gas transit to Armenia.

The ArmRoasgasprom Company reports that the meeting discussed a wide
range of issue, including problems of gas supply to Armenia as well
as increase of the capacity of the north Caucasus-Transcaucasus gas
transport system.

The meeting determined the ways of further development of cooperation
in accomplishing programs.

The ArmRosgasprom Company holds a monopoly of supply and distribution
of Russian gas in Armenia. Gas is transited to Armenia through Georgia.

The company was founded in 1997, the stockholders being Gasprom (57.59%
of shares), RA Ministry of Energy (34.7%) and ITERA (7.71%).

ARMED FORCES OF AZERBAIJAN FIRE AT POSITIONS OF NKR DEFENCE ARMY

Noyan Tapan
March 5, 2008

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 5, NOYAN TAPAN. At about 05:00 on March 4 the
Azerbaijani armed forces, breaking the armistice regime, fired at
the positions of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh on the border line
of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh and the Republic of Azerbaijan,
to the north-east from Martakert, at a distance of 3.5 km from the
village of Levonarkh, as a result of which the First Lieutenant of
the defence army has been injured.

The Azerbaijani forces have conquered one of the primary defence
fulcra of the armed forces of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh. The
NKR armed forces fired in return compelling the rival to retreat to
its former position.

There are victims and injured on the Azerbaijani side.

At about 08:00 on the same day the skirmish became of a more intensive
character. As of 15:40, the Armenian forces restored the preliminary
positions. The situation is peaceful at present, there are no shots.

According to the information provided to Noyan Tapan by the RA Ministry
of Defence, the RA Minister of Defence immediately informed Anjey
Kasprchik, the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-office,
of the breaking of the armistice regime.

Information on the incident has been exchanged also between the
headquarters of the armed forces of the two countries.

PM SERGE SARGSYAN WISHED SOONEST RECOVERY TO THE INJURED CITIZENS

armradio.am
04.03.2008 17:45

RA President elect, Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan today visited
"Erebuni" medical centre to see the citizens that suffered as a result
of mass disorders on March 1st following the illegal demonstrations.

The Prime Minister asked about their health condition and wished them
soonest recovery, Information and Public Relation Department of RA
Government informed.

KARABAKH CASUALTY TOLL DISPUTED

BBC NEWS
urope/7278871.stm
2008/03/05 11:25:06 GMT

Armenia and Azerbaijan have made conflicting casualty claims following
clashes in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh on Tuesday.

Baku said 12 Armenian and four Azeri soldiers were killed, accusing
Yerevan of provoking the shootout.

A spokesman for pro-Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh said two
of its troops were wounded and eight Azeri soldiers killed in the
clashes started by Baku.

Pro-Armenian troops seized Azerbaijan’s region during the war in
the 1990s.

If confirmed, the fighting was heavier than most of the skirmishes
that often break out along a ceasefire line that was agreed in 1994.

On Tuesday, Azeri authorities told the BBC that Armenia had provoked
the clashes to divert attention from its domestic problems.

Eight people died during clashes with police in the Armenian capital
Yerevan on Saturday, after disputed elections in February.

Armenia and Azerbaijan still technically remain at war with each other.

Earlier this week, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said Baku was
ready to re-take the region by force, and had been buying the military
hardware and ammunition to do so.

Some 30,000 people were killed and more than one million fled their
homes during several years of fighting.

EIGHT DEAD IN CLASHES IN ARMENIA

EuroNews
March 2 2008
France

The streets of the Armenian capital were virtually deserted today after
eight people died in overnight clashes between opposition supporters
and riot police. Thousands of people have been protesting against a
disputed presidential election. Outgoing president Robert Kocharyan
accused demonstrators of planning a coup d’etat and imposed a 20-day
state of emergency yesterday.

The former Soviet Republic has seen daily protests since the February
19 poll, an election deemed broadly fair by Western observers.

Violence flared overnight after a hardcore of demonstrators refused
to heed a message from the opposition leader to go home.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan says he will negotiate with the government –
a U-turn as previously he had said talks were out of the question
until the election result was annulled.

TANKS ON STREETS OF ARMENIAN CAPITAL AFTER EIGHT KILLED

Agence France Presse
March 3 2008

YEREVAN (AFP) – Tanks and troops patrolled the Armenian capital
Yerevan on Sunday after eight people were killed and dozens injured
during violent protests against the result of a presidential election.

