SOCIETY

There has been stagnation in fighting corruption for years in Armenia, and anti-corruption laws have not been implemented, said an international organization’s representative in Armenia.

Former Armenian residents, Masha and Girsha (Misha), have taken their first steps on the grass in a bear sanctuary in Romania after being moved there through a strenuous effort involving activists from several countries.

The concept of antismoking packaging of cigarettes is one of the most effective means of fighting against smoking both in Armenia and around the world, Alexander Bazarchyan, the head of the National Institute of Health of Armenia, told media Tuesday, which is World No Tobacco Day.

During the hostilities at the Karabakh-Azerbaijani line of contact, according to Armenian experts, the local media mainly managed to work properly and carry out their mission.

Residents of the village of Goght in the Kotayk province of Armenia have kept the road to their village closed for a few hours, thus expressing their protest and disagreement with the government program, under which the Gegardalich water reservoir near the village is to be given to several villages after reconstruction.

This week, Yerevan has been hosting five Nobel laureates in medical sciences delivering nine lectures on topics of biochemistry, physics and medicine, presenting their inventions, scientific achievements and unique success stories in the professional field to the Armenian audience.

The Armenian government on Thursday decided to delay for a year the introduction of a compulsory accumulative pension scheme for private sector employees.

The so-called Panama Papers revelations about world leaders’ connections to offshore businesses that have been the highlight of world media in recent days have not bypassed Armenia either, coinciding with anti-corruption sentiments in society amid an escalation of conflict with Azerbaijan.

Activists in Armenia staging protests in support of a Russian-Armenian businessman jailed in Moscow believe the conviction and imprisonment of the Karabakh native who has vastly contributed to his homeland’s rebuilding has political goals as they see Azerbaijan’s hand behind it.

The Monday resignation of Mihran Poghosyan, the head of the Justice Ministry’s powerful Service of Mandatory Execution of Judicial Acts (SMEJA), whose name is linked with a global offshore scandal, is considered by some as a victory for media or civil society, others, however, believe it is not enough in terms of restoring justice and legality.