Author: Karabekian Emil

MAIDEN FLIGHT OF CIVILIAN "SUKHOI SUPERJET-100"

ITAR-TASS
.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12694066&PageNum=0
May 19 2008
Russia

MOSCOW, May 19 (Itar-Tass) – A civilian "Sukhoi Superjet-100" regional
plane took off from the runway for the first time on Monday. Its
maiden flight took place at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aircraft-building
plant. "The flight lasted for one hour and five minutes," officials
of the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC) told Itar-Tass.

"The Superjet-100 made four sweeps over the runway at different
altitudes — along a specified parameter (box-pattern flight) and
in the landing approach direction," officials of the Sukhoi Press
Service stated.

SCAC Chief Test Pilot Alexander Yablontsev and Test Pilot Leonid
Chikunov had piloted the aircraft. "Monday is the most important day
for us, since we have, literally speaking, acquired two new wings,"
Head of the Sukhoi Holding Mikhail Pogosyan noted. "We have traversed a
long road to this day. The end result is what counts in any work. The
only possible real result for aircraft builders is to see their
plane up in the sky. We have an important and difficult task ahead,
namely, the certification tests. And I am sure that we shall succeed,"
Pogosyan noted.

According to Chief Pilot Yablontsev, "the plane is really
marvellous". "And I can say for sure that it is a match for the
world’s best planes, which I had piloted," he added. The success of
the maiden flight lays the beginning for the certification tests of
the airliner. Six hundred special flights will have to be made to
pass them.

Parallel with the testing procedures, the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft
Company is planning to assemble four such aircraft this year, which
will be handed over to the initial customer – the Russian Aeroflot
Company. These planes will be passed over to it only after they are
fully certified.

In expert opinion, the number of orders for these new airliners is
bound to increase after the Superjet-100 maiden flight. Today, there
are orders for approximately 100 such airliners.

Company experts predict growing numbers of customers both in Russia
and abroad, wishing to obtain such planes. In assessing the prospects
for the marketing of Superjet-100 planes, Sukhoi officials note
"their exceptionally positive dynamics".

This forecast is based on two basic factors. Firstly, the process of
withdrawing Tu-134 planes from service will be completed in Russia
within the next few years. The share of regional carriages will grow
parallel with this. "We believe the regional market of air carriages
is bound to grow in the countries of Southeast Asia and in the Middle
East, where the markets of carriages by this class of planes is only
beginning to take shape and, objectively speaking, their need for new
commercially effective aircraft will definitely grow," specialists
of the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company noted.

Superjet-100 planes are being built by an international cooperative
enterprise, in which Sukhoi is now the main integrator. Approximately
50 per cent of all the necessary jobs are done by Russian enterprises
and the other half – by the western companies taking part in the
project.

The project to create the Sukhoi Superjet-100 has added global
aircraft-designing standards to the Russian aircraft-building
industry. This is the first program in the Russian aircraft-building
industry, enjoying state support. Superjet liners will replace the
Tu-134 and Tu-154 planes now serving the domestic Russian short-range
and middle-range lines, and will be sold on the world market,
too. The annual output of these liners will grow annually after they
are launched into quantity production at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur
plant. Plans are afoot to assemble 30 planes in 2009 and 60 – in
2010. After that, their annual output is to reach the optimal figure
of 70 machines.

At present, the Sukhoi Holding already has 73 orders for such
planes and 31 options. For instance, firm contracts were concluded
with Aeroflot (30 planes), with the Financial Leasing Company (ten
planes), with the AirUnion Alliance (15 planes), with the Dalavia
Company (six planes), with the Italian ItAli Company (ten planes),
and with the Armenian Armavia Company (two planes).

The approximate cost of one plane is 28 million U.S.dollars. This is
15 per cent cheaper than planes of the Embraer firm, which is Sukhoi’s
chief rival on the market of regional planes. The total sum of the
concluded contracts tops 50 billion roubles.

Director-General of the Sukhoi Holding Mikhail Pogosyan had earlier
noted that the Superjet-100 program will be fully recouped when
approximately 300 planes are marketed. All in all, 800 Superjet-100
planes are to be built in the period of up to 2024. Five hundred
such machines will be delivered to the external market and 300 –
to the domestic market.

President Vladimir Putin had stated at one of his meetings early in
2007 that the number of the built planes would reach 700 within the
next few years. Sukhoi officials are indicating even more impressive
figures. According to this most optimist forecast, up to 1,200 planes
will be built by that time. The medium-range forecast indicates from
800 to 900 machines," Mikhail Pogosyan stated a year ago.

The Superjet liner is an international project, taking part in which
are approximately 30 companies of the world, including firms of France,
Italy, and some other countries.

A protocol was signed in June 2007 to expand the participation
of the Boeing Company in the program to build Superjet family
planes. The document envisages cooperation in the organisation of
post-sale services, assistance to the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company
in the efforts to build up its own infrastructure, access to the
Boeing infrastructure and post-sale modern maintenance technologies,
including the training of flying and technical personnel, and also
access to the spare parts distribution system.

Each Superjet-100 liner is propelled by two SaM-146 engines, jointly
designed by the Russian Saturn Science and Production Society and
the French Snecma Company.

These engines fully meet the specific needs of the air companies of
Russia, the CIS, and the West, and are in keeping with the AP-25,
FAR-25 and JAR-25 requirements. There is tough competition within
this niche on the world market. The Brazilian Embraer and the Canadian
Bombardier have strong positions there. "New players are also emerging
on the market, including China with its ARG-21 and Japan with its MRG,
which is being built by the Mitsubishi Company," a Saturn official
told Itar-Tass.

Russia is so far ahead of its rivals. It is planned to offer Sukhoi
Superjet-100 planes on the market already at the end of 2008. The
Chinese machine may appear on the market in 2010 and the Japanese –
in 2012.

The Holding expects to win fifteen per cent of the market of civilian
regional planes, seating from 60 to 120 passengers. The Boeing Company
estimates the total volume of this market segment at six thousand
planes in the period of up to 2022.

In the opinion of Russian Vice-Premier Sergei Ivanov, "the Sukhoi
Superjet is a priority project, which is, in fact, of state importance
because these planes will give us a chance to do away with most of
our transport inequality". This refers primarily to the Far Eastern
Region, he noted. "In other words, this program can be regarded as a
parallel one to those that are now being adopted at state level for
the socio-economic development of the Russian Far East," he noted.

Officials of the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company are noting the unique
performance of these planes, compared to those that now exist abroad,
including their service life of 70,000 hours, compared to the average
world figure of 30,000 hours. This was achieved, in particular, due
to some designing novelties and use of novel high-resistant materials
in separate aircraft assemblies.

"The carrying capacity of Sukhoi Superjet-100 planes ranges from 75 to
95 passengers, since it is based on principles of maximum unification
of glider aggregates and board systems, as well as of completing
parts," officials of the SCAC Press Service stated. "To boost the
number of potential customers, each of the two types of such aircraft
will be made in a basic and long-range modification, allowing the air
companies to boost the economic effectiveness of their employment by
the more rational formation of the pool of their aircraft".

The interior finish of the planes will be equal to their flight
qualities, Sukhoi officials declare. "We are not saving money on the
interior finish because the liner is still not very widely known
and everything in it must be of tip-top quality. For instance, we
are buying the seats for it in the United States, where they are
cheaper and up to the best international standards," Pogosyan told
journalists. As a matter of fact, Sergei Ivanov has already issued an
instruction to "organise the production of such seats in Russia, too."

The assembly of Superjet-100 planes will be of a conveyer type
after they are launched into quantity production. Six workplaces
have been equipped in the final assembly department: a section for
the automated laser assembly of fuselages in accordance with the
pattern of assembly holes; a section for the attachment of wings
to the fuselages; a section for the integration of engines with the
fuselages; a section for the assembly of different plane systems —
the hydraulic systems, the oxygen systems, fire-safety systems, the
water supply systems, etc. There will be simultaneously six aircraft
moving from one section to another within this department.

The assembly of one plane is expected to take 28 days.

The Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company is a daughter company of the
Sukhoi firm. It was founded in 2001 to implement its civilian
projects. According to the long-range forecast, the company is expected
to sell up to 1,800 Superjet family planes within the next 20 years,
including the 120-seat airliner, which is now on the drawing boards.

