Georgia Official Urges Nation to Press On

Associated Press
February 4, 2005

By MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI, Associated Press Writer

TBILISI, Georgia – Georgia’s parliamentary speaker cut short a foreign
trip after the death of Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and returned to the
stunned republic Friday, urging the government to retain its momentum in
reinvigorating the country.

Parliament speaker Nino Burdzhanadze, an ally of Zhvania and President
Mikhail Saakashvili, returned from a private visit to Italy and called
on the government to continue working as usual despite “a big loss for
Georgian politics and the Georgian state.”

Zhvania, 41, was found dead early Thursday at a friend’s home,
apparently poisoned by carbon monoxide from a gas-fired heating stove.
Initial tests showed Zhvania’s blood had nearly double the fatal level
of carbon monoxide, a forensics service spokeswoman said. His host also
died.

Authorities called Zhvania’s death an accident, but many people in
Georgia – plagued by a history of political intrigue, conflicts with
breakaway regions and tense relations with Russia – were skeptical. One
lawmaker linked Zhvania’s death and a car bombing Tuesday near
separatist South Ossetia, and hinted at Russian involvement.

A small knot of mourners gathered for a second day Friday outside the
home of Zhvania’s mother in central Tbilisi. Rudimentary repairs were
swiftly made to the old brick building’s dilapidated facade, and flowers
were laid on a windowsill outside Rimma Zhvania’s first-floor apartment.

A wooden coffin was delivered to her home Thursday. Zhvania’s body will
be moved to the capital’s Holy Trinity Cathedral for public viewing
Saturday before Sunday’s funeral.

On Thursday, a visibly shaken Saakashvili lit candles in Zhvania’s honor
at the cathedral and urged Georgians to remain calm.

“I assume control over the executive branch and I call on members of the
Cabinet to return to work and to continue their work as normal,” said
Saakashvili, who appointed Zhvania after his election in January 2004 –
rewarding a key ally in the November 2003 protests against election
fraud that became known as the “Rose Revolution.”

Zhvania was considered a moderate in the government of the fiery
Saakashvili, and worked to overcome endemic corruption that had enriched
some officials during the era of ex-president Eduard Shevardnadze while
the economy deteriorated.

Many people rely on gas or wood stoves in their homes in Georgia, where
central heating is scarce, and fatal leaks and accidents are common. But
several Tbilisi residents said they believed the prime minister’s death
was suspicious.

“There were plenty of people who envied Zurab. Many were hoping that a
conflict would break out between him and the president,” said historian
Grigory Dardzhanian.

Georgian lawmaker Alexander Shalamberidze linked Zhvania’s death to a
car bombing that killed three policemen in Gori, the city nearest to
South Ossetia, this week. Shalamberidze pointed at “outside forces” in
remarks clearly aimed at Russia, which has ties with the separatist
Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Zhvania was a key figure in efforts to resolve the conflicts with
Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which broke away from the central government
after wars in the 1990s. Saakashvili has vowed to reunite his fractured
country, but tension is high and erupted into deadly fighting in South
Ossetia last summer.

Zhvania “counterbalanced Saakashvili’s policies,” said Georgy
Gelashvili, a former colleague of Zhvania in the Greens party. “I’m
afraid that the people close to the president who didn’t much like
Zhvania may push (Saakashvili) toward extreme measures in settling
conflicts and in the economy.”

A minister in South Ossetia’s separatist government, Boris Chochiyev,
said Zhvania was “among the Georgian politicians who favored a peaceful
settlement of the conflict” and expressed hope that his death would not
aggravate tensions.

;u=/ap/georgia_prime_minister

Alcatel’s Tchuruk seeks closer Thales ties to gain
access to defence market

AFX News
Thursday, February 3, 2005

PARIS (AFX) – Alcatel wants to build up its defence communications
business by strengthening its relationship with Thales, in which it
holds a 9.1 pct stake, and is open to every option, said chief
executive Serge Tchuruk.

‘Defence is an important market for Alcatel,’ Tchuruk told daily Le
Figaro in an interview, adding: ‘We now want to build ourselves up
more clearly in the defence communications market beyond our (current)
position in satellites.

‘But it is difficult for us to do this with things as they are… That
is why we want to to develop our relationship with Thales.

‘We are open to every possible option other than the current status
quo,’ he said, reiterating his position on the future of the Thales
stake.

‘I have always said our stake in Thales is too much or not enough.’

He said Alcatel is also open to transatlantic acquisitions ‘and why
not in France?’ where he feels there are ‘too many players.’

The company this morning announced it will permit ‘flexibility’ in its
2005 gross margin to allow growth.

But Alcatel is not seeking a major merger ‘as we are already one of
the big boys.’

Alcatel returns to profit in 2004, but weak 4th
quarter spooks investors

Agence France Presse
Thursday, February 3, 2005

PARIS (AFP) – The French telecommunication equipment maker Alcatel, a
big casualty of the high-tech shake-out, posted a net profit in 2004
for the first time for three years, but its shares slumped on weak
fourth-quarter performance.

Net profit reached 281 million euros (365 million dollars) after a
1.944-billion-euro loss reported in 2003, marking the first time the
company had turned an annual profit since the bursting of the
technology bubble.

Meanwhile, sales fell to 12.27 billion euros in 2004 from 12.5 billion
euros in 2003. But calculated on a so-called pro forma basis,
excluding the impact of its divested mobile handset, optical fiber and
power system businesses, sales rose 5.7 percent over the period.

Alcatel was severely hit by the shake-out which followed the end of
the Internet and technology boom four years ago.

Chief executive Serge Tchuruk said that the increase was even better
when calculated to smooth out variations in volatile exchange rates
last year.

“While carrier markets showed a modest recovery, Alcatel’s sales
increased by close to 10 percent at a constant euro/dollar exchange
rate,” Tchuruk said in a statement, adding: “We are confident that
Alcatel is on the right track.”

Operating profits jumped to 978 million euros from a pro forma 449
million, yiellding an operating margin of 8.0 percent.

Tchuruk said: “We will maintain our strategic direction in 2005,
closely monitoring our operations in order to reach our priority
target, which is a 10 pct operating margin.”

In the final quarter of 2004, the company turned a net profit of 40
million euros compared with a loss of 524 million euros in the same
quarter in 2003.

Sales rose to 3.812 billion euros over the period from 3.009 while
operating profit increased to 393 million euros from 334 million
euros.

But analysts were expecting a much higher net profit figure for the
fourth quarter and the outlook for this year left investors
unimpressed.

By early afternoon here Alcatel’s shares were showing a loss of 8.99
percent at 10.22 euros in heavy volume.

US brokerage Raymond James had forecast a fourth-quarter net profit of
154 million euros while Exane BNP Paribas analysts had pencilled in a
profit of 180 million euros.

Global Equities analyst Laurent Balcon said: “The fourth quarter
results and the accompanying statements need no comment”.

“The group’s growth should be limited this year and in the coming
years by an intense price war in the sector,” he added.

At press conference Tchuruk sought to dispell criticism saying, “The
fourth-quarter results are notany different than what we had indicated
to the market.”

“We could have done several percentage points more but at the price of
not enetering some emerging markets,” he said, adding: “we chose to
bet on the future”, citing Brazil, India and Russia.

Despite the return to profit last year, chief financial officer
Jean-Pascal Beufret said Alcatel would not pay a dividend for 2004
although it planned to do so in 2005 if possible.

The board decided against a pay-out this year, in order to be able to
accumulate profits and issue a “more significant” dividend at a later
date as well as aim at a “more durable” dividend policy, he said.

;u=/afp/20050203/tc_afp/francetelecomcompany_050203130610

Alcatel Swings to $52 Million Profit

Associated Press
Thursday, February 3, 2005

PARIS – Alcatel SA, the French telecommunications equipment maker,
said it swung to profit in the fourth quarter as a year of
restructuring began to show results.

