Author: Nahapetian Samvel

RA BUDGETED DEFICIT NOT TO EXCEED 7.5%

PanARMENIAN.NET
09.09.2009 13:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Budgeted deficit not to exceed 7.5% in Armenia,
according to IMF forecast.

"Six months ago the Armenian government was concerned over the deficit
index, since the volume of tax flows has considerably reduced. This
led to arrears in wage and pension payment," said Ms. Nienke Oomes,
IMF Resident Representative in Armenia.

"Nevertheless, successful talks between the Armenian government
and international structures allowed financing budgeted deficit
in 2009. At that, IMF will allocate $155 million, World Bank – $60
million and ADB – $80 million," she said.

HISTORIC ARMENIAN WIN

ESPN
Sept 9 2009

Armenia caused a shock with their first victory in World Cup qualifying
Group Five as goals from Hovhannes Goharyan and Sargis Hovsepyan saw
off Belgium.

Prior to this evening’s game in Yerevan the hosts had only taken one
point from seven previous games in the group and still remain a point
behind Estonia in the fight to avoid the wooden spoon.

Bayern Munich defender Daniel van Buyten pulled one back for Belgium
in second-half stoppage time but it was not enough to prevent the
1986 World Cup semi-finalists’ miserable campaign sinking to a new low.

Belgium made the better start and Standard Liege forward Igor de
Camargo was the first to go close before the hosts carved out their
first opportunity in the 17th minute.

Goharyan played in Arman Karamyan who advanced through on Jean-Francois
Gillet, and the goalkeeper did enough to turn his close-range effort
onto the post.

The chance gave Armenia confidence and BATE Borisov forward Goharyan
put them in front six minutes later when he fired in a rebound after
Gillet had parried Henrykh Mkhitaryan’s shot.

The home team could have added a second before the break, with captain
Hovsepyan missing the best of the chances they created between scoring
the opener and the half-time whistle blowing.

Pyunik player Hovsepyan made amends in style by doubling Armenia’s
lead five minutes into the second period.

Belgium finally stepped up their efforts but Van Buyten and Tom de
Sutter missed good opportunities to halve the deficit. Gevorg Kasparov
did brilliantly to save a close-range header from De Camargo in the
86th minute before Van Buyten scored right at the death, too late to
rescue even a point.

It was an incredible result for Armenia, who had only scored three
goals in their previous seven qualifiers.

Teams Armenia Belgium 1 Gevorg Kasparov 1 Jean Francois Gillet 4
Sargis Hovsepyan 5 Daniel Van Buyten 17 Aghvan Lazarian 6 Olivier
Deschacht 5 Robert Arzumanyan 2 Gill Swerts 15 Grayr Mkoyan 3
Timmy Simons 2 Hovhannes Goharyan 11 Maarten Martens 10 Artavazd
Karamyan 8 Steven Defour 7 Ararat Arakelian 10 Wesley Sonck 6 Artur
Yedigarian 7 Igor De Camargo 11 Arman Karamyan 9 Kevin Mirallas
9 Henrikh Mkhitarian 18 Moussa Dembele

Substitutes 12 Stepan Ghazarian Davy Schollen 12 16 Levon Pachajyan
Nicolas Lombaerts 4 8 Davit Grigorian Sebastien Pocognoli 15 3 Karlen
Mkrtchain Toby Alderweireld 14 14 Eduard Kakosyan Eden Hazard 16 18
Artak Grigorian Tom De Sutter 13 13 Ilia Yavruyan Roland Lamah 17

Substitutions Karlen Mkrtchain for Ararat Arakelian (13)

Tom De Sutter for Maarten Martens (55)

Ilia Yavruyan for Hovhannes Goharyan (31)

Eden Hazard for Kevin Mirallas (72)

Eduard Kakosyan for Artur Yedigarian (88)

Roland Lamah for Wesley Sonck (81)

Yellow Cards Henrikh Mkhitarian (18) Wesley Sonck (54)

Ilia Yavruyan (56) Timmy Simons (58)

STRONG QUAKE RATTLES GEORGIA, NO CASUALTIES

Agence France Presse
September 8, 2009 Tuesday 10:01 AM GMT
TBILISI

A strong 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck northwest Georgia on Tuesday,
destroying ceilings and cracking walls in a remote mountainous area
but causing no casualties, officials said.

The US Geological Survey said the epicentre of the quake, which struck
at 2:41 am (2241 GMT Monday), was located 156 kilometres (97 miles)
northwest of the capital Tbilisi.

Officials said the epicentre was in the highland Racha region of
western Georgia, which borders Russia and the breakaway region of
South Ossetia.

