The games of the 3rd round will take place today in the Gibraltar chess festival.
Armenian representative Levon Aronian will meet with Spanish Jose Jimenez, and Hrant Melkumyan will compete with Spanish Ruis Santos.
The matches will start at 18:00. Chess fans can watch the Armenian-Spanish chess matches on our website below.
For a few months, street traders have been protesting against City Hall’s decision to ban street trade. By traders, after the start of the new year, law enforcement officials are persecuting them and ban trading. A week ago, they met with the City Hall staff and decided to set up a team of 3 people who would keep in touch with the municipality and will try to find a solution within a 10-day period. Ten days have already passed, but the merchants’ issue has not been resolved. Today, they were in front of the government with the same demand.
“They put a soft pillow under our heads and say that they would have pavilions within 10 days, but they did not do anything. They do not want to us space in the places we offer. We have not been trading for 20 days, we have stayed without a penny,” says one of the merchants.
According to them, the products they have had are already damaged and are not suitable for sale.
“I bought a flower with 50,000 drams, but I poured it completely,” said another merchant.
The municipality offered to trade in the Charbakh market, but according to merchants, the area is uninhabited and the market is not functioning.
The merchants are concerned that the municipality is intentionally postponing the solution of the issue, so that people will find other ways of making money and will become calm about this issue.
Merchants mentioned that tomorrow they will come back to the government building again.
2018 36 cases of murder were registered in the Republic of Armenia. This figure is the lowest in at least the last 38 years. Moreover, 3 of the mentioned ones refer to the facts of a person’s disappearance.
As reported by the press service of the prosecutor’s office, in 2017 in comparison (47 cases were registered, of which 6 were related to missing persons), the cases of this crime, which is the most dangerous to the public, decreased by 11 or 23.4 percent, and in 2016 (66 cases, of which 10 related to missing persons) compared to the same period by 30 or 45.4 percent. It is noteworthy that the cases of missing persons have actually decreased more than three times over the last three years.
A comparative analysis by decades shows that if the annual average rate of murders in the 1980s (1980-1989) was 60 cases, then in the 1990s, that number increased sharply to 160. In addition, the passage of these two decades, which is historically marked by the collapse of the USSR and the beginning of the period of independence of the Republic of Armenia, was marked by a sharp increase in the number of murders. Thus, in 1989 88 cases of murder were recorded in the republic, the next year, 1990, already 178 cases or twice more. 1990 since then, the three-digit number of murders has been maintained until 1997. Moreover, in 1990-1997 during the period, three-digit number of murders occurred annually, and the worst indicator in this sense was recorded in 1992: 305 cases.
2000-2009 The average number of annual murders was 73, and from 2010 to 2018 in the lower part: 50. In addition, in the last decade /2008-2018/ the cases of murder decreased by 53.8% /78-36/.
Murder statistics, trends in its movement, among other circumstances, are an important indicator and starting point for evaluating the general state of crime in each country, the fight against it, especially preventive measures, as well as the level of legal awareness of the society, many social-psychological factors.
Criminological studies of this nature are being carried out in the RA General Prosecutor’s Office, the most comprehensive results of which will be made public. As a result of these studies, measures will be taken in the direction of developing and planning a strategy to combat crime in the republic.
ArmInfo.Head of the State Control Service of Armenia, Davit Sanasaryan, evaluates the statements voiced by the Rector of Yerevan State University(YSU) Aram Simonyan on the eve of the New Year holidays “by manipulative and not confirmed facts.” He stated this at a press conference on January 11. According to the head of the State Control Service, it is the actions of the management of the university that damage the authority of the educational institution, and not information about the abuses revealed by the Service.
