Author: Ani Basmajian

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has insisted that Manchester United are not yet willing to abandon hope in their Premier League campaign.

Jose Mourinho’s side are 13 points behind leaders Chelsea after only 14 matches and nine adrift of fourth-placed City, having won only two of their last nine games in the competition.

Mkhitaryan, however, says United are not willing to divert their focus away from the top flight in favour of their campaigns in the Europa League, the EFL Cup and the FA Cup.

“We didn’t give up yet in the Premier League,” he told a news conference ahead of United’s clash with Zorya on Thursday. “We’re not yet saying we’re out of the competition.

“We are still in the competition, there are a lot of games to go, so we are trying to do our best to be in the top four.

“In Europe we’re going to try and go as far as we can. I feel that everybody is good with the conditions because we come here to win, we don’t want to lose this game. We want to do our best.”

Henrikh Mkhitaryan is happy to have proved his quality in recent games for Manchester United, after taking the chance given to him by manager Jose Mourinho.

After a two-month absence from the match squad, the Armenian summer signing has started three of the Reds’ last four games and was named Man of the Match in the victories over Feyenoord and West Ham United.

Now he’s hoping to be involved in Thursday’s crucial Europa League game against Zorya Luhansk in Ukraine, a country he knows well from his time at Shakhtar Donetsk, according to Manchester United’s official website.

Speaking at Wednesday’s pre-match press conference in Odessa, the 27-year-old said: “I started playing so I’m positive. I think positively and I am glad to have more playing time for the future because it’s something that is not predictable.

“You have to be ready for every situation. I was ready and I showed I am a top-level player. It doesn’t matter if I am going to play or not, I am always ready to help the team.”

While understandably reluctant to go into specific details, Mkhitaryan also touched upon what he had discussed with the boss when he was trying to break into the team.

“I don’t want to talk about that because it’s in the past already. But we have spoken a lot; first, when I came here and he told me what I have to improve. I think he saw I improved in that time and he gave me the next chance to play again.

“It was difficult to watch the games without me but I have proved that I can play with the main squad. Now I can repeat it and I can prove it again.”

Mkhitaryan spent four years with Shakhtar from 2010 to 2013 before moving to Borussia Dortmund, and local journalists were unsurprisingly keen to ask him about his return to Odessa, where he enjoyed a successful final outing as a Donetsk player against Chornomorets.

“It’s always a pleasure to be here in Ukraine,” the playmaker added. “I have very good memories of playing here. I had four amazing years playing in Ukraine and my last game in Odessa was a very good one because I scored my first hat-trick for Shakhtar, so I am pleased to be here again.”

The newly-appointed Interior Minister of France, Bruno Le Roux, is on the blacklist of Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, ministry spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev told APA.

Le Roux visited Nagorno Karabakh as member of the French National Assembly in September 2015 and was subsequently blacklisted by Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry

Le Roux is a member of the French-Artsakh friendship circle.

Manchester United attacker Henrikh Mkhitaryan would be a good option in the No.10 role, claims former Chelsea and Celtic midfielder Craig Burley.

The Armenian has been overlooked by Jose Mourinho this season, however, can still be of use to the Red Devils according to the pundit.

The former Borussia Dortmund man has started just once for the side in all competitions since joining – against Manchester City in the Premier League – and has made a total of four appearances for United this season.

Despite this, Burley says the 27-year-old has much to offer the Old Trafford outfit.

“I would argue that Mkhitaryan, given a chance and longevity, could probably do a good job in that role, but that, for some strange reason, doesn’t see as if it is going to even get off the starters blocks,” said the Scotsman, as reported by ESPN.

The Red Devils host Arsenal this weekend at Old Trafford, with United looking to improve their current position of sixth on the Premier League table.

Some bars in Russia have renamed Americano coffee into Russiano after a joke at the meeting of the Eurasian Inter-Governmental Commission held in Moscow on November 16.

It was reported earlier that Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the name of the coffee was ‘politically incorrect’ and suggested to rename it.

The Russian 360 TV has revealed, however, that the idea was suggested by Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan.

“Let’s rename Americano,” Medvedev joked. His Armenian counterpart continued the phrase, offering to call it Russiano instead.

А «руссиано»-то кофе предложил назвать не Медведев, а кто-то из делегации Армении. ?

— Рустем Адагамов (@adagamov)

An Armenian immigrant Newport Beach physician who faked his own death to dodge a Medi-Cal fraud case 14 years ago pleaded guilty Tuesday to fleeing to evade justice after he was arrested in Egypt,  reports.

Tigran Svadjian, 58, entered his plea to a single federal count of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, a felony that carries a five-year maximum sentence. He is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 9 in Los Angeles.

Svadjian was arrested in Egypt in July and escorted back to the U.S. by federal agents 14 years after he fled to Russia and later to Egypt, court papers show.

In 2002, he was facing federal health care fraud charges in Sacramento for allegedly bilking the state Medi-Cal program out of more than $2.4 million in fraudulent insurance billings.

After agreeing to cooperate with the government’s investigation, Svadjian was allowed to travel to Moscow to visit his ailing mother. But in October 2002, federal officials were notified that Svadjian died of pneumonia while in Russia and his remains had been cremated. The fraud charges were eventually dismissed.

Svadjian had been hiding in Egypt for much of the past 14 years, most recently working as a part-time scuba instructor. He was en route to Russia with a fake passport when he was apprehended.

Federal authorities indicated that the fraud charges would not be reinstated.

No casualties have been reported as a result of shelling from the Azerbaijani side in the northeastern direction of the line of contact, Spokesman for the NKR President David Babayan said in an interview with Public Radio of Armenia.

“The rival keeps violating the ceasefire, but it’s not something extraordinary, It’s everyday life, we have been dealing with a terrorist state for 25 states now,” the Spokesperson noted.

He added the Azerbaijani side is thus trying to regain its lost dignity.

David Babayan said implementation of confidence-building measures is an important step towards settlement of the conflict.

He added that the resolution of the Karabakh conflict should be approached from two perspectives – the settlement of the conflict and maintenance of peace in the region.

“As breakthrough in the settlement is impossible at this point, the maintenance of peace is the central issue in the negotiations,” Babayan said.

According to him, the confidence-building measures will help reinforce the ceasefire regime and hold the party violating the ceasefire accountable. “Azerbaijan prevents the implementation of the measures, because it’s the one violating the truce,” he said.

The large-scale military actions in Azerbaijan do not mean the possibility of large-scale war has increased.

“There’s no panic or concern connected with the drills. “The military exercises pursue a domestic political goal. The authorities are thus showing the ethnic minorities in the country that the power can be used agaisnt them if necessary,” David Babayan said.

President Serzh Sargsyan received today students and schoolchildren – recipients of the RA Presidential Educational Awards for year 2016 in the area of information technologies (IT). At the award ceremony, which took place at the Presidential Palace, Serzh Sargsyan handed the awards received in different nominations. Together with each certificate, the young people received also souvenirs and monetary awards.

This year, the annual Presidential Award was bestowed on 28 students and 15 schoolchildren from 5 higher education institutions and 8 high schools. Until now, the RA Presidential Award in the IT area in different nominations has been given to 409 students and schoolchildren.

At the award ceremony President Serzh Sargsyan congratulated the students and schoolchildren who excelled in their studies and received Presidential Awards for year 2016 and wished them success.

President Serzh Sargsyan’s message at the ceremony of handing Presidential Educational Awards in the area of Information Technologies

Dear Students and Schoolchildren,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to once again congratulate you on receiving the RA Presidential Educational Award in the area of information technologies. One of the pleasing duties for President is to hand over awards but for me it’s a double pleasure because first of all, the awards are given to young people who will be shaping Armenia’s tomorrow, also because this is the area which is extremely important and prospective for Armenia. I am happy not only for you; and I am also happy for your teachers, your professors, your families, for our entire society because this proves in a way that we are moving along the right way. The Armenia of tomorrow must be better educated, moving in step with the time, in the hands of knowledgeable and creative citizens. The Armenia of tomorrow must be in the realm of the information-wise developed world. We have no other way to go. It’s a well-charted road. Throughout the millennia our people recognized, took in and accepted the progressive, made it their and thanks to that very ability have been able to exist, and we have to continue to go down this road.

Dear young people,

Your success inspires us with optimism and joy. Be more proactive, very daring in your initiatives and diligent in your studies. The 21st century is developing rapidly; we are living in a rapidly developing world. When we were your age, we didn’t know what would be the professions in the age of developed technologies, in the age of internet. The same will happen 20 or 30 years later. We need to be ready for that, and I am confident that you will be ready.

I once again congratulate you and express gratitude for your service, and service it is. Be assured that good performance in studies is a service to your country. I would like to thank the organizers of this event, thank you. And certainly I thank the award commission.

Rebel-held eastern Aleppo in northern Syria may face “total destruction” in two months, with thousands killed, the UN’s Syria envoy has said, the BBC reports.

Staffan de Mistura told reporters that he was prepared to personally accompany al-Qaeda-linked jihadists out of the city if it would stop the fighting.

He also appealed to Russia and Syria not to destroy the city for the sake of eliminating militants.

The UN says 275,000 civilians are trapped in the war-torn east of Aleppo.

“The bottom line is, in a maximum of two months… the city of eastern Aleppo at this rate may be totally destroyed,” Mr de Mistura told a news conference in Geneva.

“Thousands of Syrian civilians, not terrorists, will be killed and many of them wounded.”

He added: “This is what you, we, the world will be seeing when we will be trying to celebrate Christmas, or the end of the year, if this continues at this rate, unimpeded. Homs [Syrian city] multiplied by 50.”

He said the UN was not willing to “be passive, resign ourselves” to genocides such as those in Srebrenica and Rwanda.

Photo: Reuters

 

Amnesty International has accused the world’s wealthiest nations of shirking responsibility towards refugees, saying they host the fewest and do the least, the BBC reports.

Ten countries which account for just 2.5% of the global GDP are sheltering more than half the world’s 21 million refugees, says a report by the charity.

Salil Shetty, Amnesty’s secretary general, called for wealthier nations to take in many more people.

Mr Shetty called the UK a “sad example” of the failure to take responsibility.

The UK has accepted about 8,000 Syrian refugees since 2011, according to the UN. The US has taken just 12,000.

And according to recent UN refugee agency data, no Syrian refugees have been resettled by China, Russia or any Gulf states.

By comparison, Jordan, which has a GDP just 1.2% the size of the UK’s, hosts nearly 655,000 Syrian refugees.

With more than 2.7 million refugees in total, Jordan is sheltering more than any other nation. Turkey has taken in more than 2.5 million people; Pakistan 1.6 million; Lebanon more than 1.5 million.

The other nations with the largest refugee populations are:

• Iran (979,400)
• Ethiopia (736,100)
• Kenya (553,900)
• Uganda (477,200)
• Democratic Republic of Congo (383,100)
• Chad (369,500)

Photo: Getty Images

 

Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Wayne Rooney are reportedly facing a straight fight at Manchester United for their Premier League place, reports.

The attacking pair are currently struggling to nail down a regular place in Jose Mourinho’s first XI.

But both are set to start in tomorrow’s Europa League clash at Old Trafford against Zorya Luhansk.

It will be a chance to show their worthiness to the manager, especially after Mourinho dropped his captain from the side which beat Leicester 4-1 on Saturday.

According to the though, Mkhitaryan and Rooney are going head-to-head ahead of Sunday’s clash with Stoke.

United host the Potters in the Premier League with a spot potentially up for grabs, and Mourinho is said to be undecided yet between the duo.

The boss must be convinced he should change the team who comfortably saw off the reigning champions.

And the No.10 role could be the one altered against Stoke with it being both players’ main position.