Category: News

A1 Plus | 19:38:52 | 05-05-2004 | Politics |
ARMENIAN JUSTICE MINISTER ATTACHES LITTLE IMPORTANCE TO PACE RESOLUTION
Justice Minister David Harutyunyan, speaking at a news conference on
Tuesday, failed to answer journalists’ question whether Armenian authorities
are going to comply with PACE-adopted resolution, demanding to refrain from
applying administrative detention to rallies’ and demonstrations’
participants, or not.
“There is some misunderstanding between us and the CE”, the answer was.
He pointed out that the facts submitted for the PACE consideration were not
accurate, that’s why value of the document based on them is not so great.
He is concerned about the fact of such kind of documents’ existence. It
would be better, if Armenia wasn’t be a subject of discussion in PACE
sessions, Harutyunyan said.
He is convinced the situation created by some legislative faults. In his
opinion, “administrative detention” conception is inherited from soviet-era
legislation.
But, at the same time, he said the “administrative detention” term can be
replaced by another one. But even so, such a punishment will remain in
practice and can be placed in Penal code.

World Bank Approves Three Credits For Armenia
Contacts:
In Yerevan: Vigen Sargsyan, (374 1) 524-884
[email protected]
In Washington Miriam Van Dyck (1-202) 458-2931
[email protected]
WASHINGTON, May 4, 2003-The World Bank’s Board of
Executive
Directors today approved three credits for Armenia: a US$10.15
million equivalent credit for the Public Sector Modernization Project,
a US$20 million equivalent credit for the Municipal Water and
Wastewater Project, and a US$1.74 million equivalent for a
supplemental credit for the Agricultural Reform Support Project.
The US$10.15 million equivalent Public Sector Modernization Project
will assist the government in its efforts to improve the transparency,
accountability, effectiveness and efficiency of public sector
management. This is the first World Bank-supported project focused on
public sector reforms. The project will support civil service reforms,
and will make specific innovations in core public institutions, which
should become a catalyst for further modernization efforts.
While the first phase of public sector reforms in Armenia can overall
be considered to be completed, the government is currently entering
into the second, more challenging phase of institutional and
governance reforms. The project will support the government in
implementation of the second phase of public sector reforms, primarily
aimed at strengthening the management systems of state institutions,
and improving policy development and service delivery processes both
at central and local levels.
The US$20 million Municipal Water and Wastewater Project will assist
the Government in its efforts to improve water and wastewater
services, in terms of coverage, quality and efficiency with a focus on
areas outside the capital city. It is the second IDA-financed water
and wastewater project in Armenia, after an initial Municipal
Development Project (MDP) to support Yerevan’s Water and Sanitation
Company. The Municipal Water and Wastewater Project will build on the
accomplishments of the Yerevan MDP and continue sector reforms beyond
the capital city by strengthening the Armenia Water and Sanitation
Company (AWSC) through financial and technical rehabilitation of
Armenia’s water and wastewater systems.
The project will extend improvements recently achieved in Yerevan to
other parts of the country, and will lead to several key technical and
commercial outcomes. It will improve the reliability and quality of
drinking water, increase hours of service, and provide for greater
operating efficiency. In addition, the project will result in improved
relationships with customers, capable management and qualified staff,
and increased water company cash generation through reform of billing
and collection.
The US$1.74 million supplemental credit for the Agricultural Reform
Support Project will finance assistance to smallholder farmers whose
vineyards and orchards were damaged by the frosts of December 2002 as
well as continued operation of critical agricultural support
services. This includes about 1,000,000 grapevine seedlings and
400,000 fruit tree seedlings for the rehabilitation of about 370 ha of
smallholders’ vineyards and 1,130 ha of smallholder’s orchards;
continued operation of the rural extension service and the regional
agricultural service centers; the adaptive and applied agricultural
research program; the integrated pest management (IPM) program; and
the market information service until June 2005.
The orchard and vineyard replanting program will benefit up to 10,000
of the most severely affected small farmers, helping them to recover
from the devastation of their grapevines and fruit trees and to
upgrade the genetic diversity and quality of their grape and fruit
tree stock. The continued funding of essential agricultural support
services will ensure that farmers continue to receive the critical
advisory, information and technical assistance needed to improve their
productivity and incomes. The original IDA Credit for the
Agricultural Reform Support Project, for US$14.5 million, was approved
in 1998.
The credits will be made to Armenia on standard IDA terms, including
40 years maturity and a 10-year grace period. Since joining the World
Bank in 1992 and IDA in 1993, commitments to Armenia total
approximately US$786.9 million for 33 operations.
For more information on the World Bank’s activities in Armenia,
please visit:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
May 5 2004
Azeri, Armenian Foreign Ministers To Meet In Strasbourg
Foreign ministers Elmar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan and Vardan Oskanian
of Armenia are going to meet in Strasbourg, France, on May 12, during
a gathering of foreign ministers of the Council of Europe s member
states.
Azerbaijan s Mammadyarov said the meeting would be attended also by
the OSCE Minsk group s co-chairs, and special representatives of the
both conflicting countries.
Mammadyarov said he would discuss with his Armenian counterpart the
ideas the presidents of the two countries debated during their Warsaw
meeting on April 28.
The foreign minister would not disclose the ideas.

