Author: Madatian Greg

VIVACELL-MTS ADDS 3 MORE ARMENIAN CHANNELS TO ITS MOBILE TV SERVICE

ArmInfo
2009-12-01 13:29:00

ArmInfo. VivaCell-MTS announces today that 3 additional Armenian TV
channels are made available over its Mobile TV service: Shogakat,
Yerevan TV and ALM TV channels, VivaCell-MTS press-service told
ArmInfo.

Currently, VivaCell-MTS’ Mobile TV service offers a selection of
15 channels, featuring the mix of sports coverage, music, serials,
entertainment, news bulletins and documentary programmes, and other
programs. Earlier, on November 12th, when VivaCell-MTS announced the
launch of its Mobile TV service in test mode, the service offered
12 channels including H1, H2, Armenia, Yerkir Media, Kentron, Shant,
Hay TV, TV 5, ATV, ArmNews, Ararat TV and Dar 21.

"Empowered by UMTS/HSPA technology, VivaCell-MTS Mobile TV service
enables watching TV programs over the mobile handset as enjoyable
as home TV set. Mobile TV is a a truly transformational technology
changing the way people think and act, adding comfort to our lifestyle,
making it easier. People are given the freedom and control to watch
what they want, where and when they want," commented VivaCell-MTS
General Manager Ralph Yirikian.

The impact of Mobile TV extends far beyond cutting-edge technology.

This innovation will bring with it huge social impact. Mobile TV
opens new ways to expand media access. It represents an enjoyable
way of filling free time and also an opportunity of watching
important business, social and political TV programs just on the
move. In addition to being a new trend technology, Mobile TV is
expected to have explosive growth in the future, creating new revenue
opportunities not only for the Company but also for broadcasters and
advertisers. Mobile network will be used to deliver media to consumers
outside their home. Deploying a successful Mobile TV service has much
in common with any other large-scale product and service offered by
VivaCell-MTS. It takes time, technology, team-work, investment and a
clear strategyLeadership is about responsibility: to be dynamic and
responsive to the market demand, in the market we are flexible enough
to quickly adjust to consumer trends and lessons learnt. Mass-market
adoption of every innovative telecommunication solution is a matter
of time; and when it hits, the advantages will go to the industry’s
first movers," said Ralph Yirikian.

VivaCell-MTS Mobile TV is launched in test mode and during this period
Mobile TV is open to all without charge. VivaCell-MTS subscribers,
whose have 3G enabled phones, just have to follow links tv.mts.am
or tv.vivacell.am from their phone browser to enjoy popular programs
broadcasted by Armenian TV channels.

ARF INITIATES STRUGGLE AGAINST THE RATIFICATION OF THE ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS
Anna Nazaryan

"Radiolur"
01.12.2009 14:55

At the initiative of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun, 14 parties and 70
non-governmental organizations issued a statement today against the
Armenian-Turkish protocols, in which they express their resoluteness
to fight the ratification of the protocols in their current shape.

The documents are to be considered buy the Constitutional Court
in the near future, and the forces united under the slogan "No to
the protocols" will try to present proofs of the protocols being
anti-constitutional.

"Yes, the ball is on the Turkish part of the field but not in the
goal, which means that that country controls the situations and does
whatever is in its interests," representative of the ARF Supreme
Body Armen Rustamyan said, speaking about the dangerousness of the
protocols in their current wording.

They will first try to present their remarks to the Constitutional
Court and will attempt to have the issue included in the National
Assembly agenda. If the efforts produce no results, they will take
other steps and even demand shift of power.

RUSSIAN TRAIN DERAILMENT DEATH TOLL RISES TO 26, 4 MISSING

armradio.am
30.11.2009 15:34

Four people are still unaccounted for after the recent derailment
of a train due to a bomb blast, with the death toll rising to 26,
officials said on Monday.

The death of a hospitalized female passanger on Sunday brought the
official death toll to 26, Health Minister Tatyana Golikova said
on Monday.

