Author: Torosian Aram

Priests scuffle with brooms, stones, at traditional site of Jesus’ birth

The Associated Press
Published: December 27, 2007

BETHLEHEM, West Bank: Robed Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests went at
each other with brooms and stones inside the Church of the Nativity on
Thursday as long-standing rivalries erupted in violence during holiday
cleaning.

The basilica, built over the grotto in Bethlehem where Christians
believe Jesus was born, is administered jointly by Roman Catholic,
Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic authorities. Any perceived
encroachment on one group’s turf can set off vicious feuds.

On Thursday, dozens of priests and cleaners came to the fortress-like
church to scrub and sweep the floors, walls and rafters ahead of the
Armenian and Orthodox Christmas, celebrated in the first week of
January. Thousands of tourists visited the church this week for
Christmas celebrations.

But the cleanup turned ugly after some of the Orthodox faithful stepped
inside the Armenian church’s section, touching off a scuffle between
about 50 Greek Orthodox and 30 Armenians.

Palestinian police, armed with batons and shields, quickly formed a
human cordon to separate the two sides so the cleaning could continue,
then ordered an Associated Press photographer out of the church.

Today in Africa & Middle East
Chad court sentences French aid workers to 8 years forced laborAid
losing to hunger in Darfur, UN reportsKenyans head to polls for
presidential vote
Four people, some with blood running from their faces, were slightly
wounded.

Lragir, Armenia
Dec 27 2007

VAZGEN MANUKYAN DISBELIEVES GALLUP

Another presidential candidate, the leader of the National Democratic
Union Vazgen Manukyan says to disbelieve the results of public polls
that are released. He said in a news conference on December 27 he
disbelieves the polls by the Gallup Institute and other polls which
give a 30 percent popular rating to Serge Sargsyan. The leader of the
NDU says the society in Armenia is afraid of expressing an opinion
openly.

The leader of the NDU said he has hired a group to conduct a poll to
have a real picture of public opinion and adjust his tactics. `At the
same time, our party conducts telephone polls. We do not release the
results. We do not release because others may disbelieve the
results,’ Vazgen Manukyan says.

He disbelieves the mechanism of measuring rating through the number
of people attending the rallies. Vazgen Manukyan says they have an
experience of rallies since 1988 and those rallies have gathered
different numbers of people. `We never measure political strength
through rallies. For instance, in 1996 there was a proposal to hold
rallies at the Square of Freedom and have the surge of protest affect
entire Armenia where people want to repeat what they saw in 1988. I
refused categorically,’ Vazgen Manukyan says.

According to him, the technology of rallies should not be abused. He
gives the example of Arkady Vardanyan who held a great rally, and the
government used force, arrested him, although it seemed that 10, 20
or 30 thousand people participated in the rally but it did not make
Arkady Vardanyan influential.

IRAQI KURDS WARN TURKEY TO HALT STRIKES

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.12.2007 14:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The president of the Kurdish region in northern
Iraq has warned Turkey to halt its strikes against rebel Kurdish
positions in the border area.

Massoud Barzani said he "vehemently condemned" the bombardments,
which he said had killed innocent people.

His remarks came as U.S. President George W Bush and Turkey’s PM
Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the unrest by phone.

Turkish jets have carried out three strikes on Kurdish targets and
one ground foray over the past eight days.

Turkey blames rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for
launching attacks on Turkey from bases in Iraq. Ankara approved
cross-border raids on PKK bases in October, saying the Iraqi government
and its U.S. backers were not doing enough to halt attacks.

"The bombing targeted safe and secure areas and innocent people,"
Mr Barzani told a news conference in the northern city of
Suleimaniya. "Several people were either killed or wounded. We held
consultations with [Iraqi] President Jalal Talabani and we will
continue our consultations with other concerned parties to put an
end to these aggressions and put an end to the shelling of villages."

Mr Talabani – also a Kurd – was standing beside Mr Barzani as he
delivered the condemnation. He said his government had lodged a formal
complaint with Turkey – but that he did not want to worsen tensions
over the issue.

Turkey’s ambassador to Iraq has been summoned to the foreign ministry
to hear a formal complaint.

Up to 10 people are reported to have been killed in the strikes –
it is not known whether they are rebels or civilians. As many as
2,000 people have fled the areas under attack, BBC reports.

"ARMENIAN STOCK MARKET IN FACT CLOSED FOR RUSSIAN EXCHANGES" RTS REPRESENTATIVE STATED

The FINANCIAL, Georgia
Dec 24 2007

The FINANCIAL — According to Banks.AM, member of the Board of
Directors "Russian Trading System "Stock Exchange"" OJSC (RTS) Oleg
Safonov believes that the Armenian stock market is in fact closed
for the Russian exchanges".

Mediamax reports that Oleg Safonov said this in an interview to
"Profile" magazine.

"Today, it becomes too cramped for large European and U.S. exchanges
within the framework of their traditional location. They are more and
more interested in the markets of developing countries, among which
the post-soviet states by the means occupy the last position. Today, we
can observe a very complex and interesting process of establishment of
regional financial centers. Depending on which states become regional
centers, and on what conditions, the strategic vector of development
of the whole economy is largely determined. Of course, we believe that
such a center in the Eurasian area should be Moscow. The situation is
complicated by the expansion of large western players. So, the OMX
has already purchased the exchange in Yerevan, in fact closing the
Armenian stock market for the Russian exchanges. Today, the process
is developing in two directions: on the one hand, the players in
CIS states and the Near Baltic states claim to establish their own
financial centers, on the other hand, the global players are interested
in exchange assets in CIS states", Oleg Safonov stated.