NEW FOREIGN AFFAIRS CHAIR SHIRKS SPOTLIGHT
By Erica Werner

AP
19 May 08

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Howard Berman keeps a big Thermos behind his
desk. That way, he never has to ask anyone to fetch coffee for him.

The new House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman also picks up his
own dry cleaning and drives his own car.

It is a self-sufficiency that Berman has carefully nurtured over his
13 terms in Congress. Now that he has ascended to one of the most
influential posts on Capitol Hill, he still rejects the trappings of
power, and prefers to keep operating as a behind-the-scenes player.

He even barred an Associated Press photographer from taking his
picture for this story.

"Sometimes the best things are done when the media doesn’t know
about it, because then a lot of other people don’t know about it,"
Berman said. "The media is a conduit of information to the people
who wouldn’t like what I was doing."

It’s not that Berman has anything to hide, friends say.

"He’s much more interested in accomplishing things than being out
front and visible," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who’s known
Berman since their college days at the University of California,
Los Angeles. They presided over a famously effective Democratic
machine in Southern California in the 1970s and 1980s that helped
elect like-minded politicians to local and state offices.

Berman’s committee has oversight over policies in Iraq, Afghanistan
and the rest of the globe’s hotspots. He was in Israel over the weekend
with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on his first overseas trip as chairman.

Outside of Washington, Berman had his fair share of political
scrapes. In 1980, he made a grab for the speakership of the California
Assembly but was outfoxed by Willie Brown, who went on to become
California’s longest-serving Assembly speaker and mayor of San
Francisco. In 2001, he drew ire when his congressional district was
redrawn in a way seen by some Latinos as diluting Hispanic voting
power. Berman was able to emerge from the episode with strong Latino
support due to his long record as a champion of farmworker and
immigrant rights.

In Washington, he’s thrived on an understated, collaborative
approach. His leadership style is far different from that of his
predecessor, California Democrat Tom Lantos, who died of cancer in
February. As Congress’ only Holocaust survivor, Lantos’ personal
history, dignified bearing and eloquent oratory made him one of
Congress’ most recognizable figures.

Berman, by comparison, is unprepossessing. His graying, curly hair
is rumpled. His speaking style is halting and thoughtful. He doesn’t
have a press secretary.

A photo in Berman’s office attests to the fact that he visited a grand
cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia — wearing a Hawaiian print shirt.

"He combined a real passion with a tremendous eloquence," Berman
said of Lantos. "That’s just not my strong suit. I’m more of an
inside animal."

Berman makes up for his lack of style with substance. He’s praised for
a piercing intellect, keen memory and grasp of arcane topics. His
recent legislative efforts included reforms to the country’s
byzantine patent system. He also proposed removing apartheid-era visa
restrictions against Nelson Mandela and expanding President Bush’s
foreign aid program for HIV/AIDS victims.

"He is able to provide creative solutions or additional solutions
if the first don’t work," said Sen. Dick Lugar of Indiana, top
Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "They talk
about show horses and work horses and Howard is clearly in the work
horse category par excellence."

When Lantos was Foreign Affairs chairman, he presided over dramatic
hearings and votes. He denounced Yahoo Inc. executives as moral pygmies
for cooperating with Beijing and he passed a controversial resolution
condemning the World War I-era killings of Armenians as genocide.

Berman’s goals seem dull by comparison: Regularly completing routine
but necessary legislation authorizing State Department programs,
rebuilding support for foreign assistance and public diplomacy,
addressing nuclear proliferation, examining dependence on Middle
East oil.

Berman’s most high-profile outing to date was an April hearing on
Iraq. An early Iraq war supporter who stuck behind it far longer than
most Democrats, Berman tried to draw out his witnesses, Gen. David
Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, on how to effectively
withdraw troops if U.S. voters choose that approach in November.

When Petraeus and Crocker demurred, Berman remarked, "Well, then I’m
not going to beat that horse anymore," and changed topics.

Berman doesn’t support the firm withdrawal deadlines backed by many
of his Democratic colleagues. He says he would never have supported
the war knowing what he knows now, but blames himself, not the Bush
administration, for making an error in judgment.

"The lesson learned for me was challenge yourself and your own
predispositions more on some of these things, and challenge the
evidence more. I wasn’t sufficiently skeptical," Berman said.

Democrats and Republicans say Berman takes a collaborative approach. He
negotiated $20 billion more in foreign HIV/AIDS assistance than the
White House requested, according to Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J. The
proposal passed the House and is pending in the Senate.

Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said that when Berman approached him about
the Mandela’s visa restrictions, his initial reaction was that the
U.S. should be adding people to the terror list, not taking them
off. Berman talked him around.

"He knows how to negotiate," said Smith. "He’s willing to take half
a loaf rather than a full loaf, and then come back for more later on."

Glendale News Press, CA
May 16 2008

Assistant superintendent takes job in Pasadena

Educator who has been with Glendale Unified for 30-plus years calls
move her `toughest decision.’

By Angela Hokanson
Published: Last Updated Friday, May 16, 2008 10:00 PM PDT

GLENDALE – Alice Petrossian, the assistant superintendent who oversees
educational services for the Glendale Unified School District’s 20
elementary schools, will leave the district this summer to take a
position as chief academic officer of the Pasadena Unified School
District, the districts announced Friday.

Petrossian, who has been with Glendale Unified for more than 30 years
and has been in her current position for 11, will oversee everything
on the education side, from prekindergarten to secondary education, in
her new role in Pasadena, she said.

The move is a promotion for Petrossian, as her new position is akin to
that of a deputy superintendent, a position that Glendale Unified does
not have, according to Glendale school officials.

But it wasn’t an easy one for her to make, Petrossian said, as she has
such a long-standing connection to Glendale schools as a professional
and parent.

`It was probably the toughest decision in my life,’ she said of her
recent career move.

Pasadena officials started pursuing her about the job more than a
month ago, and were patient with her while she made up her mind, she
said.

`They finally convinced me that there was a lot that needed to be
done, and I was the one to do it,’ she said.

Pasadena Unified Supt. Edwin Diaz’s vision was an important factor in
her decision to take on the new post, she said.

`He would like to make sure that the students in Pasadena have access
to the most rigorous curriculum and the opportunity to achieve and
meet their potential,’ she said.

`Those are the kind of things we’ve worked on in Glendale.’

Petrossian’s new job is a `key leadership post critical to the
execution of academic improvement strategies to raise student
achievement,’ according to Pasadena Unified.

The job entails working with the superintendent to realize student
achievement, working with stakeholders to refine instruction, and
target services to meet all students’ needs, according to the school
district.

Petrossian’s decision won’t likely be easy for others in Glendale
schools whom she has advised and mentored.

`It’s always hard to replace people who have really grown up with the
district and have really led the way,’ said Joanna Junge, the
district’s director of special projects and intercultural education,
who has worked with Petrossian for years.

Junge views Petrossian as a mentor.

`I just admire so much everything she’s done for the English learners
in the district in particular,’ Junge said.

Petrossian started her education career as a teacher in Northern
California.

She has been with Glendale Unified since 1977, as a specialist in
bilingual education and as the director of intercultural education,
among other positions.

She has helped bring a diverse community together, school board
President Joylene Wagner said.

And she has always maintained her commitment to putting children
first, said Janet Buhl, principal of Verdugo Woodlands Elementary
School.

`We’re going to miss her dearly,’ Buhl said.

Petrossian will certainly aid Pasadena in reaching its goals, as she
has done in Glendale, Supt. Michael Escalante said.

`Alice has done a tremendous job for the district over many, many
years,’ he said.

`This is a great opportunity for her to move to the next level.’

/2008/05/17/education/gnp-petrossian17.txt

PRESIDENTIAL AWARDS CEREMONY TO BE HELD IN ARMENIA ON MAY 26

ARKA
May 16, 2008

YEREVAN, May 16. /ARKA/. The annual presidential awards ceremony
is to be held in Armenia on May 26, the Press Service of Hayastan
All-Armenian Fund reported.

Armenian President Serge Sargsian will hand over 13 awards personally.

Armenia’s presidential award was founded in 2001 and is held every
year with the assistance of the Poghosian Fund. The award is given for
remarkable achievements in literature, painting, theatre and cinema,
architecture.

SECOND REHEARSALS ARMENIA, NETHERLANDS, FINLAND

TheaterMania.com
news/read/11416
May 16 2008
NY

Day 6 of rehearsals has started with Armenia, the Netherlands and
Finland taking the stage for a second time. You can read the reviews
below from the rehearsals.

Song 14: Armenia – Sirusho – Qele, qele

Another energetic performance from Sirusho for the first technical
rehearsal of the day. Her powerful voice in well suited to this
ethnic pop song. She is joined by three male dancer who show their
athletic prowess on stage. Both dancers and singers interrelate well
on the stage.

Song 15: Netherlands – Hind – Your heart belongs to me

Hind looks very elegant dressed in an sparkling black dressed and
knee length boots. Again she deliver a note perfect performance
of Your heart belongs to me. She relates well with her two male
backing dancers: this provides a perfect platform for her to show
her outstanding vocals.

Song 16 – Finland – Terasbetoni – Missal Meet Ratsastaa

Flashing lights announce the arrival to the Eurovision Song Contest
stage of Terasbetoni, the heavy rockers from Finland. We see heavy
guitar playing and hard drum pounding from the leather clad 5 piece
band. An abundance of piros and flames on the stage complement the
heavy groove of this rock song. Lordi would be very proud of their
fellow countrymen.

After lunch Romania, Russia and Greece will take the stage for a
second rehearsal.

Boston Globe, MA
May 18 2008

Time, chance weave life threads

By Liz Henry
Globe Correspondent / May 18, 2008

This is a story about three disparate parts of my life that should
have absolutely no connection with one other. One: I am Armenian. Two:
I am from Dorchester. Three: I am a new teacher developer. And this is
how they connected.

I am the daughter of an Armenian father, an Armenian Genocide
survivor, and an American-born Armenian mother. While I was growing
up, my father did not speak often about being a survivor; he was too
busy trying to survive here in Boston. In his 80s, he returned for the
first time to his birthplace. When he got back, he started to tell us
what little he remembered, as a 3-year-old, of his trek across the
desert, when he and his aunt and cousins escaped.

The story he told most often was of the day that a Turkish soldier on
horseback scooped him up from the fleeing refugees. My father had
blond curls and blue eyes. They were remarkable into his old age; they
must have been incredible on a little child in Armenia, where dark
hair and eyes are the norm. The gendarme held him as he rode into a
Turkish village and deposited him with a family. My father said he
remembered a group of men playing cards and smoking. He was the
soldier’s gift to the family. But then, according to Dad, he started
to cry and kick and scream and whine to the point where the impatient
card-players could not stand it anymore and gave him back to the
soldier, who returned little Anoosh to his aunt. He came to America in
1917 or so, moved to Watertown, got an education, married, had
children, and lived a happy life until he died in 2004.

Two: I was born and brought up in the Codman Square area of
Dorchester. My world was our street, Wheatland Avenue; Kaspar Brothers
Market, which my great-uncles owned; my school, the John Greenleaf
Whittier on Southern Avenue; my cousins’ house on Talbot Avenue; and
the Codman Square Branch Library. I played Barbies with Gail across
the street, jumped the hydrant on the corner, and watered the flowers
with my grandmother, who lived upstairs. A treat was taking the bus to
Ashmont Station, meeting my girlfriends at Washington Station, going
to Filene’s Basement, the Windsor Button Shop, and then having lunch
at Bob Lee’s Islander. I was 10.

Later, at 12, I would walk from my house to Girls Latin School in the
center of Codman Square. After school, I would stop often at my old
familiar library.

We moved from Dorchester to Watertown when I was 17, after my
80-year-old grandmother was mugged and her eyeglasses broken. It was
the last in a series of seemingly minor assaults, which collectively
had too much of an impact. We were out of there.

Three: In August 2007, I was appointed a new teacher developer for
Boston Public Schools. In this role, I mentor and support 14
first-year teachers for BPS. I look forward to Thursdays because that
is when I go to Noonan Business Academy in the Dorchester High School
complex. From my home in Winchester, I drive down I-93 south, down
Dorchester Avenue, up onto Melville Avenue. I take a left onto
Washington Street and go back to my childhood. On the left is the
former Girls Latin School, now an apartment building for the
elderly. In front of me is my beloved library, now a community health
center. A couple of short blocks later, I take a left onto
Peacevale. And this is where it all comes together.

more stories like thisOne of my new teachers, Rob, has been teaching
the Armenian Genocide as part of his History Alive/Facing History and
Ourselves curriculum. What I see today in his class takes my breath
away. Students are making posters, poetry, or essays to reflect on
what they have learned. This in and of itself is startling. I never
learned about the Armenian Genocide in school. It was never written
about in books or acknowledged by any of my teachers. Mr. Martinelle
has taught an entire unit on it as a prelude to the Holocaust.

"Miss, what does genocide mean? What is its root word? Where does it
come from?" This from an African-American young man about 8 inches
taller than I am. I explain that "genus" means species and "cide"
means . . .

He knows what it means, and after thanking me, goes back to his seat
to continue writing. Devon writes a haiku about how no one
listened. Stephanie draws haunting pictures. Each one can explain what
the Armenian Genocide was/is. I tell them the story about my father
and the horseman. They listen raptly. They ask me questions. I answer
as best I can.

They awe and inspire me. I shake my head as I reflect how this little
class could bring three such different and distinct parts of my life
together. To listen to these students protest the injustices against
Armenians and Jews and Rwandans and themselves, with such dignity, is
amazing. I am honored to be in their company.

LEGISLATIVE ISSUES CONCERNING MASS MEDIA DISCUSSED

National Assembly of RA
May 16 2008
Armenia

On May 15 the representative of the delegation of the Secretariat
on Media Division of the Council of Europe Ms Franziska Klopfer,
and experts Ms Natalia Petrova and Elisabeth Robson were in the
National Assembly.

At the meeting with Mrs Hranush Hakobyan, Chairperson of the NA
Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport
and Ms Naira Zohrabyan, Deputy Chairperson Mrs Franziska Klopfer,
Programme Adviser of the Directorate General of Human Rights and
Legal Affairs of the Council of Europe said that the delegation
was involved in the issues of mass media, freedom of speech. They
would like to know how to be useful, as they have a programme with
the European Commission for 2008-2009, and in that framework events
concerning the issues of freedom of speech will be organized.

The Committee Chairperson Ms Hranush Hakobyan touched upon the
functioning legislation on the activity of the mass media means,
noting that three laws had been adopted, from which the law on Mass
Media was highly assessed by the specialists, and up to now a proposal
for amending was not received, what could not be said about the law
On Television and Radio, which was adopted earlier and needed to be
amended. According to the Committee Chairperson, there are articles
in the law, which give a reason for misunderstanding.

The sides touched upon issues of providing financing, formation of
the council and independence of the Public TV Company.

Mrs Hakobyan highlighted in the information field the journalists’
education, their training, classification of the journalists’ ethics,
etc. According to him, in these issues too the relevant structures
of the Council of Europe can be useful with their experience and
programmes. It was considered necessary to make aware the society of
legal knowledge, to create favourable conditions for the activity of
the regional mass media, etc.

The Deputy Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal
Affairs Mr Artyush Shahbazyan, members Mr Hovhannes Margaryan and
Artak Davtyan also met with the representative of the delegation
of the Secretariat on Media Division of the Council of Europe Ms
Franziska Klopfer, and experts Ms Natalia Petrova and Elisabeth Robson.

Informing the MPs about the aim of the visit Ms Franziska Klopfer noted
that events took place in the framework of the 2008-2009 programme on
the freedom of mass media in Armenia. Ms Natalia Petrova highlighted
the role of the media in the formation of the democratic state.

The guests were interested in the amendments to the law on Television
and Radio, the elimination of Article 318 of the Criminal Code,
decriminalization of defamation, etc.

The Deputy Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal
Affairs Mr Artyush Shahbazyan said that, taking into account the CE
assignments, a committee was set up to improve that legal system. Mr
Shabazyan highlighted the creation of the culture of honouring the
democracy and freedom of speech, which was not possible to regulate by
law. According to the Deputy Chairman, there is a problem to improve
the society, and the journalists should understand that they are free
in their professional activity but they should not offend and slander
the citizen. Mr Hovhannes Margaryan noted that the parliament made
an amendment in the Criminal Code and repealed the Article 318.

In Mr Margaryan’s words, legislative initiative envisaging an amendment
to the article regarding the defamation is in circulation. He said
that in the region Armenia is the only country, where none of the
journalists was brought to responsibility for defamation or offense. Mr
Artak Davtyan noted that in Armenia the compliance of the laws with
EU standards was highlighted, as the membership of Armenia to the
European Union was expected.

