Author: Tvankchian Parkev

ThoroughbredNews.co.nz, New Zealand
March 10 2006

Wry smiles from Vanian at Rory’s Jester’s success
10 Mar 2006

By Brian Russell

Souran Vanian, a former international horse breeder now living in
Dubai, may have had a wry smile when the news filtered through to him
that Wahid, a gelding from a mare by 1985 Golden Slipper Rory’s
Jester had taken out the Group1 New Zealand Derby on March 4. Rory’s
Jester, a grandson of another Slipper winner, Baguettte, could have
been a saviour for Vanian investment in Australia if he could have
held on a little bit longer when he ran into financial problems in
the mid 1980s.

Armenian Souran Vanian, a merchant whose business activities
included a Peugeot motor franchise in France, established a horse
stud called Manado on country stretching back from the Goulburn river
to the hills near Sandy Hollow in the Hunter Valley and acquired
Rory’s Jester as a sire from its trainer Colin Hayes.

Vanian would not have contemplated at the time that Colin Hayes
would subsequently not only get back control of Rory’s Jester
following the stallion’s early success as a winner getter but also
acquire Manado.

Renamed Collingrove, it was then owned for a few years by a Hayes
– Sangster partnership but is now owned outright by Sangter’s
Swettenham Stud and is used as the home for their quality broodmare
band and as the nursery for their offspring.

The Hayes-Sangster partnership also established the Collingrove
Stud at Nagambie in Victoria, but this too is now in the sole
ownership of the Sangster family and is the headquarters for an
impressive line up of sires including being the base for the past ten
years for the now retired Rory’s Jester.

Built like a big quarter horse and showing a dazzling turn of foot,
Rory’s Jester had 19 seasons of use, the first nine of them in the
Hunter Valley, and has been responsible for approximately 1000 foals
which reached racing age. Out of these 827 have raced and provided
623 winners (a high 75.3% strike rate) of 1867 races (1648 in
Australia) and earners of $46.2million.

On the quality side he has had 75 stakes winners including four,
Chortle, Isca, Racer’s Edge and Aragen, successful in Group1 events.
Also, 71 others have stakes placed. Very few of his progeny went
1600m or further successfully and he was year after year one of the
prominent juvenile sires by winners and earnings. It is an
achievement he has followed up by becoming a leading broodmare sire.
So far his daughters have produced over 400 winners including 26
successful in stakes races.

They have done well with a variety sires including Almutawakel
(USA) (sire of Wahid), Bubble Gum Fellow (JP) (Rockabubble),
Beautiful Crown (USA) (In Top Swing), Danzero (Hinting),
Danehill(USA) (World Peace) and Royal Academy (USA) (Consular).

Rory’s Jester has proved a good outcross to Danzig and this may
have been a key to the success of Wahid, now winner of nine races in
New Zealand including the Derby, Levin Classic and Waikato Guineas.
His sire Almutawakel (GB) is a Dubai World Cup and French Group 1
winner by the Mr. Prospector sire Machiavellian, a close relation to
Danehill, and from a mare by the Danzig sire Green Desert.

Currently in Ireland on a fee equivalent to $15,000, Almutawakel
paid one visit to New Zealand.

Wahid is from Rory’s Helen, a grey mare bred by Vanian from Rory’s
Jester’s second season at the Manado Stud and raced in New Zealand
where she won one race – 800m at two – and earned $3,971. Her mother
Helen’s Love, a mare unplaced at her only two starts, was bred on a
cross of two greys, being by Karayar (IRE) and from the Sovereign
Edition (IRE) Listed winner Helen of Troy, the grandam also of
Imposera, winner of the Caulfield Cup, Wakeful Stakes and SAJC
Australasian Oaks.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Armenian Gas Consumers to Pay 52.5% More from April 10

10.03.2006 21:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ From April 10 the Armenian gas
consumers will pay $162,95 for thousand cubic meters
instead of $168,4 offered by ArmRosgazprom. The
consumers utilizing less than 10000 cubic meters of
gas will pay 90 drams (20 cents) for a cubic meter
what exceeds the current tariff with 31 drams. The
consumers utilizing more than 10000 cubic meters of
gas (companies in energy sector) will pay a sum
equivalent to $146,51 for 1000 cubic meters. Thus, the
rise in price will make 52,5% for the population and
85,2% for the enterprises. The revision of the tariffs
is conditioned by the double rise in price (from $56
to $110) for the Russian gas imported to Armenia.

