2021 May 3

Daily news wrap-up

May/3/2021: (1) Worker protection bill (2) Science & VR grants (3) New Aparan skiing resort (4) New Gyumri park (5) Pashinyan about Artsakh negotiation, Russian troops, Syunik, referendum, wartime news (6) High profile felony cases (7) April poll (8) Artsakh housing (9) Real estate (10) Yerevan news
by ar_david_hh

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Welcome back. This is your 18-minute Saturday to Monday report in 4550 words.

Parliament is voting for a new Premier (spoiler alert: no one is elected)

Pashinyan resigned as Premier to trigger snap elections. before that, the Parliament has to fail to elect a new Premier twice. Today was one of those ceremonial voting sessions.

Parliamentary opposition parties BHK and LHK had agreed not to nominate their candidates to not obstruct the process. The Parliament intentionally voted to reject Pashinyan as Premier with a 1[by error]-3-75 vote. The second vote is scheduled for May 10.

Pashinyan also answered questions and gave a speech, some of which are below.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051072.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051089.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051107.html https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/212846

Pashinyan about Artsakh negotiations pre-2016 war and Serj's letter about the referendum:

An idea was circulated that I knew that if the negotiator changed, the negotiation logic would change as well. Years will pass, the documents will be made public, and you will find out that the content of the negotiations changed in the Autumn of 2015 and Winter of 2016, just before the April 2016 war.

The logic of negotiations changed in the pre-2016 war period and there are documents proving that. I've worked with those documents since 2018.

Serj Sargsyan wrote a letter to OSCE Minsk Co-chairs with concerns regarding a referendum that would decide the Karabakh status. He wanted clarification on how many Azeris would be considered Karabakh residents and take part in a referendum.

Azeris would take part in the potential referendum, but for that, they would need to reside in Karabakh. Serj wanted to know where the Azeris would be settled within Karabakh. He wrote a letter asking for clarification on the number of Azeris.

Today, he and others say Shushi was never discussed as a topic. But where was the Azeri population supposed to sleep? In their cars and under the trees?

More: https://youtu.be/cYuTgz2brlw

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051072.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051114.html

Tags #PashinyanSpeech #negotiations #referendum

Pashinyan about the information flow during the war and Onik Gasparyan's report about the situation:

They criticize us for not being open about how things were unfolding during the war. To present the situation openly would mean exhausting the entire resource of resistance. It would mean opening all the cards.

They want to know why I hadn't responded to Onik Gasparyan's criticism sooner. Was the Premier supposed to engage in a public argument with a subordinate?

We asked [army command] hundred times. Here is the situation, can we defend or not? They said, "yes, with difficulty we can defend".

They reported in written form that we are able to stop and destroy the opponent per the not-on-step-back principle.

Under such conditions, were we supposed to tell the public that we are giving away 7 regions, that we are giving half of Karabakh? Why would we do that? Even if we did that, they would still criticize us by saying the traitor government sold Artsakh while the military could still fight.

The problem is that no institutes [not even military] had been established in the country for 30 years yet diplomas were distributed. The only established institute was that of corruption, and we destroyed it.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051101.html

Pashinyan about the expansion of Russian military base and Syunik borders:

Armenia's security system continues to rely on the joint AM-RU military group and CSTO's air defense network in the Caucasus.

People who claim that the decisions made by us have resulted in new security threats for Syunik, simply do not assess the situation deeply. In reality, the opposite happened. All the borders of Armenia are being protected with the help of Russia. But that doesn't mean there must be military positions with Russian troops in every corner. There is a contract that was publicized.

The second branch of the 102nd Russian base was opened in Syunik. It's an additional guarantee for ensuring the security of the Syunik region and Armenia in general.

As I've said before, the security contract with Russia only applied to the Republic of Armenia borders. What are those borders? They were described in the 2010 law about the administrative-territorial division.

Some of the people sitting here [opposition MPs] are complaining about borders and Shurnukh village's division. These people are putting efforts to get elected the same people who drew the borders that way [in 2010]. Explain the logic to me.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051114.html https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/mvnpm4/apr212021_1_pashinyan_reads_2010_law_that_defined/

Tags: #Syunik

Pashinyan about the pre-war negotiation process:

An important topic was raised: capitalize on the result of the revolution in the negotiation process on the Karabakh issue. But to what extent was it possible? There is widespread confusion, including among some experienced people, that whichever side showed a constructive approach would not be subject to pressure by the international community, and that only aggressors are pressured.

