Author: Nalbandian Eduard

FROM PARIS, WITH PLENTIFUL ACCLAIM
Brendan Kelly, The Gazette

Montreal Gazette, Quebec
Dec 23 2007

Quebec actress Marie-Josee Croze deluged with work since moving
to France

When Marie-Josee Croze left Montreal for Paris, she figured she’d
be in the City of Lights for a three or four month sojourn at the
longest. Four years later, the award-winning Quebec actress still
sounds surprised that she ended up staying.

"I came with my clothes for the summer and my dog stayed in Montreal
with a friend of mine," said Croze, in a recent phone interview from
her apartment in the Saint Germain des Pres district of Paris.

"It’s the most beautiful part of Paris," said Croze.

She has been back to her hometown to visit family and friends a few
times but she now calls Paris home. Her canine companion Valentine,
by the way, has also made the move across the Atlantic.

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Printer friendly Font:****Croze has been getting an enormous amount
of attention in the past few months for her breathtaking performance
in director Julian Schnabel’s Le scaphandre et le papillon (The
Diving Bell and the Butterfly). The French film, which opens here
Christmas Day, is a visually-stunning, formally-innovative and
emotionally-wrenching adaptation of an autobiographical memoir by
the late Jean-Dominique Bauby. He was the editor of French Elle who,
following a massive stroke, became completely paralyzed and was only
able to communicate by blinking his left eye.

Croze had made a bee-line for France in the summer of 2003, just
weeks after she created a major buzz in the film world by nabbing
the prize as best actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her role
in Les invasions barbares (The Barbarian Invasions).

The win was all the more notable given that Croze has so little
screen-time in the Denys Arcand film in which she plays a heroin
addict with a heart-of-gold.

Croze has not worked on a Quebecois film since, though she insists
that happened by chance.

"I just got so many offers here," said Croze. "I came here for the
first time when I was 17 and I love Paris. So it was just a normal
thing to do."

Croze was quickly deluged with offers from French producers and
directors, and she hasn’t stopped working since. She’s made 10
French films over the four-year period, beginning with the hit comedy
Mensonges et trahisons – the film that first brought her to Paris –
and the critically-acclaimed 2005 thriller Ne le dis a personne. The
actress also found time in her busy agenda to play a supporting role
in Steven Spielberg’s Munich.

Oddly, she hasn’t elicited the same interest from Quebec filmmakers
since Les invasions and she’s not quite sure why that is. She has
always been a bit of an outsider in the film milieu here.

Her defining role prior to the Arcand film was as the troubled
heroine in Denis Villeneuve’s 2000 art-house success Maelstrom,
which garnered her both Genie and Jutra Awards as best actress. She
also turned heads as a belligerent young woman in Atom Egoyan’s
Armenian-genocide drama Ararat.

She never felt entirely at home in Quebec.

"I always felt different and that people judged me in a bad way. I
have a sense of humour that’s dark and people sometimes thought,
‘Oh, she’s nasty’.

But I didn’t have that problem with French people. I feel more free
here (in France)."

In Le scaphandre et le papillon, Croze plays a speech therapist
working hard to help Bauby (Mathieu Amalric) communicate. Since he
is only capable of moving one eyelid, she holds a board with all the
letters of the alphabet in front of his face and reads the letters,
with Bauby blinking to acknowledge which letter he wants to choose.

This is the painstaking way he wrote his memoir.

Schnabel – a painter and filmmaker who previously directed Before
Night Falls – won the award as best director as Cannes for this
audacious work.

Croze said working with Schnabel was unlike anything she’s ever done
before. "He’s a painter, so he doesn’t conform to the usual directing
style. He’s really working with instinct and intuition. He doesn’t
communicate with words."

It was tough for Croze because she was portraying someone interacting
with Bauby, but for most of her scenes, Amalric was not even in the
room. "You’re playing with your imagination. I enjoy sharing with
other actors, so this was difficult for me."

Schnabel is also famous for shooting only one or two takes, which is
highly unusual, and letting his actors improvise. When Bauby tells
the speech therapist – using only his blinks – that he wants to die,
Croze just exploded, something that was not in the script. Then she
walked out of the hospital room. Schnabel called her back in and said
he wanted to shoot her apologizing to Bauby for the outburst. She
improvised the scene on the spot and the result is as moving a scene
as you’ll see on the big screen this year.

"That’s how Julian works. It’s totally immediate. He’s fearless."