"Fortunately there were no casualties," regional governor David
Gagoshidze told Imedi television. He said officials were surveying
the damage caused by the quake, which was limited to residential
buildings in the sparsely populated area.

Georgian television showed footage of homes in the region with
collapsed ceilings and cracked walls, as well as roads covered in
debris from rock slides.

An AFP correspondent felt the quake in Tbilisi, where it briefly shook
buildings and sent some residents rushing from their homes in panic.

The director of Georgia’s Seismic Monitoring Centre, Zurab
Javakhishvili, told AFP the quake was likely to be followed by minor
tremors for several weeks.

"The re-occurrence of a strong earthquake in the short term is less
probable. Minor aftershocks continue and this process may last for
more than a month with possible medium-strength tremors," he said.

The emergencies minister for South Ossetia’s rebel administration,
Anatoly Bibilov, said in a statement that the quake caused some minor
damage but did not cause any injuries in the separatist province.

A spokesman for Russia’s emergencies ministry told the Interfax
news agency that the quake had been registered in southern regions
including North Ossetia and Ingushetia, but that there were no reports
of injuries or damage.

Armenia’s National Survey for Seismic Protection said in a statement
that the earthquake was felt in the north of the country, including
in the cities of Gyumri and Vanadzor. There were also no reports of
injuries or damage in Armenia.

A major earthquake hit the Caucasus region last October, killing
at least 13 people and injuring more than a hundred, mostly in the
Russian region of Chechnya.

The last major earthquake in Georgia, measuring 5.8 in magnitude,
struck Tbilisi in April 2002, killing five people and causing serious
damage to the capital’s historic centre.

Georgia’s northern regions run along the faultlines of the Greater
Caucasus mountain range and the country has experienced numerous
earthquakes.

A 6.9 magnitude earthquake centred on the Racha region in April 1991
killed more than 200 people, left 60,000 homeless and caused damage
across thousands of square kilometres (miles).

In December 1988, some 25,000 people were killed by a 7.0 magnitude
quake in Armenia.

RALLY OF ANM PARTY TO BE HELD AT MATENADARAN ON SEPTEMBER 18

NOYAN TAPAN
SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
YEREVAN

Yerevan Municipality took notice of the Armenian National Movement
(ANM) Party’s notification of holding a rally and a march in the area
adjacent to the Matenadaran on September 18, Yerevan Municipality
reported.

According to the notification submitted to Yerevan Municipality by
Chairman of ANM Party Ararat Zurabian, the party intends to hold a
mass public event in the area adjacent to the Matenadaran on September
18: the event will start at 5 pm and finish with a march. Taking
into account the above mentioned notification of Ararat Zurabian,
Yerevan Municipality definitely stated that the event will start at
5 pm and finish at 10 pm. "In accordance with the decision taken as
a result of discussion, the march participants must move along the
pavements of streets – the route indicated in the notification so as
not to impede traffic flow," is said in the report.

EARTHQUAKE IN GEORGIA REACHED ARMENIA

Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am
sept 8 2009
Armenia

Today, Sept. 8, at 2.41 a.m. (local time) Richter magnitude 6.2
earthquake was registered in Georgia 5 kilometers North-East of
Kutaisi city. The earthquake shock in the epicenter was 8 points.

RA Seismic Protection press service old NEWS.am that in 2:42
a.m. another 6 magnitude shock was registered.

According to preliminary data, houses close to the epicenter were
destroyed. No victims were reported.

The earthquake shock reached Armenia, particularly in Gyumri, Vanadzor,
and Noyemberyan, registering 3-4 points.

GOVERNMENT’S LOAN GUARANTEES TO PRIVATE DEVELOPERS REINVIGORATE SECTOR

ARKA
September 7, 2009
Yerevan

YEREVAN, September 7, /ARKA/. David Harutyunian, an aide to prime
minister, defended last Friday the government’s plan to provide loan
guarantees to private developers to help them complete their unfinished
housing projects as part of its anti-crisis measures.

David Harutyunian, who is also the secretary of a special working
group established to promote economic recovery programs, said the
government guarantees have given a strong push to the sector that
had been the locomotive of Armenian economy before the crisis.

Last April, the government approved 20 billion drams ($55 million)
in loan guarantees to private developers to help them complete their
housing projects. Five construction firms have reportedly received
such guarantees since then.

Late in August it approved $2 million in loan guarantees to a private
AVO developer to finish construction of a residential building on
Abovian street in central Yerevan.

According to official figures, construction sector shrank by 55.5
percent in the seven months of this year, contributing to the total
GDP fall. But according to David Harutyunian, the sector began to
steadily grow since last May, when volume of construction rose 88 %
against April.

