More Armenian News
NEW HOTEL IN JERUSALEM MAY TURN ARMENIAN CHURCH
INTO JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow
09.09.10 | 15:57
The ongoing dispute between the Jerusalem municipality and the
Armenian Patriarchy over the status of an Armenian church there is
in the focus of the Armenian communities both in Israel and in Armenia.
The Armenian St. Grigor Lusavorich (Saint Gregory the Illuminator)
Church, which belongs to the local Armenian Patriarchy for 60 years,
faces closer to make space for a Jewish community center.
The church now stands on a site of planned construction of a
Jerusalem-municipality approved hotel complex. The church would not
be leveled, but instead would be converted into a community center in
the yard of the complex. Some Jewish residents of the neighborhood
district oppose having the church closed, and on September 5 joined
more than 300 protestors at the site, including representatives of
the Armenian Patriarchy.
St. Grigor Lusavorich Church was built by Germans, in 1887. Later,
only after the exile of Templars (members of the Catholic Spiritual
Knights Order, founded in the 12th century in Jerusalem), the church
was donated to the Armenian Patriarchy. An estimated 11,000 Armenians
live in Jerusalem.
Koryun Archimandrite Baghdasaryan, representative of the Armenian
Patriarchy in Jerusalem, told ArmeniaNow that on September 16, the
issue of the church will be discussed at the Regional Commission
of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Israel. The Patriarchy will
attend the commission's session, and submit their arguments.
Baghdasaryan hesitated to say whether the move is seen as a step
to weaken the Armenian Church in Jerusalem, but he stated that the
construction of the hotel complex holds the interests of the Jerusalem
mayor, who in his pre-election campaign promised to raise the number of
tourists annually visiting Jerusalem from two million to ten million.
According to Baghdasaryan, there are a few reasons why other residents
(non-Armenian) of the district are against the construction of the
hotel complex.
"Intellectual people live in the German district: they are for having
representatives of different nations and religions in their community.
Besides, the district is of historical value, and they want to preserve
that value.
Besides, they are sure that the hotel complex might disturb their
rest."
MONEY FOR PENSIONS FOUND
news.am
Sept 9 2010
Armenia
On September 9, the RA Government re-itemized budgetary funds for
2010 and allocated 3.2bn AMD for raising pensions as compensation
for higher gas prices. Pensions are to be raised from November 1. On
March the Government raised welfare payments. On September 9, RA
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan stated that 104,000 Armenian families
are living "thanks to the Government's generosity."
NEWS.am reminds readers that, to relieve the consequences of the 40%
rise in gas prices from April 1, the RA Government made a decision on
March 25 to raise the basic monthly pension and family allowance by
2,500 AMD (about U.S. $6.7). As a result they reached 12,500 AMD (U.S.
$34) and 10,500 AMD (about U.S. 28). Most experts, however, says that
the Government does not at all take sufficient measures to relieve
the social consequences of the gas price rise.
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow
09.09.10 | 15:57
The ongoing dispute between the Jerusalem municipality and the
Armenian Patriarchy over the status of an Armenian church there is
in the focus of the Armenian communities both in Israel and in Armenia.
The Armenian St. Grigor Lusavorich (Saint Gregory the Illuminator)
Church, which belongs to the local Armenian Patriarchy for 60 years,
faces closer to make space for a Jewish community center.
The church now stands on a site of planned construction of a
Jerusalem-municipality approved hotel complex. The church would not
be leveled, but instead would be converted into a community center in
the yard of the complex. Some Jewish residents of the neighborhood
district oppose having the church closed, and on September 5 joined
more than 300 protestors at the site, including representatives of
the Armenian Patriarchy.
St. Grigor Lusavorich Church was built by Germans, in 1887. Later,
only after the exile of Templars (members of the Catholic Spiritual
Knights Order, founded in the 12th century in Jerusalem), the church
was donated to the Armenian Patriarchy. An estimated 11,000 Armenians
live in Jerusalem.
Koryun Archimandrite Baghdasaryan, representative of the Armenian
Patriarchy in Jerusalem, told ArmeniaNow that on September 16, the
issue of the church will be discussed at the Regional Commission
of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Israel. The Patriarchy will
attend the commission's session, and submit their arguments.
Baghdasaryan hesitated to say whether the move is seen as a step
to weaken the Armenian Church in Jerusalem, but he stated that the
construction of the hotel complex holds the interests of the Jerusalem
mayor, who in his pre-election campaign promised to raise the number of
tourists annually visiting Jerusalem from two million to ten million.
According to Baghdasaryan, there are a few reasons why other residents
(non-Armenian) of the district are against the construction of the
hotel complex.
"Intellectual people live in the German district: they are for having
representatives of different nations and religions in their community.
Besides, the district is of historical value, and they want to preserve
that value.
Besides, they are sure that the hotel complex might disturb their
rest."
MONEY FOR PENSIONS FOUND
news.am
Sept 9 2010
Armenia
On September 9, the RA Government re-itemized budgetary funds for
2010 and allocated 3.2bn AMD for raising pensions as compensation
for higher gas prices. Pensions are to be raised from November 1. On
March the Government raised welfare payments. On September 9, RA
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan stated that 104,000 Armenian families
are living "thanks to the Government's generosity."
NEWS.am reminds readers that, to relieve the consequences of the 40%
rise in gas prices from April 1, the RA Government made a decision on
March 25 to raise the basic monthly pension and family allowance by
2,500 AMD (about U.S. $6.7). As a result they reached 12,500 AMD (U.S.
$34) and 10,500 AMD (about U.S. 28). Most experts, however, says that
the Government does not at all take sufficient measures to relieve
the social consequences of the gas price rise.
MORE THAN 6000 ARTICLES PUBLISHED BY ARMENIAN SCIENTISTS
By Adonia Agayan
YerevanReport.com
Sept 8 2010
Armenia
YEREVAN, September 08 - "Since 1992, the scientists of the Republic
of Armenia have published more than 6000 articles in various journals
with high international rating, and more than 46,000 references have
been made to these articles," says Samvel Harutyunyan, the chairman
of the Armenian State Committee for Science.
According to him, by the number of articles per 100 or 1,000
scientists, the Republic of Armenia left behind its neighbors -
Georgia, Azerbaijan, and even Russia and Ukraine.
Harutyunyan mentioned that about 57 percent of the articles published
in the international journals refer to physics and 10-12 percent refer
to biology. Chemistry and mathematics are on the third place. As for
humanitarian articles, Samvel Harutyunyan said that there are only
few of them and they make the lowest percentage.
"We are behind the Baltic countries - Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Nevertheless, we should take into account the funds allocated
to science in these countries and the external support, too," the
chairman of the State Committee for Science said.
ARMENIA CANNOT KEEP UP WITH WORLD PACES OF
BROADBAND INTERNET DEVELOPMENT
PanARMENIAN.Net
September 9, 2010 - 18:05 AMT 13:05 GMT
Manuk Hergnyan, the Chairman of Economy and Values research center,
a partner of World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Network,
said that Armenia is behind many countries in terms of connection
to broadband Internet. "Internet development in Armenia is evident,
however, the world is developing at much higher paces," Hergnyan
stated on September 9 in Yerevan.
According to 2010-2011 Global Competitiveness Report, 8-point drop
was recorded in innovation index of Armenia as compared with 2009.
Meanwhile, Armenia is ranked 81st by the level of mobile subscribers'
base.
PanARMENIAN.Net
September 9, 2010 - 18:05 AMT 13:05 GMT
Manuk Hergnyan, the Chairman of Economy and Values research center,
a partner of World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Network,
said that Armenia is behind many countries in terms of connection
to broadband Internet. "Internet development in Armenia is evident,
however, the world is developing at much higher paces," Hergnyan
stated on September 9 in Yerevan.
According to 2010-2011 Global Competitiveness Report, 8-point drop
was recorded in innovation index of Armenia as compared with 2009.
Meanwhile, Armenia is ranked 81st by the level of mobile subscribers'
base.
IN ARMENIA VIOLENCE IS STILL CONSIDERED AS ONE OF THE
KEY METHODS TO EDUCATE CHILDREN
ArmInfo
2010-09-10 12:04:00
ArmInfo. In Armenia violence is still considered as one of the key
methods to educate children, Save the Children Country Director in
Armenia Irina Saghoyan said today while presenting the children's
rights protection situation in the country.
She said that surveys in Lori, Tavush and Gegharkunik regions have
shown that violence against children is widely spread in Armenian
families. Some parents still believe that physical punishment is the
most effective way to educate their children. But violence is present
not only in family but also at school.
"Violence against children is present in all countries and Armenia
is not an exception," Saghoyan said.
The surveys have been held in the framework of a grant given to Save
the Children by the Council of Europe and Open Society Institute.
ArmInfo
2010-09-10 12:04:00
ArmInfo. In Armenia violence is still considered as one of the key
methods to educate children, Save the Children Country Director in
Armenia Irina Saghoyan said today while presenting the children's
rights protection situation in the country.
She said that surveys in Lori, Tavush and Gegharkunik regions have
shown that violence against children is widely spread in Armenian
families. Some parents still believe that physical punishment is the
most effective way to educate their children. But violence is present
not only in family but also at school.
"Violence against children is present in all countries and Armenia
is not an exception," Saghoyan said.
The surveys have been held in the framework of a grant given to Save
the Children by the Council of Europe and Open Society Institute.
REFORESTATION HELPS REVITALIZE CRISIS-STRICKEN ARMENIA
by Jennifer Hattam
Treehugger
Sept 10 2010
The series of calamities -- a massive earthquake, energy shortages,
and military conflict -- that hit the small Caucasus nation of Armenia
in the late 1980s left much of its population uprooted and unemployed,
and its environment impoverished as well. At the current rate of
deforestation, the country could be a desert within 20 to 50 years,
according to the Armenia Tree Project, which has been working to
rebuild and revitalize the nation and its people, one seedling at
a time.
Villagers uprooted during the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan
are among the beneficiaries of the group's environmental efforts. In
the Getik River Valley, families that had to abandon the fields
they'd tended for decades are reestablishing their lives with the
help of the group's Backyard Nursery Micro-Enterprise Program, in
which villagers in the area grow seedlings in their yards and sell
them to the organization when they are ready to be planted in the
forest. Many have doubled their annual income as a result:
Thirty-nine-year-old Vatchakan Tsakanyan... lives with his sister
and her two kids, as well as his wife and their four children. The
tree seeds they received from Armenia Tree Project are cared for
by Vatchakan's sister, 35-year-old Nvart, who fills buckets from
the nearby Getik River a few times a day and carries them to water
the plants.
Though it's hard work, Nvart and Vatchakan are happy to use part of
their land to raise tree seedlings for ATP. With the money they will
receive from ATP for their backyard tree nursery, Vatchakan and Nvart
hope to increase their three beehives to 15.... [and] earn a bit of
an income from the sale of honey.
A successfully re-greened park in Armenia. Photo via the Armenia
Tree Project.
Since its founding in 1994, the Armenia Tree Project has planted
and restored more than 3,500,000 trees at over 800 sites around the
country and created hundreds of jobs in tree-regeneration programs.
The need is dire: Dependence on wood for cooking and heating has
reduced the amount of forest cover from a healthy 25 percent at the
beginning of the 1900s to less than 8 percent today, causing flooding,
erosion, and landslides that have destroyed homes and arable land.
In addition to planting trees, the group is designing environmental
education programs for the country's schools and providing sustainable
forestry training for adults in partnership with Yale University's
Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry. It also provides fruit
and nut trees to people in urban areas and hopes to eventually win
national protection for forests as wilderness sanctuaries. "In many
ways," NatGeo News Watch wrote in a blog post about the group's work,
"the effort to restore trees to Armenia is a restoration of the
nation's vitality."
by Jennifer Hattam
Treehugger
Sept 10 2010
The series of calamities -- a massive earthquake, energy shortages,
and military conflict -- that hit the small Caucasus nation of Armenia
in the late 1980s left much of its population uprooted and unemployed,
and its environment impoverished as well. At the current rate of
deforestation, the country could be a desert within 20 to 50 years,
according to the Armenia Tree Project, which has been working to
rebuild and revitalize the nation and its people, one seedling at
a time.
