Author: nina hovnanian

ARMENIAN CELEBRITIES TO SPEND SUMMER HOLIDAYS ‘DEFINITELY NOT IN ARMENIA’

news.am
July 20, 2012 | 00:01

YEREVAN.- Some of Armenian celebrities have already had their holidays
while others have not even decided where to go.

Singer Erik has already been in Batumi, Georgia, and is planning to
head for either Europe or Dubai in September with friends.

Actor and singer Arsen Grigoryan (Khuchuch) also spent a week in
Georgia where he shot his Camilblog (video blog in 32 Atam humor club).

Singer Aida Sargsyan with her child left for the USA and Australia
where she had a number of concerts.

Singer Sirusho with her family and parents spent her summer holidays
in Greece.

Zaruhi Babayan has just come back from Bulgaria with her family.

Sona Shahgeldyan will go to Italy in June again with family while
Hasmik Karapetyan may leave for Greece in August.

Singers Anahit Simonyan her husband Hayko have not yet decided where
to go.

Emmy also does not have any plans but she knows one thing for sure,
it will be definitely not in Armenia.

Singer Juice has not had vacations this year and will not have any
next year: she is busy shooting music videos.

ARMENIA’S OMBUDSMAN, OXFAM GP ARMENIA SIGN MEMORANDUM ON COOPERATION

tert.am
19.07.12

Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Karen Andreasyan, and
Margarita Hakobyan, Country Director, Oxfam GB Armenia, signed a
memorandum on cooperation.

The memorandum envisages large-scale cooperation between, Oxfam GB
Armenia and a number of regional centers of the RA Ombudsman’s office –
Vaiots Dzor, Syunik, Shirak and Tavoush.

The 6-year memorandum envisages the implementation of joint human
rights protection programs, proposal of necessary amendments to
Armenia’s legislation, and raising public awareness.

ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS: LEGITIMATE AUTHORITIES OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH WILL BE GIVEN A NEW STIMULUS FOR PUSHING THEIR OPINION DURING NEGOTIATING PROCESS

arminfo
Thursday, July 19, 19:29

The key resources of Nagorno-Karabakh in its unequal war with
Azerbaijan must be its high living standard and viable democracy. In
this context we urge the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities to do their
best to conduct a free and fair presidential election, the Armenian
National Congress said in a press statement on Thursday. “The reaction
of the world community to the election will depend on its quality. But
the key beneficiary of a free and fair election will be the people
of Nagorno-Karabakh as this will be a new stimulus for the republic
to push its opinion during the negotiating process. This is also a
matter of security,” the ANC said, urging the Armenian authorities
to consult with their colleagues from friendly countries for ensuring
positive response to the presidential election in Nagorno- Karabakh.

NKR ELECTIONS ARE ON DEMOCRATIC LEVEL: EDWARD SHARMAZANOV

ARMENPRESS
19 July, 2012
YEREVAN

Yerevan, July 19, ARMENPRESS: NKR presidential elections are another
step towards the international recognition of Artsakh. The head of
the Armenian delegation observing mission in NKR, Armenian NA vice
president Edward Sharmazanov noted in the interview with “Armenpress”.

“The National Assembly delegation members are divided into three
groups and visit the polling stations. Our group is in Martakert, and
to this point no extraordinary cases and technical defects happened,
everything is on democratic level”, mentioned Sharmazanov. The latter
noted that they were mainly in rural areas, where they did not meet
any accumulations, violations or collisions.

The deputies of the Armenian parliamentary delegation are Artak
Davtyan, Artak Zakaryan, Karine Achemyan, Ruben Gevorgyan, Hrant
Bagratyan, Mher Shahgeldyan, Armen Rustamyan and Khachatur Kokobelyan.

The delegation is led by Edward Sharmazanov.

21 observers from five local non-governmental organizations and 103
observers from other countries implement observing mission in the
Artsakh presidential elections.

According to 17:00 data, from 99 thousand 254 voters eligible to
participate in the elections 62 thousand 765 citizens made their
civic duty, which is 63.24% of the total number

THE BEARS AND THE BEES: HUMANS MESSING UP THE NATURAL WORLD, AGAIN
By Patt Morrison

Los Angeles Times
,0,3323675.story
July 16 2012

L.A., we have been seeing waaaaay too many movies — and not enough
nature documentaries.

First, the news:

Glen Bearian — so named for his Glendale haunts and with a clever
Armenian-sounding surname for a city with a large Armenian population
— had been cooling off in a local pool not long before he was
tranquilized and carted back to the Angeles National Forest by Fish
and Game officials for the second time in four months.

