The holes and unevenness which regularly appear on Northern Avenue, which is considered to be the “Structure of the Century” of Yerevan, are causing anxiety among geologists, who since 2001 have been warning that the area cannot support the heavy development.

Pesticides waste dumps and dilapidated warehouses, containing more than 1,000-1,500 tons of pesticides, inherited from the Soviet Union in Armenia, are like time bombs which have already essentially damaged the environment.

Friday night the two cinemas in Yerevan will screen the Armenian-Russian joint film titled “If Everyone…”- a recollection of the Karabakh war, which, as the authors stress, is about peace rather than war and a unique call for forgiveness and tolerance. The screening comes as Armenia celebrates Army Day, January 28.

Sanctions against Iran, oil embargo, and threat of war, challenge Armenia making the prospect of freezing economic projects with their southerly neighbour seem “the least of evil”.

In the event tensions keep growing in the region, Azerbaijan is likely to resort to more provocations against Armenia.

On the territory of the Commonwealth of Independent States Armenia provides the most favourable conditions for businesses and investors, assures economy minister Tigran Davtyan, pointing out as proof that last year foreign investment grew by 20 percent and 20 new entities were founded with foreign capital.

The Armenian opposition and families of the 2008 post-election unrest victims are outraged by the mid-term report on the deadly clashes released by the Special Investigation Service (SIS) that describes its 10 victims as criminal “participants of mass disorders”.

The European Union (EU) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) promise to support free and fair general elections in Armenia in 2012 and 2013, presenting their joint project, estimated at 1.7 million euro.

Once again Armenia has been included on the list of ‘partially free’ countries in the Freedom House Annual Report 2012, published on Thursday, however, Nagorno-Karabakh, as last year, has registered regress, being defined as a ‘non-free’ territory, instead of the previous ‘partially free’.

On Tuesday the 14th Court of Istanbul on Criminal Cases found Yasin Hayal guilty of plotting and organizing editor-in-chief of Istanbul’s Agos Turkish-Armenian newspaper Hrant Dink’s murder, and sentenced Hayal to life imprisonment, once again confirming that the assassination “was not a conspiracy.”

The verdict of the court has irritated and disappointed relatives and supporters of Hrant Dink who was killed in front of his editorial office building on January 19, 2007. They are sure that the court has deliberately decided not to reveal the real organizers of the murder.

The two-day meetings of John Prescott, Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) co-rapporteur on Armenia have raised a wave of serious distrust of PACE activities among the opposition and public.

Following what was reported as a confrontational meeting with members of the opposition on Monday, Prescott again rankled locals on Tuesday when he met with relatives of the ten victims of March 1 post-election clashes in 2008.