A celebratory event, devoted to the 20th anniversary of Armenia’s Armed Forces, was held on February 1 at the US Central Command. The event brought together high-ranking officers and civilian officials from more than sixty countries. Lieutenant Colonel A. Mkrtchyan, Armenian Armed Forces representative for US Central Command, delivered opening remarks and presented the Armenian army’s history.

On a tip from the Haynews.am news site regarding illegal tree felling in the village of Garni, the Kotayk Regional Prosecutor directed local police to investigate. Cops discovered 77 cases of illegal felling and estimated the damage to worth around 2.4 million AMD. They have sent their findings to the Kotayk Investigative Unit for review.

Several Swedish MPs have applied to the Nobel Peace Committee with the proposal to give the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize to famous Turkish human rights defender Ragip Zarakolu. As the Turkish Evrensel website informs, the Swedish MPs mentioned in their proposal that Zarakolu published materials on the Armenian Genocide and the Kurdish issue which are taboos in Turkey. He has been sentenced for those...

French President Nilocas Sarkozy and his Foreign Minister Alain Juppe differ on the genocide denial bill that recently passed the French Senate. As CNN Turk reported, citing French media, Sarkozy criticized Juppe for his position, making the latter keep silent on the matter. On January 23, the French Senate passed the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial with 127 votes for and 86 against.

Come Home 2012 program which is organized in the framework of Armenia-Diaspora cooperation will start in June 2012 and will continue until October. This is told in the Ministry of Diaspora’s report which was presented to the government. In the framework of the program Armenian families will host around 800 13-20 year-old youths from the Diaspora. It is planned to organize a summer...

President Nicolas Sarkozy will immediately submit a new draft of a law punishing denial of the Armenian Genocide if France's top judicial body rejects it, two ministers stated, according to AFP. "The president told us in cabinet that he would immediately submit a new draft if there is a rejection by the Constitutional Council" of a bill approved recently by the French parliament, said one of the ministers, who spoke on condition of anonymity.