Author: Felekian Ara

THE ARMENIAN NATIONAL LEAGUE IS 58TH IN IFFHS RATING

armradio.am
09.01.2008 12:07

With 288 points Armenia ranks 58th among 80 countries in the
latest world ranking of the strongest national leagues issued
by the International Federation of Football History (IFFHS) and
Statistics. England leads with 1 171 points. Spain comes second with
1 074 points, Italy is the third with 1 027 points.

The world ranking of the strongest national leagues has been
determined annually since 1991 by the IFFHS on the base of all national
(championship, FA cup) and (inter)continental results of the clubs.

TURKEY TO SEND FREE SPEECH REFORM TO PARLIAMENT

Assyrian International News Agency
Jan 7 2008

Turkey’s government will send to parliament this week changes to a law
restricting freedom of speech which is seen as a key obstacle to its
bid to join the European Union, the justice minister said on Monday.

Ankara faces intense pressure from the EU to amend or scrap article
301 of the penal code which makes it a crime to insult "Turkishness"
and which has been used to prosecute leading Turkish writers.

Turkish officials said last month Turkey would only reform the law
once the EU allows its stalled membership talks to resume. Ankara
is frustrated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s efforts to block
the negotiation process.

"The change in article 301 will be discussed in the cabinet today
and will be presented to parliament as a proposal this week," Justice
Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin told a news conference.

The government has been considering various reform proposals aimed
at easing freedom of expression restrictions, but the specifics of
the reform have not been unveiled.

Article 301 has been used to prosecute Turkish writers and thinkers,
notably for comments on the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 under
the Ottoman Empire.

Two years ago Turkey tried Nobel literature laureate Orhan Pamuk
under article 301 for his remarks on the events of 1915-16, but he
was acquitted on a legal technicality.

The European Commission’s annual progress report on Turkey, published
in November, called on Ankara to make "significant further efforts"
on freedom of expression and religion.

Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has recommended that the EU not
extend accession talks to the key areas of justice and human rights
until the article is changed.

TURKISH GOVERNMENT TO DISCUSS AMENDING LAW CURBING FREE SPEECH

International Herald Tribune
The Associated Press
Jan 7 2008
France

ANKARA, Turkey: Turkey’s government will resume discussions Monday on
a proposal to soften a much-criticized law that inhibits free speech,
the justice minister said, in a bid to remove a major stumbling block
to the country’s hopes of joining the EU.

Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin would not give details on the
proposed change to the law, but said it was likely to be voted on in
parliament later this week.

Turkey’s penal code makes denigrating "Turkishness" or insulting the
country’s institutions a crime punishable by up to three years in
prison. The EU has said the law falls short of the bloc’s standards on
free speech and has warned it threatens to further slowdown accession
talks with Turkey.

Under the proposed amendment, the Justice Ministry’s permission would
be required for prosecutors to launch investigations into possible
violations of the article, according to Turkish news reports. The
term "Turkishness" would be replaced with "Turkish nation," the
reports said.

Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk was among the highest profile Turks to be
prosecuted under the law, when he commented on the mass killings of
Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century.

Up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the
time of World War I, which many genocide scholars consider the first
genocide of the 20th century.

Turkey contends the death toll has been inflated and the killings were
the result of civil unrest, not genocide. The case against Pamuk was
dropped over a technicality.

Other writers, journalists and academics have also been prosecuted
under the law.

Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian journalist who was the editor of
the minority Agos newspaper, was shot outside his Istanbul office
last year, following his prosecution for comments he made about the
killings of Armenians. His murder revived a debate about the law, and
many said his prosecution made him a target for radical nationalists.

In a report released in November, the EU called on Turkey to make
progress on freedom of expression.

Turkey began EU accession talks in 2005 but the negotiations were
partially suspended last year after Ankara refused to open its ports
and airports to traffic from EU-member Cyprus.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Base principles on Karabakh may be ready in January 2008
27.12.2007 15:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The international mediators can
develop a draft on the Nagorno Karabakh peaceful
agreement before the presidential elections in
Armenia, if both the sides agree upon the basic
principles of conflict resolution, OSCE MG Russian
Co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov said.

The mediators submitted written proposals to
Azerbaijan and Armenia during the meeting in Madrid in
the end of November. Due to the confidentiality of the
process, no details were announced on the issue.

`The proposals offer nothing new’, said Merzlyakov.

The Russian mediator stated that the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs hope to get reaction of both sides during
their visit to the region in the middle of January.
`In Madrid, the Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign
Ministers presented their opinions. But the sides are
studying the proposals,’ Merzlyakov said.

He did not exclude that the Presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan may meet after the Co-chairs’ visit to the
region. The co-chairs are also planning to visit
Nagorno Karabakh, Trend reports.

Panorama.am

16:32 27/12/2007

ARMENIAN POLICE: ”EX PRESIDENT’S ATTEMPTS TO ATTRACT
THE POLICE INTO POLITICAL GAMES ARE DANGEROUS”

”The ”facts” about the police announced by Levon
Ter-Petrosyan are completely fake,” Armenian police
made this statement. The statement refutes information
released by the ex president saying that ”thousands
of his sympathizers” are called to the police and
exerted to pressures for participating in the rallies.
The police also say Levon Ter Petrosyan’s statement
that ”the authorities have released many criminals
before their end of sentence who will compensate this
gift in the upcoming elections with respective
services” is malicious.

”Ter-Petrosyan speaks about the ”tax terror and
court cases” against SIL Group and GALA TV company,”
the statement says. ”If we believe that he is really
sorry about the effectiveness of business and freedom
of mass media, we would suggest him to clarify how
many millions the company and the TV station have
failed to pay in taxes,” the police statement
continues.

The police suggest Levon Ter-Petrosyan be guided by
facts and call his tactics of distorting facts as a
dangerous strategy.

Source: Panorama.am

PanARMENIAN.Net

U.S. President maintains Armenia and Azerbaijan
military aid parity
28.12.2007 14:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ U.S. President George Bush signed
the fiscal year (FY) 2008 overall appropriations
package this week, known as the omnibus bill, which
included $58.5 million in economic assistance for
Armenia and maintained Armenia and Azerbaijan military
aid parity, reported the Armenian National Committee
of America (ANCA.)

The Armenia economic aid figures are $17.5 million
less than the FY 2007 figures but represent a clear
increase over the Administration’s request of $35
million. Congress also approved $3 million in foreign
military financing (FMF) assistance to Armenia and
Azerbaijan, reversing the Administration’s latest bid
to retreat from its 2001 pledge to maintain parity in
military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"We are troubled by the reductions in aid to Armenia
and Nagorno Karabakh, particularly in light on the
ongoing economic costs of the Turkish and Azerbaijani
blockades, as well as Baku’s increasingly violent
rhetoric about restarting its war against the
Armenians," said ANCA Executive Director Aram
Hamparian. "We thank all of our friends in the
Congressional appropriations process who, working
against significant competing budgetary pressures –
were able to deliver figures higher than the
President’s request, and also to maintain military aid
parity."

In addition to the Armenia allocation, the omnibus aid
bill also includes $50.5 million for Georgia and $19
million for Azerbaijan. Millennium Challenge Account
funding is set for $1.5 billion, half of President
Bush’s request.

The final compromise aid legislation does not
stipulate a specific amount of aid to Karabakh, urging
the State Department to be guided instead by the
individual Senate and House recommendations adopted
earlier this year, one of which did allocate $6
million in aid to Karabakh.

ARMENPRESS

NEW IRAN’S AMBASSADOR TO ARRIVE IN EARLY JANUARY

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS: The new Iranian
ambassador to Armenia will arrive in Yerevan early
next month, the Iranian embassy told Armenpress.
An official of the embassy said the new ambassador
is Seyedali Saghyan, who will replace the outgoing
ambassador Alireza Haghighyan.
Armenia and Iran are closely cooperating in such
issues as energy, education, culture and economy.

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION GROWS BY 2.7% IN ARMENIA IN JANUARY-NOVEMBER 2007
ON SAME PERIOD OF LAST YEAR

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 28, NOYAN TAPAN. In January-November 2007, industrial
production of 644 bln 815.6 mln drams (over 1 bln 865.3 mln USD) was
made in current prices in Armenia. Production of 664 bln 519.8 mln
drams was sold, including sales of 70 bln drams in CIS countries and
sales of 162 bln 495.6 mln drams in other countries.

According to the RA National Statistical Service, the industrial
production index made 102.7% as compared with January-November 2006,
while the same index without production and distribution of
electricity, water and gas made 101.7%.

KNBC.com, CA
Dec 28 2007

Funeral Held For Northridge Teen Who Needed Liver Transplant

POSTED: 7:03 am PST December 28, 2007
UPDATED: 1:58 pm PST December 28, 2007

LOS ANGELES — More than 200 people, including members of an Armenian
motorcycle club, gathered in Glendale Friday to pay final tribute to
a Northridge teen who died after her insurance company delayed
approving a liver transplant operation for her.

Nataline Sarkisyan died Dec. 20 after being pulled off life support
at UCLA Medical Center. She had been suffering from a recurrence of
leukemia, and her doctors had recommended a liver transplant.

Cigna Healthcare initially said it would not pay for the operation
because its experts determined it would not have been "effective or
appropriate."

Friends and relatives — most wearing pink ribbons, armbands or
scarves – – filed into St. Mary’s Armenian Apostolic Church today for
Sarkisyan’s funeral.

Family members said UCLA had a liver available for transplant, but
doctors would not perform the procedure because of Cigna’s refusal to
cover it.

Her family plans to sue Cigna, and their attorney, Mark Geragos, said
he will push for criminal charges against the company, alleging the
insurer twice took Nataline off the liver transplant list and
purposely waited until she was near death to approve the transplant
because the company didn’t want to pay for the procedure and her
after-care.

The girl’s plight made headlines around the world, and a member of
the California Nurses Association said the union will try to use
Nataline’s story to shine a light on problems with the American
health care system.

Nataline was diagnosed with leukemia at age 14. After two years of
treatment the cancer went into remission but came back this summer.

When doctors said Nataline could use a bone-marrow transplant, the
Sarkisyans discovered that her brother was a match, and he donated
his bone marrow the day before Thanksgiving.

However, Nataline developed a complication from the bone-marrow
transplant and, because her liver was failing, doctors recommended a
transplant, saying she had a 65 percent chance of living for at least
six months.

Cigna initially refused to fund the procedure, but reversed itself
after its decision drew protests and negative publicity. However, by
then the girl was too sick and she died hours later.

ARMENIA CAN LAUNCH URANIUM OUTPUT WITHIN 2-5 YEARS

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.12.2007 14:47 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia can launch uranium output within 2-5 years,
said RA Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan.

At the best, Armenian and Russian experts will accomplish the essential
research during a year.

Preparations for the output may take from 1 to 5 years, according to
him. "Uranium enrichment in Armenia is expedient from the economic
standpoint, since there are no major commercial pools in the republic,"
the Minister said, Rosatom.ru reports.

Last month Armenia decided to join the Russia-Kazakhstan agreement on
establishment of an international center for enrichment of uranium in
Angarsk (Irkutsk region of Russia). Presently, the terms of geological
prospecting are being determined.

According to preliminary data, uranium resources in Armenia total
no less than 30 thousand tons. Rosatom specialists suppose that the
figure can double.