The film has just opened in the U.S. and is already seen as an
awards-season frontrunner, which is why Croze is all of a sudden is
currently reading her way through a pile of A-list Hollywood scripts.

"This film has an effect on people," said Croze.

Analysis: Caspian ecology
Published: Dec. 21, 2007 at 11:23 AM

By JOHN C.K. DALY
UPI International Correspondent

For the past year, U.S. television viewers have been bombarded by oil
companies’ advertisements, proclaiming how they are good environmental
stewards, with pictures of wildlife gamboling among energy projects as
a voiceover proclaims their overriding interest is careful
consideration of the environment in the areas being developed.

It would seem that in the Caspian basin, the world’s current last
major untapped oil reserve, that rhetoric is confronting
reality. While all Caspian littoral states proclaim a sincere
commitment to environmental concerns, Western energy companies are
darkly muttering that the former Soviet states’ newfound interest in
ecology masks a larger agenda intended unilaterally to rewrite the
lopsided agreements signed in the heady days following the Soviet
collapse of 1991. Both sides have compelling arguments unlikely to be
resolved anytime soon. Meanwhile, the Caspian’s freshwater seals and
its sturgeon population seem to have been granted a temporary
reprieve.

Since the Soviet collapse, the Caspian’s importance has dramatically
increased even as the states that surround it exploit its
riches. Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have increased their output in the
last 15 years by 70 percent, while Russia is now vying with Saudi
Arabia for the title of the world’s leading energy producer, producing
roughly 10 million barrels per day.

The Caspian is believed to contain some 12 percent of the world’s oil
reserves plus huge reserves of natural gas. Sturgeon, best known for
their caviar roe, have been decimated by pollution, their estimated
population declining by 90 percent since 1991. The Caspian’s
freshwater seals have suffered a similar ecological implosion, with
some estimates putting their numbers at fewer than 100,000. The
Caspian is also home to 500 unique plant and 854 fish species.

Even the legal status of the sea is a bone of contention: The 1982
U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea has yet to decide definitively
whether the international law of the sea or the law of inland lakes
applies to the Caspian. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the
Caspian’s legal status remains determined by the 1921 and 1940
treaties signed by the Soviet Union and Iran, with no definitive
post-Soviet agreement in sight.

Environmental degradation in the Caspian, the world’s largest enclosed
body of water, dates back to Soviet times. Its major tributary, the
Volga, which accounts for 80 percent of the Caspian’s inflow and the
bulk of its pollutants, traverses Russia’s European heartland.

The Caspian’s real prize is Kazakhstan’s offshore Kashagan
field. Discovered in 2000, it is the largest "super-field" discovery
of the past three decades, with an estimated future production
potential of more than 500,000 bpd. Estimates put Kashagan’s
recoverable reserves at up to 25 billion barrels.

Kashagan, however, represents the riskiest environmental frontier of
new Caspian exploration. The North Caspian is extremely shallow,
bottoming out at about 10 feet in spots above Kashagan, raising the
risk of winter mobile-ice formations destroying offshore
facilities. Equally worrying to ecologists is that farther south Azeri
offshore concessions are located in seismically active zones.

In what many regard as the opening shot in the Caspian’s environmental
wars, the Kazakh government on Aug. 27 suspended Italy’s Eni SpA-led
Kashagan consortium’s development license; project estimates had
ballooned from $57 billion to an estimated $136 billion.

Talks are ongoing about the status of Kashagan’s foreign
concessions. Many cynical analysts have suggested a possible
additional underlying factor is a desire on Astana’s part to rewrite
the percentages of the North Caspian Sea Production Sharing Agreement
to favor the Kazakh state energy company KazMunayGaz.

The possible development of a trans-Caspian underwater natural gas
pipeline from Turkmenistan to Baku, strongly promoted by Western
interests, has only added to environmentalists’ fears. The project has
united Russia and Iran in opposition despite political differences
between Moscow and Tehran on the final delineation of the Caspian
seabed. Iran wants the Caspian treated as a single unit jointly
managed, developed and defended by the five littoral states.

A joint consensus of the five Caspian states seems to be slowly
emerging. Two months ago, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Russia and
Turkmenistan issued a 25-point declaration that stated in Point 11,
"Recognizing their responsibility to the present and future
generations for the preservation of the Caspian Sea and the integrity
of its ecosystem, the parties stress the importance of expanding
cooperation in solving environmental problems, including coordination
of national environmental actions and cooperation with international
environmental organizations in order to form a regional system of
protecting and preserving biological variety, rational use and
replenishment of its biological resources."

