Armenia is always ready to restore relations with Hungary, but official Budapest should undertake practical actions, Acting Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian told media, Wednesday.

"We are always ready for negotiations, but Hungary should show initiative," the minister said.

To recall, on August 31 the Armenian authorities adopted a decision to suspend diplomatic relations and official contacts with Hungary. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan made public the decision at a special meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions on Friday after the Hungarian authorities extradited Azeri officer Ramil Safarov, who was sentenced by a Hungarian court to life in jail for killing sleeping Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan with an axe in Budapest in 2004. Both the officers were undergoing an English language course under the NATO PfP program. The same day after Safarov's extradition, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev decreed to pardon the criminal.

Today, the maximum buying rates at commercial banks of Yerevan were 416 drams for 1 dollar, 547drams for 1 EUR and 13,3 drams for 1 Russian ruble. The minimum selling rates stood at 417,5 drams for 1 dollar, 550 drams for 1 EUR and 13,3 drams for 1 Russian ruble.

 The weather changed drastically overnight and resulted in snowfall in some regions in Armenia, the Ministry of Transport and Communications reported.

It was snowing in Vayk, Sisian, Goris, Meghri, Banadzor, Spitak, and Chambarak overnight. The roads have been cleaned. As of 10:30am on April 17 all the roads in the country were open for traffic.

Strange as it may sound but early April saw a boom in the sales of Scotch tape in Armenia, especially in its rural areas. Local sellers can hardly remember the times Scotch tape was more popular than it is now. But they have an explanation for this, and it is quite trivial: the tape is used for wrapping the big bags our compatriots pack when leaving abroad in search for better life.

 Like North Korea's, Azerbaijan's warmongering should not be ignored since a new war in the South Caucasus could also turn quite catastrophic. Taking into consideration the arms build-up launched by Azerbaijan and its continuing weapons accumulation, a new war could devastate a whole region and cause dire humanitarian consequences for all sides of the conflict, says a Tuesday article in Foreign Policy Journal.

"The irresponsible and unpredictable North Korean totalitarian regime continuously uses escalating rhetoric as a political instrument blackmailing the world. The aggressive rhetoric and threats of new war have become more pronounced since the young dictator of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, came to power after the death of his father in 2012. At the other side of Asia, in Azerbaijan, another dictator who also inherited power from his father, Ilham Aliev, continuously uses bellicose rhetoric and threatening to restart a war against its neighboring Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.  Aliyev and his regime are known as one of the most corrupted in the world. Fueled by revenues from oil production, Aliyev and family have stashed their cash in the offshore zones," says the article.

 Reco Records, an Armenian company importing, reproducing and selling CDs and DVDs, is going to sue Armen Azizyan, the head of the Intellectual Property Agency of Armenia's Economy Ministry.

The company's lawyer Artashes Bostanjyan told journalists on Tuesday that the decision that from Apr 18 on all CDs and DVDs in Armenia will have to bear an excise stamp will hinder the company's business.  The point is that the Agency often refuses to provide the certificate that confirms the validity of a contract between an importer and a copyright holder or a licensee and that is required by the tax authorities as a ground for issuing an excise stamp. The Agency's argument is the absence of related contracts, for example, with film producers, directors, composers, while the law says that a copyright contract or a copy of a licensing contract are enough. Bostanjyan said that the Agency has no authority to verify the contracts and that only the applicants are responsible for their validity.

Director of Disc World retail chain Karen Qupelian said that almost 95% of CDs and DVDs with movies, music, computer programs and games are produced abroad, but the producers provide no related contract documentation for they believe that an invoice and a licensing contract are enough for a small market like Armenia.

David Hanoyan, Head of Reco Records, also pointed out that in some cases the Agency provided a certificate of authenticity and in other cases didn't, though the agreement with the copyright holders was the same. 

