The world is a better place today. Sure 'tis, for, I am pleased to report, Guinness beer has come to Armenia. I am a simple man. This is a simple story.

At the corner of Nalbandian and Sayat Nova streets, the news was delivered by my new favorite bartenders, Aram and Sarkis in their new bar which I had approached with skepticism since the first day the sign lit up announcing "Irish Bar".

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Testimony has finished in the Tigran Naghdalyan murder trial and the prosecution is asking that Armen Sargsyan and John Harutyunyan each be sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Naghdalyan, the chairman of the Board of Directors of Armenian Public Television, was shot to death last December 28. Harutyunyan has confessed to the murder, saying that he was paid to kill the journalist.

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A book released earlier this year confirms that poverty and a pessimistic view of the future are the leading reasons why citizens leave Armenia.

"There is an opinion that emigration is a temporary economic solution as the employment market is not developed in Armenia," says Hranush Kharatyan, president of "Hazarashen", the Armenian Center for Ethnological Researches.

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Two months after the Union of Painters honored his 80th birthday and nearly as many years as a respected artist, painter Tigran Tokmajyan has been banned by a local government from using his Komitas Avenue studio.

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When Anahit Soghomonyan returned to her Yerevan neighborhood food store with a box of soured milk and demanding a refund, the response she got was: "Is it worth making so much noise because of 300 drams, lady? You'd better buy a fresh one, we just got it".

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The World Chess Federation's list of top chess players for October 2003, include five Armenians among the Top 100 men and one woman in the Top 50.

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