Vice-speaker of the Armenian parliament, press-secretary of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, Edward Sharmazanov, thinks that the xenophobic policy conducted by Baku damages itself first of all.

 Dr. Evelyn N. Farkas, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia/ Ukraine/ Eurasia, will visit Armenia on December 18-19. The press service of the U.S. Embassy in Armenia reports that Dr. Farkas is going to meet with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan.   

The collection of accumulative payment forced by the law, and its transference to the private pension fund is illegal and contrary to the 45th clause of Armenia's Constitution. It breaks the right for property guaranteed by the Constitution, the statement by the ARFD says.

The Administrative Court of Armenia declined on Tuesday a claim by Let's Stop Rise in Gas Price action group to declare invalid the Public Service Regulatory Committee's decision to raise the gas and electric power tariffs.

ArmenTel (Beeline trademark) has launched projects to install a telephone system in Tsaghkahovit community of Aragatsotn region and to digitize the telephone network of the town of Akhtala in Lori region.

The problems in Syria, Iran and Afghanistan are affecting the security situation in the South Caucasus, Director of the Russian Center for Socio- Political Studies Vladimir Yevseyev told journalists in Yerevan on Tuesday.

 From the poundage point of view, Azerbaijan is a more beneficial partner for us within the Customs Union than Armenia, Director of the Centre for European Integration Problems (Minsk), Yuri Shevtsov, said at today's press-conference in Yerevan. 

 Gazprom OJSC has received the right for sole gas supplies to Armenia until 2043, opposition MP Alexander Arzumanyan said during the Dec 17 parliamentary hearings.  

 Parliamentary opposition in Armenia urges people to fight the mandatory accumulative pension system till the very end. Representatives of the Armenian National Congress, Heritage, Prosperous Armenia and ARFD parties factions in the parliament along with the members of the Public Interest Group "Against Mandatory Pension Payments" marched from the Liberty Square to the Constitutional Court (CC) of Armenia earlier today and demanded the CC to recognize the parliament-passed law on the mandatory pension payments as unconstitutional.

 Iran's presence in the South Caucasus security system is a necessity, Executive Director of PolitContact Center for Political Technologies (Moscow) Andrey Medvedev told journalists in Yerevan on Tuesday.

 Increase of the releases from Sevan may cause seismic risks and water quality impairment.

 A new Code of Criminal Procedure of Armenia will help significantly unload the country's penitentiaries, Justice Minister Hrayr Tovmasyan told media after discussions on the new draft code developed by the working group of the Justice Ministry with participation of representatives of the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ). 

The minister explained that the penitentiaries are overloaded as the country's lacks alternative measures of restraint, for instance, house arrest or administrative supervision. The new Code will introduce these measures of restraint as an alternative to arrest, the minister said. He hopes the penitentiaries will be significantly unloaded and arrest as a measure of restraint will be chosen at the very outside. "This is the most important component of the suggested amendments, I think," the minister said.
In addition, the minister said, the new Code stipulates that a defendant's confession cannot serve as a ground for charges unless it is confirmed by proves. 
"The third important component of the new Code is a significant increase in the role of the courts. From now on, it is the court that must classify violation at law," the minister said. 

 Armenia's new Code of Criminal Procedure will make it possible both to provide protection of defendants' rights and guarantee the work of investigative agencies, US Ambassador John Heffern said at the roundtable dedicated to the new draft code, drawn out jointly by the working group of Armenia's Justice Ministry, the GIZ, US Embassy and OSCE Yerevan office. 

Haypost has released a postcard dedicated to the 80th year of civil aviation in Armenia.

Artur Sakunts, the head of Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor Office, recalled that president gave no explanations regarding his move. "We must state the president presented no justification of his unanimously made decision to join Customs Union on September 3. There is no explanation why we must join Customs Union", - Artur Sakunts said during the public discussion "After Vilnius: Confronting the Challenges and Identifying the Hidden Opportunities Ahead" held in Yerevan today.

Iranian gas can become a favorable alternative to the Russian gas, if the Armenian authorities finally start negotiating on the given issue with Iran, Rubik Minasyan, an Iranian journalist, Armenian by origin, told media in Yerevan, Monday.  He said that Iran has repeatedly expressed its readiness to supply gas for a lower tariff, but the Armenian authorities keep ignoring the given proposal. 

Azerbaijan's joining the Customs Union is very much important to Russia and Nagornyy Karabakh will be the price of Azerbaijan's joining the Customs Union, political expert, Stepan Grigoryan, said  during the public debates "After Vilnius: Confronting the Challenges and Identifying the Hidden Opportunities Ahead" held in Yerevan, 16 December.

He said that Armenia's joining the Customs Union is conditioned by the national security, though after joining, the country will become even more vulnerable. 
Grigoryan thinks that the present situation in Armenia is similar to that which the country found itself in 1921. "That time we gave not only the military but also the economic, social and humanitarian cooperation to one state, and lost our own territories. So, today as well, we should wait for changes in the Karabakh issue not in favor of Armenia", - the expert emphasized. 

Environmentalists raise alarm: construction of the North-South transport corridor will damage 81% of fruit trees in Artashat community. Head of EcoLur NGO Inga Zarafyan told ArmInfo. 

 The European Union intends to continue making reforms in Armenia, it is very much important to EU, Lithuania's Ambassador to Armenia, Erikas Petrikas, told journalists today. 

 Elected through non-transparent elections, the authorities of Armenia are not accountable to the public, said Varuzhan Hoktanyan, Director of Transparency International Armenia Anti-Corruption Center, introducing the second National Integrity System assessment of Armenia, Monday.