Armenian entry for Junior Eurovision to be known on September 5

The Armenian entry for the 2010 Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be chosen on September 5, adviser on special projects of Public Television's executive director Diana Mnatsakanyan told A1+.

Before that, on September 2 and 3 a professional jury will select the best performers. Four participants will be chosen from each phase.

During the finals of September 5 TV viewers can vote for the song they prefer through SMS voting. Armenia's pick for the 2010 Junior Eurovision will be decided by the jury and TV viewers by 50-50 vote.

By Eurovision requirements, the music and lyrics of the song

Vardan Minasyan short listed Armenian team

Chief Coach of the Armenian national team Vardan Minasyan has short listed the Armenian national team ahead of the games vs. Ireland and Macedonia in the EURO 2012 qualifiers.

20 footballers will play in the upcoming games.

Goalkeepers - Roman Berezovsky (Khimki, Russia), Gevorg Kasparov (Mika, Yerevan) and Stepan Ghazaryan (Banants, Yerevan)

Fullbacks - Robert Arzumanyan (Randers, Denmark), Hrayr Mkoyan (Mika, Yerevan) Ararat Arakelyan (Banants, Yerevan), Hovhannes Hambardzumyan (Banants, Yerevan), Sargis Hovsepyan (Pyunik, Yerevan), Artak Edigaryan (Pyunik,Yerevan)

Halfbacks - Karlen Mktrchyan, David Manoyan, Edgar Malakyan (Pyunik, Yerevan), Arthur Edigaryan (Pas, Iran), Levon Pachajyan (Sanat Navt, Iran)

Forwards - Gevorg

Mosaic Presents: Arshile Gorky and Armenian Folk Ensembles at MOCA

Mosaic Presents: Arshile Gorky and Armenian Folk Ensembles at MOCA

The exhibition Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective is currently on view at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles through September 20. Hamazkayin's Mosaic Concert Committee is organizing an evening of Armenian folk musical interpretations and original compositions by Armenian Public Radio and A Splinter, which will take place on September 9 in the courtyard of the MOCA from 5 to 8 pm.

The Museum is open late on this night from 5 to 8 pm and is free of charge. Everyone is encouraged to attend and walk through Gorky's exhibit

Social activists arrested in Azerbaijan

On 27 August members of “Kur” civil monitoring group were arrested in Azadkend, Sabirabad community and Neymanli, Gajigabuli, “Turan” news agency reported referring to member of the group Oqtay Gyulaliyev.

According to him the monitoring group members were assessing disaster sequences and developing compensation list. The police officers banned the group to enter the places destroyed by the disaster.

“Kur” civil headquarter is a group of social organization and mass media.

Source: Panorama | Armenian news

Azerbaijani top official’s statements considered groundless

The assertions that bloggers are not journalists and their arrests cannot be considered violation of freedom of expression are groundless, independent lawyer Erkin Gadirli and blogger Ali Novruzov told Obyektivtv.

Note that the day before, head of the Social and Political Department at the Azerbaijani President's Administration Ali Hasanov commenting upon international community’s appeal to release Emin Milli and Adnan Gajizade declared that bloggers are not journalists and the scandal over their arrest is ungrounded.

Gadirli said that Azerbaijan’s legislation does not give a definition to the notion “journalist,” therefore Hasanov’s official statement is unfounded.

The lawyer mentioned that Azerbaijani

Border administration to be implemented under program

On August 25, the Secretary of the National Security of Armenia Arthur Baghdasrayan received the delegation headed by Filip Pirs, the regional coordinator of the project "Complex Administration of Borders in South Caucasus" implemented by the Yerevan office of UN development Program.

The interlocutors were pleased with the process of the project implementation, the aim of which is to strengthen interdepartmental, bilateral and regional cooperation among the South Caucasian countries, the member states of the European Union and among other international beneficiaries, as well as to make easier people displacing and good transportation beyond the state border, simultaneously, providing

Court sitting adjourned

Court of General Jurisdiction of Malatia-Sebastia administrative district today started hearing into the claim of 911 pharmacy network against its employees.

