AZERIS SUPPORT AL-CAEDA.

Two Azerbaijanis accused of combating in Pakistan and Afghanistan stand trial

[ 12 Aug 2009 17:21 ]

Baku. Hafiz Heydarov – APA. Two Azerbaijanis accused of combating along with the illegal armed groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan stand trial, APA reports. The hearing is held in the Court of Grave Crimes. Eldar Mikayilov presides over the hearing. Defendants Vugar Huseynov and Rauf Abdullayev said they went to those countries to help their Muslim brothers, but later they changed their minds and returned.

They faced charges under articles 279.1 (creation of armed formations or groups, which are not provided by the legislation of the Azerbaijan Republic, and also participation in their creation and activity, supplying them by weapon, ammunition, explosives, military engineering or military equipment) and 318.1 (illegal crossing border of the Azerbaijan Republic) of the Criminal Code. According to the indictment, Vugar Huseynov and Rauf Abdullayev left for Pakistan and Afghanistan several times beginning from 2008. They struggled against the military coalition forces a few months and returned to Azerbaijan. They were arrested by the National Security Ministry.

13 more people faced similar charges. The hearing on their case is held in the Court of Grave Crimes.

en.apa.az/news.php?id=106137

Firms lobbying on Armenia genocide resolution.

Six companies lobbied the federal government in the first quarter on a House resolution that would condemn World War I-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.

Details on how much each company spent on lobbying in the January-March period and some of the other matters identified. The companies do not specify how much is spent on the various issues in the disclosure reports filed with the House clerk’s office.

–Chevron Corp., $6.8 million. Climate change, oil industry taxes, energy efficiency, renewable fuels, public lands policy, price gouging.

–Northrop Grumman Corp., nearly $2.6 million. Defense spending, research tax credits, climate change.

–United Technologies Corp., nearly $1.9 million. NASA funding, climate change, patent reform, energy and electricity standards.

–Raytheon Co., nearly $1.4 million. Defense spending, air traffic control funding, export control reform.

–BAE Systems Inc., more than $1.1 million. Defense spending, hybrid-electric technology, research and development tax credits.

–Goodrich Corp., $542,195. Defense spending, labor legislation, U.S. tax on overseas income

Vik Darchinyan vs. Joseph Agbeko

IBF/WBA/WBC super flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan (32-1-1, 26 KOs) is looking forward to winning the IBF bantamweight title from Joseph Agbeko (26-1, 22 KOs) when they clash on July 11 at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida.

Darchinyan said. ” Maybe I stay for a year at bantamweight and unify the titles then move up a division – I want to win more world titles. People are talking because I am moving up to bantamweight that my power isn’t going to be enough but that is why I want to go to America and be more focused on my training and show the world my power is more than enough at bantamweight. Everyone knows I have a lot of power in my left. Now with all my sparring – I am more focused on my right and I can feel my right hand is very powerful now, too, and my sparring partners have told me this. My preparation has been very good and there is five and half weeks to go.”

Darchinyan will be sparring with WBA featherweight champion Chris John while he is in the USA. If Darchinyan is successful in winning the bantamweight championship he will equal Jeff Fenech as Australia’s three divisional world champion. He has already equalled Kostya Tszyu by holding all the major body belts of IBF/WBC/WBA. Darchinyan is managed by Elias Nasser and promoted by Gary Shaw.

New US Ambassador in Azerbaijan?

PanARMENIAN.Net/ American MG Co-Chair Mathew Bryza, deputy to Assistant Secretary of State, is recommended as U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan, American Foreign Policy journal reports.

Recommendation for Bryza’s new appointment was given by former US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried.

Fried and Bryza declined to comment, according to Foreign Policy.

Turkish songs are banned in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan has banned Turkish songs on the radio and television in Azerbaijan as a protest against the (talks toward the) opening of the Turkish border with Armenia. Azeris are readying themselves to demonstrate in front of Turkey’s embassy in Baku, and a boycot of Turkish goods is also on the agenda.

Moldova. Twitter revolution.

Students in Moldova are using Twitter as a tool to mobilize opposition against a communist victory in Moldovian elections. According to reports, close to 10,000 protesters gathered at Moldova’s parliament in Chisinau, Moldova’s capital and were able to eventually break through police lines to storm into the building. From looking at the tweets on the subject, it appears that the demonstration turned into a violent coup attempt.

In the last 48 hours, students from Moldova have been tweeting, trying to rally others into demonstrating against the communists. If you look under the search terms “pman” (stands for Piata Marii Adunari Nationale, a square in Chisinau) or “Chisinau,” you can see the tweets about the demonstration coming in a rapid pace. There are also videos on YouTube of the protest. There have been reports that there is limited cellphone reception in the square (thought to have been turned off by authorities). So protesters are using Twitter to give live updates via GPRS networks on their mobile devices.

Twitter has long-been been a popular platform for breaking news, but this adds a new twist to the powerful capabilities of the micro-blogging service. The protests no doubt would have happened anyway and it is not clear how may of the actual protesters in Moldova are on Twitter. But it seems to be helping both as a coordinating tool and as a way to disseminate information about the events that are unfolding to the rest of the world.

Here are a few sample tweets:

“Chisinau – live feed from Radio Vocea Basarabiei is intrerrupted. will retransmit later. where are the official authorities?”
“RT @Moscovici: Protesters report police attacks protesters. Severe fights between police and protesters now in Chisinau, Moldova. #pman”
“The #twitter revolution – Twitter as the organizing tool for protests in Chisinau http://is.gd/rhwJ”

Tnaks to Rouben Muradyan