Let's see if that's true. In 2011 Azerbaijan refused to sign the agreed document [Armenia agreed to give away 5+2 territories, Aliyev refused]. Then in 2014, they shut an Armenian helicopter, an unprecedented land escalation in 2015, and a war in 2016.

And what was the result? Did they pressure Azerbaijan? No, quite the opposite. The logic of negotiations changed [OSCE kept pressuring Armenia to give up lands]. Did the 2020 war fall out of thin air? What happened in 2016 and before?

who is on the negotiation table?

We've been warning for years that leaving Karabakh representatives out of the negotiation process would lead to irreversible consequences. We spent 20 years speaking about this. The Armenian side left Karabakh out of the table. At the time they could say we won't negotiate unless Karabakh is part of the negotiations.

There are some big-mouths who like to talk a lot nowadays. Let's see what was agreed upon during the 1999 OSCE Istanbul Summit. They unanimously adopted a document about Security Charter in Europe. Armenia voted in favor. What was in it?

Here is a quote: "Full respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to national minorities, in addition to being a goal in itself, should not undermine, but rather strengthen, territorial integrity and sovereignty. The various concepts of autonomy, which are in line with the OSCE principles, are measures to protect and promote the ethnic, linguistic-religious identity of national minorities within the existing state [Azerbaijan, added by David]."

So let's analyze the chain of events. You leave Karabakh out of negotiations, you say it's normal for the international community to recognize liberated lands as occupied, you vote for the aforementioned document. And then what do you want?

after 2018

What happened after the revolution? We said we will not start from the same point. What was that "point"? When Serj Sargsyan was saying that there is no room for optimism and Azerbaijan's expectations cannot be met [Serj said the negotiations were nonexistent because Azerbaijan wanted everything, not just the lands that Armenia was ready to give].

Were we supposed to accept those "unacceptable conditions" described by Serj? Let's be honest. We fought desperately against all that. We did not give up. We fought. The fight continues.

Is it normal to use the casualties as an apolitical card? They [former regime] says I took 5-7 thousand men and massacred them and it never touched my family. First of all, we don't have 5,000 deaths.

My son served in the area where the army sustained the heaviest losses. The person serving next to my son was killed. None of us could have decided whether it would be my son or that man. The name of that man is available.

The entire [past] negotiation process was a process of retreating from our national interests. We fought desperately, we did not give up. It's not like we fought that fight in closed offices. We fought a desperate battle, as the Armenian people once fought in Avarayr.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051114.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051090.html https://youtu.be/kC3KfnipO2w

Tags: #negotiatison #Ashot

Pashinyan about regional peace:

Armenia must prepare for regional and security stability. The situation in our region must change, but it cannot depend only on us. Calls made by OSCE Minsk serve the purpose of stabilizing the situation.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051092.html

Pashinyan about 4 reasons that contributed to Joe Biden's recognition of the Armenian Genocide:

Armenian diaspora's hard work, Turkey's regional policies which harmed the US-TR ties, the 44-day war, and Armenia being a democratic state.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051078.html

Pashinyan about prisons and judicial fairness:

I want to say something in defense of the judiciary. For years, they would send you to jail for stealing an egg. We had a 7.4K prison population in 2001, and only 1.9K in 2021.

We gave freedom to people. The revolution was for justice and a fair judiciary. It's better for a criminal to get away than to imprison an innocent. You can always catch a criminal later, but you cannot recover the lost years of the innocent inmate.

There are no innocent people in prisons today. We kept our promise. We said there won't be vendettas. Today they claim we have a dictatorship. We got rid of the dictatorship in 2018. We could have created such a dictatorship that those critics would ask for permission before speaking or breathing, after bowing three times.

https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/212850

Pashinyan about vaccination campaign:

I urge public officials and MPs to get vaccinated and serve as an example for the rest. The world is discussing the possibility of not allowing unvaccinated travel later this year. We must be prepared.

Right now we have a large reserve of vaccines from different manufacturers. We have an opportunity for a widespread vaccination. Combined with the reduction of new COVID cases, the vaccination can help us quickly overcome the pandemic.

Vaccination can also reduce infections and make Armenia more attractive for tourists. We could return to 2019 levels. It's important that food and leisure businesses are organizing the vaccination of their employees.

