Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 02.08.21:

• ​The first session of the newly elected National Assembly of Armenia of the 8th convocation kicked off in Yerevan.

The deputies discussed the candidacies of parliament's speaker.

Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's Civil Contract party, which won the elections, nominated Alen Simonyan, who was one of the vice-speakers in the dissolved parliament.

The opposition "Armenia" bloc offered their candidate Mkhitar Zakaryan, the ex-mayor of Meghri town, against whom a criminal case was initiated.

 In turn, the “I have the honor” bloc nominated Artur Sargsyan for this position.

There are 107 deputies in the new parliament. 71 seats were received by the Civil Contract party. 29 mandates go for the "Armenia" bloc and 7 - for the "I have the honor" bloc.

• The body of a 22-year-old soldier has been found in Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh].

On July 31, at around 11:30 am, as a result of search operations, a 2.5-year-old soldier of the Defense Army, who had left the military unit in unknown circumstances, was found 2.5 km away from the permanent location of one of the military units located in the northern direction.

An investigation is underway to find out the details of the case.

• The Azerbaijani authorities sentenced two captured Armenians, Ludwig Mkrtchyan and Alyosha Khosrovyan, to twenty years in prison.

According to Azerbaijani media, the relevant decision was made by the Yasamal District Court of Baku. The prisoners were found guilty of torture, violation of the laws and customs of war, illegal crossing of the state border of Azerbaijan, and other articles of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

Mkrtchyan and Khosrovyan are accused of participating in the first Karabakh war. Was hastily appointed witnesses who gave incriminating testimony.

• 137 new cases of coronavirus infection have been reported in Armenia per day, bringing the total number to 230,476.

According to the health ministry, 4 UK strain cases and 25 Delta strain cases have been found so far.

The COVID-19 death toll has reached 4,621 in the country.

• ​Vice-champion of the European Games Karapet Chalyan reached the semifinals of the Olympic tournament in Greco-Roman wrestling in the weight category up to 77 kg.

Chalyan's rival in the semifinals will be Akzhol Makhmudov from Kyrgyzstan.

Meanwhile, Artur Davtyan won the first medal in the history of independent Armenia at the Olympic tournament in artistic gymnastics. The leading Armenian gymnast won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.