MAN CONVICTED IN ROAD-RAGE KILLING OF LA DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER
San Francisco Chronicle, CA
Aug. 27, 2006
A former Burbank truck driver who was arrested in Armenia and returned
to Southern California was convicted of first-degree murder for a
vicious freeway road-rage killing of documentary filmmaker Michael
Craven.
Jurors deliberated for more than two hours Friday before reaching
a decision. They also convicted Shahen Eghia Keshishian, 34, of
vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and leaving the scene
of an accident.
He is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 27.
Keshishian ran down Craven, 44, with a black GMC Suburban on April
29, 2000. The killing came after a road rage confrontation along the
Hollywood Freeway.
Craven had been driving on the freeway after dinner with a friend
when the Suburban pulled up and eggs were thrown. One of the drivers
had apparently cut in front of the other.
Authorities believe Craven pulled to the side of the freeway to
confront Keshishian, who stopped behind him. A passenger in the
Suburban then threw a beer bottle at Craven’s Jeep.
Craven was then run over and he died a short time later at a hospital.
Keshishian was charged June 23, 2000, with Craven’s slaying, and
charged separately by federal authorities in November 2000 with
unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
Keshishian was hiding in Armenia and was arrested in late 2004 for
overstaying his visa. He was subsequently extradited to the United
States.
Glendale police said his extradition marked the first time someone
from Armenia was handed to U.S. authorities to be returned to face
criminal charges.

CONGRESSMAN EXPLAINS ‘GETTING INTO POLITICS’
By Jane Pojawa
El Vaquero Editor in Chief
May 12, 2006 (view cover)
El Vaquero, CA
Aug. 27, 2006
In El Vaquero’s May 12 issue, Editor in Chief Jane Pojawa writes about
Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff’s advice to students about how to become
involved in politics, even up to becoming an elected official.
Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, representing California’s 29th District,
spoke in the J.W. Smith Student Center Monday on “Getting Into
Politics,” giving advice to students about getting their voices heard
as citizens or for actually becoming an elected official.
The 29th district is a sprawling area that encompasses Glendale, as
well as Alhambra, Altadena, Burbank, Griffith Park, Monterey Park,
Pasadena, South Pasadena, San Gabriel and Temple City.
More than 100 students and faculty members filled the student center
for this event, sponsored by the Organization of Latinos for Higher
Education [OHLE], which was a short biographical speech followed by
questions from the audience.
Schiff was an adjunct instructor in GCC’s political science department
while serving as a state senator for California’s 21st district,
his position before election to the House of Representatives. He is
a strong proponent of educational and environmental issues.
Schiff recommends student involvement at all levels of politics,
whether that means voting (even for those who usually don’t), working
on campaigns, providing grassroot support for bond measures, which
often pass by only a small number of votes, to ultimately running
for office.
Schiff recommended that students who want to pursue a career in
politics “decide what you have a passion to do and then go after it.”
He said that the typical example of political science major followed
by law school was no longer the operative model for success, and that
his colleagues in the House of Representatives were just as likely
to have been accomplished “teachers, athletes, lawyers, doctors,
engineers, even a rocket scientist.” The common denominator is that
they “are good at what they do.” He added, “There will always be an
opportunity down the road to serve.”
Schiff is an outspoken advocate against genocide denial and believes
that the United States should condemn the 1915 Armenian genocide
regardless of pressure from the Turkish government.
In answer to a question posed during his speech about his proposed
Armenian genocide bill, Schiff described adding an amendment to a
reauthorization of a State Department bill asking the Historian of
the State Department to review the pertinent documents of the United
States to the Armenian genocide.
The state department bill was not directly related to the genocide,
but “it just happened to be my good fortune that the Turkish Prime
Minister was in town…” he recounted, and went on to describe how
the political pressure brought to bear by his amendment allowed the
bill to be reviewed at a separate hearing. The Dedicated Genocide
Resolution passed the committee with a strong bipartisan vote, but
until the Speaker of the House allows it to come before Congress,
it goes no further.
Although the overall tone of the meeting was positive and upbeat,
some of the queries fielded by Schiff questioned his accountability
in the Iraq War [he voted to authorize the use of force based on
the intelligence reports of weapons of mass destruction but has
since changed his position] and on a peculiar note, his feelings
about the 1994 parole of Lyndon LaRouche (Schiff was not associated
with LaRouche’s conviction or parole, and turned the discussion to
globalization and economics).
Schiff is opposed to invading Iran, in favor of increasing funding
to schools and believes in immigration reform.
“I believe that the magnitude of the rallies got everyone’s attention,”
he said.
He favors the Kennedy-McCain Bill, which allows for immigrants living
in the United States to become legal through a six-year application
process the “Essential Worker Visa Program” that includes background
checks and documented gainful employment, among other requirements,
but does not believe that legislation will pass both the senate and
the house this year.
“In the past, the United States has been the beneficiary of the brain
drain of the rest of the world,” the congressman said. He is concerned
that not only is the United States not cultivating scientists and
engineers, but that new immigration policies actively discourage the
best and brightest of other countries from emigrating.
He also spoke of U.S.-Chinese relations and the importance of
cultivating “not only free trade, but fair trade,” citing examples of
how Chinese policies keep the entertainment industry from competing
on an even playing field.
Students looking for a political internship program will be pleased
to hear that there are unpaid positions available at his offices in
Pasadena and in Washington, D.C. It may be the perfect way to “get
into politics.”

QARE KELISA REPLICA READY FOR DISPLAY
Iran Mania, Iran
Aug. 27, 2006
LONDON, August 28 (IranMania) – A replica of Qare Kelisa (Black
Church) in Maku, West Azarbaijan province, which was renovated by
Tehran Municipality’s Cultural and Artistic Organization in a period
of over 40 years, will go on public display at Imam Ali Museum of
Religious Arts, according to IRNA.
Reporting this on Friday, the museum’s Public Relations Department
said that the replica was founded in the 1960s and was modeled on
the original design of the historical structure.
The church, which is also known as Saint Tadi, is located in Qare
Kelisa village, a suburb of Seyyed Cheshmeh in Maku.
Qare Kelisa consists of two distinct sections namely; Black Church
and White Church, which is bigger and newer than the former.
The Armenians affiliated to ‘Qare Kelisa’, which is also known as St.
Thaddeus Cathedral, believe that the church is the first that was
built upon the order of Jesus Christ’s disciples.
Since the Armenians consider martyrdom as a great blessing for
humanity, they hold a ceremony in Qare Kelisa to mark the martyrdom
anniversary of Saint Tadi and his Christian followers.

THE MANY FACES OF BELGIAN FASCISM – LOW COUNTRY POLITICS, REAL AND SURREAL.
Opinionjournal.Com, Bret Stephens
PipeLineNews.org, CA
Aug. 27, 2006
BRUSSELS–Belgium is the birthplace of Rene Magritte. So perhaps it’s
not surprising that, in politics, even the fascism here is surreal.
Take Belgian Socialists, Flemish or Walloon. The hallmark of nearly
every European socialist party has long been hostility to religion.
In recent years, Belgium’s ruling Socialist-Liberal coalition has
antagonized Catholics by legalizing gay marriage and euthanasia,
banning crucifixes from government buildings, and abolishing the
traditional Te Deum service previously held by the government to
commemorate the inauguration of Leopold I, first king of the Belgians.
But then the Socialists began taking note of Belgium’s Muslim
community, some 500,000 strong. In Brussels, notes Joël Rubinfeld
of the Atlantis Institute think tank, half of the Socialist Party’s
26-member slate in the city’s 75-seat parliament is Muslim. In the
commune of Molenbeek, longstanding Socialist mayor Philippe Moureaux
has made halal meals standard in all schools; police officers are
also barred from eating or drinking on the streets during Ramadan.
The Socialist Party was also, improbably, the leading opponent
of a bill that would have criminalized the denial of the Armenian
genocide. This, too, is a product of burgeoning Muslim-Socialist
alliance, as is the party’s routine denunciations of Israel.
–Boundary_(ID_io7UT03scSqJnxN7x+plYQ)–

TELECOMMUNICATION LINE BETWEEN EUROPE AND ASIA DAMAGED BY A VESSEL
Regnum, Russia
Aug. 27, 2006
Works on restoring fiber cable at one of international sections of the
Tbilisi-Poti-Novorossiysk fiber-optical network (access to Russia, some
CIS countries, Europe and so on) belonging to the Fortnet Company is
planned to be completed by tomorrow’s morning, a REGNUM correspondent
is told at Fortnet.
According to the company, there have been no serious problems
concerning data transmitting to digital channels users in this
direction, as they all were switched to alternative channels. They
be switched back tomorrow.
The Tbilisi-Poti-Novorossiysk cable was damaged two weeks ago at
its underwater section in Poti port. According to Fortnet, most of
all the accident caused damage to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia,
which have their traffic through this cable. However, it was a bit
easier for Azerbaijan, as it has an alternative traffic, the company
informs. At present moment, an investigation is being carried out to
find reasons of the accident. One of major versions says the cable
was destroyed by a vessel passing by.
The fiber channel belonging to fortnet covers a number of cities and
district centers in Georgia, particularly, Tbilisi, Gori, Khashuri,
Zestafoni, Kutaisi, Samtredia, Khobi, Senaki, Poti, Zugdidi, Bolnisi,
Dmanisi. It also has branches in three international directions:
Tbilisi-Poti-Novorossiysk, Tbilisi-Armenia and Tbilisi-Azerbaijan
(the branch is continued further towards Iran).

DARK FILMS LEAD TO DARK OPERA
By Reuters
Edmonton Sun (Alberta)
August 27, 2006 Sunday
FINAL EDITION
Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan, renowned for award-winning movies
that explore the dark sides of human behaviour, is taking a turn at
helming a grand opera with similar brooding features.
Egoyan, 46, the Egyptian-born son of Armenian parents who migrated
to Canada, has examined incest, the horrors of war and the mysteries
of fate in such deeply psychological films as Exotica, The Sweet
Hereafter, Felicia’s Journey and Ararat.
He will revisit some of those themes for an upcoming Canadian Opera
Company production of Richard Wagner’s 19th century opera Die Walkure.
The Wagner classic, the second of the four-part epic cycle Der Ring des
Nibelungen, is a complex tale in which incestuous love, the will of the
gods and fate combine to advance the overall themes of the Ring Cycle.
During an interview at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing
Arts in Toronto, where a production of the entire Ring Cycle will
open for a three-week run on Sept. 12, Egoyan described similarities
in his approach to making movies and opera.
“In my films I am very interested in subtext and what makes people
act the way they do,” he said. “I try and bring that detail to the
way I direct the opera but also the way I stage it. The way I create
visual ideas which can reinforce the psychology of the piece.”
This is not Egoyan’s first foray into directing opera. He began with
a 1996 Canadian Opera Company production of Salome. He directed an
earlier production of Die Walkure – the source of Wagner’s famous
Ride of the Valkyries – for the company in 2004.
When the Toronto-based director was first presented with the
opportunity to direct Die Walkure, he was full of doubt, he said,
because he could read music but at the time had no background in opera.
“It’s that doubt and that fear that actually create excitement,” he
said. “And I think if you don’t feel that, then maybe there’s something
a little bit wrong. You have to be able to rise to the material.”
The director cites the central conflict in the Ring as being “the
power of love versus the love of power – that’s the theme that comes
up over and over again because in order to get power you have to
relinquish love.”
The narrative of the Ring Cycle, which Wagner wrote between 1848 and
1874, was inspired by a German tale and Norse legends.

EGOYAN’S STUDY OF HUMAN DARKNESS MOVES TO OPERA
by Julie Mollins, Reuters
Times Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia)
August 27, 2006 Sunday
Final Edition
TORONTO — Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan, renowned for award-winning
movies that explore the dark sides of human behaviour, is taking a
turn at helming a grand opera with similar brooding features.
Egoyan, 46, the Egyptian-born son of Armenian immigrants, has examined
incest, the horrors of war and the mysteries of fate in such deeply
psychological films as Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter, Felicia’s Journey
and Ararat.” He will revisit some of those themes for an upcoming
Canadian Opera Company production of Richard Wagner’s 19th-century
opera Die Walkure (The Valkyrie).
The Wagner classic, the second of the four-part epic cycle Der Ring des
Nibelungen, is a complex tale in which incestuous love, the will of the
gods and fate combine to advance the overall themes of the Ring Cycle.
During an interview at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing
Arts in Toronto, where a production of the entire Ring Cycle will
open for a three-week run on Sept. 12, Egoyan described similarities
in his approach to making movies and opera.
“In my films I am very interested in subtext and what makes people
act the way they do,” he said. “I try and bring that detail to the
way I direct the opera but also the way I stage it, the way I create
visual ideas which can reinforce the psychology of the piece.”
This is not Egoyan’s first foray into directing opera. He began with
a 1996 Canadian Opera Company production of Salome. He directed an
earlier production of Die Walkure — the source of Wagner’s famous
Ride of the Valkyries — for the company in 2004. He most recently
directed the play Eh Joe in London’s West End.
When the Toronto-based director was first presented with the
opportunity to direct Die Walkure, he was full of doubt, he said,
because he could read music but at the time had no background in opera.
“It’s that doubt and that fear that actually creates an excitement,” he
said. “And I think if you don’t feel that, then maybe there’s something
a little bit wrong. You have to be able to rise to the material.”
The director cites the central conflict in the Ring as being “the
power of love versus the love of power — that’s the theme that
comes up over and over again because in order to get power you have
to relinquish love.”
The narrative of the Ring Cycle, which was written by Wagner between
1848 and 1874, was inspired by a German tale and Norse legends.
An emphasis on the bloodlust and horror of war will be a major focus
in the Egoyan production.
“Wagner was not really criticizing the war machine,” Egoyan said,
“and I think this production is showing quite explicitly the horrifying
results of that approach where war becomes an economy unto itself.”

