Empty seats anger stranded BA flyers
by Helen Nugent and Joanna Bale
The Times (London)
August 15, 2005, Monday
BRITISH Airways faced a fresh row last night over flying with empty
seats while refusing to take passengers still stranded at Heathrow
airport by last week’s wildcat strike.
Customers who had been stranded for 72 hours after a walkout by
baggage handlers reacted with disbelief when they learnt that they
could have been spared another night of sleeping rough.
BA’s rivals leapt upon the latest disclosure as a further public
relations disaster for the company after the walkout last Thursday,
which delayed more than 100,000 passengers and cost an estimated
£40 million.
Around 600 frustrated travellers were still waiting for their flights
last night and BA admitted that the backlog would take until tomorrow
to clear.
However, the airline refused to say how many flights had departed
with empty seats in first and business class because of its refusal
to offer an upgrade to marooned economy-class customers.
Passengers advised by their travel agents to request an upgrade were
told that the airline’s policy was to keep economy ticket holders in
economy class despite the long delays, The Times has learnt.
A spokeswoman for BA admitted: “Some flights have gone out with empty
seats as our policy has been to keep people in the same class as their
tickets. However, we have upgraded some people on a discretionary,
case-by-case basis.”
She refused to reveal how many economy passengers were upgraded and
how many empty seats in other classes were left unfilled. Customer
groups criticised BA’s attitude.
Ann Hervey, of Holiday Which? said: “These people have had a hideous
experience and as a matter of policy you would want BA to do whatever
was possible. It is a matter of good customer care. You would expect
them to do everything in their power to get passengers to destinations
as quickly as possible.
“However, deciding who gets the better seats could be difficult as
they risk everyone demanding an upgrade by way of compensation.”
Rival airlines also expressed disbelief and said that their own
approach would have been different. A spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic
said: “Our priority would be to get passengers to destinations as
quickly as possible and to give them the best possible experience
after the distress of being delayed for so long.”
A spokesman for American Airlines said: “We would do everything
possible to get passengers away if seats were free in the aircraft.”
Sebouh Nahabedian, a financial analyst from New York, and Ara
Asatoorian, a transport consultant from Los Angeles, said that they
were astounded when a BA manager told them they could only have seats
in economy class, no matter what seats were free in business class.
They were supposed to fly to Armenia from Heathrow on Thursday but
were told by BA that they could not leave until Sunday. But when they
rang their travel agent in the US, they discovered that business-class
seats had been available on Saturday’s flight.
Mr Asatoorian said: “We rang BA and asked if we could be upgraded but
the guy would not do it because we had economy tickets. We asked if
showing up at the airport and waiting to see if the business seats
were claimed would help but he told us that if that were the case
then those seats would fly empty. The guy said nothing would help.
That was just the cherry on top of the whole situation. This trip
has cost us each $ 3,000 (£1,600) and we have missed three days of
our conference. The business-class thing was unbelievable. The guy
just would not budge.”
Helen Shepherd, 41, was flying back to Cape Town last night. The
housewife said: “I think it’s disgraceful that BA didn’t upgrade
economy.”
Under Article 8 of the European Passenger Rights Regulation, passengers
are entitled to rerouting under comparable transport conditions to
their final destination at the earliest opportunity if flights are
cancelled. However, it was unclear last night whether passengers
would be entitled to challenge BA’s refusal to upgrade them.
A BA spokesman said last night that it was back to 95 per cent of
its scheduled service at Heathrow.
“Everybody who was on a cancelled flight now has a reconfirmed
ticket. If they’re not going out today, they will be going out in
the next day or two,” he said.
–Boundary_(ID_RAUOH8zHxd840Rxyv31zJA)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 15, 2005, Monday
AZERBAIJAN EXPENDITURE ON DEFENSE IS RISING
SOURCE: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, August 12, 2005, p. 4
The forthcoming deployment of part of the Russian military equipment
from Georgia to Armenia poses serious problems to state security,
they consider in the Ministry of Defense of the republic. According
to the source in the Azerbaijan Ministry of Defense, “for deployment
of Russian military hardware sites have been allotted Armenia
and Azerbaijan boundary regions of Tavush, Berd and Idjevan.” The
newspaper’s interviewer says that at moment Russian military base 102
in Gryumi is incapable of receiving all the military equipment brought
from Georgia. To solve this problem the authorities of Armenia have
rented new areas on the border with Azerbaijan.
No doubt in Baku they are concerned with the perspective and take
adequate measures. In the first place, they reconsider the budget
item on military department backing. According to official data,
the expenditure on strengthening the state defense capacity has risen
$50,000,000 and today reaches $300,000,000. Alongwith that there is
strengthening connections with military departments of Turkey, whose
brass are regular guests in Baku. Certain steps are taken to improve
military cooperation with the USA. The press in Baku says that in
a private meeting of Azerbaijan minister of foreign affairs, Elmar
Mamedjarov and the Pentagon command in Washington, the main topic of
discussion was the movement of Russian military equipment to Armenia.
In the MFA of Azerbaijan they prefer not to talk about it, however
they confirm that in the course of the overseas visit they also
conferred about political military situation in the South Caucasus.
Many experts in Baku consider that cooperation with the USA would go
beyond financial and engineering aid. Many American experts think the
same. In particular Michael Baranik, the representative of the Center
of National Security Technique and Policy at the National Defense
University, the USA, is sure that “Azerbaijan would be a country
of great importance for the USA.” Analyzing, Baranik mentions that,
“If we must leave Uzbekistan, somebody has to start negotiations on
the disposition of bases in Azerbaijan.”
This statement was announced in the situation reports leaked to the
media about the fact that the chief of the Pentagon, Donald Ramsfeld,
is going to visit Baku. Local analysts forecast that as a result of
this call Baku can think better of its stand and agree to an American
presence in its territory. By this, the Azerbaijani authorities,
according to experts, would solve at least two problems: create a
counter-weight to Russian military power in Armenia and achieve a
loyal attitude on the part of Washington by the sums forthcoming in
November parliamentary elections.

Armenian regulator fines ArmenTel for antitrust violations
Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
August 12, 2005
YEREVAN, Aug 12 (Prime-Tass) — Armenia’s State Commission for the
Protection of Economic Competition has imposed a U.S. USD 400,000 fine
on Armenian national telecom company ArmenTel for alleged violations
of antitrust laws, the commission’s Chairman Ashot Shakhnazaryan
said Friday.
The fine was set at 1% of ArmenTel’s profit from GSM mobile services,
Shakhnazaryan said.
ArmenTel failed to provide stable and high-quality communications in
June-July, Shakhnazaryan said. He added that a mobile operator should
ensure that at least 95 calls out of 100 be connected, but ArmenTel
did not match this requirement.
Artak Khachatryan, an ArmenTel spokesman, said that the commission
had not set any call standards for the company and that the 95%
level was far above the 60% one set in ‘developed countries.’
‘The company did in fact provide low-quality communications but
the customers were warned beforehand about these problems. Besides,
technical problems that arose on June 30, of which the company had
warned, didn’t affect the customers. However a major network failure
occurred on July 1 during the launch of the services of the second
mobile operator,’ Khachatryan said.
K-Telecom, the second operator, launched its network on July 1 and
operates under the Vivacell brand.
Earlier ArmenTel has held a monopoly to provide GSM services in
Armenia. However, in November 2004 the Armenian government decided
to make amendments to ArmenTel’s license, depriving the company of
its exclusive right to provide GSM, mobile satellite and mobile radio
communication services in the country.
Greece’s OTE holds a 90% stake in ArmenTel, with the Armenian
government holding the remaining 10% stake. End

World – Azerbaijani activists clash over Armenia;
Morning Star
August 09, 2005
Members of a pro-government youth group briefly clashed with opposition
activists in Azerbaijan yesterday, accusing them of co-operating with
Armenian agents.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a bloody six-year war over the disputed
ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, over which Armenia now
has defacto control.
Tensions are high as the oil-rich country prepares for November
parliamentary elections.

