Category: News

Ottawa Citizen
November 11, 2004 Thursday
Final Edition
Imagine a world without wars
by David Ljunggren, Citizen Special
The head of one adult male was neatly split in two. Next to him lay a
man — or maybe it was a woman — whose head had been dipped in acid
until only a chalky white skull remained. Further back in the unlit
barn I could make out the bodies of children laid out on the dirt
floor.
These corpses were once people living in the town of Khojaly, which
had the fatal misfortune to be located in a part of Azerbaijan
claimed by neighbouring Armenia.
One night in February 1992, a large force of Armenian gunmen
descended on Khojaly, and those inhabitants who were not killed in
the initial attack fled through a snow-laden valley where countless
dozens perished from the cold or their wounds. Estimates of the death
toll ranged from at least 500 to more than 1,000 — many of them
women and children.
Despite the passing of a dozen years, the memory of those smashed
faces remains with me still, especially on a day like today. What
happened in that remote corner of the crumbling Soviet empire was a
wartime atrocity like so many others in the past and, I fear, like so
many to come. How many new victims of war will they be remembering on
Nov. 11, 2104, I wonder?
Rather than paying homage to those who died, isn’t it about time we
began to find a way to stop having to commemorate our war dead in the
first place?
In my gloomier moments, I sometimes suspect the human race is
genetically hot-wired to cull itself every few dozen years,
regardless of how often new generations are taught about all that has
gone before.
As someone born and raised in Europe, I can testify that the
miserable lessons of the past often seem to be written on water.
There are wars crammed into every corner of our roots and still, it
seems, we want more. I sometimes feel as though Europeans walk with a
slight stoop, as if weighed down by centuries of suffering built up
during that continent’s often miserable history.
We’ve launched every kind of war for every possible reason and
already fought one war to end all wars — the one from 1914 to 1918.
It doesn’t surprise me that when British author Virginia Woolf
committed suicide in 1941, part of the reason was that she had become
so disturbed by the new global conflict and all it signified about
the stupidity of mankind. Is this really all we are good for?
As the Second World War drew to a close, Britain’s Daily Mirror
newspaper published a memorable cartoon of an exhausted, wounded
soldier holding a garland of peace.
“Here you are. Don’t lose it again!” was the caption.
It seemed as though Europe was paying attention, for we saw no more
battles for another 45 years, a development that prompted hope that
this might really be the start of a new, more rational era. Then the
former Yugoslavia disintegrated and we saw a new series of massacres,
as well as the return of concentration camps.
Although the major European powers were lambasted for their
reluctance to intervene, I don’t think they were cowards, but rather
dumbfounded by the sight of yet more carnage and misery on their
doorstep. “We’ve tried this before on countless occasions and it
doesn’t work. I thought we all agreed on that. So what on earth are
you doing?” was the loud unspoken message.
You don’t have to look at a globe for long to spot the sites of
possible future conflicts. How about India against Pakistan, or China
against India, or China against Taiwan and then the United States, or
Israel against Iran, or Syria against Israel? There is no shortage of
options. The victims of Khojaly are in the ground now, but will
surely soon be joined by women and children from Fallujah, Abidjan,
Kashmir, Chechnya and more places on Earth than you ever knew
existed. And outsiders such as ourselves will shrug and sigh and say,
“Well, that’s sad, but these things happen.” Not for us the screams
of the massacred, thank you very much.
So do we teach our children about the dangers of war until we’re blue
in the face, or do we just let them get on with carving out a tragic
chapter of their own?
Mankind has been on this planet for quite a while, long enough to
iron out most of the flaws, yet seems totally incapable of stifling
the urge to kill.
What a miserable species we can be sometimes.
David Ljunggren is the Reuters national political correspondent in
Ottawa.
E-mail: [email protected]

Foreign workers snap up the jobs that Britons on benefit reject
by Helen Nugent, Stewart Tendler and Anna Patty
The Times (London)
November 11, 2004, Thursday
Employers are looking to immigrants for skilled, motivated staff,
report Helen Nugent, Stewart Tendler and Anna Patty
Employers are aggressively recruiting staff from other countries
because British workers lack the motivation and skills to do crucial
jobs, The Times has found.
The drive for foreign workers amounts to a side-stepping of
employment laws that forbid discrimination against the English, the
Scots, the Welsh and the Irish.
Workers from Eastern European countries that joined the EU in May and
people from India and Bangladesh are flocking to Britain to fill
vacancies in the hospitality industry, agriculture, security,
accountancy, construction and healthcare.
Between May and September, government figures released yesterday show
that there were 90,950 applicants from eight Eastern Europe and
Baltic states -the equivalent of 0.3 per cent of the British working
population -and more than 87,200 were given permission to work.
Another 3,700 were still being processed at the end of September.
Britain needed workers for 600,000 vacancies, including low-paid jobs
that were often difficult to fill.
Australians, New Zealanders and people from the Far East are also
moving to the UK and are quickly snapped up by companies desperate
for enthusiastic hard workers with proven experience.
A combination of a lack of investment in training for key industries,
a skills shortage and a desire by a large number of people to stay on
benefits has fuelled overseas recruitment, businesses claim.
Bob Cotton, chief executive of the British Hospitality Association,
which represents the hotel, catering and leisure industry, said that
many employers in hospitality were targeting trained staff from
Poland, Hungary and Lithuania.
A visa arrangement with the Home Office, allowing up to 10,000 people
from Bangladesh, the sub-continent and the Far East to travel to
Britain for work each year, had also boosted the number of foreign
workers in restaurants and hotels, he said.
Restaurant owners and hoteliers recruit overseas staff directly from
catering colleges, often in association with specialist local
agencies.
Mr Cotton said: “One of the biggest problems is that while we have a
low level of unemployment, we have millions of people claiming
benefits.
“Some of these people would rather work fewer hours so they retain
their benefits.
Foreign workers are happy to work between 30 and 50 hours a week.”
Horticultural companies, including fruit and vegetable growers, are
also recruiting from across the world, including Ukraine, Armenia and
Georgia. Under a government-sponsored initiative called the Student
Agricultural Workers Scheme, pupils from outside the EU can work in
Britain for up to six months.
Last year 25,000 work cards were available, but this has been reduced
to 16,200 in anticipation of an influx of workers from the ten
accession states to the EU.
Concordia, a youth organisation, has links with agriculture
universities worldwide. Christine Lumb, its executive director, says
that there is not enough investment in agricultural colleges in
Britain, which has led to a severe skills shortage.
After yesterday’s first assessment of the Government’s registration
scheme for workers from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, David Blunkett, the Home
Secretary, said that the policy had contributed more than £120
million to the economy.
“Our commonsense app-roach to EU enlargement has put us at a clear
advantage compared with the rest of Europe,” he told a TUC
conference. The policy had been attacked this year as “opening the
floodgates and newspapers suggested people from Eastern Europe would
be pillaging wives and daughters”, but it had worked for the benefit
of the country, Mr Blunkett said.
Poland accounted for 48,500 of the applicants and profiles of all
registered workers show that 36,500 were aged under 35.
Registered workers paid an estimated £20 million in tax and national
insurance. Of the total, 96 per cent were working fulltime.
Eighty per cent were earning between £4.50 and £5.99 an hour and the
number claiming benefits was very small.
–Boundary_(ID_m0e7swo3RLMU9e89pFsBcg)–

Russia economic growth slowdown not related to YUKOS-expert
By Dmitry Zlodorev
ITAR-TASS News Agency
November 11, 2004 Thursday 4:19 AM Eastern Time
MOSCOW, November 11 — Russia’s economic growth retardation is
not linked to the developments around YUKOS, chief economist of the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Willem Buiter
is certain.
The expert said on Thursday that according to the EBRD forecast,
Russia’s economic growth rates in 2004 will reach 6.9 percent, as
against 7.3 percent in 2003. Buiter said it was not unexpected as
such periods are possible in the economic development of any country
and there is no alarming in that.
The main factor of economic growth in Russia, according to Buiter,
is structural reforms that have shown some progress recently.
First of all these reforms depend on effective regulation, ensuring
competition on the market and participation of the private sector
in the economy, Buiter said presenting the EBRD annual report at a
meeting with U.S. Chamber of Commerce officials in Moscow.
The EBRD chief economist stressed that out of 27 countries the
situation in which is reviewed in the document 17 have shown serious
improvement in the economic situation.
In particular, the expert noted, Armenia has recently doubled its
economic growth. According to Buiter, countries of southeast Europe
will show the greatest economic growth in the short run. In 2004 this
indicator will be 6.1 percent and in 2005 – 5.5 percent.
Officials of the EBRD mission in Russia who spoke at the meeting
stressed that in 2005-2007 the bank will give special attention
to financing interregional projects in Russia, in particular,
in the insurance and banking sectors, production, as well as in
infrastructural projects – construction of roads and ports.
EBRD mission officials said the bank would like to expand activities
outside Moscow and St. Petersburg.
According to them, last year the bank invested 1.1 billion euros
in the Russian economy and this year its capital investments will
account for about the same sum.

CIS states express condolences on death of Yasser Arafat
ITAR-TASS News Agency
November 11, 2004 Thursday
Y E R E V A N
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan expressed condolences to interim
Palestinian head Ruhi Fatouh on the death of Yasser Arafat. In his
telegram on Thursday Kocharyan said he praised Arafat’s contribution
to the protection of Palestinians’ rights. On behalf of the Armenian
people Kocharyan conveyed his sympathies to the people of Palestine
and relatives of Arafat, the presidential press service told
Itar-Tass.
M I N S K – There are no grounds to say the death of Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat will lead to the aggravation of the situation in
the Middle East and the wrecking of the Road Map for Mideast Peace,
Belarussian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Savinykh said. Speaking
at a news briefing on Thursday, the spokesman said, “Yasser Arafat’s
death is, certainly, a serious loss for the Palestinian movement.” He
stressed, “The Republic of Belarus learnt with grief about the death
of the Palestinian leader who had authority in the Arab world.”
Savinykh pointed out that high-ranking Foreign Ministry officials
will visit the Palestinian Embassy in Minsk to express condolences on
Arafat’s death.
A L M A T Y – Kazakhstan’s Moslems express condolences to the
Palestinian people on the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Deputy mufti of Kazakhstan, Mukhammad-Hussain khadzhi Alsabekov, told
Itar-Tass Kazakh Moslems will pray over him in all mosques. Alsabekov
said, “The Palestinian leader lost the leader of international
standard who dedicated his life to the just cause – the creation of a
sovereign Palestinian state.” The Kazakh mufti wished new Palestinian
leader Mahmoud Abbas to continue Arafat’s cause “with patience, by
peaceful means and with account of ordinary Palestinians’ view.”
M I N S K – Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko expressed
condolences to the Palestinian leadership on the death of Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat. In his telegram to Palestinian interim leader
Ruhi Fatouh, Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and PLO Secretary-General
Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday Lukashenko said, “A wise and outstanding
politician passed. He had a big authority in the whole Arab world.
We’ll remember him forever.”
A S H G A B A T – Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov expressed
condolences to the Palestinian government, the PLO Executive
Committee and the Palestinian administration on the death of Yasser
Arafat. In his telegram on Thursday Niyazov said, “On behalf of the
people and the government of Turkmenistan I convey our sincere
sympathies on the death of the outstanding leader of the Palestinian
people, His Excellence Mr. Yasser Arafat. I want to express my
condolences and convey my sympathies to the family of deceased
Arafat. I pray Allah to give Palestine strength in order to overcome
this serious loss.”

Gazprom interested in privatization of Georgian pipelines
RosBusinessConsulting Database
November 11, 2004 Thursday 9:54 am, EST
Gazprom has confirmed its plans to take part in the privatization of
backbone gas pipelines and gas distributing organizations in Georgia.
According to Sergey Kuznets, the chief of the Division of Legal
Support for International Operations of Gazprom’s Legal Department,
the Georgian government is now preparing a list of properties to
be privatized. Kuznets pointed out that Gazprom was interested in
privatizing gas pipelines in Georgia, as gas supplied to Armenia
goes via this country. Georgian gas pipelines are often used rather
inefficiently, and Gazprom is facing problems with gas transportation
in this connection, Kuznets explained.
As for the possibility of Gazprom’s participation in laying a gas
pipeline from Iran to Armenia, Kuznets said the gas company was
interested in that project. Gazprom plans to supply fuel to Armenian
power plants and than export electrical power to Iran, the company’s
representative added.

Gazprom says interested in Georgia’s pipeline privatization
Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire, Russia
November 11, 2004
MOSCOW, Nov 11 (Prime-Tass) — Russia’s natural gas monopoly Gazprom
was interested in taking part in the privatization of Georgia’s
pipeline and gas distributing companies, Sergei Kuznets, an official
with Gazprom told an industry conference Thursday.
He said that the Georgian government was currently preparing a list
of assets subject to privatization and Gazprom planned to take part
in the privatization, if the terms were acceptable to it.
“It is important for Gazprom because the gas pipeline links Russia
with Armenia,” he said.
Furthermore, Gazprom may participate in the construction of a gas
pipeline from Iran to Armenia, he said, adding that this project
envisages supplying gas from Iran to Armenian power stations in return
for Armenian electric power supplied to Iran. End

Official says Armenia’s 2d mobile co to start operations Aug ’05
Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire, Russia
November 11, 2004
YEREVAN, Nov 11 (Prime-Tass) — A second Armenian mobile operator,
K-Telecom, would start its operations in Armenia in late August 2005,
Armenia’s Justice Minister David Arutyunyan told reporters Thursday.
Arutyunyan said that K-Telecom would receive its frequency over the
next two to three months.
He said that at present the Armenian national telecom company ArmenTel
had the licenses for the frequencies, and that this situation could
not be changed overnight.
“We estimate that K-Telecom will receive the 10MHz frequency in
about seven months, which will enable the company to start commercial
operations a few months after that,” Arutyunyan said.
On November 4, Arutyunyan said that the Armenian government had awarded
a license to K-Telecom to become the country’s second mobile operator.
Arutyunyan said that the Armenian government had approved the removal
of ArmenTel’s exclusive right to provide GSM, mobile satellite
and mobile radio communication services by amending the company’s
license. End

Armenia’s top prosecutor ends criminal investigation into 1999 parliament attack
by AVET DEMOURIAN; Associated Press Writer
Associated Press Worldstream
November 11, 2004 Thursday 10:14 AM Eastern Time
Armenia’s top prosecutor closed the criminal investigation into
the 1999 shooting attack on parliament that killed this ex-Soviet
republic’s prime minister and seven other people, a decision that
some politicians criticized Thursday as premature.
Prosecutor General Agvan Ovsepian said Wednesday that the five-year-old
investigation into the organizers of the Oct. 27, 1999, attack was
being closed because of a lack of information.
Six gunmen barged into the parliament chamber, shooting then-Prime
Minister Vazgen Sarkisian, Parliament Speaker Karen Demirchian and
six other officials and lawmakers. Forty hostages were held overnight
before the attackers surrendered and released the captives in exchange
for time on television and promise of a fair trial.
Alleged leader Nairi Unanian and five others were sentenced to life
in prison; one later committed suicide.
The attackers claimed they were saving Armenia from economic collapse
and official corruption. But the opposition has long suspected a
political motive since Sarkisian was believed to be moving to sideline
President Robert Kocharian.
“As a victim and a witness… I had the impression that the terrorists
did not act alone and were waiting for help from the outside,” said
Prime Minister Andranik Markarian, who was in the parliament session
during the terrorist attack.
He said that steps must be taken to “dispel this suspicion that exists
among witnesses of the terrorist attack and society.”
Democratic Party leader Aram Sarkisian, whose brother was killed in
the attack, criticized the prosecutor general’s decision, saying
it was taken “not on a legal basis but political, with the aim to
forever conceal the organizers.”
Markarian called on anyone who might have additional information to
provide it to the prosecutor general’s office. According to Armenian
law, criminal cases may be reopened if new information emerges.

Some CIS states express condolences on Arafat’s death
The Xinhua News Agency, China
November 11, 2004 Thursday
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko sent a telegram to
the Palestinian leadership expressing condolences on the death of
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the Itar-Tass news agency reported
on Thursday.
In his telegram Lukashenko said that Yasser Arafat was a wise and
outstanding politician, and he had a high prestige in the whole
Arab world.
“We’ll remember him forever,” he said.
Meanwhile, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan in his telegram on
Thursday to interim Palestinian head Ruhi Fatouh on the death of
Yasser Arafat said he praised Arafat’s contribution to the protection
of Palestinians’ rights.
Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov expressed condolences to the
Palestinian government, the PLO Executive Committee and the Palestinian
administration on the death of Yasser Arafat, Itar- Tass said.
In his telegram on Thursday Niyazov said “on behalf of the people and
the government of Turkmenistan I convey our sincere sympathies on
the death of the outstanding leader of the Palestinian people, his
excellence Mr. Yasser Arafat. I want to express my condolences and
convey my sympathies to the family of deceased Arafat. I pray Allah
to give Palestine strength in order to overcome this serious loss.”
Yasser Arafat, 75, Palestinian leader, passed away in Paris on
Thursday morning.

Armenia squad for World Cup qualifier against Romania
The Xinhua News Agency, China
November 11, 2004 Thursday
BELGRADE
Armenia’s French coach Bernard Casoni has named the following 18-man
squad for next week’s World Cup European zone Group One qualifier at
home against Romania:
Goalkeepers: Edela Bete (Pyunik Yerevan), Armen Ambartsumyan (
Slavia Sofia)
Defenders: Sarkis Hovsepyan and Alexander Tatevosyan (both Pyunik
Yerevan), Arutyun Vardanyan (Aarau), Karen Dokhoyan (Krylya Sovietov
Samara), Artur Mkrtychyan (Darida)
Midfielders: Agvan Mkrtychan and Karen Aleksanyan (both Pyunik
Yerevan), David Grigoryan (Mika Ashtarak), Hamlet Mkhitaryan (MTZ-
RIPO Minsk), Rafael Nazaryan (Darida)
Forwards: Arman Karamyan and Artavazd Karamyan (both Rapid Bucharest),
Andrei Movsesyan (FC Moscow), Ara Akopyan (Stal Alchevsk), Edgar
Manucharyan (Pyunik Yerevan), Armen Shakhgeldyan (Mika Ashtarak).