During the meeting the sides also touched upon other issues of mutual
interest.

WHO NEEDS A DOME WEIGHING 100 TONS?

KarabakhOpen
17-05-2008 12:47:17

The apartment buildings built on Tumanyan and Azatamartikneri streets
in Stepanakert over the past few years comply with seismic regulations,
said the deputy director of the Eastern Service of Seismic Protection
Arkady Grigoryan in an interview with Karabakh-Open.com. He also
noted that the Business Center which is being built not far from
the foreign ministry, as well as the nine-story building on Tumanyan
and the houses for army officers near the military registration and
enlistment office in Stepanakert.

Arkady Grigoryan says the conclusion is made after a corresponding
checking.

In answer to the question if there were any breaches and if so, what
action is taken, Arkady Grigoryan said seismic regulations were ignored
in the construction of the house of the National Assembly. According
to the project, there was to be a dome weighing 100 tons which was
a breach of seismic regulations. After the conclusion of the service
the dome was replaced by a lighter one.

Arkady Grigoryan also told about the apartment building for officers in
Martuni. The building did not comply with the regulations. Currently
a new project is being worked out, which takes into consideration
the requirements of seismic protection.

The deputy director thinks that construction projects must be studied
by the seismic service. According to him, last year the service
received 55 requests for conclusion on reconstruction projects from
citizens last year.

STATE FINALS HAVE BEGUN IN ARTSAKH STATE UNIVERSITY

Azat Artsakh Daily
Published on May 16, 2008
NKR Republic

>From May 15th state finals of 2008 have begun in Artsakh State
University, which will last till June 6. First day the graduates
passed exams of eight professions.The chairmen of state examination
boards are invited from RA State Universities by NKR Ministry of
Education and Science. The pecularity of this year’s state exams
is, that the University gives at once two issues either diploma’d
specialists or bachelors, As it’s known, Artsakh State University,
assuming as a basis the reforms taking root in university system,
it’s already some years, that it has passed into the system of
three degrees, it assumes bachelor, magistracy and graduate course.
This year 1432 students will graduate Artsakh State University.

ONCE MORE ABOUT PRINCIPAL POSITION OF AZERBAIJAN ON RESOLUTION OF NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT

Today.Az
cs/44990.html
May 15 2008
Azerbaijan

Day.Az correspondent asked deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Araz
Azimov to voice principal position of Azerbaijan on the resolution
of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict once again.

A.Azimov stated that Azerbaijan’s position is quite clear, as
it has been repeatedly voiced on the highest level clearly and
exactly. Nevertheless, the main principal positions can be shortly
formulated in the following manner:

1. The conflict should be settled in the framework of the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan and this approach has no alternative.

2. The conflict solution should envision not only the liberation
of seven regions, surrounding Nagorno Karabakh. The main task is
the full restoration of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and
preservation of Nagorno Karabakh within Azerbaijan to ensure its due
status. The return of seven regions around Nagorno Karabakh does not
ensure the complete resolution of the conflict.

3. Self-determination is only possible within the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan. International law envisions
application of the said principle only in the form of internal
self-determination. International law does not envision and imply any
grounds for separation of a part of a state without agreement of the
said state;

4. The definition of the status of Nagorno Karabakh requires return of
Azerbaijani population, driven out of their native lands, and ensuring
their security, like to the Armenian population. Only after that the
definition of the status would be possible;

5. The road, passing Lachin, should be rendered for the equal and
mutual use of both parties. This would guarantee normal, safe and
stable functioning of this transport communication.

6. For development of Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan is ready to
undertake all measures, favorable for both communities, that will
reside in this region. The main obstacle for passing to this stage
is Armenia’s occupation of the Azerbaijani lands;

7. Principles of return of Azerbaijanis to Nagorno Karabakh, use
of the road, passing Lachin by both parties, and definition of the
status of the region within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan
should be included in the draft main principles of the resolution of
the conflict. Only in this case will the discussions be effective;

8. Nagorno Karabakh should remain an integral part of Azerbaijan. This
will promote the resolution of the conflict and restoration of normal
ties between Armenia and Azerbaijan. If Armenia choses any other way,
it will gain nothing, except for animosity and isolation.