Armenian News - NEWS.am presents a daily digest as of 21.01.2020:

·       Livestock farmers were holding protests in Armenia’s provinces Tuesday.

Farmers’ dissatisfaction is related to the long distance from their settlements to the slaughterhouses and the prices the latter offer for slaughtering the animals. According to government's decision, a law that meat sold in Armenia must have a document certifying that it was slaughtered in a slaughterhouse, which is a food safety guarantee, came into force on January 15. They have been protesting in front of the government building for the last few days demanding a meeting with the PM.

Armenia’s Kotayk Province governor adviser met Tuesday with protesters and said demand that "there should not be slaughterhouses" is not the solution. He suggested that the respective law could be amended.

The farmers agreed to wait for the government to discuss the matter.

·       Armenian parliament on Tuesday in the final reading discussed the notorious draft law on the criminalization of criminal subcultures. Both parliament’s opposition parties - Bright Armenia and Prosperous Armenia parties - reacted on the draft law.

Parliament’s speaker Ararat Mirzoyan removed from the NA’s hall the four opposition Prosperous Armenia faction MPs who were involved in the argument and brawl at the hall.

·       The nationwide Artsakh elections will take place on March 31, 2020, Artsakh parliament’s spokesperson Anush Ghavalyan wrote on her Facebook.

Central Electoral Commission’s chair Srbuhi Arzumanyan also issued a statement in this regard.

·       The lawyers of the Armenian ex-president Robert Kocharyan and former Deputy PM Armen Gevorgyan were not present during the trial.

According to Judge Anna Danibekyan, lawyers said in a statement that the court did not respond properly to the threat voiced on January 9. Thus, today’s trial has been re-scheduled for February 4.

Petros Petrosyan, prosecutor for the case, in his turn, told reporters that he doesn’t think the representative of the injured party had made a threat.

·       The World Economic Forum kicks off in Davos on Tuesday. The 50th anniversary meeting will last from January 21 to 24.

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian was on hand at the opening.

Billionaires from 36 countries of the world will come to Davos, among them Mark Zuckerberg, George Soros, Bill Gates.

The forum’s main speakers include: US President Donald Trump, environmental activist Greta Thunberg, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and others.

·       The second preliminary report of the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization about the crash of the Ukrainian plane indicates that the plane was shot down by two short-range ground-to-air missiles.

According to the report, plane took off from Tehran at 6:12 am local time and lost all contact with air traffic control at 8,100 feet. Aircraft moved past a residential area and its first physical contact with the ground was at a public park. Plane was torn apart as it moved through a football pitch.

·       The death toll from the Chinese coronavirus 2019-nCoV has increased as fourth person has died. The first death from this virus was recorded on January 11.

A total of 198 cases of infection with the new virus were registered in Wuhan (25 were discharged from hospitals).

The World Health Organization plans to hold an emergency meeting on January 22 to develop combat recommendations.