In June it rose 130% from May and in July 4.5% from June.

The government said also it will spend part of a $500 million
anti-crisis loan provided b y Russia, on housing construction in
Armenia’s northern regions and another $33 million portion of the
loan will be channeled into a recently established state mortgage fund
assigned to provide relatively cheap housing loans to the population.

TURKEY AND ARMENIA OPEN DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

AllGov
Sept 7 2009

Although the two countries still have not resolved the Armenian
genocide issue dating back to the early 20th century, Turkey and
Armenia announced last week they are working on establishing formal
relations for the first time ever. After a year of secret diplomatic
talks in Switzerland, the foreign ministries of the two countries
agreed to go public with their negotiations and their intent to reopen
their shared border, closed since 1993. That year, the outbreak of war
between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh
led to the border being closed between Armenia and Turkey, which
supported Azerbaijan.

Russia’s military action in Georgia last year prompted Turkish
officials to improve their relations with neighboring countries,
including Armenia. Meanwhile, a new government elected in Armenia
led to a thaw in policy towards Ankara.

But it is uncertain whether Armenia will establish full ties with
its longtime adversary if Turkish officials don’t admit to killing
more than a million Armenians from 1915-1918 during the end of the
Ottoman Empire.

The next round of talks is expected to conclude in time for the
Turkey-Armenia World Cup qualifying match in Istanbul October 14.

Levon Aronian gets off to a bad start at Grand Slam Masters Final in Bilbao
07.09.2009 09:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian grand master Levon Aronian gets off to a
bad start in the first round of the Grand Slam Masters Final in
Bilbao. Alexander Grischuk defeated Levon Aronian with white pieces.

Alexei Shirov played the Dragon against Sergey Karyakin and drew
easily.

The 2nd Grand Slam Masters Final takes place September 6-12 in Bilbao,
Spain. It’s a 4-player, double round-robin with Levon Aronian,
Alexander Grischuk, Sergei Karjakin and Alexei Shirov. The prize fund
is Euro 110,000.

The rate of play is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and then 60
minutes to finish the game, with 10 extra seconds per move from move
number 41.

In 2nd tour, Aronian will play with white pieces against Karyankin,
and Grischuk will rival Shirov.

Standings after 1st tour: Grischuk -3, Shirov, Karyakin -1, Aronian
-0.

Turkish journalists study general moods

07:07 pm | September 04, 2009 | Politics

A group of Turkish journalists have arrived in Armenia to study the
general moods over the Protocols on Armenian-Turkish relations. During
a conversation with A1+ reporter of Habarturk newspaper Bulent Gunal
said that the "Turkish people are ready for the frontier reopening but
some nationalists are concerned about the Protocols."

"I can say one thing for sure. Despite all controversial
interpretations of the documents Turks are unanimous that there must
be no conflicts in the region.

Large-scale discussions are held over the Protocols on different
levels in Turkey. The cons say Armenian-Turkish frontier mustn’t be
opened unless Armenia withdraws its troops from Karabakh. They are
also concerned over the formation of a sub-commission of
Armenian-Turkish historians," says Mr. Bulent Gunal.

Armenian authorities lay no preconditions in diplomatic relations
while your authorities connect Armenian-Turkish relations with a third
country – Azerbaijan. Do the statements of your authorities
contribute to the normalization of Armenian-Turkish ties?

In reply to A1+’s question, Mr. Bulent said: "I shall not comment on
the statements of Turkey’s leadership but Armenia should realize that
the situation has changed in the region after the Russian-Georgian
conflict.

Armenia should understand that besides friendly relations Turkey and
Azerbaijan have certain energetic commitments and Turkey must defer to
Azerbaijan."

Ulli Wegner: Once Arthur has hit his opponents, they will all have
problems
05.09.2009 09:51 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 29-year-old Arthur Abraham, who is unbeaten in 30
fights (24 KOs), will take on Jermain Taylor (28-3, 17 KOs) in the
opening clash of the hotly anticipated Super Six World Boxing Classic
on Saturday, October 17, on Showtime.

King Arthur has been working hard in practice with his coach Ulli
Wegner, who certainly fancies his fighter’s chances in the tournament.

`This is something special for Arthur,’ he said. `He is facing the
world’s best fighters. For me, he is the favorite, but I have been
reading a lot of stuff about him being smaller and thinner than his
opponents. That does not matter inside the ring. Once Arthur has hit
them, they will all have problems. Taylor better watch out. He is a
great champion and a superb boxer, but Arthur will take care of
business against him. The first fight is crucial to win. If Arthur
succeeds, he can go a long, long way from there,’ fightnews.com cited
Wegner as saying