Three cars of high-speed train No. 166 from Moscow to St. Petersburg
derailed Friday evening after an explosive device equivalent to 7 kg
(15 lbs) of TNT detonated on the railroad tracks. According to the
latest information, 26 people were killed and over 90 were left
injured. One body has yet to be identified.

"The whereabouts of four passengers of the derailed Nevsky Express
train have yet to be established," an emergencies ministry spokesman
said.

The incident is being investigated as a terrorist attack, and President
Dmitry Medvedev has demanded an "intensive" probe.

The attack occurred near the border of the Novgorod and Tver regions,
some 400 kilometers (250 miles) northwest of Moscow.

The train, with more than 600 passengers, is popular with business
people and government officials, and Boris Yevstratikov, the head
of the Russian State Reserves Agency, and Sergei Tarasov, a former
senator from St. Petersburg, were among the dead.

A blast derailed another Nevsky Express train, injuring 60 people,
with some 30 people hospitalized, in August 2007, RIA Novosti reports.

Armenian Pavel Derdzakyan’s name is listed among those killed in
Nevsky Express derailment. Derdzakyan was born in 1982, according to
Komsomolskaya Pravda.

Arda Mandikian
Arda Mandikian, the Greek soprano, who died on November 8 aged 85, was
a great favourite of Benjamin Britten and created the role of Miss
Jessel, the ghostly former governess in Turn of the Screw; but her
international singing career came to a premature end in the 1960s
after she spoke out publicly against the military junta which ruled
Greece at that time.

Daily Telegraph/UK
Published: 6:17PM GMT 23 Nov 2009

Arda Mandikian (left) as the ghost of Miss Jessel in Britten’s ‘Turn
of the Screw’ Striking-looking with classical Greek features and jet
black hair, Arda Mandikian had a voice which was notable for its
emotional intensity. She appeared regularly at the Aldeburgh Festival
during the 1950s, and created the part of Miss Jessel in September
1954 at La Fenice in Venice, repeating the role in the British
première the following month and taking part in the subsequent
recording in January 1955. Britten later explained that he had written
the part with her vocal and acting abilities in mind.

She first appeared at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, in Britten’s
Peter Grimes in December 1953, and Britten was inspired to write the
music for Apollo in Aschenbach’s dream sequence of Death in Venice
after hearing her sing the First Delphic Hymn, an early Greek melody,
at the 1954 Aldeburgh Festival.

In the early 1960s Arda Mandikian returned to Greece to look after her
elderly mother. Subsequently she spoke out against the Greek colonels
and refused to sing in public in protest at their repression. As a
result she was kept under surveillance and dared not accept
invitations to sing abroad for fear she would be refused permission to
return to her homeland.

Arda Mandikian was born in Smyrna (now Turkish Izmir) on September 1
1924, the daughter of survivors of the 1915 massacre of Armenians. The
family fled to Athens, and she studied at the Athens Conservatory with
the soprano Elvira de Hildalgo (who also taught Maria Callas) and the
mezzo Alexandra Trianti. She made her debut aged 15 singing the duet
Mira, O Norma from Bellini’s Norma with Callas.

In 1948 her interest in the folk music of Ancient Greece brought her
to England to meet Egon Wellesz, a leading scholar of Byzantine and
early Greek music. A recital at Morley College led to invitations to
perform in Oxford, at the Wigmore Hall and on the Third Programme. In
1950 she made her opera debut at Oxford as Dido in the second part of
Berlioz’s Les Troyens.

The following year she appeared at the Mermaid Theatre as the First
Witch in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, later taking the part of the
Sorceress, which she recorded twice, the second time in Benjamin
Britten’s version. She made her debut at the Paris Opera as Eurydice
in 1953 and at Covent Garden the same year as one of the nieces in
Peter Grimes. She returned to the Garden to sing Musetta in La Bohème
and in 1954 the title role in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Le Coq d’Or. She sang
regularly at the Proms and widely in Europe.

After the fall of the Greek junta, Arda Mandikian became a prominent
and respected figure in Greek cultural life, serving as joint director
of Greek National Opera (1974-80).

Arda Mandikian was unmarried.

ARMENIAN SYSTEM OF BENEFITS NEEDS SUBSTANTIAL REVISION

ARKA
Nov 27, 2009

YEREVAN, November 27. /ARKA/. Armenian system of benefits needs
substantial reconsideration, Hakob Hakobyan, chairman of National
Assembly’s standing committee on social affairs, said Thursday at a
press conference.

He thinks faults of the system leaves room for persons having stable
earnings to submit forged papers and receive benefits.

Hakobyan said more than 16,000 illegal beneficiaries were removed
from lists in 2009 alone that as a result of scrutiny.

He said that the government can’t help those in need while illegal
beneficiaries remain included in the lists.

He said that Armenia has 100,000 poor people whose pension or benefit
amount to AMD 8,000.

The government earmarked AMD 242.4 billion in the 2010 state budget
for social expenses.

The share of social expenses in GDP is 7.5%.

The government earmarked AMD 31 billion for paying benefits to
low-income families in 2010 against this year’s 32.3 billion.

One family benefit will average AMD 23,000 in 2010.

The lump-sum state benefit for third birth in a family was left
unchanged at AMD 430,000.

The monthly benefit for care of up-to-two-year-old babies was left
unchanged as well – at AMD 18,000.

Pensions remained the same and even rose due to changes in rates.

Pension will amount to AMD 25,700 in 2010 against 25,500 now.

Basic pension is set at AMD 8,000 for 2010.

The 2010 state budget revenue is AMD 676.6 billion, expenditure AMD
859.6 billon and deficit AMD 183 billion.

One dollar is expected to cost AMD 376 in 2010.

ANDRANIK VOSKANYAN: WE SHOULD STOP OBSESSING ABOUT RESPIRATORY VIRUSES, INCLUDING H1N1 VIRUS

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.11.2009 17:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Bronchial asthma is organism’s defense reaction, a
breathing problem related to bronchial tubes’ contraction as a result
of inhaling smoke, dust or other causative agents. As with allergy,
family history matters; there’s a strong genetic component for asthma.

The number of asthmatics in Armenia comprises 5-7% , similar to any
country in our climatic zone, Russia, for instance," Bnabuzhutyun Ltd.

Manager, Russia’s Natural Sciences Academy professor Andranik Voskanyan
said at November 27 news conference.

According to professor, mortality rate for asthmatics comprised 4 out
of 100 000 people before 1998-99. With the appearance of medicines,
controlling asthma attacks, mortality rate was decreased by four
times. "In our country, anti-asthma drugs are provided free-of -charge
for children under 14 as well as adults receiving treatment within
governmental order frameworks," Andranik Voskanyan noted.

Andranik Voskanyan named natural methods like solar treatment,
aerotherapy, thalassotherapy to be effective in asthma treatment. "We
should stop obsessing about respiratory viruses, including H1N1. They
may trigger the disease, but not more or less than other factors,"
professor explained.

DELEGATION OF TURKISH INTELLECTUALS VISITS ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT

ArmInfo
2009-11-26 18:54:00

ArmInfo. A delegation of Turkish intellectuals and a number of
public organizations engaged in gender problems visited the Armenian
National Assembly on Thursday. The Turkish delegation is in Armenia
as part of the program "European Integration and Gender problems",
Urban Sustainable Development Fund.

The parliamentary press-service told ArmInfo the Turkish delegation
expressed desire to meet with Armenian women parliamentarians to
discuss the problems related to national programs on women problems
and European integration process in the country.

Armenian women parliamentarians received the delegation and pined
hopes with promotion of the Armenian-Turkish dialogue by means of
women softness.

