Recently the tax bodies are conducting audits in Blitz Media Ltd, which is engaged in press spreading in Armenian regions. The company is blamed for non-licensed activities.{BR} Today a press conference was held on the initiative of the Yerevan Press Club and Union of Journalists. According to YPC expert Ashot Melikyan, tax service representatives came to the offices and asked for license. They explained...

Closing the 13th Ministerial Council of the OSCE on Tuesday, the Chairman-in-Office, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, reminded States that they could not expect "a free ride" when it came to living up to the responsibilities they have committed themselves to upholding.{BR} Delivering a Chairman's closing statement, he said that while there was some natural disappointment that the meeting...

The level of extreme poverty has reduced in Armenia recently, however the level of poverty has lowered. This is the conclusion of the specialist of the International Monetary Fund, who investigated the situation in Armenia to compile the book titled «Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction in Armenia: Achievements and Challenges». {BR} The book published in English contains assessments of the progress...

According to the latest data, 119 people were killed in a military transport plane C-130 that crashed in southern Tehran today. {BR} The plane known as \"Hercules\" carrying journalists crashed into a 10-story building in an Air Force residential township as the pilot tried to make an emergency landing after facing a technical problem immediately after takeoff from Mehrabad International Airport....

Reporters Without Borders has called on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to stop blocking an Armenian-based news website, Hetq.am that has been censored since 8 July, apparently because it posted a report on Armenian women being trafficked into the Emirates.{BR} “This website appears to have been blocked because it publishes investigations that displease the government”, the worldwide press freedom...

Armenian National Assembly Chairman Artur Baghdassaryan is a lawyer by profession and journalists asked him to comment on Robert Kocharian’s open voting in the constitutional referendum. {BR} To remind, Robert Kocharian voted openly and did not even fold the ballot paper. “I would not like to speak about it and I do not think this topic is worth developing. I suppose the President wished to show...

Today the NA sitting did not take place over the absence of quorum – only 12 deputies have registered by 12.00. {BR} RA NA Chairman Artur Baghdassaryan told journalists that he is concerned over the attendance of the deputies. “All the deputies are obliged to take part in the sittings and perform their duty,” he said adding however that events were today organized in the Shirak and Lori regions of Armenia and many deputies went there to take...

According to political scientist Stepan Safaryan the most disputable provisions in the constitutional amendments are the ones on the President’s immunity and on the change of state borders. {BR} Without disclosing the sources, Safaryan stated that the President is ready to resign in case of assuming immunity. Stepan Safaryan reminded of the words OSCE Minsk Group U.S. Co-Chair Steven Mann, who said...

The trial of Vladimir Harutyunyan accused of attempting the lives of the Georgian and U.S. Presidents is going on in Tbilisi. 14 people have been already interrogated, IA Rengum reported. To remind, Harutyunyan was charged according to 10 articles. {BR} Vladimir Harutyunyan was arrested in Tbilisi on July 21 and has been kept in custody since then. When being detained Harutyunyan showed resistance and shot dead a law enforcer.

“Neither the United States nor Europe or Russia expressed opinion on the falsification of the referendum on constitutional amendments. It means that we ourselves should build our democracy,” Administrative Director of the Center of National and International Studies Karapet Kalenchyan stated. {BR} In his opinion the announced number of voters arouses laughter and proved that the referendum returns...

Today the RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan made speech in the 13th session of the OSCE Ministers Council. His speech was as follows: «It is 30 years since the Helsinki Final Act. The world and the purposes for which it was enacted are no longer with us. Yet the principles, norms and values of that document have endured the test of time, although the vehicles and instruments that have articulated...

Today the NA was to discuss the issue of prolonging the contract of sending the Armenia soldiers to Iraq in a closed session. But because of the absence of quorum the session was open. {BR} Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan made speech and said that the decision of sending a group to Iraq has justified itself and raised the international reputation of Armenia. According to him, it is a good lesson and...

The head of the Justice fraction, as well as those of the other fractions received a letter from the NA speaker asking them to revise the participation of their members in the international committees. {BR} This news made room for gossips that the Justice bloc will revise the membership of Shavarsh Kocharyan in the Armenian delegation to PACE. Secretary of the bloc Viktor Dallakyan informed us that...

The British Embassy today issued the following press release on behalf of the European Union Member States represented in Yerevan. “The EU welcomes the Government of Armenia’s positive role in the process of constitutional reform and believes that the package of amendments proposed by the Government of Armenia will pave the way for the strengthening of democracy in Armenia. {BR} However, the EU is concerned at reports of ballot stuffing and...

Today the main theme of conversation in the Parliament was the “attack” of the opposition on Arthur Baghdasaryan. It was obvious that the members of the authorities were most content with the awkward situation of the NA speaker as they shared responsibility of the organization of the referendum but did not think the same about the announcements of Arthur Baghdasaryan about violations. {BR} The...

Opening the 13th Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel called on the 55 participating States to take decisions that would chart a course for the OSCE's next decade, sharpening its focus and increasing its capabilities in areas where it had added value. {BR} Hosting the gathering of more than 40 foreign ministers and...

Today the Parliamentary opposition organized an «attack» on the NA President Arthur Baghdasaryan: after representing the agenda of the NA 6th sitting the NA speaker appeared in an unusually absurd situation. {BR} Almost all the deputies of the Justice bloc and the independent deputy Hmayak Hovhannisyan, welcoming the opinion of Arthur Baghdasaryan about the referendum expressed in the press, demanded...

Yesterday the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk group met the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan Vardan Oskanyan and Elmar Mamedyarov in the capital of Slovenia. {BR} The Minsk group diplomats have hopes connected with this phase of negotiations process. “There will be no major political events and elections in the countries connected with the Karabakh conflict, and we must use the chance”,...

«The whole process of referendum was held with obvious violations of the RA legislation and the norms of international rights which seriously affected the results of the referendum. When it comes to lawfulness, the Referendum recorded serious regress in comparison with even the 2003 Presidential elections», the preliminary report of the RA Constitutional Referendum local observers mission of the...

The RA and RF Prime Ministers rendered a joint press conference today. At the beginning of it Andranik Margaryan spoke about the Armenian-Russian friendship and noting that the Russian days in Armenia were celebrated solemnly he voiced hope that the Armenian days in Russia will be celebrated at the same high level. He also noted that the authorities of both countries spare no effort to raise the level...

The political council of the Republican Party spread an announcement informing that after the meeting of the opposition at 04:00 p.m. near the Matenadaran at about 06:30 p.m. several agents in plain clothes forcefully arrested some of the participants of the meeting, put them into cars and took in an unknown direction. Among those arrested the following names are mentioned: {BR} Petrosyan Levon –...

Before the start of the opposition meeting near the Matenadaran the participants of the meeting told about the violations during the November 27 referendum in their communities. {BR} They told that in Ararat only 1% of the people have participated in the referendum, and there are blocks of flats the residents of which did not participate in the voting at all. One of those present said that he ahs...

Today after the meeting of the opposition near the Matenadaran when the people were returning home about 10 agents in plain clothes started to provoke the crowd. Then one of them asked the help of the policemen standing on the opposite pavement and as if waiting for that. {BR} According to different data after today's meeting 3-5 people were arrested from the streets of Yerevan. Among them were members...

Today at 04:30 p.m. the meeting of the opposition started near the Matenadaran building. All the leaders of the opposition participate in the meeting except Raffi Hovannisian who is abroad. {BR} The participants of the meeting are not as many as those of the previous one. Among them there are also residents of the regions. The participants of the meeting express their discontent with especially Robert...