Net profit came in at 40 million euros ($52 million) in the three
months to Dec. 31, after the 524 million euro net loss posted for the
year-earlier period.

Revenue rose 1 percent to 3.81 billion euros ($4.98 billion), and
operating income jumped 18.7 percent to 393 million euros ($513
million).

Alcatel said Thursday it expects “low-to-mid single-digit” sales
growth in 2005 and a “double-digit” increase in earnings per share. It
continues to target a gross margin – operating profit as a share of
revenue – of 10 percent.

The company – which competes with companies like Germany’s Siemens AG
and Cisco Systems Inc. – returned to profit in 2004. Nevertheless,
Alcatel said Thursday it does not plan to pay a dividend this year,
but hopes to for 2005 earnings.

The lack of dividend and cautious 2005 guidance disappointed
investors. Alcatel shares dropped 9 percent to 10.24 euros ($13.37) in
Paris trading.

In the past year, Alcatel has stopped making fiber optics, mobile
handsets and batteries as part of a strategy focused on more
profitable sectors such as those associated with “triple play” – the
use of mobile phones for voice, television and Internet access.

“We are confident that Alcatel is on the right track,” Chairman and
Chief Executive Serge Tchuruk said.

As part of its restructuring, Alcatel has been investing in Asia and
Africa, building mobile networks and strengthening its commercial
activities there. These investments helped deflate the company’s
gross margin in the fourth quarter to 34.4 percent from 36 percent the
year before.

“An aggressive strategy has also been followed in establishing
footprints in certain high potential markets of the emerging world,
accepting temporary losses as an investment for future growth,”
Tchuruk said.

Tchuruk said he saw first-quarter sales growth between 3 percent and 5
percent.

Alcatel’s full-year 2004 net profit stood at 281 million euros
($367.01 million) after a 1.9 billion euro loss the previous year,
mainly on writedowns and restructuring costs. Revenue fell 2 percent
to 12.27 billion euros ($16.02 billion).

;u=/ap/20050203/ap_on_bi_ge/earns_france_alcatel_2

Senate OKs anti-piracy measure

Hollywood Reporter
Thursday, February 3, 2005

By Brooks Boliek

WASHINGTON (Hollywood Reporter) – The third time could be the charm
for legislation that would make it a federal crime to camcord a movie
and would protect the manufacturers of players that edit out
purportedly offensive content from movies.

Although the Senate late Tuesday approved the Family Entertainment and
Copyright Act (FECA) of 2005 — a package of copyright bills — for
the first time in the 109th Congress, it twice passed the legislation
in the 108th only to see it die at the end in a squabble over
unrelated legislation.

Included in FECA is the camcorder legislation, the Family Movie Act
and legislation designed to make it easier for law-enforcement
officials to combat the growing problem of music and movies being
distributed on file-sharing networks and circulating on the Internet
before they are released. FECA also contains a measure to reauthorize
an existing program for the preservation of historically and
culturally significant films.

“This important, bipartisan legislation will crack down on what has
become a growth industry in this era of rapid technological
development: the theft and distribution of copyrighted material. I
appreciate my colleagues moving this bill so quickly and urge our
friends in the House to do the same,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Sens. Cornyn and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and
Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., were the key boosters of the legislation in the
Senate.

While supporters of the bill hailed its passage, approval in the House
could be more problematic even though the House approved different
versions of the bill, according to industry sources. The House failed
to approve the bill last year because of a dispute between Sen. John
McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., and House Commerce
Committee chairman Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, over boxing-reform
legislation. Industry officials hope the hangover from that fight and
some resentment of the industry will not bring the current bill to a
similar fate.

Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, a primary author of the legislation and
chairman of the House’s copyright subcommittee, has expressed hope the
bill could move quickly there, too.

“There is no word on that yet,” said MGM chairman and CEO Alex
Yemenidjian, who has aggressively lobbied for the bill. “It’s long
overdue. I hope the House can pass it quickly so we can start
prosecuting these criminals.”

;u=/nm/20050203/en_nm/film_piracy_to_1

A Death in Georgia

Intelligence Brief

Stratfor.com
February 3, 2005

By Marla Dial

The prime minister of Georgia, Zurab Zhvania, was found dead early
Feb. 3 in a friend’s apartment — the victim of an apparent gas
leak. Zhvania’s death, which will be investigated by the FBI as well
as local authorities, raises political concerns both in and around
Georgia.

The former Soviet republic, a key land bridge between the Caspian and
Black seas, is an important pawn in the rapidly accelerating Great
Game still being waged by Russia and the United States. A Georgia
where Russian influence holds sway allows Moscow to project power into
the Middle East, whereas a pro-U.S. regime means Tbilisi can cut
Russia off from any potential allies to the south. Iran and Turkey
also seek to influence opinion in Georgia’s power circles.

What, if anything, this political backdrop has to do with the death of
Zhvania remains to be seen. Security forces found the prime minister’s
body in the home of Raul Yusupov, the deputy governor of the
Kvemo-Kartli region. Yusupov also died; both men apparently having
suffocated on fumes from a small heater that was in use, though foul
play has not been ruled out.

In this case, disguising a murder as an accident — by sabotaging a
space heater so that it would emit carbon monoxide, for instance —
would not have been difficult, and sources in Georgia say many actors,
from hard-line nationalists to organized crime groups, might have had
reason to want Zhvania dead.

The deaths appear to have unsettled Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili, a passionate nationalist who has consistently defied and
annoyed Moscow since taking office. Saakashvili, who temporarily
assumed the prime ministership for himself, relied heavily upon the
advice of the more sober-minded and tactical Zhvania. According to a
source in the Georgian Interior Ministry, Saakashvili has requested
personal protection from the United States in the wake of Zhvania’s
death — highlighting concerns that the prime minister’s demise could
have been more than accidental.

Even if Zhvania’s death proves to be nothing more sinister, the
consequences could be great. The last powerful Georgian leader to die
was Zviad Gamsakhurdia, in 1993. His death left the state in political
limbo until Eduard Shevardnadze took power — and in the process of
solidifying control, waged two wars against separatist provinces.

With separatist movements (backed by Russia) still lingering in the
provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and given the number of other
players — both domestic and foreign — who take an interest in
Georgia, any perception of instability in Tbilisi could be enough to
prompt any one of them to make a move.

Annan Disciplines Oil-For-Food Chief

Associated Press
February 3, 2005

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS – Secretary-General Kofi Annan ordered disciplinary
action against the head of the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq on
Thursday, after a report sharply criticized Benon Sevan for
“undermining the integrity” of the United Nations through a “grave
conflict of interest.”

The investigation report said Sevan solicited oil allocations from
Saddam Hussein’s regime on behalf of a trading company between 1998
and 2001, and it raised concerns he may have received kickbacks for
the help.

Based on the report, Annan has decided to discipline Sevan and another
U.N. official, Joseph Stephanides, who was chief of the U.N. Sanctions
Branch, said Mark Malloch Brown, Annan’s new chief of staff. Malloch
Brown said the type of disciplinary action would be announced early
next week but gave no details.

In its report released Thursday, the investigation led by former
Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker accused Stephanides of
“tainting” bidding for a contract. Stephanides now heads the Security
Council Affairs Division in the U.N. Department of Political Affairs.

Allegations of corruption in the $60 billion oil-for-food program –
which allowed sanctions-bound Iraq to sell oil to buy humanitarian
supplies – have raised steady criticism from members of Congress.

“I am reluctant to conclude that the U.N. is damaged beyond repair,
but these revelations certainly point in this direction,” said
Illinois Republican Henry Hyde after Thursday’s report. His House
International Relations Committee is one of several U.S.
investigations.

