Author: Mamian George

BMI INTRODUCES NEW CABIN BAGGAGE POLICY

A1+
07 January, 2008

bmi, London Heathrow’s second largest airline, is to introduce new
cabin baggage rules with effect from Monday 7th January 2008, easing
the "one bag rule" for hand luggage taken on flights, following the
removal of certain restrictions at a number of UK airports by the
Department for Transport.

Under the new guidelines passengers travelling in business and premium
economy cabins will be able to take two pieces of cabin baggage,
while economy cabin passengers are able to take one piece. Individual
pieces of cabin baggage must be no larger than 55 x 40 x 23cm and the
passenger should be able to lift their bags unaided into the overhead
lockers. Rules governing the carriage of liquids remain unchanged.*

In addition, all passengers may also bring one personal item, such
as a small handbag, purse, small briefcase, laptop or baby-change
bag. Laptops in a thin satchel or slimline briefcase will be considered
a personal item but those in a larger computer bag or bulkier briefcase
will be counted as a piece of cabin baggage. Personal items are
accepted at bmi’s discretion.

The policy, which is in line with fellow Star Alliance member
airlines, will apply from 7th January at the following UK airports
bmi operates from: London Heathrow, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh,
Aberdeen and Inverness.

Triple jeopardy: the Nazi plan to kill WWII leaders in Tehran

18:03 | 04/ 01/ 2008

The attempt by Nazi Germany to assassinate the "Big Three" – Stalin,
Roosevelt and Churchill – was foiled thanks to Soviet intelligence

MOSCOW. (Nikolai Dolgopolov) – The British Big Ape Media TV company and
the Moscow TV Center are making a documentary series about
Russian-British relations over four centuries. The Lion and the Bear,
for release in 2008, will mix documentary history, travelogue and
personal accounts and will be presented by author, and Winston
Churchill’s granddaughter, Celia Sandys.

One of the best sections in the film is devoted to the Tehran meeting
of the three leaders in 1943, when Hitler’s agents planned to destroy
the Big Three in one fell swoop. The attempt was foiled by Soviet
intelligence.

The "Long Jump" operation to assassinate the Big Three was masterminded
on Hitler’s orders by Otto Scorzeny, an SS thug and daredevil saboteur.

The first tip-off about the planned attempt came from Soviet
intelligence agent Nikolai Kuznetsov, aka Wermacht Oberleutnant Paul
Siebert, from Nazi-occupied Ukraine. Kuznetsov, a famed Soviet spy, got
an SS man named Ulrich von Ortel to spill the secret over a bottle of
good brandy. Von Ortel not only told his "friend" Paul about the
operation, but invited him to accompany him on a trip to Tehran to buy
cheap Persian rugs.

"Light cavalry" had no mercy for the Germans

In the autumn of 1943, fate thrust 19-year-old Gevork Vartanian into
the center of the operation. Vartanian was an intelligence agent as
well as the son of a Soviet intelligence agent who worked in Iran under
the cover of a wealthy merchant. He received his first assignment and
the cover name Amir from the resident in 1940.

He formed a group of seven like-minded people. All were of about the
same age – Armenians, a Lezghin and an Assyrian – and they communicated
in Russian and Farsi. Their parents had been exiled or fled from the
USSR to escape Stalin’s gulag. They were outcasts and refugees, but
they put their lives at risk for the sake of the Motherland that had
rejected them.

They were new to the intelligence profession and people from Soviet
intelligence had to teach them as they went along. The resident called
the group "light cavalry" because of their agility and speed. They
shadowed Germans and identified Iranian agents. Gevork Vartanian/Amir
today claims that the "light cavalry" had been instrumental in bringing
about the arrest of several hundred people who posed a great danger to
the USSR and Britain, who both had troops stationed in Iran as early as
the autumn of 1941.

On the eve of the Tehran Conference, the Soviet and British field
stations were working under tremendous strain. The "light cavalry"
received orders to prevent the assassination attempt at all costs.
These young men handled the job. I asked Gevork Vartanian whether it
was true that on the eve of the Tehran Conference the Soviet and
British intelligences moved ruthlessly to detain all the suspects.

"What did you expect?" Gevork Vartanian replied. "To let the Germans
take out the three leaders with one stroke? People were placed under
temporary arrest on the slightest suspicion.

If suspicions were not confirmed, they were released after the
conference. On one occasion we had to arrest an Iranian Nazi agent at a
wedding party. We got a tip that he was complicit in the assassination
plot. As it turned out, it was not the first terrorist attack he had
been a part of."

