RUSSIAN JOURNALISTS VISITING KARABAKH
KarabakhOpen
15-05-2008 11:10:49
The correspondents of the leading Russian media – the Nezavisimaya
Gazeta, RBK-Daily, Russia Today, Russia TV channel and others – are
visiting Karabakh. The reporters arrived in Karabakh for a cognitive
visit, and yesterday they took part in the meeting of the Karabakh
parliament.
MEMBERS OF "HIMA" MOVEMENT IN AZATUTYAN SQUARE
A1+
[08:45 pm] 13 May, 2008
Today members of the "Hima" youth movement spent over an hour in
Mashtots-Sayat-Nova crossroads teaching people to cross the street
only under the green light.
It was a little strange for the passers-by and rather unpleasant for
the drivers.
"We want our citizens to finally learn the rules of crossing the
street and make drivers respect their rights. Though it was rather
dangerous we even stopped some of the cars that were trying to pass
under the red light breaking the traffic rules. At first sight it is
a trifle but it is a big step towards creating a democratic country",
a "Hima" member said.
The "Hima" members are determined to have such "lessons" every day
on different streets of Yerevan.
CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RECOGNIZES ONE OF PROVISIONS OF RA LAW ON TELEVISION AND RADIO AS CONTRADICTING ARMENIAN CONSTITUTION
Noyan Tapan
Ma y 13, 2008
YEREVAN, MAY 13, NOYAN TAPAN. By the May 13 decision of the
Constitutional Court of the RA, Article 53 Part 2 of the RA law
on Television and Radio was recognized as contradicting the RA
Constitution and invalid. The case was examined by the court based
on the application of Radio Hay radio company.
It is said in the disputed provision of the RA Law on Television and
Radio that "for the use of a broadcast frequency, licence holders
(radio and television companies) make a payment for the air,
whose amount is calculated based the expenses necessary for the
frequency". The authority to calculate and approve the air payment
has currently been reserved for the RA ministry of transport and
communication. According to the plaintiff, the government or ministry
are not competent to establish the amount of annual payment for the
air, and it must be established by law.
According to the court, the indicated article contradicts the principle
of a legal state stipulated by Article 1 of the Constitution, as well
as the requirements of Article 45 and Article 83.5 point 2.
The court established December 1, 2008 as the date when Article 53
part 2 of the Law on Television and Radio will become invalid so
that the possible interruption in collection of air payments will not
affect the "stability of budgetary relations" and damage the "legal
security to be established by abolishment of the disputable provision".
EQUITY CAPITAL OF ARMENIAN INSURANCE COMPANIES TOTAL 6.6BLN DRAMS BY END OF MARCH
ARKA
May 12, 2008
YEREVAN, May 12. /ARKA/. Equity capital of ten insurance companies
operating in Armenia had totaled 6.6bln drams by the end of March
against 5.3bln drams by the end of 2007, the Press Service of the
Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) reported.
Accumulated profit of insurance companies had totaled 587.4mln drams by
the end of the quarter and has remained unchanged since the beginning
of the year with the profit over the period being 315.6mln drams.
The insurance companies’ authorized stock had totaled 5.8bln drams
by the end of March as compared with 4.6bln drams at the beginning
of the year.
Total assets of the insurance companies had amounted to 9.4bln drams by
March 31 as compared with 8.4bln drams by the end of December 31, 2007.
Monetary funds totaled 96.6mln drams against 82.8mln drams at the
beginning of this year.
The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) has been exercising supervision
over Armenia’s insurance market since January 1, 2006.
Ten insurance companies and three insurance brokers currently operate
in Armenia. ($1=306.95 drams).
DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS ESTABLISHED BETWEEN ARMENIA AND LIECHTENSTEIN
Noyan Tapan
Ma y 12, 2008
STRASBOURG, MAY 12, NOYAN TAPAN. RA Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian and Foreign Minister of Liechtenstein Rita Kieber-Beck
signed a Protocol on establishment of diplomatic relations between
the Republic of Armenia and Liechtenstein on May 7 in Strasbourg,
in the Palace of Europe. Noyan Tapan was informed about it by the
Press and Information Department of the RA Foreign Ministry.