ABOUT 63 MLB DRAMS DAMAGE DONE TO STATE AS A RESULT OF ILLEGAL
FELLINGS IN FORESTS OF TAVUSH IN 2005

NOYEMBERIAN, MARCH 10, NOYAN TAPAN. Facts of illegal fellings of about
3000 trees were fixed as a result of partial control in the
forestholdings of Ijevan, Artsvaberd, Sevkar and Noyemberian of the
Tavush marz in 2005. As a result of those fellings, damage of 62 mln
590 thousand drams (about 140 thousand U.S. dollars) was done to the
state. Vardan Ayvazian, the RA Minister of Nature Protection informed
the Noyan Tapan correspondent about this.

The biggest breakings were fixed in the “Forestholding of Ijevan”
company where 1188 illegal fellings were found out. The size of the
damage done to the state forest fund made 43 mln 951 thousand drams.

The RA State Department of Nature Protection found out in the marz the
last year 10 breakings of the rules on keeping the water resources as
a result of what 5 men were subjected to the administrative fine of in
total 750 thousand drams, and the activity of 2 industrial enterprises
was stopped.

ABOUT 1.75 BLN DRAMS TO BE GIVEN AS ASSISTANCE TO FAMILIES GETTING
BENEFIT IN KOTAYK

HRAZDAN, MARCH 10, NOYAN TAPAN. 1 bln 751 mln drams istead of 1 bln
382 mln drams of the last year are envisaged to allocate from the
state budget as assistance to socially vulnerable families of the marz
of Kotayk in 2006. The number of families getting benefit in the marz
in 2005 made 8737, and of those getting one-off assistance made
4014. As a result of checkings and selection made in the lists of
those getting benefits, 1 bln 339 mln drams (about 3 mln U.S. dollars)
of the envisaged 1 bln 385.2 mln drams in total were spent.

I’ve been seeing Web addresses ending in unfamiliar monikers. What are they
all about?

The SouthTown
Q and A
Sunday, March 12, 2006

Internet users are no doubt familiar with “.com,” but it is only one
of 264 in the Internet’s master directories. In fact, according to the
company that runs the directories, VeriSign Inc., “.com” accounts for
only about half of all domain names.

Other popular ones include “.net” and “.org,” and countries have their
own suffixes as well, including “.de” for Germany and “.fr” for
France. There’s even a legacy “.su” for the Soviet Union in the
databases, even though the domain name has been formally phased out.

The organization that coordinates all that is the Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, a California-based nonprofit
that gets its authority from the U.S. government, which funded much of
the Internet’s early development. In 1998, ICANN took over a naming
system created in the1980s by the Internet’s core engineers.

(While ICANN sets policies and assigns names, subject to Commerce
Department oversight, VeriSign runs the main directory computers under
a contract.

VeriSign separately keeps the lists for names registered under “.com”
and “.net.”)

Three of the original names – “.com,” “.net” and “.org” – are
available to anyone, although “.com” was designated for commercial
entities, “.net” for network providers and “.org” for organizations.

Others are reserved: “.edu” for educational institutions; “.gov” for
U.S.

government; “.mil” for U.S. military and “.int” for organizations
established by international treaty. In addition, “.arpa” is used
internally and is rarely seen by the public.

About 250 two-letter suffixes were initially assigned to various
countries, territories and the continent of Antarctica, and more
recently the Palestinian territories got “.ps” and the European Union
“.eu.” These are generally based on lists kept by the International
Organization for Standardization,which in turn took information from
the United Nations.

Although each country-code domain is meant for a country’s residents
and businesses, some countries have tried to raise money by permitting
anyone in the world to use their suffixes. So an AM radio station can
use “. am” by claiming Armenia’s “. am”, television station anywhere
can claim Tuvalu’s “.tv” and a doctor can use Moldova’s “.md.”

In 2001, ICANN approved the first expansion of the addressing system,
adding seven, including “.info” for general use and “.biz” for
businesses.

