2021 October 28

Daily news wrap-up

News recap - Oct/28/2021: Armenian vax certs. approved in EU; Moderna 12+ __ Sec. Con. chief Grigoryan about 1926-1929 maps __ Social benefits expand __ Nasty prisons to close __ Land giveaway: then vs now __ Russia asks: TB or not TB? Bans Turkish mandarins __ Yerevan's major transit reform __ more
by ar_david_hh

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Your 12-minute Thursday briefing in 2785 words.

today in history

1886: the Statue of Liberty is officially unveiled in New York.

1900: the closing ceremony of the first modern Olympics.

1955: Bill Gates is born. The 66-year-old philanthropist and software guru has advice for you: be careful while hanging around with rapists, or else you might be suicided. /s

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066660.html

COVID stats

15.8k tested. 2.3k infected. 1k healed. 38 deaths. 30.3k active.

I DID MY OWN RESEARCH and here is what I found:

1,495 out of 1,500 Covid ICU patients are unvaccinated.

ranked: recent COVID infections per 1 million population

Georgia 5th

Armenia 45th

Azerbaijan 99th

Research done by Jam-news.

Pashinyan about masks and vaccines:

There are some cheap speculations with people taking photos of public officials without a mask during some ceremony, so they can claim "even officials don't wear masks". Nobody wears a mask while eating or drinking during a wedding ceremony, not even ordinary citizens.

There is an anti-vaccine propaganda campaign, and the peddlers are the ones responsible for today's COVID deaths. //

thousands of unvaccinated patients are in a serious or critical condition

Minister: we have 27 medical centers treating COVID right now. The 3050 beds are always full; 200 people are waiting for beds.

We have 1088 in serious, 307 in critical, and 152 on lung ventilator.

Delta strain sends many young people to the hospital. It's particularly worse for pregnant women; 122 of them are currently hospitalized with almost half of them connected to oxygen devices.

Only 1.7k of 34.4k active COVID cases are among vaccinated people. //

Armenia authorizes Moderna for children aged 12+

Healthcare Ministry issued a decree today. Ex-Minister Torosyan has just vaccined her daughter.

government is discussing mask mandate in open areas, too

Pashinyan: we are trying to avoid lockdowns, so we must discuss several measures to prevent that. First is stricter mask rules. I won't rule out that soon we will require masks in all open areas. It will make mask enforcement easier, even if the chance of infection in an open area is smaller.

More important are vaccines. We were able to obtain large quantities with the help of our colleagues. Our strategy should focus on vaccinations.

I'd like to share my personal experience with vaccines. As I've said earlier, all my family members have received it, except the kids. Recently, my 14yo daughter got infected but we didn't learn about it until a week later. Despite having close contact with her, none of the vaccinated family members were infected. We saw how effective a vaccine is from our example.

Sadly, we have dozens of doctors who committed vaccine crimes [relating to fake vaccine certificates]. I think 6 people are under arrest. The saddest thing is we work hard to obtain vaccines so they can give a fake paper and dump the vial empty. //

Pashinyan about the international experience:

Countries with a 70% vaccination rate have very few deaths. The unvaccinated are 6x more likely to get infected here. The unvaccinated are 11x more likely to suffer severe symptoms.

European Union will recognize vaccine certificates administered in Armenia

Armenian and British certificates are "equivalent" to European electronic COVID certificates. The two states will connect to the EU Digital COVID Certificate network. In return, Armenia and Britain will recognize the EU certificates.

how long will the school break last?

Education Ministry denied reports about extending the Autumn break by two more weeks. Healthcare Ministry is currently discussing the need to give schools an extra week of break.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066685.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066702.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066689.html https://factor.am/434540.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066704.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066693.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066682.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066688.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066729.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066690.html https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/224084 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/mex_21_5645

Security Council chief Grigoryan about the planned border demarcation:

As we said earlier, it's necessary to withdraw armed forces in mirrored fashion and replace them with Border Guards in problematic areas, and to launch a border demarcation process.

We are ready. We are waiting for Azerbaijan. They gave a positive response in the UN in September but the process hasn't moved forward yet. I find it difficult to say why Azerbaijan does not want to launch the demarcation process.

Right now it's unclear which maps will be used.

The first Soviet-era demarcation happened in 1926-27, and finished in 1929. Those maps later served as the basis for future maps. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066701.html https://youtu.be/CDvveQdsCsM https://youtu.be/PbD7vutUY-E

ARF leadership's position on giving land for ceasefire: then vs now

As you remember from yesterday, Pashinyan went to Parliament for Q&A. Opposition ARF/HD alliance members criticized him for "not accepting a ceasefire when offered". The claim was disputed.

Pashinyan at one point responded, saying "didn't you know what the price of stopping the war was"? Pashinyan had given a speech in the early days of the war, stating that accepting peace at that stage would require handing over all the surrounding territories. He chose not to, and the opposition seemingly agreed with him.

Pashinyan yesterday criticized the opposition for not agreeing to hand over the lands yet being "hypocritical" and later claiming that he should have done so.

Putin had asked Pashinyan if he would agree to a certain ceasefire deal. Pashinyan held meetings with officials and opposition members to discuss it. This was on October 19. Pashinyan called Putin that night to agree to the offer, but it was allegedly rejected by Aliyev.

That day, ARF co-leader Ishkhan Saghatelyan released a video statement saying that ARF finds it unacceptable to sign any ceasefire deal in exchange for peace, or any deal that doesn't address the recognition of Artsakh.

Saghatelyan also called the phased resolution (5 regions now 2 later) as "unacceptable".

Saghatelyan on October 19: we have no right not to win this war. We must win this war despite being in a difficult state. We must reorganize and make a breakthrough on the battlefield. //

More: https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/224106 https://www.facebook.com/IshkhanSaghatelyanOfficial/videos/5117615648264133/

Pashinyan met the deputy CoGS of the Russian army and discussed military-technical cooperation

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066758.html

Azerbaijan will allocate $2.6B on defense & army in 2022

$100M less than this year.

https://factor.am/434413.html

how did Russia's state media cover the news about yesterday's Bayraktar strike video from Ukraine?

Ukraine released a video of an alleged Turkish TB drone strike on a pro-Russian artillery battery in Donbas. The host of a Russian state-run talk show promoted the theory that the strike was kind of "fake".

He cast doubt relating to the distance from the drone to the artillery unit, and suggested that none of the nearby soldiers would have been alive had it been a "real" TB strike. There was also a question of whether this was a staged video, not from Donbas.

A major theory that was promoted is that Ukraine intentionally used a less-lethal type of warhead just to create a "bang" to send a message. The host's theory is that the video was first released by Ukrainian propagandists, whose goal was to send a message that "bad things can happen if you [Russia] isolate Ukraine from the gas network".

The host brought up events that took place in Germany the day before the video. The events were about a positive outlook for the official certification of Russia's NordStream 2 gas pipeline. Germany wants to certify it, while Ukraine doesn't, because that would threaten their status as a transit gas state. So according to Russian TV, Ukraine released the video as a threat to pressure Russia over gas.

Note: remember that this is just a theory and that Russian TV hosts often find a way to link everything that's happening to gas because that's a hot topic.

https://youtu.be/DGOpNKlCJDQ

Russia has suspended delivery of Turkish mandarins, citing dangerous insects

https://factor.am/434158.html

President Sarkissian met UAE's deputy army commander

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan welcomed Sarkissian after the latter left Saudi Arabia for UAE yesterday. The two discussed various topics about AM-UAE relations.

While in UAE, Sarkissian also met Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the king of Bahrain.

opinion by Lebanon-based Azdak newspaper editor Gantaharian:

Saudi Arabia does not want to sit idle while Ankara strengthens its grip over the Sunni world. During various stages of the Syrian conflict, a sharp conflict was observed between Turkish and Saudi influences on the ground.

As for South Caucasus, Saudis likely don't welcome Turkey's attempts to form a Turanian-centric Islamic pole.

But there was also the reality of the possibility of changing Iran's borders, which in principle could be beneficial for Saudis. This has changed to some extent. A new negotiating process has been launched between Saudis and Iran to ease tensions.

I think all these circumstances should be considered when outlining the efforts of establishing Riyadh-Yerevan diplomatic relations. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066677.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066709.html

the government decided to shut down "nasty" Kosh and Hrazdan prisons

Justice Minister Andreasyan: this will save ֏1.2B next year. We have 12 penitentiaries. By eliminating these two, we will better focus on the rest to improve living conditions and human rights.

Less than half of the 5.3k penitentiary capacity is utilized in Armenia.

The change will lay off 280 workers. It could raise complaints but we plan to conduct vetting. 70 of them will receive jobs in other facilities, and another 50 will be sent to Probation Services. //

Pashinyan: today, we have a historically minimal number of detainees and convicts in Armenia. Kosh and Hrazdan penitentiaries have inhumane living conditions. Sadly, penitentiaries are enterprises that manufacture criminals. You can accidentally find yourself in one, and exit as a career criminal.

As part of the reforms to improve living conditions, we should work on the construction of a new penitentiary facility. We need to set standards. We can't give up on inmates.

We recently solved the food issue. What's unprecedented is that inmates are now eating the food provided by the prison because it's decent. Many low-income families don't have to spend monet anymore. We need more work here. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066703.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066743.html

government: we want you to build a greenhouse

NAKI LLC was given a tax waiver to import devices for greenhouse construction in Aragatsotn province. "The greenhouse complex complies with the best European experience and is considered to meet all modern standards. A capital investment of ֏160M has already been made."

There will be 3 additional jobs with $100/mo salary. Ain't much but honest work?

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066687.html

infrastructure upgrades across Armenia

The government allocated ֏68M to build a water network in Yenokavan (Tavush). Hundreds of families don't have access to drinking water today. They are forced to use a common tap in the village.

The pipe that delivers drinking water to Makenis (Gegharkunik) was partially rebuilt. The rest will be done later this year. It contained dangerous asbestos from the 1960s.

A similar project was completed in Lchavan (Gegharkunik). They replaced the cast iron water pipes.

The repairs are cofinanced by federal and local authorities.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066673.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066675.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066743.html

children in Akhpradzor (Gegharkunik) village finally have a soccer pitch

It's a mountainous village located near the eastern borders. Jinishyan Foundation and the municipality co-financed the construction of a soccer field.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066678.html

government wants to require small community leaders to present 5-year development plan, and make it easier to find administrators

1) After a small settlement with fewer than 500 residents merges into a big one, the village will not have a separate mayor anymore, but there will be a local community administrator in its place. The qualification requirements for this administrator will be less strict. No higher education degree will be required.

2) The community leaders must upload a downloadable document on their official website that describes their 5-year development plan and a report on its implementation.

3) Community council members will receive documents relating to council work electronically, too.

4) Council sessions can be held via teleconference in the event of an emergency.

5) Skipping more than half of council sessions without a valid reason will lead to automatic suspension.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066681.html

anti-corruption: authorities uncover a bribery network in Gyumri municipality

NSS reports: deputy head of Gyumri's Real Estate department conspired with the head of the Urban Development department to ensure that a resident received a city-owned property as a donation. They took a $2,000 bribe, the first half of which was paid two weeks ago. They were arrested two days ago during the second transaction.

The investigation led to uncovering of a bigger network involving multiple officials who shared the bribe money. Dozens of raids were carried out.

The officials who received the bribe, as well as the citizen who gave the bribe, have been arrested. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066680.html

anti-corruption: Serj's PU alliance candidate is charged with giving electoral bribes; bent ballot paper

Police reports: on June 26, we received a report that a resident of Gladzor (Vayots Dzor) had given an electoral bribe to a local family in exchange for a vote for the PU alliance in June 20.

The investigation revealed that PU MP candidate G.A. and his parents visited a family friend and asked them to help get G.A. elected by voting for PU.

To prove that they voted for PU, the candidate asked the family to bend the right upper corner of the ballot, as a sign. The candidate repeated his plea over the phone.

Then, on June 17, the candidate went to the family's backyard and gave them a $40 bribe. He's been charged and asked not to exit the country. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066684.html

VIDEO: rare leopard Nova was spotted again in Armenian forests

It must have found a stable source of food, believe experts.

https://youtu.be/uXCd95sqo5E

PHOTO: several Shengavit district buildings received new lighting

https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/224132

it's just the beginning: 100 12-meter buses will be imported; Yerevan will have a newly designed public transit map

Today the government approved an agreement between Yerevan Autobus CJSC and European EBRD bank.

Infrastructure Minister: per the agreement, 100 12-meter buses will be imported to Yerevan for public transit. The WYG International Ltd consulting agency was recently hired to study Yerevan's transit. A new network was designed. It was suggested to import 845 various-sized buses. //

Negotiations were held with EBRD bank in 2019. Armenia will need up to €150M for 845 buses. Most of it is a loan, with about a fifth being grants as part of an eco-program.

Pashinyan: we still need 700 more. There will be a unified ticket system. If we want a modern and lasting bus network, we need solutions in the long run because these buses must be serviced or new ones purchased every 10 years.

If they don't generate the necessary revenue, the government will need to constantly borrow to service them. Then the problem of operating a transport system with a state debt arises. We need a long-term solution relating to revenues.

The alternative is to return to "Gazel" practices. We must not return to Gazels. Yerevan needs a proper transport system. We will soon welcome the electric buses in the capital, followed by other cities.

Deputy Premier Mher: both the grant component, which I consider substantial for this deal, and the loan terms, are within the framework of the €2.6B cooperation agreement with the EU.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066696.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066743.html

Armenia "lends" ֏13.5B to Artsakh Republic to subsidize residents' bills

This is the fifth cash donation since the war, bringing the total to ֏120B. Electricity, gas, telecom, pensions, healthcare costs, and state salaries will be subsidized in November.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066698.html

social benefits for public workers will include dentist services, and more

The social package currently allows public workers to rest in Armenia or Artsakh, repay their mortgage, pay tuition, and basic healthcare insurance for themselves and their family members.

Today the government approved major reforms in the package to include new services and expand coverage. These will be covered:

1) Using sports and swimming clubs. (worker and family)

2) Additional services not included in the package, such as surgical or therapeutic dentist services. (worker only)

3) Tuition subsidy. (worker and family)

4) Kindergarten and preschool subsidies.

5) Repayment of monthly payment of all mortgage loans provided for the acquisition or construction of a property.

6) Showing the ID card to receive services is no longer the only option. Alternative identification documents will be accepted.

7) Workers will retain their social benefits and the funds will be transferred to their new [social-package-qualified] workplace if the job transfer was done within a month. Some qualification restrictions were removed relating to work experience.

8) The definition of "family" has extended and will include parents, adopter, adoptee, a person under guardianship, grandparents, grandchildren, and siblings who live in the same house. [Y NO NEIGHBORS?]

9) Miscellaneous changes to address legal jargon.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066725.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1066743.html

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/qhw7oa/news_recap_oct282021_armenian_vax_certs_approved/