President Serzh Sarkisian appeared to have postponed on Thursday evening the announcement of his pick for the vacant post of prime minister after talks held with the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK).
In a move condemned by the opposition minority in Armenia’s parliament, pro-government lawmakers have essentially repealed a legal ban on advertising strong alcoholic drinks on television.
Pro-government youths bullied and verbally abused journalists on Thursday to prevent press coverage of a ceremony during which Yerevan Mayor Taron Markarian received a controversial doctoral degree from an Armenian state-run university.
Samvel Aleksanian, one of Armenia’s richest businessmen close to the government, rallied hundreds of his employees and other supporters on Monday in response to renewed protests against his controversial efforts to redesign Yerevan’s central covered market.
The controversial construction of an apartment building in a Yerevan neighborhood appeared to be suspended on Monday following renewed clashes between riot police and angry local residents backed by dozens of civic activists.
Residents of a Yerevan neighborhood joined by dozens of youth activists confronted riot police for a second consecutive day on Thursday as they tried to halt the construction of a new apartment block sanctioned by the municipal authorities.
The owners of private companies operating Yerevan’s public transport system on Wednesday strongly defended the municipal government’s controversial decision to sharply raise fares in the capital, saying that it will save them from financial ruin.
State officials, opposition figures and civic activists in Armenia have condemned authorities in Russia for what they see as a humiliating and xenophobic treatment of an Armenian truck driver who was involved in a bus crash near Moscow that left 18 people dead.
After years of rapid growth, the number of Iranian tourists visiting Armenia appears to have fallen significantly this year amid an increasingly adverse impact of international sanctions on Iran’s economy.
Visiting Armenia on Thursday, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen added his voice to Western criticism of Azerbaijan’s decision to pardon the Azerbaijani army officer who had axed to death an Armenian colleague during a NATO training course in Budapest.
Two athletes representing Armenia will take part in the 2012 Paralympic Games that will kick off in London later this week.
