ARMENIAN NEWS: BREAKING NEWS 23.03.2018

The Latvian Parliament unanimously voted in favor of Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement at first reading, Latvian MP, head of Latvia-Armenia friendship group Sergey Potapkin told Vice President of the National Assembly of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov.

Sharmazanov informed that the second reading of the agreement will take place in April.

If Baku is seriously concerned about water access issues, it can discuss that with Stepanakert, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Armenia, Tigran Balayan stated.

“In all likelihood, they celebrate Nowruz too much at the Azerbaijan MFA and abuse alcoholic drinks at workplace; the Baku official’s comments have no other explanation,” Balayan said. “If matters in connection with ensuring water accessibility and management of water resources seriously interest Baku, then they can discuss them with Stepanakert, which has repeatedly expressed such readiness. I believe Stepanakert is still ready to collaborate in this domain.”

The US has dropped charges against 11 of the 15 bodyguards for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who were indicted after a brawl with protesters outside the country's embassy in Washington last May, a spokesperson for the US Attorney in DC noted.

"The decisions were made after further review of evidence in the case that raised questions about the identification of individuals," a source familiar told CNN.

Rescue Service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia received a call, noting that the sound and fire alarm systems had gone off in a post office in Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin) town, in the Armavir Province.

It was found out that an unidentified person—or persons—had entered the post office through the window, and stolen computer monitors, processors and money.

As a result of the talks in Brussels between the leaders of European Union (EU) countries, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven announced that a decision was made at the summit to recall the EU ambassador to Russia.

In addition, the source confirmed that, following the example of the British authorities, some EU countries may even expel the Russian diplomats in their land, over the Skripal poisoning case.

Blogger Alexander Lapshin will pay a visit to Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia, to take part in the 5th professional In Tour Expo 2018 international tourism exhibition.

“I shall present the ‘To Baku in Lapshin’s Footsteps’ creator’s program. The program includes [Azerbaijan First Lady] Mehriban Aliyeva’s flight on private plane, all inclusive recreation at Kurdahan prison [in Azerbaijan] and the [Azerbaijan capital city] Baku Court on Grave Crimes. The price of the tour is contractual,” he informed on his Facebook page, as a joke.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s lawyer Thierry Herzog said he would “prove the innocence” of his client, AP reported.

“I’m going to bring evidence proving his innocence. And we’ll see who are the criminals, the thugs, the murderers, the thieves”, he said.

US President Donald Trump has suspended tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the US key trade partners, AFP said referring to White House administration report.

The tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the following countries are suspended until May 1, 2018," the statement said, listing Australian, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, South Korea and EU member countries.

According to the statement, the administration will closely monitor imports of steel and aluminum from exempted countries.

Grandmaster (GM) Levon Aronian (Armenia) once again suffered a defeat against GM Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) during the tenth round of the Candidates Tournament 2018, which kicked off in Berlin.

Aronian has 3.5 points so far, and he rounds up the bottom of the current standings.