The parliament pushed through the law in an emergency session, after opposition members boycotted in protest of the government's irregular efforts to get it passed.
The effort is part of a long-standing desire to reverse the country’s population decline. But to many, it sounded like the government was blaming women for infertility.
Armenia went farther than most of Iran’s neighbors, closing its border for two weeks. Azerbaijan, meanwhile, was the only country to have not closed its border with Iran at all.
The legislative efforts come after long struggles between the government and a hostile media, much of which is controlled by figures close to the former regime.
Leaders of Armenia’s more traditional opposition, including the former ruling Republicans and the venerable Dashnaks, came out to support the anti-liberal activists.
The government says the move is necessary for the sake of efficiency and health, but those in affected communities complain that it is a symptom of Yerevan's neglect for rural areas.
A new law makes it illegal to belong to a “criminal subculture” even if no specific crime has been committed. The legislation follows examples set in Georgia and Russia.
Following an investigation into a high-level crime ring accused of selling Armenian infants to foreigners, women who think they may have been victims are demanding justice.
With a park, garbage trucks, and now a waste-processing facility, watchdog groups are questioning the city government’s many gifts from politically connected businessmen.
The new budget would substantially increase tax revenues and expenditures, but the government’s macroeconomic projections have been received skeptically.
The charges come just two weeks after Serzh Sargsyan broke his silence since leaving office, heavily criticizing the current authorities at a conference in Croatia.
Hyperbolic claims by the prime minister prompted more hyperbolic – and xenophobic – conspiracy theories about the rising presence of Indians in Armenia.
