Sport:

Smbat Margaryan wins European Weightlifting Championships silver

Review of April 1-8 sports events.

April 11, 2010
Weightlifting: Armenia’s Smbat Margaryan, 17, (w/c 56kg) won the jerk gold at the European Weightlifting Championships going on in Minsk, Belarus. In snatch, clean and jerk combination, Margaryan won the silver medal, lifting 225 kg. The champion’s title went to Belarus’ Vitaly Derbenev. Arsen Tarmazyan, representing Russia, came 9th. On April 8, World Weightlifting Championships silver winner and Olympic Games bronze winner Tigran Martirosyan (w/c 77kg) entered the filed.
Politics:

Armenian President’s oncoming visit to US triggers internal political discussions

Overview of April 5-10 internal political events.

April 10, 2010
Main political events of last week started with April 5 interview of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to Der Spiegel.
Economy:

Gas: the most available energy resource in Armenia?

The situation is controversial: despite obvious dissatisfaction with raise in gas tariffs, number of gas consumers in Armenia keeps growing.

April 10, 2010
Concurrently to an increase in gas tariffs on April 1, 2010, prices at gas stations also went up, reaching AMD 200 per 1 kg instead of the previously established AMD 180. As a PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent was told at the transport department of Yerevan Mayor's Office and at the RA Ministry of Transport and Communication, transport workers have not requested price increase so far.
Society:

Yerevan is not a hotel but a beloved city for Armenians, with a history of its own

We need to find out what “benefactor” was “blessed” for a remission at the expense of Yerevan and its residents.

April 10, 2010
Saint Archangels (St Gevorg) Church was repaired and consecrated in the village of Tsira, Akhaltskha region. An Armenian church will be restored in Feodosia and one will be built in Malta. All three projects were initiated by Armenian communities. Meanwhile, both Armenian intellectual elite and ordinary people oppose the idea of building a church instead of Moscow cinema open-air hall.
Armenia and world:

Armenian-Turkish process will not be suspended

The Protocols will be ratified no matter we like it or not, and the parties interested in this “international project” will begin a new phase: implementation of the items of the Protocols.

April 9, 2010
Turkish Prime Minister’s special envoy Feridun Sinirlioglu’s visit to Armenia caused an inexplicable commotion in the political and expert levels, although such kind of visits before anticipated or scheduled meetings of Heads of State are an ordinary diplomatic practice. However, the passion of Armenian commentators to see some secret (or evil) intent in every move best shows how little information the society has on the Armenian-Turkish relations, being satisfied with “comments” contradicting both the essence and the content.
Culture:

Baku disagrees to hold a concert featuring Armenian composers’ works

Overview of cultural events in Armenia: March 29-April 4.

April 8, 2010
Yerevan’s National Academic Theater theaters resumed “Musa Ler” performance. It was attended by over 900 school students in one day and over 3000 in a month, proving students’ increased interest to the theater.
IT & Telecom:

Increased number of Internet subscribers registered in Armenia; providers diversify connection channels

Main IT events of March 15-21.

March 25, 2010
Number of internet users increased 47.75 times over the period of 1998-2008, according to bbcrussian.com. Thus, 4000 internet users were registered in Armenia in 1998, their number increasing to 30 000 the next year. As of 2008, 191 thousand internet users were registered in Armenia. Obviously, BBC Russia information service used statistical data provided by international electronic connection union to make the statistic report. Meanwhile Armenian experts repeatedly noted that the statistic data cited is not complete, as mobile internet users were not taken into account while composing the assessment.
 
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