Two main points seem to emerge from this growing commonality of
concerns. First, that Western energy companies interested in
exploiting the Caspian’s energy resources will be forced to pony up
money for locally defined environmental concerns; and second, that
Caspian seals and sturgeon have won another day to frolic in the sun
until Caspian Western-financed environmentally friendly projects come
online.

—

(e-mail: [email protected])

Hayots Ashkharh, Armenia
Dec 22 2007

DASHNAKTSUTYUN PROMISES SURPRISES

Head of ARFD parliamentary faction Hrayr Karapetyan was the guest
of `Pastark’ club yesterday.
Speaking about the phenomenon of the manifestation of black PR in
the pre-campaigning period he introduced the party’s attitude
regarding this: `We appeal to all the candidates, to introduce their
personal attitudes regarding the problems faced by the country. Of
course if there are certain episodes of throwing mud on this or that
political figure, there should be an answer. But there is certain
limit.’
Each political power or political figure is supported by a part of
our people and black PR leads to separation. `Thus they instigate
conflict among the people. No political event should be a reason for
conflict, because it doesn’t derive from the interests of our nation
and state and similar cases can disappoint our people. They will
become disappointed of political processes, the future and the
authorities.”
H. Karapetyan also underscored that in his recent speech ARFD
candidate – Vahan Hovhannisyan has already mentioned about the
importance of avoiding radical phenomena and trying to keep balance
during the coming pre-election campaign, he also underscored that we
mustn’t ignore our achievements of the recent years. `There are lots
of failings and we never forget about these failings. In case we come
to power, we will shoulder a greater responsibility and by
maintaining these achievements and by cooperating with healthy
national political powers we are ready to correct these failings.’
In general, according to the speaker it is high time to run for
the elections with personal candidates. `In our view we are able to
have our own candidate and to develop the already existing
achievements. As well as to struggle against all those phenomena that
in our view has been overlooked. This means in our view the time has
come for Dashnaktsutyun party to pretend for the highest position –
the position of RA President. This doesn’t mean that we
autocratically lay claim to power. Never. I repeat, we are ready to
cooperate with all the parties which will agree with our political
program on the country’s future and we are ready to take this
responsibility.’
As we know Representative of the Supreme Body Armen Rustamyan is
going head the pre-election headquarter of ARFD candidate.
Preparation works are in process in the provinces. H. Karapetyan says
it is the discipline of the political structures that separates them
from all the other parties. `We have our advocacy means. But in my
opinion our structure is our strongest advocacy means. Because there
is no village where there is no Dashnaktsutyun, the same way as there
is no place in the world where there is no Armenian and
Dashnaktsutyun party. That is why we will conduct an unprecedented
campaign. We will employ new methods, the same way as we employed new
methods during the nomination stage.
H. Karapetyan has noticed a tendency of polarizing the
pre-election atmosphere and introduced it as the campaign between the
former and the present day authorities. `I’m confident it is an
artificial propaganda. The reality is far not like that. Of course
this struggle is there. But, if we can say so, there is a brutal war
in the propaganda domain. In fact this struggle is between, if not
five, at least four candidates among the nominated nine.’ Thus he
came to a conclusion that there is a great probability of two-stage
political campaign.

NAIRA KHACHATRYAN

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version: nian.htm

HIS HOLINESS DECLARES 2008 YEAR OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

In the last decade the Catholicosate of Cilicia has worked hard to bring
under the spotlight the main concerns of the Armenian Church and people and
to raise them on various occasions throughout the year.

Making such themes the symbols of each of the last few years, His Holiness
Aram I put our national consciousness in motion and invited the Armenian
nation to a renaissance.

His Holiness had declared 2007 the "Year of the Armenian Language". During
this year, events and initiatives in Lebanon and all the communities
highlighted the importance of the mother tongue.

Following this tradition, in a special Encyclical the Pontiff declared 2008
as the Year of Christian Education.

Starting with the new generation, Christian education will become the center
of great attention during 2008. Religious renaissance has become a global
phenomenon recently and the world look towards the Church with great
expectations. The spiritual education of the Church is crucial for society
particularly in the struggle against the spread of immoral habits in the
youth.

In his Pontifical Encyclical the Catholicos calls for bringing under the
spotlight the dedicated work of Christian education carried out through the
Church. He cautions Armenians against getting involved in other forms of
religious education outside the church and anti-national approaches.