Mansfield News Journal, OH
May 5 2004
What will it take for us to leave Iraq?
By Ron Simon
News Journal

Not long ago, USA TODAY did a piece on all the young men and women
who have been killed while serving in Iraq.
All their pictures fit on one page. Until that point, it hadn’t hit
home how few there really have been.
Not that each one doesn’t hurt like hell when that one is your
friend, your brother, your son or daughter.
And you can be sure that many, many more are coming home maimed in
one way or another.
But in all honesty, we lost that many in just one ambush in the Ia
Drang Valley.
Think back to that first awful hour on Omaha Beach. Or the bloody
black sands of Iwo Jima.
Or, God help humanity, one hot afternoon at Antietam Creek in
Maryland when the “landscape turned red.”
When I read about our difficulties in Iraq and how determined to the
death some Iraqis are to blow us out of there, I know how the British
must have felt when they occupied New York City in the 1770s.
Somebody in London decided if the Redcoats were able to occupy North
America’s major cities, that silly old revolution would die on the
vine.
So first they held Boston and found themselves trapped there. The
march to Concord was a disaster and Bunker Hill was even worse. Then,
when they found themselves staring at the mouths of cannons on
Dorchester Heights, it was time to pull out.
Next, they tried New York City and after a few brisk fights, it was
theirs. And it’s all they got. If a Redcoat thought he could go
raiding in Westchester County, Long Island or New Jersey, he was
liable to wind up dead. Trapped again.
Philadelphia wasn’t quite so deadly, but it was just another dead
end, as were Charleston and Savannah. Those damned Yankees owned the
countryside and managed to get France and Holland involved.
Time to leave.
Like the Greeks in Persia, the Romans in Germany and the Germans in
Russia, being belligerent in somebody else’s country can bear painful
results.
A lot of Vietnam veterans are going back there on veterans holidays.
They say the reception is great. Folks are friendly. It sure wasn’t
like that 35 years ago. I can’t remember ever feeling safe anywhere
when I was there.
We did have two successful occupations in Japan and Germany after
World War II and I guess it is because both countries were so
completely defeated that we could afford to be friendly and
forgiving.
We felt the same way about the South Koreans. But when you think
about it, all three countries were not too unhappy to have our
military around, considering how many enemies they had. We made a
great security blanket and spent money like water. It’s no surprise
all three countries have done so well. We primed their pumps and let
them grow behind our shield.
That’s not the case in Iraq. The Kurds like us plenty and seem to be
doing well. I hope we don’t desert them again, but they haven’t much
more historic luck than the Jews or the Armenians.
No matter how many of us get killed or injured, I don’t sense any
mood to cut and run from Iraq yet. I just wonder what it’s going to
take to get out of this one with some honor.
I hope I never see film of our last helicopters lifting off from a
building in Baghdad with people dangling from the landing skids. Once
in a lifetime is enough.

Interfax
May 5 2004
World Bank approves $35 mln in loans for Armenia
Yerevan. (Interfax) – The World Bank board of directors on Tuesday
approved three new credit programs for Armenia totaling about $35
million, Roger Robinson, director of the World Bank office in
Yerevan, said at a press conference Wednesday.
The World Bank will allocate $10.15 million for public sector
modernization, $23 million for water supply and sewage system
restoration in 300 municipalities, and $1.74 million on agriculture
reform and compensation for industry losses caused by bad weather, he
said.
The programs are planned to last four to five years. Loans will be
disbursed according to the standard easy terms offered by the
International Development Association (IDA) with repayment in 40
years at 0.5% per year with a 10-year grace period, Robinson said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 5 2004
Azeri presid notes positive changes in OSCE Minsk group work

BAKU, May 5 (Itar-Tass) – Azerbaijani president Ilkham Aliyev has
noted positive changes in the activities of the Minsk Group of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Nagorno
Karabakh.
Aliyev told journalists on Wednesday, `the activity of the Minsk
Group has become noticeable, its co-chairmen are persistently seeking
solution to the problem.’
The Azerbaijani president believes the settlement process is underway
although not very actively.
President Aliyev expressed the hope that the negotiations on the
Karabakh conflict settlement with mediation of the OSCE Group,
co-chaired by Russia, France and the United States, will bring
concrete results.
`If we did not believe in that there would be no sense in conducting
talks,’ the head of Azerbaijan stressed.
He positively assessed meetings held between the Azerbaijani and
Armenian presidents in Geneva in December 2003 and in Warsaw in April
2004, as well as talks held at the level of the two states’ foreign
ministers.
The next meeting of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia
with participation of co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group will be held
in Strasbourg on May 12.
On this day ten days ago the two sides reached an agreement on
ceasefire on the Karabakh conflict zone which is still being
observed.

IRNA, Iran
May 5 2004
Iran to export natural gas to Azerbaijan, Armenia
Tehran, May 5, IRNA — Iran is to export 200 to 350 million cubic
meters of natural gas to Azerbaijan per annum from the coming winter
according to a contract that is to be signed by the two sides after
necessary negotiations and agreements.
Deputy Minister of Petroleum for Caspian Oil and Gas Affairs
Hamdollah Mohammadnejad told IRNA here on Wednesday that Iran has
been in talks for more than one decade with the republics of
Azerbaijan and Armenia on export of its natural gas.
Mohammadnejad said that Iran is also to export 1.2 to 2.5 billion
cubic meters of natural gas to Armenia a year for a period of 20
years through a 20-inch pipeline.
The gas, he added, would be transferred to Magri border region
through a 120 kms pipeline.
The official said that feasibility studies on the pipeline project
has been completed and it would be implemented once related contract
is signed by Iranian and Armenian sides.
He said Iran gives the priority to transfer of gas to neighboring and
the Central Asian republics on the long run in a bid to upgrade
mutual economic cooperation.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IRNA, Iran
May 5 2004
Iranian professor, researcher, Herman Vahramian, praised by minister
of culture
Rome, May 5, IRNA — Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance
Ahmad Masjed Jamei praised an Italian-based Iranian research
professor for his efforts at making the world more familiar with
Iranian civilization and culture.
In a letter to Professor Herman Vahramian, Masjed Jamei said that all
Iranian citizens would be proud of his untiring efforts to introduce
Iranian and Islamic culture and civilization to the world.
The letter was handed over to Vahramian for Masjed Jamei by Iranian
Ambassador to Rome Bahram Qasemi.
Vahramian, 64, is an Iranian-Armenian graduate of architecture from
Milan University who left Iran in 1960 to continue his studies in the
field of architecture in Italy.
Since receiving his Ph.D in 1972, Vahramian has written some 106
books on Oriental and Occidental Arts some of which relate to Iranian
arts and architecture.
He has also penned more than 120 research articles on Iranian-
Armenian Oriental Art which have been published in various
publications in different parts of the world including Iran, the
United States and Armenia as well as in some countries in Europe and
the Middle East.
Masjed Jamei, in his letter to Vahramian, said that Iranian-
Armenians, along with other ethnic minorities of Iran, have always
served the country in many ways.
Praising Vahramian’s 40 years of untiring efforts in introducing
Iranian and Islamic culture to the world, the minister said Iranians
would undoubtedly be proud of him.
It was also learned that the Iranian professor was made an honorary
citizen of Italy in 1997 for his significant efforts at encouraging
relations among world nations.
Vahramian is currently in Milan taking a rest as he has been
diagnosed with a debilitating disease.

