The Ministry of Finance of Armenia reports that the price of gold has risen within the past two weeks in Armenia, which, economists explain, reflects the trend of more Armenians preferring to keep their assets in gold.

The main problem for more than 170,000 people with disabilities living in Armenia is finding a job.

The non-governmental organizations (NGO) which actively deal with the issue, believe that there can be considerable progress only if major and middle-sized companies have a mandatory amount of workplaces for the disabled; whereas the Government does not consider this to be a solution.

Another Armenian historical monument in Georgia faces the threat of destruction and can only be saved through the attention of authorities says Samvel Karapetyan, a leading Armenian researcher of monuments.

The consequences of the rise in natural gas tariffs by 37 percent last April began to feel more so acutely during the winter season, especially in January when people went to post offices and banks to pay their natural gas bills for the previous month.

The Military Prosecutor’s Office and the Defense Ministry’s Investigation Service have reported a decrease in the army crime rate as well as in the number of deaths in the ranks in 2011.

But a leading human rights activist claims to possess a different statistic in this regard, which he says shows no real progress in army reforms.

Although the work of the State Employment Service (SES) helped reduce official unemployment by one percent during the past year, representatives of the agency say there is a need for a state strategy to deal with unemployment in Armenia.

The government of Armenia has recently initiated some legislative changes that it hopes will, among other measures, ensure stronger discipline in the armed forces. The move is a response to the need to curb the rise of non-combat deaths in the ranks.

The Armenian currency has been slowly but steadily depreciating since last summer. Economic analysts say this fall against major world currencies may continue for some time, but they see nothing disturbing in this kind of trend for the economy of Armenia yet.

Members of the family of 18-year-old conscript Hayk Khachatryan, who served only six months in the army and died of chickenpox disease complication two weeks ago have vowed to avenge his death by seeking punishment of army officers who the family says are responsible.

The Special Investigation Service of Armenia reports that during the recent two years books worth tens of thousand dollars have been stolen from the National Library of Armenia and the library of Yerevan State University (YSU).