Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 14.10.21:

• The International Court of Justice is holding public hearings on a request for the indication of provisional measures in the case of the application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) (Armenia v. Azerbaijan).

On September 16, the Republic of Armenia opened a case against the Republic of Azerbaijan at the UN International Court of Justice.

The complainant claims that for decades Azerbaijan has subjected Armenians to racial discrimination and that as a result of this state-backed hate policy, Armenians have been subjected to systemic discrimination, massacres, torture and other abuses.

Azerbaijan has filed a similar lawsuit against Armenia, accusing it of racial discrimination and ethnic cleansing.

• Russia is in favor of the unwavering implementation of all the provisions on the Nagorno-Karabakh [(Artsakh)] issue, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova during a press briefing Thursday.

"We [i.e., Russia] expect that thus, the necessary conditions will be created for the normalization of relations between Baku and Yerevan, including in terms of difficult bilateral issues," she added.

• Azerbaijan has refuted the report on the release of the two illegally detained Iranian truck drivers.

“The news according to which the two Iranian truck drivers who were detained while attempting to trespass the state border of Azerbaijan a few weeks ago have been transferred to Iran doesn’t correspond to reality,” the press release of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan reads, haqqin.az writes.

Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran Saeed Khatibzadeh has also clarified that this isn’t about the Iranian truck drivers.

“The results of the talks about the release of the two Iranian drivers detained by the Azerbaijani government,” Khatibzadeh said.

• Presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey Ilham Aliyev and Recep Tayyip Erdogan intend to mark the first anniversary of the occupation of the Armenian city of Shushi with the opening of an airport in Varanda (Fizuli) region.

The Turkish Haberturk reports that the opening ceremony is set to take place on November 8.

The 3,000-meter long and 60-meter wide runway has already been exploited at the airport. It is equipped with systems for landings and navigation devices, lighting, primary and secondary radar systems that ensure the safety of flights in accordance with all the requirements of the ICAO. This will allow for receiving all types of planes at the airport, the source reports.

• As of Thursday morning, 1,589 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of these cases has reached 276,666 in the country, Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned from the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Also, 29 more deaths from COVID-19 were registered, making the respective total 5,675 cases.