Category: 2023

 10:19, 3 April 2023

YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. Finnish conservative leader Petteri Orpo has won a three-way election race, defeating Prime Minister Sanna Marin's centre left, BBC reports.

"We got the biggest mandate," said the leader of the National Coalition Party, after a dramatic night in which the result gradually swung away from Marin's Social Democrats.

Orpo secured 20.8% of the vote, ahead of the right-wing populist Finns Party and the centre left.

The populists won a record 20.1%.

It is a bitter defeat for Marin, who increased her party's seats and secured 19.9% of the vote.

She continues to enjoy high poll ratings and has been widely praised for steering Finland towards imminent entry into Nato and navigating her country through the Covid-19 pandemic.

Shortly after the conservative leader claimed victory, the centre-left leader conceded the election.

"Congratulations to the winner of the elections, congratulations to the National Coalition Party, congratulations to the Finns Party. Democracy has spoken," she told supporters.

Meanwhile, three of the other parties in the outgoing coalition – the Centre Party, Left Alliance and Greens – all rang up big losses.

Now 37, Sanna Marin became the world's youngest leader when she burst on to the political scene in 2019. She headed a coalition of five parties, all led by women.

The conservatives will have the first opportunity in forming a government, and if they succeed, Orpo, 53, will become the next prime minister. Under Finland's system of proportional representation he will have to muster more than 100 seats in the 200-seat parliament to run the country, and that will not be straightforward.

 10:57, 3 April 2023

YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. Russian war correspondent Maksim Fomin – better known under the pen name Vladlen Tatarsky – was killed in a suspected IED explosion in a café in downtown St. Petersburg on Sunday afternoon. 32 other people were injured in the blast in the ‘Street Bar,’ according to Russian authorities.  

Tatarsky rose to prominence as a military blogger after Russia launched what it describes as “a special military operation” in Ukraine, which Kiev and many Western countries say is an unprovoked aggression.

On Sunday, Tatarsky was hosting a live event for his supporters at the St. Petersburg café.

Authorities believe that Tatarsky may have been killed by an improvised explosive device disguised as a statuette handed over to him by a young woman during the event, RT reports.

Reacting to the bombing, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Russian journalists face constant death threats from “the Kiev regime and its abettors.” Tatarsky was a “danger" and “provoked the hatred of the Kiev regime” with his professional activities, Zakharova claimed. 

On April 3, Russian authorities identified the suspect in Sunday’s bombing as Darya Trepova.

Trepova is at large.

 11:14, 3 April 2023

YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. On April 3rd, 2023, two postage stamps dedicated to the theme “Armenia-Romania Joint Issue” were put into circulation.

Each postage stamp has a nominal value of 400 AMD. One of the stamps depicts the portrait of Ana Aslan, a famous Romanian doctor of Armenian origin, scientist, founder of the world's first geriatrics institute, creator of the first anti-aging remedy "Gerovital", and the other postage stamp depicts Ana Aslan’s photo and a branch with buds, symbolizing new life.

The postage stamps also depict the flags of Armenia and Romania, the signature of Ana Aslan as well as the inscriptions "ANA ASLAN", "JOINT ISSUE ARMENIA-ROMANIA" and “1897-1988” in Armenian and English languages.

Date of issue: 

Designers: David Dovlatyan, MihailVămășescu

Printing house: Cartor, France

Size: 42,0 x 28,0mm

Stamps per sheet:10 pcs

Print run: 20 000 pcs x 2

All materials are provided by “Ana Aslan” Foundation ().

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1107790.html?fbclid=IwAR1zf1hoRnJejS212V7tkxWOqOQcVDw04QVKfRZdEpsBJ1R91aW4uLnYqbA

 11:26, 3 April 2023

YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s son, Ashot Pashinyan, has been assaulted, Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan said Monday.

Simonyan revealed Ashot Pashinyan’s assault a day after being assaulted in downtown Yerevan himself.

“Yesterday Ashot Pashinyan was assaulted too. A few days before that, an ARF Member of Parliament attacked and punched Vladimir Vardanyan, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on State-Legal Affairs, some ARF [occurrence] commits a provocation from 100 meters away against the Speaker of Parliament in downtown Yerevan, and yesterday an attack against the Prime Minister’s son also took place. This is a series of organized provocations, and I am sure that the traces lead beyond our country’s borders, and the legal and political reaction to this will take place swiftly. Armenia will remain a democracy and will develop its democracy, there will be peace in our region,” Simonyan said on social media.

On April 2, the Speaker of Parliament was allegedly involved in an altercation with a passerby in Yerevan.

The passerby, Karen Mkrtchyan, a Diaspora-Armenian and registered ARF member, said on social media that he saw Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan in central Yerevan and called him a “traitor”. Mkrtchyan claimed that Alen Simonyan allegedly ordered his security detail to restrain him, and then Simonyan allegedly spat on his face.

Simonyan later issued a statement, acknowledging that an incident took place but neither confirming nor denying the alleged spitting.  He said that insults against the legitimate authorities of Armenia will receive a legitimate reaction.

 16:57,

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Ameriabank has been named the Best Bank in Armenia by Global Finance magazine in its 30th annual awards for the World’s Best Banks.

When selecting the world's top banks, Global Finance considered a range of criteria, including growth in assets, profitability, geographic reach, strategic relationships, new business development, and innovation in products. Other factors for selection included the opinions of equity analysts, credit rating analysts, banking consultants, and others involved in the financial industry throughout the world. This year’s awards were given to banks that attended carefully to their customers’ needs in difficult markets and accomplished strong results while laying the foundations for future success.

“As the banking crisis spreads from the US to other regions, identifying the best banks regarding services, stability and institutional knowledge is more important than ever,” said Joseph D. Giarraputo, founder and editorial director of Global Finance. “This year’s Best Bank Awards recognize the financial institutions that offer the broadest range of services as well as the reliability required for long-term financial relationships.”

Artak Hanesyan, Chairman of the Management Board, CEO at Ameriabank, commented: “We are delighted to receive the Best Bank Award from Global Finance, which serves as a testament to our robust growth in all business areas over the past year. As this is the ninth time we have received this prestigious award, it goes beyond just one year's financial results and serves as a true recognition of our strong performance for more than a decade to reflect also the resilience and enduring strength of our long-term strategy. By accepting and celebrating this acknowledgement, we reinstate our commitment to meeting the evolving needs of our customers and introducing innovation in financial services with a strong focus on digitalization, financial responsibility and long-term sustainability.”

Ameriabank has been awarded the Best Bank of Armenia for the ninth time and the third consecutive year.

Ameriabank CJSC

Ameriabank is a leading financial and technology company in Armenia, a major contributor to the Armenian economy, with assets exceeding AMD 1 trillion. In the course of digital transformation, it has launched a number of innovative solutions and platforms going beyond banking-only needs of its diverse customer base, thus creating a dynamically evolving financial technology space. 

Ameria was the first in Armenia to create ecosystems for both businesses and individuals, which give one-window access to a range of banking and non-banking services, among them - Estate.ameriabank.am, Automarket.ameriabank.am, Business.ameriabank.am. 

As a truly customer-centric company, Ameria aims to be a trusted and secure financial technology space with seamless solutions to improve the quality of life.

The Bank is supervised by the Central Bank of Armenia.

About Global Finance

Global Finance, founded in 1987, has a circulation of 50,000 readers in 193 countries and territories. Global Finance’s audience includes senior corporate and financial officers responsible for making investment and strategic decisions at multinational companies and financial institutions. Its website — GFMag.com — offers analysis and articles that are the legacy of 36 years of experience in international financial markets. Global Finance is headquartered in New York, with offices around the world. Global Finance regularly selects the top performers among banks and other financial services providers. These awards have become a trusted standard of excellence for the global financial community.

 17:11,

YEREVAN, 31 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 31 March, USD exchange rate up by 0.18 drams to 388.48 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 0.11 drams to 422.28 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.01 drams to 5.02 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 1.66 drams to 480.74 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price up by 21.37 drams to 24552.69 drams. Silver price up by 5.82 drams to 296.14 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.