The American authors Roland Marches, a professor of Minnesota University, and Marlene Bru, a Michigan University professor, lately presented their book titled ”Splendor and Pegeantry: Textile Treasures from the Armenian Orthodox Churches of Istambul” in the National Academy of Sciences.

The book is dedicated to the art of the Armenian embroidery.

”As soon as being informed about the publication of the book in Istambul we invited the authors to Armenia to present it,” says Gagik Sargsyan ”The Future is Yours” NGO vice-president co-founder.

Studying the Armenian churches and the specimens of embroidery art the authors found inscriptions which tell about the Armenian cultural values and their role in Polis in 19 century. The book is in English, it was published with 1000 copies and was sponsored by the Turkish Citlembik Publications.

”The book pretends to be a part of the educational program in the Armenian school of California, ” says professor Bru.

Professor Marches is going to study the very art in the churches of Ejmiadzin.

The authors were received by His Holiness KareKin II, Catholicos of all Armenians in Ejmiadzin.

Source: Jnews.am

Read More »Armenian Inscriptons Revival in Polis in the Book of American Scientists

Samvel Martirosyan, information security expert and a well-known blogger Kornelii Glas, with the help of google map created a map of free Wi Fi internet in Yerevan, particularly public places and cafes of the center.

“After activating the map I turned to my blog and social network friends to guide me about run-outs. At present I have added 40 points and still contiue adding new ones,” Samvel told JNews. 

The blogger mentions the fact that there are many Wi Fi points in the city but mainly they are private networks, which subscribers either forgot or are ignorant to put a password  for that not to become a public staff. ”It would not be correct to state those points in the map as that way we would violate the area of private property. In the map only the points for pulic use are stateds,” he mentiones. 

Only the creator has the right to add new points on the map. 

Samvel confesses the restriction aims to avoid cyber-vandalism and to make the map a reliable information source. ”If there are any new points let everyone post them in my blog or social network page and they will be added in the map” Samvel says. 

Read More »Free Wi Fi Internet Map of Yerevan

Georgian news agencies have reported on the detention of President’s personal photo correspondent Irakli Gedenidze and his spouse. Photographer Gia Abdaladze of the press MFA center, Zurab Kurtsikidze of EPA agency and photo correspondent Shakh Aivazov of Associated Press have been detained too.

InterPressNews has cited Gia Abdaladze’s spouse Nestan Neidze alleging that his husband had been accused of spying (Article 314 of Criminal Code of Georgia).

According to the Ministry, the detained are accused of providing different types of information, harming the interests of Georgia to an organization operating under patronage of an intelligence service of one of foreign countries.

Ministry of Internal Affairs has launched the investigation.

Tbilisi-based photo correspondent Shakh Aivazov of Associated Press has been released soon, Shakh Aivazov’s spouse Samaya told Media.ge.

“He is now going back to work,” she said reporting to Media.ge.

Source: Media.ge

Read More »Saakashvili’s Personal Photo Correspondent Detained

The movement of BookCrossing starts to activate in Armenia due to efforts of 21-year-old Arman Ghazaryan and Inessa Sagheyan. On Sunday the first BookCrossing took place in Armenia at Cascade Park, during which the participants exchanged books they brought with them.

This kind of reading movement has a history of ten years. In July 2007 Singapore became the first official BookCrossing country in the world. According to the rule of BookCrossing the book studied must be left in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then should do the same. As a result of this movement, according to the ancestor of BookCrossing, specialist of the Internet technology Ron Hornbaker, the world will turn into a huge library.

 “We want to activate BookCrossing in Armenia. It starts in little cities and turns into a global movement,” says Arman.

16-year-old Syune Sargsyan is one of the participants in Yerevan. She brought “Goncharov” and exchanged it with “Federico Fellini”.

Read More »BookCrossing: Yerevan Joined to BookCrossing Public Movement

From now onwards the lovers of extreme sports have the opportunity to try a new developing sports in Armenia called Planking.

During Planking one should lie in horizontal position on an extraordinary places and maintain the state for a few time.

The extreme sport,originating from Britain was formed in Armenia lately and we already have  Armenian Planking Federation.

According to Varazdat Ghazaryan, the initiator-founder of the federation, planking gives an opportunity to make life more colourful and joyful. “Our life is so dull and dark: with this initiation we try to make our life more interesting. Our goal is to teach people to smile,” says Ghazaryan.

People at any age can join the federation.One should have photo lying in horizontal position on a strange place and send the photo to the federation or post it in the wall of the Facebook page of the federation. The  oldest member of the group is 50-year-old Narine Mouradyan.

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The federation faces positive and negative commentations, though the group is not against healthy critisizm.

For instance, Ani Gabrielyan, 20-year-old student has a negative approach to the sport and thinks it is illogical and may risk one’s life. In Australia a 20-year-old youth died in an unsuccessful try of planking in balcony.

Read More »Plank Yourself but Watch It: Planking Reinforces its Horizontal Positions In Armenia

Turkish media organizations have decried a prosecutor’s demand that newspapers hand over all images in their possession from the May 31 Hopa incidents or face trial, arguing that journalists are not “state agents.”

A journalist’s job is not to share information with the state, the Turkish Journalist Association, or TGC, and the Progressive Journalists Association, or ÇGD. No journalist can be forced to provide such information, the ÇGD added.

On May 31, left-wing locals of the Black Sea district of Hopa gathered to protest a campaign rally by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; during a tear gas barrage by the police, 54-year-old protester Metin Lokumcu suffered a heart attack and died. The death increased the vigor of the protests as locals stoned Erdoğan’s convoy in anger at the fatality.

On Thursday, the Hopa Prosecutor’s Office sent a notice to the press, giving all journalists 10 days to provide any images in their possession depicting incidents from before, during, or after – especially during Lokumcu’s funeral on June 1 – Erdoğan’s speech, reports said Friday. The notice also that any journalist failing to surrender images – either published or unpublished – could be subjected to criminal prosecution under article 257 of the Turkish Penal Code, or TCK, on the grounds of “misconduct of duty.”

Read More »Turkey: Prosecutor’s Demand for Journalists’ Photos Enrages Associations

On June 30, the trial Robert Kocharyan – the second president of Armenia – against “Hraparak” daily, which took place in the Court of First Instance of Kentron and Nork-Marash administrative districts, can possibly turn into another political scandal.

The problem is that the judge satisfied the claimants application to call as a witness Lusine Petrosyan – the author of the controversial article “Kocharyan is being destroyed, Tsarukyan is being explained to.”

The claimant explains the presence of the latter as an opportunity to hear explanations of “offensive and defamatory” expressions right from the author, and the author tries to bring arguments for the journalistic point of view.

The essence of the “Kocharyan against ‘Hraparak'” trial is the contradiction of the sides’ attitudes.

Kocharyan’s lawyer believes that the article published February 12 in “Hraparak” daily contains information that “insults and defames” the second president.

Read More »The Trial “Kocharyan against the Hraparak” May Turn Into a Scandal

The German government said on Wednesday it was “outraged” by the arrest of an Iranian female sports journalist last week who had planned to travel to Germany to report on the women’s World Cup.

Berlin’s top human rights official, Markus Loening, said in a statement that her detention appeared to be linked to reporter Maryam Majd’s outspoken advocacy for women in sport as well as a general crackdown on feminists.

“It can be no coincidence that Ms Majd, who had openly lobbied for the active participation of women in sports events, was jailed by Iranian security forces on the eve of her planned departure,” he said, saying he was “outraged” by the arrest.

“This is a further sad example of intimidation and oppression of women’s rights activists by the Iranian regime.”

He said Iranian film-maker and feminist Mahnas Mohammadi had also been arrested, on June 26, while fellow activists Maryam Bahrman, Mansoureh Behkish and Zahra Yazdani had “disappeared in recent weeks”.

Loening called for immediate release of Majd and “all other detained women’s rights activists” and urged the Iranian government “finally to uphold human and civil rights obligations to which it has agreed”.

Read More »Germany demands release of journalist

On June 27 the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia satisfied the administrative complaint lodged by journalist Nino Mikiashvili of the media union Obiektivi and assigned the FOI officer of the state agency to issue the requested data to the applicant, reports the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) that had been providing legal aid to the journalist.

On May 27, 2011 Nino Mikiashvili lodged an application to MIA and requested the identification of the riot police units that were taking part in the dispersal of the May 26 opposition protest rally. The FOI officer at MIA provided no response to the request. The journalist lodged an appeal to the Ministry. Speaking at the June 27 oral hearing at MIA, GYLA reports, the FOI officer said the journalist would be provided the requested data in the forthcoming days.

Source: Media.ge

Read More »MIA Satisfies Journalist’s Complaint

Opposition Web site Kaleme.com said friends of documentary filmmaker Mahnaz Mohammadi, 34, confirm she was arrested in her house Sunday by intelligence agents while Maryam Majd, 25, a photojournalist and women’s rights campaigner, was arrested Friday, The Washington Post reported Monday.

The arrests came at the end a hunger strike by prisoners protesting the death of Haleh Sahabi, 54, allegedly beaten by security forces breaking up a June 1 funeral procession for her father, a renowned dissident.

Source: www.upi.com

Read More »Filmmaker and Photojournalist Arrested in Iran