We are discussing the possibility of issuing certificates to those businesses where over 70% of workers are vaccinated to show that it's safe to work there or to do business with them.

Do not fall for speculations about vaccine safety. For example, there could be 200 million vaccination cases and 200 complaints. If you gave water to the same 200 million population, more people would probably fall ill just from drinking the water. Don't fall for anti-vaccine propaganda tricks, especially if you're a public figure. Serve a good example by receiving a vaccine shot.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051073.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051080.html https://www.healio.com/news/primary-care/20201218/us-experiences-around-7-million-waterborne-illnesses-annually

opposition LHK calls for reduction of "hate speech and threats" during the election campaign

LHK urged its fellow parties to agree not to engage in derogatory rhetoric. They drafted a pledge and asked other parties to sign it. A QP MP agreed to read and discuss the document.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051085.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051088.html

update: Artsakh president is questioned over a felony investigation about violating Constitutional Order

An NGO in Artsakh was upset over the war outcome and decided to file a report against Artsakh president Arayik Harutyunyan, accusing him of violating the Constitution by agreeing to give Artsakh's adjacent territories to Azerbaijan.

The group claims the Constitution states that those territories are part of Artsakh, therefore, to give them to Azerbaijan, the government should have held a referendum [during the war] before giving them away.

https://factor.am/365884.html https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/msb2d0/apr162021_1_security_council_chief_details_oniks/

update: prosecutors launch felony investigation against President Sarkissian over citizenship claims

Opposition parties recently labeled Sarkissian a traitor over his refusal to save CoGS Onik Gasparyan's job. A group of lawyers, whose leader is Onik Gasparyan supporter, later filed a felony report against Sarkissian, claiming that Serj appointed Sarkissian as president in 2018 at a time when Sarkissian did not have the right to become one, due to residency/passport related deadlines.

SIS recently refused to advance the investigation. The opposition lawyers asked prosecutors to overturn SIS's decision.

Today the prosecutors agreed to proceed with launching a felony investigation to investigate the claims.

https://factor.am/366127.html

General Movses "Mosi" Hakobyan is charged with disclosure of state secrets

Opposition general Mosi is accused of violating Article 306 regarding publishing state secrets. He was called for questioning, after which the prosecutors decided to press charges. It's over some of the things he said during his November 18 interview to Hayeli outlet.

Mosi has been giving interviews recently in which he criticizes the government. He had disagreements on how to handle the draft process. His fellow General Babayan had different ideas on how to handle the draft. It's presumably about mixing untrained reservists with trained regular forces which, according to Babayan, ended up causing more problems so they had to change the draft process to separate them.

The government, in turn, criticized Mosi for bad advice and wanting to give away one of Artsakh's regions which is to this day under Armenian control. Sometime during the war, Mosi was kicked out of the army command headquarters. He later attributed it to an intervention by first lady Hakobyan, an accusation that was later dismissed by General Babayan who said army chief Jalal was in charge.

https://youtu.be/hvqCf5d5vNw

https://factor.am/366182.html https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/212866

update: Education Ministry certifies the Polytechnic University rector elections

In March we learned that HHK MP Ashotyan's relative Gor Vardanyan won the university board's vote to become the new rector. Some of the candidates boycotted it and threatened to sue, citing favoritism by the board members, and violation of election rules. There were resignations.

The Education Ministry has examined the documents and concluded that the election rules were not violated. The government voted to approve Vardanyan as the new rector.

https://factor.am/365821.html https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/212358 https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/mbm0bd/mar232021_1_march_1st_judge_sanctions_kocharyan/

political parties go through changes

Arthur Vanetsyan's Hayreniq party confirms it's joining HHK to form an alliance.

https://factor.am/365652.html

Opposition Heritage Party loses one of its leaders Narine Dilbaryan.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051066.html

Co-author of the famous YouTube channel SOS Vilen Gayfejyan will become a Yerevan municipality councilman as part of the ruling My Step alliance. He will replace a departing councilwoman.

https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/212825

former My Step alliance MP Taguhi Tovmasyan

... owns the Joghovurd (armlur) outlet. She is an opposition MP today. She said she received an offer by someone to purchase her outlet but the likelihood of selling it is low, but it's still on the table. "I don't understand why all the noise about this. We receive offers all the time."

She dismissed rumors about deciding to join Arthur Vanetsyan and Robert Kocharyan. "I've received numerous offers." She will decide which party to join depending on the party's platform.

https://factor.am/365953.html https://factor.am/365963.html https://civic.am/politics/5481--.html

polls: who do you plan to vote for?

A survey by Gallup International. Last time there was a massive 24.6% electorate who said they won't vote for anyone. This time around it's only 7.4%. Now that more people are making up their minds, how has the share of each party's support change?

Ruling My Step 27.2% (was 31.7%)

Difficult to say 17.3%

Declined to answer 14.3%

Won't vote at all 11.8%

Kocharyan 8.1% (5.9%)

None of the candidates 7.4%

BHK 3.7% (4.4%)

LHK 1.8% (2.7%)

ARF 1.8% (2.1%)

HHK 1.1% (2.4%)

Pashinyan has a significant advantage over Kocharyan in provinces and especially rural areas with 34.9% vs 4.7%, while in Yerevan the lead is 22.5% vs 11.5%.

https://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/292580/ https://www.facebook.com/113234903738121/posts/290505636011046/

poll: do you plan to vote in snap elections?

62.7% yes, 33.7 no.

https://www.facebook.com/gallup.am/photos/pcb.290505636011046/290505366011073/

update: Armenia blocked Azerbaijan's attempt to join the EAEU trade bloc session

Last week Pashinyan went to participate in the bloc meeting. There were reports that Azerbaijan was also invited to join as an observer.

Deputy PM Mher Grigoryan said Azerbaijan did not attend because Armenia vetoed its participation. There were several reasons including Azerbaijan's refusal to release POWs.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051012.html

Azerbaijan wants to convert Shushi's Armenian church into Russian Orthodox Church

They launched its "renovation" after bombing it twice during the war. The move received criticism from the Armenian side.

https://factor.am/366238.html

AM-RU-AZ continue to work towards regional trade route unblocking

Deputy PM Mher gave an update on the ongoing process. There are two expert groups that were formed after the January meeting between Pashinyan, Putin, and Aliyev.

One of the things the groups examine is laws regulating relations between CIS (ex-Soviet) republics.

Another topic is the physical restoration of the old infrastructure that existed during the USSR. They need to know how much it'll cost and how long it'll take to restore them.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051013.html

Kim Kardashian thanked Sarkissian and ANCA

... for educating her on issues relating to Armenia. "I’m happy I could help raise awareness & will always continue to support this beautiful country," she wrote. President Sarkissian earlier thanked several diasporans for their contribution towards the Genocide recognition.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1050986.html https://twitter.com/KimKardashian/status/1388355086624202756

POWs & missing soldiers

Armenia's representative to European Court for Human Rights reported that Azerbaijan killed 19 Armenian POWs after the ceasefire, "which is a war crime." 12 civilians and 7 soldiers. A report is sent to ECHR.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051109.html

Armenian ambassador to Iran gave an interview to Iranian media and said it would be nice if Iran could use its influence to free the Armenian POWs.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051044.html

Searches continue for missing soldiers or bodies in the southern Artsakh. One body was discovered in the south.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051126.html

Aurora organization presented a report about its charity work in Artsakh

75 programs during and after the war, totaling $2m. The majority have been completed. Infrastructure, healthcare, school rebuilding, etc.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051017.html

Photos: open-air museum in Charles Aznavours Square was held on Saturday

Titled "The lost monuments of Artsakh", visitors were able to learn about 55 religious and cultural monuments that are in territories occupied by Azerbaijan.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1050995.html

Artsakh refugees and housing programs

Housing construction continues in various parts of Artsakh. The government plans to house everyone within 3 years. They will build 6,000 houses and apartments.

1,500 families have applied to be resettled in Artsakh's villages where the government builds new houses. These are often small or largely abandoned villages; there are plans to "revive" them.

There are 6,300 refugee families (25,000 people) living in Armenia, said Artsakh representative in Armenia.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051028.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051030.html https://factor.am/365715.html

Artsakh Parliament president Tovmasyan:

Artsakh will restore its territorial integrity within the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast borders with the help of the OSCE Minsk Group. OSCE also realizes that Artakh's legal status is just as important as the security guarantees. Today the guarantor of the security of the people of Artsakh is the Russian peacekeeping forces and the Artsakh army.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051032.html

Pashinyan congratulates the media with the Free Press Day:

Congratulations to all of us on Press Freedom Day. The press in our country has never been as free as in the last three years, and it was recorded by international organizations.

Reporters Without Borders moved Armenia 19 positions forward to 61st position in 2019. We maintained our positions in 2020. In 2021 we dropped by 2 positions, mainly due to COVID and wartime restrictions. Nonetheless, Armenia continues to have one of the freest press in the post-Soviet space. I consider it especially important for the media to ensure objectiveness.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051127.html

worker protection reforms proposed / vacation / anti-child labor / layoffs / absence

Labor Ministry has a new bill that wants to increase the number of days you can skip work before the company can cite that to legally fire you. Currently, you can skip 1 day without a valid reason. The bill wants to allow 10 such calendar days or 3 days in a row.

The bill also wants to protect wounded soldiers or family members of soldiers. If the company has to do layoffs, these groups would keep their jobs.

The bill also wants to regulate vacation time. If the worker refuses for 2.5 years to take the annual vacation they are entitled to, the law would require the employer to take certain steps to ensure people take their rest. The employer could face penalties if workers do not receive the vacation.

The 24-hour daily working hours for certain categories of workers (for example, guards) have been revised. For this category of employees, it is planned to set 12 hours a day instead of 24 hours.

The minimum working age would be set at 14. At the moment, younger people can be considered as workers. This reform will also ensure Armenia meets European and UN conventions.

More: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051132.html

Tags: #LaborLaw #LaborReform

Post Office raises delivery fees to reduce operational losses

Sending a letter will cost $0.44 instead of $0.13.

Delivery of a 3kg (6.6LB) package will cost $2.88 instead of $0.38.

The fee structure will be progressive so it depends on how heavy the package is. It starts from $0.44 for a tiny to $9.41 for a 44LB package.

HayPost initially asked for higher fees but the public regulator reduced it. HayPost says the increased fees are still 40% lower than elsewhere in the region.

Full list: https://factor.am/365828.html https://www.aysor.am/am/news/2020/12/17/Ժողովուրդ/1785521

infrastructure upgrades & forests

Tavush's Koghb settlement has 7,000 new trees. Donors were able to plant a tree under their name. Parts of the proceeds went to the creation of a local TUMO high-tech education center branch. There is also a new park dedicated to those who died in the war.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051093.html

Vardenis city built a new sewer for kindergarten and planted hundreds of trees.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051099.html

Gyumri will have a new $10m park with attractions

In front of the former Shirak Hotel, next to Charles Aznavour Square, there is a project to build Friendship Park.

No fences, 70% green, 700 trees and bushes, connection with tourism agencies to make it a tourist attraction center for 200K annually.

The $10m project is the work of the famous Russian-Armenian donor and businessman Ruben Vardanyan. The government will contribute $1m. The designer is a Russian firm which is working with local artists. They expect its opening in 3Q22.

Concept photos:

https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/212765

new skiing resort in Aparan

The government is deciding whether to allocate 2,070 hectares of land to Մայլեռ Մաունթայն Ռեզորթ company for a tourism project. The government says they want to change the fact that Georgia and Azerbaijan are the regional leaders in mountain tourism.

Armenia currently has two mountain skiing resorts: Jermuk and Tsakhkadzor. Most visitors are Russian, with some from Iran. Armenia could have an advantage over GEO and AZE because RUS tourists can visit ARM with their passports.

A daily pass for Tsakhkadzor's aerial ropeway costs $25, while only $15 in GEO. The new project can help compete.

Such infrastructure investments have never been made by the private sector in Armenia, said the Ministry. There will be 250 temporary and 1500 permanent jobs with a $346/mo salary.

The company plans to invest $29m in ropeway and skiing paths, and another $29m in the hotel sector.

https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/212826

Yerevan's Yerablur hill will have 4.5 hectares of new trees

Video: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=756571371543663

Yerevan is installing new fire hydrants & emergency sirens

There are 503 hydrants in the capital, half of which have not worked for years. The Emergency Ministry and municipality created a program to replace several dozens this year and more later.

The city is also installing 100 new emergency sirens to bring the number to 212. 95% of the capital is currently covered.

Video: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=198935361893507 https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051041.html

ստե միտե պայի ապէ, ՎԱ՞Տ ԵՍ ԼՍՈՒՄ ԱՐԱ

Yerevan received the latest batch of new buses as part of a campaign to replace the marshrutka minivans. These are compact buses. They will serve new or existing transport routes, some of which were abandoned by private companies. The city wants to handle transport itself and rely less on the private sector.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051079.html

real estate transactions in the first quarter

Almost third of property transactions in 1Q21 were in Yerevan.

It declined 5% from last year but grew 12% from previous quarter.

Buy/sell tranactions -8% YoY.

More charts: https://factor.am/366342.html

COVID stats since Saturday

9,956 tested. 944 infected. 2,337 healed. 41 deaths. 11361 active (significantly down). 4.2K vaccinations.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1050979.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051015.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051057.html https://www.civilnet.am/news/605101/հայաստանում-կորոնավիրուսի-դեմ-պատվաստվել-է-4-221-մարդ/

video: Pashinyan and the first lady received a vaccine

We call on our citizens to actively apply to get vaccinated, said Pashinyan. "I won't say which one I took but one of our Deputy Premiers took AstraZeneca while the other one the Sputnik-V. All the vaccines we have are good."

Healthcare Minister said they observed a significant increase in vaccinations in recent days.

https://youtu.be/ihDjhUL2QT0

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051050.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051074.html

grants to recruit young scientists

Recently the government allocated an additional ֏2.7b to science for this year. The Science Committee of Armenia launched an initiative to create new scientific groups and laboratories, in addition to aiding the existing ones.

There will be 3-year-long grants for groups consisting of 4-5 scientists. To receive a grant, they must present their idea and the commission has to find it feasible and important.

Recipients must be born after 1981 and have a record of publishing works in reputable scientific periodicals.

Full: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051045.html

the government program to help infertile couples to get pregnant

... expanded in 2019 (free IVF, free for border residents, soldiers' families, etc.) and has so far resulted in the birth of 79 babies, said Healthcare Minister Avanesyan. "2020 dragged us down but we hope this year we will have better results."

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051059.html

Khachatryan family welcomes their 13th child

There is a baby factory in Gyumri. 39yo Lilith gave birth to a 3.1kg boy. Now she has 6 boys and 7 girls. Some of them are old enough to pick their future professions.

She is a stay-at-home mom while the husband works as a handyman. They are able to make ends meet but she would like more aid from the government. She advised others to have babies. She doesn't rule out having the 14th.

https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/212897

smart VR glasses made in Armenia

Armenian "10X Engineering" company created AI-powered VR goggles. Its founder Davit Zargaryan says he decided to create the goggles to help his child who was afraid of going to the doctor's office for a shot.

The goggles display relaxing imagery and provide the ability for the child to interact with animals. The sensors attached to the patient measure their vitals and stress level to adjust the VR content accordingly for further relaxation.

These goggles are different from others because they take into account your personal preferences, age, nationality, taste, etc., says the founder. First testing, which will also measure VR's effect on pain perception, is expected by foreign Wigmore Clinic by the end of this year.

Armenian clinics will receive units for free while foreign clinics would pay €1,000.

The company received its funding from the High Tech Ministry as part of the government's 17th COVID aid package in which dozens of companies received ֏968m in aid.

Video: https://youtu.be/GEYLOXw5tZc

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051049.html

DANZ - Armenian glasses reach international markets

The "fast fashion" eyewear entered the US market in February, where the demand for Armenian glasses is increasing rapidly. They saw a 40% increase in sales within a month. Until now, its main markets were Armenia and Russia.

Buy ours not because it's Armenian but because it has high quality and it's affordable, said the company with 30 employees, whose designers monitor fashion trends on the market.

https://danz.am/hy/ https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051051.html

Levon Aronian finishes 4th in New In Chess Classic tournament

He lost the match against Magnus Carlsen and couldn't advance to the finale. He lost to Mammedyarov for the 3rd place match. Aronian maintains his 5th position in the world FIDE ranking.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1050968.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1050970.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1051034.html

famous Russian singer Lyubov Uspenskaya visited Armenia

Video: https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/212784

Music: Serj Tankian - Rumi

https://youtu.be/usOpQ0ex4yQ

end of report

The accused are innocent unless proven guilty in the court of law, even if they "appear" guilty.

News archive: http://www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/Daily_Anti-Corruption_Reports

Donations: soldiers' families, humanitarian aid, US tax-deductible donation.

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Link to original report and comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/n47xrr/may32021_1_worker_protection_bill_2_science_vr/