http://www.armenianow.com/ Armenianow en-us Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~3/igcgyAYUTxs/ President Serzh Sargsyan has reiterated that he will pay a visit to Turkey in October only if Ankara takes steps to lift or get closer to lifting by that time the blockades that have crippled Armenia since independence. <br /> <br /> Sargsyan launched so-called “football diplomacy” last summer by extending an invitation to his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul to attend a World Cup 2010 qualifier between the two national football teams in Yerevan. The second leg of the soccer tournament is scheduled for October 14.<br /> <br /> Gul’s brief visit to the Armenian capital on September 6, 2008 fueled hopes that the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border and establishment of broader relations between the two estranged neighbors could happen soon. <br /><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~4/igcgyAYUTxs" height="1" width="1"/> Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&lng=eng&IID=1245&AID=3973 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~3/JChuWziOFX0/ When Narek Kazazyan first touched the strings of the traditional Armenian instrument kanon (pizzicato musical instrument) he could never imagine that he would be participating in international festivals along with many outstanding musicians.<br /> <br /> And tomorrow (July 30), 12 year old Kazaryan, virtuoso of kanon from Vanadzor, will perform alongside international musicians at the opening ceremony of the Open Music Festival at the Moscow Cinema’s open air hall.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~4/JChuWziOFX0" height="1" width="1"/> Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&lng=eng&IID=1245&AID=3974 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~3/8K318kFv_1M/ Specialists in the healthcare sector think that the risk of the penetration of swine flu into Armenia is increasing with the activation of the tourism season, especially that it has already reached three republics that border Armenia.<br /> <br /> Many Armenian tourists prefer spending their vacations in Georgia, where two cases of swine flu are already registered. Turkey is also a popular destination, where 156 cases have been reported. Thirty-two cases of swine flu are registered in neighboring Iran. <br /><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~4/8K318kFv_1M" height="1" width="1"/> Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&lng=eng&IID=1245&AID=3972 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~3/7Jx2FLHq340/ The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revealed a more negative forecast for Armenia in the coming months, saying that it prompted extra aid to cushion Armenia’s economy from the more severe effects of the continuing global recession. <br /> <br /> Revising its projections relating to the world economic trends, the IMF this week said Armenia’s economy is likely to contract by about 9.5 percent, in the best-case scenario, as a result of 2009.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~4/7Jx2FLHq340" height="1" width="1"/> Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&lng=eng&IID=1240&AID=3852 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~3/MfJtK-cxGGE/ Beleaguered oppositionist TV company A1+ remains victimized by Armenia’s courts, according to the new Resolution on Armenia adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Wednesday. For the second year running, PACE accuses Armenia of violating European Convention on Human Rights’ Article 10, concerning freedom of speech.<br /> <br /> Meanwhile, Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis said the resolution is a “victory for freedom of speech,” however it is a “victory” that remains on paper.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~4/MfJtK-cxGGE" height="1" width="1"/> Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&lng=eng&IID=1240&AID=3853 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~3/9see89F92ds/ Yerevan and Tbilisi considered new opportunities for the transit of Armenian goods via Georgian territory as well as possible cooperation in such spheres as tourism, culture and education as the two countries’ leaders were meeting in Yerevan Wednesday afternoon.<br /> <br /> At a joint press conference that followed their head-to-head talks Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and his visiting Georgian counterpart Mikheil Saakashvili spoke of the possibility of the opening of a border checkpoint in northern Georgia that serves as the main conduit for the transit of goods from Russia to Armenia.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~4/9see89F92ds" height="1" width="1"/> Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&lng=eng&IID=1240&AID=3851 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~3/KwlFBPBA2Vw/ Family, friends and numerous fans came to Holy Martyrs Church in Yerevan’s Davidashen district Thursday afternoon to bid farewell to Armenia’s two amateur actors who died in a car crash late on Monday.<br /> <br /> Gegham Khandilyan, 35, and Aram Miskaryan, 36, known to wider audiences as “Gokor” and “Garik”, the characters they portrayed in the popular gangster series “Vorogayt” (Trap) on Shant TV, were buried in a nearby cemetery Thursday afternoon.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~4/KwlFBPBA2Vw" height="1" width="1"/> Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&lng=eng&IID=1240&AID=3854 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~3/H7q0RGt54iQ/ Fan tributes and mourning have continued into Wednesday for two amateur actors who were killed in a car crash outside Armenian capital Yerevan around midnight on Monday.<br /> <br /> The news about the death of Gegham Khandilyan, 35, and Aram Miskaryan, 36, known to many simply as “Gokor” and “Garik”, the gangster characters they portrayed on the popular “Vorogayt” (Trap) TV serial, spread quickly around the country on Monday and prompted numerous floral tributes, including at the scene of the deadly crash on the Armavir-Echmiadzin highway, some 35 kilometers to the west of capital Yerevan.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~4/H7q0RGt54iQ" height="1" width="1"/> Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&lng=eng&IID=1240&AID=3847 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~3/UD0EnJwDitM/ A Strasburg based pan-European body estimates the recent amnesty in Armenia as “an important new page that has been turned in the normalization of Armenia’s political life and resolution of the crisis”. In the fourth draft Resolution on Armenia to be adopted on Wednesday evening, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) stresses however, that “these achievements should not be seen as the end of the process.”<br /> <br /> Nineteen of 33 prisoners held in connection with March 1, 2008 election violence were set free after the National Assembly approved last Friday President Serzh Sargsyan’s proposal to declare a general amnesty. The remaining 14 will be eligible for release in September. The amnesty did not apply to another 18 “political prisoners” who have been held on charges related to March 1 while many oppositionists describe the amnesty as “a recurrent theater for PACE.”<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~4/UD0EnJwDitM" height="1" width="1"/> Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&lng=eng&IID=1240&AID=3849 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~3/d-pukAZmnJs/ More kids with a cleft palate or harelip condition in Armenia will no longer have to hide from staring looks, but will themselves boast nice smiles and feel full members of society, say specialists who have launched a series of free surgeries for children suffering from this congenital abnormality. <br /> <br /> “Like others, these children are born cute, but with this plastic surgery their cuteness becomes full. Thanks to surgeries children acquire smiles as well as new friends and opportunities,” says Deputy Health Minister Tatul Hakobyan.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~4/d-pukAZmnJs" height="1" width="1"/> Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&lng=eng&IID=1240&AID=3848