Mediamax recalls that on November 21 of 2007, the Armenian government
and the Swedish OMX Exchange operator signed an agreement on December
24 on purchase and sale of the shares of Armenian Stock Exchange
and Central Depository. In accordance with the signed agreement, OMX
becomes a 100% owner of the Armenian Stock Exchange and the Armenian
Central Depository. The shares will be handed over to the new owner
on January 3 of 2008.

On June 6 of 2007, Senior Vice-President of the Swedish OMX Group
Henri Bergstrom stated the necessity of a "revolution" on the Armenian
market of capital. He noted then that at present, the Armenian market
of capital is in reanimation conditions, "when it is difficult to
breathe and feed, and the heart is in bad condition".

However, he stressed, "there is will and readiness of the participants
of the market to assist the process of reanimation".

IT IS NOT RULED OUT THAT MANAGEMENT OF ARMENIAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT WILL BE AGAIN GIVEN TO INTER RAO UES FROM 2008

Noyan Tapan
Dec 24 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 24, NOYAN TAPAN. It is not ruled out that the
management of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (ANPP) will be again
given to Inter RAO UES company (Russia). The RA minister of energy
Armen Movsisian stated at the December 24 press conference that the
term of the agreement on the ANPP’s management expires next year, and
negotiations on its extension are being conducted with Inter RAO UES.

According to the minister, the ANPP generates electricity of 2.5
billion kwh a year, which makes up 40-50% of the country’s domestic
demand. Next year the ANPP will be stopped for 3 months for preventive
repairs.

In the words of A. Movsisian, Armenia cannot implement alone the work
on closing the ANPP. As for construction of a new nuclear power plant,
the feasibility study will finish in September 2008, after which the
tender for contractor will be held.

LILIT MKRTCHIAN TAKES SECOND PLACE IN ELIZAVETA BYKOYA MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

Noyan Tapan
Dec 24 2007

MOSCOW, DECEMBER 24, NOYAN TAPAN. Elizaveta Bykova Memorial Tournament
was held on December 13-23 in Moscow. Ten chess players took part in
it. Natalya Zdebskaya (Ukraine) gained 6.5 out of 9 possible points and
received winner’s title. Though Lilit Mkrtchian also gained 6.5 points,
she took the second place according to her coefficients. Another
representative of Armenia, Siranuysh Andreasian, took the 5th place
with 4.5 points.

ARMENIAN MINISTER SAYS ONLY HIS COUNTRY CAPABLE OF USING NUCLEAR POWER
By M. Alkhazashvili
(Translated by Diana Dundua)

The Messenger, Georgia
Dec 24 2007

On December 22, Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan said that the
international community would oppose any Georgian or Azerbaijani bid to
construct a nuclear power station, according to the news agency Regnum.

Armenia’s regional neighbors do not have the experience needed to
build and maintain a nuclear reactor, Movsisyan said, adding that
only Armenia, which has operated the Metsamor nuclear power plant
since the 1970s, is capable of safely using nuclear energy.

"The international community has a loyal relationship towards the
building of a new nuclear power station in Armenia," Movsisyan
concluded.

Yerevan is decommissioning the aging Metsamor station at an estimated
cost of USD 345 million, Regnum reports. The Armenian government is
now looking to build a new nuclear power plant, with a projected cost
of USD 2 billion.

CONSORTIUM OF JAPANESE AND SOUTH KOREAN COMPANIES TO BUILD NEW UNIT OF YEREVAN TPP

Noyan Tapan
Dec 20 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 20, NOYAN TAPAN. The consortium composed of Mitsui &
Co. LTD (Japan) and GS Engineering & Construction Corporation (South
Korea), which has been announced the winner of the international
tender, will construct the Yerevan Thermal Power Plant’s (TPP)
steam-and-gas unit with a combined cycle, NT correspondent was informed
by the RA ministry of energy.

The consortium will apply to the Armenian government with the request
to receive an extra sum for the implementation of the construction
work. The sum needs to be increased due to the fact that prices of some
equipment have risen since 2005 when the agreement on financing the
unit’s construction was signed between the Japan Bank for International
Cooperation (JBIC) and the Armenian government. To recap, the JBIC
provided a credit of 15 billion 917 million yens (about 150 million
dollars) for construction of the turbine.

It is planned to finish construction of the unit in September 2009.

According to NT’s information, Alstom and Siemens (Germany), Samsung
(South Korea) and Sumitomo (Japan) had also submitted bids for
participation in the above mentioned tender.

SLOVENIAN AMBASSADOR PRESENTS HIS CREDENTIALS TO PRESIDENT KOCHARYAN

armradio.am
20.12.2007 13:31

The newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of
the Republic of Slovenia to Armenia Primozh Sheligo (seat in Kiev)
presented his credentials to RA President Robert Kocharyan, President’s
Press Office informs.

Robert Kocharyan congratulated the Ambassador on appointment and
noted that the opportunity of enlargement of bilateral cooperation
greatly depends on his activity.

Ambassador Sheligo said the intensification of cultural and economic
contacts is the best means towards that end, and he will try to go
that way during his tenure in office.

The parties discussed also issues connected with Slovenia’s presidency
of the European Union in 2008 and referred to regional questions.

ARMENIA WANTS STRONGER IRAN TIES

PRESS TV, Iran
Dec 19 2007

Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan has said that Yerevan has a
resolve to boost deep-rooted ties with Iran as a vital country.

In a meeting with the outgoing Iranian Ambassador to Yerevan Alireza
Haqiqian, the premier praised the growing trend of relations in all
fields, calling for the expansion of bilateral economic cooperation.

He added that joint projects including a gas pipeline and electricity
transfer network between Iran and Armenia, as well as construction of
a power station on the Aras River would improve the already-bright
prospects for bilateral cooperation and prepare the ground for
implementing major projects.

The Iranian ambassador said that Iranian and Armenian officials
have had good cooperation at the international level thanks to their
political will.