During the tete-a-tete conversation held after the ceremony, the
Ministers expressed readiness to develop interstate contacts and to
carry out cooperation at bilateral and international levels, in the
spheres of economy, culture, and science.
Liechtenstein is situated between Switzerland and Austria. Its
capital city is Vaduz, state language is German. The monarch is
Hans Adam II, Prime Minister Otmar Hasler. The main branches of
Liechtenstein’s economy are developed industry, in particular,
chemical, pharmaceutical, and information technologies, banking and
insurance spheres, tourism, and production of traditional agricultural
goods.
Edward Nalbandian met with Frans Timmermans, the Minister of the
Netherlands on European Issues, the same day in Strasbourg. Bilateral,
regional, and international issues of mutual interest were discussed
during the meeting.
The RA Foreign Minister presented the program priorities of the new
Armenian government to his Dutch colleague, among which deepening
of cooperation with European structures, as well as activization
of foreign economic contacts are considered as important. In this
respect the Ministers discussed issues connected with possibilities
of involvement of Dutch capital in a number of spheres of Armenia’s
economy, in particular, in the spheres of agriculture, communication,
and transport.
MEMORIAL TRIBUTE TO DR. STEPHEN FEINSTEIN
UMN News
=409318
May 12 2008
MN
Monday, May 12, 2008, 7:30 p.m. in the Cowles Auditorium, Humphrey
Institute, 301 19th Ave S, Minneapolis; University of Minnesota west
bank campus.
A memorial tribute celebrating the life and accomplishments of
Dr. Stephen Feinstein, founding director of the University of Minnesota
Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, will take place at the
University of Minnesota on Monday, May 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Cowles
Auditorium, Humphrey Institute, west bank campus. Stephen Feinstein
died of an aneurysm on March 4, 2008. The event will feature music,
videos, and speakers who worked closely with Feinstein during his 10
years as director of CHGS and in his many other public activities. A
dessert reception will follow the program.
>From its founding in 1997 Feinstein built the University of Minnesota’s
Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies into an educational, research
and outreach institution of international renown. He was known around
the world as an advocate for survivors of the Holocaust and other
genocides and for genocide education. Feinstein was particularly known
for his expertise on artistic expression of genocides. He possessed
an almost encyclopedic knowledge about anything Holocaust- and
genocide-related. Feinstein worked to raise awareness of all genocides
using any and all possible outlets; he was especially dedicated to
raising awareness of the Armenian genocide and was even nominated for
a regional Emmy award for a documentary on the 90th Anniversary that
he helped produce for public television. In recent years he dedicated
many CHGS events to the ongoing crisis in Darfur and to remembrance
of the Rwanda genocide. His most recent accomplishment was securing
the funding for and creating programming around the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum exhibition "Deadly Medicine: Creating the
Master Race," currently showing at the Science Museum of Minnesota.
ANSA English Media Service
May 9, 2008 Friday 2:29 PM CET
ARMENIAN PATRIARCH IN TALKS WITH POPE
Vatican City
(ANSA) – Vatican City, May 9 – The head of the Armenian Apostolic
Church, Karekin II, on Friday invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit
Etchmiadzin, the Armenian Church’s equivalent of the Vatican. Karekin
arrived in Rome with a delegation of bishops from the Armenian Church
earlier this week and on Friday met with the pope ahead of an
ecumenical service at the Vatican attended by both religious
leaders. Speaking at the event, Benedict expressed his gratitude for
the excellent relations between Catholics and the Armenian Church, but
said that ”there is still much to do to calm the deep and sorrowful
divisions” between the various Christian churches worldwide.
”The road towards the re-establishment of full and visible communion
between all Christians remains long and arduous,” he said. The pope
also highlighted the struggle of the Armenian Church, echoing an
appeal to the international community he made on Wednesday in St
Peter’s Square to condemn the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians at the
beginning of the 20th century during a Turkish campaign of
”denationalisation”. ”The recent story of the Armenian Apostolic
Church has been written with the contrasting colours of persecution
and martyrdom, of obscurity and hope, of humiliation and spiritual
rebirth,” said Pope Benedict. He also noted that the patriarch and
his bishops ”have personally undergone these contrasting experiences
in their own families and lives”. The pope praised Karekin II for
reconstructing the Armenian Church ”with significant pastoral results
over a short time, in Armenia and abroad, for the Christian education
of the young, the formation of a new clergy, the construction of new
churches and community centres, charitable aid and the promotion of
Christian values in social and cultural life”. ”The restoration of
the freedom of the Church in Armenia has been a source of great joy
for us,” Benedict said. On Thursday Karekin visited the basilica of
St Bartholomew – one of the first preachers who came to Armenia –
where the saint is buried on Rome’s Isola Tiberina. The small former
Soviet republic of Armenia is one of the oldest Christian nations in
the world, having adopted Christianity in 301 AD, and is surrounded by
predominantly Muslim nations. The elected patriarch, or Catholicos, is
head of all the Armenian communities throughout the world and has his
seat at at Etchmiadzin.
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
May 8 2008
COMPOSITION OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH REPUBLIC SECURITY COUNCIL CONFIRMED
YEREVAN, 08.05.08. DE FACTO. According to a decree the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic President Bako Sahakian signed on May 7, the
head of the NKR President’s administration Marat Musaelian was
appointed Secretary of the NKR Security Council.
According to another decree of the state’s head, the composition of
the Republic Security Council has been confirmed, the Central
Department of Information under the NKR President reports.
The Nagorno-Karabakh Security Council includes:
1. The NKR President.
2. The NKR National Assembly Chair.
3. The NKR PM.
4. The Secretary of the NKR Security Council.
5. The NKR Defense Minister ` Commander of the NKR Defense Army.
6. The NKR FM.
7. The head of the NKR President’s administration.
8. The NKR Procurator General.
9. The Chair of the NKR Supreme Court.
10. The Director of the National Security Service under the NKR government.
11. The Chief of Police under the NKR government.
12. The first deputy Commander of the NKR Defense Army.
13. The first deputy Commander of the NKR Defense Army ` the head of
the headquarters.
Panorama.am
19:25 08/05/2008
ARONYAN-TOPALOV CONFRONTATION
Today the champion of `Amber 2008′ competition Levon
Aronyan will have a meeting with Bulgarian GM Vesselin
Topalov in the first round of `M-Tel Masters’
championship. Aronyan has four times met with the
Bulgarian chess player and thrice won him. Note that
Topalov has the highest qualifying marks 2767 and
Aronyan is in the second horizontal.
Note that the championship consists of 10 rounds. It
started yesterday and will last till May 18.
Source: Panorama.am
Interfax News Agency, Russia
May 6 2008
ARMENIA WANTS DEEPER ECONOMIC TIES WITH IRAN – PM
Armenia is interested in deepening economic relations with Iran, Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan said at a meeting with Iranian Ambassador to
Armenia Seyed Ali Saghaeyan on Tuesday.
This would increase the level of security of our countries and peoples
and would prompt economic growth, Sargsyan said.
Sargsyan and Saghaeyan shared the view that annual trade between the
two countries, which is currently about $200 million, is inadequate,
the Armenian government told Interfax.
The U.S. State Department earlier expressed its concern about
relations between Armenia and Iran. Armenian Foreign Ministry
spokesman Tigran Balayan said in connection with this on Tuesday, that
relations between Yerevan and Tehran are bilaterally cooperative,
which is natural for two neighboring countries.
Armenia is seeking to establish similar relations with all of its
neighbors, Balayan said.