Author: Emil Lazarian

SIDA TO HELP ARMENIA IMPLEMENT NEW PROJECT
ArmenPress
Feb 11 2005
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS: The Swedish International Development
Agency (SIDA) has pledged today financial assistance to Armenian
labor and social affairs ministry to implement a new project aimed
at raising the efficiency of regional employment offices.
A relevant agreement was signed today in Yerevan by the Armenian
labor and social affairs ministry and the Swedish National Employment
Department.
Sweden first started providing assistance to Armenia to improve its
employment policy in 1999. The previous project helped to establish a
system for professional rehabilitation of disabled people, to conduct
an analytical study and a organize a training.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BENNY HINN, FAKE HEALER?
by Jojo Robles
Manila Standard, The Phillippines
February 12, 2005
Is American evangelist Benny Hinn a fake faith healer? And if he is,
do we really need any more of his kind?
A Web site () put up and maintained by a man
calling himself Pastor Yves Brault has some interesting comments about
the visiting evangelist, who is currently in Manila for a series of
prayer/healing rallies.
Brault has written a 232-page book called The True Face of Fake Faith
Healers (2000, $ 19.95 at amazon.com), in which he accused Hinn and
other prominent American evangelists of using “mesmerism” to con people
seeking miracle cures for various ailments during their prayer rallies.
Brault claims to be a pastor who gained first-hand knowledge of Hinn’s
brand of fakery when he and his family moved from Montreal, Canada
to Orlando, Florida, where they became members of Hinn’s church. The
author also alleges that Hinn’s methods are popular among American
evangelists such as Kathryn Kuhlman, Aimee Semple McPherson, Morris
Cerullo, Jim Bakker, Rodney-Howard Browne and John Avanzini.
In November 2004, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. ran a story on
Hinn’s ministry in a program called “The Fifth Estate.” According
to the network’s Web site (), Benny Hinn was born Toufik
Benedictus Hinn in the coastal city of Jaffa in Israel in 1952. He was
one of eight children born to an Armenian mother and a Greek father.
According to the program, the Greek Orthodox Hinn family migrated
to Canada, settling in Toronto in 1968. Benny, who by this time was
a young teenager, began attending Georges Vanier high school, north
of Toronto.
At school, Benny befriended a group of religious students who
introduced him to prayer meetings and teaching of the Gospel. Benny
eventually became a Born Again Christian, despite concerns and initial
opposition of his family.
When he was 21, he attended a healing service in Pittsburgh headlined
by evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman. She would become a major influence on
his life, so much so, that he emulates her style to this day.
* * *
Benny Hinn began his healing ministry in Toronto by hosting his own
evangelical program on local television. His success in Canada inspired
him to travel with his healing missions. In Orlando, Florida he met
and married Suzanne, the daughter of a local pastor and it was there
that Benny Hinn began to build his evangelical empire.
Today he is known as Pastor Benny, “one of the best-known and possibly
richest televangelists in the world. Each year he travels the world
conducting so-called miracle healing crusades that are very closely
patterned to a rock concert tour,” the network said.
It also noted that some Christian groups have been critical of Benny
Hinn for misinterpreting scriptures on a number of occasions. The
Apologetics Index, an online resource on religions, says he has been
criticized by a number of Christian watchdog groups for not joining
the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
The council is the leading accreditation agency that helps Christian
ministries earn the public’s trust through adherence to seven standards
of accountability. It has over 1,100 members, including Pat Robertson
and Billy Graham. Benny Hinn refuses to join.
Under US tax laws, the Hinn Ministry is not legally obligated to make
its finances public because it is a religious organization. Benny
Hinn insists that every penny is spent on God’s work.
But The Fifth Estate obtained confidential financial records from
inside the Hinn ministry and quoted a forensic accountant who said
“it would be hard to persuade me that you had to incur that kind of
expense in order to accomplish a business objective.”
The expenses include stays at the prestigious Lanesborough Hotel,
next to Buckingham Palace and frequented by celebrities such as
Madonna and Michael Jackson, and cash tips amounting to $ 5,000 to
the staff of the Savoia Hotel in Milan, Italy.
* * *
In an an e-mail to members of Philippine media recently, Pastor
Brault warned Pinoys about Hinn and his alleged criminal activities.
Brault quoted a letter that he alleged was written to him by another
disenchanted former member of Hinn’s church.
The letter-writer noted that Hinn will be holding his “miracle
crusades” in Manila at the Luneta grandstand on Feb. 11 to 13. “As
an ex-member for two years of Benny’s church, I feel compelled to
inform you of Benny Hinn’s real source of power. Do not be fooled
if you see others who appear to be healed from ailments like back
troubles, heart conditions, even asthma because these are ailments
that mesmerism can also relieve.
“Mesmerism, discovered in the 18th century by Fran Anton Mesmer is
best defined as follows: The capacity of raising the emotional state
of a person or a crowd to an abnormal but controllable intensity.’ It
is also referred to as controlled hysteria.
