Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 29.12.21:

  • The Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) National Security Service (NSS) is taking measures so that the Artsakh citizen who came under the control of the Azerbaijani armed forces as a result of getting lost is returned, the Artsakh NSS reported.

At around 7:30am, the Artsakh NSS was reported the disappearance of Armen Verdyan (born in 1971), a resident of Aygestan village of the Askeran region.

It turned out that as a result of getting lost at the section of Nakhichevanik and Ughtasar villages of the Askeran region in the morning, the Artsakh citizen had ended up in the area under the control of the Azerbaijani armed forces and was detained by them.

The incident was immediately reported to the Russian peacekeepers, who have found out and assured the safety of this Artsakh national.

Talks are currently underway to have this Artsakh citizen returned to the Armenian side.

  • By the order of President Armen Sarkissian, Daniel Balayan has been relieved of the post of Head of the Marshal Armenak Khanperyants Military Aviation University of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia.
  • By the order of the Minister of Defense, the entire staff of the Armed Forces has received a bonus pay. The Ministry of Defense (MOD) of Armenia stated this in response to Armenian News-NEWS.am's inquiry.

"As for the surcharges set for the [military] service, they, according to the current procedure, will be paid by the 7th working day of the next month," the aforesaid response also reads.

  • As of Wednesday morning, 88 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of these cases has reached 344,737 in the country.

Also, five more deaths from COVID-19 were registered, making the respective total 7,970 cases.

  • Microsoft’s former chief Bill Gates has published an article in which he has stated that he can save the planet. According to him, the new industrial revolution will help create a green economy and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Gates emphasized that gone are the times when governments and corporations could make reassuring promises and fail to fulfill them.

The billionaire admitted that this is a very pretentious goal. Nevertheless, he hopes that in 2022, governments and companies of different countries will create new operation models that will accelerate the transition to a clean economy.

Gates added that he can’t wait until the coming year and believes people are at the outset of a revolution that will be hinged on clean technologies of the next generation.