Leader of the Union for National Self-Determination Party, former candidate for president of Armenia, Paruyr Hayrikian is going to launch a hunger strike on 8 September in front of the president's administration.

Some Yazidis of Iraq have told Aziz Tamoyan, the Head of the Yazidi community in Armenia, that they may ask refuge in Armenia, Tamoyan said in response to ArmInfo's question.

 One day everyone in Armenia will be equal before the law, Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan told the youth at the opening of Baze-2014 Pan-Armenian Youth Gatherings, on 18 August.

Armenian National Assembly member Nikol Pashinyan has put into circulation a Bill On the near border communities of Armenia. The Bill looks to increase the social protection of the near border community residents, Pashinyan said in a Facebook post.

Roman Pope Francis will serve a liturgy at the Saint Peter Cathedral on 12 April 2015. The liturgy will be timed to the Armenian Genocide's centennial, Mario Aurelio Cardinal Poli  (Buenos Aires said in the course of service at the local Armenian Catholic Church on 12 August, Prensa Armenia reports.

 The U.S. has declined Azerbaijan's recent request for acquisition of Cougar and HMMWV military vehicles withdrawn from Afghanistan, according go haqqin.az.

 Azerbaijan's leadership is well aware that Armenia's missiles are capable of hitting any facility in Azerbaijan and they have no means fore defense, the fromer minister of defense Vagharshak Haroutiunyan told RFE/RL Armenian Service. 

 To the question of the Armenian Public TV on the capture and killing of the Armenian citizen Karen Petrosyan,  State Department Spokesperson Office stated that United States is deeply concerned by reports on the death of Karen Petrosyan while in Azerbaijan's custody and by allegations that his death was not due to natural causes.   The United States offers its sincere condolences to Mr.  Petrosyan's family. "We call on the Government of Azerbaijan to conduct a full and transparent investigation into this incident and to make its findings public. We remind the governments of Azerbaijan and Armenia of their obligations under international humanitarian law, especially their obligation to treat humanely all those taken into custody. We call on both Armenia and Azerbaijan to grant the International Committee of the Red Cross access to all detainees and internees held for conflict-related reasons," the Spokesperson said.  

 Ardshininvestbank is going to buy the shares of Artsakh Investment Fund so as to be able to take part in its mortgage program in Nagorno-Karabakh, the bank's CEO Mher Grigoryan said at a meeting with Nagorno-Karabakh's Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyan on Friday.

The situation continues to remain tense in various parts of Iraq. The actions of radicals have resulted in a great number of victims. Thousands of people have been displaced from their homes. The atrocities against civilian population, especially against ethnic and religious minorities continue, Spokesman of Armenia's Foreign Minister Tigran Balayan said to the question of Arminfo news agency concerning the recent events in Iraq.

The United States strongly condemns the violence along the Armenian-Azerbaijani line of contact that has resulted in significant casualties since July 31, says Charge d'Affaires Gary Robbins of the U.S. Mission to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, speaking at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna, Thursday.

 Head of Armenia's Permanent Mission to the OSCE, Ambassador Arman Kirakosian made a speech at the special session of OSCE Permanent Council, Thursday, wherein he levered harsh criticism at Azerbaijan's cease-fire violations and sabotages that has escalated tensions and claimed the lives on both parties. 

 On August 10 Russian leader Vladimir Putin convened a trilateral meeting between himself, Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev in Sochi. The immediate aim seems to have been successful. That was to dampen down the fighting that flared up on the Nagorny Karabakh Line of Contact and Armenian-Azerbaijani border and killed several dozen soldiers in the last two weeks. But it was striking how vague the public statements after the meeting were, British expert Tom de Waal says in his recent article. 

 Russia's activity at current stage of Karabakh conflict is for a reason, says Head of the Milli Mejlis Committee on Legal Policy and Statebuilding Ali Husseinly, APA reported. 

Moscow Court refuses to change measure of restraint against Levon Hayrapetyan, Armenian businessman and philanthropist, RIA Novosti said.  Hayrapetyan's lawyer Henry Reznik, in turn, said Hayrapetyan's disease may cause a new hearth attack in case of excessive emotions. The lawyer says the only proofs of Hayrapetyan's guilt is the testimonies by former senator Igor Izmestyev, who, however, is in prison and his testimonies cannot be trusted. In addition, Reznik calls inadmissible the court's arguments suggesting that Hayrapetyan is rich enough to bride judiciary.  

United States will not launch large-scale intervention to stop extermination of the national minorities in Iraq, a political analyst at the St. Petersburg Center for Middle East Studies told ArmInfo.

 Armenia has no levers of influence on the developments in the Northern Iraq. It's useless pinning hopes with Armenia, Stepan Safaryan, Director of the Armenian Institute for International Security Probloems, told ArmInfo when commenting on the calls of the Yezidi organizations for assistance to the Iraqi Yezidis. 

Mr. Alizadeh, please comment on the Sochi meeting outcome. Has the trilateral meeting of the Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian leaders have reduced tensions on the Line of Contact? What the parties may agree on today?

 Moody's Investors Service has assigned the following ratings to VTB Bank (Armenia): local currency deposit rating of Ba1, foreign currency deposit rating of Ba3, bank financial strength of D- (equivalent to a ba3 baseline credit assessment [BCA]), and Not- Prime short-term deposit ratings. 

It would be rather strangely if Moscow began "brushing out" the institutes that somehow ensure the status quo around the Karabakh conflict. That is why in Sochi the presidents did not mention any fundamentally new approach to the NK conflict's resolution that would somehow ran contrary to the renovated Madrid Principles. The remarks came from Sergey Markedonov, Associate Professor at the Russian State Humanitarian University, well-known political analyst, in an interview with ArmInfo.