Villagers uprooted during the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan
are among the beneficiaries of the group's environmental efforts. In
the Getik River Valley, families that had to abandon the fields
they'd tended for decades are reestablishing their lives with the
help of the group's Backyard Nursery Micro-Enterprise Program, in
which villagers in the area grow seedlings in their yards and sell
them to the organization when they are ready to be planted in the
forest. Many have doubled their annual income as a result:
Thirty-nine-year-old Vatchakan Tsakanyan... lives with his sister
and her two kids, as well as his wife and their four children. The
tree seeds they received from Armenia Tree Project are cared for
by Vatchakan's sister, 35-year-old Nvart, who fills buckets from
the nearby Getik River a few times a day and carries them to water
the plants.
Though it's hard work, Nvart and Vatchakan are happy to use part of
their land to raise tree seedlings for ATP. With the money they will
receive from ATP for their backyard tree nursery, Vatchakan and Nvart
hope to increase their three beehives to 15.... [and] earn a bit of
an income from the sale of honey.
A successfully re-greened park in Armenia. Photo via the Armenia
Tree Project.
Since its founding in 1994, the Armenia Tree Project has planted
and restored more than 3,500,000 trees at over 800 sites around the
country and created hundreds of jobs in tree-regeneration programs.
The need is dire: Dependence on wood for cooking and heating has
reduced the amount of forest cover from a healthy 25 percent at the
beginning of the 1900s to less than 8 percent today, causing flooding,
erosion, and landslides that have destroyed homes and arable land.
In addition to planting trees, the group is designing environmental
education programs for the country's schools and providing sustainable
forestry training for adults in partnership with Yale University's
Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry. It also provides fruit
and nut trees to people in urban areas and hopes to eventually win
national protection for forests as wilderness sanctuaries. "In many
ways," NatGeo News Watch wrote in a blog post about the group's work,
"the effort to restore trees to Armenia is a restoration of the
nation's vitality."
OF ARMENIAN DECENT TO RETURN TO TURKEY
PanARMENIAN.Net
September 10, 2010 - 16:43 AMT 11:43 GMT
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu requested a world-leading
economist of Armenian decent, Daron Acemoglu to return to Turkey,
offering him a responsible position in economy sector. Acemoglu did
not deny the possibility of returning, Ermenihaber stated.
Daron Acemolu (born September 3, 1967 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a
Turkish economist of Armenian descent. He is currently the Charles P.
Kindleberger Professor of Applied Economics at Massachusetts Institute
of Technology and winner of the 2005 John Bates Clark Medal. Acemoglu
has authored the famous Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy
book.
Daron Acemolu is among the 20 most cited economists in the world
according to IDEAS/RePEc.
PanARMENIAN.Net
September 10, 2010 - 16:43 AMT 11:43 GMT
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu requested a world-leading
economist of Armenian decent, Daron Acemoglu to return to Turkey,
offering him a responsible position in economy sector. Acemoglu did
not deny the possibility of returning, Ermenihaber stated.
Daron Acemolu (born September 3, 1967 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a
Turkish economist of Armenian descent. He is currently the Charles P.
Kindleberger Professor of Applied Economics at Massachusetts Institute
of Technology and winner of the 2005 John Bates Clark Medal. Acemoglu
has authored the famous Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy
book.
Daron Acemolu is among the 20 most cited economists in the world
according to IDEAS/RePEc.
World’s Largest Chocolate Unveiled in Armenia
September 11, 2010 @ 10:04 am
Source: AP
Source: AP
YEREVAN—First there was the oldest leather shoe and now
there’s the world’s largest chocolate. The Yerevan-based
Grand Candy Co. unveiled a 9,702-pound chocolate bar
Saturday.
Guinness World Record’s representative Elizabeth Smith
presented the factory owner Karen Vardanyan with an official
certificate during a ceremony Satuday. She said she was glad
to witness what she described as an ‘incredible event’.
Vardanyan said that the chocolate bar was produced to mark
the tenth anniversary of the company. The previous record was
set in Italy in 2007.
The bar, containing cocoa beans from Ghana, is 224-inches
long, 110-inches wide and 10-inches thick.
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