Author: Ekmekjian Janet

"LOOKING FOR PALLADIN" TO BE SCREENED IN YEREVAN

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
13.07.2009 17:05 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Within the frames of "Golden Apricot" international
film festival, Yerevan will host the presentation of "Looking for
Palladin" (director: Andjey Krakovsky). The film tells about a young
Hollywood agent sent to Guatemala to find two-time Oscar winner actor
Jack Palladin who had been living in US for over 20 years.

A very warm film featuring neither sex nor violence, it became a
kind of bridge between different nations, cultures and age groups. "
‘Looking for Palladin’ reveals the prejudices of contemporary American
youth," Krakivsky told a press conference.

It was the first foreign film shot in Guatemala after "Tarzan and
the Green Goddess" (1938), director said.

Shot quite recently, "Looking for Palladin" has been already declared
as the best film during Latin American film festivals in Orlando and
Kunis as well as during Wine Country Festival in Napa.

Turan news agency, Azerbaijan
July 11 2009

US diplomat comments on media freedom, use of radar station, gas
project in Baku

Baku, 11 July: US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg held talks
with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku yesterday. In a
conversation with a group of journalists at the US embassy on Saturday
[11 July] morning, Steinberg said that Azerbaijan was an important
partner of the USA and an important country in the region which had
good ties with both the West and the Islamic world. The USA attaches
importance to cooperation with Azerbaijan in the energy sphere and
rates highly its support in Afghanistan, Steinberg said.

"I think Azerbaijan is a good example of how a country’s national
wealth is used for the welfare of its people," the deputy secretary of
state said, asked whether democracy was possible in an eastern country
rich with oil.

How can the USA support new media in Azerbaijan in view of the arrest
of bloggers Adnan Hacizada and Emin Milli and was this issue discussed
at his meeting with Ilham Aliyev, and what is being done to resume the
broadcasts of Radio Liberty on local [FM] frequencies? To these
questions, Steinberg said that the State Department was closely
following the developments and that he had been informed by the
embassy in Baku of the latest events. Close contacts are being
maintained with the Azerbaijani authorities in order to resolve the
problem in the most acceptable way, the diplomat said.

"We consider you (Radio Liberty – editor) to be an important source of
information, especially in the light of the latest events in Iran. We
also attach importance to new media as an important part of a free and
democratic society. We discussed the role and place of the media in
the country’s life, as well as other issues at the meeting with Ilham
Aliyev," Steinberg said.

The diplomat said that the Karabakh settlement was an important part
of his mission and that significant progress had been achieved in the
negotiations of late. "We hope that a further success would be
achieved at the forthcoming negotiations of the two [Armenian and
Azerbaijani] presidents in Moscow [17-18 July], and I will continue
the discussion of this topic in Yerevan where we are going now,"
Steinberg said.

Asked by Turan news agency whether the possibility of the joint use of
the Qabala radar station was discussed in Baku, Steinberg said that
this issue had been discussed at the negotiations between the US and
Russian presidents in Moscow [on 6-8 July]. The USA is considering
this possibility and this topic has been discussed with the
Azerbaijani leadership. Currently the issue of the use of the Qabala
radar station is being considered as part of an overall missile
defence strategy and its parameters, the diplomat said.

The USA supports the Nabucco project and regards as normal Azerbaijani
gas export to Russia.

"We are against excluding Russia from the gas supply scheme and we
support multivector routes of gas export," Steinberg said, commenting
on Washington’s position on Nabucco. As to the USA’s possible
involvement in the project, this issue remains open and experts are
studying the possibility of funding by the USA and other forms of US
involvement in Nabucco, he added.

In his trip, Steinberg is being accompanied by Assistant Secretary of
State Philip Gordon.

RIA Oreanda, Russia
Economic News
July 9, 2009 Thursday

Unibank Armenia Launched New Program for Car Crediting

Yerevan. OREANDA-NEWS . July 9, 2009. Unibank launched a new program
for car crediting U-Auto, within the framework of which loans up to
USD 70 thousands are issued for purchasing car in the primary
market. The loan is provided for the term of 4 years, the annual
interest rate in USD starting from 20%, minimum prepayment 20%.

The program provides for the right of the customer to fully or
partially repay the debt ahead of time without collection of
commission fees. As of May 31, 2009, Unibank portfolio of car credits
made USD 24.6mln.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

SUMMER BIBLE STUDY WORKSHOPS FOR YOUTH BEGIN IN ANTELIAS

For the second year the Christian Education Department of the Catholicosate
organized with the Armenian University Church Students’ Association (ACUSA),
summer sessions for spiritual reflection and spirituality in the Armenian
Orthodox Church.

The first session was held on Friday 4 July 2009, in Antelias. More than
fifty young women and men registered for the sessions. The theme of the
first workshop was "the parables of Jesus and their implications today",
with a particular emphasis on Youth and spiritual life. The workshops will
be held in Antelias every Friday evening during the summer holidays.

##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the youth
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.

US, RUSSIAN AND FRENCH PRESIDENTS CALL ON AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA TO COMPLETE THE COORDINATION OF BASIC PRINCIPLES

APA
July 10 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku. Victoria Dementyeva – APA. US, Russian and French presidents
issued joint statement on the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict
at the G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy.

OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs informed the Azerbaijani journalists about
the essence of the statement at their press conference in Baku, APA
reports. The statement once again confirmed the co-chair countries’
support to the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in finalizing of
the coordination of the basic principles. The presidents urged the
co-chairs to submit specified new version of the basic principles. They
called on the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenian to resolve the
discords and to complete coordination of the basic principles.

CIS: REEK OF WAR
Yuri Simonjan

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
July 1, 2009 Wednesday
Russia

TENSION IS MOUNTING IN THE RELATIONS BETWEEN NEIGHBORS IN THE
COMMONWEALTH; Tension is mounting all over the Commonwealth.

It will probably be worth it to take a look at the last week horoscope
which must have spelled something like aggressive Mars for the
Commonwealth. Tension mounted all over the Commonwealth last week.

Another quarrel between Moscow and Minsk escalated into a dairy and
gas trade war.

Armenia and Azerbaijan once again blamed each other for the lack of
resolve to settle the matter of Nagorno-Karabakh and proceeded to
fling militant rhetoric at their neighbors. Baku said it was ready
for a military solution to the territorial dispute. Yerevan reiterated
by promising to give it hell if it came to that.

The Georgian media featured numerous pieces on the Russian attack
allegedly being prepared. All these pieces were focused on the Russian
military exercise in the Caucasus. Parallels with the events a year
ago were drawn by Georgian newspapers and TV channels and their
Western analogs. Even the respectable The Times reported another
Russian-Georgian war inevitable.

Tension in Central Asia, a region not known for precipitation, mounted
gradually but mount it did. Everything began with mysterious explosions
in Andijan and Khanabad. The Uzbek authorities ran an investigation,
condemned the explosions as terrorist acts, and set out to reinforce
the state border with Kyrgyzstan claiming that terrorists must have
come from this country.

Bishkek was offended and indignant. At first, Kyrgyzstan made a
statement to the effect that there were not, nor had there ever been
any religious extremists on its territory. Later that week, however,
it began moving the best trained units of the regular army south. No
wonder. A bona fide battle took place in Jalalabad. Some servicemen
of the regular army and five Islamic radicals perished.

Tajikistan’s turn came after that. Forty Salaphites (followers
of a radical school of Islam) with their religious leader were
arrested there. According to what information is available, arrests
in Tajikistan continue. Veterans of the civil war (1992-1997) rally
the youth in hamlets high in the mountains. Last week-end, official
Dushanbe celebrated another anniversary of the signing of the national
peace and consent treaty. The celebration notwithstanding, Tajikistan
and the region in general appear to be in trouble.

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
Website:

PRESS RELEASE

Friday, July 10, 2009

AGBU Armenian Virtual College Launches Inaugural Summer 2009 Term,
Extending AGBU’s Mission in Armenian Education

With great enthusiasm, the AGBU Armenian Virtual College (AVC)
() began enrollment for its inaugural summer term on
June 7, 2009 and, over the course of five days, 382 individuals
registered as students to investigate this emerging institution and take
a sneak peak at its sample lessons. Potential students from 35
countries, including the Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Venezuela, and
Uzbekistan, logged onto the newly launched website.

During the first summer term, sixteen multimedia courses are being
offered by the online college. Most of them quickly filled beyond their
intended capacity. The participants may either be regular students
(eligible for 2 credits per course) or observers (non-credit learners),
and the courses cover Eastern Armenian language for beginners, Western
Armenian language for beginners and Ancient History of Armenia. Classes
are conducted in one of six languages: Western Armenian, Easter
Armenian, English, Russian, French or Spanish.

The first ever virtual classrooms of AVC opened on June 14 and will
conclude on August 7, 2009. Close to 150 enrolled students hailed from
22 countries around the globe. The new virtual classmates, spanning
multiple generations (17 to 82 years of age), accessed their virtual
classrooms from Shanghai to Istanbul, Cordoba to Seattle, Kiev to The
Hague, Amman to Reunion Island. While familiarizing themselves with
their online and offline communication tools during their orientation
week, they were also fully engaged in AVC’s discussion forums, where
they conversed about different aspects of Armenian education and their
personal backgrounds.

Addressing the new learning community, AGBU Central Board Member Yervant
Zorian, the founder and chairman of AVC, stated, "It is great to observe
the tremendous enthusiasm among the AVC learners within their new
classrooms. Thanks to comprehensive support by AGBU, today, we are
witnessing a unique moment in Armenian education." He added, "I am very
pleased to see a dream come true as every single individual around the
globe, if he or she so desires, is now able to obtain Armenian
education, thus fulfilling the AVC motto: Armenian Education Anytime
Anywhere."

"This is a major patriotic project," said Stepan Petrosyan, Deputy
Minister of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia. "Besides its
educational value, it will definitely help preserve the Armenian nation.
Our ministry will do its best to support this colossal and important
endeavor."

AVC is fortunate to have a team of professionally trained online
instructors in Armenia, who help guide their students’ learning
experience and are committed to communicate with them around the clock.
These online instructors supplement the multimedia courses and engage
with their students in all six AVC languages. They support the academic
and social networking aspects of virtual learning.

In addition to weekly lessons, students started accessing multimedia
study tools, assignments, quizzes, course calendars, syllabi, and drop
boxes. Moreover, discussion forums, email and live chat options will
provide students with the opportunities to better connect with their
classmates and to forge friendships with fellow students from across the
globe.

"For the past few years I’ve been searching all over for an Armenian
language course, so you could imagine how excited I was to finally come
across this opportunity," stated Van, a student enrolled in the
Beginners Western Armenian course in English.

"This is a great opportunity for me to learn and revise my Armenian. My
two-year-old daughter is repeating with me all the words," said Karine,
from Montevideo, Uruguay, a student in the Beginners Western Armenian in
Spanish course.

Expressing his appreciation, Samuel stated: "Thank you again for your
existence and for allowing me to utilize and ride this marvelous tool,
which has been made available to the worldwide Armenian diaspora."

"I applaud this program because I will be making a lot of friends in the
cyber community," said Daniel from Cordoba, Argentina, a student in the
Armenian History class.

Registration for the fall 2009 term will begin on Aug. 31 (continuing
until Sept. 14) and will offer double the number of courses that are
currently being offered. In addition to the same course curricula as in
the summer term, the next level (part 2) of these courses will also be
available for the students who completed the first parts during the
summer term. Additionally, the fall term 2009 will offer a new course
set on Introduction to Armenian Architecture Part 1. The nine-week-long
fall courses will begin September 22, 2009.

Initiated in 2004 by AGBU’s Silicon Valley Chapter, and spearheaded by
Yervant Zorian, the technology for AVC has largely been developed in
Armenia with the collaboration of scientists and engineers at Yerevan
State University’s Information Technology Center for Education and
Research.

Zorian was recently honored by the Republic of Armenia’s National
Academy of Sciences and received the distinction of "Foreign Member" as
a result of his achievements in computer engineering and
microelectronics. He is the vice-president and chief scientist of Virage
Logic, an IT company operating both in Armenia and the United States. He
was elected to the AGBU Central Board of Directors last year during the
organization’s 85th General Assembly. He is also a trustee of the
American University of Armenia and the chairman of AGBU Silicon Valley.

Established in 1906, AGBU () is the world’s largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU
preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through
educational, cultural and humanitarian programs, annually touching the
lives of some 400,000 Armenians on six continents.

THE INAUGARATION OF THE NEWLY APPOINTED MEMBER OF CONSTITUTIONAL COURT MANUK TOPUZYAN TOOK PLACE

ARMENPRESS
July 10, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 10, ARMENPRESS: At today’s extraordinary session of
the National Assembly summoned on the government’s proposal, Manuk
Topuzyan’s inauguration took place who has been appointed a member
of the Constitutional Court on the decree of Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan.

"By taking the office of the member of Constitutional Court I swear
to provide the priority of the constitution, to be unbiased, to stay
faithful to the vocation of the member of Constitutional Court", –
M. Topuzyan noted in his inauguration speech. MP-s congratulated the
newly appointed member of the Constitutional Court.

Projects on a number of laws were discussed in the extraordinary
session in a special order. RA laws on making changes in "Public
Education", "Education", "On the increased price tax", "Licensing",
"State Education Inspection" and "State Dues" were adopted in their
third reading.

GUAM OBTAINS FROM UN TO CONSIDER FROZEN CONFLICT ISSUE

Azerbaijan Business Center
08.07.2009 13:02

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. The member states of Organization for Democracy
and Economic Development – GUAM keep on obtaining from the United
Nations to cover the matter of frozen conflicts on their territories.

Agshin Mediyev, Azerbaijan’s representative to the UN, says that
this issue is on agenda of the UN. "Current we are conducting
consultations to establish time for discussion of the situation on
the frozen conflicts in the GUAM countries. We will also continue
policy of dissemination of Armenian-Azerbaijani Garabagh conflict in
the UN. In this issue it is important for us not somebody’s view but
our own national interests," Mehdiyev said. Earlier three documents
were spread in the UN and Azerbaijan stated of lack of grounds for
protest expressed by Armenia on the occasion and disagreement of the
co-chair countries with such decision.

HOVHANNES TUMANIAN’S 140TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY MARKED AT LUYS ARMENIAN CULTURAL CENTER IN ALMATI

NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY
JULY 8, 2009
ALMATI

An event dedicated to Hovhannes Tumanian’s 140th birth anniversary
was held at the Luys Center of the Nairi Armenian Cultural Union in
Almati. During the event the pupils of the local Armenian Sunday
school presented some performances on the subject of Tumanian
tales. The music and dance ensembles of Luys also took part in the
event. Center Chairman Artur Gevorgian gave a thanking speech at the
end of the event. He handed certificates to pupils finishing Armenian
Language courses.

According to A. Gevorgian, Kazakh Armenians are able to preserve
their cultural identity. The Chairman of Luys said that the Ministry
of Diaspora works on firm bases in the Homeland, which supports the
Armenian community of Kazakhstan in any issue.

According to the RA Ministry of Diaspora, the Nairi Armenian Cultural
Union founded in 2004 in Kazakhstan includes 13 cultural centers
functioning in various towns of the country. Armenian Sunday schools,
song and dance ensembles are attached to many of them.

The Armenian diaspora of Kazakhstan is represented at the Congress of
Kazakhstan’s Peoples. Almost all Armenian holidays, commemoration
days, great Armenian figures’ jubilees are marked in country’s
Armenian communities.