##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.

PEOPLE ARE UNABLE TO PERFORM WEDDING
Anush Shahumian

A1+
[01:57 pm] 21 December, 2007

It is seven months Artsrun Khlghatian and Karine Manukian, residents
of Martuni town, have been preparing for a wedding. But so far they
haven’t performed a wedding. Artsrun Khlghatian has gone overseas
because the young couple has got problems with lodging.

According to statistics, wedlocks have reduced by 20% in the town in
comparison with the previous year data.

The city faces some problems with unemployment, social welfare and
lodging. Most young people have gone abroad to earn money to address
major social problems.

Births have also reduced in Martuni though the town has always had
the highest birthrate.

ACCORDING TO ARTUR AGHABEKIAN, ARMENIA IS OBLIGED TO COOPERATE WITH TURKEY IN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY SPHERE

Noyan Tapan
Dec 20 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 20, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia is obliged to cooperate
with Turkey within the framework of European security and NATO. Artur
Aghabekian, the Chairman of the RA NA Standing Committee on Defence,
National Security, and Internal Affairs, stated in his speech at the
parliamentary hearings on the subject "Armenian-Turkish Relations:
Problems and Prospects" on December 20.

He said that Turkey and Armenia are among the states, which have
signed two agreements, Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty
and Vienna Agreement.

Every year Turkey uses the possibility of holding inspection of the
quantity of Armenian armed forces and armaments given to it by the
agreements. And Armenia, which has a right to hold such an inspection
in Turkey twice a year, has used that possibility only once so far.

The two countries also cooperate within the framework of NATO programs,
in particular, Partnership for Peace program. Until 2004 Armenia-NATO
cooperation had been carried out under the Izmir’s South-East joint
command and the responsible person for the link carrying out Armenia’s
partnership with NATO is a Turkish officer. According to A. Aghabekian,
Turkish officers are always involved in delegations visiting Armenia
within the framework of the cooperation. In his words, Turkey is
greatly interested in periodically visiting Armenia within the
framework of this cooperation and showing its readiness to assist
the latter.

According to A. Aghabekian, though Armenia has always received
invitations, it has limited its participation in events held in
Turkey. Nevertheless, the Head of the General Headquarters of Armenian
Armed Forces as a guest has taken part in the Allied Action Exercise
of NATO in Turkey. The Armenian party has taken part in the computer
exercise held in Turkey.

A. Aghabekian said that Turkey has never used the right of veto
to exclude Armenia’s participation in NATO events. In connection
with Armenia’s joining the 2004 Planning and Review Process and
2005 Individual Partnership Action Plan Turkey had threatened to
use the right of veto if in its introduction document Armenia does
not reconsider the formulations connected with Turkey and NKR. As
a result of some concessions by the Armenian party and pressure of
other NATO member-countries, Turkey in the future had to adopt the
presented documents "by the principle of silence."

HUNDREDS RALLY IN GYUMRI FOR EMBATTLED TV STATION
By Satenik Vantsian in Gyumri

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Dec 19 2007

Hundreds of people rallied in Armenia’s second largest city of
Gyumri on Wednesday in support of a local television station that has
been facing uncertain future ever since providing airtime to former
President Levon Ter-Petrosian.

The demonstration was organized by local and Yerevan-based civic
groups amid ongoing judicial proceedings that could result in GALA
TV being taken off the air. The station was raided by tax inspectors
in late October. Its parent company, Chap, was subsequently charged
with evading more than 25 million drams ($82,000) in taxes.

The State Tax Service (STS) also alleged that the small broadcaster
has been illegally using the local television tower to air its
programs to Gyumri and surrounding areas. Earlier this month, the
Gyumri municipality asked Armenia’s Economic Court to force GALA to
remove its transmitter from the facility. The court already ruled
on November 26 to freeze Chap’s bank accounts and other assets worth
the alleged tax shortfall.

GALA’s owner and staff reject the criminal case as baseless and link
it to their decision to air, as a paid advertisement, Ter-Petrosian’s
September 21 that contained harsh criticism of Armenia’s leadership.

Organizers of the demonstration echoed the claim in their speeches.

"All those infringing on our freedom of speech will be punished by law,
God and your contempt. That day will come," said Levon Barseghian,
chairman of Gyumri’s Asparez Press Club.

