Early pullout of garrison from Tbilisi to begin in 2nd half of Nov
02.11.2006, 17.50
TBILISI, November 2 (Itar-Tass) – Early pullout of the Russian
garrison from Tbilisi will begin in the second half of November, the
headquarters of Russian troops in Transcaucasia /GRVZ/ told Itar-Tass
on Thursday.
“A schedule for the withdrawal of the servicemen and equipment of the
Tbilisi garrison has been drawn. This schedule is being coordinated
with Georgian authorities, who will ensure the safety of the pullout of
the equipment and the servicemen, in line with the existing accords,”
a military official said.
“A meeting between representatives of the GRVZ and the Georgian Defense
Ministry will take place within the next few days, who will discuss
the procedures of withdrawing equipment and personnel. A small group
of GRVZ officers will continue service at the Russian military bases
in Batumi and Akhalkalaki, to ensure the process of completing the
pullout of these bases from Georgia,” he added.
Earlier on Thursday, Troops commander of the North Caucasus military
district /SKVO/, General of the Army Alexander Baranov all Russian
servicemen will leave the Tbilisi garrison by the end of this
year. A total of 100 units of equipment and 350 tonnes of property
and ammunition will be withdrawn.
Two freight trains with garrison property will be evacuated to Russia,
and another two – to the Russian military base in Gyumri, Armenia,
through Azerbaijan.
The early withdrawal is being implemented at the instruction of
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov.
Baranov also promised housing to all the servicemen from among the
withdrawing troops who will be transferred to reserve in the near
future.

REFORMS IN SCIENCE EXPECTED
Panoraman.am
16:30 03/11/06
After the government approved timetable of reforms in science,
three working groups were created which separately developed
draft reform projects. Ara Avetisyan, deputy minister of science
and education, told a press conference today that three papers
were drafted to ensure multiple opinion. After discussions, one
single document was developed. Avetisyan said the draft will be
suggested for public hearing in November. In the words of the deputy
minister, special attention was paid to management and financial
mechanisms. /Panorama.am/

PARTICIPATION IS ALREADY SUCCESS
A1+
[06:16 pm] 03 November, 2006
Miss Armenia 2006, 22-year old Marina Vardanyan was included into
the top 12 during the competition “Miss Europe 2006”. Manager of
the national agency “Miss Armenia” Karen Aristakesyan considers this
success taking into account the fact that Armenia was one of the 33
countries which participated in the competition.
Mr. Aristakesyan is displeased with the Armenian Mass Media which
did not share this success. Marina Vardanyan herself told a news
conference today that she would like to be included into the top 5,
but she is not displeased with her present result.
Marina has graduated from the Yerevan State University, faculty
of Russian language and literature and is going to continue her
post-graduate education.
She is also going to engage in fashion. She has not yet had offers
from European fashion houses but she hopes that there will be offers.

POLICE FAILS TO DISCLOSE ABRAHAMYAN’S CASE
Panorama.am
16:53 03/11/06
Ararat Mahtesyan, deputy police head, told Panorama.am that the
attackers on Suren Abrahamyan, former interior affairs minister, are
not found. “A lot of work has been done, interviews were held at the
investigation department. However the case has not been discovered
yet,” he said.
Speaking about the reasons for the failure to disclose the case,
Mahtesyan said Abrahamyan failed to report during the first two
days. He also said nearby residents were interviewed but without
effects.
Mahtesyan proudly stated, however, that 86% of crimes are disclosed in
Armenia saying it is exclusively good result among newly independent
states. /Panorama.am/

VimpelCom to Acquire Armenian Telecom Operator
Panorama.am
20:34 03/11/06
OAO VimpelCom, Russia”s second-largest cellular company, said today
it agreed to buy 90 percent of an Armenian phone company for 341.9
million euros ($434.2 million), as it looks to expand beyond the
saturated Russian market.
VimpelCom has signed an agreement with Greece”s Hellenic
Telecommunications Organization SA, the Moscow-based company said
today in a PRNewswire statement. The company will also assume about
40 million euros in net debt and obligations.
The closing of the purchase of Armentel by VimpelCom is subject to
the fulfillment of certain conditions, including approval by the
government of Armenia.
Commenting on the signing of the purchase agreement, Alexander
Izosimov, Chief Executive Officer of VimpelCom, said: “We are
pleased to announce the signing of this agreement that will enable
our entry into Armenia, the sixth CIS country outside of Russia in
which VimpelCom will have operations. With approximately 40% mobile
market share, Armentel occupies a strong position in the Armenian
market and we will work to enhance this position.”
VimpelCom is also active in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan
and Georgia./Panorama.am/

HEAD OF POLISH SENATE TO VISIT ARMENIA
Armenpress
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS: Bogdan Borusevicz, head of Poland’s
Senate, will arrive in Armenia on November 5 on an official visit.
Armenian parliament press office said on November 6 he will be received
by parliament chairman Tigran Torosian. On the same day Borusevicz is
scheduled to meet with members of a tiny Polish community of Armenia.
Then he will meet with prime minister Andranik Margarian. On November
6 Polish officials will lay a wreath to the Genocide Monument and
on November 7 they will meet with Catholicos Karekin II, head of
Armenian Church.

KOCHARIAN TO VISIT KAZAKHSTAN
Armenpress
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS: On November 6 president Robert
Kocharian will pay a two-day official visit to Kazakhstan at the
invitation of his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbaev.
Kocharian’s press office said Kocharian-Nazarbaev talks will be
followed by enlarged negotiations. It said also a set of agreements,
particularly, on avoiding double taxation, will be signed in Astana.
In Astana Kocharian is scheduled to meet with Kazakh businessmen and
members of the Armenian community.

ARMENIA REPORTS 46 PERCENT TRADE GROWTH WITH TURKEY
Armenpress
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS: Armenia’s foreign trade in
January-September of 2006 rose 12. 1 percent to $2.208.2 billion in
real prices.
According to the latest figures of the National Statistical Committee,
Armenian exports made $699.4 million while exports surged to $1.508.7
billion resulting in an impressive foreign trade imbalance of $809.3
million. Humanitarian assistance deducted the foreign trade gap was
$772.5 million.
Nearly 29 percent of foreign trade fell on former Soviet
republics. Russia with 13.3 percent remained Armenia’s biggest trade
partner in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The share
of foreign trade with members of the European Union rose top 34
percent. Germany and Belgium were Armenia’s biggest trade partners
in the European Union with 9.6 and 7.7 percent respectively.
Growth of trader with Russia was 18.1 percent and with EU members
12 percent. Trade with USA and Israel declined 3.6 and 10.2 percent
respectively, but trade with Turkey rose 46 percent making nearly 3
percent of Armenia’s overall foreign trade.
Exports in year-over-year terms declined 0.9 percent, prompted
largely by decrease in exports of items produced from precious and
semi-precious metals while imports sprang nearly 20 percent.

Gallup Survey: Armenians Think That Armenia is on the Wrong Track
Journal of Turkish Daily
Nov 4 2006
Saturday , 04 November 2006
62 percent of Armenians think that the country is on the wrong
track, while 31 percent think that the country is going in the right
direction, say the results of a national poll conducted by Gallup
Organization/Baltic Surveys in Armenia. ArmInfo reported that 39
percent of Armenians see improvement in the country’s economy,while
21 percent think it is declining.
The poll was commissioned by IRI, was conducted by the Gallup
Organization/Baltic Surveys in coordination with the Armenian
Sociological Association, and was funded by USAID. The survey was
conducted from July 31 to August 10, 2006 among 1,200 Armenian
residents (voters) aged 18 years and over who were interviewed
face-to-face. The margin of error does not exceed 3 percent.
Only 2% of respondents are concerned over attaching occupied Azeri
territory Nagorny Karabakh to Armenia.

