Restaurant singers could never even dream of singing on an opera stage during the Soviet years or throw a concert. Now they sing at restaurants, weddings and then they come to the opera asking how much they have to pay to throw a concert at the auditorium. We’re forced to give it to them because we have problems with financing, while they have all the money to spend,” told “A1+” in an interview today Director of the National Academic Theatre...

Recently there has been no room to move in the check point of Ninotsminda on the Armenian-Georgian border. The convoy of lorries and passenger vehicles seems endless.

A fire broke out near building 46 on Komitas Avenue on February 10. A advertisement hoarding burnt down as a result.

Sixteen residents living near the State College of Echmiadzin made their way to Yerevan today to demand Serzh Sargsyan to solve their problem, but the police officers were not too welcoming. This is not the first time that they are organizing a protest in front of the presidential residence.

Harassment of journalists and self-censorship among the news media intensified before and after a flawed February 2008 presidential election. The country’s authoritarian president, Robert Kocharian, imposed a state of emergency after the balloting to suppress demonstrations and block independent news reporting, a move that allowed him to deliver the presidency to a hand-picked successor, Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan.

Migrant construction workers in Russia face widespread abuse both in and outside of the workplace, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. In a climate of rising hate-motivated violence against migrants, exacerbated by the global financial crisis, the Russian government is failing to protect these workers from abusive employers, employment agencies, and police.

Individual taxi drivers say that the National Assembly did not give a complete and adequate response to their appeal/protest after their letter sent to the NA Chairman presenting their demands.

72-year old pensioner Azniv’s neighbors visit her room often and always talk about the past. They all currently reside in the former student hostel hostel in Charbakh. The guard of the hostel Mrs. Gayane accompanied us to the 4th floor showing us the rooms of pensioners from Baku.

Cell-phone sales have gone down in Yerevan after New Year and have led to low prices. “My income has decreased by 50 percent. I used to sell 9-12 phones a day before New Year, but now I sell five phones a day the most due to the fall of prices,” told “A1+” Edward Grigoryan who is a cell-phone salesman at the Central Post Office building.

The least amount of money needed to purchase a 3X4 meter area for a tomb in Yerevan today is 100,000 drams. The death of a person causes not only sorrow, but also material and moral damage if the family’s monthly budget is not enough for that.

From February 14 a new automatic system of payment will be applied at Yerevan Metro. Passengers will benefit from the discount system and will be able to recharge their cards at any booking office of the metro.

Some two hundred taxi drivers today flooded Yerevan’s main square with their cars in protest against stricter licencing and taxation rules imposed on them.

Starting from February 1 casino owners have to pay 125 thousand drams for a game machine but the state budget doesn’t benefit from it.

Twenty Armenian singers have submitted applications for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. Inga and Anush Arshakyans, Shprot, Arame and Mher are among the candidates.

Butchers outnumber buyers in GUM, a market in downtown Yerevan. Butchers say they sell 20kg meat a day while this time last year they sold at least 80 kg.

Vanadzor’s citizen Anna Saribekyan, 1971, was taken to hospital with gas poisoning at 6:00 February 5. Doctors say her state is of average seriousness.

The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute organizes an international conference on April 20-21, 2009 dedicated to the centennial anniversary of the Armenian massacres in Adana district of the Ottoman Empire.

Armenian fairs are emptying day by day. Most booths stand idle as few customers visit fairs nowadays

This year Armenians celebrate on February 7. Although St. Sarkis is said to visit the dreams of both sexes, the tradition is more popular among girls and women.

On February 3 RA government presented to the National Assembly a package on amendments and restatements of some of the laws on RA judicial system. P

Artavazd M. (born in 1975) was transferred to the Masis hospital February 4 at 11:10 p.m. after receiving cuts on his stomach. The investigative group found out that on the same day at around 11 p.m. resident of the Marmarashen village

Temperature will rise by 3-5 degrees from February 5-9. The temperature will rise to 10 degrees in the afternoon in the Ararat Valley and it will range from 0-2 degrees at night, told “A1+” head of the Meteorology department of “ArmStateHydromet” Gagik Surenyan.

Architectural thinker, academician Yablonski once said: “Show me the architecture of any people of any given time and I will show you the history of that people in that period.” In an interview with "A1+", chief architect of Armenia Narek Sargsyan said that he shares that opinion.

Internet users in Armenia mainly use the Internet for “acquaintances”, forums and social networks. The “acquaintance” sites are an addition to the search engines, e-mail services and news sites, which have high turnout of visitors.