Author: Tamamian Anna

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Nov 29 2008

New US envoy arriving in Ankara on Sunday

The new US ambassador to Turkey, James Jeffrey, will arrive in Ankara
on Sunday, a statement from the US Embassy said yesterday.

Jeffrey, first nominated as ambassador to Turkey in June, is taking
over his new post from Ross Wilson. Having served as the deputy
national security adviser for President George W. Bush until now,
Jeffrey is known to be an expert on Turkey and can also speak
Turkish. He served as US ambassador to Albania from 2002 to 2004. He
was the chargé d’affaires at the US Embassy in Baghdad from 2004 to
2005. Jeffrey was pressured by some members of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee during his confirmation process in October to
describe World War I killings of Armenians in eastern Anatolia as
genocide. He declined to describe the events as genocide during the
confirmation hearing and added that he would support initiatives
encouraging Turkish-Armenian rapprochement.

29 November 2008, Saturday
TODAY’S ZAMAN ANKARA

BoxingScene.com, AR
Nov 29 2008

Khoren Gevor Stops Amin Asikainen in Seven Rounds

By Per Ake Persson

Helsinki, Finland: – German (of Armenian descent) Khoren Gevor stopped
Finn Amin Asikainen in the seventh to win the vacant EBU middleweight
title in the headliner of P 3 Boxing´s and Live Nation´s big show at
the Hartwall Arena that went out on PPV in Finland.

The fight was stopped at 2.45 of the round when trainer Pekka Maeki
retired his man who had just gotten up after a bad knockdown. British
referee Mark Green then called for a timeout to look for Asikainen´s
mouthtpiece Maeki had seen enough and did the right thing and stopped
it. Amin was hurt early in the round by a sweeping left swing from
Gevor and just didn´t recover. Later in the round he was caught by a
barrage of hooks and went down.

It was tough, hardfought, far from clean fight, with Gevor, a
southpaw, pushing the fight. Late in the first he was wrongly credited
with a knockdown as he wrestled Asikainen down. The Finn shook Khoren
in the second with a couple of good left hooks and the 10,000 or so at
the Hartwall Arena cheered. But in the third Gevor´s agressive style
again took over and Asikainen seemed to wait for too long. Khoren was
again shaken in the fourth and Amin seemed to have found the range to
keep his opponent off him. In the sixth Gevor slipped and went down
and now Asikainen was credited with a knockdown and a 10-8 round on
all cards. Going in the seventh Gevor was trailing on points but
turned it all around with one punch and then followed up.

Juho Haapoja won the vacant Finnish heavyweight title with a ninth
round stoppage of Sami Elovaara. Haapoja was well ahead after eight
when Elovaara, cut, bruised and swollen around both eyes was stopped.

Russian jr welter Dennis Shafikov won a technical decision over former
WBA lightweight champ Raul Balbi, who was ruled out by the doctor
after getting badly cut on the forehead after an accidental clash of
heads.

"The Nordic Nightmare", Robert Helenius, Sauerland Event´s
Swedish/Finnish heavyweight, moved to 5-0 with a six round unanimous
decision over Lithuanian Remigijus Ziausys.

Jr. welterweight Edis Tatli won a close decision over Spaniard Juan
Zapata after six hard fought rounds.

Ville Piispanen, also at jr. welterweight, stopped Mexican Christian
Chavez in the first of another six rounder.

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LYCOS EUROPE MAKES DECISION TO CLOSE ARMENIAN SUBSIDIARY

YER EVAN, NOVEMBER 28, NOYAN TAPAN. The management of Lycos Europe
company, an international leader of Internet technologies, has made a
decison to close its Armenian subsidiary – Lycos Armenia, but has
announced neither the date of the closure not reasons for it. NT was
informed by Lycos Armenia that about 200 people currently work at the
subsidiary. Lycos Armenia was founded in 2002 when Armenian company
Brience was purchased and renamed. It is now one of the largest
enterpises of Armenian IT sector. The company has no arrears of
employees’ wages.

According to Lycos Europe’s website – , the net
profit of Lycos Europe made 44.1 million euros in January-September
2008, exceeding by 100% the index of the same period of 2007. The
company operates in 8 European countries.

Signatures and ratifications at the Council of Europe

Week from 24 to 28 November 2008

27 November 2008

Finland, Luxembourg and Moldova signed:

– the Additional Protocol to the Convention on Human Rights and
Biomedicine concerning Genetic Testing for Health Purposes (CETS No. 203
< ueVoulezVous.asp?NT=3D203&CM=3D1&CL=3DENG& gt; )*

Armenia, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and the United Kingdom
signed:

– the European Convention on the Adoption of Children (Revised) (CETS
No. 202
< ueVoulezVous.asp?NT=3D202&CM=3D1&CL=3DENG& gt; )*

Russia ratified:

– the Additional Protocol to the European Outline Convention on
Transfrontier Co-operation between Territorial Communities or
Authorities (CETS No. 159
< ueVoulezVous.asp?NT=3D159&CM=3D1&CL=3DENG& gt; )*