During the sitting defence counsel Vahram Yenokyan filed a resignation as his motion for a forensic accounting examination was rejected during the previous sitting.

"We requested that professional accountants check the deficit to see whether the figures are far-fetched or not. But the judge found the motion ungrounded and rejected it," said Mr. Yenokyan adding that the signatures of two responsible persons - accountant and cashier were missing in the accounting records.

Plaintiff's attorney did not show up

Farewell in Moscow and Yerevan

World-famous singer Arax Davtyan's students and fans will bid her farewell in Moscow on August 2.

The requiem will be held from 3-6 p.m. at the ancient Armenian Church in Moscow, after which the body will be transferred to Yerevan.

The famous singer's requiem will be held in Armenia on August 3 from 4 to 9 p.m. at the Chamber Music Hall in Yerevan and the farewell ceremony will start at St. Hovhannes Church on August 4 at 11 a.m.

The funeral will be held on the same day at 2 p.m. and she will be buried at the Pantheon after Komitas.

 

 

Source: The Armenian News by A1+

Movsisyan continues to score goals

Armenian football player Yuri Movsisyan continues to succeed in Denmark's "Randers" team. In the first game of the 3rd stage of the European League, he scored two goals in the match against the Swiss "Lausanne" team. He started the score at the 7th minute and at the 81st minute the score was tied 2:2.

But the home players weren't able to keep the tie because the Swiss scored another goal at the end of the match and won.

Armenia's defender Robert Arzumanyan, who is also playing for "Randers", wasn't able to enter the field, though he was a spare.

Harper Collins Announces Publication of Hovannisian’s ‘Family of Shadows’

Harper Collins Announces Publication of Hovannisian's 'Family of Shadows'

NEW YORK—Publishing house HarperCollins has announced the September 21-Independence Day release of Garin K. Hovannisian's highly anticipated debut memoir, Family of Shadows: A Century of Murder, Memory, and the Armenian American Dream. "One of modern history's great unexamined stories," declares David Ignatius of the Washington Post. "Family of Shadows will move you with the intensity and intimacy of its detail."

Combining the historical urgency of The Burning Tigris, the cultural sweep of Middlesex, and the psychological complexity of Snow, Family of Shadows is a searing history of Armenia, witnessed and realized

Armenia registers 4% GDP growth in 2010

4% GDP growth was registered in Armenia in January-July 2010. According to the Armenian National Statistical Service, the GDP reached AMD 1586,5bln. Energy production scales grew for 16,0%.

Consumers prices index was 107,4 % during the reporting period, while the industrial production prices index made 130,3%.

External goods turnover has boosted for 26,5%, import growth has made 22,8%, and that of the export was 43,35%.

 

Source: Panorama | Armenian news

Azerbaijani former captive sentenced to 13 years in jail

Azerbaijan Military Court of Grave Crimes passed sentence upon a former soldier of Azerbaijani Army Rafig Hasanov, who was under Armenian captivity, APA reports. The court concluded Rafig Hasanov’s crime had been proved and sentenced him to 13 years’ imprisonment.

According to charge, Soldier of Azerbaijani Defense Ministry’s military unit, Rafig Hasanov, 21, was captured by Armenian servicemen in the line of contact in Gazakh region on October 8, 2008 after he crossed the border in the ebovementioned sector.

Hasanov was convicted according to Article 274 (state betray, espionage, distribution of the state secret to foreign state, rendering assistance to

Dear readers,

"A1+" is going on vacation and the English and Russian versions of our website will not be updated for three weeks.

But that doesn't mean that we will not have any information on our website. Our site will continue to touch upon the important events taking place in our country on the Armenian language page.

Dear readers, we apologize for the short break.

If you have any comments or suggestions, you may send them to our e-mail address at a1plus@a1plus.am and we will be happy to receive them.

 

Source: The Armenian News by A1+

Dear readers,

"A1+" is going on vacation and the English and Russian versions of our website will not be updated for three weeks.

But that doesn't mean that we will not have any information on our website. Our site will continue to touch upon the important events taking place in our country on the Armenian language page.

Dear readers, we apologize for the short break.

If you have any comments or suggestions, you may send them to our e-mail address at a1plus@a1plus.am and we will be happy to receive them.

 

Source: The Armenian News by A1+

HSBC named Best Bank of the Year

In Euromoney's Awards for Excellence 2010, HSBC Bank Armenia has been named
Best Bank in Armenia. The Award of Excellence was announced at a gala
dinner in London on Thursday July 8, 2010.

"We are delighted to see that HSBC's commitment to Armenia is being
recognized not only locally but also internationally": said Astrid
Clifford, CEO of HSBC Bank Armenia.

HSBC Group won a total of 20 awards including Best Emerging Markets Bank
and Best Wealth Management House.

Euromoney said, "HSBC is one of the few institutions that can call itself a
truly global emerging markets bank, and with

Movsisyan continues to score goals

Armenian football player Yuri Movsisyan continues to succeed in Denmark's "Randers" team. In the first game of the 3rd stage of the European League, he scored two goals in the match against the Swiss "Lausanne" team. He started the score at the 7th minute and at the 81st minute the score was tied 2:2.

But the home players weren't able to keep the tie because the Swiss scored another goal at the end of the match and won.

Armenia's defender Robert Arzumanyan, who is also playing for "Randers", wasn't able to enter the field, though he was a spare.

MOCA Offers 2 For 1 Admission To Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective

MOCA Offers 2 For 1 Admission To Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective

The coupon

LOS ANGELES—The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), is extending an exciting offer of two admissions for the price of one to Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective through September 20, at MOCA Grand Avenue.

This major traveling retrospective celebrates the extraordinary life and work of Arshile Gorky (b. c.1902, Khorkom, Armenia; d. 1948 Sherman, Connecticut), a seminal figure in the movement toward abstraction that transformed American art in the middle of the 20th century. Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective positions Gorky as a crucial forerunner of abstract expressionism, and as a passionate and dedicated artist whose tragic life often informed his groundbreaking and deeply personal paintings.

This is the first major museum exhibition to highlight the artist's Armenian heritage and examine the impact of Gorky's experience of the Armenian Genocide on his life and work. The retrospective and its accompanying catalogue have also benefited from in-depth interviews with the artist's widow, Agnes "Mougouch" Gorky Fielding, who has generously supported the project from the start, through key loans and first-hand accounts of Gorky's artistic practice as well as his cultural milieu. 

"As the only West Coast venue, MOCA is proud to present the work of this historically important artist who developed a unique and deeply influential visual language," commented Schimmel. "Gorky courageously re-shaped European modernism into the foundations of abstract expressionism. He inspired a new generation of artists demonstrating that the act of painting alone was enough to be both poetically charged and powerfully tragic. His legacy can be seen in the work of many of the major abstract expressionists represented in the MOCA's permanent collection, including Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko." 

The first full-scale survey of Gorky's oeuvre since 1981, this exhibition includes more than 120 works spanning the artist's 25-year career. It features the artist's most significant paintings, sculptures, and works on paper, including two masterworks from MOCA's permanent collection—Study for The Liver is the Cock's Comb (1943) and

Iran ready to sell oil in any currency rather than US dollar

Iran has made arrangements to start selling its oil in any currency rather than just the US dollar, central bank chief Mahmoud Bahmani said in a report on Friday, foreign media reported.

"We will do our trade in any currency possible," said Bahmani, quoted by the ISNA news agency, without giving a launch date for the policy or specifying if Iran would refuse to be paid in dollars.

"Maybe a country wants to use its own currency in trade -- we will accept that," he said, adding that the Islamic republic would have to absorb any "additional cost" associated with

Armenia's FM receives newly appointed Ambassador of Turkmenistan

Newly appointed Ambassador of Turkmenistan to Armenia Ata Serdarov presented a copy of his credentials to Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan on August 13.

Congratulating the Ambassador on the appointment, Edward Nalbandyan expressed conviction that the Ambassador will contribute to the further strengthening and intensification of the Armenia-Turkmenistan friendly relations.

Minister Nalbandyan and Ambassador Serdarov also discussed issued related to Armenian-Turkmen high-level mutual visits and development of political dialogue, expansion of the legal field for cooperation, development of trade-economic relations, as well as intensification of ties in humanitarian, scientific and business spheres, MFA press office reported.

During the meeting reference was

Dear readers,

"A1+" is going on vacation and the English and Russian versions of our website will not be updated for three weeks.

But that doesn't mean that we will not have any information on our website. Our site will continue to touch upon the important events taking place in our country on the Armenian language page.

Dear readers, we apologize for the short break.

If you have any comments or suggestions, you may send them to our e-mail address at a1plus@a1plus.am and we will be happy to receive them.

 

Source: The Armenian News by A1+

Dear readers,

"A1+" is going on vacation and the English and Russian versions of our website will not be updated for three weeks.

But that doesn't mean that we will not have any information on our website. Our site will continue to touch upon the important events taking place in our country on the Armenian language page.

Dear readers, we apologize for the short break.

If you have any comments or suggestions, you may send them to our e-mail address at a1plus@a1plus.am and we will be happy to receive them.

 

Source: The Armenian News by A1+

Farewell in Moscow and Yerevan

World-famous singer Arax Davtyan's students and fans will bid her farewell in Moscow on August 2.

The requiem will be held from 3-6 p.m. at the ancient Armenian Church in Moscow, after which the body will be transferred to Yerevan.

The famous singer's requiem will be held in Armenia on August 3 from 4 to 9 p.m. at the Chamber Music Hall in Yerevan and the farewell ceremony will start at St. Hovhannes Church on August 4 at 11 a.m.

The funeral will be held on the same day at 2 p.m. and she will be buried at the Pantheon after Komitas.

 

 

Source: The Armenian News by A1+

HSBC named Best Bank of the Year

In Euromoney's Awards for Excellence 2010, HSBC Bank Armenia has been named
Best Bank in Armenia. The Award of Excellence was announced at a gala
dinner in London on Thursday July 8, 2010.

"We are delighted to see that HSBC's commitment to Armenia is being
recognized not only locally but also internationally": said Astrid
Clifford, CEO of HSBC Bank Armenia.

HSBC Group won a total of 20 awards including Best Emerging Markets Bank
and Best Wealth Management House.

Euromoney said, "HSBC is one of the few institutions that can call itself a
truly global emerging markets bank, and with

ANCA-WR Presses Speaker Pelosi To Bring H. Res. 252 To Floor Vote

ANCA-WR Presses Speaker Pelosi To Bring H. Res. 252 To Floor Vote

ANCA-WR leaders with Pelosi and Sherman

BURBANK—Members and supporters of the Armenian National Committee of America Western Region met with Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi this week during a fundraiser hosted in the City of Burbank, where they pressed the Speaker for a floor vote on House Resolution 252—the Armenian Genocide Resolution – and stressed that the House Democratic Leadership is expected to advance this important human rights legislation.

During the program, Speaker Pelosi offered remarks about the importance of having a statement

International Pantomime Festival to be held in Armenia August 10-15

An International Festival of Pantomime Theaters will be held in the Armenian town of Tsakhkadzor on August 10-15. The festival will be devoted to the 75th anniversary of the great master and artist of circus, variety art, cinema, pantomime, Leonid Yengibaryan and will be named after him.

Pantomime theaters from the US, Georgia, Russia, France and the Czech Republic, as well as Armenia will be taking part in the festival. The theatrical companies will present their art during five days, in Tsakhkadzor streets in the daytime and on the open-air stage of the festival in the evening.

The festival is

OSCE-Azerbaijan dialogue fails

Though the OSCE had urged Azerbaijan not to impede to holding of free meetings, official Baku bans them again, Bizim Yol reports.

Note that the OSCE/ODIHR issued a pre-election assessment report on improving the atmosphere of democratic elections in Azerbaijan over the upcoming parliamentary elections in the country.

The source assesses this as a failure of OSCE-Azerbaijan dialogue in the pre-election period.

The report particularly says that political parties are regularly not allowed to have meetings in the center of Baku, which means that the freedom of meetings is limited in the country.
 

Source: Panorama | Armenian news

Dear readers,

"A1+" is going on vacation and the English and Russian versions of our website will not be updated for three weeks.

But that doesn't mean that we will not have any information on our website. Our site will continue to touch upon the important events taking place in our country on the Armenian language page.

Dear readers, we apologize for the short break.

If you have any comments or suggestions, you may send them to our e-mail address at a1plus@a1plus.am and we will be happy to receive them.

 

Source: The Armenian News by A1+

Dear readers,

"A1+" is going on vacation and the English and Russian versions of our website will not be updated for three weeks.

But that doesn't mean that we will not have any information on our website. Our site will continue to touch upon the important events taking place in our country on the Armenian language page.

Dear readers, we apologize for the short break.

If you have any comments or suggestions, you may send them to our e-mail address at a1plus@a1plus.am and we will be happy to receive them.

 

Source: The Armenian News by A1+

Farewell in Moscow and Yerevan

World-famous singer Arax Davtyan's students and fans will bid her farewell in Moscow on August 2.

The requiem will be held from 3-6 p.m. at the ancient Armenian Church in Moscow, after which the body will be transferred to Yerevan.

The famous singer's requiem will be held in Armenia on August 3 from 4 to 9 p.m. at the Chamber Music Hall in Yerevan and the farewell ceremony will start at St. Hovhannes Church on August 4 at 11 a.m.

The funeral will be held on the same day at 2 p.m. and she will be buried at the Pantheon after Komitas.

 

 

Source: The Armenian News by A1+

HSBC named Best Bank of the Year

In Euromoney's Awards for Excellence 2010, HSBC Bank Armenia has been named
Best Bank in Armenia. The Award of Excellence was announced at a gala
dinner in London on Thursday July 8, 2010.

"We are delighted to see that HSBC's commitment to Armenia is being
recognized not only locally but also internationally": said Astrid
Clifford, CEO of HSBC Bank Armenia.

HSBC Group won a total of 20 awards including Best Emerging Markets Bank
and Best Wealth Management House.

Euromoney said, "HSBC is one of the few institutions that can call itself a
truly global emerging markets bank, and with

Bryza Confirmation Vote Set for Tuesday

Bryza Confirmation Vote Set for Tuesday

Matthew Bryza

* Kerry Schedules Bryza Confirmation Vote Despite Incomplete And Evasive Answers to Written Questions Submitted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, and Senators Barbara Boxer, Robert Menendez,and Russ Feingold

WASHINGTON—Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, today announced that his panel will hold a vote next Tuesday, August 3, on the confirmation of Matthew Bryza, President Obama’s controversial nominee to serve U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan, despite the nominee’s evasive and incomplete answers to a series of written questions submitted to him by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and key members of this influential panel, reported the Armenian National Committee of America.

“Mr. Bryza’s evasive, unresponsive, and incomplete written answers to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, even more than his spoken testimony before this panel, confirm our reservations about his troubling track record, and clearly confirm that he is not the right person to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “American diplomacy in the region would be well served by a fresh start, with