Authorities imposed a state of emergency in Yerevan late on Saturday
following violent clashes between riot police and protesters.

Army chief of staff Seiran Oganian warned in televised comments that
fresh protests would be met with "a severe response."

The United States joined calls for calm from the UN and the European
Union’s foreign policy chief and Europe’s top security watchdog sent
an envoy to promote talks.

A dozen armoured personnel carriers and about 100 soldiers stood
guard outside the main government building and foreign ministry.

Several tanks could be seen at the scene of the night-time clashes.

A spokeswoman for the foreign ministry said seven civilians and one
police officer had been killed. One police officer was in critical
condition and 17 had been hospitalised with gunshot wounds, she said.

The health ministry said on Sunday that 72 police and 59 civilians
had been injured in the unrest.

"The police are calling on all citizens to be careful, to hold
back and to obey all the rules of the state of emergency," a police
statement read.

The US State Department called in a statement for all sides "to avoid
further violence, act fully within the law, exercise maximum restraint,
and resume political dialogue."

The city was relatively calm on Sunday and shops and cafes around
Yerevan were open as residents examined the damage. Dozens of burnt-out
cars, stones and metal poles from the night of violence were cleared
from the streets.

Pointing to a broken shop window, 60-year-old pensioner Arman blamed
both the authorities and the protesters for the unrest.

"They both refused to back down and look — this is how it ended,"
he said.

The state of emergency will be in effect until March 20 under a decree
signed by President Robert Kocharian. It bans public demonstrations and
requires the media to put out only information from government sources.

Armenia’s National Assembly voted overnight to approve the measure.

The violence began early Saturday when riot police cleared a central
square in front of Yerevan’s opera house where protesters had been
camped since the presidential election won by Kocharian’s ally,
Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian.

Between 6,000 and 8,000 demonstrators quickly regrouped in another
square.

When police tried to disperse them after nightfall the protesters
fought back with petrol bombs, sticks and stones. Police used tear
gas and fired live ammunition into the air.

Protesters finally left the streets after an appeal by their leaders.

The runner-up opposition leader in the presidential election, former
president Levon Ter-Petrosian, said he was being prevented by police
from leaving his home.

Authorities said his state-assigned security detail was acting out
of concern for his safety.

Ter-Petrosian also said on Sunday the opposition may now seek to
organise protests outside the capital, where emergency rule is not
in effect.

"We might organise demonstrations in other cities not far away from
Yerevan, it would be legal," he told reporters in his home.

Ter-Petrosian blamed authorities for provoking the unrest and
criticised foreign observers for backing the elections.

"Until the attack in front of the opera everything was peaceful …

But if you had been hit on the head there, at the next demonstration
you would grab a rod to defend yourself.

"I hope the international community understands that the regime in
Armenia does not have the support of the people. This conflict will
now last five years, with full-time violence."

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana asked "all parties to exercise
restraint" on Sunday and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Louise Arbour, said she was "deeply troubled" by the reported deaths
and injuries in Yerevan.

Europe’s main election monitoring body, the Organisation for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said the election had "mostly"
met international standards.

In a statement, OSCE chairman Finnish Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva,
said he was sending a special envoy to Armenia "to try to bring both
sides to the negotiating table and to find a way out of this crisis
through political dialogue."

Official results in February gave 52.9 percent of the vote to Sarkisian
and 21.5 percent to Ter-Petrosian.

Armenia set to declare emergency

Aljazeera.net, Qatar
March 1 2008

Armenia has warned it will declare a state of emergency if protests
against last month’s presidential poll continue.

More than 30 people were injured on Saturday after riot police clashed
in Yerevan, the capital, with about hundreds of demonstrators who
had been protesting that the electon was rigged.

The violence broke out after police began forcing protesters onto
buses.

Vardan Oskanian, Armenian foreign minister, said: "All orders are ready
for the president to declare a state of emergency if the situation
continues to worsen."

The protesters had defied a police crackdown just hours after the
police dispersed another rally and put Levon Ter-Petrosian, the
opposition chief, under house arrest.

The protesters, mostly supporters of Petrosian, have called for a
new vote, alleging Serzh Sarkisian, the current president and former
prime minister, had rigged the election.

For the past 10 days opposition supporters have camped in Yerevan’s
Freedom Square in protest against the poll.