And no "Long Jumps"

During the filming at the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service press
office, Celia Sandys tried to find out from Gevork Vartanian how they
had managed to foil the plot. The slender man in a well-fitting dark
suit with the top Russian military decoration – the Golden Star of the
Hero – answered in good English and then, at Ms. Sandys’s request,
repeated the answers in Russian.

"Six German radio operators had been dropped by parachute into the holy
Muslim city of Qum and made it to Tehran. That was the start of
Operation Long Jump. The Germans established communication with Berlin.
The `light cavalry’ was given the mission to locate the intruders’
radio station in the huge city of Tehran. Day and night, 14 to 16 hours
a day we scoured the streets. Eventually we found the place where the
group was hiding.

"From then on the Germans were transmitting messages to Berlin that
were intercepted by the Soviet and British intelligence. But the Nazi
radio operators were nobody’s fools. One of them managed to send a
coded message, `we are under surveillance.’

"The principals in Germany realized that the operation was getting off
to a disastrous start. The Nazis decided against sending the main group
led by Scorenzy to certain death. The Germans failed to make their Long
Jump.

"Your grandfather," Vartanian went on, "was staying at the British
Embassy, where he was provided with security guards. But the U.S.
Embassy was on the city’s outskirts and staying there was too risky. In
a departure from the rules of protocol, Roosevelt, after much urging,
stayed at the Soviet Embassy, where, of course, Stalin was also
staying."

Churchill’s granddaughter was naturally curious to know what security
precautions had been taken to guard the Prime Minister.

"The street between the Soviet and British Embassies, which were
located close to each other, had been sealed off. They stretched a
six-meter tarpaulin sheet to make something like a passage guarded by
Soviet and British machine-gunners.

"All the participants in the Tehran Conference were able to go back and
forth safely.

"According to some information, the Nazis planned to get into the
British Embassy through a water supply channel and assassinate
Churchill on his birthday, November 30. But these plans were foiled.

"In those days I was also there, in Tehran. I was close enough to see
your grandfather, Stalin and Roosevelt. What struck me was their
confidence and calmness."

"You must have had a certain amount of luck," noted Ms. Sandys.

"Yes, of course," Vartanian agreed. "Luck is important for many
professions, and all the more so for that of an intelligence agent."

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not
necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

Source: Rossiiskaya Gazeta

Turkish trials spur reform of police, judiciary
Allegations of misconduct in two murders ` one of an outspoken
journalist ` have heightened debate.
By Yigal Schleifer | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
>From the January 4, 2008 edition

Reporter Yigal Schliefer discusses attempts by Turkey’s government to
place a greater emphasis on individual human rights.Istanbul – For
years, debate about the fairness of Turkey’s police and judiciary has
simmered here. Now, two high-profile murder trials under way are
bringing new light to underlying concerns and spurring stalled efforts
for reform. The new intensity of discussion suggests a step toward
transparency, though experts are still critical of the institutions.

On Jan. 19, Turkey will mark the first anniversary of outspoken
Armenian journalist Hrant Dink’s killing, which has been surrounded by
accusations of police and prosecutorial impropriety.

Such claims have gained new momentum with the trial for the murder of
three Christians in a Bible publishing house last spring. Since the
trial opened in November, press reports emerged alleging police
collusion in the murders and accused prosecutors in the central Turkish
city of Malatya of seriously mishandling the investigation. The
allegations were brought by lawyers representing the families of the
victims, based on evidence introduced to the court.

As shocked as Turks have been by the accusations in the Dink and
Malatya cases, observers say the fact that they are coming to light so
quickly represents in itself a kind of step forward.

"There have been a lot of political murders and crimes in the past in
Turkey, but it was always very difficult to find out who did it," says
Hakan Bakircioglu, a lawyer representing Dink’s family at the trial.
"These two cases might be the first time we can find the murderers and
maybe not catch, but at least touch, the members of state organizations
who might be behind the crimes."

Dink’s murder on an Istanbul sidewalk last January was quickly followed
up by reports that top police officials had been informed months before
about a plot by Turkish nationalists to kill him. Meanwhile, a video
showing several policemen proudly posing with the murder suspect after
he was caught surfaced soon after the murder.

In the Malatya case, press reports have indicated that the suspects,
also young nationalists, had phone conversations with police and
possibly even with a prosecutor from Istanbul in the months before the
murders, something that was not followed up by the prosecutors. The
police in Malatya have been accused in the press of destroying
videotapes recorded in the hospital room of one of the accused, who
injured himself during the crime.

