NEWS.am daily digest: 03.03.20

Armenian News - NEWS.am presents a daily digest of top news as of 03.03.2020:

· Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's official visit to Georgia kicked off on Tuesday.

Georgian PM Giorgi Gakharia met him at the airport with a guard of honor.

The PM has already met with his Georgian counterpart Giorgi Gakharia, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, and Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II.

The PM has also held a meeting with Georgian Armenians.

High-level and extended Armenian-Georgian talks were held in Georgia on Tuesday as well with the participation of the Armenian and Georgian PMs.

· Car importers of Armenia were protesting outside the Georgian embassy. They complain that since August 2019, the Caucasus Auto Import company of Georgia refuses to compensate for the damage caused to over 1,000 cars of these importers. According to them, they are summoned from this company to Georgia to its office to reimburse the money, but they lie every time.

The protesters wrote a respective letter to submit to the Georgian embassy.

· Armenia’s FM Zohrab Mnatsakanyan commented on the recent meeting of the OSCE MG Co-Chairs with Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu. The latter tweeted after the meeting that the Minsk Group needs to take more action for the Karabakh issue resolution and “the resolution needs to be within the scope of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.”

According to Mnatsakanyan, Cavusoglu's advice on Karabakh conflict “invites reflection on Luke 4:23 – ‘Physician, heal thyself.’"

Armenian MFA spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan, in turn, noted that Turkey can't play any role in a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Karabakh presidential candidate Vitaly Balasanyan has also commented on the statement, noting that Artsakh has never been and will never be “within the framework of the borders” of Azerbaijan.

· Famous Russian YouTube blogger Yevgeniy Savin “Krasava” dedicated his latest video to Roma midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Mkhitaryan admitted he had received many threats from Azerbaijanis. “They threatened me on Facebook, Instagram, but I am not paying attention. I am proud to be Armenian,” Mkhitaryan said.

The Armenian midfielder also spoke about his conflict with Jose Mourinho: “Mourinho was the most difficult coach in my career, very demanding,” he said. “I started thinking about leaving Manchester United when Mourinho expressed dissatisfaction with my work after the game.”

· The death toll from the new coronavirus has reached 3,119. But mortality due to coronavirus-induced pneumonia has steadily decreased in recent days.

Meanwhile, Ryanair has notified passengers that it is reducing its short-haul flight program (mainly to and from Italy) for three weeks from March 17 to April 8 amid coronavirus.

No new case of coronavirus is reported in Armenia, and the only patient, a 29-year-old man who returned from Iran, feels fine. And 32 people who are in the coronavirus risk group were transported to the hotel in Armenia’s Tsaghkadzor. Thus, many tourists have canceled their reservations at hotels in the city.

Meanwhile, the Armenian government has decided to extend the temporary limitation on land communication with Iran—due to the coronavirus outbreak in that country—until March 24.