“Benny has disguised this old hypnotic technique with the religious
term anointing’ and people are duped. In Benny’s crusades, most of
the individuals who falsely believe to be healed have only one goal in
mind, and that is to get on the platform and to be touched by Benny.”
Brault claims that in a crusade in Calgary, Canada, Benny told a
woman she was healed from AIDS. The same woman died of aids a few
weeks after the crusade.
He also related the case of Amanda and Mila Prakash, an Indian couple
who pledged $ 2,000 to Benny Hinn’s ministry after their son Ashnil,
who was terminally ill, was “healed” when the evangelist laid hands
on him in a crusade held in Portland, Oregon. When Ashnil died,
the Prakashes were devastated, Brault claims.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Korean students 2nd in Calif. English proficiency
By Jin Hyun-joo
THE KOREA HERALD
February 12, 2005, Saturday
Korean students finished second behind Chinese counterparts in
an English proficiency test among 1.3 million foreign students in
California State, a report by U.S. education authorities said.
In the 2004 test known as CELDT, or California English Development
Test, Korean students had 63 percent in the top and second top brackets
among five levels of English proficiency. Chinese students had 64
percent. Armenian students ranked third and Russian and Vietnamese
fourth and fifth. The CELDT assesses listening and speaking skills
for kindergarten and first grade, and listening, speaking, reading and
writing skills for grades two through 12. The state requires English
learners to take an English proficiency test annually until they are
reclassified to being fluent English proficient.
California has the greatest number of students whose primary language
is not English, according to a report by the education department.
The average score of English learners has increased by 22 percent in
four years – from 25 percent in 2001 to 47 percent in 2004.
“These results are a clear indication that statewide efforts to
help all students learn English as quickly as possible are working,”
said Jack O’Connell, the state’s superintendent of public instruction.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TIME FOR REVOLUTION
A1+
10 Feb 05
Today New Times party leader, former ARFD member Aram Karapetyan
invited journalists to declare about his intention start a “revolution
from below” in April. Several months earlier he warned the authorities
that if they do not make serious system changes, he will launch a
popular revolution. “No changes took place, while the removal of some
ministers from office was a mere imitation”, he said.
Karapetyan warned that the April revolution will be peaceful, like the
one that forced Levon Ter-Petrosyan to resign. He also said that he
has already informed the police chiefs that thorny hedge and budget
funds will prove useless. “By the way, when we for the first time
announced that we are going to start a popular revolution, worried
statements appeared in the newspapers supported by the forces,
which seized power in 1998 by means of military and violence”.
When answering the question â~@~for what reasons Aram Karapetyan is
better than Stepan Demirchyan or Artashes Geghamyan, who failed to
seize power last April, he said, â~@~Situation was different then. Our
people did not see the outcomes of the developments in the CISâ~@~]
(the matter concerns latest developments in Ukraine)and added that the
Armenian revolution will not have a color. â~@~The most important
thing is that we are not going to use force, we will just take the
power with the help of the massâ~@~].
As for the Karabakh issue, Karapetyanâ~@~Ys approaches do not differ
from the leadershipâ~@~Ys position. He just states that the authorities
do not have precise policy, they do not have a strong state and do not
enjoy the peopleâ~@~Ys support. Aram Karapetyan stated he is sure of
victory. â~@~If we do not win, we will be imprisonedâ~@~], he resumed.
–Boundary_(ID_xJZjbIxW2BNIlIJJfykxZQ)–

Nagornyy Karabakh Deputy Foreign Minister dismisses PACE resolution on Karabakh as “entirely negative”
Mediamax news agency
10 Feb 05
Yerevan, 10 February: The authorities of Nagornyy Karabakh think that
the PACE [Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe] resolution
adopted after David Atkinson’s [ PACE rapporteur on Nagornyy Karabakh]
report is “entirely negative”.
This was announced by Nagornyy Karabakh Deputy Foreign Minister Masis
Mailyan in reply to questions from MPs of the National Assembly of
the republic during the “parliamentary hour” at a plenary session of
parliament, Mediamax news agency reported.
Mailyan said that the emergence of the resolution became possible
because Karabakh deputies had not been invited to the PACE hearing
on the Nagornyy Karabakh problem in January.
Speaking about the Karabakh settlement process, Masis Mailyan stressed
that the current format of negotiations in which only Armenia and
Azerbaijan are taking part, does not fully reflect the real situation.
The NKR deputy foreign minister reconfirmed Stepanakert’s [Xankandi]
position, according to which it is impossible to resolve the problem
without the participation of Nagornyy Karabakh in the negotiations
and without taking into account the opinion of its people.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Assa-Irada
Feb 10 2005
Turkish speaker says Russia may play major role in conflict
settlement
Baku, February 9, AssA-Irada
Ankara is interested in developing relations with neighboring states,
Turkish parliament speaker, Bulent Arinc, told a news conference
prior to leaving Baku on Wednesday. The strengthening of Azerbaijan,
a Turkic nation, is a result of the proper policy pursued by its
government, he said.