Police searching for criminal stabbing 8 people in Moscow
ITAR-TASS News Agency
August 13, 2005 Saturday
MOSCOW, August 13 — Police are searching for a criminal who has
stabbed eight people near the square of three major railway terminals
in Moscow, a source in Moscow law enforcement agencies told Itar-Tass.
Police received calls every 30-40 minutes overnight to Saturday that
an unidentified gangster is attacking with knife passersby. Citizens
of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia fell victims of the criminal. “All
of them were hospitalized with various knife wounds in the Sklifosovsky
First Aid Institute,” the source emphasized.
“All measures are being taken now to detain the suspect. His identity
kit is being made up,” he pointed out. Police believe that the attacker
is likely being a drug addict or a lunatic. According to preliminary
information, he did not rob his victims.

US calls for condemnation of attacks on Azerbaijani opposition
Agence France Presse — English
August 10, 2005 Wednesday 6:35 PM GMT
BAKU Aug 10 — The United States called Wednesday for government
condemnation of recent attacks on the opposition in former Soviet
Azerbaijan to ensure fairness in upcoming parliamentary elections.
The US embassy in Baku said in a written statement that the government
of the Caucasus republic should condemn “unwarranted attacks on
individual parties or political figures” ahead of the November
elections.
The call comes after pro-government groups launched a series of
violent attacks against an opposition party closely linked to a youth
movement accused of plotting with Armenian secret services to foment
a revolution in Azerbaijan.
Members of the pro-government Muasir Musavat party have clashed with
opposition supporters three days in row, on one occasion throwing
sticks and bottles at the headquarters of the National Front of
Azerbaijan party.
Tensions flared after police arrested the leader of the Yeni Fikir
opposition youth movement, Ruslan Bashirli, whom prosecutors accuse
of accepting money from Armenian agents to finance a revolution
in Azerbaijan.
Yeni Fikir shares an office with the National Front party and denies
the accusations.
The case has received non-stop coverage in Azerbaijani media.
One channel has repeatedly aired footage of Bashirli’s alleged meeting
with the agents, interspersing it with pictures of Azerbaijanis who
died during a 1990s war with Armenia.
“Serious allegations should be addressed in the courts, and not in
the media,” the US embassy statement said.
“We expect that the government of Azerbaijan will conduct a fair and
impartial investigation into the recent allegations,” the statement
continued.

Porn, politics and videotape: Russian producer treads new path
Agence France Presse — English
August 11, 2005 Thursday 6:44 AM GMT
MOSCOW Aug 11 — A raunchy porn-and-politics film featuring characters
based on two of the youngest and most photogenic leaders to emerge
from the former Soviet Union is to start shooting in Russia next week,
the film’s producer says.
The two main characters in the short film, entitled “Yulia,” are
referred to only by that name and as Mikhail, but the audience will
be left in no doubt that they are based on Ukrainian Prime Minister
Yulia Tymoshenko, 44, and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, 37.
In the 26-minute film the two are shown holding a secret meeting in
Moscow, talking politics and making love in a helicopter flying over
the Russian-Georgian border, producer Alexander Valov told AFP.
Valov, a prominent Russian pop music producer, authored the script
with Aleksei Mitrofanov, a Russian nationalist politician from the
far right-wing Liberal Democratic Party.
“In the script, their surnames will not be used, nor their official
positions. There will be no diplomatic scandal,” Mitrofanov said.
But viewers should have no trouble guessing that the woman with the
trademark braid wound around her head is intended to be Tymoshenko,
the heroine of last year’s “orange revolution” in Ukraine that toppled
a pro-Russian government and replaced it with a pro-Western one,
the authors said.
Saakashvili came to power in a peaceful revolt dubbed the “rose
revolution” in November 2004, ousting the country’s veteran president
Eduard Shevardnadze.
Tymoshenko and Saakashvili are unpopular among many Russian
nationalists, who see them as anti-Moscow and pro-Washington.
Mitrofanov and Valov came up with the idea for an erotic comedy in a
restaurant after Mitrofanov claimed that Tymoshenko had made a secret
visit to Russia as prime minister.
Tymoshenko, who was appointed prime minister on February 4, is accused
of bribery by Russian prosecutors.
“I am not pursuing any political objectives with the production of
this film. For me it’s just business,” Valov said.
Yuliya is to be played by young Ukrainian porn star Elena Berkova,
20, and a little-known Armenian actor will play Mikhail, Valov said.
Valov said that if the film was successful he was considering a whole
series of erotic films featuring to political figures, including
Russian ones.

Azerbaijan comes out for peaceful Karabakh settlement
By Sevindzh Abdullayeva, Viktor Shulman
ITAR-TASS News Agency
August 12, 2005 Friday
BAKU, August 12 — Azerbaijan comes out for the peaceful settlement
of the Karabakh conflict and intends to use the whole potential of
negotiations, Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev said at a meeting
with residents of Sumgait in the north of the Apsheron peninsula
on Friday.
“However, if they (talks) do not yield results, a new situation
will emerge and necessary decisions will be taken,” the Azerbaijani
president pointed out.
Azerbaijan has lost 20 percent of its territory as a result of the
Karabakh conflict, more than one million Azerbaijanis became refugees
and forced migrants.
According to the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno
Karabakh (Russia, France and the United States) “some positive changes
are observed” in the conflict settlement process. Some hopes are
anchored on the upcoming Moscow meeting of the foreign ministers of
Azerbaijan and Armenia on August 23, and the talks of the presidents
of the countries that will be held at the CIS summit in Kazan three
days later.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azerbaijan to step up security spending
by Sokhbet Mamedov
RusData Dialine – Russian Press Digest
August 12, 2005 Friday
SOURCE: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, No 68, p.4
Baku is concerned with the stationing of Russian troops from Georgia
to Armenia
Sources in the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan believe that the upcoming
relocation of Russian troops and military equipment from Georgia
to Armenia sparks serious concerns for the country’s security. The
Nezavisimaya Gazeta’s source said that according to the Azeris’
information the troops will be stationed in the Tavush, Berd and
Idzhevan regions of Armenia, adjacent to Azerbaijan.
Upon obtaining this information, Baku decided to act accordingly and
increase the budget spending on national defense by $50 million to
$300 million. Along with that, the country is rapidly developing
security contacts with Turkey, whose top military officials have
started to pay frequent visits to Baku. Also, military cooperation
with the United States is being developed. Azeri press reports that
the Baku’s concerns with the relocation of Russian troops to Armenia
was discussed during the recent secret meeting of the Azerbaijan’s
Defense Minister Elmar Mamedyarov with top officials of Pentagon.
Many experts believe that military cooperation between Washington and
Baku will develop further, since Azerbaijan is becoming an increasingly
important partner for the United States, especially since Pentagon is
being pressed by the Uzbekistan’s authorities to withdraw U.S. troops
from that Central Asian country.
Azeri analysts predict that after the next visit of the U.S.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to Baku, due in August, Azerbaijan
may finally agree to host U.S. military bases. Thus the country’s
authorities will create a counterweight to Russian forces in Armenia
and will also secure Washington’s backing of the results of the
upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled to take place in November.

Flowers versus power in violent Azerbaijan demonstration
Agence France Presse — English
August 9, 2005 Tuesday 3:47 PM GMT
BAKU Aug 9
Flowers became weapons in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku Tuesday when a
bid by opposition activists to charm pro-government supporters with
fresh bouquets degenerated into a pitched fight.
The confrontation between about 100 pro- and anti-government
demonstrators started as an attempt to make peace, following clashes
on Monday in which the two sides showered each other with bottles
and stones.
Elderly female supporters of the National Front opposition party
brought carnations to a group of pro-government female demonstrators
in conservative Islamic dress. But the gesture was refused and soon
both sides were using the flowers against each other, before resorting
to egg throwing.
The incident was one of the more bizarre signs of growing tension
ahead of a November parliamentary poll in the oil-rich, mainly Muslim
republic.
The latest confrontations followed the arrest last week of Ruslan
Bashirli, leader of the Yeni Fikir (New Thought) youth opposition
group, for his alleged contacts with secret agents from Azerbaijan’s
enemy neighbour Armenia.
Anti-government parties have dismissed those allegations as part of
a state-sponsored smear campaign.
The last national vote, the 2003 presidential elections in which
Ilham Aliyev took over from his father Heydar Aliyev, ended in two
days of rioting and hundreds of arrests.
Azerbaijan lost a war against Armenia in the early 1990s in which
about 25,000 people on the two sides died. No peace deal has been
signed and an armed standoff continues.