"There is a huge lack of transparency and a huge lack of accountability
in the Turkish security services," says Volkan Aytar, a researcher at
the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), an
Istanbul-based think tank.

Amnesty International has also criticized Turkey’s institutions. "The
investigation and prosecution of serious human rights violations
committed by officers of the police and gendarmerie are flawed and
compounded by inconsistent decisions by prosecutors and judges,"
concluded a report last summer.

In response to controversy surrounding the the Malatya case, Turkish
Interior Minister Besir Atalay promised last month to "increase our
transparency," announcing that two senior police officials would
conduct a probe.

Over the past decade, the Turkish police force has taken some steps
toward reform, starting a program which has sent some 250 of its
members to obtain advanced degrees in criminal justice in the US and
Europe, to help improve the force from the inside.

"There is no doubt that there has been an improvement in the last ten
years," says Onder Aytac, a lecturer at Turkey’s national police
academy in Ankara. "But there is a kind of fighting between the old
system and the new system. There are some people in the police force
who are trying to go along the old way."

Turkey’s judiciary, today seen as one of the pillars maintaining
Turkey’s secular system, has also made some reform efforts. Over the
last few years, more than 9,000 judges and prosecutors have undergone
European Union-sponsored training to learn about European human rights
law. Turkey is a candidate for EU membership and is a member of the
Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights.

Still, a recent survey of judges and prosecutors taken by TESEV found
that a majority still favors the interests of the state over those of
the individual, with 51 percent saying they believe that upholding
human rights could pose a threat to state security. But a new
constitution in the works would shift the emphasis more toward
individual rights, paving the way for Turkey to join the EU.

Farmers who breach farming regulations will not get government
assistance

29-12-2007 12:48:13 – KarabakhOpen

Prime minister Ara Harutiunyan visited Martuni and held a meeting of
the regional administration, the department of information and public
relations of the NKR government reports. It became known that the
urgent problems of water supply, roads, gas, nursery schools and
shortage of agronomists persist. The prime minister said the government
has made considerable assignments to address these problems.

It was mentioned that 143 million drams of government loans have not
been repaid, and repayment is too slow. `If the debtors are former and
present officials, the law enforcement agencies will deal with them,
and we will take measures,’ Ara Harutiunyan said.

The prime minister emphasized that the growth of income of communities
by 1-2 percent is too low with a 35 percent growth of the state budget
receipts. Area under arable crops is down by 7 thousand hectares
compared with last year. Some farmers let the soil rest, others think
wheat is not profitable. `Farmers who breach regulations will not get
government assistance,’ Ara Harutiunyan said.

Government assistance is loans, fertilizers at lower price, in-kind
assistance, and so on.

SecondsOut
Dec 27 2007

SecondsOut Upset Of The Year: Donaire TKO5 Darchinyan

Photo: Donaire stands over Darchinyan: HoganPhotos.com

By Paul Upham: When Nonito Donaire defeated defending world champion
Vic Darchinyan by 5th round stoppage at the Harbour Yard Arena in
Bridgeport, Connecticut on July 7, it not only won him the IBF/IBO
flyweight world titles, the brutal knockout has now also earned him
SecondsOut’s 2007 Upset Of The Year award.

Going into the world title fight, which was shown live in the USA on
Showtime, there was not too much on the 25 year-old Filipino’s record
that suggested that one of boxing’s best pound for pound punchers was
headed for his first professional loss.

31 year-old Darchinyan had defeated Donaire’s older brother Glenn in
October 2006, breaking his jaw in the process. This fight was a step
up for Nonito Donaire, but he proved that he is a worthy world
champion and also avenged his families’ honour in the process.

`I caught him walking in perfect with a counter shot,’ said Donaire,
improving his record to 18-1 (11). `One of my strategies was to throw
back after each time he landed a punch. I think that got him
thinking.’

The seven to one underdog, known as `The Filipino Flash’, landed a
savage punch to send Darchinyan to the canvas for the first time in
his career. As the Armenian born Australian came forward and
attempted to land his dangerous left hand, Donaire dipped his head to
the right and landed his own left hook directly on the champion’s
chin. Darchinyan struggled back to his feet and then crashed into the
ring ropes, his trainer Billy Hussein grabbing him as referee Eddie
Claudio waved off the contest at the 1:38 minute mark.

After four completed rounds, Donaire was leading 40-36 on one of the
scorecards. The other two cards had the match even at 38-apiece.

`This is a tremendous victory for not only me but for my family and
my people in the Philippines,’ said Donaire. `I could feel their
energy with me the whole fight. I felt great in there tonight.’

An Armenian 2000 Olympian, Darchinyan had a record of 28-0 (22) and
was attempting the seventh defense of his IBF crown and the sixth
defense of his IBO belt. Four consecutive stoppage wins on Showtime,
including a brutal beating of Victor Burgos, which sent him to
hospital and ended his career, had some speaking of Darchinyan as a
pound for pound top ten contender. One Donaire punch ended all of
that.

`I am very disappointed,’ Darchinyan said, after the loss. `I got
caught with a great shot. What can I say?’
Other contenders for the 2007 Upset Of The Year award included
Christian Mijares’ strong twelve round points win over fellow Mexican
star Jorge Arce at junior bantamweight on April 14.

Also impressive was Filipino veteran Gerry Penalosa turning back the
clock with a 7th round knockout of reigning WBO bantamweight world
champion Jhonny Gonzalez on August 11.

In a UK surprise, Welshman Gavin Rees won the WBA junior welterweight
world title with a unanimous twelve round points decision over
Souleymane M’baye on July 21.

But ultimately, while the others merited serious consideration, the
readers of SecondsOut.com have spoken and voted their 2007 Upset Of
The Year.

WINNER: Nonito Donaire W.TKO.5 Vic Darchinyan

Previous SecondsOut.com Upset Of The Year Awards

2006: Carlos Baldomir W.12 Zab Judah
2005: Zahir Raheem W.12 Erik Morales
2004: Danny Williams W.KO.4 Mike Tyson
2003: Corrie Sanders W.TKO.2 Wladimir Klitschko
2002: Vernon Forrest W.12 Shane Mosley I
2001: Hasim Rahman W.KO.4 Lennox Lewis
2000: Chris Byrd W.RSF.10 Vitali Klitschko

Paul Upham
Content Editor

amp;cs=23525

CANDIDATE OF ARF DASHNAKTSUTYUN AGAINST MYTHS

Lragir, Armenia
Dec 24 2007

Vahan Hovanisyan, presidential candidate from the ARF Dashnaktsutyun,
commented on rumors that come on the eve of the presidential election
in a news conference on December 24. Vahan Hovanisyan says the
first myth is that everything is predetermined, and the outcome
of the presidential election is already known. Vahan Hovanisyan
thinks the rumors are not the result of self-confidence of the
authors but the opposite feeling. The presidential candidate from
the ARF Dashnaktsutyun thinks when everything is predetermined, they
announce that a heated debate and competition is expected. And when
they say everything has been predetermined, the self-confidence is
mere pretension, Vahan Hovanisyan thinks.

He thinks the polls which give the highest popular rating to Serge
Sargsyan, and Vahan Hovanisyan is an outsider, are also false. The ARF
Dashnaktsutyun says this is the second myth which is shaped by polls
which are not trustworthy. "Especially what refers to us, since we
hold our polls to make sure our tactics, what refers to us, we doubt
their reliability because you might remember the results of polls by
people specializing in public polls suggested a rating for the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun which got 3-4 times more votes in the parliamentary
election," Vahan Hovanisyan says. According to him, the polls they
have conducted suggest that his rating is three times higher than he
is said to have, and it tends to grow, and Vahan Hovanisyan is the
second. The candidate from the ARF Dashnaktsutyun declines to tell who
the second is, noting that the difference is striking but shrinking.

Vahan Hovanisyan says he does not believe that Serge Sargsyan’s
rating is as high as the pollsters say. He also disbelieves that
Ter-Petrosyan’s rating is 52 percent, as Ter-Petrosyan’s team claims.

The candidate from the ARF Dashnaktsutyun doubts not only the local
but also the foreign polls which offer government propaganda for
an objective poll, such as the British ComRes or the U.S. Gallup
Institute, that a foreign authoritative organization cannot tamper
results of polls. "Sure they can," Vahan Hovanisyan says, adding that
false polls are conducted in both the U.K. and the United States. It
is important who orders, Vahan Hovanisyan notes.

"I can tell you the following. I remembered an example when several
polls were reported as sham in the U.K. and the United States. The same
is in Russia. I cannot see a major problem there. Besides, I think
it is very important who orders a poll. There is another peculiarity
in Armenia. Public polls do not always reflect the truth because of
the answers of people. People in Armenia are cautious, or have become
cautious, and their answers, especially when their identity is fixed,
it may differ from the real picture," Vahan Hovanisyan says.

He also noted that public polls do not have a considerable importance
to them because everything has just started. Another myth, according to
Vahan Hovanisyan, is that in the election campaign the frank criticize
and call for demolishing everything, noting that the ARF Dashnaktsutyun
is against calls for demolishing everything, and on the other hand,
it is against efforts to cover the present with concrete.

ARMENIA BACKS IRAN-ARMENIA GAS PIPELINE EXTENSION TO EUROPE

RIA Novosti
13:39 | 24/ 12/ 2007

YEREVAN, December 24 (RIA Novosti) – Armenia is not ruling out
extending the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline to Europe, the Armenian energy
minister said on Monday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in October that plans to
extend the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline to Europe were very promising.

"If Iran and Europe reach an agreement on gas supplies and consider
it possible to export gas via Armenia by the shortest and the most
effective method, we’ll naturally implement this project after
assessing its environmental and economic aspects," Armen Movsisyan
said.

Movsisyan said that if Armenia made such a decision, "no one will
prevent us from carrying this project through as it is advantageous
for the country and its economy.

The Armenian Energy Ministry earlier forecast commissioning of the
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline by early 2009.

The first 40 km (24 miles) leg of the pipeline went on stream in March,
and the second 141 km (87 miles) leg is currently being built.

The pipeline’s cost has been estimated at between $220 million and $250
million. During the first stage, Armenia will pump some 400 million
cubic meters of gas annually with plans to increase the volume to
2.3 billion cubic meters.

MILL OF STEPANAKERT WILL BE RUN BY KAREN BAGHDASAROV

KarabakhOpen
21-12-2007 15:56:56

President Bako Sahakyan met with the Russia-based businessman and
benefactor Karen Baghdasarov. During the meeting they discussed a
number of programs to be implemented in Artsakh, namely the mill
of Stepanakert. The businessmen assured that the factory will be
re-operated as soon as possible, the General Department of Information
of the president administration reports.

EU SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR SOUTH CAUCASUS: THE LAST DOCUMENT QUALIFIED TO INITIATE TALKS BETWEEN ARMENIA AND TURKEY IS TURKISH PRIME MINISTER’S LETTER

arminfo
2007-12-19 23:32:00

ArmInfo. The last document qualified to initiate talks between Armenia
and Turkey is Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s letter
to the Armenian president, EU Special Representative for the South
Caucasus Peter Semneby told journalists after the parliamentary
hearings "Armenian-Turkish relations: problems and prospects",
Wednesday.

He noted that he is not familiar with Armenian President Robert
Kocharyan’s letter of response to Ergogan, in which the Armenian
president offered to set up an intergovernmental commission, which
would cover the whole range of issues concerning Armenia-Turkey
relations. To note, in his letter to Kocharyan, the Turkish prime
minister offered to set up a commission of scientists and historians
to study the events of the past. Nevertheless, Semneby expressed EU’s
viewpoint, saying that the existing problems between Armenia and
Turkey should be discussed in any case. These are issues regarding
history and opening of the Armenian-Turkish border. Asked why Turkish
representatives took no part in the December 19 hearings, Semneby
supposed that they failed to come to Armenia because of their main
religious holiday – Novruz Bayram. At the same time, he expressed
hope that similar hearings with participation of Armenia and Turkey
will continue.

110 THOUSAND CHILDREN TAKE PART IN JOINT EVENTS OF LOS ANGELES CHRISTMAS FUND AND PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA OF ARMENIA IN EIGHT YEARS

Noyan Tapan
Dec 17 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 17, NOYAN TAPAN. It is already 8 years since the
Christmas charitable fund for parentless and disabled children of Los
Angeles jointly with the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Armenia has
been organizing charitable events. Up to now 110 thousand children
have taken part in those events.

According to the information provided to a Noyan Tapan correspondent by
Laert Movsisian, the Director of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra,
this year the charitable New Year ceremonies will start on December
27 in the Aram Khachatrian concert hall. Before January 10 New Year
ceremonies will be organized in all the orphanages of Armenia and in
the Boarding House for the Elderly of Nork. In general, 22-25 thousand
children will take part in those events.

Laert Movsisian stated that a telethon will be held in Los Angeles
on December 16, the sums raised during which will be given for
the organization of the above-mentioned events. According to him,
the partial repair of the orphanage of Kharberd is currently being
conducted by the financing of the fund.