Data is taken from the Covid-19 portal and today's media availability with Premier Jason Kenney, Minister of Health Tyler Shandro, and Dr Deena Hinshaw. Dr Hinshaw's next availability it will be Monday.
There are currently enhanced measures in effect for the province of Alberta. This link provides a quick summary of which ones are in effect for different regions of Alberta. Alberta is currently on "Early Steps", with the goal of reaching Step 1 on February 8th.
Top line numbers:

• For values where "Current" and "Total" are the same, I have left results under Total

Value	Current	Change	Total
Total cases	—	+543	123,364
Active cases	7,805	-236	—
Cases with "Unknown source"	1,129 (34.8%) in last 7 days	-49 (-0.3%)	—
Tests	—	+11,608 (~4.68% positive)	3,154,153
People tested	—	+3,029	1,749,944 (~400,353/million)
Hospitalizations	594	+3/-7 based on yesterday's post/portal data	5,326 (+33)
ICU	110	-2/-3 based on yesterday's post/portal data	858 (+7)
Deaths	—	+14	1,620
Recoveries	—	+765	113,939

Age Range of Deaths

Age Bracket	New Deaths	Total Deaths
20-29	0	7
30-39	1	8
40-49	0	18
50-59	0	51
60-69	1	164
70-79	3	321
80+	9	1,050
Unknown	0	1

Vaccinations

Value	Change	Total
Vaccinations	+1,803	104,327 (~23,868/million)
Albertans with 2 vaccinations	+1,680	14,352 (~3,283/million)

Reported UK and South Africa Variants

• The value is updated by Alberta Health weekly
• Last update: January 29

Variant	Change since last update (January 25)	Cases
United Kingdom (B.1.1.7)	+11	31
South Africa (B.1.351)	+1	6

Spatial distribution of people tested, cases, and deaths:

• All other values are compared with respect to yesterday

Zone	Active Cases	People Tested	Total	New Cases	Total	New Deaths	Total
Calgary	3,138 (-64)	+1,203	708,112	+223	47,320	+1	505
Central	692 (-18)	+290	155,673	+67	8,777	+3	87
Edmonton	2,662 (-102)	+834	581,259	+155	51,266	+9	848
North	957 (-53)	+350	164,314	+58	10,049	+1	109
South	340 (+4)	+179	108,042	+39	5,822	+0	71
Unknown	16 (-3)	+173	32,544	+1	130	+0	0

Effective Reproductive Number (R, or Rt)

• The value is updated by Alberta Health on Mondays
• Last update: January 25
• What % the confidence interval represents isn't stated

Zone	R Value (Confidence interval)
Province-wide	0.81 (0.79-0.84)
Edmonton	0.81 (0.77-0.85)
Calgary	0.83 (0.79-0.87)
Rest of Province	0.77 (0.73-0.82)

Spatial distribution of cases for select cities and regions (cities proper for Calgary and Edmonton):

City/Municipality	Total	Active	Recovered	Deaths
Edmonton	41,833 (+122)	2,134 (-87)	38,987 (+204)	712 (+5)
Calgary	39,762 (+185)	2,592 (-41)	36,718 (+225)	452 (+1)
Red Deer	1,844 (+17)	174 (+2)	1,651 (+14)	19 (+1)
Lethbridge	1,704 (+29)	133 (+15)	1,559 (+14)	12 (+0)
Fort McMurray	1,681 (+2)	92 (-10)	1,586 (+12)	3 (+0)
Brooks	1,361 (+0)	3 (-1)	1,344 (+1)	14 (+0)
Grande Prairie	1,150 (+7)	147 (-5)	984 (+12)	19 (+0)
High River + county	769 (+0)	24 (-3)	738 (+3)	7 (+0)
Mackenzie county	553 (+7)	40 (+4)	498 (+3)	15 (+0)
Medicine Hat	527 (+2)	21 (+0)	493 (+2)	13 (+0)
Cardston county	466 (+4)	83 (-7)	377 (+11)	6 (+0)
I.D. No 9 (Banff)	423 (+11)	29 (+11)	394 (+0)	0
Wheatland county	232 (+2)	14 (+1)	218 (+1)	0
Warner county	158 (+0)	6 (+0)	150 (+0)	2 (+0)
Wood Buffalo municipality	133 (+2)	9 (+2)	124 (+0)	0
Rest of Alberta	30,768 (+153)	2,304 (-117)	28,118 (+263)	346 (+7)

Other municipalities with 10+ active cases is given at this link
Schools with outbreaks are listed online.
Quick numbers (changes since yesterday):

• 114 school are on alert (2-4 active cases) (+4)
• 15 schools are on outbreak with 5-9 active cases (+2)
• 4 school is on outbreak with over 10 active cases (+0)

Spatial distribution of hospital usage (change as of yesterday's post):

• Hospitalization zone are where the patient is receiving care, not zone of residence

Zone	Hospitalized	ICU
Calgary	199 (+8)	48 (+2)
Edmonton	246 (-9)	38 (-4)
Central	45 (-1)	7 (+0)
South	34 (+3)	8 (-1)
North	70 (+2)	9 (+1)

Statements by Premier Kenney
Opening Remarks

• Alberta must continue to proceed cautiously
• System is managing as a province, but some hospital facilities is still significant
• Peak reached in early January (>90% Covid capable bed occupancy)
• Problem in every region of the province as many rural regions are cared for in Calgary/Edmonton
• All healthcare workers have limits and we must protect capacity
• Notes (i) Peter Lougheed and Butterdome field units, (ii) AHS having no budget limits at the moment, and (iii) limited staff available

Restrictions

• Recognizes that stress that comes with economic and employment instability
• Why a "lockdown" has never been imposed with curfews, closed schools, and business closure
• Broad public support and compliance is important
• To strike this balance, wants to show a path forward...that bending curve lets public health measures lift
• Must be carefully, slowly, and data driven

Restriction Metrics

• Restrictions will be lifted in a stepped approach based on hospitalizations (ICU and general acute) values. It is a lagging indicator of healthcare capacity
• When a benchmark is reached, discussion will be considered for further advancement of relaxation. Hospitalizations will be primary factor, but growth of cases will also be considered
• Hospitalizations will be reviewed 3 weeks later. If hospitalizations have continued to fall, further progression will be considered
• Case numbers represent recent trends and will be used to determine if relaxations need to be paused or if additional restrictions are needed
• If cases surge to exponential growth and if a variant begins to increase spread, restrictions will be imposed again

Details of Relaxation Plan

• Some restrictions will apply in all steps and at least 3 weeks are place in between each step
• Early Steps: Schools open, outdoor gatherings up to 10 people, personal and wellness by appointment only, funerals up to 20 people
• Step 1 - Begins February 8th: Some easing in school function (indoooutdoor sports, performance activities), some indoor fitness, some dine-in options for restaurants/cafes/pubs bound by clear limitations (e.g. - distancing requirements, group size, masking, etc).
• Step 2 - Requires: Average hospitalization <450: Some easing for retail, banquet halls, community halls, hotels, conference centres. Some further easing on children sports/performance, indoor fitness
• Step 3 - Requires: Average hospitalization <300: Consider places of worship and limited reopening of museums, libraries, casinos, and indoor seated events. Consider indoor indoor social gatherings with limitations. All that are considered will have restrictions still
• Step 4 - Requires: Average hospitalization <150: Restrictions will exist, but will be closer to last summer. Wide range of indoor and indoor activities would be considered. Wedding/funeral receptions, trade shows, are on the table at this point
• Requires buy in from Albertans
• As measures are eased, community spread can occur
• Moving from 1 stage to another will not be automatic - it will be open for discussion
• Leading indicators will be used to warn of "red flags" for pausing relaxation

Closing Remarks

• Minister of Jobs Doug Schweitzer will make announcements for support in coming days
• Hopes that this will be a boost to Albertans and Albertan businesses
• We are not at the end and it will be a while until we see a real effect from vaccines. Variants add to the challenge
• This is not "back to normal" and if we think so, we'll start rolling back steps of the above plan again

Q&A

• There are people who willingly ignore restrictions. What should be done here?: Enforcement is last resort. Regrettable to see that people are doing this and it is disrespectful to healthcare staff; they are saying they are more important than healthcare and can hurt the entire province. Understands the frustration, but things won't improve if people continue to break rules. Calls politicians who support ignoring restrictions "irresponsible" and thinks stronger enforcement is required
• (Upon prompting, Dr Hinshaw added that most Albertans are following restrictions and cannot let the minority dictate the actions of the majority - more compliance results in higher potential for restrictions down the road)
• How much decision making is politics in UCP strongholds?: Decisions in Covid cabinet are data driven. One factor is population compliance; polling say it's about 20% of Albertans think restrictions are too stringent, 40% say it's about right, 40% not strong enough (believes there is no strong consensus). Believes vast majority of Albertans are compliant
• Who will get delayed with limited vaccine doses?: Defers to Minister Shandro. Notes he is worried about EU restricting exports of vaccine and asks federal government put pressure on Pfizer
• (Minister Shandro: Still reviewing. Will follow recommendations of health officials and defers to Dr Hinshaw)
• (Dr Hinshaw: Risk of severe outcomes driven. Still need to review)

Statements by Dr Hinshaw
Cases

• ~12% of schools have active cases (607 cases combined)
• Active cases in 291 schools
• 12 cases of variants identified: 31 UK total, 6 from South Africa
• All but 3 linked to travel and from same household (1 was the community spread case)
• No evidence of further community spread

Relaxations

• Knows many Albertans are keen to return to activities they have missed
• Most important step will be following restrictions in spirit
• If in-person interactions can be replaced, cases will further reduce and prevent spread of variants

Q&A

• What data is being used for deciding Step 1?: Uses BC as an example for successful limited service in these activities and did study of where spread can occur. Group fitness events are high spread (especially high intensity). Opening for fitness will be to bar high intensity fitness. Opening only low risk parts (e.g. - only a single household at a table). More information next week.
• (Premier Kenney added that global data was used)
• How much did Covid variant affect this plan?: Key part of plan is followed by 3 weeks of observation. A part of the 3 week timeline is to monitor for rising cases. This will allow for monitoring
• How confident are you in containing variant?: Concerning in case identification. Significant testing of incoming travellers has allowed for early containment of most cases
• (Premier Kenney added: Concerned for widespread risk of variant. Also considers some positives in vaccines being rolled out and increased contact tracing)

Statements by Minster Shandro

• Proud of progress of vaccination
• Notes Moderna's cut; it feels like Alberta isn't a priority
• Alberta Health was informed that it will reduce from 24,600 to 18,800 doses (5,800 fewer. ~23.5%)
• Informed all February Moderna deliveries being accessed, so unknown how much Alberta will receive in that time
• Accessing impact on first and second doses
• Knows the frustration from Albertans and thinks new from federal governments continues getting worse
• Wants a national strategy for vaccine supply

Q&A

• Does reopening 1 week from now contradict previous comments from Dr Hinshaw/Minister Shandro?: 2 important messages about "stepping up and stepping down". Trying to show Albertans how it could happen and separate from message of potential for further restrictions if cases spread further
• (Upon request from Minister Shandro, Premier Kenney added: The approach is very gradual and are already available in neighbouring provinces of BC and Saskatchewan. Will monitor closely as to best balance multiple pressure on the province. Notes mental health has worsened because of economic stresses for business owners)
• (Dr Hinshaw was asked to add by Premier Kenney: Notes that significant restrictions will exist in the sectors that reopen. But to get more than that will take more work from Albertans to reduce cases and hospitalization)

Additional information will be logged below:

• The final question was for Premier Kenney in French. While I cannot translate, the reporter stated it was about the compliance of Albertans on vaccines.

Your 14-minute Tuesday report in 3589 words.

Pashinyan about pre-war negotiations and "avoiding" the war:

The idea that a flexible foreign policy could have avoided this war is being constantly circulated. Those [former officials] who believe in this thesis must answer at least one question: as a result of their "flexible" policy, why was it not possible to avoid the war of 2016, which was preceded by the unprecedented escalation of 2015 and 2014?
The "flexible" policy adopted by Armenia for many years led to the introduction of Russian proposals in January 2016, which proposed the return of 7 territories (5 + 2) without any legal status for Nagorno-Karabakh.
Why did Russia make such an offer? For one simple reason, as a result of Armenia's "flexible" policy, the Madrid process had come to a standstill because Artsakh could receive a Status outside Azerbaijan only with the consent of Azerbaijan.
It was obvious to Russia and everyone else that Azerbaijan would not agree to this, so it was necessary to find ways to break the deadlock.
And, by the way, if certain people claim that Armenia's foreign policy after 2018 was not sufficiently pro-Russian and this was the reason for the war, then why in the conditions of the "sufficiently pro-Russian" policy of 2016 were Russian proposals born and why did the April war take place?
There was only one way to prevent this war: return the regions and forget about Artsakh's legal status. Now, after the war is over and we know the outcome, the number of supporters of [giveaway of 7 regions] is growing. What they forget is that if we gave away the lands to avoid the war, we would have the same situation in Syunik borders. They used to accuse us of "selling lands" [he means the contradictory statements like Nikol sold the lands, and why didn't Nikol sell the lands earlier to avoid the war].
The biggest failure by the supporters of the "flexible policies" is that they spent years trying to avoid a war instead of preparing for it. Our biggest failure is that we weren't able to recover enough embezzled public property in the past 2.5 years to help us better prepare for the war.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039231.html

businesses owned by opposition leaders

What are the known businesses owned by some of the famous people you might have seen in the public square lately?

Vazgen Manukyan

20% share in Lorva Amrots Ltd which plans to operate two hydro-power plants on Dzoraget river. Manukyan purchased the shares in 2011 after being appointed by Serj as the head of the Public Council.
In 2015-2016, he owned 30% shares in Vanavka Group. In 2015-2017 he had 30% shares in Jermakunq Group. These companies extracted and bottled water. At the time, the director of these companies was charged with illegal bottling and causing ֏55 million in damages to the state. The corruption case was sent to the IRS, which terminated the investigation after "not finding a crime". The companies export the products mostly to Russia.
 

Arthur Vanetsyan

Vanetsyan is a poor boy, according to the public declarations database. But if you have time, take a look at the investigative report I covered in Ap29/2020 news, according to which Vanetsyan's family allegedly used offshore firms and owns mining shares. More on that here. Here is a Hetq investigative report.
Vanetsyan's father owns AV Group flower importing business. About a year ago, the police investigated several flower sellers near a stadium. An opposition outlet claimed that the sellers were "beaten and forced" to testify that Vanetsyan's father was running an underground business. This was never properly proven and the opposition's claim that Vanetsyan was about to be charged did not happen. The police confirmed that there was an investigation against several flower sellers. These flower sellers ended up hiring Vanetsyan's co-party-creator Arsen Babayan as a lawyer.
Vanetsyan's father owns 50% shares of A B Export oil import company that began operating in 2017. It was a minor player that quit the market in 2019. Vanetsyan's father also owns 60% of A B Trans transportation company.
In Nov/2019, CivilNet wrote about Arthur Vanetsyan's cousins' possible involvement with Zangezur Copper factory (massive business). The same offshore firm in Cyprus, which purchased Zangezur shares, was tied to Vanetsyan's cousins' another business in the same offshore.
Vanetsyan's cousins also own a Switzerland-based Exoil wholesale cooking oil and shipping company. In 2019 it had a revenue of $148 million (11 billion Rubles). The cousins don't do this business in Armenia.
Per 2019 registration, Arthur Vanetsyan himself owns one apartment, $10,000, and ֏1 million.
Media reported in May/2020 that Vanetsyan's cousin purchased a ֏300 million mansion in Yerevan, which was donated to then-new political party "Hayreniq", co-founded by Arthur Vanetsyan and Arsen Babayan (the guy who is accused of helping HHK to fabricate documents in 2018 to hijack the Constitutional Court by appointing HHK MP Hrayr Tovmasyan as a judge).
Arthur Vanetsyan's mother served as the chief of the personnel-management department in Serj and Pashinyan administrations, before quitting and working as Serj's aide.
Vanetsyan's wife owns Villa Montessori preschool in Yerevan. She also runs the Young Education Center Ltd.
 

ARF Ishkhan Saghatelyan

Pashinyan appointed Saghatelyan as Gegharquniq governor for a brief period after the 2018 revolution, when Pashinyan created a unity-government, represented by all political parties. The honeymoon soon ended and each party went their way.
Saghatelyan owns shares in i-mega Service Ltd. It's a tourism agency founded in 2006. It operates in Armenia, Artsakh, and Georgia.
Saghatelyan founded Navasar company and serves as director. It's owned by his father.
Saghatelyan family owns the Tsovasar hotel complex on Lake Sevan shores. It's 10,000 m² (a hectare?).
As of 2018, Saghatelyan declared ownership of 8 pieces of land, 2 apartments, ֏18.5 million, $45,000, and €15,000.
Saghatelyan's father is the mayor of Gegharquniq's Geghamavan settlement. This municipality had recently sent a letter demanding Pashinyan's resignation.
Saghatelyan used to be a shareholder of Shiman Ltd which is no longer active.
 

BHK leader Gagik "dodi gago" Tsarukyan

BUCKLE UP, KIDS! Overall, Tsarukyan runs 54 companies. Студент, комсомолец, спортсмен, u наконец, он просто красавиц.
His business empire was covered in details here. Textile, gas stations, malls, Multi Group empire, Shangri-La Casino, Ararat Cognac & Wine Factory, BMW official office Euromotors (also Hyundai, Gazel, Niva), Multi Motors, Magas Invest, Multi Wellness, Olimpavan sports complex, Kotayk beer factory, TechnAlyumin door & window factory, Multi Rest House hotel chain, Paravon luxury restaurant, Onira Club, Zvartnot's airport's upper-level service company Avia Service, Farm Adama, Multi Pharm pharmacy, Multi Leon gas stations, Multi Solar solar panels.
He owns shares in Frank Mueller Yerevan watch company, Fortsa, Multi Gold, Multi Diamond jewelry firms, several fish-breeding businesses.
He also runs businesses in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Czechia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Latvia.
Per official declaration, he owns $168 million, €29 million, ֏675 million, 14 pieces of land, 6 houses, 2 public buildings, 1 apartment.
 
Details for BHK MP Mikael Melkumyan and HHK Vahram Baghdasaryan in the link below.
 
https://fip.am/14388
https://hetq.am/hy/article/88755
https://www.reddit.com/armenia/comments/gagkyp/apr292020_wednesday_news_armenia_being_sued_fo?
www.civilnet.am/news/2019/11/01/Զանգեզուրի-պղնձամոլիբդենային-Մաքսիմ-Հակոբյանի-ու-նրա-որդու-փոխարեն-նոր-բաժնետերեր-Ժնևից-և-Աջափնյակից/369792
www.1lurer.am/hy/2020/01/29/Բենզինի-շուկա-Արթուր-Վանեցյանի-հայրը-դուրս-է-եկել-ոլորտից-Միքայել-Մինասյանի-մերձավորը՝-խոշորների-մա/182670

opposition continues the demonstrations

The street demonstrations, organized by the former regime and its allies, continue. They demand Pashinyan's resignation and the appointment of their candidate Vazgen Manukyan as the Prime Minister for the duration of a year, after which they agree to hold new elections.
ARF leader Artsvik Minasyan said they don't plan to discuss snap elections with Pashinyan. "Right now, our only demand is Pashinyan's resignation. We demand SIS to immediately hold every criminal accountable". The demonstrators gathered in front of the SIS building to present the demands.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039316.html

Pashinyan meets leaders of several opposition parties

QP leader Lilith: there is a possibility there will be a meeting between Pashinyan and the three Parliamentary political parties. They could discuss snap elections. The impression is that politicians who demand Pashinyan's resignation do not want snap elections in an attempt to bypass the citizen's right to form a government. Our political team reaffirms the position that none of us is clinging on seats. //
LHK MP Gorgisyan: we cannot hold snap elections now, under this chaotic situation. We will discuss snap elections if Pashinyan discusses his resignation and transfer of power. (LHK wants its leader Marukyan to be elected as Prime Minister by a Parliamentary vote) //
Pashinyan met BHK leader Tsarukyan. The latter is against holding snap elections unless Pashinyan resigns now, and presumably, he wants Vazgen Manukyan appointed as PM.
LHK leader Marukyan also wants Pashinyan to resign now so a new Prime Minister can form a new government cabinet "consisted of experts".
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039261.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039268.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039299.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039322.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039323.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039327.html

felony case: ex-HHK MP charged with armed attack on ex-IRS official

In August of this year, Russia extradited a former HHK MP Alraghatsi Lyovik to Armenia. He was wanted for allegedly burglarizing and shooting at a senior IRS official a decade ago. At the time, his case was "frozen". It was relaunched in 2018. (magic wand)
NSS says: suspect Lyovik, with the help of citizens AK and AN, organized an armed burglary against IRS Chief (?) Avetisyan in 2008.
AK was in the United States. In 2004, he stole $150,000 from jewelry shops in Los Angeles. He got caught but managed to flee to Armenia.
Once in Armenia, AK colluded with policeman AN to organize a similar criminal ring in Armenia.
[MP] Lyovik personally knew AK, and learned about their burglaries. Since Lyovik had bad relations with the IRS chief (victim), he decided to punish the victim by urging AK to burglarize his house. Lyovik revealed the plot to his brother-in-law, who happened to be the victim's personal aide. The latter gave all the personal habits and details about the victim to the burglars.
[read the article for the full story, or wait for a Hollywood movie in theaters near you]
The burglars and organizers are charged with felonies.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/203835 , https://youtu.be/brdozVbwQ6A , https://factor.am/274836.html , https://armtimes.com/hy/article/183522 , https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/203835 ,

Russian Orthodox chapel will be built

... in the Armenian settlement near Nakhijevan where Azerbaijan had earlier shut down a Russian helicopter, which killed and wounded Russian pilots. It'll be on a hill in Yeraskh. Construction starts on January 6th.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039259.html

Russian peacekeepers conducted training

... to stay in shape. A report by WarGonzo's Semyon Pegovn who returned to Artsakh to meet the New Year there.
https://youtu.be/-c1BSTkC-a8

Russia and Turkey comment

Russian MFA: The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh should not be used for the infiltration of foreign mercenaries into the region. Here we have exactly the same position as our Turkish partners.
Turkish MFA: we see that a ceasefire has been established. We hope to establish the joint RU-TR monitoring center soon.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039281.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039282.html

Vitalik Balasanyan will return the lands, kicks junkies, and restrict Facebook

Artsakh President Arayik earlier announced that he will allow his opponents to take jobs in the new coalition government. Kocharyan-ally Vitali Balasanyan became the Security Council chief.
Vitalik: we will return Hadrut and Askeran region with the help of Russian and Armenian military-political efforts. We are in a better situation now to solve territorial issues.
We will soon create border guard forces. It will report to MoD, which will report to the Security Council (his office).
Drugs have no place in Artsakh. Drug users must quit or leave Artsakh now.
We need to return to traditional values of giving women as wives after asking if the man had served in the army.
No public official will be allowed to use Facebook during work.
More: https://youtu.be/DceHyi4AB5g
https://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/289056/

search operations are paused / the "welcome to Azerbaijan" sign

Azerbaijan received criticism for refusing to allow search teams to enter the Hadrut region yesterday. They also prevented UNESCO from checking the status of several Armenian cultural sights, after complaining that UNESCO was "biased" against Azerbaijan during the war.
HR Ombudsman: Any untrue information can not be a reason to disrupt the humanitarian process [referring to unconfirmed rumors on social media that Armenians opened fire at Azeris in Hadrut. An unofficial Iranian social media channel claims 3 Azeris were killed but due to an internal fight.]
The Human Rights Ombudsman also criticized the Azeri troops for installing a provocative "welcome to Azerbaijan" sign on part of a road that went under Azeri control near Syunik borders. The Ombudsman says it's meant to intimidate the locals.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039233.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039237.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039244.html , https://factor.am/325511.html

Parliament votes: BHK MP Naira Zohrabyan's chairmanship

Context: BHK MP Naira Zohrabyan referred to the majority of Armenian voters as human trash *(or as she says: impure), and called for the establishment of forced re-education camps so people won't vote for a "wrong party" again. The ruling QP party launched a process to terminate her chairmanship in Parliamentary Human Rights Committee. Read yesterday's thread for more details.*
QP MP Arthur: the law states that the Parliament can appoint and terminate the chairman. The termination of this seat does not require the same procedures as in the case of MPs and Judges. Armenian Constitution states that in Armenia, human beings are of the highest value, and inalienable human dignity is the inseparable basis of their rights and freedoms. MP Zohrabyan's public conduct is against it. //
The law gives the second-largest political party the mandate to appoint the chairman of this particular Committee. BHK, being the second-largest party, said they wouldn't appoint a replacement if Zohrabyan is voted out.
QP MP Arthur: per rules, if BHK refuses to appoint a new candidate, the largest (QP) party will receive the mandate. //
Parliament voted 78-4 to terminate Zohrabyan's chairmanship. BHK and LHK did not vote.
BHK MP Zohrabyan: this termination was a Constitutional crime.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039245.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039264.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039304.html , https://factor.am/325132.html

Parliament votes: registering parties becomes easier / ideology instead of person / financial transparency

The goal of this reform is to have political parties that are more about ideology and less about an individual. The reform will boost internal democracy within parties; it will expand the powers of the Party Assembly.
Parties will be required to add more anonymous voting mechanisms.
The law also requires more financial transparency.
The required membership to register a party is lowered from 800 to 300.
Some of the public funding given to political parties will depend on the % of female members in the administrative boards.
Parliament voted 99-1 to approve it.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039270.html , https://youtu.be/bPuZViCCCxo

Parliament votes: monthly fees towards soldiers' recovery are raised

Most workers pay a monthly 1000 Dram towards the Soldiers' Fund, which takes care of wounded soldiers and families of those who died. The govt found it necessary to raise the fee to cover thousands of new recipients. Here are the new fees and salary brackets:
֏1,500 for < ֏100k/month
֏3,000 for < ֏200k
֏5,500 for < ֏500k
֏8,500 for < ֏1 million
֏15,000 for > ֏1 million
Parliament voted 89-0 to approve it.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039296.html

Parliament votes: ban on public smoking is delayed until 2022

The govt had adopted a law to ban smoking in public cafes and the public display of cigarettes in grocery shops. The ruling party wanted to delay parts of the bill that were set to go into effect in January, citing possible financial issues for businesses caused by the pandemic.
QP MP: the cigarette industry pays $383 million to state coffers.
Healthcare Ministry: it will be a mistake if you delay this bill for the sake of $10 million in tax revenues.
Parliament voted 86-0 to delay the anti-smoking bill until 2022.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039295.html

Parliament votes: no tax on goods donated to Armenia

QP MP: When you donate a charitable product to the Republic of Armenia, you are exempt from customs duties and other tax payments, except for one payment, which we are trying to exempt with this bill as well. //
Parliament voted 80-0 to approve it.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039297.html

how is the Judicial Branch doing?

The Supreme Court protects or punishes judges. It also handles complaints. It's separate from the Constitutional Court.
bad boys
19 complaints against judges were heard, 14 of which were petitioned by Justice Ministry and 4 by Judicial Ethics Board. 10 judges ended up receiving disciplinary penalties, 3 received a warning, 3 were reprimanded, 2 were terminated, 4 were cleared.
the system is overloaded
61 judges are handling 6470 felony cases.
86 judges handle 175,940 civil cases.
24 judges handle 17,390 administrative cases.
The number of Arbitration cases rose from 3100 to 9900.
finances
This year, Supremes appointed 20 new judges. Supreme's budget remained the same this year. They returned ֏607 million in savings back to state coffers.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039249.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039284.html

anti-corruption: SIS busts an IRS agent

SIS says: IRS border inspector took a bribe from a citizen to help him avoid paying Millions of ֏ in import taxes by splitting a large load into smaller pieces, so each piece would fall below the taxable threshold.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039293.html

IRS wants you to file less paperwork

IRS says the latest reforms will help the exporters and simplify the process in which Armenia is used as a transit country for trade. Some tasks can be done online.
More: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039247.html

update: electricity prices

...won't go up for low-income families or those using less than 400 kWh. That's 90% of consumers. The rest will pay 3 Drams more. The rates are presented (6-10¢):
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039285.html

police to guard Lake Sevan against poachers

Police and Nature Ministry have set up additional checkpoints as part of measures against whitefish poaching in Sevan. 24/7 monitoring on all alleys leading to the lake. They will also travel across markets to catch contraband whitefish.
Why? It's the egg-laying season. Fishing is banned for now. The legally-allowed fishing tools were temporarily removed from the lake.
https://youtu.be/8ZyRGpEazMQ
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039339.html

rare Caucasus Leopard is spotted by cameras again

https://youtu.be/2nidC5QJaIg

"only 10% of villagers should do agriculture"

...the rest should have access to other jobs. There is an opportunity now because many businesses operate remotely. Call Center workers don't have to visit an office. Businesses would rather pay less to hire a rural remote worker than more to hire someone in a Yerevan office.
The High Tech Ministry has an ongoing program to teach IT to 5,000 citizens. We must help workers to expand their skillset. We're working on a program to allow a worker to quit the job, not worry about the food on the table, and have enough time for education and learning new skills.
The villagers should ideally lease their smaller lands to large agricultural producers," said Economy Minister Qerobyan.
Full interview: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039319.html

State regulators bust another price-fixing ring: fruit mafia

Yesterday, the Economic Competition Committee busted the egg industry's alleged price-fixing and anti-competitive practices. Today they say a similar collision was observed in the orange, mandarin, kiwi, lemon industry.
The companies Best Fruits, Art-Fruits, and Promout were slapped with a ֏39 million in penalties for colluding to raise the prices for the products that had an increased demand during the pandemic period.
http://www.competition.am/.../resources/Vo370_17_12_2020.pdf
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039269.html

Lenovo slapped for "anti-competitive practice"

The Economic Competition Committee heard a petition filed by Oazis Computer company against Lenovo. The latter was issued a warning for anti-competitive behavior.
Public Regulator: "Lenovo" company had the ability to influence the process of importing Lenovo computers to Armenia from non-EAEU trade bloc countries. "Lenovo" took steps to reduce the import of Lenovo computers from non-EAEU states, by discriminating against Oazis Computer importer. Lenovo is given a month to correct the issue and fix the requirement and standards related paperwork.
(Facebook next?)
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039333.html

Artsakh will also increase childbirth benefits

First child: ֏300k instead of ֏100k
Second child: ֏300k instead of ֏200k
(or ֏500k if one parent is disabled)
As for monthly child care subsidy payments, it goes from ֏15k to ֏27k until the child turns 2.
https://factor.am/325487.html

year wrap-up: births in capital Yerevan

girls 2019: 10173
girls 2020: 10489
boys 2019: 11251
boys 2020: 11430
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039278.html

year wrap-up: tax revenues

2018: ֏1.257 trillion
2019: ֏1.458 trillion
2020: ֏1.379 trillion
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/203846

COVID stats

+2483 tested. +348 infected. +22 deaths. +1267 healed. 13881 active.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039240.html

chess news

Levon Aronyan has advanced to the Airthings Masters quarter-finals where he will play against Hikaru Nakamura. He is 1pt behind the leaders. The winner receives a $60,000 prize.
https://www.chess.com/news/view/airthings-masters-chess-day-4
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039228.html

French city of Valence to name a street

... after Artsakh capital Stenapakert. It already had Ijevan Park, Armenia Street, and Yerevan Street. Stepanakert Street will be located in a newly built district. There will be Toros Street as well.
https://youtu.be/EuQV5bt4Ytc
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/203833

Italian city of di Lovere has officially recognized the Artsakh Republic

https://www.facebook.com/HayastaniDespanutyun/posts/3499573803472410
https://factor.am/325379.html

Kapan Medical Center has a new CT scanner

... thanks to generous diasporan donors like you. The first one was installed during the war in Goris city.
https://factor.am/325090.html

Artsakh children receive New Years' gifts

Focus on Children Now charity organization distributed gifts to hundreds of Artsakh kids residing in Gegharquniq province. Backpacks, clothing, items of basic necessity, money, and postcards written by kids living in the United States.
https://www.focusonchildrennow.org/
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039302.html

Himnadram donates to refugee families

700 Artsakh families continue to live in 40 settlements of Gegharquniq province. The All Armenia Fund (HimnaDram.org) has provided food and household items to 241 families ahead of New Year.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039313.html

daily life in Syunik bordering villages Shurnukh and Vorotan

https://youtu.be/E1UJd4NtLLs
https://www.civilnet.am/news/2020/12/29/Շուռնուխ-Որոտան․-կյանքը-անկոչ-հարևանների-հետ/414772

donations for Artsakh & recovering soldiers

www.1000plus.am (recovering soldiers & their families)
www.HimnaDram.org (for Artsakh & Armenia)
www.ArmeniaFund.org (U.S. tax-deductible)

archive of older posts

Armeniapedia's archive of my daily news threads:
http://www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/Daily_Anti-Corruption_Reports

disclaimer

All the accused are considered innocent unless proven guilty in the court of law, even if they "sound" guilty.

I want to preface that the contents of this post is for informational purposes. I do not condone or approve of any harassments or witch-hunting or the attacking of anybody.
 
Richard Lewis recently did a stream talking about the terrible state of CS esports and I thought it was an important stream anyone who cares about the CS community should listen to.
Vod Link here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/830415547
I realize it is 3 hours long so I took it upon myself to create a list of interesting points from the stream so you don't have to listen to the whole thing, although I still encourage you to do so if you can.
I know this post is still long but probably easier to digest, especially in parts.
Here is a link to my raw notes if you for some reason want to read through this which includes some omitted stuff. It's in chronological order of things said in the stream and has some time stamps. https://pastebin.com/6QWTLr8T

Intro

• "The last month has convinced me, that we are going to be heading into a dark place for Counter-Strike esports in 2021."
  • "I think I've seen the scene essentially kill itself."
• "For the past 5 to 6 years, we've basically been in a holding pattern of people coming into our game wanting to run it, wanting to run all of the esports and wanting to profiteer and its been sort of a concerted effort to drive them off and push them away."
  • "We're spread way too thin."
• "If Riot don't get involved and stop the scumbags that have moved over to Valorant from getting their feet under the table, Valorant is going to have real problems."
• RL thinks too much has happened all at once for us to do anything except watch it play out, like:
  • Recent CSPPA strike against BLAST
  • ESIC failures and them not being supported enough
  • Teams cheating i.e. coaches/bugs
  • Widespread match fixing
  • The Pandemic
    • "People who try to hold bubble events are so incompetent and fuck up and people get the 'rona and its their fault."
    • "People who say Flashpoint is a bubble is full of shit and is a lie and people are now suffering for that lie."
      • "To save money they let people go home and break the bubble for a week."
      • "Not just Flashpoint peoples decision, they have a partner that handles the production." (hinting FACEIT)
      • "People are trapped in hotels essentially under house arrest because of COVID restrictions and has fucked peoples lives up."
• "It's all too much, all of this incompetence, all of this greed, maybe we ride it out."
  • RL says he has talked to the Riot devs (the ones working on Valorant) and says, "They are so cognizant of all the fuck ups and all the problems we have in Counter-Strike."
    • He continues to say that this is factored into their business plan and that we never had a competitor, but just so happens to have one coincide, when we are at our worst.

CSPPA - Counter-Strike Professional Players' Association

"Who does this union really fucking serve?"

• RL believes that the CSPPA is a mockery.
  
  • He points out the hypocrisy that they wouldn't strike for the pros who were kicked out of ESL Pro League, or for Jamppi or dream3r.
    • He also says ESL paid CSPPA and are racketeering and many other TOs have to pay them to get their "seal of approval"
      • He says they would strong-arm TOs saying "well if you don't give us the money, these guys are so we'll just have to commit to playing their event."
    • Also points out that they will strike against a competitor they are not in agreement with (Flashpoint)
    • RL: "It's what it says about every other time you haven't done it and it's about every time you don't do it now moving forward." "The issues they've chosen to ignore this year alone are embarrassing."
    • Then he points out that there was no strike for Valve qualifiers even if we have no major but Jamppi and dream3r can't play in them.
      • "and Valve have said 'Oh yeah we know actually their stories are accurate, Jamppi didn't cheat, now in a legally binding document. Yep dream3r did have his account hacked in a LAN café', but they still can't play. Where is the fucking solidarity? Gone. Doesn't exist. It's not important [because] it doesn't affect you." "That's what the union does right now, it looks after all the tier 1 people."
• He says the CSPPA doesn't represent all players all the time and has driven a divide where you have the haves and have-nots
  
  • "We have a tier of players that operate with impunity and do not help their tier 2 or tier 3 players out at all." "If you are not a tier 1 player you do not matter, they don't event ask your opinion."
  • He tells chrisJ to admit and own the fact that the reason he didn't speak up during the ESL Pro League debacle is because it didn't affect him
  • "They are looking after some players at the expense of other players. How the fuck is that a union?"
• He says the BLAST situation is a reasonable dispute and supports the players but is not the right time for a strike and have not even identified the correct enemy
  
  • He thinks players are lashing out now due to previous incidents and are upset that BLAST are working with ESIC
    • He stated that CSPPA shouldn't beefing with ESIC and they should be working in harmony
  • He says what they need to do is talk with the teams/organizations that have sold that right to BLAST
    • RL: "Your employers, the people who pay you that massive exorbitant salaries, when you don't stream and you don't do interviews and you offer no value beyond your ability to click heads and you get 25k dollars a month." "Why don't you talk to them about it? Oh right. You're happy to take away BLAST's paper, but you don't want to risk your own."
  • "I am seeing such unbelievable cowardice from the players here with the battles you choose."
  • "Where was the strike action when in the qualifiers for the world championship, there were teams and players engaged in huge conflicts of interest?" "Where was the strike action when your image rights were taken and sold to every league you've ever been in every union type organization you've ever been associated with like, WESA, to your org every time you sign a contract, to the leagues you play in."
    • "Your image rights are essentially worthless now, there's about 10 fucking separate parties that have them, and how many of them are giving you anything for it? Not much pretty much your org by the way."
    • "That's a big issue. Your image is you, your image is your brand. What are you doing about that? Nothing."
• He is also angry at SirScoots who is "popping off" at people on Twitter who all want the same thing, which is 'A unified Counter-Strike scene for everybody, that works for everybody, that has a sustained ecosystem that nourishes everybody.' "We don't have that now."
  
• He also says their rankings are a joke
  
  • "Just so happened, oh look TACO, that very important prominent member of the board, we pushed his team artificially up when they weren't even in the fucking top 20, not by a long shot."
• He also says the ineptitude of the CSPPA cost Flashpoint a monitor sponsor
  
• "Is it really a player association or is it like a fucking agency at this point"
  

ESIC - Esports Integrity Commission

"They have been put in an impossible position."

• RL says that Ian Smith, the founder of ESIC and who was done work in mainstream sports, is a good and honorable man who has dedicated his life to integrity and sports. He takes on both sides, ensuring match fixers are punished, but also doing appeals and ensuring those punishments were fair.
• "ESIC is a tiny organization" and are in need of money, "They didn't run a grift like the CSPPA did."
  • "Saying 'you want our support and you want the players to turn up you better pay us.' They don't do that."
  • "Had startup seed money from MTG and since then they've been pecking shit with the hens."
    • Ian Smith made sure that the money given by MTG (Modern Times Group, parent company of ESL, ESEA, DreamHack) was nothing more than startup money and wouldn't be in debt to them
      • Ian Smith sat down with other TO's not part of MTG and wanted to partner with them. They declined and called ESIC "ESL spies and we will never align ourselves with you"
  • "They only were just able to afford, hiring a PR guy on a full time salary to deal with the press and send out those releases you've seen, this year."
    • "They have a tiny group of staff investigating these things and they have taken on the biggest problems in our scene: the cheating, the match fixing."
• ESIC have had "unprecedented levels of cheating to deal with, because there's something wrong with our scene ever since we went online. There's something wrong with it, everyone's lost their fucking pride and self-respect and they got no passion for it anymore, so they think fuck it, what's in it for me?"
  • He calls out coaches who are talking about players rights when they would rob and steal from them.
    • Also says more coaches being banned are coming
    • He also points out flaws in community's reaction to the punishments to coaches bans: "Half of the cunts still have jobs and some of the cunts got new jobs. We didn't even shun the cheating coaches."
• ESIC have "found I think another 2 or 3 exploits like that one and they are investigating them all right now, it's going on right now."
  
  • "I know that there are going to be more names getting banned, again."
  • "So they're doing that on a skeleton crew while, investigating 3 continents worth of match fixing in MDL and semi-pro level CS." "They're doing this with half a dozen people." "They don't have any money or any help. People barely even fucking cooperate with them, they are treated like pariahs. It's ridiculous."
    • "Why are the CSPPA popping off at ESIC on my Twitter timeline, when you should be working together." "because its all about what's in it in for me." "2020, the online era of CS: 'What is in it for me?' How can I cheat, how can I get my paper, how can I bleed this scene one last time before I fuck off and play shooty shooty bang bang Riot Games babys first fps."
• RL says that in the CIS region, teams have gone to tournaments and have been eliminated multiple times by the same team. We found out they were cheating and those players who lost, have been cut from their roster, careers ended because of cheaters.
  

Stream Sniping

"They're all at it in the online era, they're all at it, they're all cheating, they're all using exploits, probably that see through smoke bug got used a bunch of times"

• RL talks about how there is no integrity from dead (the player), always denying when caught doing something
  • On the topic of 'BLAST never said we couldn't stream snipe': "Lies, BLAST never said you could do that, they had to sort of retcon it." "because what happened after that they fucking started snitching and squealing"
    • "Suddenly you had like, 10 of the top 15 teams in the world, staring into the abyss of being banned for 6-12 months in line with ESIC recommendations."
      • He says that ESIC was put in a tough situation and couldn't enforce the bans because it would have resulted in killing CS. What resulted was, BLAST, ESIC, and teams came together and gave them a warning and told them, in RL's words "don't do this again or you're gonna get got."
        • He then says the top teams brushed this off and didn't give a fuck
        • The new MiBR team playing Flashpoint, that wasn't involved in the previous incidents are doing it again (stream sniping). He gave credit to Flashpoint for the quick resolution and punishment and respect for cogu's response to the situation.
        • "ESIC came out and said, once more, 'Guys, zero tolerance from now on.'" RL then got upset at community's reaction calling ESIC "pussies" for their non enforcement and said if we want competitive CS we cant ban the top 10 teams.
• He points out how players have no integrity and will do anything for an edge as long as they won't get detected or banned or it's within a grey area.
• "All of this shit was mad avoidable, even in the pandemic era."
  • He talks about why aren't we filming them. Why aren't there representatives for leagues and tournaments making sure players aren't cheating?

Match Fixing

"How many years have we let our scene be fucking pillaged by these greedy cunts?" "We just let it happen."

• RL says that gambling and skins betting which existed in moderation was "accelerated and blown up by the Call of Duty greedy fucks."
  • "Never forget TmarTn was on the board of EnVyUs." "His website, CSGOLotto, they had a bunch of off-the-books sponsorships." "NBK promoted them. People forget."
• "Those people who had access to the skins, go to the players" "Even people like s1mple, best player in the world, even he scammed knives and skins off fucking fans."
• Owners of skin casino sites would approach pros and lend them skins to use in tournaments and possibly keep them after reaching a deal
  • Players would tip off inside info about matches and teams in exchange for skins. Info such as: roster changes, how they played in scrims
    • They would use this info to bet and subvert the odds on their sites. "That happened religiously, I can't even tell you how many times it happened."
      • "I had access to the biggest database of information, from an inside betting circle in NA, and it would take information and screenshots from other pro players, who were feeding them info in exchange for money or skins."
        • "Some of these players are still playing." "Incredibly, there are players still in the CSPPA today, complaining about the BLAST recordings, that were embroiled in this murky shit back then."
• RL also says that there were tournaments where teams contrived with each other, who should throw, who should win.
• "There's a handful of people that are trying to fucking clean it up, and you think you get something over the line and you see something like the CSPPA and it's run by corrupt fucking chuckle heads, and now you've got another corrupt body you have to fight on a fucking daily basis, it's demoralizing."
  • "It's too far gone. Our entire semi-professional scene is compromised."
• "It's rife guys, I'm not going to lie any more. It's not just China, it's not just Russia, it's here, it's NA, it's Europe, it's Australia, so much more than you think, so much more than we can prove."
  • "I get sent chat logs all the time […] and they're morons, these players, short-sighted, amateur, morons and they're doing it on WhatsApp." People would get cut from the bets because they want to make more money, then they leak the logs. He says, from the chat logs, they spread "little" bets across every site they can (400 to 1k dollars) to prevent shifting odds
• He says the scumbags who've fucked off to Valorant will do the same there if Riot doesn't do something and says Valorant "is an esports scene heading for a very early fall based on the sheer volume of scumbags that are already there."
• "That's tier 2 CS in a nutshell these days. They know they're never going to play in a major, so what's the punishment?"
  • "All of these tier 2 fucks that are fixing games now they are like the fucking mafia compared to iBuyPower" "These guys are working with organized criminals to fix entire seasons worth of games. That's what's going on in your tier 2 CS."
• "I'm literally being told that there are players fixing games at all levels of Chinese esports and motherfuckers with guns are turning up to team houses and stuff."

North America

"Everyone in NA has left we've lost a continents worth of support during this pandemic and Valve haven't said a fucking word."

• RL says the Call of Duty "goblins" that destroyed CS for years are the same people who are now trying to leave CS. "The nerve to treat a game where the fans, and the community, and the TO's were nothing but good to you." "To just kick the players out now and go and leave and say 'It just doesn't make financial sense.' Oh you'll slither back when we have a major though for them stickers won't you."
• There's a cascading effect in NA where people don't bother with CS anymore and people like Chaos suffer.
• He says NA team owners are incompetent for always wanting it easy and always wanting a guarantee on their investment without skill or nuance.
  • RL says he would be able to market a team correctly and would have a good ROI and also points out how TSM wouldn't even be bothered to tweet that their team, which was one of the best in the world, was playing at the Major.
  • He also says not all NA owners are like that, compliments and respects Jason Lake who nearly lost everything to keep Complexity going.
• He then calls out the incompetence in Infinite Esports when they acquired OpTic Gaming and bought an Indian CS team.
  • He says HECZ is not to blame here and that they couldn't tell forsaken was cheating when it was so obvious.
    • They measured his reaction time to the likes of dev1ce and s1mple
    • When an enemy showed up on his screen he won that duel something like 44% of the time
    • "was like the number 1 player in the world statistically"
    • He brought a laptop to their bootcamp and refused to use the high end PCs that hey provided
• He respects Andy Miller (NRG CEO) and HECZ but says that the attitude of not being able to easily monetize their teams is "piss weak" and there needs to be a risk.
  • He says Chaos EC shouldn't be cutting their roster and should be competent enough to be able to figure out how to make money off their team.
• He says there are still opportunities in NA and people are panicking and pulling out, and says Valorant will be the same if not worse.
  • He also says "bums" who couldn't even get out of groups in NA competitions, are making crazy money in Valorant and says it will continue to inflate.
• He also said that he heard rumors that EG (Evil Geniuses) are done.
• He also thinks that the rumors of a Valve franchised league from before was sparked up from "these lazy fabled weak NA fucking team owners basically trying to see if Valve would bite at the hook if it was dangled and they didn't"
  • Slasher says NA team owners are really in favor of franchised leagues because they want to make more money. "Most of the powerful team owners right now are on board with ditching this third party organization structure, or they are trying to play this power politics with all the TOs, and that is contributing to a lot of the problems there"
• RL says that Riot has proved they can run a franchised league (LCS) and will be profitable in 2021 which is what a lot of team owners care about and says the competition will only serve to snatch people away from CS.
• RL continues to say, "I am so sick and tired of what we have done to this scene, I am just exhausted with it." "I think we have legitimately fucked it, I really think we have. I think we're staring into almost like a CGS (Championship Gaming Series) wasteland in NA." "Counter-Strike esports is a fucking joke."

Talent

"TO's have treated CS talent like absolute human garbage for years now."

• RL says that people like Sean Gares and ddk switching over to Valorant isn't for financial reasons because they are making less over there.
• He points out that TO's can't even give talent a 3 month in advance calendar.
• Because of the pandemic TO's won't hire certain people and some people are working more hours for the same money.
• He says we as a community don't respect journalists enough which is why we don't have good journalists.
  • He also says DeKay is leaving the scene soon and that Thorin is close to leaving also
• He says he had to talk a caster down from quitting and was struggling to find reasons.
• He says that DreamHack told Vince they would hire him but not if he wants to stick with dusT and says that this is the norm in esports. "Constant leveraging of people against each other." and says this is why we don't have a talent union.
• New gen casters are getting put into shit situations and the community's reaction to them is adding fuel to the fire
• He says the reason Moses left was because of the terrible conditions
• He says that Anders had to constantly leave his family and kid because someone fucked up or broke promises and had to constantly tell his kid to their face that "daddy can't be home this weekend."
• He says that esports has always been a lie to sell you this dream, "Meanwhile there's about 2% of the cunts getting all the checks."

Valve

"Anything that Riot does, is better than Valve's inaction"

• Slasher says that the larger aspect of esports as a whole compared to other entertainment mediums and Valve's lack of inattention are the bigger problems. He continues saying that the fact that Valve let their game be ran as an esport, they need to take on the responsibilities of it.
  • Both Slasher and RL wants Valve to take control but not on the level of Riot Games, there needs to be a balance.
• In case it was ever a question: Gabe Newell has been to 0 CSGO Majors.
• RL calls Valve out saying they could have done something during the gambling era.
• He says Valve used to come to the majors, but doesn't think they do anymore.
• RL had met with Valve at the Cluj-Napoca Major and had tried to appeal iBP's indefinite punishment and had also gave Brax's life story:
  • A recent family member passed away, they had lost a lot of income, they had to live in trailer, iBuyPower did not pay any salaries, and was pressured by family to make money who didn't support his career.
  • RL said that Valve told him, "How dare you try and make us feel guilty." "We shouldn't feel bad about enforcing the only thing that matters that we need to make players afraid of: cheating and match fixing"
  • RL also tried to share other info about match fixing and nothing came of it
• RL points out that Source 2 or a new engine is not something you will want based on the experience of transitioning from CS 1.6 to CS:S. "Valve's track record with brand new engines being launched, not fucking great from what I remember."
• Slasher says "If there is anything the community should do, is pressure Valve to hire a community manager."
  • They say that we need a commissioner, a community manager (not the person who runs the Twitter who posts memes all day), then we need to have a circuit
• RL reiterates that Valve doesn't care about CS esports and says they need to change the culture at Valve to make them care about CS esports
  • Slasher says a systemic problem is making it so working on CSGO would be a bad decision for you as an employee for Valve
• He also hasn't talked to Valve in ages and have sent over bugs and cheats and doesn't get emails back anymore
• Slasher says we should be directing attention at the developer leads, pointing out Ido Magal, if he even is still the project lead
  • RL thinks that Ido and Brian are the only people that "vaguely even give a fuck about CS" and were the only people that RL recalled that actually read Reddit and paid attention from time to time
• "It is really fucking precarious. Somebody has got to step the fuck up and start giving a shit"
  • Slasher suggests org owners, with CSPPA, with ESIC, with TOs have a concerted effort against Valve
• "Riot Games are doing better things than Valve in the esports space" which is something RL didn't think he'd say.
• "People who used to be talent, working with unions, arguing with other talent, when the unions fucked them over, can't understand their perspective, TOs fucking over broadcast talent, broadcast talent wanting to leave and go and work for orgs, orgs having no money, Valve might take coaches away because all the coaches are cheating, ESIC has about 4 people in a fucking call doing the investigations, everyone thinks they're spies for ESL, ESL are just the evil fucking overlords wanting to rule the scene and will just somehow, like cockroaches outliving a nuclear bomb, and Valve are in a fucking holiday in Hawaii thinking about the next Dota character because they don't give a fuck about us."

Closing Statements

"We've peaked. If we want to sustain and exist, now is the time to figure it out. No esports lasts as long as this, we've already done 8 years. We've already broke the records. We have got to figure out a way to coexist and drive the negative forces out and we need to do it as a collective and we're not doing that."

• RL compared the Counter-Strike scene to the people on the Titanic who ran around with guns robbing people while the boat was sinking.
• "We have given up on being a respectable esports scene." "We are now a conduit to make money for those who want to just milk it, just have one last ride, one last roll of the dice. It's done." "What a fucking mess. What have we done to our fucking scene?"
• "There's just too much self-interest driving all of this." "I don't see a way we stop the dominoes." "When it's that bad, when there's that many dishonest people that ESIC have to come out and say that if we punish them all there's no one left. What does that tell you?"
• "How many opportunities have we had to clean house? How many times have we said, 'this must never happen again', and another scandal." "The entire skins betting operations was the biggest criminal conspiracy in esports ever executed and no one has been punished for it." "The people who could be driving that don't want to."
• "Right now people are fans of those organizations because the scene has value. It is worth being a fan of Astralis because they are excellent at Counter-Strike. It is worth being a fan of s1mple because he is the best player in Counter-Strike, maybe the exception of ZywOo. If the scene is devalued, if the scene loses its meaning, those things lose its meaning too, and people will leave, people will stop tuning into the games. I have seen it happen in multiple esports, this is not my first time at the rodeo. I am getting big Brood War vibes right now and I don't like it."
• "The role you play in all of this as fans, as viewers, as listeners, as consumers of esports content, it's absolutely imperative that you know who the good guys are. It's absolutely imperative that you use your voice. It's absolutely imperative that when things are bad, you know who, at least, is trying to make them good, and you have to apply your criticism to the right targets."
  • He continues saying it's no good in continuing to attack ESIC and saying how they are bad, ESIC have it hard
• He says CSPPA are on the right side of the argument on BLAST but have been on the wrong side of many arguments many times.
  • "If you are not willing to stand along side the weakest member of the union, with the least amount of influence, and the least amount of power, then it is not a union at all and you shouldn't pose as one." "You wanna serve a bunch of special interest do it, everyone else in esports fucking does, but do not pose as something you are not." "We love the players. I've been fighting for players rights for as long as I've been able to, but the CSPPA is not what we needed."
    • "They are not applying the pressure to the right people, they are not fighting the right battles, they are not helping their weaker members."
• He says what orgs have done by keeping or hiring coaches is bad. "When you give up on holding an appreciable standard, you've lost the scene" "Competition matters, rules matter, punishments matter, achievements matter, excellence matters" "If you start stripping that away, you have nothing" "You guys need to take that knowledge and apply it sensibly."
• "Valve has sold you all down the river, they sold everyone in the esports scene down the river, tournament organizers are selling their talent down the river. Don't hate on them for sounding tired after a 16 hour day. Don't hate on them because the hype for a matchup they've seen for the 20th time in the past 3 months, they can't be as excited or it sounds contrived. Support your guys, they're there for you, these are your people."
• "This community has got to start acting like one for the first fucking time. Just put the petty shit away, let's try and fix this fucking scene while we still have one to save."
• "You can't rely on Valve, you can't rely on ESL, you can't rely on the CSPPA, you can't rely on anyone." "Once again, it's gonna be the likes of us, the amateurs, the people who give a fuck, rolling up our sleeves and grafting." "I'm old and tired and I don't want to have to do it again. People need to pick up the torch and do it."
  • "Like Michal did, like Dudenhoeffer did. You see something wrong, fix it. You see somebody doing something wrong, call it out. If you think something could be better, let people know."
• "Vote with your wallets if you're not happy with the direction Valve goes in. If when we do get to the Major, they serve up another subpar, same old bullshit stickers and signatures package again, do not buy it."
  • "You're a powerful block and if you use it correctly we can fucking avert this disaster."
• "I'm not doing another year in this broken, bust-up fucking scene, where everyone is miserable, everyone is broke, everyone is tired, and everyone is trying to fucking rob everyone else, blind, while the fucking people who are meant to be protecting you, are just fucking enhancing it and lining their own pockets."
  • "I'm not doing it anymore and you shouldn't want to do it either."
• "I stand by every fucking thing I said. I mean it, because this game fucking matters to me, this scene fucking matters to me. I put my life into this, my adult life, and to see it in this state is fucking sad."

Louisiana is backed in Phase 2 (modified)

LINKS TO WATCH

• https://gov.louisiana.gov/
• Facebook - LouisianaGov
• YouTube - Louisiana Public Broadcast 👉 Direct Video Link
• WWLTV

This conference was announced last Thursday

Pre-Conference Question - What do you think he'll announce?

• A harsher lecture on being a GOOD NEIGHBOR?
• Modified Phase 3 ala New Orleans?
• Moving back to Phase 2 or 1?
• Or will it be an unexpected Stay At Home order?
• Some other option?

Summary

^{NOTE: The summary of this press conference is transcribed LIVE. The summary may contain spelling and grammatical errors which until it is able to be corrected once the conference concludes.
NOTE: The summary may contain spelling and grammatical errors.}
Gov JBE

• Anyone who has been paying attention to the news whether internationally, nationally, or state you know COVID-19 is going in the wrong direction unmoving very fast in the wrong direction.
• Louisiana is experiencing the third surge of COVID-19.
• Nov alone the US has had more new cases than in any other months and hospitalizations are at a record high nationally. Higher than other surges.
• Yesterday the US added more than 169,000 new cases in one day and 898 deaths.
• This week's WH Coronavirus Taskforce Report shows 474 new cases per 100,000 people last week we had 172 new cases per 100,000 people. The national average is 356 cases per 100,000.
• So this is the first week in many weeks that LA has had more new cases than the national average.
• Today we report ___ new cases and sadly 39 additional people have lost their lives to the virus for a Toal amount of ___ deaths. Reporting 1,052 hospitalizations, not the first of the month we had less than 600. Today we are up 40 than yesterday with more than 350+ net new COVID19 hospitalizations. 113 patients on mechanical ventilators.
  • When we see what's happening in state and across all regions we have to be very cautious about hospitalizations and maintain the capacity to give life-saving care to covid and non-covid patients.
  • Trajectory we are on it is imperative we take action now.
• If we could flip a switch and get 100% adherence to mitigation measures to all measures we are still 2 weeks from seeing changes.
• We are in for a rough patch, and the degree we flatten the curve and are successful will depend on eery Louisianan.
• We are stepping a step back to a revised Phase 2. So Phase 2 with some modifications.
  • We got out of the prior surge by moving to Phase 2.
• What does that mean?
  • Will get into that later...
• Wants to get ahead of the Thanksgiving Holiday and the extended holiday season.
• Data includes info thru Friday, Nov 20.

Dr Kanter

• Thanks National Guard, GOSHEP, and the LDH for working very hard and working over the holiday.
• Gating Criteria Slides:
  • What we are seeing is as concerning as it has ever been. We were lucky to have a reprieve from the rest of the countries rise in cases for a few weeks we are now where a large portion of the country is.
  • Top left shows % of patients coming into ER departments across the state with symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 you can see the prior spikes and now it is increasing again.
  • Top right show new cases on a rolling 7-day average you can see the first and second spikes and now the increase we are on which is almost identical to where we were going up in the second spike and clearly we have not hit the top yet.
  • Bottom left you can see the % positivity dated back to the date of collection and that is increasing as well up to 8.1% now will be posted on the dashboard tomorrow. You will see testing volume is also increasing. There is more COVID so more people are getting tested due to more exposure plus the increase around testing around the holiday. An increase in testing volume has no bearing on testing positivity. An increase in positivity and testing volume is a strong signal we are experiencing a lot of COVID.
  • Bottom right is the amount of hospitalized patients with COVID19 you can see the two spikes and now a sharp increase. It is a rate of increase that our hospitals cannot stand for very much longer.
• Region analysis - every region across the state are seeing similar increases.
  • Region 1 Orleans - increase across the board.
  • Region 2 EBR - increase across the board.
  • Region 3 River parishes - increase across the board.
  • Region 4 - increases across the board.
  • Region 5 Lake Charles - increases across the board.
  • Region 6 Can LA - increases across the board with a very sharp increase in new cases and hosp.
  • Region 7 - increase across the board.
  • Region 8 - increase across the board.
  • Region 9 - increases across the board.
• A month ago it was a mixed bag with some areas plateauing or increasing.
• Now the entire state for all gating criteria is increasing, (only Can LA is plateauing for COVID-like illness reports).
• Still have capacity across the state but this is a lagging indicator so if you act when hospitals are at capacity it is too late.
  • People waiting a long time to get a bed. One ER had to use recliners in the ER while people waited for a bed to open up.
  • Rural/smaller hospitals are having a difficult time transferring patients to other locations. Not every ICU bed is equal and some conditions require more expertise from an advanced center. Only a handful exist across the state. Even if a rural hospital has an ICU available if a patient presents with needing an advanced team and there are none available they may have to wait a couple of days before they get transferred in. That's a delay of care and has consequences.
  • Hospitals are stretched and already at staffing capacity. A nurse may typically care for 4-5 patients may now be caring for 6-7.
  • These things have consequences and it is just the beginning because we haven't hit capacity yet. This is a warning we have to act now. There are things we are working to preserve in the state and the ability to access normal hospital care is one of those priorities. We do not want to have to delay scheduled procedures.
• The path ahead is dangerous. This is a dangerous time for Louisiana.
• The trajectory we are on is dangerous. We are on a similar trajectory as before.
  • Now it is flu season so we have extra patients in the hospital.
  • Weather turning cold so more people indoors = more transmission.
  • Peak of the holiday season coming up so there's a temptation to gather. Gathering = more transmission.
  • Previous increases we were not in lockstep with the rest of the country. Every other state is seeing runs on hospital care and demands of their hospital staff at the same time we are. If we need to ask for help, it may not be there this time. In fact, we don't think they will be available because they will be caring for their own state's patients.

Questions for Dr Kanter about data

Related to Halloween? Seems people are willing to gather for Thanksgiving. Are we going to see a worsening 2 weeks after Thanksgiving
We are already seeing just about as steep of an increase as we can get it really can't get much steeper than that. I don't know, looking back to Halloween, it was part of it. I think increases from other states was bleeding over into our particularly in Northern LA. Plus we are tired, COVID fatigue is real, and it's easy to get complacent. Even without Thanksgiving coming ahead we will continue to get worse. I don't know how much worse it gets with Thanksgiving. I cannot emphasize this more than enough if you need to make a decision for your family talk to someone who has had it, experiencing the disease, or someone who has worked in the affected healthcare facilities during those two surges.
How much is being driven by small gatherings indoors and if so it doesn't seem restrictions matter than much
Small gatherings have been a larger component than months ago, there is no question about that but that is just one slice. We continue to see a lot of cases tied to bars, restaurants, events, and churches as well. Mitigation measures are going to be significant in their effect but not absolute. The other side is that people really need to make responsible decisions when no one is looking. No one will police who parities but I want families to take it seriously and know what the real risks are and make an informed decision. The more families are informed the more they will be likely to say for this year, for my family, it is just not worth it.
Gov. JBE

• We have already been told that for example if we will request help from he Fed gov in respect to medical care to Louisiana there are 12 individual and discrete things we have done first before we can be considered.
  • Strong indication we cannot count on that.
  • Difference between Spring and Summer surges when we did have medical personnel available from requests to the Federal government at that time.
  • Partially important for Northern and Central LA. I do not know how hard it will be to go back in the gating criteria for those regions but if you go to Region 6. If you look right at the summer surge we never got those numbers as far down as we wanted to we never got those numbers down to where we wanted to. So the baseline of going into the third surge is much higher relatively speaking to the state as a whole. So we are already in a much more difficult place.
  • Statewide the non-COVID patient population is higher now than it was in the Spring or the Summer.
  • Region 7 you will see the right of the summer surge the numbers did not come down to be even close to where they were before the summer surge started. So they have a very high baseline of cases.
  • Region 8 the same thing.
• Our numbers are worse and they are getting worse everywhere so I hesitate to bring up regions 6,7, and 8 because people might think that's the only places we need to be focused on. That is not true, but I will tell you its a particular concern if you are in Central or Northern LA because you have such a high baseline going into this.
  • While we need adherence to restrictions everywhere it is particularly acute in Regions 6,7, and 8.
• Breakdown of Phase 2 (modified) will become effective tomorrow and last 28 days (4 weeks) expiring on Dec 23:
  • Statewide surge requiring a statewide effort.
  • Follows the White House Coronavirus Task Force recommendations.
  • Last time we had such a large single-day increase was in July -- which is when we took action through implementing Phase 2 and the mask mandate -- and collectively the people across Louisiana responded and we bent the curve.
    • Time for us to rise again and meet the challenge before us.
    • With the Holiday season before us we really gotta pay attention to this now so we do not overburden our hospitals to not deliver care. I do not want to have hospitals have to cancel elective surgeries or medical procedures want. Delayed non-emergency procedures and surges often transmit into emergencies later on. Do not want doctors to have to make crisis care decisions pitting cases against one another due to a lack of resources.
    • We have avoided crisis care during our previous waves because we worked together to flatten the curve.
    • If there was ever a time to step up and be a good neighbor, whether it is to your actual neighbor or to someone in LA you have never met, that time is now.
    • People do not stop having car accidents because of a pandemic. There are still critical care needs apart from COVID.
    • Do it for the medical professionals as well who have been overworked since March.
    • To keep schools open.
    • Encouraging all employers public and private to maximize the use of telework where possible.
    • Ask families to engage in safe holiday-related activities. When you gather with those outsides from your household the more times you do it the more you roll the dice and the more likely it is that you or multiple people get sick. With community spread the dice are loaded against you. I ask you not to do this, especially during the holidays. It is what the CDC and LDH recommend.
    • Start planning now for a safe Christmas and Hanukkah.
  • Reduction in gathering sizes for businesses & houses of worship
    • 50% for occupancy with social distancing and masks for restaurants, coffee shops, cafes, gyms, casinos, and video poker, and non-essential retail businesses.**
      • Essential is determined by the Dept. of Homeland Security.
    • 75% for occupancy with social distancing and masks for churches and places of worship.**
  • Reduction in gathering sizes at bars other restrictions remain in place.
    • Bars in parishes with greater than 5% must close to indoors consumption can have outdoor seating of up to 50 people, seated and spaced out, and masks mandated.
    • Bars in parishes with less than 5% can allow indoor consumption up to 25% occupancy seated and spaced out; outdoor consumption encouraged and masks mandated.
  • Reduction in gathering sizes at event centers
    • Indoors limited to 25% occupancy, make required up to 75.
    • Outdoors limited to 25% occupancy, masks required, up to 150 where social distancing is not possible.
  • Reduction of sporting event occupancy
    • Limited to 25% occupancy.
• When LDH updates the two-week case incidence numbers tomorrow there will be some parishes where bars close, that were going to happen regardless of these changes because those parishes would have exceeded the 10% that was previously required.
  • Now allowing outdoor seating.
• Statewide mask mandate remains in effect
  • It was a critical part of slowing the spread in the summer and is a critical part now.
    • Now we know wearing a mask also reduces transmission to you as well as those around you.
• Doing everything we can to keep schools open.
  • Local decision how schools do this.. if they are in person, vertical, or hybrid.
• Do not have an expectation that by Dec 23rd we will reduce restrictions a couple of days ahead of Christmas.
  • All data indicates we in for a couple of rough months.
  • No one should believe we will relax restrictions around that time.
  • I hope and pray, and believe, we will not have to put more restrictions in place before then.
    • Will be dependent on if the people of Louisiana embrace the mitigation measures and flatten that curve again. If we stay on the current trajectory we will be forced to put more restrictions in place.
• Everyday households need to stick together and reduce interaction with those outside of their household.
  • Any activities that do take place should take place outside rather than inside.
  • Odds are 20x higher to catch the virus indoors than outdoors when the same activity takes place.
• We are expecting rain this week perhaps staying with us through Thanksgiving and after.
  • Even if you planned the safest possible event with it intended to be outdoors there is a good chance you will not be able to do that.
    • Now is your opportunity to adjust your Thanksgiving plans.
    • Do not have people from different households come indoors together. The virus doesn't care if you are a relative.
• If you want a Christmas without loved ones in the hospital, or worse, you need to be extremely careful on Thanksgiving and every day.
• Next few weeks would normally be holiday party time - office, block, family, etc.
  • Holiday parties are a recipe for disaster now. Asking people to forgo those parties.
• There is a light at the end of the tunnel, it is not a high-speed train heading in our direction, I believe in a few months we will be able to put the pandemic behind us. Next month we can start vaccinating in small numbers and will take some time to get to the general population. Do not get in your mind we will have to mask up and physically distance forever. There is an excellent chance that next Thanksgiving will be the best one ever. While there is COVID fatigue and I know it is real, it is also real that we are looking for renewed interest and compliance for a finite amount of time. I hope it inspires people to do what is required and know they won't have to do it forever. The next few months are critical. We need everyone to be on the same page.
• Holidays are about showing your love for those you care about. The best way to love someone right now is to give them COVID. So like it says, "pass the pie and not COVID" that is our mission. That is the mission for everybody in Louisiana.
  • Follow the commonsense public health measures, the restrictions, and mitigation measures.
    • They work and have worked before.
    • Mitigation measures: wear a mask, stay 6ft apart from that outside of your household, wash your hands for 20 seconds, stay home when sick, and protect the most vulnerable from this disease (65+ in age and those with co-morbidities).
• Thanks to all public health workers.
  • Owe a debt of gratitude for those who have worked so hard for months now. We should not make it harder than it needs to be. We should all do our part.

Questions

Epidemiologists in Louisiana say we may be getting diminishing returns on our introduction of restrictions than what we previously saw. Are you concerned that the impact of the introduction of these restrictions will be more gradual and the implications that may have
I am concerned about an awful lot as it is related to COVID19 and this pandemic. There is not one easy decision I have made nor one that has brought me joy. I am convinced that if the people of Louisiana will embrace these mitigation measures and restrictions, be patient and selfless, and ensure compliance that we will flatten the curve again. That is what I know. There are no magic tricks to be worked here. The only way to stop a surge is with restrictions and mitigation measures. So with the numbers increases here and around the country as they are the sense of urgency that you see coming out of leaders in Washington right now, as seen with Vice President Pence and the Coronavirus Task Force the other day, everyone should understand that this a very very serious situation. We have to do our part in order to slow the spread. It has to be a collective effort. No one should say is 99% of the people do it that's good enough I don't have to personally do it... that doesn't work. We all have to see it as a common effort that we all play our part. If someone would have presented a better option to flatten the curve I would have taken it. I know we have COVID fatigue here and around the country. If there was something other than wearing masks, washing your hands and staying home when you are sick, and so forth I would embrace it. It doesn't exist. That is why you hear this coming out of Washington and all the other healthcare workers how important these are. So let's do it. Let's flatten the curve again. I feel very comfortable that in several months, not sure when we will have enough of our population vaccinated that I believe we can start putting in the rear view mirror. Until now and then we have to do what is necessary. I do not know if there is another surge after this one, I pray not, but we know we are surging now.
Are you trying to change the way enforcement has been handled on these public health issues. Obviously the problem is people aren't following previous guidelines.. so are you making changes to enforcement?
We will continue to work with businesses of all types and venues to ensure that they understand that the restrictions are what rules they have to abide by. Individuals and businesses can get more information at opensafely.la.gov and you will get more information. Will there be enforcement? Yes, there will be, but I am going to say what I've said back in March and every time since then, if the people in Louisiana insist we enforce our way through this we are doomed to failure. There are 4.66 million Louisianas and 10s of thousands of business and quite frankly we cannot enforce our way through this. We are going to be asking people to comply, do compliance visits, respond to complaints, and where people refuse to come int o compliance you can expect enforcement. That will not get us through this surge. That will not protect the health of our fellow Louisianans, it is better than not doing any enforcement. We need to have people doin this because it is the right thing to do. They need to embrace it, not because it is pleasant but at the end of the day this about people's lives are talking about. We are doing our very best to strike the balance between lives on one hand and livelihoods on the other. When it comes to economy, to business, to employers, to livelihoods, the best thing we can do is put this virus behind us.
Are the rules for temporary conditional permits allowing bars to operate as restaurants remain in effect?
Yes and we currently have 372 bars using conditional permits to operate as restaurants. They are not a hybrid, they are not part bar or part bar. They operate as restaurants if they are operating properly and they follow all rules for restaurants. For other establishment that continue to operate as bars they need to follow the way we outlined bars operate today.
What are you doing for your Thanksgiving celebration. You have a son who is coming home from college because LSU is going virtual for Thanksgiving
Yeah I have a son who actually lives here in Baton Rogue and he will likely be coming home to spend some time with us. I will tell you we will stay in baton Rogue at the mansion and have a Thanksgiving meal that consists of the immediate household. We will gives thanks because even during this pandemic which has been so tough on people, even after the 3 hurricanes that hit this year, we have so much to be thankful for. God has truly blessed us. Thanksgiving is a day to give thanks and that is important to me and my family and we are going to do it, but last year I remember my 84 year old mother came, my 6 siblings all came with their spouses and children and grandchildren. We had 80 or 90 people. You will not be seeing that this year and you will not see it at Christmas either. I hope and pray that if you are with me on Thanksgiving Day of 2021 you will see that. I believe that you will, but between now and then we all have to do our part.
Did you tell Legislative leaders about these new restrictions before you came out here today? What was their response?
Yes, I did. You need to know that I routinely send data and information to the Speaker and to the President. We have complete transparency on the data we are relying on because we update it every day aside for Saturday. We also have sent Legislative leadership, and I believe every member of the Legislature, every White House Coronavirus Task Force report whenever we get them. This morning in a addition to those things we presented all gating criteria slides to the Speaker and the President. We talked about where we were especially in light of our hospital capacity and our need to go back to a modified Phase 2 in order to flatten the curve again. They asked some questions, expressed concerns to makes sure whether the Fire Marshall or ATC will work with proprietors and bar owners to maximum extend possible so they can know hat is expected of them and be given an opportunity, if they are operation in good faith -- of which the overwhelming majority of businesses are -- to come into compliance. That has been our approach throughout the pandemic. We have always bent over backwards to make sure individuals know what the rules give them every opportunity to come into compliance and only after persistent shortcomings/refusal to do any real enforcement actions like citations take place. I assured him our approach would not change.
Does the influx of new vaccines change our prognosis at all
We have a draft plan in Louisiana that we continue to update and revise daily. The reason it is a draft plan is that we still don't know the day that we will get the first vaccines nor the number of doses that will be there. I have every expectation that around mid-December we should receive some doses of the Pfizer vaccines first. We don't know how many it could be as few as 30,000 or might be 60,000 we do not know for sure. We think the first doses of the Moderna vaccines would come weeks later, perhaps with a smaller number available initially. We continue to work with our federal partners. We were on the phone with Azar yesterday and talked about the logistical aspects of Project Warpspeed. Once the vaccine gets the EUA from the FDA we will have the vaccine in route to our location(s) of choice in 24 hours. The first shipment will be prioritized to healthcare workers, then high-risk groups (nursing homes, assisted living centers, congregated shelters), then the list expands from there out. Ultimately we want to get to a place where we put a call out to the general population they can go to their health unit (hospital, doctor's office, or pharmacy) and get the vaccine. This is not a one and one vaccine, it requires a second dose, depending on the manufacturer that could be between 21-28 days later. More vaccines may come only over time and some of these things may change. I do not want talk of the vaccine, it is critically important and no one is more excited than I am, but I do not want the talk of the vaccine to cause people to not pay attention to what is imperative right now. That is why you hear Dr. Birx, Dr. Fauci, Azar, talking about the term of bridging to the vaccine and needing to double-down on measures until the vaccine is widely available. The vaccine will not be here in the numbers we need soon enough to reverse the trajectory and numbers we went over today.
I do want to mention I have every confidence that when the FDA issues that EUA that that vaccine will be safe and effective. I hope my fellow Louisiana will embrace the vaccine. A vaccine saves 0 lives but vaccination can save a lot of lives. The vaccination requires the vaccines and an individual to receive that vaccine in two injections. So please understand the FDA has not cut out any steps required to evaluate the safety and efficacy of these vaccines. In fact, the trial sizes were 5x-6x more than one would normally see in a trial. They took steps consecutively instead of sequentially to make this vaccine thereby shortening its time for production. They started the mass production while trials were still happening. So if that authorization comes they have the vaccine to distribute and more to be distributed and you don't have to start that manufacturing process up from the beginning. So I really want people to embrace this and understand they will be safe and effective once the call goes out to start vaccination.
Does the state have enough cold storage for the vaccines or does the state have to put in some money for that?
We've identified the cold storage capacity that we need pursuant to our plan to administer the Pfizer vaccine. Its a combination of cold storage capacity and dry ice. We will be in good shape there. This is why you have to have really good hard work going on hard in advance. That way working with hospitals and universities you are able to identify all the cold storage you have, where is available for these vaccines and then you plug that into your plan. That will not be a limiting factor in terms of receiving the vaccine. Logistically it makes it more complicated because you have to receive it at those sites and distribute it from there. They are still evaluating how long the vaccines remain stable once they thaw out. We will be all over that so we will make sure if that vial falls out it will be administered while it is stable and making sure that people come and get the second dose as well.

Closing remarks

• Thank you for continuing to cover this. We do not anticipate another press conference until next week, date unknown.
• As I mentioned awhile ago, despite how difficult this year has been for all of us both individually and as a state, there is a lot for us to be thankful for. That is always the case. So Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for the blessing we enjoy and I would encourage people to find ways to have a celebration that is safe so we can be thankful for the blessings we have while being mindful of the dangers of this pandemic. There are dangers if we insists on celebrating the holidays as we have in past. I cannot strongly encourage people to be patient. I know you are tired of this but be patient and love your loved ones by making sure you do not expose them to unnecessary risk. We close to them through the phone, FaceTime, and other ways. Let's look forward to getting together without restrictions and mitigation measures. Unless between now and then we are too risky with our behaviors and we'll be lamenting the fact that we didn't do what we were asked to do. That some of our loved ones won't be with us when the time comes to celebrate in person. When that next birthday, Thanksgiving, or Christmas happens. I encourage everyone to do their part. You've done it before. We can do it again. I am not asking for you to do this forever. There is finite time I am asking for. I cannot tell you when, but I believe in several months we will be putting this in our rearview mirror, but it is not today. In fact, it is not in our rear-view mirror it is in our grill and it is a nasty nasty situation here in Louisiana like it is around the country. We do not have a moment to waste. Everyone has to do their part. If we do, and I'm sure we will, we will get through this. I have every confidence of the people in Louisiana. They have always inspired by their kindness, goodness, and generosity and I believe they will do it again. So let's work together. Let's save lives. God bless and thank you.

Watch Here
WJAR Stream if issues with link above or WPRI
Gov. Raimondo is expected to announce new restrictions for high schools (announced by WPRI and WJAR last night) as well as discuss Thanksgiving.
Self-promotion: Yesterday I started graphing data in a few other threads. It's really ugly right now and far from finished (I'll make a separate post on this sub when it's done) but I did start a GitHub site to view the graphs

11/19/2020 Data

RIDOH Dashboard

• 921 new cases (5.8% positivity)
• 4 fatalities
• 298 in hospital

Gov. Gina Raimondo

Intro

• Press briefings will be on Thursday from now on (exception of next week, which is Wednesday for Thanksgiving)
• Good news: Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are 95% effective (data released Monday/Tuesday), RI will pilot Pfizer vaccine distribution - "there truly is light at the end of the tunnel"
• Until the vaccine is available (hopefully some availability by the end of the year, anticipating widespread availability by Spring), we must double down on following restrictions so as to not overwhelm hospitals

Data

• See numbers above
• 'Targeted restrictions' have not helped the situation
• Trending data is "alarming" - we have passed all three thresholds (5.9% weekly positivity, 247 hospital admissions, 535 cases per 100,000)
• "I have tried to avoid a lockdown" - targeted restrictions are NOT working
• "Severe restrictions" being laid out today

New Restrictions

Intro - Rationale

• With so much community spread, it's hard to pinpoint a single activity/location/group to trace source of infection
• Patterns among people testing positive: At-home social gatherings, people going to restaurants/bars, people with others outside household
• "Need to reduce mobility, reduce connectivity with people outside household"
• "We know that schools are not major spreaders" I can already guess what's staying open...
• High schools are more problematic than others

Path from now to end of the year

Current restrictions will be extended until the Sunday after Thanksgiving with two exceptions, effective immediately:

• Social gathering limit is lowered to a single household (No social gatherings with people you don't live with)
• All "big box stores" (>30,000 square ft) must have a plan for Black Friday crowds and cannot allow anyone without a mask cannot enter (stores should pass out masks)

Thanksgiving

• Please do not travel
• If planning to go to a restaurant, please use extreme caution
• Stay at home with the people you live with
• Rapid testing available at TF Green Airport Sat/Sun/Mon after Thanksgiving and Nat'l Guard to remind anyone who is returning from out-of-state to quarantine

Beginning 11/30 - "RI on Pause"

• "Two week pause" in effect until 12/13
• Hoping that this will ONLY be two weeks - if it does not work, total lockdown
• "RI ON PAUSE" restrictions (image)

Open

• K-8
• Childcare
• Manufacturing/construction
• Personal services
• Healthcare

Limited

• High schools will shift to limited/hybrid plan after Thanksgiving at discretion of superintendents
• Social gatherings limited to one household
• Indoor dining at 33%, outdoor dining/takeout not affected
• Retail at current capacity limits
• Houses of worship limited to 25% capacity with a max of 125 I understand distancing but that's insanity

Completely Closed

• Colleges will have NO in-person instruction after Thanksgiving and will test all students before they leave campus for the holidays
• All offices must move to remote work for everyone who can (521-HELP for technical assistance)
• Bars (drinks can be delivered to tables but no bar areas open)
• Bowling alleys, gyms, casinos
• Indoor sports, gyms, group fitness classes, all sports except college/professional

Stimulus grants announced next week for affected businesses

Comments on "pause"

• "This will only work if we do it" - threatening a full lockdown if this doesn't limit our numbers in 3 weeks
• "I have been utterly ineffective in getting people to follow rules in their own homes" - jokes about memes showing her arriving at people's houses (one of the few candid moments I've seen from her lately)
• Figuring out if it's working - reservation data at restaurants, test positivity, traffic data, enforcement data
• Hospitals are currently at 97% of COVID beds filled - we do NOT want to ration beds/limit care
• If COVID beds get filled, we may need to start cutting off other procedures incl. cancer screenings, important surgeries to make room for COVID patients
• We are on track to need Cranston field hospital by week after Thanksgiving
• Hospitals are working with colleges to hire medical students
• There will still be greater restriction after 12/13, but cannot comment on exactly what as it depends on how this goes

Improvements to testing

• 2,000 daily asymptomatic tests added
• 300 daily symptomatic tests added
• Expanding testing site at Wickford Junction
• New site at McCoy opened today
• New sites at Waldorf School and Stop & Shop in Greenville coming soon
• Contact tracing is behind but we are continuing to hire more staff
• Check results constantly and immediately isolate if positive (even if RIDOH has not called yet)
• Increasing hotels available to people who need to isolate
• Expanding food delivery services

Question Highlights

Q: CDC saying that in-person learning is dangerous (I'm glad someone asked)
A: "I believe that question is a mis-characterization of the data" - referencing Dr. Jha She sounds MAD about this question "we could argue about the risk, but children will suffer irreparable lifelong harm not being in school" She is trusting HS students to follow rules and "districts should keep kids in school if they can"
Q: "Wasn't the idea with PPE/testing that we wouldn't have to go back? What happened?"
A: "It turns out people don't follow rules very well when we have to do it for so long"
Q: What is the goal in terms of ease of scheduling/getting test results and do we need to scale back asymptomatic testing?
A: It isn't a perfect system (waiting to get tested) but we are working to fix it. "It's hard for me to believe you can't get a test at all" Personal note: I'm currently trying to get tested (possible exposure at work even though I have no symptoms) and I had to go online to CVS at 3:00 in the morning to get an appointment 3 days later
Q: Isn't distance learning with a teacher better than in-person with a substitute? Is there a percentage (like NY) where we would switch to full distance?
A: High schoolers work better with distance learning but younger kids really struggle. NY: We do not use a single metric to determine whether to shut down - "as long as schools can keep the environment safe" we will keep them open.
Q: Thoughts on a possible 4-6 week lockdown or advisory to governors to do so under President Biden?
A: "If congress would do their jobs" and send an appropriate stimulus, we could discuss a lockdown in RI
Q: Why is Twin River open until 11/30?
A: "If I could shut everything down immediately I would do that" but there is a need to be practical (restaurants who have increased inventory for next week will still be able to use it)
Q: Crisis standards of care?
A (Dr. Scott): Principles to help hospitals make difficult ethical decisions about care - we do NOT want to get here. (Gina): We cannot staff that many beds - patients may have medical students as nurses or not get checked on at all. We may have to "shut off" non-COVID procedures
Q: Nursing home staffing (can people volunteer to bathe their family members, etc)?
A: "Caregiver exemption" is in the works (allowing family to get certified to give care similar to CNA)
Q: Is RI still independently validating vaccine data despite Pfizer pilot program?
A: Yes.
Q: Will you get vaccinated?
A: I will not be first in line (not necessary), but yes.
My apologies, I missed a few questions
Q: General assembly?
A: They will need to meet before 12/31 to pass a 2021 budget - a space is being set up at the Vets to allow a safe in-person meeting or they may choose to do so virtually
Q: HS sports?
A: Winter season cannot start until January - no practices at all during pause

End of conference (2:25pm)

Update for exemptions (4/12/20)

Rowley reaffirms that the closing of the border is an integral part of TT's covid response strategy. Current measurements (exemption ruling) will stay in effect for the time being.

source

Number of Exemption Applications (*4/12/20)

• 15'500 applications made to enter
  
• 8'500 of which granted as of *
  
• 18'500 applications made to leave
  
• 10'800 of which granted as of *
  

source

Updates for exemptions regarding the crossing of borders

• The exemption ruling from June remains in place but adapted. Still, only citizens and permanent residents of Trinidad and Tobago may apply for crossing the border in either direction. Information on how to apply for an exemption, visit the Website of the Ministry of National Security here.
  
• What remains in place as was: (1) exemption application still required (see link above). (2) Non-nationals and non-permanent residents are still not eligible unless there are exceptional reasons (which are not further defined).
  
• exemptions are made on a first come first serve basis. Since June, over 13'000 have applied, roughly 7000 have been processed already and about 5'000 are still awaiting a verdict. People who wish to come home for Christmas are strongly advised to calculate their trip well and especially ahead of time.
  
• starting 15th Nov, those who successfully applied and received permission to enter must provide a negative PCR test result which is no older than 72hrs before arrival into this country.
  
• after the arrival, those entering have to go into state quarantine or state supervised quarantine for seven days. On the sixth day, they will be tested and may only leave if the test returns negative. Again, applicants for being exempted are strongly advised to plan the Diwali and Christmas trips well. You will not be allowed to leave quarantine before the negative test result.
  
• When applying, applicants must state whether they want to pay for state supervised quarantine. Applicants should provide all info for all family members who will enter state supervised quarantine too.
  

(source:MNS Twitter)

Beaches and Religious Houses to Reopen

• All churches will be open for services no more than an hour at 50 per cent capacity. Members will have to also observe social distancing protocols.
  
• The public service will be out in full capacity. Permanent Secretaries, managers and supervisors will have to ensure that “workplace distancing” is observed in addition to proper sanitisation and no congregating in groups.
  
• Gyms can resume operations, however, at 50 per cent capacity from 6 am-10 pm daily.
  
• Casinos, cinemas, theatres and Members Clubs can resume operations at 50 per cent capacity no food and drinks allowed from 8 am to 10 pm.
  
• Beaches along the country’s coastlines are now open but this does not include rivers or ponds. (max 10 person still in effect)
  
• Hotels and guesthouses can also now open pools to their guests.
  
• Daycares and schools remain closed for the time. Tertiary and training institutes that provide training for practical programmes, such as labs and flight training schools that cannot be done online, can also resume once an exemption is granted by the Ministry of Health to do so.
  

source

Borders may open soon

Rowley:

‘I am satisfied that this committee can report within a week and that the tagging system could be available and it will allow us to maximise home quarantine and that will allow us to maximise the inflow of persons who are outside, citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, who are outside to come home and that will then result in an elimination of this exemption system,” Rowley told reporters.
“I see this as a cautious reopening of our border. We are in deep discussions with some of our CARICOM (Caribbean Community) colleagues. I spoke with the President of Guyana (Dr. Irfaan Ali) a few days ago at length and we believe that we could begin to have more movement between our citizens and the Guyanese population, the Grenada population, the Barbados population because the level at which they are at is either lower than or equal to us and we can begin sometime not in the too distant future to make more tentative steps with respect to the border opening.”

source
*Stats and Figures by GIRI Group
you'll find sources for mental support, financial Support, rental assistance, social support and other help, in the old thread here

update: Tsarukyan's gold mine didn't have a license

Back in July we learned that Nature Ministry issued a $200 fine to BHK leader Tsarukyan's Mkhart gold mine for operating without an environmental audit. The Ministry sent the case to prosecutors for examination.
The report says: // Tsarukyan's Multi Group company operated the mine without a license to use water since 2011. The structures were built without a SHMAG environmental assessment, and the pollution exceeded the legal limits.
The mine underwent an audit on Feb-12-2018. This audit revealed a document that exposed the existence of these unauthorized structures (factory and mine's tailing). //
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1028576.html

ex-official's company fined for damaging a river

Former Investigative Committee chief HHK Aghvan Hovsepyan's family runs a hydro-plant called Astghaberd. It was licensed in April 2020.
It received a $400 penalty (second occurrence) for blocking too much river water.
https://hetq.am/hy/article/121829

Vedi Reservoir / new and expensive

85 reservoirs were built in Armenia during USSR. New ones are needed to solve the water shortage.
Vedi Reservoir is being built, since 2017, near the Ararat province's Vedi river. The $90m project is co-funded by France (75) and Armenia (15). It'll be completed by 2022.
irrigation
4,000 hectares land in 8 settlements of Ararat valley will be auto-irrigated without electricity use. Part of these lands is already irrigated with Hrazdan river water. It remains to be seen whether the $90m project is "worth it".
seismic stability
Armenia was divided into 4 seismic zones after the 1988 earthquake. On the scale of 1-4, the Vedi reservoir is in the Level-3 danger zone. The builders took this into account and will make it resistant to 9-10pt quakes. "Even during the 1988 quake no reservoirs were destroyed in Armenia," said the builder.
More: https://www.civilnet.am/news/2020/09/23/Վեդիի-ջրամբարը-ոռոգման-համակարգի-հին-ու-նոր-խնդիրները/395799

Kocharyan's lawyer is in trouble for not disclosing properties / Grants from George Soros

You're supposed to disclose your income and property if your spouse is a judge. Kocharyan's top lawyer Hayk Alumyan's wife Armenuhi Badiryan is a judge.
Alumyan hasn't filed declaration paperwork for 9 years. CivilNet outlet contacted the Corruption Prevention Committee (CPC). The CPC then asked Alumyan to explain why the docs are missing.
Alumyan claims his record contains attorney-related legal secrets that are protected under law, so he's exempt from the declaration.
CPC, citing a law, made a counter-claim. If Alumyan fails to submit the docs, CPC will launch an ethics hearing which could turn into a felony case.
CPC only needs the 2019 documents. "Our primary job is to prevent corruption and to give a person a chance to correct their mistake."
Alumyan is currently preparing the documents.
 
could he be hiding it due to George Soros connection?
Kocharyan's camp is a starch critic of George Soros. They like to present Nikol Pashinyan as Soros's puppet who is here to make your kids gay and to force you to forget the Armenian language.
Alumyan revealed in 2019 that he took grants from Soros's Open Society Foundation because his clients didn't have cash, so Soros paid their bills. He also traveled to a lawyers' conference paid by Soros. He also cooperated with Soros's team tasked with various legal reforms between 2014-2019.
dOes 👏 yOuR 👏 mOm 👏 kNOw 👏 yOU'rE 👏 fRienDs 👏 with GEorGie?
https://www.civilnet.am/news/2020/09/23/Դրամաշնորհներ-և-վարձատրություն-Սորոսի-հիմնադրամից․-Հայկ-Ալումյանի-չներկայացրած-հայտարագրերի-շուրջ/395785
https://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/266149/

HHK tatik roasts Pashinyan with a diss track / Thanks America / Asks Putin to wire cash

HHK party has a fangirl grandma known as "HHK tatik". She used to stay outside of HHK office and Parliament to ask for handouts while praising Serj.
Today she thanked the United States Congress and the government for recognizing the Armenian genocide.
She also thanked Vladimir Putin. "I love you very much, Vladimir Putin. My father died in WW2 at the age of 40. I'm his only child. I ask you to help with an apartment for my 7-child family. I'm sending you my bank account. Can you wire some cash to grandma?"
She then badmouthed Levon Ter-Petrosyan and read a poem about Nikol Pashinyan being a liar. (gotta give it to grandma, she knows how to appease Putin)
Full: https://youtu.be/Pr5m5Tj-Lf0

former officials busted with stealing money dedicated for elderly

The report says: // Labor Ministry officials and social services employees embezzled public funds in 2015-2018.
The budget envisioned funds to help thousands of lonely elderly and disabled. For the funds not to be cut, the officials exaggerated the number of recipients by entering thousands of fake names. $373,000 was embezzled. A felony case is launched. //
(HHK tatik should get apartment money from Serjik instead of Vlad. Change my mind.)
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/196472

U.S. authorities arrest former HHK MP Arthur Gevorgyan

He's accused of breaking U.S. laws. Although not impossible, it's a difficult process to extradite him to Armenia due to lack of certain agreements with the U.S., said Armenian prosecutors.
The ex-MP is also wanted in Armenia for alleged illegal enrichment and failing to dislocate properties. That's the former boxer dude who bought mansions in LA and was exposed by Hetq outlet.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/196543

trial begins for Tsarukyan's right-hand man

Tsarukyan's Multi Group director Sedrak Arustamyan is a suspect in 3 cases: bribing HHK's IRS boss to give Tsarukyan's business favorable conditions, North-South highway fraud, and knowingly continuing an illegal construction in Yerevan despite being told to stop.
Today's trial is for the latter. He asked Yerevan deputy mayor to appear for questioning. It's about construction on Abovyan 5/1, 5/2, 5/5 address.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/196538

Tsarukyan's "voter bribery" case

BHK leader was earlier charged with buying voters during the 2017 elections. Two dozen people are facing charges.
162 people have been questioned, including ex-BHK officials, some of whom confessed.
https://www.azatutyun.am/a/30856187.html

Privet Rob

19 years ago today, Kocharyan's bodyguards murdered his co-villager in the Paplavok restaurant's toilet for simply greeting Kocharyan with "privet Rob".
That case was recently sent for retrial after new evidence and witnesses emerged. The old verdict was a slap on the wrist.
https://youtu.be/9MZe1xxLloo?t=237

drone footage contradicts former police chief's claims

Ex-top-cop Vladimir Gasparyan allegedly assaulted Azatutyun journalists for filming his [illegal] Sevan mansion with a drone. He claimed the drone endangered his health and privacy by flying 10 meters away and intruding in his backyard.
The police investigated the drone footage and found that the drone was at least 40 meters above and "couldn't even identify people by face".
The police refused Gasparyan's petition against journalists.
https://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/285445/

NSS busted one of their own agents w/corruption

The report says: the agent defrauded 6 citizens of $2,700 by giving fake promises about being able to "solve" their DUI cases and giving them driver license in exchange for a bribe.
A felony case is launched. https://armtimes.com/hy/article/196523

still no air travel to Russia

On Monday, Russia lifted the COVID-related travel ban with three EAEU states, but not Armenia, which prompted criticism and accusations of purposeful discrimination. Dozens of people gathered in front of the Armenian govt building demanding the ability to return back to Russia.
EAEU states have agreed to meet in Yerevan to discuss travel and other issues on October 8th.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/196492

COVID stats / Govt warns not to lose vigilance

+3,913 tested (the number is high due to mass testing of teachers and co-workers of infected people). +374 infected. +240 healed. +3 deaths. 3,748 active. 272,235 tested.
Pashinyan: there is an increased physical movement activity. The numbers are rising. We need to remember about personal responsibilities. Inspections will become stricter.
Healthcare Minister Torosyan: 30% of beds are free. 5+3 hospitals are handling COVID. Next week we'll find out if the resumption of schools caused a big spike.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/196511
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1028611.html
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1028612.html

consumer product prices

Product prices +0.8% YoY in the January-August period.
August YoY: all together +1.8%, food & beverages +1.6%, fruits +31%, sugar -4%, meat -4%, cheese and eggs -4%, eggs -21%, fuel -23%.
https://factor.am/286292.html

25th COVID aid package approved / tourism

The govt will support transport companies in the tourism industry by reimbursing 75% of unpaid interest, between April 2020-2021.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/196512

tuition aid for university students?

Education Minister Harutyunyan says they're discussing multiple ways on how to help students who can't pay tuition. Details available soon.
The 14th COVID aid package provided tuition subsidy but was mainly for those with A and B grades. The students want a new aid package that applies to everyone.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/196528 , https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/196561

deputy Education Minister and anti-plagiarism chiefs are sacked

Grisha Tamrazyan had disagreements with QP MP Julfalakyan over sorts (Education Ministry includes Sports Ministry). This resulted in the MP's resignation. He had problems with Tamrazyan.
Tamrazyan was also criticized by his fellow Education Ministry official Gogyan in a case involving plagiarism investigation of Economics university's rector. There was a back and forth argument.
The anti-plagiarism chief Gogyan will also leave his position.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/196544 , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1028720.html

old HayFilm movies will be digitized

Education Ministry and Cinema Center began a process to digitize old Armenian movies and documentaries that were left abandoned in the HayFilm office. They're mostly from the 1980s and 90s.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/196554

freedom of speech / the U.S. Library of Congress

You may remember that when the Emergency State was declared, per legacy law, the media was required to circulate only official info about the virus.
After prompt criticism about free speech, the govt quickly lifted the restrictions. Pashinyan would later complain that the removal of restrictions allowed conspiracy theories to aid the spread of the virus. Nonetheless, the restrictions weren't re-implemented.
 
The Library of Congress prepared a report about the fake news and how various countries dealt with it, and also mentioned the aforementioned process in Armenia.
It mentions another law drafted by Nature Ministry that could allow the Ministry to keep certain info secret from the public. Critics say it will hinder environmental activists' efforts, while the Ministry says it's needed to protect rare animals/plants by keeping their location/details classified.
The Library also mentioned a law that restricts the entry of foreign channels in Armenia's free over-the-air public airways, unless an agreement is signed first. The govt says it's aimed as "protecting the Armenian language" and "prioritizing programming in Armenian" by preferring Armenian channels over foreign ones.
https://www.amerikayidzayn.com/a/5595119.html , https://factor.am/286364.html

Russia-Armenia shipping costs will drastically reduce

High-Tech Minister Arshakyan: // HayPost and Russian Post signed an agreement to reduce shipping fees beginning in October 1st.
3x reduction between the Moscow region, and 1.5x reduction with the rest of Russia.
To Moscow region: $6 for 1kg and extra $2.6 per additional kilo.
To other regions: $12.5 for 1kg and extra $3 per additional kilo.
This is great for our small and medium online businesses. //
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1028623.html , https://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/285439/

relations with USA, RUS, EU, and neighbors

Security Councilman Grigoryan: a Russian analytical agency published a report about CSTO bloc cooperation which gave Armenia a very high mark.
Pashinyan: we'll soon hold the second round of strategic cooperation talks with the U.S. We have unusual but effective relations with our colleagues. The U.S., EU, and Russia are very important to us. There will be an EAEU meeting in Yerevan soon. Relations with Iran and Georgia also remain warm.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1028641.html

police reforms enter a new stage

Armenia will have a new high-paying and better-equipped police patrol. The U.S. is aiding with the reforms. The applicants will be tested in 3 phases:
Step one (complete): check the applicants' computer and tech skills.
Step two (ongoing): check their physical skills. 1km run, strength measurements, etc. (էլ պուզատիկ միլիցյա չենք տեսնելու? 😞😞😞)
Step three: 5-month learning courses in the police academy.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/196579

a new bridge near the Georgian border

The govt formed a committee tasked with preparing the construction of a new bridge on Debed river near the Sadakhlo-Bagratashen border point.
Some nearby lands will be legally taken from villagers in exchange for compensation to allow the construction of the bridge.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1028670.html

Spanish Senate has unanimously approved

... the EU-ARM comprehensive cooperation agreement.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/196527

Azeri media is forced to retract fake news about Lavrov

Yesterday we learned how Russian MFA made a "standard" statement about Artsakh conflict resolution. Azeri outlets distorted his words to present it pro-Azerbaijan.
When asked about it, Russian MFA said "get your news directly from us instead of [Azeri] interpretation."
Today the Azeri outlet edited the story to remove the misinformation.
https://factor.am/286333.html , https://eadaily.com/ru/news/2020/09/24/baku-dopolnil-moskvu-azerbaydzhan-udalil-svoyu-traktovku-slov-lavrova

Azeri tourist enters French municipality and makes a scene over Artsakh flag

... the mayor tells him "This isn't Azerbaijan. You don't make rules here."
The incident happened in Bourg-lès-Valence which is a sister-city with Artsakh's Shushi.
Mayor Marlen has been receiving threats from "dictatorial Azerbaijan" and "its ally Turkey" for flying the Artsakh flag.
Mayor's post: https://www.facebook.com/marlene.mourieposts/10217541848726693
https://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/285436/

Sweden appoints its first ambassador

... to Armenia, who is based in Armenia. He expects to see more Swedish companies operating in Armenia. President Sarkissian spoke about high-tech cooperation.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/196571

they are taking a bath

A group of volunteers are helping Nature Ministry to save storks by washing them.
In some areas, as much as 60% of the population is covered in dirt and oil waste. The theory is that stonks look for food from above, notice a fish breeding facility with plenty of fish, land there, and submerge in facility's pollutants.
Photos: https://armtimes.com/hy/article/196536
 
You've read 2185 words.

Disclaimer & Terminology

1) The accused are innocent until proven guilty in the court of law, even if they sound guilty.
2) Currency in Armenian ֏ unless specified otherwise.
3) NSS/SIS/SOC = law enforcement agencies. QP = Civil Contract Party. LHK = Bright Armenia Party. BHK = Prosperous Armenia Party. HHK = Republican Party. ARF = Armenian Revolutionary Federation Party
4) ARCHIVE of older posts by Idontknowmuch: PART 1 ; PART 2 ; PART 3 ; PART 4 ; PART 5.
5) ARCHIVE of older posts by Armeniapedia.

This is a compilation of all the posts by user ar_david_hh who summarises anti-Corruption news of the day along with other interesting news in one comment. It is linked from the sidebar->Interesting Threads->Anti-corruption. The list is ordered by date, newest first. Date format: D/M/YYYY. All credit goes to the sub's hero ar_david_hh
Previous compilation threads: Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5
Azerbaijan attacked Artsakh on 27 September 2020, making the war to be the main topic, the updates since this date are to be found in the daily Megathreads pinned at the top of the sub for now.

• 25/9/2020 news: \ Tsarukyan arrested \ ARM-AZE diplomatic spat \ parks or garages? \ NSS busts officials \ police brutality investigations \ mass unrest: mayor vs GasProm \ Parliament stats \ fake news busted \ officials sacked \ COVID news \ economy & wages \ hide and seek \ science
  
• 24/9/2020 news: \ shipping cost plummets \ free speech \ police reform \ Tsarukyan: voter bribe, gold mine, trial \ Vedi reservoir \ consumer prices \ Kocharyan lawyer in trouble \ HHK tatik drops diss-track \ NSS agent & officials busted \ 25th COVID aid \ resignations \ Azeri \ more
  
• 23/9/2020 news: \ education reforms: Armenian language \ liberated Anvakh outpost \ MFAs clash \ Armenia-Saudi relations \ job & salary stats \ real estate grows \ EU sends $ \ BHK officials \ Amulsar activists \ police & cadastre reforms \ mask ads \ Yerevan vs illegal construction
  
• 21/9/2020 news: \ tech industry grows \ Pashinyan blasts Aliyev for "falsifying history" \ Israeli arms dealer & Aliyev's offshore laundromats \ solar energy \ crosswalks to have lights \ trials: Mishik, Kocharyan, Tsarukyan \ opposition prepares huge rally \ many more stories inside...
  
• 21/9/2020 holiday report: \ 1991 flashback: independence \ battle of Arara \ army news: Aliyev's delusions, drone, panic, draft, Armenian exercise \ TUMO to expand in Artsakh \ NSS boss comments the Russian Dossier \ fires \ tourism & wine \ athletes win big \ Tslik Amram ancient castle
  
• 18/9/2020 news: \ Russian dossier: Kremlin's anti-Pashinyan agents \ polls: bribery encounter, business investments \ officials & bribers busted \ Tsarukyan's workers upset \ anti-vaxx story \ Armenian Stock Exchange \ border villages \ archaeologists \ ARM-GEO deal \ MFA \ meat for RUS
  
• 17/9/2020 news: \ TUMO expansion: labs & nano-tech \ anti-corruption: officials to disclose purchases \ oppo vs govt: verbal battle \ busted: rector & cops \ clinics+ \ PM intervenes \ COVID is back? \ tourism sights \ Human Capital Index \ bills pass: free lawyer, genocide calls \ debt
  
• 16/9/2020 news: \ education reforms: Minister & opposition locked in a fierce battle \ Pashinyan about judges, COVID \ irrigated lands \ drivers in Russia \ USA trade \ sheep production \ ozone & nature \ paternity leave \ FDIC insurance \ doctors protest \ Hrant Dink \ cattle cave
  
• 15/9/2020 news: \ unified transport & payment network \ rivers that flow to AZE \ geopolitics \ Kocharyan's money \ new Constitutional Court judges \ anti-corruption \ Central Bank: GDP, inflation, interest \ nature protection \ it's nuts! \ COVID news \ the church \ pump those numbers
  
• 14/9/2020: \ election fraud: BHK's factory \ Kocharyan & $600m \ foreign affairs: USA, RUS, AZE events, shots fired \ economic freedom index \ parliament grills wannabe judges \ berries (lol) \ music & culture \ COVID \ school begins \ infrastructure \ Yerevan's metro, buses, elevators
  
• 13/9/2020 news: \ post-July Battles in Tavush: border farming & irrigation expands \ re: new law about draft evaders \ car exports: Armenian drivers in Russia \ more athletes to receive pensions \ COVID \ female boss \ trolls in Baku \ Social Progress score \ Խաչվերաց \ videos \ sports
  
• 11/9/2020: \ details emerge about mass-alcohol poisoning \ 2000 assassination attempt of Artsakh prez \ draft-dodgers could get a chance \ USA talks investments \ anti-corruption busts \ INTERPOL & foreign affairs \ infrastructure & roads \ COVID rules change \ airlines resume \ exports
  
• 10/9/2020: \ reforms to reduce waiting times, fees \ agriculture \ renewable energy goal \ COVID news \ jobs & salaries++ \ Belarus protest \ Urartian m'lady \ fiber-optic network: GEO vs AZE \ BHK backtracks abortion ban? \ re: Emil Gazaz \ anti-corruption busts \ m'lady Aurora \ ...
  
• 9/9/2020 news: \ birthrate up \ paid paternity leave \ BHK's abortion ban \ "real" car inspection \ Japanese tech to clean Sevan \ a Georgian drama \ many diasporan repatriates \ economic stats \ import tariffs \ no psycho judges \ high-profile anti-corruption busts \ reviving Kond ...
  
• 8/9/2020 news: \ new major anti-corruption steps \ Yerevan deficit shrinks \ 1994 murder retrial \ Khojalu facts & Czech reporter \ ECHR vs Aliyev's Armenophobia \ ex-MP charged \ monuments++ \ mass testing for teachers \ trashy phone calls \ loans++ \ roads++ \ high-tech tutoring
  
• 7/9/2020 news: \ electric car imports skyrocket \ inciting genocide = life sentence \ tourist boulevard on Sevan shores \ defamation law \ EU deportations \ anti-corruption busts \ անճոռնի գորտը \ March 1st statue & victims \ COVID & economy \ telecom & 5G \ app: pick your doctor \ ...
  
• 6/9/2020 news: \ Gyumri Day: new transport, parks, tourism, arts \ demolishing ex-police chief's Sevan mansion \ Geo-politics. Russian-American spy's plans in Armenia \ diplomatic passports \ Nikol's horses \ are Armenians generous? \ the heroes \ sports & music \ bike tour across Armenia
  
• 4/9/2020 news: \ Karabakh prez rattles former regime, "exposes" land giveaway \ Anti-RU protests in AZ \ Armenia will have Amazon Locker-style delivery \ Real car safety checks & driver training \ Nuclear renovation \ Quarantine Law ready \ Lake Sevan \ Truck fee \ HayPost discount \ ...
  
• 3/9/2020 news: \ PM's office busts corruption. Gov't building repairs. Fake news \ govt to inject $104m to kickstart businesses \ police reforms, cars, academy \ Serj's trial \ anti-corruption stats \ Yerevan's irrigation \ geopolitics \ consumer prices \ HIV \ athlete salary \ ...
  
• 2/9/2020 news: \ Armenia resolves railway dispute w/Russia \ geopolitics: Syrian fighters, AZ, TR, RU \ USA & EU help with police reforms & laboratory \ LTE & lower fees in Artsakh \ ex-police chief's Sevan mansion \ corruption busts \ Kond \ YSU tuition & salaries \ renovations \ ...
  
• 1/9/2020 news: \ archaeologists discover canals, scripts, churches in Artsakh's Tigranocerta, dismiss "Caucasian Albania" theories \ Volunteer Army to have 100,000 men & women \ mass poisoning from wood alcohol \ winery explosion \ anti-corruption busts \ schools++ \ new Yerevan bus \ ...
  
• 31/8/2020 news: \ Archaeologists examine a strange 1919 mass-murder \ Corruption Committee to investigate Pashinyan \ ex-officials & IRS agents busted. Millions $ \ warden arrested \ COVID vs consumption \ sports & arts news \ Lebanese & Syrian Armenians \ u do business? \ trash sorting!
  
• 30/8/2020 news: \ Armenia's one of a kind radio-optical telescope could connect to international network for space exploration \ ex-Minister charged with $1.7m theft \ Court verdict on HHK mayor's bail \ PM's trip \ Germany, Turkey, Azerbaijan, EU \ Mountain squad \ Dilijan's new Rope Park
  
• 28/8/2020 news: \ New details about Tavush battles. Medals awarded \ Vaccines, tourism, working parents \ Doing business in AM. Survey & investments \ Police brutality busted \ Kocharyan calls Nikol "corrupt" \ Subsidies to boost rural teaching \ Lebanese repatriates \ Chess boycott \ ...
  
• 27/8/2020 News TLDR: \ New airport, village, reservoir to be built \ Doctor becomes Hero \ COVID tickets \ "Quarantine" to replace Emergency State \ Big bust over police bribery \ Prison guards arrested \ Worker rights \ Lebanese-Armenians \ Utility subsidies \ Roads++ \ Kurds in Turkey
  
• 26/8/2020 news: \ Apartment building collapses \ Trial of ex-IRS boss \ Artsakh + Russia = Love? \ COVID \ High-tech develops \ Post office modernizes & expands abroad \ Fight against criminal subculture \ Fake news rundown \ Armenian passport is meh \ Medicine imports \ TUMO in Moscow
  
• 25/8/2020 news: \ Armenia to have a new Volunteer Army for national defense \ Azerbaijan's internal clan wars intensify \ Anti-Corruption: Tsarukyan's wine company, Artsakh official, Schools \ COVID \ Electoral reform \ Lebanese-Armenian repatriates \ Fishing industry \ Lake Sevan \ more
  
• 24/8/2020 news: / Poll: COVID, income, future / SU-25 and SU-30CM jets / Soldier wanders off / Artsakh apartments++ / Kocharyan sues Armenia / CC judge Tovmasyan's trial / People like art / U.S. sends aid / Gasprom layoffs / Employment++ / School reform / Tourism & Nature++ / Warehouse collapses
  
• 22/8/2020 news: (1) Serj draws criticism over Tavush Battles medal comments, gets reminded about his questionable past awards. (2) "Pashinyan has served his purpose and needs to go." (3) Court mergers (4) church mural restored (5) chess Olympiad (6) nature = good (7) COVID vs jobs (8) Syrian aid
  
• 21/8/2020 news: // How the army was born in 90s // Tavush Battles. Liberation of Anvakh. Pashinyan speech. Russia responds. // COVID vs Economy // Antibody experiments // The return of HHK // Fishers and villagers protest // Should 16-year-olds vote? // Justice reforms // Lebanese-Armenian aid
  
• 20/8/2020 news: () new Metro station in Yerevan () individualism vs totalitarianism () gold miners lose license () new Kalashnikov AK-12? () stats: COVID vs remittances, tourism, real estate () Amulsar & other protests () village house subsidy () New food factory () light aircraft flying & tourism
  
• 19/8/2020 news: / Q&A with Serj. Claims April 2016 was victory. Downplays Tavush victory. Notable parts. Investigator responds with criticism / New suicide drone / LHK joins BHK / Make villages great again / Infrastructure++ / Weighing trucks / Operation "Save the Fish" / COVID / High-tech aid
  
• 18/8/2020 News: / ex-Yerevan Mayor & ex-Minister busted. Laundering. / Voter list de-bloating / IRS wants $2.8m from Gago's casino / Magic wand prints free money for kids / Anti-Corruption: Good cop, Bad cop / Amulsar & Mining / Bordering village aid / About COVID / Tourism! / Foreign Affairs / ++
  
• 17/8/2020 news: / Armenia's fish industry & water reserves / Eco-tourism in Sevan... need roads / Anti-corruption stats: 2020 vs 2019 vs ... / Yerevan begins recycling / Belorussian activists use "Armenian model" / Domestic violence 2020 vs 2019 / Rector's doctoral degree / Neolithic discoveries /
  
• 16/8/2020 news: / How Kocharyan & Serj sold Armenia's infrastructure: Nuclear, Zangezur Copper, Hydro, Water, Post Office, Railway / Tavush Battles heroes / Bomb comments: Ganja & Stepanakert / Jeffrey Epstein has died / Nature protection rules / Belarus: 2008 or 2018? / Armenia, Greece, Turkey /
  
• 14/8/2020 news: / STEM in 2nd grade / 71 soldiers get medals. Tavush Battles / Beirut aid & repatriates. / Pashinyan is grilled / Anti-Corruption Court discussions / Officials charged with corruption / Uranium / Sasna Tsrer threats / Azerbaijan / COVID news / Beautiful Armenia / Infrastructure++
  
• 13/8/2020 news: / Two more COVID aid packages / Polls! / Illegal Sevan buildings / Mafia gang arrested / Anti-corruption / Army death transparency / Foreign Affairs: food boycott & cancellations in LA, arrests in AZ, Russian weapons / Lebanon & Gaza / Fireworks ban / Recycling & trash factories
  
• 12/8/2020 news: / 2016 Yerevan hostage crisis trial. Sasna Tsrer / Beirut aid. Repatriates / COVID restrictions relaxed. Foreign travel. Free care. Parties / HayPost & fiber-optic for borders / UCOM subscribers held a vote / Earthquake / This is Sparta / Amulsar gold miner Lydian / Your boy IRS /
  
• 11/8/2020 news: / Inspectors find some ammonium in Armenia. Beirut aid / How Kocharyan & Serj sold Armenia's infrastructure to Russia / Kocharyan trial / ex-BHK official demands refund. Voter buying / $446M corruption / COVID news & Economy / The story of Dragon Stones / Soccer league renamed /...
  
• 10/8/2020 news: / Bolola: Anatolia vs Armenian Highlands / Archaeology: new Qarahunj & Dragon-stones found / Huge illegal fishing campaign busted / Sugar monopoly penalized / Yerevan's new elevators / COVID: phone metadata monitoring law / Banking in Armenia / Treaty of Sevres & Western Armenia
  
• 9/8/2020 news: / Secret license - Karabakh Telecom / World's most efficient thermal plant / Arrests / Ex-police chief in trouble. Threats / Neighborhood news / Beirut aid. Eye-witness report. Repatriates & Arabs / Earthquake-proof schools / Education reforms - Arts & Crafts / Armenian churches / +
  
• 7/8/2020 news: / Russia extradites ex-MP. Murder attempt / Amulsar trailers / Nature audit / Anti-Corruption: Panama Paper's friend, two mayors, officials / Beirut aid / COVID & neighbors / AZ buys GEO fiber-optics / Tavush battles / Women in tech / Fewer car crashes / Women in tech / McBridgeface
  
• 6/8/2020 news: / Drugs over mail = OK / Armenia will have its High-Tech & Science hub. Chinese $$ / Infrastructure++ / Beirut explosion. Armenia audits itself / Anti-corruption: ex-Yerevan mayor & hydro plant, Healthcare Minister, another mayor / Amulsar protest / Gender wage gap & stats / COVID /
  
• 5/8/2020 news: / Population grows / No grades in school / Beirut explosion. Armenian community / MP's Russian citizenship / "Pro-Pashinyan" media pushed out of LA / Foreign affairs / Amulsar protest. Arbitration lawsuit. Activists clash / COVID briefing. Re-opening plans / Food & Energy prices /
  
• 4/8/2020 news: / Kocharyan trial. Frozen assets. Civil lawsuit. / Another fugitive escapes justice with Russian citizenship / Amulsar gold mine protests. Lydian removes tents / Two ex-mayors charged with corruption / Lung ventilator production / Azeri hackers / Mashtots Garden & Trees / Metro!
  
• 3/8/2020 news: / New anti-corruption court / Two monopolies penalized / Corruption investigations +64% / Judicial transparency / Tavush Battles. Tanks. Sanctions. / Yezidi community / Infrastructure & Construction ++ / Nature protection / COVID aid packages / Diaspora! / Sarsang Reservoir / ...
  
• 2/8/2020 news: (1) post-Tavush. Azeri dissident. No communication. Serbian weapons. PACE vs Aliyev (2) Free cancer drugs (3) Employee rights (4) IRS's record-low debt (5) Now HHK "assaults" Constitutional Court (6) Poll: Would you leave Armenia? (7) Governor vs Mayor (8) COVID news (10) Roads++
  
• 31/7/2020 news: / Karabakh War, Grey Wolves, Elchibey / Aliyev gets no love / Russian oil monopoly / COVID / Anti-corruption: Vanetsyan, QP MP, Yerevan official / Judges hold a meeting / Marijuana trial / UCOM outage $$ / Poll: friendly and hostile countries / Infrastructure & industry / Fortress
  
• 30/7/2020 news summary: (1) Net Neutrality in Armenia (2) Tavush battles - Aliyev's crisis - international response - civilians (3) Anti-corruption: oligarch, soccer match fixing, officials (4) COVID (5) Ancient cities (6) New police salaries++ (7) Miners protest (8) Solar projects (9) Tourism++
  
• 29/7/2020 news summary: / post-Tavush battles / Flashback 1993 / Aliyev's crisis & dissidents / Armenia bans Turkey / Israeli drones / Anti-corruption & Gangs / COVID is retreating / Obesity stats / Poll: Amulsar mining / Poll: inheritance / Lake Sevan / Garbage news / Solar panels & Elevators /
  
• 28/7/2020 news: / Tavush Battles - Pashinyan's interview TLDR - Russia relations - Margarita Simonyan - Karabakh / Bordering residents to get subsidies / Firdusi tourism / Diaspora / 1st lady / Anti-corruption news: BHK, Kocharyan, judge / COVID vs economy & railways / Money / Infrastructure++
  
• 27/7/2020 news: / Post-Tavush battles / Aliyev vs ex-diplomat / Weapons / AM & AZ civilians / Governor's assassination plot / Kocharyan's friendly judge / Mayor sentenced / Anti-corruption busts / COVID vs economy / Deported? / Infrastructure & Solar & Nature ++ / Free healthcare / Cheese, baby
  
• 25/7/2020 news: / post-Tavush Battles / Moscow's civilian clashes end - Apology tour - Market to end discrimination / OSCE responds / Aliyev vs Peace / Housing for refugees / de-mining in Artsakh / Failed demolition / COVID & Travel expenditures / Sevan water / Trees & Roads / Armenian literature
  
• 24/7/2020 news summary: / Tavush Battles / Moscow attacks / Border reservoir cooperation / Diplomacy / More babies born in Artsakh / COVID is retreating - a map / Busted: city official and cop / Keg explosion / Free apartments / Constitution / Economy & exports / Ugly billboards gone / Fav. books
  
• 23/7/2020 news: / Tavush Battles / Google Maps showing the military outposts & roads - New vs Old borders / Armenia reviews military & diplomatic performance / Anti-drone training with Russia / U.S. House - Diplomacy - Foreign media / COVID vs Economy / Water! / Safer cars / Infrastructure++ / ...
  
• 22/7/2020 news: / Tavush Battles - action map - new & old borders - Aliyev's meltdown - Yashma fails - repressions / Sevan's blossoming explained / Diasporans return / Constitutional Court / Anti-corruption - Ministers & MPs / Cyber church / COVID vs Economy / Roads! / Less runaround / Post office
  
• 21/7/2020 news: / $150 million drones shot / Russian state media responds to Apricot War & Tavush Battles / Azerbaijan "backtracks" on nuclear threat / Caviar diplomacy / World responds / Taxes / Infrastructure+ / COVID & polls / Free speech / Sevan is blossoming / Anti-corruption busts / Reforms
  
• 20/7/2020 news: / Tavush Battles / Frontline footage / Armenia hails victory / Donations / Aliyev is looking for scapegoats / Foreign affairs & Media / Apricot War / Brain inflow / Anti-corruption bust / Taxes & Alcohol vs COVID / Judge arrested / New 17-story building / Zipline ready / + more
  
• 19/7/2020 news: / Tavush Battles / How Armenia developed its drone industry / Aliyev becomes a Karen / Apricot War is settled / Politicians from US, UK, and EU respond / International media covers nuclear threat / Voter bribery busted / Airlines suspended / Armenia celebrates Vardavar / + more
  
• 18/7/2020 news: / Tavush Battles / Pashinyan's speech & Aliyev's plans / How to have "nuclear fallout" without nukes 101 / Armenian drones in action / Apricot Boycott turns into Armenian festival of support / Villages are rebuilding / Donations / Armenian diasporans march / + other topics
  
• 17/7/2020 news: / Tavush Battles / Nuclear threats are backfiring / Interview with Azeri human rights activist / Armenian diaspora responds / Casualties # / Armenia captures a drone / A calm day. Daily life returns / "Apricot boycott" / Iconic meme guy returns / Hackers & fake news / +other topics
  
• 16/7/2020 news: / Tavush Battles / 100 Azeris launch attack, 20 casualties, bodies collected / Videos / Armenian civilians struck / Ilham Aliyev's meltdown / Azerbaijan threatens to bomb nuclear plant / Foreign response & diplomacy / Pro-Azerbaijan EU rapporteur resigns / Fake news / +other topics
  
• 15/7/2020 news: / Tavush Battles / Casualties / Aliyev mad at MFA / 13 drones shut / Soldiers receive award & aid / Ethnic Talysh vs Aliyev / Evidence showing Azeri army attacks on Armenian civilians / Foreign affairs & response / Protests in Baku & Yerevan / The shepherd / Hackers strike / + more
  
• 14/7/2020 news: (1) Tavush battles. Baku-Ceyhan pipeline. High ranking casualties. Civilians targeted. Expensive Azeri drone is shot. Armenian drones in action. Hackers carry-out infrastructure attacks. Foreign response & diplomacy (2) + other stories
  
• 13/7/2020 news: (1) Tavush Battles. Azerbaijan sustains heavy losses. Villagers talk about the newly captured outpost. Azeri hackers spread fake news about Armenian losses. Timeline of events & international response (2) Artsakh to increase doctors' salaries. Free healthcare (3) + other topics
  
• 12/7/2020 news: (1) Border skirmish: 3 dead, 4 wounded, tanks, mortars (2) Archaeological discovery (3) What took down Armenian ISPs? (4) COVID stats (5) Infrastructure ++ (6) Church leaders respond (7) De-mining aid (8) Outlet fabricates a story (9) Criminal subculture bust (10) Charity (11) ...
  
• 10/7/2020 news: (1) Armenian cult leader (2) Real estate $ (3) ISP merger approved (4) Anti-Corruption (5) COVID news (6) High tech (7) Foreign affairs (8) Green Yerevan (9) Poll: Preferred gender? (10) Nature strikes (11) Many infrastructure upgrades (12) Dalma Garden district (13) Sports & Books
  
• 9/7/2020 news: () Tsarukyan's casino loses license () Gold mine in trouble () Solar incoming () Anti-bribery () TEAM licensed () BHK & Traditions () Foreign affairs () Diplomatic passports () Artsakh () Rebel arrested () Emergency powers () Yandex helps Yerevan () Finances () Construction QA ()
  
• 8/7/2020 news: (1) ECHR rejects judges' plea (2) Making Yerevan safer (3) Court strikes down Tsarukyan verdict (4) Armenia's abandoned villages (5) Fake news & COVID (6) Foxy LHK (7) Bills & Reforms (8) Road repair w/warranty (9) Bloody river (10) Artsakh tightens rules (11) Foreign affairs (12)..
  
• 7/7/2020 news: (1) Yerevan lowers speed limit (2) COVID testing to 2x (3) Kalashnikov's night vision WiFi (4) BHK MP arrested (5) Kocharyan trial (6) Arm. Genocide & Kim K (7) Bears & Storks (8) Foreign investment (9) Free healthcare (10) Ex-officials' land fraud (11) Infrastructure+ (12) Bills!
  
• 6/7/2020 News: (1) Paplavok murder. Kocharyan bodyguard's retrial (2) ECHR (3) Cost of 1GB (4) COVID news (5) ISP merger (6) Stats for Marriage/Deaths/Crime/Food Price/Exams (7) Would u marry non-Armenian? (8) Bomb threat (9) Nature strikes (10) Azeri blogger (11) Dvin city (12) Infrastructure++
  
• 5/7/2020: Armenian News Summary - Weekend Edition. Soccer rules, Constitution, Coronavirus, Noah's ark, Best violinists, News wars, Lake Sevan documentary, Major infrastructure upgrades, and more...
  
• 3/7/2020 News: (1) Anti-corruption reform (2) Polls (3) Stray dogs (4) Constitutional Court (5) Corruption trial (6) COVID news, Loan vacations, Grandma's phone (7) Real estate (8) Beeline ISP (9) This lake belongs to me (10) Soccer league LOL (11) Mayors busted (12) Yerevan's $10mln garden (13)..
  
• 2/7/2020: (1) Law targets foreign TVs (2) RUS & ARM journalists clash over news (3) ARM to import Kazakh oil to break RUS monopoly (4) Big trucks vs asphalt (5) COVID news, Vaccines, Grandma found (6) Gyumri's aerial tramway (7) Russian railway cuts prices (8) Edu. reforms (9) Pensions (10) Wheat!
  
• 1/7/2020 News: (1) BHK's voter fraud. Confession (2) Body goes missing bcz of doctor's handwriting (3) Karabakh conflict polls (4) Official charged (5) COVID news (6) Cops vs karens (7) Made in Armenia (8) Alimony law (9) Daily life of a grandmaster (10) Syrian envoy (11) Diaspora (12) Road repair
  
• 30/6/2020 News: (1) I took a bribe (2) Public polls about COVID (3) Property Tax Q&A (4) Parliament, Court, Referendum (5) President's scare (6) Subsidized Hep C drug (7) Kocharyan trial (8) Armenian jets in Africa (9) Anti-body tests (10) Artsakh aid (11) Another Mayor (12) No torture in Kapan
  
• 29/6/2020: (1) Yerevan closes apartment garbage holes & Repairs roofs (2) Child care subsidy (3) Disability reforms (4) Crisis in Azerbaijan (5) Drive-in cinema (6) Economic Freedom+ (7) COVID (8) Relationship survey (9) Strasbourg mayor (10) NSS arrests IRS and police officials (11) Construction+
  
• 28/6/2020 News: (1) Radical changes to school grading (2) GMO food to be marked (3) Fewer army deaths (4) Tsarukyan's co-conspirator (5) Points-based traffic law (6) COVID news & tickets (7) Road repairs (8) Activist arrested (9) Gentrification (10) Constitutional Court (11) Fires (12) Orphan kids
  
• 26/6/2020 News: (1) Tsarukyan company's multi-million $ land fraud (2) Constitutional Court judges fired. Details. 3) BHK MP family's & Yerevan official's property fraud (4) COVID news (5) Armenian hackers (6) Medicine production in Armenia (7) Hamalir fire (8) Fixed soccer matches busted, 5 teams
  
• 25/6/2020 News: (1) CC Court crisis. Kocharyan pulls his case. LHK vs All. (2) Big property tax reform (3) Child care subsidies (4) Pashinyan got mad again (5) Roads & Infrastructure (6) Kocharyan's ally charged (7) Armenian mortar (8) Infected taxi driver (9) Cops organized crime (10) A kiss?
  
• 24/6/2020 News: (1) Constitutional Court crisis / President / Judge / LHK (2) Cancel culture hits Armenia (3) USA news (4) Criminal subculture (5) COVID news. Armenian kits. (6) Yerevan's taco trucks & parking (7) Remote education (8) Ice cream danger (9) NSS agents & mayors busted (10) More roads
  
• 23/6/2020 News: (1) Constitutional Court judges cling to power (2) Kocharyan & Tsarukyan (3) Universal income tax (4) Jobs are recovering (5) ... and so do COVID patients (6) Hospitals & Schools (7) Bro, it's an elementary thing (8) Herpes drug? (9) Azeris in Yerevan (10) Parks, Roads, & Startups.
  
• 22/6/2020 News: (1) Constitutional Court bill. Pashinyan scores major victory. Venice Commission. HHK mad (2) Bribed soldiers (3) Court re-installs HHK mayor (4) Kocharyan & Tsarukyan trials (5) Activist beaten (6) Mayor is busted (7) COVID news. Hospitals. Donations (8) Whirlwind (9) Borders
  
• 21/6/2020 News: (1) Mishik clashes with Pashinyan's family outlet (2) Flashback. Tsarukyan's past (3) Tsarukyan sued by German investor (4) Tsarukyan avoids jail for now (5) Kocharyan receives remittances from Russia (6) European Parliament (7) COVID. More resources. More aid. (8) Nature strikes
  
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