Demir Rahime Bulut, Professor of Bosphorus University, said she is
studying the works by Armenians writing in Turkish language and has
learnt much about new facts of activity of Armenians in Turkey. In
this context, Naira Zohrabyan, parliamentarian from Prosperous Party
of Armenia, expressed confidence that Rahime Bulut will be impartial
helping Turkey to admit the historical truth, since every country
becomes stronger also when it recognizes its own history.

For their part, parliamentarians H. Naghdalyan and K. Achemyan said
active meetings will help the parties know each other better. They
highlighted the importance of meetings between intellectuals of the
two countries that are able to form public opinion.

Larisa Alaverdyan, Anahit Bakhshyan and Zaruhi Postanjyan representing
Heritage Party are sure that more contacts between the two publics
will promote confidence building and true presentation of history
will be in favor of the two peoples.

The Turkish delegation thanked the parliamentarians for warm reception
and free talks and came out for promotion of contacts to boost the
Armenian-Turkish dialogue.

‘BEELINE ARMENIA ADDS 16,000 MOBILE SUBSCRIBERS IN Q3’

Digital Media Asia
November 25, 2009 Wednesday

DMASIA-25 November 2009-‘Beeline Armenia adds 16,000 mobile subscribers
in Q3’

Vimpelcom Armenia saw its revenues fall 7.8 percent year-on-year to
AMD 19.16 billion (RUB 1.61 billion) in the third quarter. Revenue
generated by mobile operations was RUB 637 million, down 16.6 percent
versus the corresponding period of the previous year, while fixed-line
revenues increased 7.9 percent to RUB 974 million. OIBDA was up by
1.5 percent year-on-year to RUB 825 million, with an OIBDA margin
of 51.2 percent. Mobile OIBDA plunged 9.2 percent year-on-year to
RUB 306 million, and fixed-line OIBDA was up 9 percent to RUB 519
million. The operator, which uses the brand name Beeline, added 16,000
mobile subscribers in the quarter to reach a total base of 502,000
at end-September. Vimpelcom Armenia had 18,100 broadband subscribers
at 30 September. ARPU was up 1.6 percent sequentially to AMD 5,117,
while MOU increased by 12.8 percent quarter-on-quarter to 269.0.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT TO TAKE PART IN THE SESSION OF THE EURASEC INTER-STATE COUNCIL

ARMENPRESS
Nov 26, 2009

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 26, ARMENPRESS: Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
pays today a two-day working visit to Minsk to participate in the
works of the session of the EurAsEC Inter-State Council. In this
organization Armenia has status of an observer.

Presidential press office told Armenpress that the delegation headed by
the Armenian President consists of Finance Minister Tigran Davtyan,
Transport and Communication Minister Gurgen Sargsyan and other
officials.

ARMENIAN MINISTER CONFIRMS PROGRESS ON SOME ISSUES MADE OVER KARABAKH IN MUNICH

Public Television of Armenia
Nov 23 2009

Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandyan believes there has been
"progress regarding some issues" in the Karabakh settlement talks
at 22 November meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in
Munich, the Armenian Public TV reported on 23 November.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said prior to the Munich meeting
that if the talks do not yield "any results", Azerbaijan may resume
hostilities, ANS TV reported on 21 November.

"I cannot say that the talks were smooth and easy, but progress has
been recorded on some issues, which has provided an opportunity to
maintain the positive tendency, which is being noticed during eight,
yes, about eight meetings of the two presidents over the [last]
one and a half years," Nalbandyan told Armenian Public TV during his
recent visit to Italy.

"You are asking why after each meeting [of the two presidents]
interpretations made in Azerbaijan differ from those [made] in Armenia
– I can only say that statements made in Armenia after the meetings
are in accordance with statements made by the three co-chairs [of
the OSCE Minsk Group], that is they [the statements made in Armenia]
correspond to reality," Nalbandyan told the Armenian Public TV.