As reported by the Armenian Weekly, earlier this month His Eminence Archbishop Avak Asadourian, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Iraq, paid a pastoral visit to the autonomous region of Kurdistan in Northern Iraq, mainly to inspect the work of a new church which is being built in the village of Havresk (Hye Verejh) in the province of Duhok. Due to a state of insecurity, especially in Baghdad and Mosul cities since 2003, the Armenian communities in Iraq have been experiencing inner migration as is the case with other Christian denominations and minorities. As a consequence, a number of Armenians relocated to the Kurdish autonomous region of Iraq. Hence, the Armenian Diocese of Iraq is faced with the obligation and Christian duty of building new churches for the faithful. Due to limited funding the church was not built in an entirely Armenian architectural style. The church is expected to be completed early next year. The new house of worship is being built through a generous donation by the Association of churches in Germany and Switzerland.

A new hotel complex will be built at the "Republic Square" subway station in Yerevan. The construction is planned for 2011-2014. The government allowed Yerevan city mayor to provide an area of 5850 square meters for new hotel construction site. According to a data provided by the city hall, the hotel will contain conference room, sports and game rooms, beauty salon, restaurant and a cafe. Responsible authorities announced that the hotel will be built based on a number of existing features of the historic city center, which will ensure the integrity of the neighborhood. Hotel will be developed by "Tashir Group" with which the city administration has already signed an agreement. The proposal to build this hotel was made last year, but official discussion started on July 21 at the Yerevan Urban Council meeting. As a result of voting, at a ratio of 24 "for" and 3 "abstained"Counsil approved new hotel development project. It should be noted, that many architects are protesting the project, as they believe that by doing so the city is losing its architectural and historical heritage. But let's don't make premature conclusions and try to see the positive aspects of this project. Such projects are very much important for Armenian investment-hungry economy, they create new jobs, and finally, create new earthquake-resistant buildings. Recall that almost all old historic center buildings of Yerevan must sooner or later be reconstructed because of their poor earthquake resistance. Of course, it's strategically much more correct that the future development of Yerevan and especially its center to be done without further increasing the density of the building and plan new developments on the sites of an old and the most earthquake-dangerous buildings, and as a result gradually gain more and more earthquake-secure capital.

The new US Apple headquarters, which is scheduled to put into operation in 2015, will exceed the size of the Pentagon-the building of US Department of Defense, reports macobserver.com. According to publication journalist's calculations, the diameter of the building of Apple is about 492 meters. A circle that would circumscribe the Pentagon has a diameter of 477 meters. It should be noted, that Pentagon is the largest office building in the world. It has approximately 26 thousand employees, and building's 5 floors have about 604 thousand square meters total area. As mentioned by Mac Observer, the diameter of new headquarters will exceed Empire State Building height in New York (443.2 meters high), and cruise ship and US nuclear aircraft carrier length. According to another source cupertino.org, construction of the complex is due to start next year. The 260 thousand square meters campus will be designed for 13 thousand employees. The campus would comprise an office, research and development building, thousand seat corporate auditorium, fitness center, research facilities, central plant and associated parking. Currently, the project must undergo environmental review and studies for impact on traffic in the Cupertino City, and finally it will be adopted. Apple is now vying with oil giant Exxon Mobil for the title of most expensive company in the world.

The construction of the Akhalkalaki railway station will start in two weeks within the frameworks of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway construction, Georgian Minister for Regional Development and Infrastructure Ramaz Nikolaishvili said on August 11, apsny.ge reports. According to Nikolaishvili, the railroad has a strategic importance. A new road with the length of 29 km in the territory of Georgia and a new station will be constructed in Akhalkalaki, district of Georgia's Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakhketi province. The project is estimated at over US$ 600 million. For construction of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, at first Azerbaijan allocate US$ 200 million loan to Georgia, then US$ 575 million. It is planned, that railway will be put into operation at the end of the next year.

As we have reported earlier, Apple was awaiting approval from New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) for an ambitious construction project at New York metro Grand Central Terminal. Now New York's famed Grand Central terminal is about to get a new addition. Apple has begun construction of a brand new store located on a 2136 square meters space occupying the north and northeast balconies in Grand Central main hall, reported constructiondigital.com. The Metropolitan Transit Authority, which owns Grand Central and oversees New York's public transit system, gave Apple the green light for the project last month. Once construction is completed this will be Apple's fifth store located in New York City. The store should be ready for business in about four months, potentially just in time for the holiday shopping season. Opened in 1871, Grand Central Terminal is the largest train station in the world with 44 different platforms located on two separate underground levels.