He’s been wandering around foothill streets, and in April, before
he was shipped back to the wild the first time, he startled
a gadget-absorbed pedestrian who — in the fashion of so many
text-obsessed people who have almost walked right into me — almost
ran right into the bear in Montrose.

And then my colleague Steve Lopez just reported on urban beekeepers in
Los Angeles, where the law bans hives but where residents are tending
their own backyard hives, which may be the saving of bee populations
that are collapsing in the wild. (I know an urban beekeeper, but
you’ll never Abu Ghraib that out of me.)

And in May, Santa Monica police shot and killed a mountain lion that
had wandered into a courtyard in a city office building and gotten
trapped — killed unnecessarily, to some locals’ way of thinking,
and they made their feelings known.

Here’s what I meant about the movies. It appears that Disney films and
horror movies shape our relationships with wild creatures. Either we
anthropomorphize them as cute and cuddly, or we are terrified of them,
but in neither case do we know very much about them.

Take Glen Bearian, who, thanks to one of his fans, has his own Twitter
account. When Fish and Game officials ship him “home,” where is home?

We have pushed our homes into their homes. They’re here among us
because we are now where they have always been. As Glen Bearian’s
Twitter account declared, “Maybe the city took a wrong turn and ended
up in my forest.” Exactly.

Drought, and construction in hillside and mountain habitats, all
mean a dwindling dwelling space and shrinking food supply for these
critters. One mountain lion who was being tracked by wildlife officials
was killed in September 2011 crossing the 405 Freeway. The cats need
a wide range to forage, and if they can’t get it, they’ll be trapped
into a genetically inbred and confined population that is as fatal
for mountain lions’ future as any freeway hit and run.

The bear can’t be driven 100 miles into the wilderness and dumped,
like Hansel and Gretel, in hopes he can’t find his way back. The rule
is 30 miles back into his familiar habitat. And that means, as Fish
and Game spokesman Andrew Hughan said, that “based on his history,
I think it’s probably 50-50 that he comes back.”

How many “strikes” will the bear get, wandering back into a
neighborhood for food, before animal officers declare him a menace and
stop returning him to the wild and say they have to kill him outright?

Ditto the bees. Anyone in a neighborhood complains and the bees are
exterminated as if they were pests, instead of a tiny, vital part of
the food chain. All those killer bee movies seem to make city folk
think that the honeybee, the workhorse of agriculture, ornamental
and comestible, is out there raring to kill us.

I was astonished by some of the comments on Lopez’s piece, people
demanding that the city wipe out all beehives because someone in
their family has a serious allergy to bee venom.

Really? Kill off all urban bees because you’re afraid your child might
be stung? While we’re at it, let’s take out school and park swing sets
because someone might get hurt. Let’s chop down that tree because some
kid might try to climb it. Oh wait, we did that already, didn’t we?

Without bees, whole swaths of agriculture could collapse, floraculture
could collapse, all the creatures dependent on them would go — boom,
boom, boom, domino, dead.

Already honeybees are themselves in a state of collapse in parts of
the country. Bees are so scarce that California almond growers are
having to patronize rent-a-hive businesses to get the bee pollinators
into their orchards. Agriculture isn’t just “out there” either. Urban
gardeners and urban gardens could help to save bee populations, and
Los Angeles still bears traces of what it once was, even after World
War II: the richest agricultural county in the nation.

We humans had better wise up. At the rate we’re going, with the
attitude we bring to our dealings with these creatures — destroying
their homes to build ours, intolerant of even the insects whose
survival is closely tied to our own — in very short order the only
place we’ll be able to see them is on movie screens.

36 MAFIA BOSSES ON FSU TERRITORY – ARMENIAN WRITER

tert.am
18.07.12

There are currently 36 mafia bosses living on the post-Soviet
territory, with the notorious criminal figure, Armen Ghazaryan (aka
Pzo) not being among them, writer Sergey Galoyan told reporters
on Wednesday.

“We have 36 mafia bosses who live in the former Soviet countries;
Pzo is not among them as he resides in the United States. The criminal
world has changed recently a great deal,” he said.

Asked by Tert.am what rules mafia bosses should observe, if they exist
at all, Galoyan pointed out to six rules mandatory for all thieves.

“The rules are as follows: a thief must not have his own property or
wealth; he must not be legally married, never engage in business and
work in a government institution; he must have never served in the
military and never maintain contacts with policemen,” he answered.

The writer, who very often speaks about the criminal world in his
works, noted at the end that the one-time mafia bosses belong now to
a bygone age.