House arrest

Arman Musinian, a spokesman for Ter-Petrosian’s party, said that
among those arrested was former prime minister Hrant Bagratian.

Ter-Petrosian, the opposition leader and the defeated presidential
candidate, said he had been placed under house arrest following
the crackdown.

Petrosian said: "I am confined to my residence. Permission or no
permission, we will press ahead with protests, because rallies and
marches can only be banned when there is a state of emergency."

Earlier Pertosian told reporters: "I am deeply convinced that even
if Sarkisan stays on, he won’t be a legitimate president. I have no
doubt the people won’t tolerate this."

Petrosian had contested the presidential polls with a mandate against
corruption and has since alleged massive fraud in the elections that
replaced Robert Kocharian, the former Armenian president.

The opposition has long accused Sarkisian of having used state
resources to promote his candidacy, with the support of Kocharian.

‘Power grab’

Observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE) have said that the election had mostly met international
standards.

Ilkka Kanerva, the current chairman of OSCE and the Finnish
foreign minister, has condemned the use of force against peaceful
demonstrators.

Kanerva said: "I urge the authorities to use maximum restraint. I
am troubled that there are reports of casualties and I urge the
authorities to release those detained.

"I again call on the government and the opposition to engage in
a dialogue."

Kocharian, the former president has described the protests as an
attempt to grab power illegally and promised that the government’s
response would be "decisive and firm".

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
By Joel Block

NewsBlaze, CA
Feb 29 2008

In my travels, I have the opportunity to meet the most interesting
people, and likewise, in my everyday networking, I’m fortunate to get
to know some of the most fascinating and talented people in their
fields. One person, that I consider a personal friend and terrific
resource, is Gerard Mekhsian. I would like to introduce you to him
so that he can become a resource to you as well. From time to time,
I will use my blog to introduce truly outstanding resources.

Gerard is a CPA but he is unique for at least two reasons. First,
he was born in Armenia and educated in France. That means that he
learned the accounting business from the French perspective. Their
outlook is completely different than that of the United States because,
while the United States system is a self-regulated one, the French
system is controlled by the government – so the rules are entirely
different. This international perspective has proven invaluable to
Gerard’s clients.

When Gerard came to the United States, in spite of his financial
training, he didn’t focus on traditional financial accounting the
way most accountants do. His interest was more in computers and
information systems. This second distinction is powerful because
it gives him insight into business in a way that most accountants
simply never grasp. Gerard answers one of the hardest questions that
manufacturers ask, a question which seems so simple:

"How much does it cost?"

Manufacturers have a very difficult time knowing exactly how much
something costs because it’s not just the price of the materials
that they have to take into account; it’s the amount of the overhead,
the labor, and other factors that burden the price of the item.

Some manufacturers have it easy. They go overseas and have their
product manufactured. For those companies, the cost is whatever
they have to write the check for. But for companies that actually
manufacture in the United States, not knowing how much something
actually "costs" can contribute to the most unpleasant situations.

Imagine getting the cost wrong. Try under pricing your materials
and charging the wrong price to your customers. Guess how long these
businesses last?

It may seem dry, but that’s part of what fascinates me about Gerard.

His international background is interesting, but so is his attention
to detail, his perception of numbers, and his insight as it relates
to the cost of the inside of the manufacturing process.

If you have need to speak with Gerard, he is with the Los Angeles
based CPA firm of Lippe, Hellie, Hoffer & Allison LLP. You can learn
more about this well known firm at

I personally know how complicated it is to cost any manufacturing
process and admire Gerard’s ability to precisely identify costs in
a powerful way.

So, as you are working hard every day to build your company or your
career, take notice of a few outcomes from this encounter. First,
meeting new and interesting people is a continuing process. Be
sure that you’re strategically networking all the time with lots
of different kinds of people because you’ll never know which people
will provide insight and assistance to you in the future. Secondly,
make sure if you’re selling or reselling goods, that you price them
correctly. Know exactly how much those things cost because at the
end of the day, if you price wrong, you’ll sell wrong, too. And if
you can’t figure it out, call my friend Gerard.

About Joel G. Block Often dubbed a "Growth Architect" by his clients,
Joel Block advises companies on explosive growth strategies by
driving revenue and sales. Well known in the capital markets, Joel
is a successful entrepreneur, speaker and advisor. To bring Joel into
your company, please visit or