VALLEY REFUGEES CELEBRATE THEIR MANY CULTURES: FORUM SPONSORS GATHERING AT FAIRGROUNDS
by Charles McCarthy, The Fresno Bee, Calif.
The Fresno Bee (California)
August 27, 2006 Sunday
Aug. 27–Some 20 dancers in traditional Hmong clothing watched Saturday
as a group of Vietnamese performers danced to Southeast Asian music.
Both groups had earlier watched as two young folks with Armenian names
and a music teacher from Belarus sang the haunting Russian classic
“Otchitchornyia,” known in English as “Dark Eyes.”
It was a small part of the Refugee Recognition program at the Fresno
Fairgrounds sponsored by the Central California Forum on Refugee
Affairs.
The forum’s chairwoman, the Rev. Sharon Stanley, estimated that
more than 350 people attended the four-hour event that featured
a lunch of various ethnic foods, tables with displays such as
wooden hand-painted Russian nesting dolls, information booths and
cross-cultural entertainment.
Stanley, founder of the Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries,
showed letters of recognition from federal and state legislators. She
introduced one of the day’s award winners, Houa Lee, who held a trophy
for arts and performance.
Other awards were for leadership, education and business. The
refugee affairs forum calls itself a community-based nonprofit. It
was established in 1979.
The forum’s goals are the promotion of understanding between refugees
and the community, promotion of empowerment and self-determination
for refugees, and encouragement of cross-cultural awareness.
Jessy Mai, 14, and his 6-year-old cousin Stephanie Nguyen arrived after
lunch and watched the cultural dances and singing. Their parents came
to the United States from Vietnam about 20 years ago, Jessy said.
“My parents want us to have a better life,” he said. “Our parents,
they had a rough life in Vietnam.”
Bart and Loanne Fielder were there to watch two of their three
daughters in a Vietnamese dance. Loanne Fielder immigrated 20 years
ago from Vietnam. Their three daughters were born in the United States,
but Loanne Fielder said, “I want them to know where they came from.”
All three girls are learning the Vietnamese language and their cultural
heritage, Bart Fielder said.
Around a corner in the fairgrounds’ Commerce Building, Irina Kosterin
sat behind a Russian, Slavic and Ukrainian display of brightly painted
wooden nesting dolls. Kosterin, who came from southern Russia, has
been in the U.S. for 14 years.
“It’s nice to have … traditional festivals,” she said.
She wants her children, 11-year-old Antony and 6-year-old Cristina,
to be multilingual.
“They attend Russian school in a Ukrainian church,” she said. “They
speak Spanish, too.”
After they finished their performance, “Dark Eyes” trio member Ruzan
Orkusyan said she sings in English, Russian and Armenian.
And, she said, “I’m learning Spanish.”

ASIAN BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION TO INVEST IN LORI-BERD HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT CONSTRUCTION
ArmRadio.am
28.08.2006 10:46
The Asian Bank for Reconstruction has expressed preliminary readiness
to invest in the construction of Lori-Berd hydroelectric power plant,
Head of the Foreign Relations Development Agency of the Ministry
of Energy Levon Vardanyan told ArmInfo. In his words, the bank’s
mission will arrive in Armenian early September. Among others, the
opportunity of providing credit for Lori-Berd hydroelectric power
plant will be discussed.
The project will cost 80 million Euros.

DAVID NALBANDYAN RANKS 4TH AMONG BEST TENNIS PLAYERS OF THE WORLD
ArmRadio.am
28.08.2006 12:13
With 363 points Argentinean Armenian tennis player David Nalbandyan
ranks 4th in the list of the best tennis players of the world, issued
today by the Professional Tennis Association.
The first in the list is Roger Federer with 1 129 points. Spanish
Rafael Nadal ranks 2nd with 775 points. Ivan Lyubichich of Croatia
is the third with 415 points.