NASA, DC
May 5 2004
NASA-funded telemedicine research brings medical care to people
living in Earth’s remote regions, improves space medicine

What do villages in the Amazon jungles, the peaks of Mount Everest
and Mars have in common? All are remote places where doctors may not
be available to provide medical care for patients. Now, doctors can
reach patients via television and computers – a concept called
telemedicine. One day, space explorers may use telemedicine to
consult with doctors on Earth. Telemedicine research is being
conducted by Dr. Ronald Merrell, director of the Medical Informatics
Technology Applications Consortium – a NASA Research Partnership
Center managed by the Space Partnership Development program at the
Marshall Center.
Photo: Merrell (Virginia Commonwealth University)

What do villages in the Amazon jungles, the peaks of Mount Everest
and Mars have in common? All are remote places where doctors may not
be available to provide medical care for patients.
But now, thanks to high-tech electronics, doctors do not always have
to be with the patient to assist with medical care. Instead, doctors
can literally visit patients or consult with other doctors via
television and/or computers – a concept called “telemedicine.” One
day, these “television calls” may become routine for the first humans
living on lunar and Martian outposts.
“Telemedicine changes the way we approach medical care, both
intellectually and logistically,” explains Dr. Ronald C. Merrell,
director of the Medical Informatics Technology Applications
Consortium, a NASA Research Partnership Center at Virginia
Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va.
“And with the nation embarking on a new space exploration voyage,
back to the Moon and onto Mars, long-term medical care becomes even
more important for space travelers,” adds Merrell. “The constraints
of providing medical treatment using telemedicine to patients at
remote places on Earth and to people in space are similar, so what we
learn on Earth can be applied to using telemedicine for human space
exploration.”
Merrell, a professor of surgery, recently returned from Sucua,
Ecuador, where his medical team and local physicians set up a mobile
unit for diagnosing and treating tropical diseases in Amazon villages
that are only reachable by small planes or canoes. They installed
computers, cameras and other equipment, along with medical and
surgical tools. Through this technology, Merrell and his team can
consult with their colleagues in South America.
The Medical Informatics and Technology Applications Consortium has
been a partner with Cinterandes Foundation in Cuenca, Ecuador, for
several years. The foundation has provided a mobile surgical facility
that transmits the vital signs of patients in Ecuador to doctors
3,000 miles away at Virginia Commonwealth University. In one case, an
anesthesiologist at the university, monitoring a surgery in Ecuador,
noticed a life-threatening irregularity in the patient’s heart
rhythm. He warned the surgeons, who responded in time to prevent harm
to the patient.
“Testing technologies that provide medical care to space crews not
only benefits individuals who need medical care, but entire
countries,” says Merrell. “Medical students and physicians from
across the globe have visited Virginia Commonwealth University,
learned about telemedicine and gone back to their countries to start
telemedicine programs.”
For the past several years, the Medical Informatics and Technology
Applications Consortium has tested different telemedicine units
operating under a variety of conditions in many locations – including
Mount Everest, the Artic Circle, Russia, Brazil, Mongolia and Kenya.
Telemedicine is used not only to consult with colleagues, but also to
train medical students – requiring them to watch experts perform
surgeries and other procedures.
“Providing the best medical training to students and practicing
physicians is one of the most rewarding aspects of this research,”
Merrell says. “One of my teachers at Ensley High School in
Birmingham, Ala., was the first person who got me interested in
science, so I believe it is important to inspire the next generation.
What could be better than making it possible for students and doctors
– no matter where they are studying or practicing medicine – to learn
from the world’s leading medical experts?”
Merrell, an Alabama native, obtained a bachelor’s degree in chemistry
from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and doctorate of
medicine from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. He completed
his residency and fellowship training at the Barnes Hospital at
Washington University in St. Louis. He has held prestigious positions
at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., and Yale University
School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn. He began his relationship with
NASA in 1984 when he was a professor of surgery at the Texas Medical
Center in Houston near NASA’s Johnson Space Center. He led programs
in clinical medicine, education and research, and his first
telemedicine project funded by NASA provided care as part of a relief
effort in Armenia.
Now, Merrell’s team is testing how doctors might use telemedicine to
train space crews to perform surgery. This summer, doctors from
Virginia Commonwealth University will fly aboard NASA’s KC-135
aircraft – a plane that flies roller coaster patterns and exposes
researchers to a few minutes of low-gravity in which they float about
like space crews. Merrell and his fellow researchers will practice
surgery techniques, so they can experience how space conditions
affect the way surgery is conducted.
“We know that performing surgery and other medical procedures in
space will be different from working on Earth,” Merrell says. “The
more we can learn, the better we can help space crews complete long,
productive exploration missions to the Moon, to Mars and beyond.”
For more information visit:

Medical Informatics Technology Applications Consortium

Office of Biological and Physical Research

Space Partnership Development Program

UN News Centre
May 5 2004
14 elected to UN human rights commission
4 May 2004 – The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
elected 14 countries today to serve on the Commission on Human
Rights, the UN’s highest forum for examining civil rights around the
world.
Winning by acclamation were Guinea, Kenya, Sudan and Togo from the
African Group; Armenia and Romania from the Eastern European States;
and Ecuador and Mexico from the Latin American and Caribbean States.
The others were elected by secret ballot. Of the four candidates
nominated by the Asian Group to fill three vacancies, Malaysia,
Pakistan and the Republic of Korea were elected; Viet Nam lost its
bid for a seat. Canada, Finland and France, nominees from the Western
European and Others Group, where chosen while Spain was not.
After the African Group submitted Sudan for re-election to another
two-year term, the representative of the United States traded harsh
words with the Sudanese representative and the US delegation excused
itself and walked out.
US representative Sichan Siv said he was perplexed and dismayed that
the African Group had submitted, for the third time, the candidacy of
a country that massacred its own citizens in the western Darfur
region, where the humanitarian crisis had reached a tragic scale.
He urged the Group to consider the effect of that situation on the
Commission’s reputation and ability to function effectively as the
world’s protector of human rights and freedoms.
Sudanese representative Omar Bashir Mohamed Manis said his Government
had acknowledged fully the humanitarian problem in Darfur and had
asked the international community for help.
He said it was ironic that the US delegation, while shedding
crocodile tears over the situation in Darfur, was turning a blind eye
to the atrocities committed by US forces using the most lethal
weapons known to man against the civilian population in Iraq.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has
begun collecting information for a report on civil liberties in Iraq
and has said it hopes to complete it by the end of this month.
Similarly, a high-level UN fact-finding mission returned to Geneva
from Darfur last week and has been finalizing its report, according
to OHCHR. Senior UN humanitarian officials, meanwhile, have expressed
shock at the lack of protection provided to civilians in the
strife-torn region.
ECOSOC, to which the Commission on Human Rights reports, also held
elections to such panels as the Commission on Population and
Development, the Commission for Social Development and the Commission
on Sustainable Development.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress