Tbilisi. Nino Burjanadze, the ex-speaker of the Georgian Parliament, candidate for presidency from the oppositional party Democratic Movement-United Georgia is sure that she will struggle with candidate from the ruling coalition Georgian Dream Georgi Margvelashvili for the post of the head of the state if the second round of the elections is set up.

 The Walk Free Foundation, an Australian-based organization, has released a 'Global Slavery Index'.  It shows the number of people in modern slavery across the world, and ranks 162 countries accordingly. Armenia is ranked the 57th out of 162 countries. 

The Armenian government predicts 5% growth in agriculture in 2014, draft law "On Armenia's state budget 2014" says. 

 Armenian parliamentarian Zaruhi Postanjyan demands the Police to isolate Khachik Asryan, Head of Hayots Artsivner NGO. Postanjyan told media, Thursday, that Asryan's calls and threats have been made public by media. 

 The OSCE planned monitoring of the line of contact of the NKR and Azerbaijani Armed Forces in the area of Hadrout on 17 October was stopped after the NKR positions were shelled by the Azerbaijani party. 

The NKR Foreign Ministry told ArmInfo, the Monitoring Groups on both the parties registered the shots.  OSCE CiO Personal Representative Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk who led the Mission on the Azerbaijani party adopted a decision to stop the monitoring for security reasons. 

 Government of Armenia adopted a decision to provide customs privileges to SPS Cigaronne LLC after 9 months of idling. On 16 October the Government extended the temporary import regime for the company, Ministry of Economy Vardan Avanesyan said in the Government. He said that the company would be allowed to import 2 tons of aluminum foil on preferential terms for manufacture of cigarette boxes.

The trust in the parliament is falling in the world, and Armenia is not an exception, an international expert in parliament ethics Rick Stapenhurst said in a press conference in Yerevan. 

On 15 Octboer the Armenian Catholic prelacy building was shelled in Damascus again. A representative of the local Armenian community says the building was attacked and damaged.  As reported earlier, the building of the prelacy of the Armenian Catholic Church was shelled on 17 September. 

The government of Armenia draws serious attention at the reforms in the sphere of education, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said at a regional meeting of Ministers of Education on the implementation of the European Higher Education Area that kicked off in Yerevan today. 

 Nearly 50,000 Syrian Christians are ready to apply for the Russian citizenship to avoid the oncoming humanitarian crisis, a Russian reporter to Syria Ankhar Kochneva told Radio Golos Rossii.  

 On Monday, October 21, Ali Babacan, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, will speak to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council about Turkey's economic and foreign policy, including the US-Turkey business relations and the future of economic investment in the region, Asbarez.com said.

A two-day meeting of the Education Ministers of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) and Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) member- countries kicked off in Yerevan Thursday, 17 October. 

On 16 October at 8:30pm, four officers of the Armenian Defense Ministry got serious wounds in a mine blast while on mission near the army unit located on the northeastern border of Armenia, the press-service of the Defense Ministry told ArmInfo.

Moscow increases its military presence on Armenia, a Yerevan-based Haykakan Zhamanak Daily writes. The process was increasing the manpower at the 102nd Russian military base in Gyumri, Armenia, was launched yet several weeks ago. Now, Russia is going to increase the number of Russian frontier-guards on the border crossing in Bavra. 

 On 16 October Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan met with a group of senators at the Belgium Senate.

 Armenian Human Rights Defender Karen Andreasyan received civil activist and public figure Karo Yeghnukyan on Wednesday.  

Archaeologists are pleased with the sensational results of excavation in Ararat Valley. 

Today one can unambiguously assess neither the Armenia-EU relations nor their further development, Samvel Farmanyan, MP from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), said at the Oct 16 conference entitled "Four Years of Eastern Partnership: Achievements and Challenges".      

 Archaeologists have discovered ancient archives during the excavation in Artashat, the capital city of Greater Armenia.  

Armenia stands against serious challenges, as rash decisions of the authorities regarding several key issues put sovereignty of the country under a serious threat, deputy chairman of the opposition Heritage party, Armen Martirosyan, said at today's press-conference. He also added that only resignation of the incumbent power and changing of the management system may correct the situation.