Author: nina hovnanian

Evening Standard, UK
December 9, 2013 Monday 8:40 AM GMT

Boris gets a new landlord as Kuwaitis pay £1.7bn for More London

Boris Johnson has a new landlord, after the Kuwaitis snapped up the
site of the Mayor’s offices for around £1.7 billion, one of the
largest commercial property deals ever.

St Martins group has paid the sum for the More London complex near
London Bridge, which includes the Mayor’s headquarters City Hall.
Other tenants of the site include ‘big four’ accountants EY and PwC,
and law firm Norton Rose.

London Bridge Holdings, which sold the site, had originally planned to
refinance More London but decided to sell the after receiving the
attractive offer from St Martins.

“This transaction underscores the success of London Bridge Holdings in
transforming a blighted, brown field site into a vibrant and vital
global business centre,” the company said in a statement.

Bahamas-registered London Bridge Holdings, led by Armenian businessman
Dikran Izmirlian, acquired the site in 1998. The company said footfall
More London is now comparable to Bond Street.

St Martins, the property investment vehicle of the Kuwaiti government,
already owns swathes of London including property in Threadneedle
Street, Cheapside and Canary Wharf.

Hasmik Muradyan creates Armenian-Japanese phrase book

16:34, 14 December, 2013

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. Those who study Japanese and leave
for Japan will have an opportunity to use Armenian-Japanese new phrase
book.
Specialist of Japanese Hasmik Muradyan prepared it. The book having
300 sample copies was introduced for the first time in the centre for
Contemporary Experimental Art on December 14. `I have lived and worked
in Japan for 6 months. Then, I came back to Armenia and began to work
with the Japanese tourists. Because of car accident I could not go out
of home for about 4 years and I started to form Armenian-Japanese
phrase book,’ Hasmik Muradyan stated in a conversation with
`Armenpress’.

U.S. diplomat fond of visiting Baku?

December 14, 2013 – 18:19 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – U.S. Co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick
is planning a visit to Baku. The diplomat said on his Twitter account
that he is going to meet with the Azerbaijani leadership but did not
provide the exact date of the visit.

Apparently, Mr. Warlick likes Baku, but his frequent visits give food
for speculation. If he goes to Baku, so he should logically visit
Yerevan as well, to retain parity. It’s not ruled out that the visits
are conditioned by the unstable situation in Azerbaijan and alarming
data on oil waning resources, which will make the country umpromising
for the U.S. Besides, the Department of State may think about
prevention of closer ties between Baku and Moscow. And last but not
least, it’s Azerbaijani-Iranian relations that can change due to
Obama’s new policy.

So, the conclusion is that the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict is a not a top priority for Mr. Warlick.

Anyway, these visits should keep Yerevan on the alert, as the U.S. can
come to an agreement with Baku on some issues detrimental to Armenia.

The recent developments show that the U.S. is losing its influence in
the post-soviet states. Mr. Warlick can go to Azerbaijan every month,
however, the final resolution of the Karabakh conflict, i.e.
recognition of the NKR independence, doesn’t depend on frequency of
the mediators’ visit.

Armenian grandmaster declared champion in Kolkata Open

16:30 – 14.12.13

Armenian chess grandmaster Samvel Ter-Sahakyan has won the first prize
in the Kolkata Open chess tournament.

He scored 7.5 points out of ten, topping the other rivals, including
23 grandmasters, Armchess.am reported.

Four other sportsmen with an equal result lagged behind the Armenian
grandmaster with the tie-break results.

ARMENIE
3000 tremblements de terre à travers le monde enregistrés par l’Agence
de sismologie d’Arménie cette année

L’Agence de sismologie d’Arménie rattachée au ministère des situations
d’urgence a enregistré 3000 tremblements de terre à travers le monde
pendant les neuf premiers mois de cette année a déclaré Ashkhen
Tovmasyan, le directeur de l’agence.

Elle a déclaré aux journalistes que l’agence a réussi à identifier les
paramètres des séismes, y compris leur localisation et leur force.

Le dernier choc en Arménie a été enregistré en près d’Amasia, région
du Shirak, le 20 Septembre. C’était un tremblement de terre de niveau
trois.

samedi 14 décembre 2013,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

“NEW ALEPPO” DISTRICT WILL BE READY WITHIN TWO YEARS IN CASE OF FINANCING

19:24, 11 December, 2013

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 11, ARMENPRESS. The completed layout of “New Aleppo”
district to be built for the Syrian-Armenians is already ready. The
apartment complex will solve the problem of housing conditions for
488 Syrian-Armenian families. “Armenpress” reports that co-chair of
“Pan-Armenian Association of architects”, author of the layout of the
district Vahe Tutunjyan introduced the architectural solutions of
“New Aleppo” district to the Syrian-Armenians at the course of the
meeting at the Ministry of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia. “”New
Aleppo” district will be in Ashtarak town at the highway leading from
Ashtarak to Echmiadzin. The district will consist of two residential
and club buildings. The club should serve for providing cultural and
health care life. The apartment complex will have a swimming pool,
a gym, tennis and basketball stadiums, a kindergarten and a school
if needed,” Vahe Tutunjyan stated adding that the district will serve
2 thousand Syrian-Armenians.

According to the Minister of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia
Hranush Hakobyan “New Aleppo” district can become a reality if each
Armenian makes a donation of two dollars.

© 2009 ARMENPRESS.am

ARMENIA LOSES CHANCE TO RECEIVE MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION FUNDING

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Dec 13 2013

13 December 2013, 12:10 (GMT+04:00)
By Jamila Babayeva

Armenia has lost its chance to obtain funding from the Millennium
Challenge Corporation (MCC), because it has not met standards related
to democracy, corruption index, transparency and other factors,
the director of the Armenian mission of USAID, Karen Hilliard, said.

Armenia cannot receive the financial aid this year, because other
countries had a higher rating, the official said.

“We have learned that the Millennium Challenge Corporation has made
its choice. The South African nation, Lesotho, will receive the
assistance. But Armenia’s name is not even mentioned in the MCC
statement,” Armenian media reported.

Armenia minister of finance David Sargsyan has confirmed the issue,
noting that the country had small chance to obtain the funding.

“Armenia met all formal standards and criteria, such as corruption,
freedom of speech, economic indicators, to participate in the program
of Millennium Challenge Corporation, but about a month ago, American
colleagues reported that they have budget constraints,” said Sargsyan.

He thinks that there are countries that are more in need of the
assistance.

“Armenia meets all basic criteria for applying for the program.

Corruption risks were considered to be our main weak point. But today,
positive changes have been made in this sphere, as well,” said earlier
Tigran Sargsyan, the Armenian prime minister.

MCC signed a five-year agreement in March, 2006 to grant the Armenian
government $235.65 million dollar to help it reduce rural poverty
through a sustainable growth in the agricultural sector.

Since 2008, Armenia has not met MCC standards, including assessments
related to democracy, corruption index, transparency, and other
factors. In 2008, opposition parties rallied against results of the
presidential elections. Mass riots took place, which led to death of
some people.

Recently, National Statistics Service’s released a report about
economic indicators, which have declined over the recent years. In
addition, Human Rights Defender – Ombudsman’s recently reported that
the judicial system is extremely corrupt and the amount of bribes is
very high. Human rights protection filed in the country has strongly
criticized by Armenian human rights defenders.

Although U.S. has noticed Armenia’s failure to meet requirements of the
Millennium Challenge Corporation, but the Armenian government cannot
see the reality. Armenia’s hope for receiving financial assistance
from foreign organizations is likely to be doomed in the near future
amid escalating democratic crisis in the country.

AHMET DAVUTOGLU CALLS DEPORTATION OF ARMENIANS IN 1915 “INHUMANE”

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Dec 13 2013

13 December 2013 – 7:58pm

The deportation of Armenians in 1915 was an act of inhumanity, the
Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu told journalists accompanying
him on a flight to Yerevan, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily
news reports.

“I see the deportation as an absolutely wrong practice accomplished by
the leaders of the Union and Progress movements in the Ottoman Empire.

It was inhuman,” RIA Novosti quotes him as saying.

According to the head of the Turkish Foreign Ministry , it is
necessary to eliminated historical stereotypes that are rooted in
the mass consciousness of the peoples of both countries.

Armenian Students’ Association of America, Inc.
333 Atlantic Avenue
Warwick, Rhode Island 02888
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian
X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i=”4.95,487,1384329600″;
d=”scan’208″;a=”1329888735″
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 — ListProcessor(tm) by CREN

Tel: (401) 461-6114
Web:
E-mail: [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
December 9, 2013
Contact: Nathalie Yaghoobian
E-Mail: [email protected]

ASA INC ANNOUNCES 2013 “ARTHUR HALVAJIAN MEMORIAL” ARMENIAN POETRY
COMPETITION

WARWICK, RI—The Armenian Students Association, Inc. (ASA Inc.) announced
this month that it will once again be sponsoring the Armenian Poetry
Project’s annual writing competition. This is the fourth year that the ASA
Inc. has sponsored the annual competition named in memory of Arthur
Halvajian, a longtime member and trustee of the ASA Inc who passed away in
2010. The 2013 competition opened December 1st and the deadline for
submissions is February 28, 2014. Competition winners will be announced in
March 2014.

“We are happy continue our support of the Armenian Poetry Project in honor
of Arthur Halvajian who first built our relationship with the Project,”
said Brian Assadourian, Chairman of the ASA, Inc. Board of Trustees. “We
are encouraged by the hundreds of individuals from elementary and high
school students to college students and post-graduates who participate in
the competition. Their involvement shows that the Armenian community
continues to value and promote the creative writing which has been a
hallmark of the rich cultural tradition of the Armenian nation throughout
the centuries.”

The Armenian Poetry Project, led by Lola Koundakjian, is a research and
documentation site of 19th to 21st Century Armenian poets and poetry.
Whether it is through its website/blog, Facebook, or iTunes presence –
which features podcasts of recited works – the Project brings together
writers from all walks of life across the world.

All residents of the United States and Canada are invited to submit their
work, in English or Armenian (preferred) for the competition. Entries
should be e-mailed to [email protected] with the subject
heading “Halvajian ASA/APP Poetry competition”. Individuals may only
submit one poem for the competition.

The competition groups submissions into three categories; students (ages
12-17), college age (ages 18-22), and adult (ages 23 and older). A top
prize will be awarded for each of the categories in the amounts of US $50
(students), $100 (college age), and $250 (adult).

Each poem submitted for the competition must be accompanied by the author’s
full name, age, home address/telephone number, school name, and sponsoring
teacher’s telephone number. Those in the college age category need not
include a sponsoring teacher. Those in the adult category need not include
school information.

You can learn more about the Armenian Poetry Project by visiting

The Armenian Students’ Association of America, Inc. encourages educational
pursuits by Armenians in America and the raising of their intellectual
standards, provides financial assistance in the form of scholarships to
deserving Armenian students, develops fellowship among them, cultivates in
them the spirit of service in the public interest, and acquaints them and
the entire American community with Armenian culture.

U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: DAVUTOGLU’S VISIT TO ARMENIA CAN LEAD TO REGIONAL DIALOGUE

Trend, Azerbaijan
Dec 12 2013

By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:

The participation of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu at the
meeting of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Council in Yerevan can
lead to dialogue between the leaders of the regions, the U.S. State
Department said, Anadolu agency reported.

Davutoglu’s visit to Yerevan can lead to positive progress in
Armenian-Turkish relations, according to the U.S. State Department.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will attend the meeting of
the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Council in Yerevan today.

Translated by L.Z.

Edited by S.M.