RUSSIAN SHAKESPEARE ADAPTATION WINS IN ROME
RTE.ie, Ireland
23 October 2006
Russian film ‘Playing The Victim’, a modern-day adaptation of
Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’, has won the best film award at Rome’s first
international film festival.
The nine-day movie marathon finished on Saturday with the awards
ceremony.
‘Playing The Victim’s director, Kirill Serebrennikov, accepted the
award with an emotional speech, saying: “This film is a film for
Russia and for Russians. Because we still believe that cinema can
change people’s way of thinking and consciences.”
British film director Shane Meadows (‘Once Upon a Time in the
Midlands’, ‘A Room for Romeo Brass’) won the special jury prize for
‘This Is England’, a film about an impressionable young boy who
becomes involved with a gang of skinheads in the early 1980s.
The films were judged by a popular jury of 50 film fans chosen from
the public.
France’s Ariane Ascaride won the best actress award for her role in
Robert Guediguian’s drama ‘Armenia’ and Italy’s Giorgio Colangeli
was named best actor in the film ‘L’Aria Salata (The Salt Air)’
by Alessandro Angelini.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN TRADE GROWS 12%
Armenpress
Oct 23 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 23, ARMENPRESS: Armenia’s statistical committee
said the country’s foreign trade in the first nine months of the year
rose 12.1 percent from a year ago to $2.2 billion. The trade growth
in September grew 15.6 percent over August.
The committee said not counting diamond trade, the growth was 19.5
percent with at $1.861 billion.
The committee said the amount of Armenian exports was $700 million,
1 percent down from a year ago, while imports grew 19.4 percent to
$1.508 billion.

ARMENIAN GDP GROWS 12.5% IN NINE MONTHS
Armenpress
Oct 23 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 23, ARMENPRESS: Armenia’s GDP in the first nine
months of 2006 grew 12.5 percent, making, in terms of money, around $4
billion. GDP growth rate in September against August was 26.3 percent.
Armenian statistical service said industrial output, not counting
indirect taxes, went down 2 percent from a year ago to 468.1 billion
Armenian drams, but not counting the overall volume of diamond cutting
industry’s production, the industrial output grew 1.5 percent making
a total of 466 billion drams.
The production of electricity went down 5.2 percent from a year ago
to 4.530 billion kilowatt/hours.
Agricultural GDP grew in 2006 September against August 15.6
percent. Overall the agricultural GDP grew to 370.5 billion drams,
as much as in the first nine months of the previous year.
The biggest growth rate was reported in construction branch which
saw around 400 billion drams worth investments, growing almost 40
percent from a year ago.

ARMENIAN CYPRIOT MARIOS GAROYIAN ELECTED LEADER OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
ArmRadio.am
23.10.2006 16:56
An Armenian Cypriot – Marios Garoyian – was elected with a margin of
62.6% as the new leader of the ruling Democratic Party. Vice President
Nicos Kleanthous collected 37.4%.
Moments after the results were known around 8:00 pm on Sunday night,
Marios Garoyian was proclaimed President. He thanked voters for their
confidence in embracing his vision and in his short speech at the
Democratic Party headquarters in Nicosia, he called for unity and a
stronger party and stated.
“Today democracy has won and it is the beginning of a new era. We owe
a lot to the legacy of Spyros Kyprianou the founder of our party as
well as today’s president Tassos Papadopoulos. We will implement the
political line of the coalition and move forward united, through a
modernized Democratic Party.”
Marios Garoyian is the first Armenian Cypriot that is being elected
leader of a political party in Cyprus. In May 2006 he was elected as
member of the Cyprus Parliament with top preferential votes in Nicosia.
Marios Garoyian was born in 1961. His involvement in party
politics began in Italy with Democratic Party’s youth movement
Anagennisi. After his studies in politics and return to Cyprus, he
was elected President of the Youth movement of NEDIK-Nicosia where
he served from 1986-1992. He later became a member of the Central
Executive of the Democratic Party in 1988.
Garoyian was a close aide of the late President Spyros Kyprianou and
served as The Director of his Office in the House of Parliament as
well as The Director of the Office of President Tassos Papadoulos. He
also served as Government Spokesperson.
He was elected to the Cyprus Parliament in May 2006.
Marios Garoyian has kept close ties with the Armenian community of
Cyprus and its leadership, addressing many problems connected with
community life.

ARMENIAN-CHINESE ECONOMIC COOPERATION PRODUCES APPRECIABLE RESULTS
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 20 2006
YEREVAN, October 20. /ARKA/. Armenian-Chinese economic cooperation
is producing appreciable results. This statement was made at RA
Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan’s meeting with Vice-Chairman of
the Standing Committee, National People’s Congress of China, Siu Xialu.
The sides expressed satisfaction over the fact that the bilateral
trade and economic relations are producing results.
The sides pointed out that the “Shangsi-Nairit” JV founded by
the Chinese authorities is a successful start of further economic
cooperation. The sides agreed on the necessity of planning other
large-scale projects.
Premier Margaryan and Vice-Chairman Siu Xialu alo pronounced for
intensification of trade relations and contacts between Armenian
and Chinese business circles. The sides expressed hope for new
opportunities for materializing the business potential for the
development of economic, scientific and cultural cooperation.

EXPERTS AT COUNCIL OF EUROPE TO HELP ARMENIA COMPLETE ELABORATION OF LAW ON TELEVISION AND RADIO
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 20 2006
YEREVAN, October 20. /ARKA/. Experts at Council of Europe will help
Armenia complete elaboration of the law on television and radio,
the CE Secretary General Special Envoy Bojana Urumova said Friday in
Yerevan, at a seminar focused on freedom of speech.
Urumova said that the Council of Europe has helped Armenia elaborate
the law on freedom of information in conformity with European
standards.
Armenian Ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan, in his turn, said Armenia
is a country of transition period and democracy here is still
underdeveloped, and the same goes with the freedom of speech.
Armenian lawmakers voted down bill on radio and television and
National Radio and Television Commission regulations at the first
reading last month.
Under the amendments, the commission will be made up of eight members,
half of which will be elected by the parliament for a six-year term.
Other four members will be appointed by the country president.
The bill also lifts restrictions for Public television and Radio to
advertise by removing the provision restricting commercials duration
to 5% of total duration of programs from the law.

EXCHANGE RATES PROVIDED BY ARMENIAN CB NOW CALLED “AVERAGE EXCHANGE RATES FORMED ON FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKET”
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 20 2006
YEREVAN, October 20. /ARKA/. The exchange rates published by the
Central Bank of Armenia are called “average exchange rates, formed
on the foreign exchange market” from now on. The CBA press service
reported that this is due to the fact that the society has a false idea
that the previous name “average exchange rate of the CBA” is exactly
the exchange rate that is established by the Central Bank itself.
At the same time, the procedure of establishing the exchange rates has
not undergone any changes. They are still established on the basis
of average exchange rates, formed during interbank, intra-bank and
stock exchange transactions.
Since 1994, Armenia has remained adherent to the policy of floating
exchange rate.

TURKISH PEACEKEEPERS ARRIVE FOR MISSION IN SOUTH
by Daily Star staff
The Daily Star, Lebanon
Oct 21 2006
Deployment comes despite vocal opposition from armenian community
Around 260 Turkish soldiers arrived in Lebanon on Friday, the first
Muslim land forces to join UN peacekeepers monitoring a cease-fire
between Israel and Lebanon. Two ships carrying 95 personnel and 46
vehicles docked at Beirut Port, officials said. Some 160 more troops
flew to Beirut’s airport a short time later.
The first Turkish deployment in Lebanon since the Ottomans left in
1918, shortly before their empire collapsed at the end of World War I,
the troops will be stationed in the village of Shaatit, 7.5 kilometers
from the Southern port of Tyre.
But their arrival comes despite vocal opposition from Lebanon’s
Armenian community, which accuses the Turks’ Ottoman ancestors of
genocide.
Turkey, a key regional ally of Israel, is the first Muslim country
to contribute troops to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)
that will eventually number 15,000 men.
Muslim nations Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and Qatar have also
pledged soldiers to the planned 15,000-strong force, but they have
yet to arrive.
A small advance team of engineers, who are due to work mostly on the
reconstruction of roads and bridges as well as de-mining, arrived on
October 10 but Turkey is not expected to contribute any more ground
troops to the UN force.
The Turkish government has said it will contribute a total of 681
troops.
A Turkish frigate is already serving in the German-led naval task
force patrolling the Lebanese coast to prevent arms being smuggled
to Hizbullah, and the navy has said it will also send two corvettes.
Members of Lebanon’s 140,000-strong Armenian community have staged
several demonstrations in protest at the troop deployment because
Turkey refuses to recognize the 1915-17 massacres of Armenians by
the Ottomans as genocide.
But the Armenians are not expected to mount further protests, despite
accusations Turkey is seeking to establish a “new Ottoman empire.”
“Their return is for economic reasons and to revive their dream of
a new Ottoman empire in the Middle East,” said Armenian-Lebanese
MP Hagop Pakradounian. “We don’t understand why the government is
enthusiastic for the Turks to come.”
But a fellow Armenian-Lebanese MP, Hagop Kassarjian, said the community
had to accept the facts on the ground.
“Even though we’re Armenian and we’ve protested, we’re Lebanese after
all. We did what we have to do but the Lebanese government has taken
a decision and so has the international community,” he said.

‘POPULAR JURY’ TO ANNOUNCE WINNERS AT ROME FILM FESTIVAL
by Gina Doggett
Agence France Presse — English
October 21, 2006 Saturday 2:03 AM GMT
A “popular jury” of 50 moviegoers drawn from the public are to announce
the winning films Saturday at the first edition of the RomeFilmFest.
Sixteen feature-length films competed in the categories of Best Film,
Best Actor and Best Actress in what has been billed as a “democratic”
event, with 40,000 seats made available to the public.
Strong contenders for recognition were “This Is England” by Shane
Meadows and “After This Our Exile” by Hong Kong director Patrick Tam,
one of three Asian films in the running.
Meadows’ powerful film focuses on Thatcher-era skinheads through the
eyes of an impressionable boy, while Tam’s is a heartbreaking tale
of family disintegration set in a working-class Chinese community
in Malaysia.
Other candidates are French director Robert Guediguian’s “Armenia”,
“Primo Levi’s Journey” by Italy’s Davide Ferrario, “A Casa Nostra”
(At Our House) by Francesca Comencini, also Italian, and Georgian
filmmaker Otar Iosseliani’s “Gardens in Autumn”.
Out of competition, Indian director Mira Nair’s “The Namesake,”
another of her brilliant forays into the intersection of two cultures,
wowed audiences, as did the world premiere of Martin Scorsese’s
“The Departed”.
On Friday the festival experienced Borat, the wacky fictional reporter
from Kazakhstan, offering his peculiar American road show.
“Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious
Nation of Kazakhstan,” has been making the rounds of the world’s film
festivals, taking on the RomeFilmFest simultaneously with the Pusan
International Film Festival in South Korea, where a film by an actual
Kazakhstani director was in competition.
Offensive and hilarious at the same time, the film’s moustachioed,
mysogynist star accuses his compatriots of drinking horse urine,
beating their wives and hating Jews as he barrels across America in
an ice cream truck in pursuit of Baywatch star Pamela Anderson.
RomeFilmFest opened with a bang, premiering “Fur, An Imaginary Portrait
of Diane Arbus,” starring Nicole Kidman.
Despite demure denials by the organizers, the event has been seen
as a potentially serious rival to the venerable Mostra of Venice,
which closed just a few weeks earlier in September.
The Rome event, with a privately sponsored budget of some 10 million
euros (12.5 million dollars), was held in 20 locations across the
city, from the new Auditorium Music Park to the city’s Piazza del
Popolo and even the Trevi Fountain, famously featured in Federico
Fellini’s 1960 film “La Dolce Vita”.
The awards ceremony begins at 11:00 am (0900 GMT).
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERBAIJANI SOLDIER SAID KILLED NEAR DISPUTED REGION
Agence France Presse — English
October 21, 2006 Saturday 6:04 PM GMT
An Azerbaijani soldier has been killed by fire from ethnic Armenian
forces near the disputed Nagorno Karabakh region, the defense ministry
in Baku said Saturday.
The 26-year-old, Arif Aliyev, died on the Azerbaijani side of a
ceasefire line that has been in place since a temporary accord was
reached between Baku and Yerevan over the disputed region in 1994.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six-year war over the Armenian-majority
enclave of Nagorno Karabakh, which said it was seceding from Soviet
Azerbaijan in the early 1980s.
The conflict claimed 25,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands
of people, ending in the 1994 ceasefire.
Tensions have remained high and incidents occur regularly, with the
status of the Armenian-controlled region still unresolved.