Author: Nalbandian Albert

US OFFERS HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE OF $325MLN TO AZERBAIJAN’S INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Aug 30 2007

Azerbaijan, Barda / Òrend corr Sh. Jaliloghlu / Within the last 13
years the United States has offered $325mln humanitarian assistance
to improve living conditions of Azerbaijan’s internally displaced
persons, the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Anne Derse, who is visiting
Aghjabadi region, reported on 30 August.

Over 35,000 internally displaced persons were sheltered in the
Aghjabadi region.

Meeting with the head of Aghjabadi Region Executive Power, Shahin
Mammadov, Derse noted that the displaced persons should return to
their land. "The state of these people is difficult and it arouses
deep regret," she said.

The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasus began in 1988
due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia has
occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani land including the Nagorno-Karabakh
region and its seven surrounding Districts. Since 1992, these
territories have been under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time
the active hostilities ended. The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
( Russia, France and USA) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.

–Boundary_(ID_toaL41CLVv+OwnS8R5Xi xw)–

Yerevan hosts Council of Europe seminar on trafficking in human beings

Strasbourg, 30.08.2007 – An international seminar is to be held in
Yerevan to look at the problems of trafficking in human beings and to
identify possible solutions. It is to be held on 5 to 6 September at the
Golden Palace Hotel, Azatutyan Avenue, Yerevan (Armenia).

This is the eighth information and awareness raising seminar run as
part of the Council of Europe’s Campaign to Combat Trafficking in Human
Beings, which aims to promote the widest possible ratification of the
Organisation’s Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.
It will bring together national and local politicians, officials and
representatives of non-governmental organisations from Armenia, Belgium,
Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Romania, and the Russian Federation.

The seminar will be opened by Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Armen
Baibourtian and Marta Requena, Head of Gender Equality and
Anti-Trafficking Division in the Council of Europe.

For further information please visit:

Press contact:
Hallvard Gorseth, Administrator, Anti-trafficking action, mobile +33 6
69 62 01 04

***

Erevan accueille un séminaire du Conseil de l’Europe sur la traite des
êtres humains

Strasbourg, 30.08.2007 – Un séminaire international sera organisé
à Erevan afin d’examiner les problèmes liés à la traite des
êtres humains et d’y apporter des solutions. Il se déroulera les 5
et 6 septembre à l’hôtel Golden Palace, avenue Azatutyan, à Erevan
(Arménie).

Il s’agira du huitième séminaire d’information et de sensibilisation
organisé dans le cadre de la Campagne du Conseil de l’Europe contre la
traite des êtres humains, qui vise à promouvoir une ratification
aussi large que possible de la Convention de l’Organisation sur la lutte
contre la traite des êtres humains. Le séminaire réunira des
responsables politiques et administratifs locaux et nationaux et des
représentants d’organisations non gouvernementales d’Arménie, de
Belgique, de Bulgarie, de Croatie, de Fédération de Russie, de
Géorgie et de Roumanie.

En ouverture du séminaire interviendront Armen Baibourtian,
vice-ministre des Affaires étrangères de l’Arménie, et Marta
Requena, chef de la Division du Conseil de l’Europe pour l’égalité
entre les femmes et les hommes et la traite des êtres humains.

Pour de plus amples informations, voir

Contact presse :
Hallvard Gorseth, Administrateur, Action contre la traite, mobile +33 6
69 62 01 04

Press Release
Council of Europe Press Division
Ref: 561b07
Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 25 60
Fax:+33 (0)3 88 41 39 11
[email protected]
internet:

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A political organisation set up in 1949, the Council of Europe works to
promote democracy and human rights continent-wide. It also develops
common responses to social, cultural and legal challenges in its 47
member states.

ARMENIAN DM TO VISIT MOSCOW TO DISCUSS MILITARY COOPERATION
Tigran Liloyan

ITAR-TASS News Agency
August 29, 2007 Wednesday 2:56 AM EST

Armenian Defence Minister Mikhail Arutyunyan will discuss several
issues of Armenian-Russian military cooperation during a working visit
to Moscow that starts on Wednesday, the minister’s press secretary
told Itar-Tass.

Armenia’s Prime Minister Serge Sarkisyan said earlier that military
and technological cooperation between Armenia and Russia was developing
in all spheres, was at a good level and was beneficial to Yerevan.

Russia’s First Vice-Premier Sergei Ivanov said the presence of a
Russian military base in Armenia was an element of the Armenian-Russian
strategic partnership.

According to Nikolai Pavlov, Russia’s ambassador to Armenia,
Russian-Armenian cooperation in military and technological spheres
includes Russia’s participation in the protection of Armenia’s state
borders with Iran and Turkey and the training of Armenian servicemen
in high military establishments as well as the delivery of military
equipment and outfit to Armenia on preferential terms.

AMBASSADOR NAMIG TAN: APPROACH TOWARDS ISRAEL IS CHANGING IN TURKEY AFTER ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE’S STATEMENT

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug 27 2007

"The strategic cooperation between Turkey and Israel is very important
both regionally globally," Turkish ambassador extraordinary and
plenipotentiary to Israel Namig Tan told APA’s Israel bureau.

Turkish ambassador characterized Turkey and Israel as democratic and
secular states in the Middle East.

"This is a historical fact that Turkey is the first Muslim country
to recognize Israeli state. The cooperation between Turkey and Israel
has never broken in the past 59 years," the Ambassador stressed.

Mr. Tan touching on economic elements of the relations said Turkey
has no powerful economic partner but Israel in the region.

"The annual trade turnover between Turkey and Israel $2.5 billion. We
want this digit reach $5 billion in coming years. 500,000 tourists
visit Turkey from Israel every year," he said.

Turkish Ambassador said Jewish organization Anti-Defamation League’s
(ADL) statement that it will recognize so-called ‘Armenian genocide’
made a great stir in Turkey.

"The so-called ‘Armenian genocide’ is a very sensitive issue
in Turkey. We have always demonstrated great respect to Jewish
community. Very good human relations have been established between
Turkish and Jewish nations in the past 500 years. Turkey has always
approached positively to Jewish lobby of America and Israel. However,
aftermath the statement of Anti-Defamation League, the approach towards
Israel is going to change, and it is not going to be positive. I
think in this situation Israeli Foreign Ministry should address this
diplomatic crisis and demonstrate its power and influence to Jewish
lobby in the US in order such events between the two friendly peoples
and states not repeat in the future," he stressed.

KHACHIK MANUKYAN WINS

Lragir, Armenia
Aug 27 2007

On August 26 electoral district 15 of the region of Shirak held
voting to parliament under the majority system. Six candidates
were running in the ballot, including Khachik Manukyan from the
Republican Party, the leader of the Heritage Party Raffi Hovannisian,
Gurgen Shahinyan from the ARF Dashnaktsutyun and the mayor of Talin
Mnatsakan Mnatsakanyan. The main opponents were the Republican and
the mayor of Talin. Khachik Manukyan got over 16 thousand votes,
the mayor of Talin got over 10 thousand votes.

By the way, Khachik Manukyan won the voting on May 12 but resigned
from the parliament referring to rumors on grave electoral fraud and
his wish to win in a fair race.

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church in Canada
Contact: Deacon Hagop Arslanian, Assistant to the Primate
615 Stuart Ave., Outremont-Montreal H2V 3H2
Tel: (514) 276-9479
Fax: (514) 276-9960
E- mail: [email protected]
Web: _www.armenianchurch.ca_ ()
August 27, 2007
* * * * *

CANADA: Canadian Church Leaders Encourage the Pursuit of Peace in
Afghanistan
On August 16, 2007 twelve Canadian church leaders, including His Eminence
Bishop Bagrat Galstanian, Primate of the Armenian Church Canadian Diocese wrote
to the Prime Minister the Right Honourable Stephen Harper to encourage the
Government of Canada to continue to pursue peace in Afghanistan. Followinga
collaborative process of consultation and research lasting more than a year,
they offered their contribution to the dialogue in Canada on moving forward
with a long lasting peace in Afghanistan.
The church leaders called for prioritizing efforts aimed at supporting
reconciliation within Afghanistan, diplomacy and negotiations leading to peace,
encouraging greater respect for human rights, strengthening just governance,
greater investments in reconstruction and development, and focusing security
efforts on advancing the safety and well-being of people in Afghanistan.
`Canadian churches have consistently called on the Canadian government to
build peace with the people of Afghanistan rather than pursue a war on terror,
to employ all diplomatic means to achieve that end including engaging civil
society and religious networks, and to direct the effort of The Canadian
Forces to the protection of lives and the preservation of civilian infrastructure.
This letter stands in a long tradition of Canadian church engagement on
issues of international significance,’ said The Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton, General
Secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches who hosted the collaborative
effort.
The church leaders invite the government to re-evaluate the mandate of =80=9CThe
Canadian Forces [to] focus on enhancing protection of vulnerable Afghans
rather than on aggressive engagement with insurgents in areas where the local
population is suspicious or alienated from the central government.=80=9D

Panorama.am

15:05 25/08/2007

BELARUS BANS MEAT FROM ALL COUNTRIES OF WORLD, INCLUDING ARMENIA

The Cattle-breeding Department of the Belorussian Ministry of
Agriculture has banned import of meat in cars. The ban concerns all
countries of the world, including Armenia. An order released by the
department of the country is conditioned by outbreak of diseases among
cattle in different countries.

A statement released by the Belorussian Embassy in Armenia warns all
visitors to Belarus `to avoid taking meat with them.’