Artur Sakunts, a human rights campaigner from the nearby town of
Vanadzor, expressed hope that the GALA affair will give rise to a
broader pro-democracy movement ahead of next February’s presidential
election. "We won’t allow the regime and its lackeys to trample on
our right to free speech," he said. "Hands off GALA!"

Not surprisingly, opposition activists were also on hand to address
the crowd and express their solidarity with GALA. "Today Gyumri has
proved that it is the most freedom-loving city in the Republic of
Armenia," declared Nikol Pashinian of the pro-Ter-Petrosian Aylentrank
movement. "No other city in Armenia has a TV station like GALA," he
said, referring to the fact virtually all other Armenian broadcasters
are loyal to the government.

"What is being done to GALA has a political, legal and moral subtext,"
said Hovannes Markarian, a Gyumri-based parliamentarian affiliated
with the opposition Orinats Yerkir Party.

The STS and the regulatory National Commission on Television and Radio
(NCTR) deny any political motives behind the crackdown on GALA.

But Gyumri residents who braved a cold weather to attend a rare
anti-government rally in their city were unconvinced.

"I have come here to think about the my and my children’s future,"
said one 72-year-old woman. "Isn’t it shameful to close down our only
TV channel telling the truth?"

"We want GALA to stay on air so that we can feel free," said another
protester.

PRESIDENT KOCHARYAN MEETS WITH THE CHIEF OF THE GENERAL BOARD OF CIVIL AVIATION

armradio.am
18.12.2007 16:35

Issues related to the new complex to be built at "Zvartnots" airport,
the airport of Gyumri and a number of other relevant questions were
discussed during RA President Robert Kocharyan’s working meeting with
the Chief of the General Board of Civil Aviation Artyom Movsisyan.

Artyom Movsisyan informed the President the concessionaire of
"Zvartnots" airport has already submitted the application to construct
a new complex for registration of passengers, aviation security and
border control, which will soon be presented for the Parliament’s
ratification.

The Chief of the General Board of Civil Aviation also presented the
data about the transportation of passengers, according to which the
number of tourists reached about 1.5 million in 2007, which is half
a million more than in 2003-2004.

Reference was made to the reforms carried out in the aviation
legislation last year, as a result of which it was brought in line
with European standards.

Robert Kocharyan gave instructions on the issues discussed.

CERTIFICATES ARE NOT SOLUTION
Armenuhi Minasyan

A1+
[01:14 pm] 13 December, 2007

The Government solves the problem of homeless people in Gyumri by
the program of Certificates for Buying Apartments.

63 homeless families were allocated certificates.

According to the Ministry of Urban Development, about 1 milliard 70
million drams is allotted from the state budget for the implementation
of the program for the current year. Within the frameworks of the
mentioned program, 256 certificates for buying apartments were
allocated to refugees and families that remained without shelter
after the earthquake. Many Gyumri residents state that they have
accepted the certificates for having no alternative. Many of them
return the certificates.

According to the law, the sum of the money in the certificates is
set up taking as a basis the average price of apartments in Gyumri
during the last three months. The experience of previous years
proves that the markets respond to this quickly, consequently the
costs of the apartments rise rapidly. Currently the amount mentioned
in the certificates does not correspond to the present price of
apartments. The number of families that are without refuge should be
revised as well. Their number changes each year.

Gyumri citizens do not buy apartments but their number is decreasing.

Today about 3972 homeless families live in Gyumri. If the problem
of these families is to be solved by the certificates for buying
apartments, then the optimistic promises of the authorities to release
the city from cottages will hardly be carried out in the coming soon.

AZERBAIJAN TONES DOWN ITS HARSH RHETORIC

ARMENPRESS
Dec 12 2007

BAKU, DECEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS: In an indication of toning down
its harsh rhetoric an Azerbaijani diplomat said Tuesday that Baku
understands the desire of Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to decide their
own fate, but added that this should not be perceived as separating
the region from Azerbaijan.

In an interview with an Azerbaijani Uch Nokta newspaper a deputy
foreign minister Araz Azimov reiterated that Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity could not be a subject of bargaining.

"By saying the desire to decide their fate we mean that part of
Nagorno-Karabakh population has the right to vice their opinion on
this. For that purpose a referendum must be conducted in Azerbaijan
and we believe that this is the only way to decide Nagorno-Karabakh’s
future,’ he said.

Azimov also said if Armenia exploits the Karabakh issue before or
after its presidential election, slated for February 19, 2008, it
will face serious problems in the negotiations because Azerbaijan
would announce that all resources for peaceful settlement of the
conflict are exhausted.