CITIZENS MAKE CHARGES AGAINST NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AT CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
Panorama.am
16:59 23/08/06
Congratulating on the 16th anniversary of Declaration for Independence,
NA Speaker Tigran Torosyan said the document has been a source of
aspiration for the nation in the course of 15 years, together with
Karabakh movement. The speaker recalled that our constitution makes
reference to the Declaration for Independence. The constitution also
grants the right to apply to the Constitutional Court on personal
basis as of July 1. The number of people, who took the advantage of
this right, has been considerable, Torosyan said. He also informed
the reporters that the Constitutional Court has forwarded 7 cases
to the National Assembly based on citizen complaints. The citizens
complained about the constitutional essence of several laws. Speaker
Torosyan expects more such cases to come and thinks about ways to
forward such cases to the executive.

SECOND ARMENIAN PRODUCTION FAIR “GOLDEN POMEGRANATE” TO BE HELD IN MOSCOW ON SEPTEMBER 9-10
Noyan Tapan
Aug 23 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The second fair of Armenian
production “Golden Pomegranate” will be held in Revolution Square
(Moscow) on September 9-10. 35-40 enterprises have applied to the
Armenian Development Agency (ADA) to receive its assistance for
participation in the fair. NT correspondent was informed about
it by Mushegh Sargsian, ADA’s Director for Exports. In his words,
about 90 enterprises took part in the first Golden Pomegranate in
2005. The fair will take place within the framework of the agreement
on trade and economic cooperation between the Armenian and Moscow
government. Production of various Armenian enterpises, particularly,
products of food industry, jewelry-making, souveirs, works of Armenian
painters will be on display. The visitors will have a chance to taste
some Armenian national foodstuffs. During the two days of the event,
Russian and Armenian pop stars, song and dance ensembles, famous
singers will perform in Revolution Square. The event’s organizer is
Neva-Expo company authorized by the RA government. Golden Pomegranate
– 2006 will be held with the assistance of the Armenian and Moscow
governments, the Armenian embassy in Russia, Yerevan Mayor’s Office,
the Representative Mission of Yerevan Mayor’s Office in Moscow,
the Armenian Development Agency, Moscow Departments of Consumer
Market and Food Resources, and the Department of Moscow’s Central
Administrative Okrug.

NKR PRESIDENT AND PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF OSCE CHAIRMAN-IN-OFFICE DISCUSS ISSUES RELATING TO PRESENT SITUATION AT CONTACT LINE OF CONFLICTING SIDES
Noyan Tapan
Aug 23 2006
STEPANAKERT, AUGUST 23, NOYAN TAPAN. NKR President Arkadi Ghukasian
received Personal Representative of OSCE Chairman-in-Office,
Ambassador Andrzej Kasprczik on August 22. Noyan Tapan was informed
about it by the NKR President’s Press Office. A.Kasprczik informed
the NKR President about results of the monitoring implemented on
the same day by the OSCE mission in the north-eastern part of the
Karabakh-Azerbaijani contact line. The Ambassador mentioned that the
monitoring was held according to the preliminary worked out program,
and no breaches of the cease-fire regime were fixed. The interlocutors
touched upon a number of issues relating to the situation existing
on the contact line of the conflicting sides.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PASS MARKS FOR ALMOST ALL SPECIALITIES ARE KEPT SAME OR MADE LOWER
Noyan Tapan
Aug 23 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 23, NOYAN TAPAN. Pass marks for almost all professions,
except “International Relations” and “Law,” for studying at the free
education system of institutions of higher education were kept the
same or made lower this year, compared with the previous year. Levon
Mkrtchian, the RA Minister of Education and Science stated about it at
the August 22 press conference. He mentioned that entrants prefer today
the humanities. Whereas, in the Minister’s words, “natural sciences
are the future of Armenia.” According to L.Mkrtchian’s observation,
the power engineering specialist’s profession is the most perspective
one in the republic, but, it is not much in demand at present. In his
words, “entrants’ parents, with high payments, send their children to
study “Economy,” “Law,” “International Relations,” condemning them to
unemployment.” “Our small country is not able to annually provide with
job more than 100 diplomates,” the Minister mentioned. L.Mkrtchian
also mentioned that there are vacant places for some professions
in the paid system. According to the Minister’s words, they will be
allocated among professions having high competition to make the tension
calmer. The Minister also touched upon the entrants’ knowledge on the
“Mathematics” subject. In L.Mkrtchian’s words, tutors give entrants
“no knowledge on this or that subject but train them.” He mentioned
that logical tasks from school text-books (even for the 2nd grade)
were also involved in the examination cards on the “Mathematics”
subject this year.
But, entrants solved difficult tasks “in the automatic way,
mechanically,” but found it difficult to answer simple logical
questions.

3517.6 TONS OF HUMANITARIAN AID BROUGHT TO ARMENIA IN JANUARY-JUNE
Noyan Tapan
Aug 23 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 23, NOYAN TAPAN. 3517.6 tons of goods with the total
cost of 29.1 mln U.S. dollars were brought to Armenia as humanitarian
aid in this January-June. 4384.2 tons of goods of the total cost
of 20.5 mln U.S. dollars were brought in the same period of time of
2005. According to data of the RA National Statistical Service, 46.4%
of the got aid made products of chemistry and industrial branches
connected with it, 23.9% is devices and apparatuses, 7.4% is machines,
equipment and mechanisms, 4.1% is paper and goods made of paper.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NEW RADIO STATION TO OPEN IN JAVAKHK
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Aug 23 2006
AKHALKALAK, AUGUST 23, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A technically
well-equipted radio station will function in the Javakhk region of
Ninotsminda from October 1. It was founded on the initiative of the
Tbilisi representation of the famous BBC “R” studio. According to
the “A-Info” agency, the Ninotsminda radio will have an information,
funny, sporting programs, ones dedicated to women, etc. 13 employees
of the radio station underwent courses with a number of experienced
journalists. Laura Varjapetian is appointed the coordinator of the
radio, and Ararat Pttian is appointed the editor-in-chief.

COURT-YARD CAMP OF AKHALKALAK SURB KHACH CHURCH CLOSES
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Aug 23 2006
AKHALKALAK, AUGUST 23, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The closing
ceremony of the court-yard camp having functioned for about one month
took place in the territory adjacent to the Akhalkalak Surb Khach
(Saint Cross) church.
According to the “A-Info” agency, about 170 children from Akhalkalak,
of 7-15 years old, participated in the camp. According to words of
Liana Khloyan, the court-yard head, the director of the Yerevan
“Puprik” children’s and juvenile theater-studio, the camp is
directed to historic-cultural and spiritual education. The camp
detachment leaders were representatives of the youth union of the
Ararat Patriarchal Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church. To recap,
pupils of one of Armenian Sunday schools of New York sponsored the
camp. The “Javakhk Call” fund and the Akhalkalak Mayor’s Office also
assisted the camp.

AVERAGE MONTHLY DENSITY OF DUST IN JUNE IN YEREVAN SURPASSES 2.1 TIMES PERMISSIBLE NORM
Noyan Tapan
Aug 23 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 23, NOYAN TAPAN. Observations of the air basin were
implemented in Armenia, in June, in the cities of Yerevan, Gyumri,
Vanadzor, Hrazdan, Alaverdi and Ararat. According to data of the RA
National Statistical Service, density of substances polluting the
atmosphere in the mentioned settlements was decided with the help of
3253 experimental samples of the taken air.
According to it, the average monthly density of dust surpassed the
permissible norm in June in Hrazdan 3.4 times, in Ararat 3.2, in
Gyumri 2.7 times, in Yerevan 2.1 times, in Vanadzor 1.5, in Alaverdi
1.3 times.

WOMEN MAKE 71.5% OF PEOPLE HAVING UNEMPLOYED STATUS IN ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
Aug 23 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The average number of the
economically active population in Armenia made 1186.9 thousand people
in January-June of this year, 92.4% or 1096.9 thousand of who were
engaged in economy. 90 thousand people had no job and were registered
at the “RA Employment Service” agency of the RA Ministry of Labour
and Social Issues, getting an employed person’s status. According to
data of the RA National Statistical Service, women made 71.5% of the
officially registered unemployed people. 4.4 thousand people found job
from the beginning of the year, and women made 2.6 thousand or 59.1%
of them.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARSHAK SADOYAN EXPECTS ASSISTANCE OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN CONTROLLING COMING ELECTIONS
Noyan Tapan
Aug 23 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 23, NOYAN TAPAN. Some forces in the ruling camp
plan to again falsify the coming elections and create a “pictured”
parliament. Arshak Sadoyan, the Chairman of the “National Democrates’
Alliance” (NDA) party expressed such an opinion at the August 23
press conference. A.Sadoyan informed that the NDA has worked out a
complex program to control the coming elections.
The goal of the program is “to involve representatives of the
international community led by democratic values into the process
of controlling the Armenian elections.” According to the speaker’s
words, the U.S. Ambassador’s UN and OSCE representatives’ attention
was drawn to it and “it was approved by them.”
In Sadoyan’s words, 2.5 mln dollars are necessary for implementation
of the program. As the speaker stated that the NDA discussed the
issue of giving money with “numerous international organizations,”
but there is no result yet. The NDA Chairman believes that a
Board of Trustees must be created which will control the process
of spending those financial resources. The program envisages: a)
creation of a mechanism of electronic control of the elections;
b) mass teaching of confidants and local observers (though courses
for members of electoral comissions were organized in July-August,
Sadoyan insists that they were not held at the corresponding level and
it is necessary to organize new courses), c) broadcast of everyday
TV and radio programs and and publication of weekly to be given to
people free of charge “with the goal of propaganda of just elections’
importance.” The program also envisages meetings with the population,
“with participation of foreign figures having international fame.”
According to the NDA Chairman’s words, the latters’ presence may be
a strait jacket for the RA authorities’ illegal actions. According to
him, “if Armenia does not go in a normal democratic way, the powerful
states of the world will gradually push us out of all processes,
and the Armenian people will face the danger of losing Karabakh,”
A.Sadoyan said. He expressed confidence that in the case of again
“picturing” the elections , falsifiers will not be forgiven any more.