Source: Panorama.am

Times of India, India
Aug 25 2007

A site for sore eyes

TNN[ SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 2007 03:15:11 PM]

Surf ‘N’ Earn -Sign innow

NEW DELHI: When they are not facing the camera, a bunch of Bollywood
men and women including Aamir Khan and Priyanka Chopra stuff their
stockings, write sticky notes, bitch-slap and throw food on their
friends on a popular social networking website called Facebook.

Primarily focused on high school to college students, the social
network on the Web has now caught the imagination of our reasonably
computer literate filmy janta.

For starters, Facebook was founded by former Harvard student Mark
Zuckerberg as part of his hobby projects. Later, when it was well
received by fellow students, the website was formally launched in
February 2004. The core service is free and has now users across all
English-speaking countries.

Most of our actors have graduated from the humble social network
Orkut to Facebook. While on Orkut most of them complained about lack
of privacy, as all Orkut users have access to profiles and scrapbooks
of their fellow users.

As a result they faced a deluge of scraps from fans and sceptics
alike. Says Gul Panag, `When I was on Orkut a friend recommended
Facebook as it is a relatively private site where only listed friends
can access your profile details.’ However, Gul is yet to upload
pictures on her website, as she is not yet acquainted with the
functions, `I’m not too familiar with the website and there are just
too many application tools.’

However, filmmaker Kunal Kohli feels that Facebook is one of the most
user-friendly websites. Kohli was intrigued when assistant directors
at his office kept raving and ranting about the website every
morning.

Kohli, who is just a month old on Facebook says, `All my assistant
directors were on it. I was too curious and wanted to open an
account. I got up and about on the website in no time. My usage level
is approaching the addiction stage.’

For people like Kohli, Facebook is almost a personal website as users
post their articles, pictures , videos, reading list, movie guide and
music album on the website. Kohli says, `Ever since I have logged on
to Facebook people have stopped sending emails. They prefer posting
messages on my wall. For me it is as good as my personal website.’

Nevertheless, one can’t ignore the networking side to it. Long lost
friends and acquaintances have surfaced for many users. Gul Panag,
who had given up hopes on finding her high school best friend, says,
`The other day, I found my long lost high school, Brit friend. We
went to the International School of Lusaka in Zambia.’

Homi Adajania (of Being Cyrus fame), however, argues that it’s more
of a time-killing exercise (of course, if you have too much to
spare). He says, `It’s pure time pass. I check it whenever I’m
bored.’ He further adds, `But I have found a lot of old Armenian
rugby players who I haven’t met for over 15 years on the website.’

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug 24 2007

Samad Seyidov: Chairman of PACE Subcommittee on Nagorno Karabakh is
appointed by Political Committee

[ 24 Aug 2007 16:35 ]

`Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) Subcommittee for
Nagorno Karabakh is under Political Committee. Political Committee
appoints the chairman of the subcommittee.

This issue does not concern PACE session,’ head of Azerbaijani
parliamentary delegation to PACE Samad Seyidov told the APA while
commenting on the procedure of appointing chairman PACE Subcommittee
on Nagorno Karabakh.
Mr. Samadov said that Lord Russell-Johnston was the member of PACE
Political Committee adding that the report on his retirement has not
yet been specified.
PACE Subcommittee on Nagorno Karabakh was established in the winter
session of the organization in 2005. The Subcommittee was chaired by
British parliamentarian Lord Russell-Johnston. Mr. Johnston is no
more PACE member due to his retirement. /APA/

ARMENIAN PUBLIC SERVICES REGULATORY COMMISSION AND ARMENTEL CJSC AGREE TO LEAVE THE RATES OF THE COMPANY’S SERVICES UNCHANGED

arminfo
2007-08-24 14:52:00

On August 24, the Public Services Regulatory Commission of Armenia
approved ArmenTel CJSC’s offer to leave the rates of the company’s
main and secondary services unchanged.

PSRC Chairman Robert Nazaryan said that after negotiations the sides
agreed that the current rates are maximally balanced. He added that the
rates can be called balanced conditionally as they will be considered
really balanced after final liberalization of the telecommunication
market of Armenia since October 1, 2007. R.Nazaryan noted that after
6 months of work at liberal market, ArmenTel CJSC has the right to
apply to the Commission to reconsider the rates of the company’s
services. Director General of ArmenTel Oleg Bliznyuk noted that
the Commission took this decision as a result of consensus, and the
company intends to reconsider the rates in the future.

To recall, on July 13, 2007, the PSRC rejected ArmenTel’s offer
to reconsider the current rates and didn’t accept the methods of
calculation of expenses forming the rate. Then Armen Simonyan,
ArmenTel’s marketing director, expressed the company’s official
disagreement with the Commission’s decision, as in its calculations
the company followed the recommendations applied in European countries.

To note, ArmenTel CJSC is the branch of VimpelCom OJSC.