Author: Emil Lazarian

YOUNG SCIENTISTS SEEK WAYS TO PREDICT NATURAL CALAMITIES
by Leonid Vinogradov

ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 14, 2006 Wednesday 05:33 PM EST

Natural calamities that occurred on Sakhalin and Kuril islands will
be the main subject for discussion at an international conference
of young scientists from Russia, Japan, China, Bulgaria, Iran, and
Armenia. The forum is to be held here from June 15 to 20.

The press service of the Sakhalin-based Institute of Marine Geology
and Geophysics has announced that about 60 scholars will make reports
at the conference. Russia will be represented by scientists from
Vladivostok, Magadan, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, and
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Those present will endeavour to work out a system to predict
earthquakes, tsunami oceanic waves, and snow avalanches on the strength
of the study of the natural calamities that occurred on Sakhalin and
the Kuriles.

The 1952 tsunami was the Kuriles’ most terrible natural calamity
that devastated the town of Severo-Kurilsk on Paramushir Island. The
oceanic wave that was 15-18 metres high claimed a toll of more than
2,000 human lives. The 1995 earthquake on Sakhalin made havoc of
Neftegorsk township, killing more than 2,000 inhabitants.

PETER SEMNEBY: "EU ACTION PLANS FOR CAUCASUS FEW MONTHS AWAY"

Today, Azerbaijan
June 15 2006

The EU special representative for the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby,
told on Wednesday that European Neighborhood Policy Action Plans
with Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan will be signed "in a couple of
months’ time."

Semneby told RFE/RL that minor issues remain with Georgia, while
talks with Armenia are also "advanced." However, he indicated the
negotiations with Azerbaijan are more difficult.

The EU’s high representative for common foreign and security policy,
Javier Solana, indicated after meeting Georgian Prime Minister Zurab
Noghaideli on Wednesday for the first time that some countries could
be left behind.

"Of course we would like, as much as possible, to have the relationship
with the three countries as close as possible, as joint as possible,"
Solana said. "But as you know also very well, the Neighborhood
Policy has an element which is important in itself, which is [that it
contains] tailor-made action plans [specific] to the needs of every
country. Not every country is equal, not every country moves at the
same speed, but in general terms if we can do it together [that]
will be better. But the slowing [down] of one will not affect others."

Semneby confirmed that there are differences between the EU and
Azerbaijan on how to address the Nagorno Karabakh issue. However,
he said he is "quite confident" the differences can be overcome soon.

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AFTER SEIZURES, COUPLE HAD $2.54 IN CIBC
By Paul Delean, The Gazette

The Gazette (Montreal)
June 15, 2006 Thursday
Final Edition

Retired businessman Haroutioun Markarian was on the road to
Plattsburgh, N.Y., yesterday, when he heard from his lawyer that he’d
won big in his lawsuit against CIBC World Markets.

"I was confident the wrongdoer would be punished, and the Canadian
justice system did not let me down," said Markarian, 73.

He had $300 to his name when he brought his young family to Canada
from Egypt in 1962. A machine shop that he built "from nothing"
was their ticket to a better life.

By 1993, when he retired and sold his share of the business to his
employees, he and wife, Alice, had assets in the millions.

About $1.4 million was placed with CIBC Wood Gundy. After the brokerage
seized and liquidated their holdings to pay off the trading losses
of people they didn’t know, they had all of $2.54 left at the CIBC.

The Markarians had been clients of Harry Migirdic, a Wood Gundy
broker who misled them about the documents they were signing, since
the mid-1980s. Like them, he was an active member of Montreal’s
Armenian community.

"I had faith in him," Markarian, 73, testified in Superior Court. "I
felt fortunate to be served by a company vice-president."

Markarian said he never would have signed guarantees for the trading
losses of strangers.

"Why would I risk the family fortune for people I don’t know?"

Though they still had substantial sums at other institutions, the
couple said the CIBC seizure took a toll.

"We had established a certain standard of living," Markarian said.

"It was cut in half."

Alice Markarian, 68, testified the events had a profound effect on
her husband.

"He didn’t want to go to Armenian functions," she said. "He didn’t
want to face people who wanted to talk about (what happened). He felt
humiliated personally."

Son Arek, 38, said his father "was a respected man, a founding member
of the Armenian community, one of the builders. It was a tremendous
blow to his ego, his self-esteem. … Losing half what you worked
your life for, in one afternoon, at his age – it changed him."

Markarian was thrilled by yesterday’s decision, but the ordeal has
shaken his confidence in Canada’s financial institutions.

"I’m very vigilant now. I don’t trust anyone. Financial institutions
are out for themselves. That’s why investors have to watch their
accounts very closely."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LAST ARMENIAN OF TURKISH KONYA LAID TO REST

Armenpress
Jun 14 2006

YEREVAN, JUNE 14, ARMENPRESS: The last Armenian resident of the
Turkish city of Konya, Grigor Ozararat, was laid to rest recently,
the Turkish daily Hurriyet reported.

It said his relations and friends from Canada and France came to bid
their last farewell to him. Among them was Samson Ozararat, who is
known for his efforts to prompt normalization of Turkish-Armenian
relations.

Hurriyet said Ali Tuygan, an aide to Turkish foreign minister, sent
a wreath. Grigor Ozararat was buried in the Armenian cemetery in Konya.

RUSSIAN DM CONCERNED BY GEORGIA’S RECORD HIGH INCREASE OF ARMS SPENDING

Armenpress
Jun 14 2006

ST. PETERSBURG, JUNE 14, ARMENPRESS: Russia’s defense minister said
Tuesday he was concerned over large purchases of weapons by Georgia
in Eastern Europe.

"It is alarming that in the last year or two Georgia has been buying
great amounts of Soviet armaments from East European countries,"
Sergey Ivanov told journalists. "I don’t know Georgia’s military
budget, but this very fact causes unquestionable concern," he said.

But Ivanov said the increase in Georgia’s military spending did not
mean that Tbilisi had decided to resolve the problem with its breakaway
South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions by military means. The Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in its latest
yearbook that the biggest increase worldwide was in the ex-Soviet state
of Georgia, which surged by more than 140 percent to $146 million.

Armenia increased arms spending nearly 23 percent, while Georgia
increased its military budget 143 percent and Azerbaijan 51
percent. The institute said that the official explanation for Georgia’s
large rise in spending was a wish to join NATO, while others argued
that Tbilisi wanted to regain control over the renegade regions of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Several states, including Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Algeria and Russia,
have used a sharp rise in oil prices to boost military spending,
it said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LORD OF THE BLING
Rick Westhead – Business Reporter

Toronto Star, Canada
June 15 2006

When the siren sounds on the Stanley Cup final, another less publicized
annual hockey skirmish will be picking up steam: the fight between
jewellery companies to make championship rings for the winners.

Making rings for pro sports teams is a long-standing ritual that has
become big business.

In 1893, the Montreal AAAs awarded each of its seven players a plain
gold ring inscribed with crossed hockey sticks after the team claimed
the inaugural Stanley Cup.

Fast forward a century and times have certainly changed.

When the Tampa Bay Lightning won the NHL title in 2003-’04, the team
ordered gold rings that featured 138 diamonds apiece, including a
host of rare blue diamonds – sent to Israel to be "radiated" to give
them their unusual hue – making up the Stanley Cup on each ring.

Nowadays, pro sports teams are buying championship rings that are
sometimes appraised for as much as $30,000, which means orders can
run well into the millions of dollars.

In a twist fitting for the sports industry, where most everyone loves
an underdog, an upstart Calgary company called Intergold Ltd. is fast
becoming a force in the niche business.

Founded by 51-year-old Miran Armutlu, who moved to Canada with his
family from Armenia when he was a child, Intergold has become the NHL
ring-maker of choice in an industry that for decades was dominated
by larger American firms such as Jostens, a Minnesota company that
also produces high school and college yearbooks.

Intergold has created rings for the past three Stanley Cup winners,
including the Lightning.

It won’t be long after the Stanley Cup is presented to this year’s
winner that Armutlu’s company and its rivals will start their sales
pitch.

"They’re pretty aggressive," Lightning president Ronald Campbell
said. "I might have had messages from them on my voice mail even
before Game 7."

The Lightning, which beat the Calgary Flames in seven games to claim
the franchise’s first Stanley Cup, hired Intergold because of positive
reviews from its customers and because the jewellery concern was
willing to produce more than a dozen ring prototypes for the team. NHL
teams can give out the rings to anyone, and some clubs have awarded
toned-down versions of championship rings to scouts, arena staff,
retired players and even long-time season-ticket holders. (Not all
Stanley Cup winners have awarded rings to players. The Montreal AAAs
handed out watches after its second Cup win, and the 1915 Stanley
Cup recipients, the Vancouver Millionaires, gave players medallions,
Hockey Digest magazine reported.)

To be sure, some players and team executives are willing to part
with their rings for a price. An unnamed former member of the Boston
Bruins recently listed for sale on eBay his championship ring from
the 1972 season, when Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito guided the team to
a win over the New York Rangers. The asking price: $13,500 (U.S.)

"There is so much hard work that goes into getting these rings that
you hate to hear about situations like that," Campbell said. "I’d
never consider selling my ring. But everybody has their challenges.

Every day you hear about a tough-luck story."

Still, while most recipients probably wouldn’t sell their rings,
that doesn’t mean everyone is enamoured of them.

Detroit Red Wings defenceman Chris Chelios has two Cup rings – one he
received as a member of the Red Wings and the other with the Montreal
Canadiens – but he doesn’t wear either. Chelios said he gave both to
his father, Kostaf, a retired Chicago restaurateur.

"They’ve gotten pretty gaudy," Chelios said. "They’re so heavy that
it’s almost impractical to wear them. But it’s not like anyone’s
going to say they don’t want them."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TEYMOURIAN IS FIRST NON-MUSLIM PLAYER ON IRAN SINCE ’78

AP
Persian Journal, Iran
June 15 2006

Many soccer players have a habit of routinely crossing themselves as
they emerge onto the field for a World Cup match.

But Anderanik Teymourian is different.

His simple gesture has amazed television viewers around the world
because Teymourian plays on the national team of Iran, one of most
thoroughly Islamic nations in the world.

Teymourian is a member of Iran’s tiny Armenian minority, part of
an Orthodox Christian presence dating back to biblical times. About
200,000 Armenians currently live in Iran, mostly in Tehran and other
towns of the northwest.

Although Iran is an Islamic theocratic state, Christianity and other
non-Muslim religions are not banned as in other strictly fundamentalist
states such as Saudi Arabia.

"I’m the first Christian Iranian player in the World Cup since 1978,"
Teymourian said.

The last non-Muslim player on the national team was defender Andranik
Eskandarian in 1978. He now lives in the United States.

The gangly, 22-year old midfielder, who is seen as one of the great
hopes of Iranian soccer, plays for the Aboo Muslim club from Tehran.

He also has played for Iran at every youth level so far before being
drafted to the national squad by coach Branko Ivankovic.

"He is a wonderful player. Very serious, very committed, I can rely
on him to fulfill any task," Ivankovic said. "He will definitely play
a big role on the national team for many years to come."

Teymourian says he gets along very well with his teammates, and that
religious differences don’t affect their relations on the field or
on a personal level.

"I am very happy that as a Christian I am playing for a Muslim team,"
he said. "I will put all my abilities at the disposal of the nation
and the team."

He said that normally he regularly attends church in Tehran.

"But it’s been impossible to get out of the camp in Germany because
of security, so I haven’t been able to do so here."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER REAFFIRMS YEREVAN WISH TO JOIN EU

ITAR-TASS, Russia
June 14 2006

YEREVAN, June 13 (Itar-Tass) — Armenian Parliament Speaker Tigran
Torosian reaffirmed the wish of Yerevan to become a European Union
member on Tuesday.

"The accession to the European Union is a foreign political priority
of Armenia," he said at a meeting with a delegation of the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly. "As for NATO, Armenia has not declared its
wish to become a member of the alliance. Some EU member countries
are not affiliated to NATO, and this is absolutely normal," he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AT THE NA SITTING

National Assembly of RA, Armenia
June 14 2006

On June 12 the MPs approved by voting the agenda of June 12-14 sittings
and the NA decision on making amendments to the sittings’ agenda.

The drafts presented by the "Ardarutiun" faction on the establishment
of the NA Ad-hoc Committee on Studying the Violations during the
Referendum on November 27, 2005 on the RA Constitutional Amendments and
on Establsihment of the NA Ad-hoc Committee on Studying the Violations
during the RA State Elections in 2003 were rejected by voting.

Due to a lack of quorum, the session drafts and sitting agenda drafts
included in the first part were not adopted.

The MPs continued the debates on Report of the RA Civil Service
Council Activity, interrupted at previous sitting.

Rafik Petrosyan, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on State-Legal
Affairs, highly evaluating the work of the Council, noted that though
the Council’s fundamental rights are fixed in the Fundamental Law
related to Civil Service, the Council didn’t enforce it and didn’t
present the analytical report.

The RA President’s proposals submitted by the RA President Assistant
Gevorg Mheryan on Making Amendments and Addendum to the RA Criminal
Executive Code and on Making Amendment to the RA Criminal Procedure
Code were also debated.

Rafik Petrosyan, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on State-Legal
Affairs informed that the misunderstanding took place: instead of
the option, debated and voted in the Parliament, on the fault of the
Government representative the previous option of the draft was sent
to the President. According to the evaluation of Gurgen Arsenyan,
Head of ULP faction, it is not misunderstanding, but the falsification
took place. Mr. Arsenyan blamed their faction as well, as political
power assumed over a political responsibility.

The NA President T. Torosyan informed that the assignment had already
been given to the staff: to create mechanisms to avoid similar
situations, which afterwards must be fixed in the regulation.

The MPs debated Agreement on International Automobile Communication
signed between the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the
Government of the Republic of Georgia.

All speakers highlighted the presented Agreement not only in the
sphere of strengthening of good-neighborliness with Georgia, but from
the economic and political point.

Tigran Sargsyan, Chairman of the Central Bank, presented the RA
Central Bank 2005 Annual report.

The debate of this issue will resume on June 13 sitting.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

KENYAN PRESIDENT LAUNCHES INQUIRY INTO AIRPORT SECURITY BREACH

Airline Industry Information
June 14, 2006

Airline Industry Information-©1997-2006 M2 Communications LTD

Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki has launched an inquiry into a security
breach at the country’s main airport last week.

The investigation was reportedly launched a day after the president
suspended the country’s chief police investigator due to the crisis.

The inquiry follows reports in Kenyan media of a man possessing a
government-issued all-access pass to the airport who refused to allow
a search of a bag that belonged to either him or his associate.

According to The Associated Press, the man is said to have pulled a
pistol on customs authorities and left the airport with the bag. The
two men, who had been identified by Kenyan media as Armenian brothers
who were hired as mercenaries by the government, were detained and
deported the following day.

–Boundary_(ID_uzwZU3xER8osGM1CmRnkIw)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress