Beginning next July civil servants in Armenia will make three to five times the salary as in past years, based on a budget expected to be approved by the end of the year. The President's salary will go up 125 percent. The Prime Minister, Speaker of Parliament and Head of Constitutional Court will make three times as much as now.

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The A1+ office in Yerevan is a quiet place these days, with no reporters or technical personnel hurrying to get the latest news to the public. Visitors would hardly notice any sign of activity at the station, once widely regarded as the most objective and impartial in Armenia. Eight months after being forced off the air, its 70 or so staff are losing hope that they will be allowed to resume work anytime soon.

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Another animal has died at the Yerevan Zoo.

On November 30, a puma was found dead after eating meat infected with anthrax, becoming the fifth animal to die in the past month. (A lion died two weeks ago, but zoo officials had documents that show its death was of ilnness not related fo the poison.)

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As part of its technical assistance and training to Armenian municipal officials, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) sponsored a trip of Armenian finance specialists to Hungary last week.

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