RA Deputy Foreign Minister Karine Kazinian met with a delegation of the Chinese parliament Armenia-China parliamentary friendship group.

Weightlifting: Armenia’s Smbat Margaryan, 17, (w/c 56kg) won the jerk gold at the European Weightlifting Championships going on in Minsk, Belarus. In snatch, clean and jerk combination, Margaryan won the silver medal, lifting 225 kg. The champion’s title went to Belarus’ Vitaly Derbenev. Arsen Tarmazyan, representing Russia, came 9th. On April 8, World Weightlifting Championships silver winner and Olympic Games bronze winner Tigran Martirosyan (w/c 77kg) entered the filed.

Main political events of last week started with April 5 interview of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to Der Spiegel.

Concurrently to an increase in gas tariffs on April 1, 2010, prices at gas stations also went up, reaching AMD 200 per 1 kg instead of the previously established AMD 180. As a PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent was told at the transport department of Yerevan Mayor's Office and at the RA Ministry of Transport and Communication, transport workers have not requested price increase so far.

Saint Archangels (St Gevorg) Church was repaired and consecrated in the village of Tsira, Akhaltskha region. An Armenian church will be restored in Feodosia and one will be built in Malta. All three projects were initiated by Armenian communities. Meanwhile, both Armenian intellectual elite and ordinary people oppose the idea of building a church instead of Moscow cinema open-air hall.

Turkish Prime Minister’s special envoy Feridun Sinirlioglu’s visit to Armenia caused an inexplicable commotion in the political and expert levels, although such kind of visits before anticipated or scheduled meetings of Heads of State are an ordinary diplomatic practice. However, the passion of Armenian commentators to see some secret (or evil) intent in every move best shows how little information the society has on the Armenian-Turkish relations, being satisfied with “comments” contradicting both the essence and the content.