PUTIN AWARDS ORDER OF FRIENDSHIP TO ARMENIA’S RELIGIOUS LEADER
ITAR-TASS News Agency
August 8, 2006 Tuesday
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree awarding the
Order of Friendship to Catholicos of all Armenians Garegin II for
his considerable contribution to the development and strengthening
of Russian-Armenian friendly relations, the Kremlin press service
reported on Tuesday.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SUSPECT DETAINED OVER ATTACK ON ARMENIAN CULTURE MUSEUM
ITAR-TASS News Agency
August 9, 2006 Wednesday 04:34 AM EST
A person suspected of desecrating the Armenian culture museum in
Rostov-on-Don is detained, a police source told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.
The suspect is a 23-year-old local resident who was previously
convicted of robbery. The person, as he confesses, belongs to a group
of skinheads.
The attack on the museum was committed on the night to July 31 this
year. The attackers broke three windows and wrote extremist slogans
on the entrance door and on the asphalt before the door.
An official investigation was launched in connection with the
intentional property damaging.
The investigation and search for accomplices are continuing, the
police source said.

PROMINENT ARMENIAN BUSINESSMAN MURDERED
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS General Newswire
August 9, 2006 Wednesday 12:42 PM MSK
Alexander Givoyev, a prominent Armenian businessman and the head of
a local children’s rights protection organization, was killed on the
highway between Ashtarak and Gyumri on Tuesday.
Police responding to reports of gunfire on the highway found Givoyev’s
body with numerous gunshot wounds, the Armenian Prosecutor General’s
Office press service told Interfax.
The investigators determined that Givoyev, heading for Gyumri with his
family in a Jeep Grand Cherokee, had stopped near a roadside store for
shopping, after which a red Lada car without license plates approached
the jeep and an unidentified gunman fired automatic weapons at the
businessman. Givoyev and the shopkeeper were killed on the spot.
A criminal case has been opened into Givoyev’s murder, and an
investigation is underway.

SKINHEAD DETAINED FOR VANDALIZING ARMENIAN MUSEUM IN ROSTOV-ON-DON
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS General Newswire
August 9, 2006 Wednesday 12:24 PM MSK
Rostov-on-Don police have detained a member of a skinhead group on
suspicion of involvement in desecrating a local church housing a
museum of Armenian culture.
Unidentified vandals smashed the windows in the building and tried
to set it on fire on July 31, an Interior Ministry spokesman told
Interfax on Wednesday.
A few days ago, unknown persons drew slogans reading “Russia for
the Russians!” on the museum’s door and the pavement in front of the
building, and made other insulting inscriptions.
A criminal case was opened. An investigation confirmed the involvement
of a skinhead group in the incident.
One of the group’s members, who was previously tried for robberies,
attacks and the illegal possession of arms, has been detained and
admitted his involvement in the act of vandalism. A manhunt for the
other participants in the incident is under way, the spokesman said.

EXHIBITION ABOUT DISPLACED EUROPEANS OPENS IN BERLIN
Agence France Presse — English
August 9, 2006 Wednesday 4:45 PM GMT
An exhibition about Europeans displaced, deported and expelled during
the 20th century opens in Berlin on Thursday amid concerns that it
will minimise the Nazis’ role.
The exhibition, titled “Paths unchosen”, is being mounted by a
foundation created by the powerful Federation of the Expelled.
The federation represents some 14 million Germans who were forced to
leave their homes in eastern Europe from 1944 as the Soviet Red Army
advanced and the Third Reich began crumbling.
Poland and the Czech Republic have warned against any initiative that
could give rise to compensation claims from these Germans against
the countries they were forced to leave.
The Czech Republic has repeatedly baulked at giving special recognition
to the three million Germans who were expelled from the Sudetenland
along the German-Czech border at the end of World War II under the
Benes decrees.
The organisers, the Centre Against Expulsion, has taken care to
highlight the plight of other Europeans who were displaced by conflict,
not only by Nazism, but in Armenia, the Balkans and Poland.
But they are courting controversy by describing the exhibition as
a first step towards creating a centre in Germany to document the
plight of victims of expulsion.
Critics of such a move include former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
They have warned that it could put undue emphasis on the German
victims, thereby diverting attention from the fact that it was Nazi
Germany that began the war in the first place.
Poland is bitterly opposed to the idea of a German-based centre and
there have been suggestions that it would be more appropriate to
honour the displaced in a joint European project spread out over
several capitals.
The deputy president of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Thierse, told AFP:
“We want a project which takes place in accord with our European
partners and not against their will.”
The exhibition at the Kronprinzenpalast runs until the end of October.

PERNOD RICARD : DES SOUCIS EN RUSSIE ?
Boursier.com
9 août 2006
La filiale de distribution du groupe aurait perdu sa licence…
Selon la version anglaise du journal russe ‘Kommersant’, les autorites
moscovites de la protection du consommateur auraient suspendu la
licence de distribution de PR Rus, une filiale de Pernod Ricard,
après une enquete debutee en juillet. La societe n’est pas la seule
visee puisque 8 autres distributeurs auraient ete sanctionnes pour
des manquements aux règles sanitaires.
“Par une coïncidence surprenante”, ecrit le journal, tous les
distributeurs concernes sont de gros importateurs de vins georgiens
et moldaves. Il explique egalement que PR Rus pourrait etre le plus
touche, au vu de sa position de leader sur le marche des spiritueux
hauts de gamme, puisque le distributeur detiendrait 22% du marche
du whisky, 12,5% du marche du Cognac francais et 40% de celui de la
Tequila. La filiale de Pernod est egalement l’importateur exclusif
de Yerevan Cognac Enterprise, qui detient 55% du marche du Cognac
armenien en Russie.
–Boundary_(ID_+zVmHWyYiUhbeQfAl6/euQ)–

DJORKAEFF: J’AI FAILLI TOUT ARRTER
par Geslin Alain
Paris-Normandie
9 août 2006 mercredi
Après un mois d’absence, l’ex-international francais Youri Djorkaeff
a repris le chemin de l’entraînement, lundi, avec son club americain
des RedBulls New York et avoue avoir songe a mettre un terme a sa
carrière. Le champion du monde 1998 et champion d’Europe 2000 a
aussi profite de son retour pour mettre les choses au point après la
polemique soulevee par sa presence a Francfort au quart de finale du
Mondial entre la France et le Bresil alors qu’il avait une permission
de son club pour venir en France auprès de sa mère souffrante.
Juste avant la rencontre, le Francais d’origine armenienne
avait ete interpelle a Francfort pour un delit de fuite datant de
septembre2001. Mais quelques heures plus tard, il avait ete libere
sous caution.
Quelles etaient les raisons de votre depart de New York?
Youri Djorkaeff: De ce côte-la, rien n’a change. Ma mère est malade.
Elle est sous traitement. Elle va un peu mieux. Mais je ne veux pas
rentrer dans les details. Je n’avais donc plus la tte au foot. Quand
j’etais en France, j’ai hesite a revenir. J’ai failli tout arrter.
Mais je suis quelqu’un qui va au bout des choses. J’ai eu une
discussion franche avec Bruce (Bruce Arena, le nouvel entraîneur des
Redbulls). C’est pourquoi je suis revenu. Je peux desormais me dedier
a 100 pour cent au football.
Les pauvres resultats de l’equipe n’ont en rien influence votre
depart precipite?
Pas du tout. Je ne revendique pas un statut de star. Tout le monde
est loge a la mme enseigne. On gagne ensemble et on sombre ensemble.
C’est vrai que ce n’est jamais gai de perdre. Mais il faut faire
avec. J’ai toujours dit que je voulais honorer mon contrat jusqu’a
la fin de la saison. Après, on verra. Mme si j’ai une petite idee
derrière la tte.
Quid de votre presence au match Bresil-France?
Oui, c’est vrai, j’y etais. Mais cette histoire a pris des proportions
enormes. La FIFA m’avait deja invite une première fois pour le match
d’ouverture. Et j’avais decline l’offre car, ce jour-la, je disputais
un match de championnat avec les Redbulls. Mais la, comme j’etais en
Europe, j’ai accepte leur nouvelle invitation.
Et j’ai donc decide de faire un aller-retour pour encourager les
copains. C’est tout.
–Boundary_(ID_FHcSJCkLc0WlQkBot8uTQQ)–

POLITICALLY AZERBAIJAN NOT READY FOR WAR
PanARMENIAN.Net
09.08.2006 14:44 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “From the political viewpoint Azerbaijan is not
ready for war, though we could liberate some territories by force
long ago,” Azeri military expert and psychologist Azad Isazade told
Zerkalo newspaper. In his words, the risk of resumption of hostilities
is not big. “International structures will not let this happen. To
resume operations Azerbaijan should ground the necessity of conducting
anti-terror operations in Nagorno Karabakh.
It in a way resembles Israel’s operations against Hezbollah. But
this will demand time and information struggle while the statements
that Azerbaijan should not ask anyone to start military operations
are inappropriate. In this case international structures could apply
severe sanctions against the republic,” Isazade said. On the other
hand, the expert considers that the population of Azerbaijan is not
ready for large-scale military operations. “No war was won thanks
to patriotic spirit only. The servicemen and the population should
receive professional and psychological training,” he said.
For his part military expert Alekper Mamedov remarked that corruption,
bribery and unnecessary expenses do not allow the Azeri army to become
the strongest in the region. In his words, it’s incorrect to evaluate
the efficiency of the army by the level of the troops guarding the
BTC oil pipeline. “The leadership just wishes to raise the authority
of the Azeri military and create a wrong image of the army,” he said.
According to another military expert Uzeir Jafarov, if earlier the
Turkish army took active part in the formation of the Azeri military
forces, so now this interest has considerably faded. “I think the
Turkish top military saw Azerbaijan’s unwillingness to move towards
NATO and cut the number of instructors sent to Azerbaijan,” Jafarov
said.

WEBSITE DEDICATED TO KARABAKH CONFLICT LAUNCHED IN BRITAIN BY AZERIS
PanARMENIAN.Net
09.08.2006 16:12 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A website dedicated to the
Karabakh conflict was launched in Great Britain, Chairman of the
London-Azerbaijan Society Talekh Heydarov told said. The website
furnishes “full information” about the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,
the history of Karabakh, its famous figures in history, a lot of
photographs and video files. “It should be mentioned that the Armenian
lobby has lived and worked in Britain for over hundred years. It’s
stronger that the Azeri one, but during the recent 10-15 years we
see that the British change their opinion about Azerbaijan for the
better. Our weapon is information”, said Heydarov. He also added
that the London-Azerbaijan Society also publishes the magazine of
“Visions of Azerbaijan in Britain” dedicated to policy, economy,
culture and history of Azerbaijan, reported Trend news agency.

CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS AWARDED FRIENDSHIP MEDAL
AZG Armenian Daily
10/08/2006
President of Russian Federation Vladimir Putin has signed a
decree to award Catholicos of all Armenians Karekin II Medal of
Friendship. According to the Kremlin’s Press Service, His Holiness
will be awarded for his contribution in fostering Armenian-Russian
friendship.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress