Author: Jagharian Tania

ARMENIAN CHESS PLAYERS AT U.S. CHAMPIONSHIP

Panorama.am
15:27 21/05/2010

Sport

Armenian GM Varuzhan Akobian lost his set with Hess at St Louis, USA,
7th round and occupied 12th horizontal. Varuzhan Akobian scored 3,5
points. Melikset Khachiyan managed to defeat Benjamin and scoring 3
points gained 17th horizontal. Another Armenian chess player Levon
Altunyan also had a successful round defeating Shanklandi and scored
2,5 points – 19th horizontal.

It’s worth reminding that the leaders of the tournament are Nakamura,
Shulman, kamsky, Onischuk.

Robson Hess-Varuzhan Akobian 1:0 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5
dxe4 5. Nxe4 Nbd7 6. Nf3 h6 7.

Nxf6+ Nxf6 8. Be3 Bd6 9. Bd3 b6 10. Ne5 O-O 11. Qf3 Nd5 12. c4 Bxe5
13. dxe5 Nxe3 14. Qxe3 Bb7 15. O-O-O Qe7 16. Rhg1 Rad8 17. g4 f6 18.

exf6 Qxf6 19. g5 hxg5 20. Rxg5 Rf7 21. Rg6 Qf4 22. Rxe6 Qxe3+ 23. Rxe3
Rfd7 24. Kc2 Rd6 25. Kc3 Rf8 26. Rde1 Bc6 27. R1e2 Rff6 28. Re7
Rf3 29. R2e3 Rxe3 30. fxe3 Bd7 31. c5 bxc5 32. Re5 Rh6 33. Rxc5 c6
34. Ra5 Rxh2 35. Rxa7 Be6 36. a4 Rh1 37. Re7 1:0: Melikset Khachiyan-
Benjamin 1:0 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. e5 Ng4
6. O-O d6 7. exd6 Bxd6 8. Re1+ Kf8 9. Nbd2 Nge5 10. h3 Bf5 11. Bb3
Qd7 12. Ne4 Re8 13.

Bf4 Bb4 14. Nxe5 Nxe5 15. Bd2 Bxd2 16. Qxd2 Bxh3 17. f4 Ng6 18. gxh3
Qxh3 19. Qb4+ Re7 20. Nf2 Qd7 21. Rad1 Qc8 22. Qxd4 1:0: Samuel
Shankland – Levon Altunyan 0:1 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e3 Be6 4. Nf3
Nf6 5. Nc3 h6 6. Ne5 c5 7. Qa4+ Nbd7 8. dxc5 Qc7 9. Nxc4 Qxc5 10. Na5
Qb6 11. Be2 g6 12. Qb5 Bg7 13.

Nxb7 Rb8 14. Na5 Qc7 15. Qa4 O-O 16. Nb3 Bxb3 17. axb3 Nc5 18. Qc4
Rxb3 19. O-O Rfb8 20. Na4 Nfd7 21. Rd1 R3b4 22. Qc2 Rc8 23. Bd2 Rxa4
24. Rxa4 Nxa4 25. Qxa4 Bxb2 26. Qh4 Nf6 27. Qxh6 Qc2 28. f3 Nd5 29. e4
Bg7 30. Qh3 Bd4+ 31. Kf1 Ne3+ 32. Bxe3 Bxe3 33. Qd7 e6 34. Qd3 Qc5 35.

Qb5 Qxb5 36. Bxb5 Rc2 37. Be2 a5 38. Ra1 Bd4 39. Bd1 Rd2 0:1:

ARMENIAN MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND EDUCATION TO PAY A VISIT TO IRAN

Aysor
May 20 2010
Armenia

Armenian delegation with Minister of Science and Education Armen
Ashotian on the head will pay an official visit to Iran from May 21
to 26, Ministry spokesperson said.

The Armenian delegation to Iran includes officials from the Ministry
of Science and Education, Ministry of Diaspora, and representatives
of the National Science Academy of Armenia and some colleges.

It’s expected that there will be held meetings with Iranian Minister
of Science, Studies and Technologies and with Minister of Science and
Education. Within the framework of the visit the Armenian delegation
will attend the State University in Tehran, the Polytechnic Institute
of Amir Kyabib, and the Islamic University of Azad.

Included in the program are visits to one of the Armenian schools
of the Iranian capital, the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church
in Tehran, the Armenian Embassy in Iran and centers of the Armenian
Communities.

TURKEY HAS "NEW GOOD PROPOSAL" IN ARMENIA TIES, OFFICIAL SAYS

WorldBulletin.Net
May 20 2010
Turkey

Kiniklioglu said that "there is something new on the table. I can
not go into details."

Chairman of the Turkey-U.S. Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group and
deputy chairman of Foreign Relations of the Justice and Development
(AK) Party, Suat Kiniklioglu, said Wednesday Turkey and Armenia agreed
to be "silent for some time" and to "evaluate what was on the table".

Speaking at a think-tank organization in Washington, D.C., Kiniklioglu
said that "there is something new on the table. I can not go into
details but there is quite a good proposal on Turkey-Armenia relations
and it is up to the Armenians to accept or reject this".

Normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations is a matter of time. I am
for the normalization of our relations with Armenia. The normalization
will take place with the political will of the Turks and Armenians,
Kiniklioglu stressed.

Touching on the nuclear swap agreement signed by Turkey, Brazil and
Iran, Kiniklioglu said that Turkey was disappointed with the reaction
of the United States and western world after the agreement was signed.

"I think that the agreement signed in Tehran is worth giving a chance,"
Kiniklioglu said.

There is a lack of confidence among the actors involved in Iran’s
nuclear process. The agreement was a crucial step, Kiniklioglu noted.

Many in the U.S. think Turkey as being naive and not sure about Iran’s
intentions. Turkey is not naive but very realistic and wants to spend
her time to find a diplomatic solution to the problem by utilizing
her time, energy and diplomatic corps, Kiniklioglu also said.

NKR PRESIDENT AND FORMER OSCE SPECIAL ENVOY IN THE CAUCASUS MEET

ArmInfo
2010-05-20 10:44:00

ArmInfo. On 19 May President of the Artsakh Republic Bako Sahakyan
received Maurice Bonnot, former OSCE special envoy in the Caucasus,
representative of the French office of the Institute of Democracy and
Cooperation, who arrived in Artsakh as an observer to the parliamentary
elections.

As Central Information Department of the NKR presidential office told
ArmInfo, issues related to the May 23 National Assembly elections as
well as domestic and foreign policy of the republic were discussed
during the meeting. The importance of foreign observers’ participation
in the elections that enhances a good opportunity for exchanging
experience with different countries and continuous improvement of
the electoral system in our republic was mutually noted.

FIRST TOURIST GUIDE-BOOK ABOUT ARMENIA AND NAGORNO-KARABAKH IN ITALIAN PRESENTED

/ARKA/
May 19, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, May 19, /ARKA/. The first tourist guide-book about Armenia
and Nagorno-Karabakh in the Italian language was presented Tuesday in
Yerevan. It was compiled by Nadia Pasqual, an expert from Travelmark
marketing company with the support of Armenian National Competitiveness
Fund and Nagorno-Karabakh Tourism Department.

Nadia Pasqual said the Armenian people have interesting
historical-cultural traditions which should be promoted at Italy’s
tourist market. According to her, many Italian tourists would like to
visit Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia and they need relating information
and in this sense the guide-book is a serious contribution.

According to her, the guide-book is actually the first source of
information about Armenia’s and Nagorno-Karabakh’s culture, history
and tourist sites in Italian.

She said Azerbaijani ambassador to Italy protested the publication
of the guide-book, but he was told to first read it. The 350-page
guide-book presents the history, culture and religion of Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh.

NKR INTERESTED IN PRESENCE OF INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS DURING ELECTIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 19, 2010 – 11:44 AMT 06:44 GMT

Speaker of the Arstakh Republic parliament Ashot Ghulyan met
with former Special Representative of the OSCE Secretary General,
researcher at the Institute of Democracy and Cooperation in Paris, Mr.
Maurice Bonnot, who arrived in the republic to observe the upcoming
parliamentary elections.

"These elections are of keen interest to me. The Institute of Democracy
and Cooperation headed by Dr. Natalia Narochnitskaya is engaged in
monitoring of the post-soviet area suffering from frozen conflicts. I
have already visited Abkhazia, Transdnistria and Georgia as a member
of the OSCE observation mission. I am also planning to pay a visit
to South Ossetia," Mr. Bonnot said.

Mr. Ghulyan said for his part that NKR is interested in presence
of international observers during elections. "Some international
institutions, lacking their own opinion, prefer to listen to
Azerbaijan," he said, the NKR NA press office reported.

VARUZHAN HAKOBYAN IS IN THE GROUP OF LEADERS

Aysor
May 18 2010
Armenia

On the 4th round of the chess championship in the American Saint
Luis city of the USA the Armenian chess players ended all the games
in draw. Varuzhan Hakobyan shared his point with Kamski, Melikset
Khachiyan with Kaydanov and Levon Alunyan with Bhat. Hakobyan and
Altunyan play with white.

Thus after the 4th round Varuzhan Hakobyan shares the 1 – 3rd
positions. Levon Altunyan and Meliqset Khachijan have 1.5 points each
and accordingly are in the 14th and 18th rounds.

RUBEN HAKOBYAN: THERE IS REASON TO WORRY, BUT NOT TO PANIC
Karen Ghazaryan

"Radiolur"
18.05.2010 17:16

There is reason to worry, but not to panic, Director of the "Akunk"
analytical center Ruben Hakobyan told a press conference today,
speaking about the influence of the Russian-Turkish relations on
regional developments. According to him, "Turkey has managed to become
a serious factor in the region thanks to good-neighborly relations
with Russia.

"We see the same warming of relations between Russia and Azerbaijan.

Naturally, this envisages greater role of Russia in the Karabakh
conflict settlement," Ruben Hakobyn said, adding that "the most
dangerous is that Armenia seems to have been left out of the process."

According to his assessment, this would be normal if Armenia was a
country able to reject any decision made without its participation.

Ruben Hakobyan does not rule out that Armenia might be forced to
accept decisions taken as a result of Russian-Turkish agreements.

"It’s a different question whether these decisions will be accepted
or not. It’s neither clear what price should be paid for it."

Director of the "Akunk" analytical center does believe that Armenia’s
main task in the current situation is to isolate Turkey from the
Karabakh settlement process. "Recalling the signature from the
protocols is the best way to do this. Before that it’s necessary to
fix concrete terms for ratification of the protocols," he said.

CONVICTION MAY PREVENT LEGAL ENTITY’S STATE REGISTRATION

/ARKA/
May 18, 2010
YEREVAN

Armenian lawmakers have approved today in the first reading
an amendment to the law regulating state registration of legal
entities. Justice minister Gevork Danielian told lawmakers the bill
was drafted ‘to step up fighting against corruption’

He explained that the proposed bill would ban state registration of
a legal entity if at least 10% of its chartered capital is owned by
a founder of executive head with a record of previous conviction for
economic crimes or financing terrorism.

The economic crimes that would ban registration are illegal
entrepreneurship, misappropriation of credits, premeditated or
fictitious bankruptcy, exposure of commercial of banking secrets,
tax evasion, smuggling, abuse of power and graft.

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT PASSES BILL ON MANDATORY VEHICLE INSURANCE

/ARKA/
May 18, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, May 18, /ARKA/. An Armenian Central Bank-designed bill on
mandatory insurance of motor vehicles was approved today by parliament
in the third and final reading. A deputy governor of the Central
Bank, Vache Gabrielian, said the proposed bill provides protection
against losses incurred as a result of traffic accidents and against
liability that could be incurred in an accident. He cited also the
increasing number of vehicles and road accidents, saying these two
factors make auto insurance mandatory. The bill is expected to come
into force in 2011.

The bill envisages creation of appropriate infrastructure to deal
with car insurance, including the bureau of insurance companies and
establishment of a fund to pay compensations to persons suffering in
car accidents if the motorist responsible for the accident is not
insured, if the guilty is not found or identified and if the car
involved in the accident is stolen or used for a criminal purpose.

‘The bill pursues a very important goal -to protect citizens suffering
in car accidents, to help develop the system of mandatory insurance
of cars and promote this culture. Vache Gabrileian said.

According to the bill , in 2013 the so-called bonus-malus system will
be introduced, which is a system that adjusts the premium paid by a
customer according to his individual claim history. Bonus usually
is a discount in the premium which is given on the renewal of the
policy if no claim is made in the previous year. Malus is an increase
in the premium if there is a claim in the previous year. Bonus-malus
systems are very common in vehicle insurance.

Vache Gabrielian said the insurance payment amount in Armenia will be
between 31,000 to 38,000 Drams a year. According to government data,
there are 400,000 motor vehicles in Armenia. ($1 – 384.81 Drams).