make preferableArmenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 02.07.21:
- Oliver Varhelyi, the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, will tour the countries of the South Caucasus from 6 to 9 July.
This will be the Commissioner's first mission to the countries of the region.
During meetings with political leaders, business and civil society representatives, European Commissioner will present an economic and investment plan for the region and its initiatives for each country.
He will also discuss key issues in bilateral relations with each of the three countries.
In Armenia, Commissioner will meet with President Armen Sarkissian, Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Acting Deputy Prime Minister Grigoryan, and Patriarch Karekin II.
- YouTube has deleted the video about hate speech against Armenians that President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesperson Fahrettin Altun had posted.
As reported by BirGün, Altun delivered his speech on April 24th, the day of remembrance of the victims of the Armenian Genocide.
Altun blamed YouTube for ‘hypocrisy’.
- A case of huge drug smuggling has been exposed in Armenia as a result of the work carried out by the State Revenue Committee (SRC).
A trailer truck, which had arrived in Armenia from Iran and was being driven by a Turkish citizen, was subjected to customs control.
As a result, 119 packages containing 97 kg of heroin were found in this trailer truck.
The market value of this discovery is $ 10 to 11 million.
A criminal case has been opened into this incident, in the framework of which the Turkish national was detained.
- The "trials" against the Armenian captives continue Friday at the courts of Baku, the Azerbaijani capital.
According to Azerbaijani media, the “trial” of 14 Armenian captives has resumed at the Baku Court on Grave Crimes.
And the “trial” of another 13 Armenian captives is in progress at the Baku Court of Appeal.
- The petition of the 'Armenia' bloc - led by ex-President Robert Kocharyan - with a request to declare the election results invalid was registered Friday at the Constitutional Court.
As of 10:40 am Friday, no other petitions related to the election results have been submitted to the Constitutional Court.
To note, the deadline for the political forces that ran in the election to apply to the Constitutional Court and challenge the election results ends today.
- China's envoy to Armenia Fan Yong has refuted the Azerbaijani media reports on the Zangezur corridor.
The Azerbaijani media reported Thursday that during a meeting with the Azerbaijani minister of economy, the Chinese Ambassador to Azerbaijan had said that the Zangezur corridor would contribute to the Belt and Road transport project.
Asked by Armenian News-NEWS.am as to whether Fan Yong shares this position, he said: "The Chinese side has not expressed such an opinion."
"We have already discussed it with our Azerbaijani counterparts," the Chinese envoy to Armenia added.
- As of Friday morning, 118 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of these cases has reached 225,339 in the country.
Also, one more death from COVID-19 was registered, making the respective total 4,518 cases.
Meanwhile, Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] has reported four new COVID-19 cases.
A total of 2,905 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed, and 26,978 COVID-19 tests have been conducted so far in Artsakh.