– Protocol No. 2 to the European Outline Convention on Transfronfier
Co-operation between Territorial Communities or Authorities concerning
interterritorial co-operation (CETS No. 169
< ueVoulezVous.asp?NT=3D169&CM=3D1&CL=3DENG& gt; )*

* * *

Detailed information on the Council of Europe treaties (full text, chart
of signatures and ratifications, reservations and declarations, summary,
explanatory report) is available on the Treaty Office’s web site
<;

—————

(*) CETS : Council of Europe Treaty Series

Signatures et ratifications au Conseil de l’Europe

Semaine du 24 au 28 novembre 2008

27 novembre 2008

La Finlande, le Luxembourg et Moldova ont signé :

– le Protocole additionnel à la Convention sur les Droits de l’Homme
et la biomédecine relatif aux tests génétiques à des fins
médicales (STCE No. 203
< ueVoulezVous.asp?NT=3D203&CM=3D1&CL=3DFRE& gt; )*

L’Arménie, le Danemark, la Finlande, l’Islande, la Norvège et le
Royaume-Uni ont signé :

– la Convention européenne en matière d’adoption des enfants
(révisée) (STCE No. 202
< ueVoulezVous.asp?NT=3D202&CM=3D1&CL=3DFRE& gt; )*

La Russie a ratifié:

– le Protocole additionnel à la Convention-cadre européenne sur la
coopération transfrontalière des collectivités ou autorités
territoriales (STE No. 159
< ueVoulezVous.asp?NT=3D159&CM=3D1&CL=3DFRE& gt; )*

– le Protocole n°2 à la Convention-cadre européenne sur la
coopération transfrontalière des collectivités ou autorités
territoriales relatif à la coopération interterritoriale (STE No.
169
< un/QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=3D169&CM=3D1&CL=3D FRE> )

Des informations détaillées relatives aux traités du Conseil de
l’Europe (texte intégral, état des signatures et ratifications,
réserves et déclarations, résumé, rapport explicatif) sont
disponibles sur le site du Bureau des Traités

——— ——-

(*) STCE : Série des Traités du Conseil de l’Europe

PRESS RELEASE
Council of Europe Press Division
Ref: 854b08
Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 25 60 – Fax:+33 (0)3 88 41 39 11
[email protected]
internet:
28.11.2008

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.

FLOUR PRICE GOES DOWN, BUT DOESN’T AFFECT PASTRY

A1+
[01:36 pm] 25 November, 2008

Despite official data according to which the price of flour has gone
down by a minimum 22%, it hasn’t affected prices for buns and pastry.

Based on the results of the monitoring conducted by the State Economic
Competition Protection Commission, a reduction in bread and flour
prices was registered in mid-October.

Whereas a 50 kilogram bag of flour was sold from 12,700-13,500 drams
in August, now it is sold at 10,000 drams; in other words, the price
has gone down by 22-25.9%.

"If the price of flour goes down, why shouldn’t the price of buns
and pastry go down? Are they kidding us? There has to be rules and
regulations for prices," said shopper Mariam.

To compare, if the raisin bun was sold at 50 drams, it is now sold at
60-70 drams after the rise in the price of flour. Store clerks say that
different people bring the buns and pastry from different production
units and homes and they fix the prices. The store can’t do anything
about it. "We benefit from that as well. Let them bring it to us cheap
and we will sell it. In that case, we will have more customers and
the products will be fresher and sell faster," says store clerk Anahit.

Press speaker for the State Economic Competition Protection
Commission Armine Udumyan told "A1+" that the bun and pastry market
is a competitive market where there are thousands of businesses,
individual businessmen and a lack of large businessmen.

"Thus, it is nonsensical to talk about economic competition or law
enforcement in that market," said Udumyan.

As far as the rise in prices of macaroni are concerned, Armine Udumyan
said that that is a market under monitoring and there are types of
macaroni with reduced prices.

VATICAN: ‘UNSPEAKABLE’ ARMENIAN SUFFERING

ANSA English Media Service
November 24, 2008 Monday 1:09 PM CET
Italy

(ANSA) – Vatican City, November 24 – Pope Benedict XVI on Monday spoke
of the "unspeakable suffering" of the Armenian people but did not
use the word "genocide", a term rejected by Turkey but widely used by
historians. Meeting with the religious head of the Armenian diaspora
in Lebanon, Aram I, the pope said the Armenians had experienced a
"period of unspeakable suffering" during the last century. In Aram’s
previous visit to Rome in 1997, Pope John Paul II spoke openly of the
Armenian "genocide". On Monday Aram urged all states to recognise
"all genocides, including that of the Armenians". The use of the
word is strongly contested by Turkey and is one of the stumbling
blocks to Turkey’s bid to join the European Union. France passed a
bill two years ago making it an offence to deny that Armenia suffered
"genocide" at the hands of the Turks, but the bill was subsequently
buried in the French Senate after furious Turkish reactions. Armenia
says Ottoman Turks killed 1.5 million people systematically in 1915 –
a claim strongly denied by Turkey.

Interfax, Russia
Nov 20 2008

Aliyev calls for political decision on Armenian-occupied territories
in Nagorno-Karabakh

BAKU Nov 20

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has urged the Armenian leadership to make
a political decision on the liberation of occupied Azeri territories.

In his speech at an international conference, Azerbaijan in the 21st
Century – a Strategy of Success, Aliyev praised the role of Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev in mediating the Moscow Declaration signed
by the Azeri and Armenian presidents.

"The declaration determines mechanisms for a settlement in compliance
with international law and UN decisions and stipulates guarantees at
each stage, which means a stage-by-stage settlement, something
Azerbaijan has always advocated," he said.

"The meaning of this declaration is that its signatories – Armenia and
Azerbaijan – are parties to the conflict. There are no other parties
involved. The Armenian leader put down his signature to confirm this.

But a declaration is not enough, what is also needed is political
will, above all on the part of Armenia, to make a correct decision,
namely, to pull out of all territories that have never belonged, do
not belong and will not belong to Armenia. And then peace in the
Caucasus will be much quicker to achieve," Aliyev said.

Touching upon Azeri-Russian relations, he described them as neighborly
and strategic and underlined their significance for both countries as
well as for the development of the Caucasian-Caspian region in
general.

Politics & Government Week
November 20, 2008

POLITICAL SCIENCE;
Reports outline political science research from University of
Aberdeen, King’s College

According to a study from Scotland, "This article analyzes the
”realist” support for the current regime as well as the support for
democracy as a set of ”idealist” principles in Russia, Ukraine,
Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. It
also analyzes political support for nondemocratic regimes as
alternatives to democratic governance."

"The main conclusion of this article is that mass public support for
democracy as the best form of government encompasses an absolute
majority of citizens in Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, and
Belarus as well as a relative majority of Russian citizens. Political
support for the current regimes declined between 1992 and 2002 and
collapsed in Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia. This collapse of
public support for the current political regime contributed to the
”revolutions” in Georgia and Ukraine. The proportion of supporters
for authoritarian regimes in Russia and the other post-Soviet
countries decreased from about one-third to one-fifth of their
respective electorates," wrote C.W. Haerpfer and colleagues,
University of Aberdeen, King’s College.

The researchers concluded: "This cross-national study provides
empirical evidence of increasing support for democracy as an ideal
form of government and a corresponding decrease in support for
autocracy in eight political regimes in the Commonwealth of States
area in the period from 1992 until 2002."

Haerpfer and colleagues published their study in International
Political Science Review (Support for democracy and autocracy in
Russia and the commonwealth of Independent States,
1992-2002. International Political Science Review,
2008;29(4):411-431).

For more information, contact C.W. Haerpfer, University of Aberdeen,
Kings College, Dept. of Polit & International Relat, School Social
Science, Dunbar St., Aberdeen AB24 3QY, Scotland.

Publisher contact information for the journal International Political
Science Review is: Sage Publications Ltd., 1 Olivers Yard, 55 City
Road, London EC1Y 1SP, England.

HILLARY CLINTON TO BE U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, TRANSITION AIDE SAID

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.11.2008 14:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ President-elect Barack Obama is on track to nominate
Hillary Rodham Clinton as Secretary of State as early as next week,
according to reports.

One week after the former rivals for the White House met secretly to
discuss the idea of Ms Clinton becoming the nation’s top diplomat,
the two sides were moving quickly toward making it a reality, barring
any unforeseen problems.

Mr Obama is on track to nominate her after next Thursday’s Thanksgiving
holiday, a transition aide has said.

The aide said the two camps have worked out financial disclosure
issues involving Mrs Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton,
and the complicated international funding of his foundation that
operates in 27 countries. The aide said Mr Obama and Ms Clinton have
had substantive conversations about the secretary of state job.

Ms Clinton has been mulling the post for several days, but the
transition aide’s comments suggested that Mr Obama’s team does not
feel she is inclined to turn it down.

Some Democrats and government insiders have questioned whether she is
too independent and politically ambitious to be an effective secretary
of state. But Mr Obama is said to admire her talents and experience,
as do many other Democrats.

A senior adviser to Obama said the president-elect believes Ms Clinton
would bring instant stature and credibility to U.S. diplomatic
relations and that the advantages to her serving far outweighed
potential downsides.

Ms Clinton would have to surrender her Senate seat, which she has
held for eight years, to take the job.

Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines would not comment, The Telegraph
reports.

MONIKA MANUCHAROVA TO REPRESENT ARMENIA AT JUNIOR EUROVISION 2008

armradio.am
21.11.2008 17:14

The 2008 Junior Eurovision Song Contest will take place on the 22nd of
November in Lemesos, Cyprus. The theme of the show is Fun in The Sun!

15 countries will be represented at the contest.

Citizens of each participating country will vote by telephone and SMS,
which counts for 50%. Each country’s 10 favorites are awarded 1 to 8,
10 and 12 points based on the number of vote. A jury in each country
also has a 50% say in the outcome.

Monika Manucharova, 13, will represent Armenia at Junior Eurovision
2008.