Author: Hambardsumian Paul

NA CHAIRMAN RECEIVES CONGRATULATION FROM HIS SLOVAK COUNTERPART

armradio.am
06.11.2008 17:37

President of the National Council of the Republic of Slovakia Pavol
Paška congratulated Hovik Abrahamyan on his election to the post of
President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia.

Extending congratulations on behalf of the Deputies of the Slovak
Parliament and himself, Mr. Paška expressed confidence that the
friendly relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic
of Slovakia will continue successfully developing, facilitating the
dialogue between the two countries and parliaments.

The president of eth Slovak Parliament expressed confidence that the
bilateral cooperation based on historic ties will contribute to the
successful development of relations.

–Boundary_(ID_ylrrM63NZ0amlSRGyp0fdA) —

FRENCH MFA: EU WELCOMES MOSCOW DECLARATION ON KARABAKH

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.11.2008 18:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The EU leadership welcomes the declaration on Nagorno
Karabakh signed by the Presidents of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan.

As the French Foreign Ministry told PanARMENIAN.Net, "this declaration
is a positive step which will alleviate tensions and facilitate
establishment of stability in the Caucasus."

The determination to continue the peace process on the basis of
Madrid principles will help a fair agreement via peaceful talks,
the French MFA said.

During the November 2 meeting, the Presidents Dmitry Medvedev of
Russia, Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan
pledged to intensify negotiations to end the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

The declaration envisages resolution of the conflict on the basis of
principles and norms of the international law as well as agreements
and documents concluded in this framework.

"The presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia decided to continue their
work – including at further high-profile talks – to agree on a
political settlement to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict," Medvedev
said. "They instructed their foreign ministers to activate the
negotiation process, in collaboration with the co-chairs of the OSCE’s
Minsk Group."

PRESIDENTS OF AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA AND RUSSIA SIGN DECLARATION ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH

ISRIA
Nov 3
DC

On November 2, following their trilateral meeting at the Russian
leader`s Mayendorf residence in Moscow, Presidents Ilham Aliyev of
Azerbaijan, Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia and Dmitry Medvedev of Russia
signed a joint Declaration on Nagorno-Karabakh.

President Dmitry Medvedev acquainted journalists with the text of
the Declaration.

The document says: "We have discussed – in an atmosphere of
constructiveness – comprehensively and in detail the state and
prospects of settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through political
means and through continuing a direct dialogue between Azerbaijan
and Armenia mediated by Russia, the USA and France in the capacity
of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group."

The Presidents "declare that they will contribute to improving the
situation in the South Caucasus and ensuring stability and security
in the region through finding – on the basis of the principles
and norms of the international law as well as the resolutions and
documents adopted within this framework – a political solution to
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that will create favorable conditions
for economic development and overall cooperation in the region."

Presidents Ilham Aliyev, Serzh Sargsyan and Dmitry Medvedev "reiterate
the importance of continuing the mediation efforts by the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-Chairs, taking into account their meeting with the sides
in Madrid on November 29, 2007 and the following talks, to further
develop the basic principles of the political settlement."

The three leaders agreed that "a peaceful settlement must be
accompanied by legally binding international guarantees of all its
aspects and stages."

The Declaration points out that the Presidents of Azerbaijan and
Armenia "have agreed to continue the work – including during their
following high-level contacts – on coordinating efforts towards
political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and have
instructed their foreign ministers to intensify further steps in the
talks process in collaboration with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

The final paragraph of the Declaration says that the Presidents
"consider it important to encourage creation of conditions for
realizing measures to strengthen confidence in the context of
settlement efforts."

The document was signed in the presence of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE
Minsk Group.

POLL PUTS OBAMA AHEAD IN OHIO
Jon Craig

Cincinnati.com
rticle/20081104/NEWS0106/811040361
Nov 4
OH

‘Final projection’ has him up 6 points over McCain

Barack Obama is likely to prevail over John McCain in the fierce
battle for Ohio’s 20 electoral votes, according to an Ohio Poll
released Monday.

The poll by the University of Cincinnati’s Institute for Policy
Research – billed as a "final projection" of today’s results by
institute pollster Eric Rademacher, shows Obama with 51.5 percent to
45.7 percent for McCain.

Obama’s lead is outside the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus
2.7 percentage points.

It shows a small bump for the Democrat over a poll that Rademacher
conducted almost two weeks ago for a consortium of Ohio newspapers,
including The Enquirer. The Ohio Newspaper Poll showed Obama with a
3 percentage point lead with 49 percent support.

No Republican president has ever won the presidency without winning
Ohio. President Bush won the state four years ago, by a scant 118,000
votes out of 4.6 million cast. It was the final piece of the electoral
map puzzle for Bush, putting him over the 270 needed for election.

The Ohio Poll released Monday was conducted between Wednesday and
Sunday. The poll interviewed 1,308 likely voters by telephone.

Howard Wilkinson

Voter concert canceled

Organizers canceled a planned get-out-the-vote concert after sound
equipment for the show was delayed leaving Phoenix, officials from
Cincy Rocks the Vote Tour said Monday. The event, originally slated
for Fountain Square at 11:30 a.m., was to include performances from
Lennon John, Yung Millionairez and others. Bootsy Collins was to speak.

Ben Fischer

Flier questions Schmidt vote

In a last-minute broadside, independent congressional candidate David
Krikorian distributed a flier Sunday accusing U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt,
R-Miami Township, of accepting "blood money" for her opposition to
officially recognizing the Armenian genocide.

The flier compares Schmidt’s position opposed to the proposal, which
appeared in front of Congress earlier this year, with others who
support it. Also, Krikorian, of Armenian descent, accused Schmidt of
betraying her faith by supporting the Muslim Turks over the Christian
Armenians and said she needs psychiatric help.

He also said voters would be complicit in "crimes against humanity"
if Schmidt is re-elected today and called on her to leave the race.

In the 1910s, the Ottoman Empire killed 1.5 million Armenians. Many
countries and states have passed measures officially declaring
it genocide. However, many opponents say such a move from the
U.S. Congress would unnecessarily enrage Turkey, a vital U.S. ally
in the Middle East, which argues that the violence does not meet the
definition for genocide.

Schmidt spokesman Bruce Pfaff dismissed Krikorian as a "single-issue"
candidate and said she would not withdraw.

Ben Fischer

Who are these people?

Don’t be surprised if you see outside legal groups, voter rights’
organizations and international observers at polling places with the
nation’s attention on Ohio as a key state. The AFL-CIO’s "My Vote,
My Right" voter protection project plans to dispatch about 500 poll
observers statewide, including 105 in Hamilton County. Observers are
not allowed to interfere with voters inside polling precincts. Anyone
in line when polls close at 7:30 p.m. has a legal right to vote. You
will be asked to remove any campaign material when you enter the
polling location, so make sure buttons, posters or T-shirt logos can
be removed or covered.

SERVICE TARIFFS FALL BY 0.2% IN ARMENIA IN OCTOBER 2008

Noyan Tapan

Nov 3, 2008

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN. 0.2% fall in tariffs of services was
recorded in Armenia in October on September 2008, mainly due to a 2.2%
fall in the tariffs of transport services in connection with a 7%
decline in the tariffs of air transport services.

According to the RA National Statsitical Service, 0.1% growth in
tariffs of personal services was mainly conditioned by a 7.6% growth
in tariffs of laundry and dry cleaning services. Tariffs of public
catering, recreational, educational and cultural services grew by
0.1-1% in the indicated period, while tariffs of housing, municipal,
medical, communication, legal and banking services remained at the
level of the previous month.

NAGORNO KARABAKH DESCRIBES MOSCOW DECLARATION AS SYMBOLIC

PanARMENIAN.Net
03.11.2008 17:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Declaration on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
adopted in Moscow is symbolic, David Babayan, a Karabakhi political
scientist told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

"With adherence to dialog and peace as the key aspect of the
Declaration, it recognizes that the settlement process will take a
long period of time.

"I would like to remind that Gultekin Gajiyeva, a member of the
Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, said that the only compromise on
the Azerbaijani part will be agreement to further habitation of
Armenians in Karabakh. While well-known political scientist Zardush
Alizade dreams that Armenia shifts to the U.S. and NATO, after what
"Azerbaijan together with Russia will clear Karabakh from Armenians,
seize Meghri and join Nakhijevan and Turkey, razing Armenia to the
ground." These are statements made by the Azeri political elite and
it’s obvious that the Karabakh conflict will last dozens of years if
such logic prevails," Babayan said.

TRIPLE DECLARATION

Panorama.am
16:13 03/11/2008

The Presidents of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan
and the Russian Federation, meeting on November 2, 2008, in Moscow,
at the invitation of the President of the Russian Federation,

Having held substantive discussions in a constructive spirit on the
state and prospects for political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict through a continuation of direct dialogue between Armenia
and Azerbaijan through the mediation of Russia, the USA and France
as co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group,

1. Declare that they will facilitate improvement of the situation
in the South Caucasus and establish stability and security in the
region through political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
based on the principles of international law and the decisions and
documents approved within this framework, thus creating favourable
conditions for economic growth and all-round cooperation in the region.

2. Affirm the importance of having the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group continue their mediation efforts, including based on the outcome
of the meeting between the parties in Madrid on November 29, 2007,
and subsequent discussions on further steps to agree on the basic
principles for political settlement.

3. Agree that peace settlement should be accompanied by legally binding
guarantees for every aspect and stage of the settlement process.

4. Note that the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed
to continue work, including through further contacts at the highest
level, on reaching a political settlement to the conflict and have
instructed the heads of their respective foreign ministries to work
together with the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group to activate
the negotiation process.

5. Consider it important to encourage the establishment of conditions
for carrying out confidence-building measures in the context of work
on a peace settlement.

RUSSIA ACCELERATES THE PROCESS OF DRIVING THE USA OFF NOT ONLY THE KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS BUT FROM THE REGION IN GENERAL, AN ARMENIAN POLITICAL EXPERT THINKS

ArmInfo
2008-11-03 15:39:00

ArmInfo. From geopolitical and strategic viewpoints Russia
demonstrated a "sole" approach, having actually ignored Washington
and its interests in this issue. Moreover, henceforth Moscow will
in every possible way accelerate the process of driving the USA off
not only the Karabakh peace process, but from the region in general,
Director of the Institute for Civil Society and Regional Development
Aghavni Karakhanyan told ArmInfo correspondent.

"The formal-political component of the signed Declaration is that
maintaining and using the frames of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia
has factually assumed a mission to unilaterally address the issue
of the Karabakh conflict settlement", she noted. OSCE MG co-chairs’
participation is quite formal", she added.

Touching upon the political settlement of the problem, Karakhanyan
pointed out that it entirely belongs to Moscow. It is also obvious
that having activated its steps in the Karabakh peace process, Russia
unequivocally showed that it is going "to share" its initiative,
moreover, the initiative’s political results and dividends with
nobody. First and foremost, the matter certainly concerns the USA.

"The pre-election situation in the USA and the financial crisis turned
out to be accelerators of Russia’s activation in the South Caucasus,
particularly, in settlement of conflicts. It would be political short-
sightedness not to take advantage of this situation", Karakhanyan
said in conclusion.

On November 2 the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia signed
a Declaration on the Karabakh conflict settlement. According to the
Declaration, Azeri and Armenian presidents have agreed to continue
the work at coordination of political settlement of the Karabakh
conflict, including further high-level contacts, and instructed the
foreign ministers to activate further steps in the peace process
jointly with OSCE MG co-chairs.

DARCHINYAN UNDISPUTED CHAMPION
Peter Kogoy

The Australian
Nov 3 2008
Australia

VIC Darchinyan was at his devastating brutal best, scoring a stunning
knockout win in a historic super flyweight world title unification bout
against Mexican champion Cristian Mijares in Los Angeles yesterday.

Armenian-born Darchinyan, who held the IBF version, knocked Mijares
down with a vicious uppercut in the first round and finished him off
in the ninth with a stunning pile-driving left.

Darchinyan destroyed the much-hyped Mexican opponent to record his
25th win by knockout in a 31-fight professional career.

In the end referee Lou Moret had little choice but to end the fight
with the badly beaten Mijares, 28, lying flat on his back.

"Nobody gave me a chance, but I believe I’m a much smarter fighter
today than I was a few years ago," a jubilant Darchinyan said in a
phone hook-up yesterday.

"There was little point in rushing him after I got him good in the
first round.

"I was just as happy to pick him off one punch at a time until I got
him with a good punch in the ninth.

"As I found out later all three judges had me well in front on their
scorecards before I delivered the knockout punch."

Mijares, boxing’s new pin-up boy and a Mexican television personality
when not fighting, was the short-priced favourite, with bookmakers
from Alice Springs to Las Vegas not giving the hard-hitting Darchinyan,
a southpaw, much of a chance.

The only time Mijares seemed to trouble Darchinyan during the bout came
in the fourth round when he had the Sydney-based fighter doubled over
from a low blow that prompted a warning on the run from referee Moret.

Going into the unification fight, Mijares was rated by the respected
journal Ring Magazine as the seventh-best boxer in the world
pound-for-pound.

The US media had also written off Darchinyan. The lack of respect
leading up to the bout was like waving a red flag in front of the
fighter dubbed Raging Bull.

Darchinyan had vowed to prove the doubters wrong and from the opening
round Mijares could not match Darchinyan’s power.

The upper-cut that flattened Mijares came with 20 seconds left in round
one, allowing Mijares to stumble to his feet and be saved by the bell.

The bout-ending left came late in the ninth, with just eight seconds
left, but Mijares was unable to get up.

The fight was historic because it was the first time the super
flyweight division has been unified, almost seven years to the
day since Kostya Tszyu unified the lightweight division by beating
Zab Judah.

Darchinyan went into the bout as the International Boxing Federation
champion while Mijares was the reigning World Boxing Council and
World Boxing Association title-holder.

Earlier at the Los Angeles venue Darchinyan’s Sydney stable-mate
Victor Oganov was controversially beaten in his super middleweight
world title elimination fight against American Andre Direll.

Russian-born Oganov protested angrily when referee Ray Corona stopped
the fight 30 seconds into the sixth round.

Oganov was hit with an upper-cut before the stoppage and had taken
a barrage of blows in the earlier rounds, but was still on his feet
and ready to continue when the fight was halted.

"The main thing is the safety of the fighter," Corona said. "He took
some heavy blows."

Oganov was also not given much of a chance of victory, with
unbeaten Direll, a bronze medallist at the 2004 Athens Olympics,
the overwhelming favourite and promoted as one of the division’s
top prospects.

The win gives Direll a shot at the World Boxing Organisation’s super
middleweight title.

DECREASE OF PRICES OF PRODUCTS OF FIRST IMPORTNACE REGISTERED IN MARKETS

ARMENPRESS
Oct 29, 2008

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS: The every day monitoring of the
Armenian Economic Competitiveness State Commission has registered
decrease of prices of some products in Armenian market. Press secretary
of the commission told Armenpress that they are mainly the products
of first importance and the markets where the Armenian state income
committee carried out certain events on the basis of a documents
presented by the commission.

Particularly, in the international market in case of 20 percent of
decrease of prices for fuel in Armenia as well corresponding decrease
of prices occurred by 20 percent. New economic companies entered to the
rice market and as a result, as well as agreed with the international
prices, in a number of trade points, which are under the monitoring,
the price for rice decreased up to 80 drams (from 450).

After the case opened by the commission the price for flour decreased
by 10-15 drams. The prices for building materials also decreased by
20 percent, in the international market as well.

The monitoring of the commission continues in the market of the
products of first necessity.