The participants do not rule out that such policy of the Agency is explained by the "lobbying" of the disc sellers' business, as Qupelian pointed out a case when a certain company was provided with 50 thsd excise stamps for 5 names of discs, but some of these stamps were pasted on the discs with quite different content.  

Hanoyan thinks that it is necessary to change the order of provision of excise stamps in order to make the applicants apply to the Agency for the specified certificate again after using all the previous excise stamps.

 Unibank's processing center has started issuing chip Visa cards.

The press service of Unibank reports that the cards will be issued on demand and will have a special microprocessor ensuring their higher efficiency and protection.

One of advantage of the card is that it is a multi-currency card.

Unibank is also introducing a special fraud control system, which will automatically detect a dubious transaction, will block the card, will inquire the holder by SMS if the transaction is legal and will reactivate the card if he or she says that it is. The system will operate round-the-clock.

The bank will offer both debit and credit cards, including Visa Infinite, a premium card with a concierge service (assistance in traveling, booking air tickets, reserving hotel rooms, delivering documents and presents, etc).

Unibank bought its Smart Vista processing center from BPC Group Banking Technologies for $1mln. Smart Vista guarantees effective management of a card business, this including emission, acquiring, mobile commerce.

The source also recalls that every customer that gets any card at Unibank automatically becomes a participant in the Magnis project of privileges. Under this project, nearly 200 companies provide up to 40% discounts to the customers when they pay for goods and services.  To receive discounts at the enterprises of the trade and services field, the cardholder only needs to present a Unibank card. At the moment the number of cards issued by Unibank exceeds 145 thsd, with most of them being international Visa cards. Unibank is also a full-fledged member of the the Armenian Card national payment system.

The Analytical Review "Armenian Banks in Card Business" by the Agency of Rating Marketing Information (ArmInfo) says that as of 1 Oct 2012 Unibank's active cards totaled over 119 thsd , and the Bank was among the top five leaders by this indicator. The share of salary projects in the total number of Unibank's active cards was more than 31%, with the y-o-y growth of the absolute index being 18.4%. By the plastic transactions the Bank was among the top ten leading banks (almost 20% y-o-y growth). By the number of POS-terminals, the Bank held the third position (25% y-o-y growth), and by the number of ATMs - the sixth position. The Bank increased the number of its ATMs by 6 to 85.  47 of them are in Yerevan, the others are in the regions. Unibank issues and serves local ArCa cards and international Cisa cards. 

Unibank CJSC was founded in Oct 2001. The shareholders of the Bank are Ripatonso Holdings Limited (75.44%), Gagik Zakaryan (12.28%) and Georgy Piskov (12.28%).

A new charge has been filed against ex-candidate for president of Armenia, folklorist Vardan Sedrakyan. 

The Sirunyan law office told ArmInfo that the new charge has been filed under Article 34-38-305 (attempted assassination of a statesman committed with the help of accomplices).  

To recall, on Jan 31 an assassination attempt was organized against Paruyr Hayrikyan, candidate for president of Armenia. A criminal case was instituted under Article 34-305 of the Criminal Code (assassination attempt against a statesman, politician or public figure committed to stop his activity; the culprit may be sentenced to 12-20 years in jail or life imprisonment). On Feb 8 Khachatur Poghosyan and Samvel Haroutyunyan were detained on charge of the assassination attempt against Hayrikyan. Both made confessionary statements, however, the reasons of their crime are not known yet. 
Later, former presidential candidate Vardan Sedrakyan confirmed the information that he knew the detainees. Khachatur Poghosyan and Samvel Haroutyunyan had repaired Sedrakyan's house. A charge was filed against Vardan Sedrakyan. On March 5 the court of general jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork Marash administrative districts of Yerevan satisfied the National Security Service's motion on using two-month arrest against Vardan Sedrakyan as a measure of restraint.

The compact disc market in Armenia is controlled by high-ranking officials, with certain corrupt law enforcers forcing undesirables out of the market, Director of Disc World retail chain Karen Qupelian told journalists on Tuesday.

