ARMENIAN NEWS: BREAKING NEWS 21.06.2018

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan did not accept a letter of resignation of the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Mane Tandilyan.

During the Cabinet's meeting on Thursday, he said they decided to continue their work with Mrs. Tandilyan, and will need to work on the matter of funded pension system.

“We will work with the minister of economic development to later make that system more acceptable, comprehensible and reliable. We need to dispel all doubts [regarding that system] existing in society,” PM said.

On June 21, the European Union and Armenia held the first meeting of the Partnership Council under the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

The Council is the highest body established under the CEPA to supervise the implementation of the Agreement and to discuss issues of mutual interest. Armenia and the EU expressed their willingness to expand and deepen cooperation within the framework of this new legal basis, the Eastern Partnership and the reviewed European Neighbourhood Policy.

Armenian Foreign Minister met with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. The interlocutors touched also upon Armenia-EU cooperation as well as regional and international challenges and matters. They also discussed the settlement of Karabakh conflict.

Mogherini reaffirmed the EU’s readiness to assist in the ongoing reforms in the country.

Two airplanes have flown at a critically close distance from each other in Rostov Oblast (province) of Russia.

REN TV learned that one of these planes was en route from Moscow to Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan, whereas the other—from Stavropol to Moscow.

But a traffic collision avoidance system was in operation in one of these aircrafts, and therefore the pilot of this airplane reduced the latter’s altitude to avoid a mid-air collision with the other plane.

The National Assembly of Armenia on Thursday passed in the second reading, and in full, the bill on making additions to the Law on Funded Pensions.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had stated—with respect to this bill—that they had passed the point of no return, since approximately 80 percent of the beneficiaries of the mandatory funded pension system were already included in the system. Under the new law, the remaining 20 percent of the beneficiaries of the mandatory funded pension system shall join the latter, as of July 1.

Armenian police reported about numerous searches in the houses of crime bosses and so-called “thieves in law” during a massive operation on Wednesday.

Several dozen crime bosses and thieves in law were detained, police said in a statement. Firearms and ammunition as well as drugs were found during the searches.