Sen. Norm Coleman, who called for Annan’s resignation over the
scandal, said he was pleased with the report and urged Annan to lift
Sevan’s diplomatic immunity so U.S. prosecutors can review the case.

“There is more than enough probable cause to believe Benon Sevan’s
actions constitute criminal activity,” said Coleman, R-Minn.

Despite Sevan’s claims that he never recommended any oil companies,
Volcker’s Independent Inquiry Committee said it had evidence that
Sevan asked Iraq to give a small Swiss-based oil company, African
Middle East Petroleum Co. Ltd. Inc., known as AMEP, the opportunity to
buy oil. The company received the allocations and earned $1.5 million
from them.

Volcker’s panel said it is still investigating “the scope and extent
of benefits” that Sevan received for his requests.

The report did not say Sevan received kickbacks, but expressed concern
at $160,000 in cash that he said he received from his aunt in his
native Cyprus from 1999-2003. The report questioned this “unexplained
wealth,” noting that his aunt, who recently died, was a retired Cyprus
government photographer living on a modest pension.

“The most disturbing finding is the accumulation of evidence that the
executive director of the program Benon Sevan did in fact solicit oil
allocations for a small trading company,” Volcker said at a news
conference. “The Iraqis, who were assigning such allocations,
certainly thought they were buying influence.”

The report said Sevan’s solicitations on AMEP’s behalf “presented a
grave and continuing conflict of interest, were ethically improper,
and seriously undermined the integrity of the United Nations.”

Asked whether the committee found any criminal wrongdoing, Volcker
said, “We are not a criminal tribunal. Other people will have to draw
conclusions from the facts that we have presented.”

He said Sevan had not been entirely cooperative and had not responded
to interview requests in a timely way.

Malloch Brown said Annan “is shocked” and “terribly dismayed” at the
report’s findings about Sevan “and he very much doubts that there can
be any extenuating circumstances to explain the behavior which appears
proven in the report.”

But Sevan’s lawyer, Eric Lewis, accused Volcker’s committee of making
him a scapegoat and denied he ever received any money.

“The IIC has turned its back on the principles of due process,
impartiality and fairness … and it has caved in to the pressures of
those opposed to the mission of the U.N.,” Lewis said in a statement.

The oil-for-food program, launched in December 1996 to help ordinary
Iraqis cope with U.N. sanctions imposed after Saddam’s 1990 invasion
of Kuwait, quickly became a lifeline for 90 percent of the 26 million
population.

Under the program, Saddam’s regime could sell oil, provided the
proceeds went to buy humanitarian goods or pay war
reparations. Saddam’s government decided on the goods it wanted, who
should provide them and who could buy Iraqi oil. But the Security
Council committee overseeing sanctions monitored the contracts.

In a bid to curry favor and end sanctions, Saddam allegedly gave
former government officials, activists, journalists and U.N. officials
vouchers for Iraqi oil that could then be resold at a profit.

Writing to U.N. staff late Thursday, Annan said, “however serious the
flaws revealed in this report, it does not support many of the wilder
allegations made against the program, such as that it was responsible
for the alleged $21 billion of illicit revenue allegedly gained by
Saddam Hussein through smuggling and other means between 1991 and
2003.”

Volcker said the major source of illicit funds to Iraq was from
smuggling, to Jordan, to Turkey, eventually to Syria, and then to
Egypt. What isn’t clear is how much those involved in the oil-for-food
program pocketed, he said.

But he confirmed an estimate in an October report by top U.S. arms
inspector Charles Duelfer that Saddam made $228 million in surcharges
on oil. However, he questioned Duelfer’s estimate that Saddam’s
kickbacks totaled $1.5 billion, saying they could have been as high as
$2.5 billion.

Volcker’s report also found “convincing and uncontested evidence” that
selection of the three U.N. contractors for the oil-for-food program
– Banque Nationale de Paris, Saybolt Eastern Hemisphere BV, and
Lloyd’s Register Inspection Limited – did not conform to established
financial and competitive bidding rules.

Paris-based BNP was chosen by former Secretary-General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali to be the program’s banker without meeting the
U.N. requirement to accept the “lowest acceptable bidder,” the report
said.

Volcker initially told reporters that Boutros-Ghali was under
investigation for that decision. But he retracted that statement
later, saying he misheard the question and thought it was about
Sevan. Volcker said Boutros-Ghali was questioned about BNP and has
told investigators he will continue to cooperate.

The competitive bidding process for a company to monitor Iraqi oil
exports was manipulated by Allan Robertson, who was in charge of the
U.N. procurement department, so Saybolt could lower its bid and win
the contract, the report said.

For the inspection of humanitarian goods, the report said, there was a
clear early preference for Lloyd’s and the competitive bidding process
was “tainted” by Stephanides. His contacts with an unnamed U.N.
mission, which a U.N. committee acquiesced to for political reasons,
led to Lloyd’s winning the contract even though there was a lower
bidder, it said.

Sevan has denied any wrongdoing. He has retired, but remains on the
U.N. payroll for a dollar a year to help with the investigation. It
was unclear what sorts of disciplinary action were possible against
him.

AMEP was run by Fakhry Abdelnour, described as an oil trader. The
report cited an Iraqi official as saying that Sevan asked Iraqi
officials in 1998 to allocate oil vouchers to AMEP to “help a friend,”
and said the friend’s name was “Abdelnour.”

The report pointed to several flaws in the auditing of the program and
called for greater transparency and accountability. It said
U.N. watchdog Dileep Nair had a report critical of program management
but never submitted.

Thursday’s report did not address questions about Annan or the
employment of his son, Kojo, by the Swiss company, Cotecna Inspection
SA, which had a U.N. contract to certify deals under the oil-for-food
program. It said that topic would be addressed in another report.

Volcker said he intends to issue a definitive report in midsummer on
the entire management and oversight of the program.

The program ended in November 2003, after the U.S.-led war that
toppled Saddam, but allegations of corruption first surfaced in late
2000, with accusations that the Iraqi leader was putting surcharges on
oil sales and pocketing the money.

Associated Press writers Nick Wadhams and Desmond
Butler contributed to this report in New York.

;cid=514&u=/ap/20050204/ap_on_re_mi_ea/oil_for_food_investigation_29

Carnegie President Vartan Gregorian To Pay Tribute to
Success of High Schools

Hamilton County Schools Earn High Marks In ‘Schools
for a New Society’ Initiative

Business Wire
Thursday, February 3, 2005

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Academic improvement in Hamilton County public
high schools will be recognized and celebrated Thursday during a
day-long visit by Carnegie Corp. of New York President Vartan
Gregorian.

Dr. Gregorian will be the featured speaker at a celebration at Red
Bank High School to document the improvement of Hamilton County high
schools following a mid-day speech to the downtown Rotary Club. The
event at Red Bank High, which features participation from area high
schools, begins at 3:30 p.m. As part of his visit on Thursday,
Dr. Gregorian will present a video on the “Schools for a New Society”
reform effort, which includes a segment on Hamilton County.

“Three years into the Schools for a New Society initiative, we are
seeing solid results and improvements in student achievement,
attendance, and attitude,” said Dr. Jesse Register, Hamilton County
Schools superintendent. “Hamilton County students know they will
receive personalized instruction and attention from educators and
others who believe in their future. We are proud of the chance to
showcase our achievements for the agency that gave us the financial
opportunity to see these things happen.”

The Hamilton County school system is one of only seven public school
systems nationwide chosen to participate in Schools for a New Society,
a high school reform program funded with an $8 million grant from the
Carnegie Corp. of New York. Awarded in 2001 for a five-year period,
the Carnegie grant funds innovative programs in 16 Hamilton County
high schools with the goal of raising academic achievement. The grant
was awarded to the Public Education Foundation on behalf of the
Hamilton County school system. The Public Education Foundation is
contributing $6 million in matching local funds.