According to him, the checks at the YSU revealed flagrant violations, but there can be no talk of political repression against the leadership of the university. “These statements are just manipulations from Simonyan,” said Sanasaryan. The procurement process of 2.5 billion drams was studied at YSU. Checked the expenditure part of the income only leases. “We checked the data on payments for services rendered by the state university. Not even checks were carried out in the YSU branch in the city of Ijevan, the boarding houses of the university. It was important for us to get an idea of what is happening at YSU.
We do not place in question the authority of YSU, but we say that we will not allow unreasonably taking a single penny. Today’s and past YSU students are well aware of what they are talking about, “Sanasaryan stressed. As the head of the department said, the beginning of the inspections was announced back in August 2018, and the inspections themselves have been carried out since October.” We just wanted to check the state of affairs in Yerevan State University. And I have no personal problems with Simonyan. However, following the results of the inspections, we will definitely go to court, “Sanasaryan said. According to him, the law enforcement agencies will give a final assessment of the activities of the university management. Simonyan believes that the issue is related to his membership in the RPA. No matter who represents which party, the RPA,
Now, as pointed out Sanasaryan, checks are carried out at the Medical University. “It is important for us to understand at what level the education process is,” the head of the State Control Service emphasized. At the same time, according to him, the Service will conduct inspections in other state institutions.
Back in October 2018, the head of the State Control Service, David Sanasaryan, after a government meeting, told reporters that at Yerevan State University (YSU), abuses of at least 700 million AMD had been revealed. Sanasaryan described the abuses revealed in the main university of the country as “serious violations”, “containing elements of a criminal offense”. At the end of December, David Sanasaryan wrote on his Facebook page that the results of the inspections carried out at Yerevan State University during 2 months were transferred to the prosecutor’s office. “According to our preliminary estimate, the fund was damaged in the amount of more than 800 million drams. I assure you that if we continue to study, it turns out that the amount of damage is much higher.
Details will be presented during a press conference soon”, said David Sanasaryan. At the press conference, Aram Simonyan said that the Service had violated the law, and the main violation is that the checks are not over yet, and its head is already making “an absolutely unfounded statement, which refers to the abuse of 800 million drams.” According to him, in the course of inspections and research activities were checked for more than 9.5 billion. They only expressed concern about the amount of 500 million, most of these are ridiculous and unfounded allegations made at a non-professional level, and the head of the service says about 800 million damage.
“This is done intentionally to discredit the YSU, its leadership, the activities of the university, to mislead the public for some purpose and try to fish in muddy water. What are the goals? It’s hard for me to say, but it is obvious that this is done intentionally”, the rector emphasized. “I also want to officially announce: we will appeal with the requirement of an appropriate legal assessment and file a lawsuit demanding compensation for the damage caused to us by the consequences of these statements of the Service and its manager, to restore our good reputation”, Aram Simonyan pointed. David Sanasaryan responded to this statement on his Facebook page he wrote. “I watched the press conference of YSU Rector. Mr. Rector is either in a deep delusion or is trying to deceive the public. Our answer will be very painful.”
To note, for more than 12 years, beginning in May 2006, occupying the post of YSU Rector Aram Simonyan has also been a member of the RPA, according to the official website of the party, for about 20 years, since 1998.
On January 14-15, Mittersill will host a seminar for coaches and referees, which will include the presentation on the changes planned for 2019.
Armenia has sent two judokas to the camp, Ferdinand Karapetyan (73 kg) and Arsen Khanjyan (90 kg), as well as head coach of the national team Armen Nazaryan and Secretary General of the Armenian Judo Federation Tatul Hovhannisyan.
Armenia’s Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan does not know on what grounds the court has released MP and Yerkrapah (Defender of the Land) Volunteer Union Board ex-Chairman, retired General Manvel Grigoryan, on bail.
Speaking with reporters in Vanadzor, Pashinyan said he understands the dissatisfaction of the people who are protesting against the court decision on releasing Grigoryan from custody.
“I don’t know on what grounds the court made that decision,” the acting PM said. “When that decision will be available, I will get familiarized [with it], but, again, I will not express a view.”
Pashinyan added that staging protests is people’s right.
Nikol Pashinyan noted, however, that the court decision was a surprise to him. In his words, nonetheless, this yet again shows that he does not interfere in the independence of the courts.
Armenia’s acting PM said the important thing is that the criminal investigation be completed soon and the trial begins—with all the consequences coming from it.
On late Friday evening, the capital city Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction released Manvel Grigoryan from custody on an AMD 25mn (approx. US$51,600) bail.
Grigoryan was arrested on June 19. He is charged with unlawfully keeping weapons and ammunition, and committing large-scale embezzlement. In particular, it is about the embezzlement of the aid that was sent during the days of the four-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), in April 2016.
ArmInfo. Having considered the draft law on amending and supplementing the law on the “Structure and Functioning of the Government,” the ARF Dashnaktsutyun Supreme Body expresses deep concern about a number of proposed amendments.The ARFD report received by ArmInfo, in particular, states: “The Government’s initiative to unite ministries, reorganize and dissolve a number of government bodies without developing a concept, proper justification and public discussion does not stand up to criticism.
Such a controversial decision is fraught with serious consequences.”Without denying the need to improve the effectiveness of the public administration system through optimization, the party simultaneously considers unacceptable any hasty and hasty actions. Particularly unacceptable for ARF is that the feasibility of the existence of the Ministry of Diaspora and the Ministry of Culture as separate state bodies is questioned.”It would seem that the Government’s goal of raising relations with the diaspora to a new level and organizing a major repatriation should have led to the adoption of new conceptual approaches. However, instead of reassessing the activities of the Ministry of Diaspora, it was decided to dissolve the Ministry without wide, comprehensive public and expert discussion. the closure of the Ministry of Diaspora, partially covering the gap of the lack of an all-Armenian organization, will certainly find its negative reaction from our compatriots for rubles pulp “- said in a statement.
According to the authors of the statement, regardless of whether the aforementioned Ministry succeeded in accomplishing the tasks, it “was intended to become not only the main link between the state and Armenians living abroad, but also a manifestation of the ideological approach to perceiving Armenians as ONE and WHOLE.” “Strengthening the diaspora is a strategically important issue and one of the key guarantees of security and progress of the motherland,” they noted.The ARF Supreme Body Dashnaktsutyun calls for a review of the draft law “On the Structure and Functioning of the Government” and, in particular, to return the true mission of the Ministry of Diaspora on the basis of a revised and reformed agenda. It should be noted that employees of the disbanded ministries of culture and the Diaspora held a protest rally the day before, demanding that the government not liquidate these departments. Meanwhile, the Armenian government plans to liquidate the Ministry of Culture, and one part of its departments to merge with the Ministry of Education and Science, the other – with the City Planning Committee. What will happen to the functions of the Mindiaspore is not yet known, but as the other day noted.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in the functions of almost all Armenian ministries there is a component of working with the Diaspora. As pointed out the other day. head of the government, as a result of reforming the structure of the Government in Armenia, instead of 17 ministries,12. Note that months earlier one of Pashinyan’s advisers announced the government’s intention to reduce about 100 thousand public sector employees, of about 240 thousand employees employed in the state apparatus.
Actor of Sos Sargsyan Pan-National Theatre Arman Navasardyan has been appointed acting director of the theatre with the decree of acting minister of culture Lilit Makunts, Navasardyan told Aysor.am.
The art directors of theatres are being appointed by directors. Navasardyan said in the coming days he will appoint the art director of the theatre.
The actors of the theatre and Navasardyan earlier stated that they see actress, Armenia’s honorary artist Narine Grigoryan in the post of the art director.
Former art director and director in combination Vigen Chaldranyan who has recently left the post was not conceding to the demands of the actors. He submitted resignation application just few days ago after meeting with the acting minister of culture. In the open letter he stressed that he leaves the post with the decree of Lilit Makunts.