Speaking of Armenia’s policy of aggression, Arinc said that this
country, which is adhering to a non-constructive stance, is not
interested in the conflict resolution. He added that with the
developing Turkey-Russia relations, Kremlin may play a major role in
settling the conflict in the future.*
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
Feb 9 2005
ROSOBORONEXPORT” LIMITS DELIVERY OF ARMS TO HOT POINTS OF THE WORLD
[February 09, 2005, 22:30:52]
On February 9, press conference of the General Director of the
Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Rosoboronexport” Sergey Chemezov
who has told about activity of this enterprise has taken place in
Moscow and has shared plans for the future.
S. Chemezov informed that volumes of export of arms last year have
reached a record point. As he said, the geography of deliveries has
extended also – the arms went to 59 countries of the world. The basic
partners of this organization are India and China. Volume of
deliveries to these countries makes about 80 percent. S. Chemezov has
noted, that basically are demanded and is competitive the aviation
techniques: Russian SU, MIG, helicopter techniques. S. Chemezov has
emphasized that last year demand was for techniques of air forces,
and currently – on techniques for Navy.
Answering the question of correspondent of AzerTAj, Mr. Chemezov
said: “As in regard to Azerbaijan and Armenia there is not present
any sanctions on the part of the international community, that,
naturally, we, can sell arms, both to Armenia and Azerbaijan. Here,
any restrictions in this plan are not present. As to the members of
Collective Treaty, we have agreement that in these countries we sell
arms on the in-Russian prices, on the prices on which we sell it to
the Ministry of Defense of Russia, and it is sold actually without
the profit. As to other CIS countries, for them too there are certain
privileges, and we work, we sell arms, including arms on the NATO
standards”.
Head of “Rosoboronexport” also informed journalists that according to
the decision of the international organizations, this department
limits sale of arms in the “hot points” of world.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Tigran Mansurian Nominated for Grammy Award in Classical Contemporary Composition
Arts & Entertainment
The Philadelphia Inquirer
February 7, 2005
Grammy Nominations
Category: Classical Contemporary Composition
Nominees:
– “Adams: on the Transmigration of Souls,” John Adams (Lorin Maazel;
Brooklyn Youth Chorus and New York Choral Artists; New York Philharmonic);
– “Higdon: Concerto for Orchestra,” Jennifer Higdon (Robert Spano;
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra);
– “Mansurian: ‘… And Then I Was in Time Again’,” Tigran Mansurian (Kim
Kashkashian, viola; Christoph Poppen; Munich Chamber Orchestra);
– “Previn: Violin Concerto ‘Anne-Sophie’,” Andre Previn (Anne-Sophie
Mutter, violin; Andre Previn; Boston Symphony Orchestra);
– “Silvestrov: Requiem for Larissa,” Valentin Silvestrov (Volodymyr
Sirenko; Yevhen Savchuk; National Choir of Ukraine “Dumka”; National
Symphony Orchestra Of Ukraine).

NKR FM COMMENTS ON THE CRITICAL MATERIALS ADDRESSED TO NKR
FOREIGN MINISTRY PUBLISHED IN LOCAL PUBLIC NEWSPAPER “DEMO”
STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 7. ARMINFO. said NKR Foreign Minister Arman Melikyan
commenting on the critical materials addressed to NKR Foreign Ministry
published in the local public newspaper “Demo.”
According to ARMINFO’s special correspondent to Stepanakert, the
minister gave a high assessment of the existence of publications able
to present various, including opposition, views. He called part of
the material corresponding to reality and the other part groundless.
Appointed to the post of Foreign Minister two months ago, Arman
Melikyan considers that the work of NKR Foreign Ministry needs serious
coordination. He said that there were programs to be elaborated within
the year and the public would be informed of the results. He said that
a number of employees would get an opportunity to undergo practical
courses abroad. the minister said.
In response to the question about frequent visit of NKR Foreign
Minister to Yerevan, Arman Melikyan said that his residence was in
Stepanakert, but he was to “stay in Yerevan and other places” for
some current tasks.

Dunya, Turkey
Feb 8 2005
Arýnc visits Azerbaijan
08/02/2005 13:50:39
Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc who is currently visiting Azerbaijan,
yesterday met with his Azeri counterpart Murtuz Aleskerov as well as
President Ilham Aliyev.
During their talks, Arinc lamented that 20% of Azeri territory is
under Armenian occupation. Noting how the United Nations had
officially called on Armenia to end this illegal land seizure, Arinc
said, “However, Armenian officials have stubbornly resisted these
calls.”
–Boundary_(ID_D48xocFxakoK1Z4X5FEbhQ)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress