Carl Bardakian, a former NCAA Division I assistant basketball coach, will lead Armenia’s men’s national team in preparations for next summer’s FIBA European Division C Championship, it emerged on Tuesday.

Considering the extraordinary conditions that the venue of this year’s biggest European pop-music contest, Eurovision, will imply for Armenia, the national broadcaster has decided to dispense with a public selection of the entry – something that was the case, at least partially, during nearly all previous competitions.

The Senate of France on Monday voted in favor of criminalizing any public denial of the Armenian Genocide committed by Ottoman Turks at the beginning of last century.

The vote at the 348-member upper house of the French legislature went 127-86 in favor of the bill – which had gained international attention and sparked controversy since it was passed by the National Assembly, the lower house, in December. The lawmakers deliberated 7 hours before delivering the vote at around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday (10:30 p.m. in Paris).

2011 has brought great moments as well as some disappointment for Armenian athletes competing in different sports locally and internationally.

The leader of Armenia’s main opposition alliance has made overtures to a major pro-establishment party, implying that its current reported differences with the larger coalition partner meet his bloc’s interests.

Soccer authorities in Armenia have decided to allow no foreign goalkeepers in the domestic league beginning next season.

At present, some Armenian Premier League sides, including reigning champions Ulisses, do use the services of foreigners also when it comes to the goalkeeper position.

Armenia’s top grandmaster Levon Aronian has maintained his third place standing among the world’s best chess players in the latest rating released by the game’s international governing body FIDE.

Snap elections failing, the Armenian National Congress (ANC) will seek to secure a “solid” presence in the National Assembly in next year’s polls to launch a legal impeachment process against President Serzh Sargsyan, ANC leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan said on Friday.

Speaking before several thousand supporters in Yerevan’s central Liberty Square, the ex-president said that his opposition alliance was still very much committed to making every effort to force the authorities to hold early elections, but stressed that regardless of the turn of events they should also be ready to deal seriously with “mechanical” issues of organizing fair elections.

Armenian soccer fans and Facebook users have been inundating the social networking website with messages demanding that a Spanish referee who officiated the Ireland v Armenia Euro-2012 qualifier be banned from the profession for life for his “bad decisions” on the pitch.

Armenia has protested the “poor refereeing” by a Spanish official during the crunch Euro-2012 qualifier against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin earlier this week that many say has cost the nation a playoff slot.

President of the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA) Ruben Hayrapetyan personally wrote on the wall of his Facebook page late on Wednesday that the Armenian soccer authorities had taken the step.