Dr. Gregorian is beginning a tour of the seven school systems funded
by Schools for a New Society grants. Chattanooga was chosen as the
starting point for the tour because of the results the Hamilton County
schools have achieved through the grant, said Dan Challener, president
of the Public Education Foundation.

“Three years ago, Hamilton County competed against more than 20 other
school systems nationwide for these prestigious grants,” Challener
said. “We were chosen because of the broad-based input our reform plan
received from educators, students, parents, and business and community
leaders. Now, our community has demonstrated to the Carnegie Corp. why
we were a good choice. It is an honor for Chattanooga to be the site
of the first stop on Dr. Gregorian’s tour.”

President of the Carnegie Corp. of New York since 1997, Dr. Gregorian
also served as president of Brown University for eight years. He is a
noted historian, educator, author and humanitarian and has received
numerous honors and awards for his academic and philanthropic
accomplishments.

Dr. Gregorian will be joined at the Red Bank High School celebration
by Dr. Register, Challener and Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey.

Due to the wide diversity of Hamilton County’s high schools, each
school has developed its own unique blueprint for reform through the
Schools for a New Society program. Four basic goals have been
addressed:

* Establishing a more challenging and engaging curriculum
* Improving teaching through more professional development
* Creating a more challenging and relevant curriculum
* Allowing more flexibility to meet student needs more effectively

The special needs of ninth-graders adjusting to high school are also
addressed, with each high school developing its own transition plan
for freshmen.

Through the Carnegie grant, most Hamilton County high schools now
include career academies. Examples include a construction academy at
East Ridge High, a health academy at Red Bank High, and an academy of
industry, technology and business systems at Brainerd High. All
academies combine college preparatory courses with a career theme.
Contact:

Hamilton County Schools
Rich Bailey, 423-580-2479

Source: Hamilton County Schools

OSCE mission visits Qubadli District, questions locals

Arminfo
4 Feb 05

YEREVAN

The OSCE factfinding mission today visited Qubadli District which is
under the control of the Nagornyy Karabakh defence army.

Yesterday the experts spent all day studying the situation in Zangilan
District and questioning residents in order to find out who they are
and where they come from, our Arminfo correspondent reports in
Stepanakert.

The OSCE factfinding mission will complete field work on 5 February
and most likely, summarize the results of the monitoring in
Stepanakert. The report for the OSCE Minsk Group will be prepared in
Europe in one or two months.

AZERBAIJANI JOURNALIST TO VISIT STEPANAKERT

Azg/arm
5 Feb 05

Arman Melikian, minister of foreign affairs of Nagorno Karabakh,
called a press conference on February 4 introducing the plans of the
Ministry in new future.

The activities of OSCE monitoring mission in Nagorno Karabakh were in
journalists’ spotlight as was supposed. Arman Melikian said that they
coordinated the activities of both sides before the mission. He added
that the Karabakh authorities made a suggestion to carry out a
monitoring 2-3 years ago but OSCE responded only to Azerbaijan’s late
offer. The minister said that they are looking forward not to the
results of the mission’s activities but to how will the OSCE use these
results.

Answering journalists’ complaint as to being forbidden to accompany
the monitoring group Melikian said that was done at mission members
request as they feared that people won’t feel free to speak out in
journalists’ presence.

Answering daily Azg’s question concerning the possible visit of an
Azerbaijani journalist, Eynula Fatulayev, from Monitor magazine to
Stepanakert the minister said that Fatulayev really expressed
willingness to come to Karabakh and the Karabakh authorities gave
their consent to his visit. He is going to arrive in Stepanakert on
February 10 despite Azeri society’s oppression and will meet
representatives of socio-political circles and mass media. The
minister said that such relations between conflicting sides create an
atmosphere of comprehension within both societies.

By Kim Gabrielian in Stepanakert