Author: Hunanian Jack

Turkish envoy downplays Baku’s concern over talks with Armenia
ANS TV, Baku
14 Jul 05
[Presenter] Armenia is not Turkey’s enemy, Turkish ambassador to
Azerbaijan Turan Morali has said commenting on a dialogue between
Turkish and Armenian diplomats held in a European country.
[Correspondent over video of Yerevan’s central square] There are
no grounds for Azerbaijan to be concerned about the talks between
Turkish and Armenian diplomats in Europe, Turkish ambassador to
Azerbaijan Turan Morali said. He went on to say that Armenia was not
Turkey’s enemy and that Ankara did not simply support what Yerevan
was doing. The Turkish media had earlier reported, quoting diplomatic
sources in Ankara, on a meeting of the two countries’ diplomats.
[Passage omitted: Turkey advanced certain proposals at the meeting]
Morali believes that the Turkish-Armenian dialogue is of great
importance under the present circumstances.
[Morali, in Turkish] God willing, there will be a new environment
for joint work in the region if the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict
is resolved. One should lay and reinforce its foundation. Moreover,
Turkey and Armenia have practical responsibilities. People are
coming and leaving. We need to discuss the flight issue. A dialogue
is inevitable in this case. The two neighbouring countries need to
conduct a dialogue in dealing with such issues. As we have no embassy
in Armenia, the sides are trying to enter the dialogue indirectly.
[Correspondent] Morali said that the Turkish-Armenian dialogue was also
important as part of efforts to counter Armenia’s false propaganda.
You know what hue and cry the Armenian lobby is raising in the world.
This should be prevented in all possible ways, Morali said.
As for the opening of borders, Morali said that Armenia was more
interested in the issue and that Turkey’s position had not changed.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia, Azerbaijan working on Karabakh settlement wording
By Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
July 15, 2005 Friday 12:10 PM Eastern Time
YEREVAN, July 15 — The OSCE Minsk group on Nagorno Karabakh said
Armenia and Azerbaijan are working on the wording of the Karabakh
settlement.
“Yerevan and Baku have made headway in certain issues of the Karabakh
settlement, they need to further specify and bring closer the wording
of other issues; it’s work on wording,” co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk
group for Russia Yuri Merzlyakov said on Friday.
“After the meeting between the presidents of the two countries in
Warsaw we /co-chairmen/ mostly engage in trying to formulate the main
principles of the future settlement,” Merzlyakov said.
The parties discuss principles or the key elements of the settlement
basis. The Russian diplomat did not specify the principles citing
“the accord to keep the details of the discussion confidential.”
“That it was possible to achieve results, with our working on wording,
not on bringing the parties’ positions closer, shows that both sides
agreed to compromise,” Merzlyakov said.
In his view, an objective opportunity presented itself to make
considerable headway in the Karabakh issue.
“In the key elements of settlement, an understanding has been reached
on what will make up its basis; the work on settlement elements is
difficult and painstaking, but progressive,” the Russian co-chairman
said.
The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet in Kazan in August,
within the framework of the CIS summit.
The parties have made considerable headway in discussion this year,
Minsk group chairman for the United States Steven Mann said. He
appreciated the close cooperation of the Minsk group members: Russia,
France and the United States.
Co-chairman for France Bernard Fassier said the Minsk Group countries
are just mediators in the negotiations, and cannot force the parties
to make any decisions.

Azeri pressure group critical of international bodies’ stance on Karabakh
Trend news agency
13 Jul 05
BAKU
Trend correspondent S. Ilhamqizi: The danger of losing Karabakh
forever is becoming a reality. International organizations capitalize
on the difficult election situation and step up pressure on the public
and authorities of Azerbaijan in order to force them into making
serious concessions, the Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) has
said in a statement.
The special rapporteur on Nagornyy Karabakh of the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly, Goran Lennmarker, has openly stated the possibility of
merging Nagornyy Karabakh with Armenia. The secretary-general of the
Council of Europe has said that if Azerbaijan resorts to military
force to liberate the occupied territories, the country may be
excluded from the Council of Europe, the KLO statement said.
The activities of international organizations and the Minsk Group,
which contradict Azerbaijan’s national interests, must be ended
immediately, the statement said. The pressure on the Azerbaijani
government has to be stopped. International organizations must
recognize Armenia as an aggressor, impose sanctions against it and
achieve a withdrawal of the occupying forces from Azerbaijan’s
territory.
The negotiations about holding a referendum in Karabakh must be ceased
immediately, the KLO said. No-one can unilaterally grant Karabakh any
status. When the 200,000 Azeris return to Armenia and receive status,
the same right can be given to the Armenians of Nagornyy Karabakh.
The KLO also considers it unacceptable to station any peacekeeping
forces in Nagornyy Karabakh and adjacent districts. Peacekeeping
forces must be deployed on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border to prevent
the aggressive activities of Armenia, the statement said.

Controversial TV technology at edge of legal frontier
Wed Jul 6, 2005 3:10 PM BST
By Andrew Wallenstein
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Days after the Supreme Court
weighed in on digital copyright infringement issues in the MGM
v. Grokster case, select consumer electronics chains began stocking a
product some predict could spark the entertainment industry’s next
showdown over intellectual property rights.
New to the shelves of Best Buy and CompUSA this month is Slingbox, a
brick-sized device that enables viewers to route the live television
signal coming into their homes to a portable device anywhere on the
globe via broadband connection. Slingbox costs $250 and has no
subsequent subscription fee; several stores sold out on the first day.
Created by San Mateo, Calif.-based company Sling Media, Slingbox is
the most prominent example of a handful of new ventures trying to
repeat what TiVo achieved through time-shifting with technology
capable of what loosely is referred to as place-shifting. Leading
place-shifting firms even have drawn interest from cable operators
interested in potential partnerships.
But a mechanism that transplants a live video feed also could
potentially relocate its marketers to a federal courtroom, where they
could raise questions about content transmission.
“I’ll bet there will be a Supreme Court ruling sometime in the next
decade specifically addressing this issue: Does the consumer have the
right to place-shift as they do time-shift their content?” said Ted
Shelton, chief operating officer of Orb Networks, a competitor to
Sling Media that offers its own place-shifting software online free of
charge.
Orb has been on the market since January, collecting 30,000
subscribers with a software-only technology that requires a TV tuner
card and also can transmit other forms of media stored on a hard
drive.
Place-shifting is problematic to many copyright holders because it
sidesteps what is known in legalese as proximity control, which
restricts the distribution of content to specific regions and
times. It’s a standard contractual stipulation for the Motion Picture
Assn. of America, whose member studios license distribution rights to
movies for distinct territories; the National Football League, which
considers geographic limits the linchpin of lucrative television
deals, including its Sunday Ticket pact with DirecTV; and local
television stations, which pony up millions of dollars for exclusive
territorial rights to all kinds of programming.
“Slingbox is one manifestation of what we assume will be a cascade of
similar products that are meant to manipulate our signals in ways that
we think will be harmful to the network-affiliate business, if not the
law,” CBS executive vp Martin Franks said.
Putting aside the piracy risks, place-shifting critics offer plenty of
scenarios that put the technology in murky legal territory.
Two Slingbox subscribers could send each other programming unavailable
in their respective areas; an East Coast viewer could stream
“Survivor” to the West Coast three hours early. The West Coast viewer
could return the favor by providing access to a premium channel the
East Coast viewer doesn’t pay to receive.
Sling Media CEO Blake Krikorian knows full well the implications of
his product. Mindful of the backlash that derailed Napster, he and
rival executives have been busy reaching out to various sectors of the
entertainment world in hopes of educating and collaborating. He
envisions a host of new revenue opportunities for content owners but
realizes Slingbox requires an industrywide paradigm shift.
“The Internet has changed the meaning of what proximity and geography
is,” Krikorian said. “Hollywood needs to step up and deal with it. If
it’s disrupting existing business relations, we need to figure out how
the next business models evolve that make it a win-win for the
consumer and the industry.”
Krikorian is a Silicon Valley veteran whose love of baseball spurred
him to develop Slingbox; he just wanted to catch live broadcasts of
San Francisco Giants games when he was out of town. Now he could end
up redefining “remote control” with a versatile contraption that drew
huge buzz at January’s Consumer Electronics Show.
“I’ve seen their product, and it’s fantastic,” said Fred von Lohmann,
senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San
Francisco-based group that lobbies for digital rights on behalf of Web
users against the studios and labels. “To see it is to want it.”
Slingbox could have been dubbed Re-DirecTV: It attaches to your cable
box (analog or digital), satellite receiver, digital video recorder or
directly to the television monitor and diverts the signal to a laptop
loaded with Slingbox software. Eventually, Slingbox will be able to
transmit to cell phones, PDAs and other portable devices that connect
to the Internet.
Slingbox might be ideal for keeping tabs on the Giants while
vacationing in Bora Bora, but Krikorian believes the product will be
more popular for less far-flung applications like sneaking a peek at
daytime soap operas on your office cubicle’s desktop.
Slingbox isn’t alone in the place-shifting category. There are a few
other, more expensive hardware offerings for place-shifters that have
found little traction with consumers, including Sony’s Location-Free
Portable Broadband TV and TV2Me. More market entrants are expected.
The king of time-shifting also is involved in place-shifting, albeit
somewhat differently: TiVo’s new TiVoToGo offering allows subscribers
to send programming to a portable platform. When TiVoToGo was
announced, it was denounced by the MPAA and NFL as a copyright
violation, but both relented once TiVo agreed that TiVoToGo would only
transmit programs that already were recorded.
Slingbox and others can transmit recorded and live programs, which
could draw fire from any number of quarters. The MPAA is studying
place-shifting technology but has no set course of action.
“We’re hopeful Slingbox will incorporate technology that will respect
copyright,” said Dean Garfield, vp and director of legal affairs at
MPAA. “You don’t have the authority to retransmit license work without
negotiation or authorization.”
No media-driven entity is being more zealous in this area than the
NFL, which blitzes copyright infringers with the speed of a
lottery-pick defensive lineman.
With a little trading of account information, Slingbox subscribers
conceivably could make end runs around the NFL’s blackout rule, which
eliminates the local broadcast of a game that isn’t sold out, and
Sunday Ticket, the subscription package delivering out-of-market games
via DirecTV, which paid the NFL $3.5 billion over five years for
exclusive rights through 2010. The NFL declined comment.
Slingbox also could wreak havoc with affiliates by impairing local
advertisers, who provide targeted commercials, and syndicators, whose
content comes with strings attached related to timing and exclusivity.
“I would be shocked if this were used for commercial purposes and it
wouldn’t be a copyright problem,” said Greg Schmidt, vp development
and general counsel at LIN TV Corp., which owns 23 TV stations in the
U.S. and Puerto Rico.
The potential for piracy might be Slingbox’s least objectionable
attribute.
Slingbox does not engage in file sharing; video can’t be sent to more
than one device at a time. But that comes as small comfort to CBS’
Franks, who singled out Slingbox as a security concern at the
network’s annual affiliates conference last month in Las Vegas.
“Even if you take it at face value that it is a one-to-one transmittal
device, I don’t think it will be very long before some hacker in
Cupertino posts on the Web the way to modify it, the way they modify a
TiVo, that turns it into something that can be tapped by 50 people,”
Franks said.
To Krikorian, place-shifting boils down to a simple principle:
Shouldn’t the consumer be entitled to view the content they pay for at
home elsewhere? It’s a revolutionary concept at a time when
programmers are eyeing new ancillary revenue streams by charging
viewers additionally for each new platform including the Internet and
cell phones, where TV content will be repurposed.
In Krikorian’s view, Slingbox actually could help affiliates who are
seeing these new platforms erode the whole notion of localism. Rather
than be concerned with attracting the eyeballs of visiting viewers who
aren’t likely to respond to local advertising because they will spend
most disposable income in their home market, affiliates could be
empowered by Slingbox to send ads to their viewers out of market,
enabling them to shop when they return.
Place-shifting also conceivably could help affiliates face down their
viewers’ biggest distraction — the Internet — by replanting the TV
signal where they lose viewers’ attention most: the computer,
particularly at work.
“The product allows me to reach the consumer in so many ways that they
were starting to lose people,” Krikorian said. “Broadcasters would
love to reach you while you’re at work.”
Place-shifting companies know they can’t go it alone. They are talking
to anyone in the entertainment industry who will take their meetings,
and that has included broadcasters, production companies and
distributors.
“Some technology companies have said, ‘We can do it, and screw you,’ ”
said Orb’s Shelton. “We’ve seen this before with Napster. It’s not an
effective business model.”
One industry sector said to be keenly interested in place-shifting is
cable operators, who sources say see the technology as an inducement
for its subscribers to bundle high-speed data with video. Like TiVo,
Slingbox or Orb eventually could be embedded into operators’ set-top
boxes.
One potential problem: Cable operators and the programmers that
maintain concerns over copyright violations often are inside the same
conglomerates.
Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable declined comment.
The telecommunications firms already have taken notice. Sprint has
partnered with Orb, which is sold with its broadband product as Sprint
Personal Media Link. Orb also has a deal with Sony Pictures Digital to
run trailers of its upcoming movies. Shelton sees this as a way for
the Hollywood establishment to dip its toe into uncharted waters and
“think through the economics and technology issues necessary to go to
the next step,” he said.
If place-shifting catches on, it raises an additional question as to
how those viewers will be tracked. Nielsen Media Research already is
at work on a variety of technologies that would measure place-shifted
viewing but no timetable is on the horizon.
“They are on my dance card,” said Scott Brown, Nielsen senior vp
strategic relations, marketing and technology. Brown said he envisions
Slingbox meeting the same gradual success that fueled digital video
recorders.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Armenian minister demands answer from major telecom for recent breakdown
Mediamax news agency
7 Jul 05
YEREVAN
Armenian Transport and Communications Minister Andranik Manukyan has
sent a letter to the management of the company ArmenTel, demanding an
explanation of the cause of breakdown in the work of the mobile
operator.
The minister described the existing situation as “incomprehensible”
because ArmenTel’s subscribers had not been able either to make or
receive telephone calls twice in the last week, Mediamax
reports. Manukyan said that he intends to get a prompt answer from the
ArmenTel management.
Andranik Manukyan noted that the second mobile operator Vivacell,
which has been working on the Armenian market since 1 July, is
functioning normally. Vivacell has already sold 70,000 mobile phone
cards from 1 July, the minister said.

RIA Novosti, Russia
July 6 2005
Iran to pursue good-neighborly policy under new president

YEREVAN, July 6. (RIA Novosti)-A senior Iranian official said
Wednesday that the new president of the country would continue to
maintain good relations with neighboring countries.
While meeting with Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, the governor
of the province of Hormozgan, Ebrahim Derzmisu, said Iran’s new
presidential elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, would pursue the
good-neighborly policy of his predecessor after his inauguration in
August.
The Armenian president’s press service reported the governor had also
conveyed a message of greetings from Iran’s ex-President Mohammad
Khatami.
The governor said there were two free and three special economic
zones, three international airports and a seaport in the Hormozgan
province, which created favorable conditions for the further
development of Armenian-Iranian economic relations. The official
stated he was set personally to help Armenian businessmen eager to
cooperate with Iran.
The Armenian president said he hoped bilateral agreements would also
continue to be valid throughout Ahmadinejad’s presidency.
According to Kocharyan, Armenia’s developing economy opened up new
opportunities for further bilateral economic cooperation. In
particular, the president stressed that a new highway to link Iran
and Armenia would considerably increase cargo traffic.
Besides plans to build a thermal power plant, the countries have
recently agreed to accelerate the construction of the Kajaran tunnel
in the south of Armenia, which will help trade between the countries.
Another project seeks to connect the countries’ fiber-optic cable
networks. If a 40-kilometer cable is laid in the north of Iran, the
country will be able to follow the example of Armenia and become
hooked up to the Russian fiber-optic network.
Armenia is most of all interested in energy cooperation with Iran, as
the country is not rich in energy resources and is planning to shut
down its sole nuclear power plant in 10 years’ time. If the thermal
power plant is built and Armenia gains access to other Iranian energy
facilities, the country’s energy security would be significantly
improved.
The construction of a 140-kilometer gas pipeline to connect the
countries is one of the most promising projects. Although it has been
under discussion for many years, the project has not yet been
implemented, as high prices for Iranian natural gas make exports
impractical. However, a pipeline to link Iran and Turkmenistan has
raised hopes that the project will become a reality and cheap natural
gas from Turkmenistan will be pumped through Iran to third countries,
which may include Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Compelled to vote
The Guardian – United Kingdom; Jul 06, 2005
SARAH LUDFORD MEP GEOFF DOBSON ALUN DAVIES JOHN LOADER

With typical Labour arrogance, Geoff Hoon proposes that we be fined if
we don’t vote (Hoon calls for compulsory voting, July 5). Typically in
a general election, three-fifths of those who vote in a parliamentary
constituency see their vote wasted, under the winner-takes-all
electoral system. The situation in Belgium is quite different: who
knows if turnout is 90% because of compulsion or because of fair
voting?
Those who, like me, have never had the “privilege” of being
represented at Westminster by someone they voted for will resent
Hoon’s preference for compulsion under first-past-the-post over
electoral reform.
Sarah Ludford MEP
Lib Dem, London
* The government has an immediate opportunity to extend
enfranchisement. In 2004 the European court of human rights ruled that
the UK government’s blanket, automatic ban on voting by sentenced
prisoners was in violation of protocol 1, article 3, of the European
convention on human rights. The UK is one of only nine European
countries automatically disenfranchising all sentenced prisoners, the
others being Armenia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary,
Luxembourg, Romania and Russia. The ban dates back to the Forfeiture
Act of 1870 and has no place in a modern democracy.
Geoff Dobson
Prison Reform Trust
* There is just a possibility that it would be better to tackle the
underlying problem that many people do not vote because they know
their vote could not affect their local result or, consequently, the
national result. Changing the voting system to the single transferable
vote would give every vote the potential to affect the local and
national results and give politicians an incentive to campaign to
every elector in every area instead of just the swing voters in key
marginals.
Anthony Tuffin
Chichester
* Well that’ll be a day I never thought would happen – I’ve agreed
with Geoff Hoon. His call for compulsory voting is absolutely right. I
know Britons appear to have a compulsive loathing of compulsion, but
the debate surrounding the policy would be a serious contribution to
making people think about and actually use their vote.
Alun Davies
Bristol
* So Geoff Hoon wants compulsory voting. Geoff, why not start with
compulsory attendance at all debates and subsequent divisions by all
MPs?
John Loader
Ely, Cambs

A1plus
| 13:37:18 | 06-07-2005 | Official |
TRAVELLING AS IMPETUS FOR COOPERATION
Today RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan Ebrahim Derazmisu, governor of
the Iran Islamic Republic Hormozgan region and his delegation.
The sides found the mutual visits important mentioning that they will
contribute to the enhancing of cooperation which is important for the whole
region. The head of the Armenian delegation voiced confidence that Iran will
keep its balanced policy towards the Southern Caucasian countries which,
according to him, is one of the important factors in securing peace and
stability in the region.
Referring to the mutual economic relations, the sides mentioned the positive
index recorded in the field for the last few years and the growth of the
circulation of goods. They also mentioned the importance of mutual
cooperation especially in the power field and joint efforts in the
construction of the gas-pipe Iran-Armenia and joint Hydro power stations on
the river Arax. During the visit the sides signed a document about the
cooperation of the Hormozgan region and Ararat region.
Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan has confirmed that the Armenian Government
is ready to support the realization of the above mentioned programs as much
as it can.

Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates
July 6 2005
City cops crack jewellery heist; gang of 4 held
By a staff reporter
6 July 2005
DUBAI – A well-planned and professionally executed jewellery heist by
a gang of four went sour when the Dubai Police cracked the case and
arrested all of them.
The gang, comprising three Armenians and a Russian, committed the
robbery on Friday, and had planned to flee the country after shipping
the stolen goods in a second-hand car they had bought to carry out
the Dh2.4 million operation, Brigadier Khamis Mattar Al Muzainah,
Director of the General Department of Criminal Investigation, said
yesterday.
Giving details of the modus operandi of the gang, he said the four
broke into the shop at Al Maktoum road through an unshuttered window
on the upper floor on Friday, when the establishment was closed for
the weekend. The gang believed that since the theft would not be
discovered till Saturday, they would have sufficient time to flee the
country with the booty of jewellery, sun glasses and watches of
reputed international brands. They broke open a steel chest but did
not find any cash in it.
After committing the theft, the gang put into action part two of
their plan, buying electrical equipment and car spare parts to use
the cartons to stash away the booty with the hope that this would
hoodwink the authorities at the port since they had genuine receipts
for the goods purchased. They had even gone through the paper work to
ship the car out of the country. The gang intended to substitute the
goods in the cartons with the booty subsequently.
As the gang had expected, the crime was discovered only on Saturday
and reported to the police at around 9am. Police investigations
revealed that the heist was carried out by a professional gang, and
that the shop must have been cased earlier.
In all, 243 watches, 180 sun glasses and a whole lot of jewellery was
stolen, which was totally valued at Dh2.1 million.
`Immediately, a team of policemen who had specialised in this kind of
robbery was formed to investigate the case, and within 24 hours, the
team could identify the gang. They were identified as Moshoja
Markosiam, Artak Ablian, Vijein Fakhtanj and David Robert. It was
found out that they were on a visit visa and were residing in a
resort in a neighbouring emirate and using a rented car,’ Brig Khamis
said.
Once the police were sure of their investigations, they moved in,
with the cooperation of the police force in the neighbouring emirate,
and arrested the gang of four from the resort.
Dubai police stopped the shipment and the car was brought to the
department and searched. The steel chest was hidden in one of the
cartons with the stolen goods in it.
Lt-Col Ibrahim Khaleel, Director of the Criminal Investigation
Department said the gang initially denied the crime, but subsequently
confessed when confronted with evidences.
What is intriguing is that their passports indicate that this was
their first visit to the country, and the police believe that they
could not have carried out such a professional job without doing a
proper recce of the shop, which couldn’t have been done in just two
days. The authorities have sought further information from the gang
members’ countries, and are quite sure that this would help in
unravelling this mystery.
The four will now be handed over to the Public Prosecution for
further action.

Edmonton Sun (Alberta)
July 5, 2005 Tuesday
FINAL EDITION
SYSTEM OF A DOWN HERE SEPT. 20
System of a Down will play Rexall Place on Sept. 20 – and we are SO
there.
By “we,” we mean those area metalheads who’ve hailed this zany
Armenian-American rock band as the next big thing, handily filling
the hobnail boots of the now-defunct Rage Against the Machine and
frankly, something of an improvement.
Incorporating European folk music into a hard-hitting melange of
political heavy metal featuring a vocalist who sounds like Frank
Zappa on steroids, System of a Down recently released what is
considered to be its finest work yet, Mezmerize.
The band is touring North America to support its third album,
thankfully deciding to include our “heavy metal town” on the
itinerary.
Tickets to the show, with opening act the Mars Volta and a band
called Bad Acid Trip, are $39.50, $47.50 or $55.50 (general admission
floor, reserved seating in the stands) and will go on sale Friday at
10 a.m. at all Ticketmaster outlets (451-8000).