GERMANY DENIES POLITICAL ASYLUM TO OVER 6,000 AZERIS – ENVOY

Turan News Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 8 2006

Baku, 8 December: Germany has turned down requests for political
asylum filed by 6,500 Azerbaijani citizens, German ambassador to
Azerbaijan Peer Stanchina has told reporters.

This is a very large number for a small country like Azerbaijan,
the ambassador added. An analysis of the situation has shown that
many of the applicants were of Armenian origin.

It costs German municipalities a lot of money to provide housing and
material aid to those people. It costs Germany 30m-40m euros a year.

"We have started talks with Azerbaijan’s government on the return
of those people to Azerbaijan," the ambassador said. He added that
there were also members of political parties among those applying
for political asylum.

AZERI DEFENCE MINISTRY CONFIRMS SOLDIER TAKEN CAPTIVE BY ARMENIANS

Source: ITV, Baku, in Azeri 1100 gmt 9 Dec 06
ITV, Public Television, Azerbaijan
Dec 9 2006

Vusal Qaracayev, 18-year-old soldier of the Azerbaijani army, has
been taken captive by the Armenian armed forces on the contact line
between the [Armenian and Azerbaijani] armed forces in Agdam District.

[passage omitted: quoting an Armenian report]

The head of the Defence Ministry press service, Col Ramiz Malikov,
has confirmed this. He said that soldier Vusal Qaracayev lost his
way and crossed over to the Armenian positions while carrying out
his duties on the morning of 7 December.

The head of the Defence Ministry press service also told ITV that
that the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry had reported the issue to
relevant international organizations and that work was under way to
free the soldier.

COURT TO HOLD SESSION IN HOSPITAL OVER CHAKHMAKHCHIAN ISSUE

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
December 8, 2006 Friday 08:19 AM EST

Russia’s Supreme Court will hold a visiting session in a hospital on
Friday over the so-called issue of Chakhmakhchian, a former Federation
Council member who is receiving medical treatment.

"Due to the fact that Article 448 of the Criminal Procedural Code
forbids the court to consider such a presentation in the absence of the
person who has a certain status, the Supreme Court has decided to hold
a visiting session in the hospital which is treating Chakhmakhchian,"
his lawyer Boris Kuznetsov said.

On Friday, the court may answer the question of whether there were
hallmarks of crime in actions by Federation Council senator from
Kalmykia Levon Chakhmakhchian.

"I lodged a complaint at the Constitutional Court over the
Chakhmakhchian case, and today, the Supreme Court may suspend the
proceedings until the Constitutional Court has considered this
complaint," Kuznetsov said.

Chakhmakhchian is now in hospital with increased pressure. He is in
satisfactory condition, according to the lawyer.

On June 6, the Prosecutor General’s Office asked the Court to give
a qualification of Chakhmakhchian’s actions which may be covered by
Part 4 of Article 159 of Russia’s Criminal Code /fraud committed by
an organized group or grand fraud/.

Chief accountant of the Association of Russo-Armenian business
cooperation Igor Arushanov and assistant auditor of the Audit Chamber
Armen Oganesyan were detained in Moscow on June 2 on suspicion of
taking a large bribe.

According to investigators, they demanded 1.5 million dollars from
a businessman for taking out negative information from an audit report.

Levon Chakhmakhchian happened to be in their office when detectives
seized 300,000 of marked dollar bills.

However, as a FC member, he enjoyed immunity, so no procedures were
instituted against him. Arushanov and Oganesyan were arrested.

Chakhmakhchian was elected senator of the Federation Council from
Kalmykia in 2004. He occupied the post of Deputy Chairman of the
Committee for problems of local governments.

On June 23, 2006, the Kalmyk parliament, on a presentation by Speaker
of the Federation Council upper house of the Russian parliament Sergei
Mironov, voted for early termination of Chakhmakhchian’s powers.

SUPREME COURT ALLOWS PROSECUTION OF EX-SENATOR

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
December 8, 2006 Friday

The Russian Supreme Court has met the Prosecutor General’s Office
request for prosecution of former Kalmykia representative in the
Federation Council Levon Chakhmakhchyan.

"The court confirmed formal elements of a crime in the Chakhmakhchyan
behavior," lawyer Boris Kuznetsov said. The hearings were held
in camera.

Previously, the Prosecutor General’s Office was unable to start
criminal proceedings, because Chakhmakhchyan was a member of the
Federation Council and enjoyed parliamentary immunity.

"I disagree with the judgment and will certainly challenge it,"
Kuznetsov said.

The Prosecutor General’s Office suspects Chakhmakhchyan of fraud.

Investigators say that the former senator conspired with another three
men to extort $1.5 million from Chairman of the Transavia Airline
Board of Director Alexander Pleshakov for special consideration of
the company situation at the Federation Council.

Transavia owed $300 million in taxes.

Meanwhile, Chakhmakhchyan denies his culpability. "This is absurd,"
he said.

Two suspects have been taken into custody, and the prosecutors will
soon decide what to do with Chakhmakhchyan. One more suspect is wanted.

Chief accountant of the Russian-Armenian Business Cooperation
Association Igor Arushanov and assistant auditor of the Russian Audit
Chamber Armen Oganesyan were apprehended in Moscow on June 2, 2006,
on suspicion of taking a bribe. Investigators said they demanded $1.5
million from a businessman for crossing out negative information from
the Audit Chamber report. Police seized $300,000 in marked banknotes
while apprehending the suspects in the presence of Chakhmakhchyan.

The latter enjoyed parliamentary immunity and was free to go.

The People’s Khural (parliament) of Kalmykia terminated the office
of Chakhmakhchyan ahead of time by proposal of Federation Council
Speaker Sergei Mironov on June 23, 2006.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EARTHQUAKE IN ARMENIA: MIKHAIL GORBACHEV CUT UNITED STATES VISIT

ABC News
SHOW: TIME TUNNEL 9:09 AM EST ABC
December 8, 2006 Friday

Anchors: Rob Simmelkjaer
Reporters: John Mcwethy (New York, NY USA)

CONTENT: MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, SOVIET AMBASSADOR YURI DUBININ, NATIONAL
SECURITY ADVISOR COLIN POWELL, PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN, ARMENIA
EARTHQUAKE, SOVIET UNION

ROB SIMMELKJAER (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) Welcome back to ‘Time Tunnel." I’m Rob Simmelkjaer in
New York. We now continue our journey back in time to this day in
1988 when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was forced to cut short a
visit to America after a devastating earthquake struck Armenia.

Here’s how it went.

GRAPHICS: EARTHQUAKE

PETER JENNINGS (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) When the news became widely known this morning, that Mr.

Gorbachev is going home because of the disaster in Armenia, someone
observed this was the decision of a natural politician, of a leader
who sensed when to be away and when to be among his people. Here’s
ABC’s John McWethy.

GRAPHICS: NEW YORK

JOHN MCWETHY (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) Soviet leader Gorbachev attended a gala United Nations
reception until after 10:00 last night. When it was over, aides
presented him with new information on just how devastating the
earthquake had been. Back at the Soviet mission, it did not take him
long to decide. As leader of the Soviet Union, he must return home.

Besides, he could not be seen shopping in New York while his countrymen
faced a disaster. In minutes, Soviet Ambassador Yuri Dubinin had
called national security advisor Colin Powell in the White House.

JOHN MCWETHY (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) President Reagan was awakened and given the news. Just
before midnight, Foreign Minister Shevardnadze told the world. So,
instead of a tour of New York, which was to be followed by stops
in Cuba and London, Gorbachev headed for home. He said he received
a phone call this morning from President Reagan and Vice President
Bush offering their sympathy and American help, if needed. Even though
he was forced to cut short his visit to the United States, Gorbachev
certainly made his mark. His proposal to reduce the Soviet military by
half a million men and 10,000 tanks is already a challenge to Congress,
where there will now be pressure to cut American defense spending.

SENATOR JOHN GLENN (DEMOCRAT

He want more than just words. And if so, if he really carries it out,
then that means it opens a whole panoply of things that we may be
able to do with conventional arms and with nuclear arms, and that
would be a real big step forward.

JOHN MCWETHY (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) So, Gorbachev flies home, leaving behind new ideas
and proposals that already have set off a worldwide debate. He is
challenging the West to take the same kinds of risk that the Soviet
Union appears to be taking. Still at issue, whether to trust what he
says. And if you do, whether you believe he can deliver. John McWethy,
ABC News, New York.

CLEAR PARALLELS FOR ARMENIA EARTHQUAKE: LESSONS LEARNED IN PAST EARTHQUAKES

ABC News
SHOW: TIME TUNNEL 9:05 AM EST ABC
December 8, 2006 Friday

Anchors: Rob Simmelkjaer
Reporters: Bill Blakemore (New York, NY USA)

CONTENT: TIEN SHAN, EARTHQUAKE, MEXICO CITY, ARMENIA, DOUG JEWETT,
DAVID SIMPSON, VENEZUELA, DADE COUNTY, APLS, HIMALAYAS

PETER JENNINGS (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) Try to put the Armenian earthquake in perspective in
the worst earthquake in recent years. It struck the Chinese City of
Tien Shan in 1976 and it measured 7.8 on the Richter scale. Almost a
quarter of a million people died. The Mexico City earthquake in 1985
was an 8.1. 10,000 people died. The disaster in Mexico City, you may
remember, was extensively and widely televised, which means it was
something of a classroom for rescue workers all over the world. In
Soviet Armenia, there are clear parallels. Here’s Bill Blakemore.

GRAPHICS: SOVIET UNION

BILL BLAKEMORE (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) The Soviets are facing a terrible problem no nation has
yet been able to solve, how to take a part of collapsed buildings
quickly enough and delicately enough to save unseen thousands buried
alive. Survivors in profound shock usually can’t believe anyone could
be alive in the heavy rubble.

GRAPHICS: 1980

GRAPHICS: ITALY

BILL BLAKEMORE (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) But lessons we’ve learned from earthquakes earlier this
decade have taught how people can survive two or three weeks buried
without food or water.

GRAPHICS: 1985

GRAPHICS: MEXICO

BILL BLAKEMORE (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) Babies surprised the world in Mexico City when they
were taken out alive from ruined maternity wards in the second
week after their 1985 earthquake. The Mexican buildings were of the
same reinforced concrete construction collapsing down in sandwiching
layers, which we’ve seen now in the first pictures coming from Soviet
Armenia. But the craft of getting quickly into such ruined buildings
is in its infancy. Mexico City saw squabbling among different experts
from France, Mexico, the US, and 45 other nations.

BILL BLAKEMORE (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) Doug Jewett of Miami’s Dade County Rescue was one of the
experts in Mexico.

DOUG JEWETT (EARTHQUAKE RESCUE EXPERT)

We have all the resource in the world, but we got one major problem.

We cannot coordinate all these resources. There’s always 15 chiefs
and one Indian.

BILL BLAKEMORE (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) After the Mexico quake, international rescue teams met
in Venezuela, to try to get organize for the next big one. But they
failed to agree on standardized rescue techniques. Earthquake rescue
experts in many countries today like these, ready to go in France and
in Britain, wanted to get to Soviet Armenia yesterday. But have had
to wait for governments to work out detail. There’s a series of faults
stretching from the Alps to the Himalayas. The Soviet earthquake was in
the center of this in the Caucasus Mountains. And being in mountains,
say geologists, can make earthquakes worst.

DOCTROR DAVID SIMPSON (SEISMOLOGIST)

It will get much more effect because of landslides, because of loose
soil, because of the ground conditions in the area.

BILL BLAKEMORE (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) Great plates of the earth are pushing against each other
there, literally pushing the mountain ranges farther up. And will
go on in doing so for thousands of years to come. But without an
international organized rescue system, the Soviets today are facing
much of the same learning from scratch about catastrophic earthquake
rescue so many have faced before. Bill Blakemore, ABC News, New York.

ROB SIMMELKJAER (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) When we come back on ‘Time Tunnel," more on that huge
earthquake in Armenia and a look at a long gone sliced of Americana.

Stay tuned for more ‘Time Tunnel" in just a moment.

COMMERCIAL BREAK

THE EARTHQUAKE IN ARMENIA

ABC News
SHOW: TIME TUNNEL 9:00 AM EST ABC
December 8, 2006 Friday

Anchors: Rob Simmelkjaer

GRAPHICS: TIME TUNNEL

ROB SIMMELKJAER (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) Hi, there. And welcome to ‘Time Tunnel," where we take
a look with what was making news in the past.

GRAPHICS: TRAVEL BACK TO THIS DAY IN TIME

ROB SIMMELKJAER (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) I’m Rob Simmelkjaer in New York. Today, we travel back
to this day in 1988, where a massive earthquake rocked the Soviet
Republic of Armenia. Here’s Peter Jennings with the news of the day.

GRAPHICS: 8 DECEMBER 1988

GRAPHICS: WORLD NEWS TONIGHT

ANNOUNCER

>>From ABC, this is ‘World News Tonight" with Peter Jennings.

PETER JENNINGS (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) Good evening. The disaster that summoned the Soviet, it
is so urgently home, began at 11:41 in the morning yesterday. Folks
were at work. The kids were in school. The earthquake was measured
at seven on the Richter scale. And that is an earthquake capable of
doing massive damage. And that seems to be the case.

PETER JENNINGS (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) The Soviet Republic of Armenia, which is roughly the size
of Maryland, is about 1500 miles south of Moscow, right on the border
with both Turkey and Iran. Based on what the International Red Cross
knows, they believed that 30,000 people may have lost their lives,
maybe more.

PETER JENNINGS (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) But maybe 300,000 are homeless, maybe more. Our first
report from the Soviet Union is the actual report that Soviet
television viewers saw on their evening news. The English voice is
our interpreter.

SOVIET REPORTER (MALE)

(Through translator) These are the ruins of Leninakan. In the central
square of the town, the clock shows the exact time disaster struck.

The second largest city in Armenia is in ruins. We saw houses turned
into heaps of metal and a concrete. Schools and kindergartens turned
into heaps of rubble. We saw people, their faces full of grief
and anguish. A tragedy they cannot express in words. According to
preliminary estimates, the earthquake of unprecedented strength
destroyed two-thirds of the city Leninakan. The city of Spitak,
70 kilometers away with a population of more than 20,000, has been
practically wiped from the face of the earth.

SOVIET REPORTER (MALE)

(Through translator) Overall, in the disaster-stricken area, hundreds
of thousands of people were made homeless. And tens of thousands lost
their lives. Today, the central committee of the Armenian Communist
Party, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and the Council of Ministers
of the Republic approved a message to the people of Armenia. Its words
were imbued with a deep feeling of grief and sorrow for the bereaved
families. It expressed faith in the spirit, courage and endurance of
the Armenian people. It declared the 9th and 10th of December to be
days of national mourning.

SOVIET REPORTER (MALE)

(Through translator) The whole country is coming to the aid of the
victims. All the Soviet Republics. And let us hope that the cities,
which rise from the ruins, will serve as a memorial to the victims
of this natural disaster. Today, Nikolai Ryzhkov, the chairman of
the commission set up by the Politburo of the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union and chairman of the Council of Ministers, arrived in
Yerevan, accompanied by members of the commission including Minister
of Defense Yazov. After a meeting at the Central Committee of the
Armenian Communist Party, members of the commission went to the scene
of the disaster and started work.

PRIME MINISTER NIKOLAI RYZHKOV (SOVIET REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA)

(Through translator) Tonight, we will be taking a decision to mobilize
all equipment that can possibly be of use, not only from the army,
but also from factories, and not only from Armenia, but from other
republics, and from all sectors of the economy. We need mobile cranes
with lifting power of up to 40 tons. We need gas specialist with their
equipment. And everything has to be organized in shifts, because the
work is going on around the clock. I would like to make an appeal to
all factory managers working its party organizations.

Don’t wait for a formal decision to be taken. Today, right away,
start loading the equipment I mentioned, plus earth moving machines,
and send them here to Armenia.

PETER JENNINGS (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) As the Soviet sought, and heard it on television this
evening. And incidentally for them and for us, simply light-year
sooner than we would have seen such reporting before Mr. Gorbachev.

RESCUING RELIEF IN ARMENIA: OTHER COUNTRIES HELPED OUT IN RESCUING

ABC News
SHOW: TIME TUNNEL 9:03 AM EST ABC
December 8, 2006 Friday

Anchors: Rob Simmelkjaer
Reporters: Jerry King (Moscow, Russia)

PETER JENNINGS (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) For the Soviet bureaucracy, the challenge is now is
rescue and relief. The region hit is mountainous making it just that
much tougher. Here’s our man in Moscow, Jerry King.

GRAPHICS: MOSCOW

JERRY KING (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) At a communist youth league office in Moscow, people
brought in shopping bags with whatever they could donate, canned
goods and clothing. The International Red Cross and the Muslim were
present. Organized blood donations across the country, and this one
at the Moscow University. This was in the Republic of Georgia.