Northop Grumman scientist Hagop Injeyan is at the forefront when it comes to defense-based technology.
By Muhammed El-Hasan
Today is Friday, November 03, 2006
Originally published Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Updated Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Beaming about the future of lasers
DAILY BREEZE
That’s hot.
Northrop Grumman employee Hagop Injeyan’s job is to come up with
ideas for new lasers for warfare. The laser physicist is a senior
scientist and technical fellow at Northrop’s Space Technology sector
in Redondo Beach. He specializes in solid-state lasers, which use
electricity instead of chemical reactions to power a beam.
Injeyan, 54, has worked at Northrop for 25 years.
The Glendale resident earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in
physics from UCLA. He earned his Ph.D. in electrical sciences and
engineering also from UCLA.
What does your job entail?
I do the conceptual design of lasers. I have enough experience to
have my arms around what it takes to build a laser. I do very
preliminary modeling, and I come up with a concept, which somebody
else does detailed analysis and engineering and detailed design for.
My colleagues say I’m the guy who gets them into trouble. I come up
with these ideas that they’re stuck trying to make work. I also do
quite a bit of proposal writing to bring in new business.
Do you have any say in your ideas once you’ve finished conceptual
work?
After the idea goes through the detailed analysis and engineering and
it gets into the lab, then I’m in there with my colleagues
troubleshooting and trying to understand if there are things that are
working differently than expected to make it into fruition.
How do you come up with your ideas?
There are things you look for. You have certain specifications that
you look for, whether it’s energy or beam quality or power. The top
thing is to make sure the eventual system hangs together. You may
have half a dozen specifications and you want to make sure your
design has them plus be as efficient as possible in terms of size,
weight, cost.
Where are you when you get your ideas?
I frequently come up with ideas in the shower. I consider my work an
essential part of who I am. I am frequently thinking about problems
at work no matter where I am, even in social contexts.
Are you afraid of fire?
Sure, I’m afraid of fire. And that’s healthy for all of us. In the
early days when I was working with relatively low-powered lasers, I
was burned a few times, but not anything serious. Now that we have
higher-powered lasers … we have developed a whole process of making
sure everybody is safe. We use lots of mirrors to bounce the beams
around. Behind every mirror, there is a burn-through sensor so that
if for some reason the mirror starts degrading, the burn-through
sensor senses it and immediately shuts down the laser. When these
high-powered lasers are on, we are never in the room. We have never
had a serious incident in our various laser-testing experiments.
What’s the best part of your job?
Interacting with the people I work with. Part of the reason I’ve
enjoyed my stay here, especially the last five to 10 years, is I
think we’re at the threshold of really transforming warfare as we
know it. The lasers we’re developing here are totally defensive in
nature. And they have the potential of making destructive weapons
like artillery and missiles obsolete. I think it’s exciting to be
part of that.
What’s the worst part?
Besides the commute, the worst part of my job is having to deal with
a lot of the paperwork that is necessitated by my job. One of the
things that I am always harassed by management about, lovingly I’m
sure, is that I’m not always filling my timecard properly. We have to
account for every hour we work. It’s paperwork necessitated by the
fact that we do government work.
Do you like the “Star Wars” movies?
I can’t watch “Star Wars.” The reason is because every five seconds,
they violate a law of physics. In “Star Trek,” on the other hand,
they take great care in that whatever they portray, it’s at least
conceptually possible in the future. I’m a big “Star Trek” fan.
How does “Star Wars” violate the laws of physics?
For example, those light sabers they use, light will not propagate a
certain distance and stop. Another example, light particles cannot
collide. They just go through each other. It is possible to have a
laser beam and cut somebody’s hand off with it. But laser beams don’t
bounce off each other. So the concept of a light saber is so
violently opposed to physics, I can’t deal with it.
How is “Star Trek” more realistic?
The concept of a Holodeck. I’ve spent nights thinking about how it
can be made possible where not only do you see images in 3-D form,
but you can experience and interact with those images. Those images
don’t have to be there for you to experience them. That’s the kind of
thing that I really enjoy about “Star Trek.” It’s not only
entertaining, but it stimulates thought. The other thing I like about
“Star Trek” is the replicator. It can make any food you want. That is
a very viable concept. You have certain atoms and molecules, and how
do you arrange them together to get what you want?
Have you ever gone to a “Star Trek” convention?
No. I’m not at that level.
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