10:53, 3 July 2023
YEREVAN, JULY 3, ARMENPRESS. Hayk Kostanyan has been appointed as spokesperson of the Mayor of Yerevan.
His appointment was announced at a City Hall meeting on Monday by Vice Mayor Tigran Avinyan.
Kostanyan previously served as spokesperson of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
10:53, 3 July 2023
YEREVAN, JULY 3, ARMENPRESS. Pope Francis said he rejected the authorization of the burning of the Qur’an in an interview with UAE's newspaper al-Ittihad on Monday, adding that such acts made him angry.
“Any book considered holy should be respected to respect those who believe in it,” the Saudi Arab News quoted the Pope as saying in the interview. “I feel angry and disgusted at these actions”
“Allowing this is unacceptable and condemned,” he said, stressing that freedom of _expression_ should not be used as an excuse to offend others.
“Our mission is to transform the religious sense into cooperation, fraternity, and tangible acts of goodness.”
A man tore up and burned a copy of the Qur’an in Sweden’s capital Stockholm last week, resulting in strong condemnation from several countries.
While Swedish police have rejected several recent applications for anti-Qur’an demonstrations, courts have over-ruled those decisions, saying they infringed freedom of speech.
11:08, 3 July 2023
YEREVAN, JULY 3, ARMENPRESS. COVID-19 cases have been dropping since the beginning of 2023, and although the pandemic is not over yet, the World Health Organization has reported decrease in both new cases and deaths around the world.
A significant decrease in new cases has been reported in Armenia as well. Only 2 new cases were confirmed in the country last week.
Romella Abovyan, the Director of the Department of Epidemiology of Infectious and Non-Infectious Diseases at the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told ARMENPRESS that Armenia too is witnessing a drastic drop in new cases of COVID-19.
Abovyan said that the reproduction number (Re) of the virus is below 1, which means that the pace of spread has slowed down significantly.
The COVID 19 fatality rate in Armenia stands at 2%.
“Less testing is conducted because the situation is more stable around the world,” Abovyan said, adding that regardless of the declining rates the healthcare authorities in Armenia still require all health facilities to test patients who display symptoms of respiratory diseases.
Despite the decreasing numbers, Armenia is conducting testing more actively compared to other countries now and the 4,1% of total tests come back positive, Abovyan said.
“2 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the past seven days, compared to the nine cases of the week before. We had 11 cases in the past 14 days, and 19 cases in the same period before that, which means that we have a 42% decrease,” the expert added.
12:45, 3 July 2023
YEREVAN, JULY 3, ARMENPRESS. Five Egyptian-Armenian mountaineers have climbed Mount Ararat and raised the flags of Armenia and Egypt on the summit.
The Armenian National Committee of Egypt said the group was composed of Saro Yerznkatsean, Ari Yerznkatsean, Varushan Kazanjian, Simon Deboyan and Shahan Terzipashian.
“The young people have successfully reached the summit of Mount Ararat and raised the flags of Armenia and Egypt at 5165 meters altitude,” the Armenian National Committee of Egypt said in a statement.
12:14, 3 July 2023
YEREVAN, JULY 3, ARMENPRESS. The Football Federation of Armenia has announced the Armenian Premier League Coach of the Year season 2022/2023 voting results.
FC Urartu head coach Dmitri Gunko was named Coach of the year with 86 points, the Football Federation of Armenia said in a press release.
FC Pyunik head coach Yeghishe Melikyan is in the second place with 67 points.
FC Alashkert head coach Vahe Gevorgyan is third with 24 points.
13:23, 3 July 2023
YEREVAN, JULY 3, ARMENPRESS. The Pashinyan administration has denied media reports alleging that it has stopped contacts with the authorities in Nagorno Karabakh.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s spokesperson Nazeli Baghdasaryan issued a statement on July 3 regarding the rumors.
“Various media outlets have been circulating reports claiming that the authorities of Armenia have ceased contacts with their Nagorno Karabakh colleagues at all levels. Furthermore, the reports claim that the humanitarian crisis resulting from the blockade of Lachin Corridor is outside of the agenda of the government of Armenia. Regarding this totally untrue claim, we find it noteworthy that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has mentioned on many occasions that he maintains intensive, daily contacts with Arayik Harutyunyan. The Nagorno Karabakh President has confirmed this in public speeches and various other formats. As a reminder, a working group led by Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan was set up in late 2022 with the purpose of managing the humanitarian crisis resulting from the blockade of the Lachin Corridor and supporting the people of Nagorno Karabakh, tasked with monitoring humanitarian issues together with the authorities of Nagorno Karabakh and providing the necessary urgent support, including with the help of international organizations. The working group is composed of the Minister of Healthcare, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructrures, Minister of Economy, as well as representatives of other government agencies,” Baghdasaryan said in the statement.
13:49, 3 July 2023
YEREVAN, JULY 3, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has congratulated President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko on Independence Day.
“Accept my heartfelt congratulations and best wishes on the occasion of the Independence Day of the Republic of Belarus,” Pashinyan said in a letter addressed to Lukashenko. “During the years of independence, Belarus achieved significant success in socio-economic, scientific-technical and many other areas. I am sure that the coordinated efforts by Armenia and Belarus for further strengthening and deepening the mutually-beneficial cooperation based on the good traditions of mutual understanding and mutual respect between the friendly peoples fully matches our countries’ interests,” he added, wishing robust health and further success to President Lukashenko, and welfare and prosperity to the friendly people of Belarus.
14:16, 3 July 2023
YEREVAN, JULY 3, ARMENPRESS. The Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan has held a meeting with the outgoing Iranian Ambassador to Armenia Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri.
Grigoryan thanked the ambassador for his support over the years of his tenure and wished him good luck in his future activities, Grigoryan’s office said in a press release.
Secretary Grigoryan attached importance to the jointly implemented work and expressed hope that bilateral relations will continue to intensively develop for the welfare of the two peoples.
The Ambassador said that the Armenian-Iranian bilateral relations are based on a rich historical-cultural past and that the close partnership of the past years is a testament to this. The Ambassador said he’s departing Armenia with warm memories.
14:39, 3 July 2023
YEREVAN, JULY 3, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Airlines started operating Yerevan-Istanbul-Yerevan flights on July 2.
The flights will be operated twice a week: every Wednesday and Sunday, Armenia International Airports announced Monday.
15:49, 3 July 2023
YEREVAN, JULY 3, ARMENPRESS. The International Committee of the Red Cross has facilitated the transfer of 15 patients from blockaded Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia for treatment, the Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) Ministry of Healthcare said on Monday.
The 15 patients were accompanied by their attendants.
Another 8 patients together with their attendants are expected to return under Red Cross mediation to Nagorno Karabakh on June 3 after having received treatment in Armenia.
26 children are hospitalized at the Arevik clinic in Nagorno Karabakh. Two of the children are in neonatal and intensive care.
Another 81 patients are hospitalized at the Republican Medical Center in Stepanakert. 10 of them are in intensive care (6 are critically ill).