6 minutes of Armenia coverage by Transcaucasian Telegraph.
Europe’s largest hospitality company Accor will invest $100 million in a hotel complex in Yerevan
Technotun, an Armenian developer company, and Europe’s largest hospitality company Accor from France signed a cooperation memorandum.
Technotun will construct the Pullman Living and Residences Yerevan hotel complex in Yerevan’s Nork-Marash district [Norqi Ayginer 180] for Accor. The investment project is expected to be worth over $100 million.
the president of the International Criminal Court expressed readiness to support Armenia to bring its laws in line with the Rome Statute
After the ratification it’s necessary to amend the Armenian law to make it compliant with the Statute. Justice Minister Minasyan visited the Hague where he met Tomako Akane, the President of ICC, to discuss that and other topics.
U.S. foreign minister Anthony Blinken about the AM-AZ peace process
BLINK: There is an extraordinary opportunity to realize a peace agreement that ends decades of conflict and creates in the region a tremendous opportunity for economic connectivity, for economic growth, for connecting countries both east, west, north, and south. Azerbaijan has a critical role to play in that. That’s something that really is within reach. I was speaking just about a week ago to Ilham Aliyev on this. I think that’s achievable, and it’s manifestly in the interests of both Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as the broader region. The U.S. is invested intensely with its diplomacy in trying to help bring Azerbaijan and Armenia to a peace agreement.
Russia has imported ~half a billion eggs from Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Belarus over the last 6 months
Regular readers recall from December telegraph that Russia freaked out over a looming egg deficit and lifted restrictions on imports. It became national news after videos of long lines.
A bulk of the 448 million eggs came from Belarus.
The low demand for eggs and unprecedented inflation in Russia continues since the end of last year.
World Bank publishes country classifications by income level for 2024-2025
It uses the country’s GNI per capita to place it in one of the following categories: low, lower-middle, upper-middle, or high.
AM, AZ, GE, IR, TR: upper-middle-income
European weightlifting champion Hripsime Khurshudyan ends her professional career
Armenia media outlet CivilNet is chosen by Meta to conduct fact-checks on Facebook and Instagram
They will monitor posts relating to Armenia. Meta has partnered with hundreds of local organizations in dozens of countries.
ruling party MP apologizes to opposition MP after a court verdict on defamation
In 2021, ruling MP Lena Nazaryan called an opposition MP an idiot. The courts have ruled that it’s illegal. The MP has issued an apology and will pay a fine.
The judge capped the fine at ֏300K ($770) after discovering that the MP isn’t rich.
bomb hoax suspect arrested
Someone made a call on Tuesday claiming there was a bomb at the Gyumri airport and that it was about to explode. The airport was evacuated. Nothing was found, obviously.
The Interior Ministry and NSS cooperated to identify the caller. A 36 y/o man has been arrested.
major clashes between Syrians and Turks lead to border closure
Allegations of a Syrian migrant sexually abusing a Syrian child in Kayseri, Turkey, have sparked riots that targeted Syrian businesses and cars.
Turkish government described the riots as an "attitude that does not suit our human values" after the arrest of dozens of rioters.
Erdogan blamed opposition parties, some of which have taken a hard line on removing the estimated 3.6 million Syrians from the country
Erdogan himself has pledged to create the conditions for large numbers of Syrians to voluntarily return to Syria.
The riots led to backlash inside Syria. In the Syrian town of Atareb, occupied by the Turkish army, the residents chanted anti-Turkish slogans and threw objects at Turkish armored vehicles.
Another video showed the chaotic situation that followed, with plumes of smoke and the sound of gunshots.
The Turkish flag was pulled down from a military base in occupied Ghazawiah, Syria.
At the “Bab al-Salama” border crossing with Turkey, the Turkish flag was removed, burned and replaced with a Free Syrian Army flag
Turkey closed its main border crossings with northwest Syria after attacks on Turkish troops. The border city of Afrin was the scene of the most violent clashes, with at least four people killed in an exchange of fire between armed protesters and Turkish troops.
Elsewhere, there were skirmishes and armed clashes, with civilians hurling stones at Turkish convoys in several towns, and tearing down the Turkish flag on some offices.
Syrian migrants in Turkey complain about forced segregation policies. Countless Syrian children are not in schools because of a requirement that Syrians remain in the districts they were registered in originally.
auditor has found violations in campaign donations received by Aprelu Yerkir party affiliated with Russian-Armenian billionaire Ruben Vardanyan
The AY took part in municipal elections in 2023. The auditor has found that over a hundred donors didn’t report their IDs, in violation of the Corruption Prevent Commission rules, reports the media.
The party also reportedly took donations from prohibited sources and failed to return them or transfer them to the state budget.
A bulk of [legal] donations were over ֏1 million in size.
over four dozen truck drivers have been fined this year for transporting dusty construction materials without cover
The majority of the observed trucks were properly covered.
6 public beaches open at Lake Sevan
The swimming season is upon us. The public beaches have changing rooms, showers, picnic areas, and other accommodations. Authorities remind motorboat riders to follow the instructions of patrol officers on boats.
Armenian surgeons begin using fluorescent liquid to glow tumors during brain surgeries: VIDEO
The fluorescence-guided approach, not to be confused with MRI contrast, allows them to see the border between healthy brain mass and the tumor for a more precise procedure. The patient is asked to drink the glowing liquid a few hours before the surgery.
The first such surgery in Armenia was conducted at the St. Gregory Illuminator hospital days ago.
In some cases, the life expectancy can increase from 1.5 years to 10. The more precise the surgery, the more mass can be removed without damaging the vital parts of the brain.
Armenian government wants to crack down on tax evasion through offshore schemes and loopholes caused by anti-double taxation laws
REPORTER: A global forum on tax transparency was held in Yerevan. What does this mean in terms of combatting offshore schemes, and what can you tell us about it?
BADASSIAN (IRS boss): It’s a platform to exchange information to combat tax evasion. Armenia has already received data and used it to recalculate some taxpayers’ obligations. We are also part of the system for the automatic exchange of information of bank account holders. Foreign financial institutions share information about Armenian residents’ bank accounts and balances, and vice versa. This is a powerful instrument that works. It monitors the circulation of trillions of euros and has helped recover hundreds of billions of euros, with almost a third in developing countries. Armenia has joined that, and today we are discussing a similar sharing for crypto information; Armenia is one of the first signatories.
REPORTER: Are offshore schemes popular, and what’s their damage to Armenia’s budget?
BADASSIAN: Yes, there is widespread use of offshore, which are countries with favorable tax environments. It also doesn’t have to be an "offshore" country, but one with an agreement against double taxation that has a loophole that allows you to avoid taxes in both countries. Our study for 2019-2021 shows that ֏616B in income was paid from Armenia to non-residents who either did not pay taxes or paid at a reduced rate. There are 3 main countries with an agreement against double taxation that cause major issues for Armenia: Luxemburg, UAE, and Cyprus. There are others as well. We have begun to calculate the approximate losses over the last few years. The very preliminary estimate shows ֏55B that should have been taxed in Armenia.
REPORTER: What are you doing to combat it?
BADASSIAN: International cooperation and expansion of our agency’s capabilities. We have been retraining our experts, we learn from developed countries, …
storksssssss: VIDEO
Regular readers of Transcaucasian Telegraph recall from
May 23 news that German nature group NABU regularly counts the global population of white storks and monitors their migration patterns.
Their agents in Armenia are visiting several hundred storks to enumerate them and take blood samples. Some of them even got GPS trackers.
Where do most Armenian storks fly to? It turns out – Iraq. After staying there for a year, some of them fly to Turkey, then Israel.
Some storks prefer not to leave Armenia at all, and the group is currently trying to understand if it’s related to pollution.
https://old.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/1dtz2b1/100m_hotel_offshore_crackdown_rome_statute/
Posted by ar_david_hh
2 Comments
>Major clashes between Syrians and Turks leaders to border closure
[My reaction:](https://youtu.be/NNh3ZWw9MJg?si=K7cQC_rELopDMHmr)
>Armenia media outlet CivilNet is chosen by Meta to conduct fact-checks on Facebook and Instagram
[My reaction part 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQZDonQ1PVk)
[My reaction part 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfQyq851SaE)