Hacker’s mark left on Greenfield paper’s Web site
By George Barnes
WORCESTER TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
Jun 6, 2006
GREENFIELD – Visitors to the Greenfield Recorder’s site on the Internet over
the weekend were surprised to discover that instead of a page of news
headlines and links to information, what they got was `Hacked by Metlak.’
A view of the Web site, recorder.com, was blocked Sunday by a picture of a
Turkish flag with the face of what appears to be a soldier superimposed on
it and the words `Hacked by Metlak,’ and `Turkish hacker’ in parentheses
beneath it. In smaller lettering was a paragraph written in Turkish.
Yesterday, the newspaper’s Web site could not be accessed.
Douglas Hillman, operations director for the Franklin County newspaper, said
the problem was not in the newspaper’s equipment, although he said he was
still trying to determine exactly what happened.
`We believe it is in our ISP (internet service provider),’ he said.
Mr. Hillman said he was able to view the paper’s Web pages from his office,
but people seeking to read the newspaper on the Internet were blocked. He
said he was not initially aware of the Metlak issue.
The newspaper’s Internet service provider is eclecTechs, a Northampton-based
company. A spokesman for the company could not be reached for comment
yesterday, but a message to customers left on the company’s answering
machine said, `We have now excised many of our technical issues we had
earlier in the day. However, there may be some lingering issues. If you do,
please leave a message.’
Mr. Hillman said he reached the company and was told its server was down and
the company was trying to fix the problem.
A search for Metlak on the Internet shows many instances of the name in
connection with access problems on Web sites. It is also linked to a Turkish
hacker known as Iskorpitx, who is credited on many sites with committing the
largest Internet hacking in history.
Jason Matthews of Check Point Software, an Internet security company, said
one of the ways people improperly gain access to a Web site is by
surreptitiously gaining access to many computers through a virus. After
gaining access to as many as 1,000 computers, the person then uses those
computers to attack and overwhelm an Internet server, making it vulnerable.
He said firewalls are designed to prevent access to computers by viewing
information coming into the computers and determining if it could pose a
threat.
Mr. Hillman said he was unsure how his paper’s Web site was compromised, but
by late yesterday afternoon, it was up and running and displaying the
current day’s news.
He said that because the new server the pages are on was installed with an
old back-up tape, initially the public saw out-of-date stories and
information on recorder.com, but the newspaper was working yesterday
afternoon to load the new information to replace it.
Jason Feifer of the Telegram & Gazette staff contributed to this report.
icle?AID=/20060606/NEWS/606060461/1003/NEWSREWIND
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RUSSIAN AUDIT CHAMBER HEAD SAYS HE INITIATED MAJOR STING OPERATION
NTV Mir, Moscow
5 Jun 06
[Presenter] Today it became known that Federation Council Speaker
Sergey Mironov has asked the People’s Hural [parliament] of Kalmykia
to recall its senator Levon Chakhmakhchyan. [Kalmyk] President Kirsan
Ilyumzhinov has agreed to this request.
A couple of days ago, during a FSB special operation, marked notes
worth 300,000 dollars were found in the Kalmyk senator’s briefcase.
According to the investigators, this is only a part of the bribe,
which totalled half a million dollars. It is believed that in return
for the bribe Chakhmakhchyan arranged for documents to be removed
from the material being used in inspections by the Audit Chamber
and it is possible that this is not the only case of corruption in
this department.
[Sergey Stepashin, Audit Chamber chairman] A few days ago, on Friday [2
June] an internal operation conducted at my initiative in cooperation
with the Federal Security Service [FSB] and the prosecutor’s office
ended. Unfortunately, amongst our ranks in the Audit Chamber we found
our own miscreants and citizens involved in dirty dealing were caught
red-handed. A criminal investigation has been opened.
[At 1244 gmt ITAR-TASS added further details given about the
operation by Stepashin, which was the same operation that caught
Chakhmakhchyan. According to Stepashin, he asked FSB head Nikolay
Patrushev for help after the head of Transaero air company Aleksandr
Pleshakov complained that Audit Chamber employees had offered to
conceal the results of an unfavourable inspection in return for a
bribe of 1.5-3m dollars. Stepashin said that several employees had been
caught by the operation, including an auditor’s aide called Oganesyan,
who is Chakhmakhchyan’s son-in-law.
A second ITAR-TASS report at 0948 gmt cited the Russian prosecutor’s
office as saying that Oganesyan and another man involved in the
incident, chief accountant of the Russian-Armenian Business Cooperation
Association Igor Arushanov, had been arrested, but Chakhmakhchyan
could not be detained as he is a senator and therefore has immunity.]

ARMENIANS RALLY OUTSIDE RUSSIAN EMBASSY IN YEREVAN OVER HATE KILLINGS IN MOSCOW
AP Worldstream
Jun 05, 2006
Several dozen protesters rallied outside the Russian Embassy in
Yerevan on Monday, protesting a series of attacks on ethnic Armenians
in Russia by skinheads and racist nationalists.
The demonstration, organized by rights activists, came just 10 days
after a group of apparent skinheads stabbed a teenager on a train
outside of Moscow _ the sixth such fatal attack on ethnic Armenians
in or around Moscow this year.
Avetik Ishkhanian, head of the Helsinki Committee of Yerevan, said
protesters were calling on government authorities to condemn the
Moscow attacks.
Russia has seen a marked rise in xenophobia and hate crimes in recent
years, with a series of attacks on dark-skinned migrants, foreigners
and Jews. Rights groups say authorities do little or nothing to combat
the crimes.
According to the Moscow-based Sova human rights center, last year
31 murders and 382 assaults had racist motivations. So far in 2006,
14 people have been killed in xenophobic attacks.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BLACK SEA FORUM IN ROMANIA ADOPTS FINAL STATEMENT
Rompres news agency
5 Jun 06
Bucharest, 5 June: The final declaration of the summit meeting of the
Black Sea Forum for Dialogue and Partnership held on Monday 5 June
in Bucharest provides for the creation of this forum as a “platform
for finalizing a common vision on the development of democracy and
a market economy”.
The declaration states that the need for this regional cooperation
initiative is the result of interdependence between the Black Sea
countries, highlighting that all these countries will have to strive
to secure peace, stability, prosperity and good neighbourly relations
by efficient use of the other forms already existing in the area,
particularly the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC).
The final document of the Bucharest summit meeting indicates that
the challenges to regional stability – terrorism, pollution, natural
calamities, trafficking and organized crime as well as unsettled
disputes – require a new, action-oriented strategy on the part of
the countries in this region.
The Black Sea Forum, the document says, will aim to promote
regional cooperation, good governance, democracy, human rights, the
consolidation of tolerance, the development of the civil society,
while offering better opportunities to young people through education
and scientific research. At the same time, it will seek new ways of
winning the active involvement of the business communities in all
these priorities and of accommodating the regional priorities with
those of the Euro-Atlantic community.
“There will be no standing bodies of the Forum and the Forum will
not overlap the cooperation mechanisms already in place in the region.
Tits operational framework will be minimal and flexible based on
partnerships,” reads the document.
Likewise, it mentions that further consultations will be held and
the Forum will be open to all the countries of the region and all
partners concerned, be them countries or international organizations.
The declaration also hails the interest on the rise of the European
Union in the Black Sea area and encourages the national authorities
of the countries in these region to make good use of the financial
instruments to be made available by the European Union beginning with
2007 – the European Neighbourhood Policy, the European Neighbourhood
Policy Instrument (ENPI) and the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA).
The document is signed by state officials from Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine.
The Russian Federation is not a party to the Forum, but she was
represented in the summit meeting as an observer by Ambassador to
Bucharest Aleksandr Tolkaci.
Tolkaci did not deliver any message to the participants, but he said
at the end of the meeting that the position of the Russian Federation
remains the same as the one voiced by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“Such regional initiatives are good, but there are too many of them,”
Tolkaci told journalists.
The Russian Federation voiced reservations over the need to establish
the Black Sea Forum, arguing that this initiative is overlapping
the BSEC.

BLACK SEA SUMMIT OPEN IN ROMANIAN CAPITAL; SMUGGLING ROUTES, ENERGY, POLLUTION ON AGENDA
Alison Mutler
AP Worldstream
Jun 05, 2006
Leaders of Black Sea countries met on Monday for a summit aimed at
combatting the region’s drug- and people-smuggling networks, finding
ways of tackling pollution and discussing alternative energy routes.
The Black Sea region faces “new threats caused by criminality and
terrorism, and insecurity caused by the security of energy (supplies),
and we are called to manage this and improve it,” Romanian President
Traian Basescu said. “We know our problems …
they are problems inherited from a difficult past, but there is the
real potential for development.”
The main topics on the summit’s agenda would be environment protection,
regional cooperation, joint energy projects, combatting cross-border
crime and improving infrastructure.
“Putting the Black Sea on the map is a challenge in itself,” Romanian
Foreign Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu said in opening the summit.
Among those attending were Presidents Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine,
Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia, Robert Kocharian of Armenia, Vladimir
Voronin of Moldova and Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan, as well as officials
from Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece and Lithuania.
Top officials from NATO, the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe, the United Nations and the Council of Europe were also
attending the summit.
Russia declined to send a high-level official to the summit, but
requested observer status. In his speech, Basescu called on Russia
to take part in the region’s future development.
“Romania considers that a regional cooperation process cannot take
place without Russia,” he said, pointing to the “rich social, political
and economic resources,” that Russia has. Russia was represented at
the summit by its ambassador to Romania, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman
Corina Vintan said.
J.D. Crouch II, the U.S. deputy national security adviser, praised
the Black Sea initiative, and said that Washington would contribute
to a public-private partnership called the Black Sea Trust, which
will fund programs to strengthen cross-border cooperation, democratic
governance and the rule of law.
“The American people understand that secure borders in the Black Sea
region enhance their own security, because they impede the global
trade in weapons, dangerous technologies and human beings.”
Kocharian and Aliev were expected to discuss the status of
Nagorno-Karabakh on the sidelines of the summit. Talks between the two
leaders in France in February ended in failure, despite international
mediators’ efforts to push the leaders to resolve the enclave’s status.
Aliev’s spokesman, Novruz Mammadov, told Azerbaijani state television
OTV Sunday that a settlement for Nagorno-Karabakh could only occur
“within the framework of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and
according to the norms of international law,” something he said
Armenia did not agree with. He added that talks were difficult, but
“there are hopes that certain steps forward will be taken.”
Nagorno-Karabakh is inside Azerbaijan but populated mostly by ethnic
Armenians, who have run it since an uneasy 1994 cease-fire ended six
years of full-scale war. Sporadic border clashes have grown more
frequent since the breakdown of talks. The lack of resolution has
hindered development throughout the strategic region.
On Sunday, Basescu met separately with Kocharian and Aliev to discuss
ways to reach a settlement for Nagorno-Karabakh, Basescu’s office
said in a statement.
Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia directly border
the Black Sea, which is one of the world’s most polluted seas.
Its only outlet is via Turkey’s Bosphorus Straits.

ANDRANIK MARGARIAN: THERE ARE NO GREAT EXPECTATIONS FROM BUCHAREST MEETING OF PRESIDENTS OF ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
June 05 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. There are no great
expectations from the June 4-6 Bucharest meetings between RA President
Robert Kocharian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on settlement
of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict as responses of the Azerbaijani
side do not shape well that a great progress will be. RA Prime
Minister Andranik Margarian stated about it responding journalists’
questions at the RA NA on June 5. He considered probable that no
regress will be fixed in the issue of the Nagorno Karabakh problem,
and one will see in future if a progress will be or not. Touching upon
the inner-political issues, the Prime Minister excluded possibility
of straining of the inner-political situation. As for the issue that
the Republican Party of Armenia has undertaken at present both Prime
Minister’s and NA Speaker’s posts, according to the Prime Minister,
the party does not aviod responsibility as it has entered the policy
and went to the elections with a definite program, therefore it
realizes the load of undertaken responsibility and is ready for
it. The issue of participation in the 2007 parliamentary elections
with the alliance or separatly will be defined by the RPA Council not
earlier than in February-March of coming year. According to Andranik
Margarian, the RPA rows are being refreshed at present. There were
dischargements of some members as a result of registration, and
a part left the party itself what is provided by the fact that a
part of members left Armenia or joined other parties. As for keeping
normal relations with opposing figures, including future development
of relations with Artur Baghdasarian, the head of the “Orinats Yerkir”
(Country of Law) party after the party’s joining the opposition field,
they “were warm” and, in the Prime Minister’s opinion, “will continue
in this way.” As for statements and accusations expressed in address
of representatives of the “Orinats Yerkir” and “Azagyin Miabanutiun”
(National Unity) factions during the last statements at the NA, the
Prime Minister mentioned that “he estimates that quality badly as
one may not decrease a debate at the NA to such a level, to injure
each other.” According to him, it is excluded at the Government.

