For years, visitors to Tbilisi Zoo have paused by the elephant enclosure, watching Malka sway rhythmically from side to side — a movement some saw as calming, others as deeply troubling. Few, however, knew the story behind it. A new video from Tbilisi Zoo offers a rare glimpse into the daily lives of its two elephants, Malka and Grand, and the work being done to care for them with the help of German elephant behaviour specialist Tobias Dornbusch, who moved to Georgia to oversee their welfare. The footage follows the pair through an ordinary day — training, feeding and interaction with keepers — while also shedding light on a far more complicated past. Malka’s story begins thousands of kilometres away, in the forests of Laos. Born in the wild, she was taken from her natural environment at around one year old and sent to an elephant camp, where she was trained for domestic labour and tourism — a common fate for many Asian elephants. Dornbusch says the methods used in such camps are often harsh. Elephants are frequently restrained with chains and trained using hooked tools, while many spend much of their lives tethered rather than roaming freely. Malka was later transferred to a zoo in Kazakhstan before arriving in Tbilisi in 2001. But by then, the trauma had already left visible marks. According to zoo specialists, the repetitive swaying and pacing that visitors often noticed are signs of so-called stereotypic behaviour — repetitive movements commonly associated with prolonged stress, confinement or psychological distress in captive animals. In recent years, concerns over Malka’s wellbeing sparked public debate in Georgia. Visitors questioned whether the elephant was being kept in appropriate conditions, and some launched a petition calling for her relocation. Sharing the enclosure with her is Grand, an elephant who arrived from Yerevan Zoo in 2014 and has since become something of a local celebrity. Several years ago, he underwent a rare and highly complex operation to remove one of his tusks, an event that drew widespread public attention in Georgia and later featured in a BBC documentary.

@MikayelZolyan explores the anxieties and hopes of post-election Armenia, the challenge of Russian interference, the responsibilities of citizenship, and what it means to shape the country’s future rather than simply watch it unfold. evnreport.com/opinion/one-ba…

Members of the ruling Georgian Dream party’s youth organisation have travelled to the city of Shusha in Nagorno-Karabakh to participate in a conference organised by Azerbaijan’s ruling New Azerbaijan party. oc-media.org/georgian-dreams…

Sharp analysis by election expert Harout Manougian. "For the PAP, the impact is getting zero seats instead of five. For Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract Party, the impact is getting a three-fifths supermajority instead of a simple majority..." manougian.substack.com/p/aft…

An Armenian court on Monday ordered the seizure of a large land plot in the ski resort town of Tsaghkadzor from the country’s National Olympic Committee, which is headed by Gagik Tsarukyan, a business tycoon and opposition leader. The ruling canceled a 2005 agreement under which the Olympic Committee acquired the land from the state, the same year Tsarukyan became its chairman. Authorities now estimate the property’s value at approximately $100 million; the committee said it will appeal the decision. Tsaghkadzor, located in Kotayk province, where Tsarukyan originates and conducts much of his business activity, has long been one of Armenia’s main tourist destinations. The town hosts a major sports complex known for its alpine skiing slopes, multiple ski lifts, indoor training facilities, and swimming pools. Much of this has been under the Olympic Committee’s control for decades. The move appears to be part of a broader crackdown on Tsarukyan, a former arm-wrestler turned oligarch who has been re-elected as the Olympic Committee’s chairman numerous times since 2005, effectively integrating it into his wider business empire. His holdings include a major brewery, a pharmaceuticals company, car dealerships, a spirits manufacturer, and other businesses. A veteran political figure, even before the 2018 revolution, Tsarukyan ran in this year’s parliamentary election with his Prosperous Armenia party on an opposition platform. The party narrowly failed to pass the 4% threshold required for parliamentary representation, missing it by several hundred votes, and has since challenged the results in court. Weeks before the election, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced plans to nationalize the Ararat Cement factory, describing it as the “backbone of Tsarukyan’s business empire.” On Tuesday, Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office also moved to revoke ownership of the Golden Key health center from Ararat Cement, citing alleged irregularities in its privatization more than two decades ago. Two days after the vote, while ballots were being recounted at hundreds of polling stations at Prosperous Armenia’s request, Tsarukyan was barred from leaving the country after being denied boarding a flight at Yerevan’s airport. His party claimed he had been planning a short family trip. Shortly after the incident became public, authorities announced criminal charges against him for large-scale tax evasion. Two other opposition figures, former president Robert Kocharyan and Strong Armenia campaign leader Narek Karapetyan, were also prevented from leaving the country last week. Kocharyan remains under investigation in connection with the deadly 2008 post-election crackdown, while Karapetyan faces charges related to allegedly failing to disclose Russian citizenship when registering for the election, which he denies.

Such racists should have no place among us.

Breaking: President Trump’s deal to wind down the war with Iran set off alarm bells in Israel. on.wsj.com/4eqPDAs

Legendary boxer Mike Tyson is visiting Yerevan. 📹Video credit: News.am

I met Armenian-Lebanese Vicken Euljekjian, who was a captive in Azerbaijan for 1,891 days. Here's his story. Exclusive interview. blankspot.se/free-after-1-89…