Others are restricted: “.aero” for the aviation industry; “.coop” for
business cooperatives like credit unions; “.museum” for accredited
museums worldwide; “.name” for individuals; and “.pro” for
professionals. Each has its own group deciding who qualifies.

ICANN is in the midst of a second expansion, having already approved
“.jobs” for the human resources community, “.travel” for the travel
industry, “.mobi” targeting mobile services and “.cat” for the Catalan
language.

Others in the works include “.xxx,” a controversial proposal to create
a virtual red-light district for porn sites, and “.asia” for the
Asia-Pacific community.

So how do you get one of these names?

It’s pretty easy with the general-use suffixes like “.com” and even
the specialized ones like “.travel.”

ICANN has approved scores of companies to sell those names for as
little asa few dollars. The list is at:

st.html Country-code
suffixes are tougher.

First, you must check whether you even qualify for one, since some are
restricted to residents, and some subdivide their domains so
U.K. businesses must use “.co.uk.” Then you must find the companies
that register names under that particular suffix.

A good rule of thumb is to start by going to
and finding your country’s
two-letter code.

Then, try typing “,” with “xx” representing the
two-letter country code. It doesn’t work with every domain, but for
many of them, you’ll get information about that suffix’s registration
policies and procedures.

Keep in mind, though, that not all of these suffixes will be as
reliable as “.com” and the other major ones.

Iraq’s “.iq” was in limbo for years after the 2002 federal indictment
of the Texas-based company that was running it on charges of funneling
money to a member of the militant group Hamas. Only in July did ICANN
approve transferring the “.iq” name to Iraq’s telecommunications
regulator.

So what are the most popular domain names anyway?

Tops, of course, is “.com.” Germany’s “de” is next, followed by
“.net,” “.uk,” and “.org.”

Despite the United States having the largest Internet population,
“.us” ranks 10th; most simply go for “.com” or one of the other
global domains.

By Anick Jesdanun, The Associated Press

ARMENIAN PEACEKEEPING BATTALION CAN BE REFORMED IN BRIGADE

Regnum, Russia
March 13 2006

Armenian peacekeeping battalion can be reformed in a brigade, Armenian
Deputy Minister of Defense Artur Agabekyan stated during a seminar
in Yerevan on March 13. He said that it was caused by reforms in
county’s defense system that will fit NATO standards and logics of
professional army establishment.

One must note that Armenian peacekeepers are currently on duties in
Iraq and Kosovo. Third relief of Armenian peacekeepers, consisting
of 46 people departed to Iraq on January 18.

As REGNUM already informed, in the fall 2005, the Armenian Parliament
approved prolongation of Armenian peacekeepers mandate in Iraq for
another year, Armenian peacekeepers are part of Polish peacekeeping
mission. All charges for dislocation, communication, medicine and
other corresponding needs bears the US government. Memorandum on
participation of Armenian peacekeepers in Iraqi operation in staff
of Polish division was ratified in the fall 2004.

ANCA SHARES EXPERIENCE WITH CHRISTIAN ACTIVISTS

Yerkir
14.03.2006 15:33

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – As part of the Armenian National Committee of
America’s (ANCA) ongoing outreach to the broader genocide- prevention
community, Executive Director Aram Hamparian shared the Armenian
American advocacy experiences with participants in Ecumenical Advocacy
Days, an annual gathering of over a thousand Christian activists from
around the nation concerned about U.S. foreign policy in Africa and
the Middle East.

In his March 11th presentation on the Darfur Genocide, Hamparian
began by noting the profound gratitude of Armenians for the role that
Christian churches played in raising protests during the Armenian
Genocide, providing relief to its survivors, and in establishing
orphanages for the countless thousands of children left parentless
by this crime.

Stressing the special responsibility that Armenians bear as victims of
the 20th Century’s first genocide, Hamparian discussed the efforts by
the Armenian American community to bear witness to the horrific human
costs of genocide, to press for action to end the genocide in Darfur,
and, more broadly, to help generate the political will to ensure that
this crime is never again visited upon any other peoples – anywhere
in the world.

He then spent the remainder of his presentation outlining the
policy-based and practical political steps needed to build an effective
anti-genocide constituency at both the grassroots and national levels.

AZERIS OF EUROPE AGAINST ARMENIAN PRESIDENT VISIT TO BELGIUM

Pan Armenian
18.10.2005 19:33 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Benelux” Coordination Council of Azeri Organizations
has released a statement protesting against Armenian President
Robert Kocharian’s visit to Belgium October 19. “We – the former
citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan, who now live in Europe:
Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Talishs, Russians, Jews and representatives
of other nationalities – address the UN, EU, International
Criminal Court (Hague), European judicial structures and all
international organizations demanding to put an end to the double
standards policy,” the Council document says. It further urges
the aforementioned international organizations to provide a legal
and political evaluation of the “crimes” of the Armenian military,
who are responsible for “their crimes against humanity in Azerbaijan
and call them to account.” It should be reminded that an Armenian
delegation lead by President Kocharian is arriving in Brussels on a
three-day working visit to commence October 19. The delegation will
meet with Belgian leaders, EU top officials and the NATO SecGen.

OMBUDSMAN SUPPORTS RESIDENTS OF BUZAND STREET

A1+
| 21:03:49 | 13-10-2005 | Politics |

The National Citizens’ Initiative (NCI) today continued its series of
public hearings with a town-hall meeting on “Violations in Property
Alienation.” By means of the event, NCI brought a new stimulus to the
civic movement against the human rights infringements taking place
during implementation of the new construction plan for Yerevan. On
August 24, at the time of the first hearings devoted to this issue,
NCI had underscored the need to prepare a special report.

Illegalities and arbitrariness are still so widespread in Armenia that
this autumn the country’s ombudswoman Larisa Alaverdian had come up
with a special report in this regard. “The human rights defender had
been criticized for her 2004 annual report, where the facts pertaining
to the sad state of human rights were either under-expressed or
entirely missing. That gap has been filled by the special report,”
Alaverdian said. She also expressed a conviction that even after the
revelation of relevant evidences, unlawful acts continue unabated.

Despite the invitations that were sent to a range of state bodies,
there were very few government officials who took part in the
session. Chairman Karen Davtian of the Bureau for the Implementation
of Yerevan’s Construction Investment Plans attempted to substantiate
the legitimacy of property alienation. According to him, the number
of disgruntled citizens is small because approximately 1200 residents
of that area already have signed pertinent contracts and received
compensations. In the words of Davtian, the complaints by many are
baseless since those people do not possess any documents that confirm
their right to proprietorship.

However, the scores of citizens who participated in the public
roundtable with their private testimonies maintained the contrary
and presented their own counter evidence as victims of the state’s
“eminently false domain and needs.” Sedrak Barseghian in particular,
pointed out that the company, which received the permission to carry
out construction in that zone has an enormous debt to the state. The
Biuzand Street residents Vachagan Hakobian, Levon Ghasabian, Gohar
Gharibian, and Iskuhi Bilian on the other hand, testified that the
state authorities were evicting the inhabitants from their homes
without recompensing them.

Chairman of Helsinki Committee Avetik Ishkhanyan called to appeal to
the European Court of Human Rights, since the report of the Ombudsman
has big advantage.

ARMENIA SUPPORTS KAZAKHSTAN INTENTION TO PRESIDE OSCE IN 2009

Pan Armenian
13.10.2005 22:38 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia expresses “solid support of Kazakhstan’s
intention to preside the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
European in 2009,” stated the Armenian party upon completion of the
talks between Deputy FM of Kazakhstan Nurlan Onjanov and Armenian
MFA leaders in Yerevan. The first session of the Intergovernmental
Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation between Kazakhstan and
Armenia was held in Yerevan October 12.

The Commission determined strengthening the contractual basis,
increasing Kazakh investments in the economy of Armenia, support of
joint venturing, promotion of transport community and interaction
in agriculture as priority directions. An inter-departmental
Agreement on Cooperation in Archiving was signed in the course of
the meeting. According to the Kazakh MFA, the Armenian Government has
expressed readiness to provide copies of Kypchak manuscripts of 14-16
centuries being kept at Matenadaran treasury of ancient manuscripts,
reported Kazakhstan Today.