He told ArmInfo that he was once fined for an alleged attempt to sell porno movies.

Qupelian said that in Oct 2012 the Government decreed that starting from Apr 18 2013 all CDs and DVDs should bear an excise stamp (costing 7.5 AMD or $0.02), but in Armenia, where Internet users have free access to movies, music, computer programs and games, this is a senseless measure. The only way-out here is that they should be forced to pay for the content they download from the Internet.

Director of Hi-Fi retail chain Artashes Bostanjyan said that once the excise stamp is introduced, the average price of CDs in Armenia will jump from 500-3,000 AMD to 5,000-6,000 AMD. "In such a situation our CD market will simply die," Bostanjyan said, adding that only one company has managed to sell excised CDs in the last six months.

On the other hand, there is no chance to acquire excise labels for the compact discs available in the stock, because for that purpose it is necessary to sign relevant agreements with foreign copyright holders and license holders of intellectual property items, receive certificates of authenticity at the Intellectual Property Agency of the Armenian Economy Ministry and then to present them to the taxation bodies, which, in turn, provide the excise labels.

Nevertheless, David Hanoyan, Head of the Reco-Records company, agreed that in case of observing the game rules in the market, the introduction of compulsory excise labels will lead to the situation that the sellers will be unable to evade tax obligations and will observe the legislative standards on intellectual property protection.     

No specific data about the output of the Armenian market of compact discs were given. Armenia lacks official statistics on production, import and export of these products.

 Armenia has been negotiating with EU on preserving the right of the Armenian producers to use the term "cognac" instead of "brandy", Armenia's Deputy Economy Minister, Garegin Melkonyan, told journalists today before the beginning of the regular round of talks on the creation of the Armenia-EU Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA).

He informed that the term "cognac" is protected by European law and is registered as a geographical designation. The Armenian party has informed the European colleagues that "cognac" is perceived in Armenia as a type of product.  Discussions on this matter are also held with the private sector. "There have been discussions about cognac [that is, brandy]; the matter is on the agenda. I hope to find a solution, with the European party, which will not cause harm to Armenia's local producers, and there would not be sudden and drastic decisions," Melkonyan said. He also added that the same applies to
the term "champagne", as well, but champagne does not have as much sensitiveness and dimension for Armenia's economy as cognac does.

When asked by ArmInfo about the use of the term "cognac," President of the Association and Managing Director of Yerevan Brandy Company Ara Grigoryan said: "I don't think that we will face this problem in the coming five-ten years though one day this may become a possibility. Indeed, there are international regulations saying that we have no right to produce 'cognac' as this drink is legally owned by France. Cognac is made from specific grapes from a specific region and is distilled at a specific time. So, it cannot be Armenian or Moldovan - this is a violation of the existing laws. That's why on our labels we write "Haykakan konyak" in Armenian, "Armyanskiy konyak" in Russian and "Armenian brandy" in English. One day we will have to find some alternative name for this drink," Grigoryan said, adding that he is against the use of the term "brandy" as brandy has a lower value than cognac.

 The police are a living organism and all processes developing inside this force are aimed at improving its work, Chief of the Armenian Police Vladimir Gasparyan told journalists on Tuesday.

He said that his decision to dismiss Chief of Yerevan's Police Nerses Nazaryan was not a surprise or a sensation. "Staff reshuffles have been a regular thing since my appointment as Chief of the Police," Gasparyan said. 

When asked if the dismissal was a response to Nazaryan's inability to prevent provocations and incidents in Baghramyan Street on Apr 9, Gasparyan said: "I would like you to know that even a leaf will not fall from a tree without God's will."

It was the Kurds themselves who did not ask for a Kurdish state, says Professor Dogu Ergil, one of the most renowned political sociologists from Turkey. 

Ergil explains that the Kurds "cooperated" with the Turks against the Armenians to deport them and seized the goods and property left behind by the Armenians.  He says that the Treaty of Lausanne was crafted with the consent of the Kurds. "They did not want a Kurdish state for several reasons.  But the primary reason was the ambition of some to create a separate Armenia in the same lands. The Kurds wanted to prevent this from happening," says Ergil.

Zaman quotes the Turkish professor as saying that the Kurds played an extensive role in the expulsion of Armenians from Turkey and the appropriation of their properties.

"Kurds and Armenians used to live together in East Anatolia. They cooperated with Turkish official circles in the deportation of Armenians and played a primary role in the redistribution of the property and land of the deported Armenians. Their return would mean that everything should be restored and reversed. They converted their children to Islam and took them into Kurdish families. And, of course, there was no Turkism back then; there was a state approach based on an understanding of Islam. This was pretty understandable for the Kurds.  They have lived like this for centuries. No room was
left for Kurdishness when Turkishness in a political sense was invented because this place was declared as being the land of the Turks," says Ergil.

There is no information whether they are Armenians among victims of Boston Marathon blast. According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry official page on Facebook social media, the Armenian Embassy in Washington keeps in contact with the Massachusetts and Boston authorities.  

At least three people have been killed, including a boy at the age of 8, and 144 others injured after two explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, Monday. The lives of 17 people are in danger, with the state of another 25 injured being heavy. At least 10 patients underwent surgery with amputations. 

President Barack Obama made a televised address to the people after the explosions. He charged increasing security measures in the country. The president expressed confidence that those responsible for the explosions will be exposed and punished. Obama avoided calling it a terrorist act and urged citizens not to make untimely conclusions. The president charged coordinating the state departments to inquire into the reasons of the incidents.

 Representatives of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) are the unconditional first-runners at Yerevan Council of Elders election, the leader of the Christian and Democratic Party, Khosrof Harutyunyan, said at today's press-conference.

He said that the mayor of the capital city of Armenia should be professional to resolve the city problems, and at present only the RPA list contains true professionals which will be able to promote making positive reforms in Yerevan.  He also added that the opposition forces which are going to participate in the Yerevan Council of Elders election, do not have a specific programme and the list of reforms  to be implemented. "I am a Yerevan resident, and I
wonder, how the transport problems, repairing of elevators in apartment houses and the problem of condominiums will be resolved. Nobody but candidates from the RPA speak about these problems", - he said. He also added that the present mayor of Yerevan have managed to resolve several important problems, in particular, urban greening of Yerevan, improvement of the situation in the yards of Yerevan, etc.

 The policy of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) is clear to voters and people are well aware what to expect from PAP, Tigran Urikhanyan, MP, PAP Spokesperson, told media, Tuesday. 

Urikhanyan commented on the statement by first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan that bourgeois-democratic revolution in Armenia is a priority for the Armenian National Congress. In addition, he said that leaving the coalition and not supporting Serzh Sargsyan Gagik Tsarukyan has contributed to the fight against the authorities. 

Urikhanyan said that like 8 years ago, now Prosperous Armenia believes that Armenia needs revolution, but it is revolution in science, agriculture and other key fields.

The parliamentarian said that PAP is building relations with the Armenian National Congress (ANC) and other political forces around common interests visible to voters. In this light, Urikhanyan said that he has no information on the sources of the rumors on financial ties of PAP and ANC.

 Except ARF "Dashnaktiutyun", all the opposition forces give the impression that they want to topple the power in Armenia, the head of the Heritage parliamentary faction, Ruben Hakopyan, said at today's press-conference.

He said that pretending to be Raffi Hovannisian's supporters, actually the opposition forces were acting against "Barev" movement. He also added that the leader of the ANC party, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, is the first which made split  in the opposition, as those his supporters, which were supporting the "Barev" movement, were not invited to the founding congress of his party just for this reason.

He said that the founding congress of ANC voiced an open praise to Gagik Tsarukyan and rumors about Raffi Hovannisian. Commenting on Levon Ter-Petrosyan's remarks against Heritage party, Hakobyan said Armenia's first president cannot forgive Raffi Hovannisian the April 9 actions with no victims or bloodshed.  "Levon Ter-Petrosyan's speech is an absolute manifestation of cynicism. Now he is a dissenter in the ranks of the opposition," Hakobyan said.

During the ANC congress, Ter-Petrosyan commented on not joining Heritage Party leader's movement. "I should have joined to do what? Should I have joined so I could pray with Police Chief Vladimir Gasparyan?  That was not my childhood dream," he said. "The 10 victims of the 1 March 2008 events were not evidently dreaming to die for the man who left the people at the crucial moment...And if Mr Ter-Petrosyan cannot forgive Hovannisian for no bloodshed on 9 April, that is his problem", - he said.

 Ombudsman of Armenia Karen Andreasyan hopes that the police officers complicit in beating of Armen Martirosyan, deputy head of the Heritage Party, will be brought responsible, says the Armenian Ombudsman is a statement received by ArmInfo.

"Armenian Human Rights Defender's Office will be attentively following the further developments and will make a new statement if necessary," the Ombudsman says. He believes that blocking the Baghramyan Ave and detaining activity the Police acted in line with the law.

On April 9 simultaneously with Serzh Sargsyan's swearing-in ceremony, Raffi Hovannisian took an oath in front of the people in the Liberty Square and then organized a march along Baghramyan Street to the president's residency. As a result, there were clashes with the police. Heritage Party Deputy Head Armen Martirosyan was beaten up. Some activists were detained.

Judging by meetings of Russian Deputy FM Grigory Karasin and Georgian Special Representative for Russia Zurab Abashidze, Moscow is currently trying to build relations with new authorities in Tbilisi. Do you see any risks for the Georgian Dream and Georgia in this cooperation?

 Dendrological parks should be created simultaneously with major motorways in Yerevan, Hovhanness Tokmajyan, the Republican candidate to the Elders' Council of Yerevan (3rd in the party list) told media, Tuesday.  He said that it is necessary to chose the trees species that best of all accumulate heavy metals and dust. To improve the environment, it is necessary to improve the transport system, he said. 

"The city needs passing-by highways for republican traffic," he said. In addition, Tokmajyan believes that the city needs expanded underground traffic. "I agree that it is very expensive. To settle the problem of passenger transportation, we are negotiating for construction of new sections of underground trams, which is cheaper than underground lines," Tokmajyan said.

Prosperous Armenia, Orinats Yerkir, the Republican Party of Armenia, the Armenian National Congress, ARFD, Mission and Barev Yerevan will run for 65 seats in Yerevan's Elders Council on May 5. The election campaign kicked off on Apr 7.

 Armenian parliamentarian from ARFD Party Aghvan Vardanyan offers the acting mayor of Yerevan, representative of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia Taron Margaryan, to hold open debates with Head of ARFD Faction in the Parliament Armen Rustamyan , who tops the ARFD party list at the upcoming elections to the Elders' Council of Yerevan.

Vardanyan told media, Tuesday that Rustamyan is a politician of principle and his biography is the best evidence of that. Therefore, an open debate is a good opportunity to compare the political programs and the personal features of the RPA and ARFD candidates for the post of the Yerevan mayor, he said. Vardanyan said that on May 5 the citizens will chose between political forces and not persons. "These are political elections, first of all, and not just election of a digithead or a government official. ARFD is seriously preparing for the elections. There is situation in the country when the public is
mostly dissatisfied with the authorities," Vardanyan said.

Prosperous Armenia, Orinats Yerkir, the Republican Party of Armenia, the Armenian National Congress, ARFD, Mission and Barev Yerevan will run for 65 seats in Yerevan's Elders Council on May 5. The election campaign kicked off on Apr 7.