NKR FOREIGN MINISTER PETROSSIAN’S STATEMENT
Azat Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
26 June 2006
Recently the foreign minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammedyarov has
announced about their willingness to grant the highest degree of
sovereignty to Nagorno Karabakh, applying the model of Tatarstan
to Karabakh. With regard to this the foreign minister of NKR Georgy
Petrossian made a statement: “This statement, if it is not another
propaganda device, means, in fact, that the Azerbaijani government
is likely to transform into a federation. Hence, hopefully, the same
status will be granted to the Lezgis, the Talish and other peoples
living in Azerbaijan. For NKR, the Azerbaijani government avoids
contact with NKR, and it should be emphasized that official Baku
cannot grant a status to Nagorno Karabakh, because this is beyond its
jurisdiction. The people living here decided the status of Nagorno
Karabakh Republic in conformity with the law.
The essence of the Karabakh-Azerbaijani conflict is that the
Azerbaijani party was unable to solve these problems in a civilized way
and resorted to an armed aggression. Official Baku ignores the reality
that the independence of NKR is the highest value of the people of the
republic, which was established by the universal referendum, held on
December 10, 1991. The people of NKR defended their right to decide
their fate. Moreover, for over 7 times in the past 15 years restated
their will through democratic presidential and parliamentary elections
in NKR, when the voters voted for the programs of separate candidates
and political parties, upholding the independence of the republic.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRIME MINISTER MET WITH EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF SHUSHI FOUNDATION
Press Service Of NKR Government
Azat Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
26 June 2006
The reconstruction and development of Shushi remains urgent, not
only for the NKR government but governmental and non-governmental
organizations, as well as all the Armenians, who are worried about
the fate of the ancient Armenian fortress. In order to bring into
being the ideas of reconstruction of the city and coordinate programs,
as well as deal with fundraising, two foundations were set up, which
is reassuring, but their activities are extremely slow.
During his recent visit to Armenia Prime Minister Danielian met
with the mayor of Yerevan Yervand Zakharian and gladly accepted
his willingness to assist in the reconstruction of Shushi. Soon it
became known that Mr. Zakharian has established the Shushi Revival
Foundation. The board of the fund will include representatives
of relevant organizations, as well as specialists from Armenia and
Artsakh. On June 22 the Prime Minister met with the executive director
of the foundation Grigor Hovanissian, and commending this initiative,
expressed hope that this new organization will manage to work out
realistic programs and fulfill their honorable mission. At the same
time, the prime minister expressed the commitment of the government
to assist in the activities of the foundation. Deputy Prime Minister
Anoushavan Danielian was also present at the meeting.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HAND IN HAND FOR HEALTH IN ARTSAKH
Mary Hayrapetyan, Armine Avagyan
Azat Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
26 June 2006
Hand in Hand NGO started operating in Nagorno Karabakh in January 2005.
Vahagn Ghazaryan, Director, said the organization has dental clinics
in the regions of Hadrut, Martuni, Martakert, in Shushi and Berdzor,
and a mobile clinic for the villages. Besides, the organization has a
women’s clinic in Stepanakert. The main sponsors of Hand in Hand are
the International Association of Armenian Dentists and the Association
of Armenian Doctors of Canada, which started operating in Karabakh when
the dental clinic of Shushi was opened in Shushi. These associations
fund the programs of the NGO. The honorary director of the organization
is First Lady Inna Ghukassian. The founders of Hand in Hand are Zareh
Uzunian, the president of the board of Hand in Hand NGO, Perj Gilajian,
the president of the International Association of Armenian Dentists,
Avetis Pogossian the president of the Association of Armenian Doctors
of Canada), Aram Sirakian (Boston) and Arsen Petrossian. Besides the
main sponsors, several other associations of Armenian Diasporan doctors
fund the programs of the NGO. The NKR government funds the communal
services of the clinics. In 2005 13,000 patients visited Hand in Hand
clinics. The NGO also implements a program of preventive treatment of
mouth cavity. The first stage of the program was implemented among
children aged 3-9. In Stepanakert the children of the schools N 1
and N 2 were examined, the other schools and nursery schools of the
capital will be included as well.

E-CITY HALL
Lragir.am
26 June 06
On June 5 the system of Electronic Document Circulation began operating
at the City Hall of Yerevan. Thanks to this innovation, a councilor
will greet a citizen at the department of complaints of the City Hall
of Yerevan. The councilor will help the citizen to decide whom they
need to apply. Afterwards the applications will be forwarded by the
electronic network, and will be replied within a month.
“Personal contact is not needed,” says Grigor Melkumyan, the head of
the administration of the City Hall of Yerevan, who commends the new
system as a way of reducing corruption.
The e-system used for the first time at the City Hall allows
accumulating and processing the data of documents in circulation.
Registering of documents and attaching their electronic copies,
reporting, replying, and task implementation control is completely
automated. The purpose of this project is to create a common electronic
system of Yerevan and a common database for the City Hall and the
communities of Yerevan. The citizens can use the e-system from 9 am
till 6 pm.

INTERVIEW WITH KARO TOROSYAN FROM ORCUS
Cellular-News, UK
June 25 2006
Glendale, California’s progressive black metal band, Orcus has been
making its mark on the local Los Angeles music scene with their dark
and mysterious brand of heavy music. They are getting ready to release
their debut album ‘Birth’ on June 26th and have recently opened for
the likes of Obituary and My Ruin. I took some time recently to get
some questions answered by their bassist, Karo Torosyan.
Rocket: So are you originally fom Glendale?
Karo: No, I was actually born in Armenia. I was about four years old
when my family decided to move to California and I’ve been roaming
around Glendale and Los Angeles ever since.
Rocket: When did you start playing the bass guitar?
Karo: Well, it’s actually kind of funny because I started out with
playing Classical guitar at the age of 12, and that didnt go too
far and I started playing classic rock and then metal. When I played
metal it just seemed natural for me to switch to bass, and I think
it worked out pretty well. I definitely have a lot more fun playing
bass than any other instrument.
Rocket: What kind of basses are you playing? Give us the model
and specs.
Karo: Currently my most prized possession is my Fender Jazz bass. Its a
remake of the 60s model. I did most of the recording on our new record
Birth with a pretty decent Ibanez Soundgear bass, but I definitely
prefer the Fender Jazz over anything else Ive played.
Rocket: Nothing beats the Fender tone. Never will. What kind of
amp rig?
Karo: What I really want is a good Ampeg rig, but I’ve been using a
pretty decent Fender combo amp that pumps out 300Watts and is very
easy to get a few really good tones out so it’s working fine so far.
Rocket: What kind of strings do you use currently? Give us the Brand
name and is it light or heavy gauge?
Karo: I’m really infatuated with flatwounds lately. DAddario makes
a good set of flatwounds, and anything with regular tension is perfect.
They’re a lot smoother to play on and you get a deeper and more hollow
tone out of the bass that way. If you’re downtuning flatwounds will
typically just sound like shit, so you just stick to higher tensions
and you’re good.
Rocket: Right on. I can hear all the notes being taken by the students
of metal out there right now. Ha! Do you play with your fingers or
a pick?
Karo: Fingers! It just seems much more natural to me and I prefer the
sound you get from fingerpicking, plus it gives you room to slap the
strings when you need to.
Rocket: My sentiments exactly. To me, playing with a pick is really
like masturbating with gloves on. So who are a few bass players past
or present that have had the biggest influence on your playing?
Karo: Martin Mendez from Opeth, Cliff Burton of Metallica, and of
course Geezer Butler.
Rocket: That ole Geezer! Haha! Wicked bassist… just listen to early
Sabbath… I mean, really listen… and he’ll simply blow you away.
How does the songwriting process work with Orcus, where you are
involved? Do you have something to do with the song being created at
inception or are you the last guy in line to add yer two cents?
Karo: With Orcus, everyone pretty much gets to take part in the
songwriting. We’ll all come up with little things here and there and
put them together. Every now and then I’ll come up with a guitar riff
or two and I’ll put together all my basslines. I’m also involved in
writing some of the lyrics.
Rocket: What’s been your favorite metal album for 2006 so far?
Karo: That would have to be Stormblast by Dimmu Borgir. I dont know
if that would be considered cheating since its a re-issue with better
recordings and production, but that’ll have to be it. Dimmu Borgir
has been nothing short of pure genius ever since Spiritual Black
Dimensions, so its by far the best album this year as far as my
opinion is concerned.
Rocket: So do you ever take time to answer fan mail on the Orcus
Myspace profile?
Karo: All the time, pretty much every day. If you send us something
on myspace, well definitely read it and reply.
Rocket: What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you on stage?
Karo: That would have to be when my A string randomly popped in
the middle of a set. Thankfully, I had a second bass that I was
originally just going to use for the songs where we downtune, so I
had to use that bass for all the songs and try to tune as quickly
with the keyboards as possible in between songs.
Rocket: What’s the next Orcus show we need to keep our eyes open for?
Karo: We’ll be playing on July 7th at the Key Club in Los Angeles.
Well be playing with our good friends, Neurobox.
Rocket: Give a shout out to your biggest supporters.
Karo: Of course my family, and the long list of amazing friends: Meher,
Arman, Vartan, Monica, Nayrie, Gev, Tuft, JB and her friends, Tak,
James, Jess, Anna, Marine, etc. Most importantly, I’d like to thank
everyone that takes the time to listen to our music and appreciated
as we intend it.
tails.cfm?newsid=19882

EXPLOSIONS DESTROY RUSSIAN CELLPHONE TOWERS
Cellular-News, UK
June 25 2006
Two cellphone base station towers have been destroyed in explosions
in Russia’s North Ossetia. The region which borders Georgia’s South
Ossetia, has been subject to some ethnic conflicts, and following the
Beslan School siege, attitudes to central Moscow have hardened. The
Interfax news agency reported that no injuries occurred at the
explosion near the villages of Kurtak and Dachnoye, citing local
police. A second base station was destroyed in the regional capital,
Vladikavkaz.
A third explosion occurred in capital of Russia’s Republic of
Daghestan, although it was aimed at the building of the Emergency
Situations Ministry. Both North Ossetia and Daghestan neighbour the
strive ridden regions of Chechnya and Ingushetia.
North Ossetia has a sizeable group of non-native Ingush and Armenian
population; however, a portion of the Ingush population left for
Ingushetia with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the outbreak
of interethnic conflict in the region. At the same time, refugees
from neighboring republics, mostly South Ossetia, resettled in North
Ossetia.

UNFINISHED MELODY
Eva Lusikian
Yerkir.am
June 23, 2006
A commemoration concert dedicated to the 50th anniversary of composer,
piano player and musician Stepan Lusikian was held at Alexander
Spendiarian Opera and Ballet Theater on June 13.
Nune Yessayan, Syuzan Margarian, Aramo, Emma Petrossian, Armen
Gevorgian, Artur Ispirian, Alexander Vardanian as well as children’s
choirs of Tigran Hekekian and David Zolian performed the composer’s
works.
It would be easier to write about Stepan Lusikian, the artist,
composer and intellectual. The most difficult thing is to write about
him using the past tense.
One could tell about his work, his public activities. However, it is
very difficult to find words to describe his personality, his inner
world… Melody is the expression of one’s soul. This is why Stepan
Lusikian’s works are easily recognizable from the very first sounds.
One of his unique abilities was the ability to listen. He would listen
to you in a way that you seemed to find the answers to seemingly
unsolvable questions. You would look into his eyes and would see
yourself… He was an extremely interesting person to talk to. He
had a unique worldview and a unique sense of humor.
I can remember his enthusiasm when he would feel he had a new
creative idea.
He would sit in front of the piano looking somewhere far away. He
liked to show his new works to people. Their opinion was important
and inspiring for him.
He was very cautious in his relations with others. He treated
everything from the perspective of some global holistic philosophy. He
took life as it was.
He treated people the way they were, without trying to change them,
with no evil intentions.
This is probably what attracted people towards him. This is what
penetrated into everyone’s soul…
“… If you are to forgive, you must forgive the unforgivable. You must
forgive when no one else forgives, when you don’t forgive yourself.
And if you are to understand, then you must understand the
un-understandable, the absurd, the wrong. Every one can understand
what is correct.
And if you are to give hope, give it when the last ray of hope is
gone. And if you are not to sell, do it when every one else has sold.
… And most importantly, if you are not to betray someone or
something, you should not betray when it fully deserves betrayal.
Stapan Lusikian.”
Stepan Lusikian was truly connected to the country.
Patriotism is a complex feeling…
His songs are full of love towards Armenia. And this love is very
profound…
He loved Armenia’s land and water, fruits. He loved Komitas,
Sayat-Nova, Narekatsi. He loved Armenian films, mountains. He loved
the heat of Yerevan.
There was always some nostalgia in his songs as if he knew that he
would soon have to leave his homeland.
I am sure that my father lives in the hearts of those who knew him. He
will live as long as his songs and melody live…

THE BIG RED ONE: POMEGRANATE JUICEIT’S ANTIOXIDANT-RICH. IT’S ALSO HYPE- AND CALORIE-RICH.
By Erika Engelhaupt
For The Inquirer
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA
June 25 2006
First it was red wine. Then green tea. Now pomegranate juice is making
the rounds as the latest good-for-you drink.
Experts say it may help lower blood pressure and even fight certain
cancers, although the research is still preliminary. But beware those
extra calories if you’re swilling a daily dose.
The near blood-red drink is cropping up all over, from chic cocktail
lounges to humble neighborhood delis.
Sales of refrigerated pomegranate juice soared from zero in 2001 to
more than $63 million in 2005, according to A.C. Nielsen, the market
research firm.
Moving beyond the martinis that appeared a few years back, the tart
juice is now sold in blends, combined with everything from mango to
lychee green tea.
At the Latimer Delicatessen near Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia,
four pomegranate blends rub bottles with lowbrow colas and sports
drinks.
