Author: Kanayan Tamar

ARMENIAN CEC RECEIVES 770 MLN DRAMS FROM STATE BUDGET FOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN 2008

ArmInfo
2009-06-01 13:09:00

ArmInfo. The state budget funds spent by the Central Election Committee
of Armenia in 2008, made up 1,9 bln drams, deputy Finance Minister of
Armenia, Chief Treasurer Atom Janjughazyan said during the hearings in
the Parliament on fulfillment of the state budget – 2008. According to
him, about 770 mln drams were envisaged for the presidential election
in 2008, 98,1% of which has been spent. 820,5 mln drams were directed
to the election for the local authorities, and this amount was spent
in full. 61 mln drams were allocated for training of CEC personnel,
and 36% was spent. 143,1 mln drams were allocated for maintenance of
the machinery. The Central Election Committee received 36 mln drams
from the Armenian government’s reserve fund.

LEVON ZURABYAN: VICTORY OF ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS IS PREDETERMINED

ArmInfo
2009-05-29 20:11:00

ArmInfo. The victory of Armenian National Congress at the Yerevan
mayor election is predetermined, coordinator of Armenian National
Congress Levon Zurabyan said at today’s rally of the opposition. He
also added that the fact that the RPA election headquarters in some
districts of Yerevan were closed for several days already is evidence
of it, says that the authorities have refused an idea of winning
the elections in a normal way. at the same time he said this says
of nothing as the authorities are going to rig the results of the
elections. He mentioned all possible scenarios of falsification and
called everybody to go to the election to rule out falsification.

THE MAN WHO THREATENED "AGOS" EDITORIAL STAFF WAS SENTENCED TO 3 YEARS IN PRISON

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
29.05.2009 18:03 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On May 28, the S,is,li Criminal Court of First
Instance (Istanbul) sentenced Muhammet Karay to imprisonment for the
term of 3 years and 3 months. Six days after the murder of Hrant Dink,
Editor-in-Chief of Armenian-Turkish "Agos" periodical, Karay sent an
e-mail containing threats against "Agos" editorial staff.

The lawyers representing the editorial office expressed satisfaction
with the court’s decision since the law envisages a minimum term of
2 years’ imprisonment for such kind of crimes. The Turkish court
has considered 5 cases of threat against "Agos" staff members

MOST CITIZENS WILL PARTICIPATE IN THE VOTE

A1+
11:53 am | May 27, 2009 | Politics

The election of Yerevan’s Elders Council is due in four days.

A1+ conducted a survey to find out our citizens’ opinions about the
election campaign.

Many of our respondents are going to participate in the vote.

Still, there are some who say an election is an imitation and
their vote is of no value as everything is predetermined. They mean
Republican Gagik Beglarian’s appointment as Yerevan’s mayor on the
eve of election.

"The election will not be free and fair as the mayor’s post is already
filled. Mr. Beglarian will hold the position for four years," said
Yerevan citizen Lianna Baghdasarian.

Most citizens turned out to be unaware of the candidates’ pre-election
pregrammes.

"Why should I read their programmes? They will not be realized,
anyway," said Armen Sargsian.

TURKEY SUPPORTS AZERBAIJAN

Panorama.am
16:41 27/05/2009

It is an undisputable truth that the Azeri party expresses
its discontent over the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs’ activities
repeatedly. They condemn the co-chairs’ activities accusing them of
their inefficient and unproductive activities. And these accusations
are made starting from the president of the country.

But recently Turkey started to support its "junior brother"
Azerbaijan. On the eve of leaving for Baku, the Foreign Minister
of Turkey Ahmed Davutoglu emphasized their contribution saying:
"We can not disagree with Azerbaijan’s President Ilhaam Aliev who
has been recently condemning the Minsk Group activities. The history
shows that that group has been working unproductively and it’s high
time to overview that process, which, by the way, Turkey is doing."

Of course, both the Azeri and Turkish wish to change the group’s
format and to include Turkey as a mediator party. But they both
understand that without Armenia’s agreement their dream will not come
true. Official Yerevan has been announcing for many times that the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be solved in the frames of the OSCE
Minsk Group, especially when Turkey has partial disposition.

In this respect the statement made by Sabina Freizer, the manager
of European projects of the International crisis group was a perfect
cold shower for the brother countries: "Turkey is interested in the
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by the OSCE Minsk Group
support, but it can not be a neutral participant of the action because
it has obvious contribution towards one part. This Turkey should
explain Azerbaijan instead of calling "One nation-two countries"
slogan."

NRO’S KRIKORIAN ON PRONUNCIATION OF SOTOMAYOR’S NAME: "IT STICKS IN MY CRAW"
May 27, 2009 12:08 pm ET by Media Matters staff

Media Matters for America

May 27 2009

>From Mark Krikorian’s May 27 post on the National Review Online’s
The Corner:

It Sticks in My Craw [Mark Krikorian]

Most e-mailers were with me on the post on the pronunciation of Judge
Sotomayor’s name (and a couple griped about the whole Latina/Latino
thing – English dropped gender in nouns, what, 1,000 years ago?). But
a couple said we should just pronounce it the way the bearer of the
name prefers, including one who pronounces her name "freed" even
though it’s spelled "fried," like fried rice. (I think Cathy Seipp of
blessed memory did the reverse – "sipe" instead of "seep.") Deferring
to people’s own pronunciation of their names should obviously be
our first inclination, but there ought to be limits. Putting the
emphasis on the final syllable of Sotomayor is unnatural in English
(which is why the president stopped doing it after the first time at
his press conference), unlike my correspondent’s simple preference
for a monophthong over a diphthong, and insisting on an unnatural
pronunciation is something we shouldn’t be giving in to.

For instance, in Armenian, the emphasis is on the second syllable in my
surname, just as in English, but it has three syllables, not four (the
"ian" is one syllable) – but that’s not how you’d say it in English
(the "ian" means the same thing as in English – think Washingtonian or
Jeffersonian). Likewise in Russian, you put the emphasis in my name on
the final syllable and turn the "o" into a schwa, and they’re free to
do so because that’s the way it works in their language. And should we
put Asian surnames first in English just because that’s the way they
do it in Asia? When speaking of people in Asia, okay, but not people of
Asian origin here, where Mao Tse-tung would properly have been changed
to Tse-tung Mao. Likewise with the Mexican practice of including your
mother’s maiden name as your last name, after your father’s surname.

This may seem like carping, but it’s not. Part of our success in
assimilation has been to leave whole areas of culture up to the
individual, so that newcomers have whatever cuisine or religion or so
on they want, limiting the demand for conformity to a smaller field
than most other places would. But one of the areas where conformity is
appropriate is how your new countrymen say your name, since that’s not
something the rest of us can just ignore, unlike what church you go
to or what you eat for lunch. And there are basically two options —
the newcomer adapts to us, or we adapt to him. And multiculturalism
means there’s a lot more of the latter going on than there should be.

EBRD MULLS EUR 5M LOAN TO YEREVAN METRO

Cbonds. Info
May 26 2009

The EBRD is considering a project to cover emergency investments in
the Yerevan Metro, covering immediate rehabilitation needs including
safety upgrades. The investment is part of the plan to improve and
reform public transport services in the capital of Armenia. The
operation would primarily benefit lower-income groups, who rely on
the poorly maintained metro system.

The EBRD loan will be provided to Yerevan Metropolitan Karen Demirchyan
CJSC (Yerevan Metro Company), under a sovereign guarantee. The
Company is managed by the Yerevan Municipality and by the Board of
Directors. The Company’s ultimate shareholder is the Government of
the Republic of Armenia, represented by the Yerevan Municipality.

S7 BECAME CANDIDATE FOR ONEWORLD MEMBERSHIP

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
26.05.2009 16:59 GMT+04:00

Last week OJSC "Siberia" (S7 brand) became a candidate to member the
global alliance Oneworld . According to the "Vedomosti" news paper,
quoting the representative of the Russian company Kirill Alyavdin,
"Siberia" will become a full member in 2010.

Reference letter was provided by the British Airways, the proposal
was affirmed by all members of the alliance, told Mr. Alyavdin to the
news paper. "Siberia" will become a full member of alliance in 2010,
within 1.5 year the company will adapt to the requirements of Oneworld.

According to the representative of Oneworld Michael Blant, Siberia"
airlines was chosen by the alliance since the company corresponds
safety requirements, quality of services and has a comprehensive
network in Russia and CIS countries.

Established in 1999 the global Oneworld alliance brings together ten
of the world’s biggest airlines, committed to providing world-class
service and value, as well as 20 branch carriers (British Airways,
American Airlines, Iberia, Finnair, JAL and others). 328.6 million
passengers are carried annually.

"Siberia" flies in 72 directions, 38 out of them are in Russia. Rout
network of "Siberia" airlines (S7 brand) will add 55 cities and 8
countries to the Oneworld flow chart, including Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan, Kirgizia, Moldavia, Tajikistan, Turkmenia, and Uzbekistan,
told Mr.Alyavdin to "Vedomosti" .

DASHNAKTSUTYUN INTENDS COUNTERACT FALSIFICATIONS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
26.05.2009 20:31 GMT+04:00

"For the first time such a large-scale local elections are held in
Yerevan and the serious struggle between participating political
forces takes place. Unfortunately, like at previous elections, during
these elections healthy discussion is absent between candidates,"
Armen Rustamyan, RA NA deputy from Dashnaktsutyun fraction told
a news conference today. Mr.Rustamyan emphasized, that the law
on Yerevan will be tested in practice for the first time. These
elections will reveal all advantages and shortcomings of the new
law, Mr. Rustamyan said. ARF Dashnaktsutyun is sure that, they must
use this chance for conducting fair elections, as far as possible,
since passions have already abated and there are good prerequisites
for conducting fair elections. "Dashnaktsutyun will make every effort
to escape falsifications this time. All 439 polling station will have
2-3 observers each from Dashnaktsutyun. We expect healthy collision
of interests, which will ultimately result in healthy elections,"
Rustamyan said. He also noted, that refusing from stamps in passports
of already voted will leave room for some falsifications.

Dominican Today , Dominican Republic
May 23 2009

Dominican Republic attends World Junior Boxing Championship

Santo Domingo.` Dominican boxers and fighters from 41 national teams
are participating in the World Junior Boxing Championship which
started today in Yerevan, Armenia.

Eight national teams that previously applied to be included in the
tournament, did not attend: Venezuela, Tunis, Check Republic,
Slovakia, Nigeria, Mongolia, Ghana and Botswana.Other teams, such as
Mexico, Argentina, Wales, Turkmenistan refused to participate.

In other news, some Internet sites point out that over the past
decade, Dominican boxing has been immersed in a crisis that has seen
boxers immigrate to the Unites States, few attractive new figures and
scarce attendance to uninspiring boxing cards.

But the panorama may change as a slew of former amateur stars have
been allowed to turn pro and provide promoters with the new blood
needed to bring the fans back to boxing shows.

Last year 15 top amateur boxers have joined the pro ranks to the
delight of boxing Commissioner Franklin Nunez. `We have improved our
relations with the Amateur Federation and we are now working hand in
hand,’ says Nunez, `and we have provided incentives for our local
promoters.’

Among the prospects who are making a name for themselves, are exciting
welterweight Melvin Betancourt (8-0, 6 KOs), recently elected Novice
of Year 2008, explosive featherweight Jenifel Vicente (11-0-2, 7 KOs),
slick bantamweight Geysi Lorenzo (9-0, 2 KOs), former amateur
lightweight standout Javier Fortuna (2-0, 2 KOs), just to name a few.

/5/23/32080/Dominican-Republic-attends-World-Junio r-Boxing-Championship