Tonight’s television news broadcast appeals for more blood. Even
though, an official admitted they could not cope with the number
of donors they had. Special accounts have been set up in banks for
donations of money. For the first time, that included an account for
hard currency, from foreigners here. Workers in Minsk announced they
would send a whole trainload of construction workers and equipment.

JERRY KING (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) Officials say the prime task is the search for a survivors
who may still be beneath the rubble, that and to find them and bury the
dead. Another head ache, to find a way around the logistical problems.

JERRY KING (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) The Soviet military, which has been trying to stem ethnic
violence between Armenia and neighboring Azerbaijani, is sending in
additional units to care for the homeless, to help rebuild. Said the
Azerbaijani minister of health, ‘Pain and suffering bring our people
together." Jerry King, ABC News, Moscow.

LE KARABAKH SE DOTE D’UNE CONSTITUTION CAUCASE…

Le Figaro, France
09 decembre 2006

Le Karabakh se dote d’une Constitution CAUCASE. Les Armeniens du
Nagorny-Karabakh, enclave independante autoproclamee au sein de
l’Azerbaïdjan, ont vote hier sur un projet de Constitution.

Le referendum a ete condamne par l’Azerbaïdjan, qui estime qu’il
" interfère avec le processus de paix en cours " et que cette
consultation ne peut pas etre consideree comme valide tant que la
population azerie de la region n’est pas autorisee a rentrer. Cette
petite enclave vit depuis 1991 en etat de siège et n’est accessible
que par un corridor occupe par l’armee armenienne. Des millions
d’Armeniens et d’Azeris ont ete deplaces, et des accrochages le long
de la ligne de front font encore plusieurs dizaines de morts chaque
annee. Violents combats au sud de Baidoa SOMALIE. Des affrontements
armes ont eclate hier entre les forces loyales au gouvernement de
transition somalien et les miliciens islamistes, au sud de Baidoa,
siège des institutions de transition somaliennes. En debut de semaine,
les troupes loyalistes somaliennes avaient affirme avoir repris, après
d’intenses combats, la ville de Dinsoor, qui etait tombee aux mains des
islamistes pendant le week-end. Les islamistes avaient dementi la perte
de la ville. Ils accusent l’Ethiopie voisine d’avoir envoye son armee
en Somalie pour defendre le fragile gouvernement de transition. Ils ont
appele a plusieurs reprises au djihad contre les Ethiopiens. D’autres
combats ont ete signales aussi dans le centre de la Somalie.

–Boundary_(ID_0txD5Vz9shCrIJKSquMACA)–

SINGER SILVA WINS NEXT BIG THING

BBC NEWS
inment/6216088.stm
2006/12/09 09:41:11 GMT

Armenian singer Silva has won the BBC World Service’s Next Big Thing
competition with her song I Like.

The 17-year-old was chosen ahead of six other acts from around the
world at the final, held in the BBC’s Maida Vale studios in London.

The judges praised I Like, which was composed by the singer’s brother,
as "fresh and new" and described her performance as "second to none."

"It’s terrific, it’s unbelievable to be in first place," she said.

She added the comments from the judges – producer William Orbit
described her as "fabulous" – meant she felt confident she could
"make the step up to international level."

Second place in the competition was split between Malawian rapper
NiC and London duo Stefan and Mya.

‘Great tradition’

Stefan and Mya’s song My Dunks – a rock-rap track about
a trainer-obsessed fashion victim and his bitter rows with his
girlfriend – was described by Jeff Travis – founder of UK indie label
Rough Trade – as part of "a great tradition in rock ‘n’ roll."

NiC’s Take A Look Into My Eyes – an anti-materialistic rap song about
the difficulties of getting into the music industry in Africa – was
lauded by the judges for its lyrical content and use of a Greek sample.

Meanwhile, third place went to Brazilian collective Sweet Cherry Fury
for their song Cold Blonde Body.

Generation Next

The other finalists included British rock group Skagz, American outfit
MLK and the Dreamers, and Ghanaian singer Mishkini, who performed
his song in three different languages.

The competition, part of the BBC’s Generation Next season, was aimed
exclusively at acts aged under 18.

The final seven had been selected by a panel of music journalists and
experts from a group of 20 acts – who themselves had been pooled from
all the entries submitted via the BBC’s website.

The judges for the final included legendary producer William Orbit,
Rough Trade founder Jeff Travis, African star Angelique Kidjo and
Dirty Pretty Things drummer Gary Powell.