Running from $2 to $4 a bottle, the pom is not cheap.
The mover behind the juicy surge is Pom Wonderful, which helped create
the U.S. market for the drink when its 6,000 acres of pomegranates
started bearing fruit in 2002. Stewart and Lynda Resnick, owners
of the Philadelphia area’s Franklin Mint, also manage Pom Wonderful
through their parent company, Roll International, based in Los Angeles.
Apparently, everyone already knows about antioxidants and wants to
imbibe as much as possible, or at least Pom Wonderful’s ad campaign
makes it seem that way.
For those feeling left out, antioxidants are natural substances in
plants and foods that protect cells from marauding oxygen molecules
called free radicals.
Antioxidants stop free radicals from attacking LDL, or “bad”
cholesterol, and combining with cells to form plaque that hardens
arteries.
Research has shown that people whose diets are rich in fruits and
vegetables have a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease and
certain cancers.
A small, 19-person study by scientists at Israel’s Rambam Medical
Center in Haifa showed that pomegranate juice lowered systolic blood
pressure, the upper reading, by 21 percent and prevented thickening
of the arteries for the 10 subjects who drank about two ounces of
pomegranate juice daily for up to three years.
At least half a dozen other studies by the Israeli group and others
show similar effects in mice and humans. Some were funded by a
foundation run by the Resnicks, owners of Pom Wonderful.
Several studies also show that antioxidants in food may help prevent
prostate cancer. One study of pomegranate juice, published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2005, found that
it reduced tumor size by as much as half in mice. More research is
needed to gauge the effects on humans.
Pomegranates pack more than five times the antioxidants of green tea,
and are especially loaded with a potent type called polyphenols.
Long-term studies of antioxidants also suggest that taking antioxidants
in pill form is less effective than eating them in whole foods.
“It’s worth incorporating pomegranate juice into the diet on a regular
basis as part of your armament to prevent chronic disease, and it’s
good for both men and women,” said Lisa Hark, director of nutrition
education at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Hark said pomegranate juice and other antioxidant-rich foods should
be part of a prevention arsenal, but they’re not a cure. “I can’t see
pomegranate juice reversing heart disease – it’s not going to break
up plaque.”
And not all pom drinks pack the same antioxidant punch. For the
biggest wallop, look for pomegranate high in the ingredient list or
mixed with other antioxidant brews, such as green tea.
Hark also cautions that consumers should balance the healthful benefits
of pomegranate juice against the calories it contains. One 16-ounce
bottle of Pom Wonderful contains 320 calories – more than a Hershey’s
bar. Hark said drinking one bottle gives you the same calories you
would get in more than five servings of fresh fruit.
She recommends diluting the pure juice and drinking four ounces a
day to save on cost and calories. Sparkling water makes a refreshing
spritzer and won’t add calories.
Pomegranates have a fabled history. In Greek mythology, when Persephone
was tricked into eating six pomegranate seeds during a stint in Hades,
she condemned Earth to six months of infertility each year, explaining
the seasons.
Many ancient foods now are getting reviewed. “We’ve rediscovered that
food has medicinal qualities,” said Ara DerMarderosian, a professor of
medicinal chemistry at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
who has studied folk remedies for nearly half a century.
His group has studied medicinal effects of cranberries and
blueberries and has turned to pomegranate juice. The scientist, who
is first-generation Armenian, said he had been eating pomegranates
for years and recommended eating the seeds whole from fresh fruit.
“My mother would labor over these for a long time when I was a kid,
and then we kids would devour them in a minute,” DerMarderosian said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GAREGIN II: ARMENIAN GENOCIDE NOT SUBJECT TO DISCUSSION
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.06.2006 15:16 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II stated
in Istanbul that the Armenian Genocide by Turks is not subject to
discussion. “For our people it is an event, which has taken place
and should be recognized. Scholars have studied the genocide issue
for 90 years,” the Catholicos said. AP supposes that this statement
will make the completion of the visit to Turkey more complicated and
tense. Besides, Garegin II stated that protest actions organized in
Istanbul did not have an impact on him, “They did not break my spirit,
However, if these actions continue, it will prove that we have much
to do for the two societies to co-exist,” reports RFE/RL.

JUNE 27 OSKANIAN TO LEAVE FOR WORKING VISIT TO GEORGIA
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.06.2006 16:18 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ June 27 Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian will leave
for Georgia on a working visit, reports the Armenian MFA Press
Service. During his visit the head of the Armenian MFA will met with
Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili, FM Gela Bezhuashvili and Speaker
Nino Burjanadze. June 28 the Armenian FM will make a statement on
regional policy issues at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and
International Research.
The same day the delegation led by the Minister will return to Yerevan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress