Armenian News - NEWS.am presents a daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 04.03.20

·       The official visit of Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan to Georgia is over, PM's spokesperson Mane Gevorgyan wrote on her Facebook.

"The PM ministers of the two countries continued the discussions in an informal format, too" she added. “The PMs have reached an agreement on simplifying the procedures for the mutual visits of citizens. They also touched upon the settlement of the problems related to cargo transportation.”

By the way, Georgian PM Giorgi Gakharia presented his Armenian counterpart with a dog - Bonbor, a pure Caucasian shepherd dog. It will be PM’s fifth dog.

·       Armenia continues to remain in the list of “partly free” countries, as per Freedom House’s “Freedom in the World 2020” report.

Armenia went up by two points as compared with last year and is now ranked 53rd.

Nagorno-Karabakh which is included in the list of territories is also named “partly free” and is ranked 34th.

As to Armenia’s neighbors, Georgia is also among “partly free” countries, while Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Iran are “not free”.

·       The Yerevan tourist minibus drivers were protesting in front of the city hall building. They demand that they be allowed to continue to park their vehicles in the area adjacent to Republic Square.

Earlier, they had been told that if their vehicles were not removed from Republic Square, they would be removed by tow trucks. And when a tow truck was brought in, the protesters drove their minibuses to the Yerevan Municipality building where their protest now continued.

"We are ready to pay all taxes," these drivers said. "We [just] want to work."

·       Second President Robert Kocharyan's lawyer Aram Orbelyan has sued the National Security Service (NSS) and the state-funded Public Television (H1) of Armenia. Orbelyan's representative Narine Beglaryan told Armenian News-NEWS.am that the lawsuit relates to a report on Aram Orbelyan that was broadcast on January 30, on the main newscast on H1, and where the information provided is inaccurate.

“It has been said that from May to August 2018, Aram Orbelyan, periodically violating the order, had access to the CC [Constitutional Court] building. And the NSS is mentioned as the source [of this information],” said Orbelyan's representative Narine Beglaryan. The attorney’s representative added that Orbelyan had no regular access to the CC building during that period.

·       The number of deaths from the new coronavirus has risen to 3,220 worldwide, the number of infected is 94,240, and the number of recovered is 51,188.

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 82 countries and territories around the world and 1 international conveyance, the Diamond Princess cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan.

Meanwhile, one passenger arriving on Milan-Yerevan flight has been hospitalized in Armenia.

The decision to undergo the test will be made at the Yerevan infection hospital.

Health Minister Arsen Torosyan, in turn, noted that tests on coronavirus are an ongoing task, 135 peoples have already been tested, and the coronavirus infection has been ruled out in others, with one exception.

By the way, some airlines have decided to temporarily reduce the frequency of their flights, as well as to temporarily cancel their services toward some destinations, the Civil Aviation Committee of Armenia said in a statement.