STEPANAKERT AIRPORT TO OPERATE FIRST FLIGHTS

01:55 pm | Today | Politics

The Stepanakert Airport that has sparked concerns and anxiety in
Azerbaijan will operate the first flights in a couple of weeks,
Hovhannes Tokmajyan, Rector of Yerevan State University of Architecture
and Construction, told a press conference on Wednesday.

The airport has already operated scheduled helicopter flights.

Tokmajyan says that the airport resembles a falcon or a plane which
is ready to fly. The construction of the airport demanded serious
engineering solutions. Even two huge rocks were cut out to prevent
planes from nearing the territory of Azerbaijan.

For more details visit

ARMAVIA MAKES MONEY ON SYRIAN ARMENIANS
JAMES HAKOBYAN

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 13:54:20 – 18/07/2012

The developments in Syria sent Armenia into a difficult situation
relating to the issue of the Armenian community. On the one hand,
it is clear that it would be tough for official Armenia to express
a public position on the Syrian Armenian community, make appeals
to this community. On the other hand, Armenia should do something
through non-public channels.

While official Yerevan is thinking, Armavia Airlines has made up
its mind. The web, the press and the social networks informed that
Armavia has raised the price for Aleppo-Yerevan-Aleppo air tickets,
as well as does not sell one way tickets.

Official Armavia has not refuted this information.

Armavia, the national carrier, has recently been having financial
problems. Yet rumors came that Armavia is sold to the Russia-based
Armenian businessman Harutyun Pambukyan.

Apparently, Armavia needs to be dissolved, not sold, and a modern,
competitive and viable airways must be established which will not make
money at the expense of Syrian Armenians who have found themselves in a
difficult situation. And of course, the best option is to ensure equal
opportunities and competition on the market to involve new investments
and retrieve this business from stagnation and ensure compliance of the
most important infrastructure for Armenia with international standards.

As to Armavia’s behavior regarding flights to and from Aleppo,
since it is the national carrier, the Armenian government is equally
responsible for it.

In this way does official Yerevan react to the issue of the Armenians
living in Syria, this is its proposal to the Armenians of Syria.

Meanwhile, Armenia was supposed to make other proposals to the
Armenians of Syria. It would be a more reasonable proposal to lend
them the shoulders of the officials of the Ministry of the Diaspora.

The officials of this ministry could carry them from Aleppo to Yerevan
on their shoulders. Apart from all, the Ministry of Diaspora would
thus have a justification of its own existence.

HIGH TREASON
Haik Aramyan

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 11:25:33 – 19/07/2012

Today a march of protest will take place in Armenia demanding
appropriate organization of migration of Armenians to Syria. The
Armenian community of Syria is in a tough situation and after the
change of government in this country the community will leave the
country. Under the Alavi regime of father and son Assad the Armenians
were treated well and after the removal of this regime the Armenians
may undergo pressure by both the Islamists and the Syrian opposition.

Now there is information that a lot of Armenians come to Armenia
from Syria but they are treated awfully badly. They have problems
with passports and accommodation. Besides, the Armenian national
carrier has used the convenient opportunity to raise the price for
Aleppo-Yerevan flight tickets. The situation was similar when the
Armenians left Iraq for Armenia. Most of them did not stay there and
left for other countries.

By the way, soon enough another big community of the region, the
Armenians in Iran, will be displaced as well. No doubt the price
of Tehran-Iran tickets will rise. Armenians will come to Armenia to
leave for other countries.

It seems that the government of Armenia facing a demographic plight
should care for every Armenian coming to Armenia. In addition, the
Armenians of these communities are valuable not only in terms of
demography but would also add color and skills to the grey routine
of Armenia, create economic and spiritual capacity, like it was the
case during the wave of repatriation in the 1940s. A nation-centered
government would raise every penny, curtail all luxury, provide free
of charge flights and set to settle its compatriots, at least meeting
the minimum requirements for their life here in Armenia.

However, the reality is the contrary. In fact, high treason is
committed. Although, one cannot expect anything else from the criminal
oligarchic system which robs, humiliates and actually exiles not
only its own citizens but also our compatriots in trouble for its
own interest and monopolies.

INTRUDED INTO HOUSE OF GOVERNMENT

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 11:32:11 – 19/07/2012

On July 19, Thursday, the day of the meeting of government, the
mothers of conscripts non-combat victims intruded into the house
of government. They have been demanding fair trial for months on,
gathering in front of the house of government every Thursday.

Simultaneously, Hayazn Youth Union is holding a protest in front
of the house of government demanding appropriate organization of
repatriation of the Armenians of Syria.