Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 16.07.21:

  • Starting at 11:00am on Friday, the units of the Azerbaijani armed forces opened fire on the Armenian combat positions located at the Yeraskh village section of the Armenia-Azerbaijan (Nakhchivan) border.

The subdivisions of the Armenian armed forces took counteractions, the Ministry of Defense (MOD) informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

There are no injuries or casualties on the Armenian side.

  • The Armenian service of VOA addressed a number of questions to the US Department of State in connection with the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) conflict.

Recently, Baku had organized a visit of a group of ambassadors and diplomats accredited to Azerbaijan to the Nagorno-Karabakh region under its control and its environs, but which was not attended by the ambassadors of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries: the United States, Russia, and France.

In response to the question from VOA's Armenian Service as to why the US ambassador's had refused to take part in this visit and whether there was any agreement between the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to turn down this invitation, the US State Department press service said they did not comment on the details of the ambassador's schedule, or the reasons why he attended or did not attend any events.

Within the framework of his visit, Michel will meet with Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the Prime Minister's Office informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

After the meeting, they will make statements to the media summing up the results of their talks.

The President of the European Council will meet also with President Armen Sarkissian, and visit the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan to pay tribute to the victims of this tragedy.

On June 30, 2020, the Council accepted the proposal to gradually lift the temporary travel restrictions in the EU. The proposal included the primary list of countries for which member states needed to start lifting travel restrictions. The list is regularly reviewed, as well as updated, depending on the circumstances.

  • Body of Artur Aghasyan, who died heroically while defending the homeland and was awarded the Order of the Combat Cross, has been found.

At the time, Aghasyan was a senior at the military post located in the north of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) (in the direction of Talish).

Artur, 19, was awarded the 2nd degree Order the Combat Cross for his endeavor.

  • The Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction on Friday made a decision to have Arush Arushanyan—the mayor of Goris, Armenia—arrested.

Several criminal charges had been brought against the mayor of this city.

The Special Investigation Service (SIS) on Thursday had submitted a petition to the court requesting to remand Arushanyan in custody.

According to the respective SIS statement, Arush Arushanyan, who is on the electoral list of the opposition "Armenia" bloc—led by second President Robert Kocharyan—, had prepared vote buying in order to secure maximum number of votes in favor of this bloc and to achieve the desired result in the snap parliamentary elections on June 20.

  • By presidential decrees, Varuzhan Nersesyan has been recalled from the post of Armenia’s Ambassador to the United States and been appointed Armenia’s Ambassador to the UK, for a three-year term.

Nersesyan’s respective diplomatic residence will be in London.

  • As of Friday morning, 162 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of these cases has reached 227,111 in the country.

Also, two more deaths from COVID-19 were registered, making the respective total 4,558 cases.

  • At least 70 people have died in Germany and Belgium after rivers overflowed their banks due to record rains, the BBC reports.

Most of the victims were in Germany, 11 people died in Belgium. More than 1,000 people in Germany go missing.

Experts say climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme weather events, but linking any single event to global warming is difficult.