CONSTRUCTION OF NEW BUILDING COMPLEX OF RA DEFENCE MINISTRY TEMPORARILY STOPPED
Noyan Tapan
June 05 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The contract signed with the “Ingeocom”
Russian company, according to which the above-mentioned company was
implementing construction of the comlex of administrative building
of the RA Defence Ministry in Avan was recently dissoluted. RA Prime
Minister Andranik Margarian informed in the June 5 interveiw to
journalists that the executer’s programs were changed and the latter
decided not to continue the construction. 8.5 mln U.S. dollars were
paid to the company from the exra-budget resources of the Defence
Ministry for already done work. By the way, they were also given
land on the Isakov avenue of Yerevan. “No tradegy has happened, we’ll
simply continue either by our means or by finding another contractor,”
the Prime Minister mentioned.

27TH PLENARY SITTING OF BSEC PA TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN ON JUNE 6-8
Noyan Tapan
June 05 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The 27th plenary sitting of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation will take
place in Yerevan on June 6-8. The 34th sitting of the BSEC PA bureau,
then the 27th sitting of the Standing Committee, the special sitting
of the BSEC PA Committee on Economic, Trade, Technological and Nature
Protectional issues will take place on June 6 in the NA “golden”
hall. The 27th plenary sitting of the BSEC PA will start works at the
NA conference-hall on June 7. After the solemn ceremony of opening the
assembly, when greeting speeches will be made. issues on agenda will
be discussed at the first sitting: the agenda will be affirmed, new
mandates will be discussed, the report of the 26th sitting of General
Assembly of the BSEC PA taken place in Tirana on November 22-24, 2005
and report on PA activity will be affirmed. Then problems of energetic
safety in the Black Sea region will be discussed. Organization,
economic, commercial, technological, nature protectional, legal,
political issues will be discussed on the same day.
As Noyan Tapan was informed by the NA Public Relations Department,
cultural, educational, social and financial issues are on the agenda
of June 8 discussions. At the end of the BSEC PA 27th plenary sitting,
the place and term of holding the autumn sitting of the 2006 BSEC
General Assembly will be decided, rotation of chairmanship will take
place and the chairmanship will pass to the Mili Mejlis (Parliament)
of the Republic of Azerbaijan. RA NA Speaker Tigran Torosian will
have bilateral meetings with international parliamentary structures
and heads and representatives of national delegations, within the
framework of the BSEC PA 27th plenary sitting. Assembly works will
be summed up for journalists by a press-conference.

BSEC SECRETARY GENERAL TO ARRIVE IN YEREVAN FOR TAKING PART IN BSEC PA SESSION
Noyan Tapan
June 05 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 5, NOYAN TAPAN. Leonidas Chrisanthopoulos, Secretary
General of BSEC Permanent International Secretariate, will be in
Armenia on June 6-8 for taking part in the general session of BSEC
Parliamentary Assembly (PA) to be held at RA National Assembly. As
Noyan Tapan was informed from RA Foreign Ministry Press and Information
Department, meetings with RA President Robert Kocharian and RA Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian are planned during the visit. Joint press
conference of Leonidas Chrisanthopoulos and RA Deputy Foreign Minister
Arman Kirakosian will take place in the evening of June 6.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ROBERT KOCHARIAN: FORMULA OF OVERCOMING DISAGREEMENTS IS “THROUGH COOPERATION TO THE SETTLEMENT, THROUGH COMMUNICATION TO A BIGGER TRUST”
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
June 05 2006
BUCHAREST, JUNE 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On June 5, RA
President Robert Kocharian made a speech at the Black Sea Forum for
Dialogue and Partnership in Bucharest. In his speech provided to
Noyan Tapan from the President’s Press Service, Robert Kocharian,
in particular, said: “Countries of the Black Sea region have rich
and at the same time dramatic history of co-existence.
The Black Sea has always been a center of strategic interest. This lead
to many devastating wars that have formed its current political map,
ethnic and religious diversity. However, this all has also resulted in
substantial interrelation of our cultures and traditions. Partially
that is why there are so many similarities in the process of
transformation underway in our countries.
This is true in case with the internal transformation, aimed at
deepening of democracy and transparency of the society. This also
influences the shaping of new types of foreign interactions in the
context of the changing world. We are present at the formation of
new dynamic processes, changing the region, forming new perceptions
about it. Two objective questions come across: how possible is
a common direction of development of the region? Will this lead
to the formation of the new regional identity, based on a common
interest and inherited cultural interaction? Our Forum is called to
address these challenging issues. We shall first evaluate the level
of motivation in each country of the region. Secondly, we shall
work out approaches increasing our mutual will for partnership. For
Armenia, with limited natural resources and emphasized entrepreneurial
mentality of the people, the choice was clear. Transformation for us
primarily meant the liberalization of economy, open trade regimes,
and a competitive environment. These reforms substantially changed
the structure of Armenian economy. Today over 85 per cent of GDP is
produced in private sector, with over 40 per cent of it being produced
in small and medium businesses.
Annual growth of GDP during last five years has averaged at above
12 per cent. It is natural, that we watch openness and regional
cooperation as the most effective way for our development. Only lazy
people do not speak about benefits of regional cooperation. It is an
axiom, which however comes across many obstacles, which are often of
a subjective nature. There is a need for pragmatic evaluation of the
positive and negative realities. Let us first assess what unites us:
Commitment to a common system of values and readiness to play along the
same rules. Obvious, tangible economic benefit of regional integration
processes. Common challenges and threats to the stability and security
caused by the increasing transnational crime, extremism and terrorism.
Meanwhile, we are divided by: Unresolved ethnic conflicts, Certain
deficit of trust, caused by the negative experiences of the history
of the region. I am confident that we shall concentrate on those
elements which unite us. We shall take steps to harmonize our reforms,
achieve unification of trade regimes and transportation tariffs. There
is a need for joint investment projects in the infrastructures of
the region. First of all, for energy and transportation projects,
covering the entire Black Sea basin, and increasing its economic
attractiveness. This will create favorable environment for resolution
of existing conflicts. Through cooperation to the settlement,
through communication to a bigger trust, that is the best formula
for overcoming the controversies, based on a search for a common
interest. In this context we are ready to continue dialogue with
Azerbaijan for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict and
with Turkey on establishing relations without any preconditions. I
would like to briefly touch upon the Nagorno Karabagh conflict and
our vision for its settlement. The people of Nagorno Karabagh have
implemented in practice the right for self-determination. It was done
fully in line with the requirements of international law. Results of
the referendum on independence were later defended in the war forced
on that people. These events developed in the timeframe of global
changes, related to the collapse of the Soviet Empire. That situation
is classical for cases of self-determination through secesion. Now
for fifteen years Nagorno Karabagh Republic continues to prove its
right for independence by own achievements in effective statecraft. A
whole generation grew up there, which watches itself as possessors
and defenders of that statehood. We believe that there is a need for
effective efforts for a full-scale integration of the Republic in the
international society. We have an organization, the BSEC, which is the
platform for exploration of the economic potential of our region. I
am confident this Forum and the Declaration we intend to adopt will
become a good stimulus for BSEC’s further activities. They are called
to signal the existence of political will at the highest level for
furthering our partnership. In conclusion, I would like to once again
thank the organizers of the Forum. I hope it will contribute towards
strengthening stability, security and cooperation in the Black Sea
region.”