Is it possible that a pilot of an SU fighter plane would choose instead to fly the "kukuruznik" (the simple Russian plane nicknamed "corn cutter")?

Surgeon Artsakh Buniatyan pours mulberry vodka into glasses and compares himself to a fighter pilot. The doctor has exiled himself from a modern hospital in Abovian to this "kukuruznik" of a place, Kashatagh, where there are no facilities for surgery.

"I sacrificed my surgical practice for this land," he says and drinks his first glass.

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Christmas mass was celebrated throughout the Armenian Apostolic Church Monday evening with the traditional greeting:

"Christ is born and revealed! Great tidings to you and to us." And the reply: "Blessed be the Revelation of Christ."

During world-wide ceremonies Armenian Christians mark the birth of Jesus with candlelight services symbolizing the Star of Bethlehem that led Magi to the Christ.

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For two years Zakar Arshakyan has been working in the Yerevan Center of Narcology as overseer, keeping watch over patients whose overuse of alcohol has landed them in treatment during the holidays.

While throughout Armenia strong drink fuels the series of parties that begins in late December and lasts until January 13, Zakar spends his season of celebration with two dozen patients whose blood contains too much alcohol.

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