Category: 2017

Agence France Presse
 Saturday 2:56 AM GMT
Kasparov shows flashes of past glory but comeback no dazzler
 Washington, Aug 19 2017
Russian chess legend Garry Kasparov concluded his keenly awaited
comeback Friday, ending a week of games in which he showed flashes of
his legendary prowess but ended up eighth out of 10 players.
The 15-time world champ temporarily came out of 12 years of retirement
to take on a much younger generation of masters at the Rapid and Blitz
tournament in St. Louis, Missouri.
In this format featuring faster-paced chess than in traditional games,
Kasparov played inconsistently.
He won just a few games against the other nine players, who included
four of the world's top 10. The winner of the tournament was Levon
Aronian, of Armenia.
After retiring from chess in 2005, Kasparov turned to politics and
joined the opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In his peak he was known as "the Beast of Baku" -- a reference to the
capital of his native Azerbaijan -- because of his very aggressive
playing style focusing on wins over settling for a draw.
Kasparov was not expected to win this tournament.
Experts predicted the Russian would face stiff competition from the
younger stars, especially after more than a decade away from the pro
chess circuit.
"I expected a better performance from Kasparov," French grandmaster
Sylvain Ravot told AFP.
Ravot said Kasparov actually dominated a number of games but played
too slowly through much of the tournament.
"The explanation for that is his lack of confidence," said Ravot.

ARMENIA TREE PROJECT
400 W Cummings Park, Suite 3900
Woburn, MA 01801 USA
Tel: (617) 926-TREE 
Web: www.armeniatree.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 18, 2017
ATP Leadership Provides Update on Forest Fires in Armenia
We were saddened to witness the forest fires in the Khosrov Forest Reserve
and in Artavan, Vayots Dzor on 13 August 2017. Unfortunately, our country
lost many hectares of old growth forests, with estimates ranging from 2,500
hectares to 10,000 hectares. In addition to the benefits to tourism and
other ecosystem values of these 600-year-old forests, we lost a large stand
of 150-year-old juniper trees, as well as habitat for the animals living in
these forests.  
Information is still being gathered by organizations and governmental
agencies involved in the recovery effort. We expect to know more in the
coming days and clarify the extent of the losses, and hopefully identify the
causes of the fires, as well as the action plan to prevent such disasters in
the future. 
There is an ongoing risk in Armenia to forest fires, especially in summers
when temperatures are hot and the air and soil is dry. This threat is
further exacerbated by climate change which has caused higher temperatures
and more erratic weather patterns including drought in summer. We often see
smaller fires, but these have been the largest in recent memory.
Of course the issue raises questions about Armenia's capacity to fight such
fires or withstand other natural disasters. The weekend events have revealed
a lack of resources and infrastructure to fight massive fires, though the
men and women deployed to fight the fires are to be commended for their hard
work and bravery to bring the disaster under control. 
We also received technical support from Russia in the form of water
distribution and a firefighting air vehicle, which helped disaster
management workers to control the spread of the fires. Clearly there is more
room for improvement and capacity building, and we would like to see this
become more of a national priority to protect our natural heritage. 
None of the sites were planted by ATP, but we have already begun to take
action and reach out to the major stakeholders involved in the recovery and
future prevention efforts. These include the Ministry of Nature Protection,
World Wildlife Fund, Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and
Cultural Assets, Caucasus Nature Fund, and the United Nations. All of the
parties are interested in coordination and a proactive approach to
preventing similar disasters in the future. 
Here are a few initial steps that ATP has taken: 
. We are visiting our planting sites to assess any areas of risk and ideas
to prevent the outbreak or spread of fire
. We have extended a hand to partners working in or around Armenia's forest
reserves, to assist with monitoring for threats
. We are already developing educational materials for the public to learn
about threats and think twice about practices that can cause forest fires
Protecting our green infrastructure is a team effort. At this stage, we
wanted to let people know that we're aware of the threat, we are concerned
and our experts are talking to the appropriate parties to determine an
action plan for solutions.
Carolyn Mugar, ATP Founder
Jeanmarie Papelian, Executive Director
Lucineh Kassarjian, Country Director

Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
 Friday
'Armenia uncovered' documentary to discover contemporary Armenia for foreigners
YEREVAN, AUGUST 18, ARMENPRESS. ‘Armenia uncovered’ documentary will
present Armenia to foreigners, reports Armenpress.
Armenian cultural figures from different parts of the world are
involved in the film-making process.
‘The beautified project’ group founder Andre Simonyan told reporters
the film will be probably screened by any international TV channel.
“The purpose of the film is to introduce Armenia, Armenians to
foreigners. For many people Armenia is a post-Soviet country that
tries to reach Europe. They want to present contemporary Armenia. In
the film Armenia will be presented as a very interesting multicultural
country with its nature, cuisine aimed at attracting tourists”, Andre
Simonyan said, adding that the title of the film ‘Armenia uncovered’
already hints that Armenia is a secret that they want to discover for
foreigners.
He informed that the authors shoot different sectors of the country’s
culture - cuisine, theatrical art, music, fashion…
The film-making crew was also interested in the International Barbecue
festival and they decided to include it in the film.
“The film-making team consists of nationals from different countries.
The team consists of Austrian, American, as well as Yerevan residents.
Every day they try to visit 3-4 places to shoot different things”,
Simonyan said.