Author: Ani Tigranian

Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan is ranked 77^th (up from 85th last year) in choice of the world’s top 100 footballers for 2015.

Led by Zico, Javier Zanetti and Gheorghe Hagi, the panel of 123 experts from 49 nations compiled a countdown of the greatest male players on the planet.

Lionel Messi tops the ranking, followed by Christiano Ronaldo and Neymar.

“The problem for Henrikh Mkhitaryan is that, with Bayern Munich so utterly dominant in the Bundesliga, it may be difficult for him to keep improving in his current surroundings. He is not doing a bad job of looking a cut above most of the competition though. After a 2014/15 season blighted by injuries and patchy form – which could also be said more broadly for his club, Borussia Dortmund – the Armenian attacking midfielder has been excellent in their revival under Thomas Tuchel and had scored eight goals by 5 November. Liverpool were heavily linked in the summer, and those murmurs may get louder given the identity of their new manager; if Dortmund cannot run Bayern close this year a new challenge may well be in order,” The Guardian writes.

On Tuesday December 15 the president of the Argentine football club Racing Victor Blanco confirmed that they rejected the sponsorship of Turkish Airlines, reports.

The move was hailed from the Armenian community of Argentina. In a statementent titled “Turkish Airlines tried to sponsor Racing to wash the image of the authoritarian government of Turkey,” Armenian Youth Federation of South America organization welcomed the decision. “For several years, Turkish Airlines became the main weapon of Turkish diplomacy around the world sponsoring important sports figures like Kobe Bryant or Lionel Messi. They exhibited their brand with recognized and admired figures to hide the reality of what is currently living the Turkish people,” said the Armenian youth organization.

“The persecution of the Kurdish people and the Peoples Democratic Party, which  reached a new limit in November with the murder of human rights lawyer Tahir Elçi, the harassment of opposition media that intensifies whenever there are elections in the country, the repression of peaceful demonstrations of the civil society, the imprisonment of opponents or simply those who ‘insult’ President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the harassment to those who challenge the official story about the Armenian Genocide, the censorship and blocking of Twitter and other social networks and the complicity with the Islamic State to intensify the conflict in Syria, are some of the many reasons that the Turkish diplomacy has to hide their true intentions,” added the Armenian Youth Federation of South America.

“In football, the shirt and the colors are immaculate,” said Alfonso Tabakian, director of the Armenian National Committee of South America. “They are the identity of supporters of a club. Therefore, no fan of world would like their club to be sponsored by a government that violates human rights.” Last year, another Argentine club San Lorenzo de Almagro rejected a millionaire sponsorship offer from Azerbaijan. Racing and San Lorenzo are two of the biggest clubs in the country.

Photo: Universal History Archive/REX Shutterstock

An image of a portrait underneath the Mona Lisa has been found beneath the existing painting using reflective light technology, according to a French scientist, the reports.

Pascal Cotte said he has spent more than 10 years using the technology to analyse the painting.

He claims the earlier portrait lies hidden underneath the surface of Leonardo’s most celebrated artwork.

A reconstruction shows another image of a sitter looking off to the side.

The Louvre Museum has declined to comment on his claims.

Instead of the famous, direct gaze of the painting which hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris, the image of the sitter also shows no trace of her enigmatic smile, which has intrigued art lovers for more than 500 years.

But Mr Cotte’s claims are controversial and have divided opinion among Leonardo experts.

The scientist, who is the co-founder of Lumiere Technology in Paris, was given access to the painting in 2004 by the Louvre.

He has pioneered a technique called Layer Amplification Method (LAM), which he used to analyse the Mona Lisa.

It works by “projecting a series of intense lights” on to the painting, Mr Cotte said. A camera then takes measurements of the lights’ reflections and from those measurements, Mr Cotte said he is able to reconstruct what has happened between the layers of the paint.

The Mona Lisa has been the subject of several scientific examinations over more than half a century. More recent techniques include infrared inspections and multi-spectral scanning.

But Mr Cotte has claimed his technique is able to penetrate more deeply into the painting.

He said: “We can now analyse exactly what is happening inside the layers of the paint and we can peel like an onion all the layers of the painting. We can reconstruct all the chronology of the creation of the painting.”

39.17 percent of the eligible voters participated in the referendum on Constitutional changes as of 17:00, the Central Referendum Commission reported.

Photos by Armine Gevorgyan/Public Radio of Armenia

Opposition groups in Armenia rally in capital Yerevan today against the proposed constitutional amendments.

Leader of the Heritage Party Raffi Hovhnnisyan offered opening remarks at the rally organized by New Armenia movement, which brings together representatives of different opposition groups.

The protests come ahead of the Constitutional Referendum scheduled for December 6.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Nov. 24 he would not visit Turkey as planned on Nov. 25 following Turkey’s downing of a Russian fighter jet.

“The president clearly stated that this could not but affect Russian-Turkish relations. In this context, it was decided to cancel the meeting between Russia’s and Turkey’s ministers of foreign affairs, which was planned for tomorrow [November 25] in Istanbul,” Sergei Lavrov said.

Lavrov also advised Russians not to visit Turkey and said the threat of terrorism there was the no less than in Egypt, where a bomb attack brought down a Russian passenger plane last month.

“We need to underline the fact that terrorist threats are growing in Turkey,” he added.

Fifa vice-president Michel Platini could be facing a life ban from football, according to his lawyer, the BBC reports.

The suspended Uefa chief is serving a 90-day suspension on corruption charges alongside outgoing Fifa president Sepp Blatter, while Fifa’s adjudicatory committee considers its verdict.

Platini’s lawyer Thibaud d’Ales said the ethics investigators’ “excessive” recommendations are a “scandal”.

The adjudicatory committee intends to announce its verdict next month.

The Frenchman is facing sanctions over a “disloyal payment” that saw Platini, 60, receive £1.35m from Blatter, 79, in 2011 for consultation work done nine years earlier.

The pair, who are serving 90-day provisional bans, have denied any wrongdoing, but admitted there was no written contract.

Conservative Mauricio Macri has been confirmed as the winner in Argentina’s presidential elections after his ruling party opponent conceded, the BBC reports.

With almost all votes counted, Mr Macri led Daniel Scioli by 51.5% to 48.5%.

He danced on stage at a victory rally at his Buenos Aires headquarters and thanked his staff for their support.

Mr Macri’s victory is the first in more than a decade for Argentina’s centre-right opposition and ends the 12-year rule of the Peronist Party.

“Today is a historic day,” said Mr Macri, addressing thousands of cheering supporters. “It’s the changing of an era.”

Sunday’s victory completes a turnaround for Mr Macri, who is currently mayor of Buenos Aires, after he lost in the first round of voting to Mr Scioli.

But Mr Scioli, who is the governor of Buenos Aires province, did not command enough of a lead to win the vote outright, forcing a run-off – the first in the country’s history.

Inmates have lit fires at Australia’s Christmas Island detention centre in a “major disturbance” that is yet to be resolved, say government officials, the BBC reports.

The immigration department confirmed in a statement that guards had been withdrawn for “safety reasons”.

Medical, educational and sporting facilities have been damaged.

The statement denied a “large-scale riot” was taking place but said the situation at the centre for refugees and asylum seekers was “tense.”

The Christmas Island centre also houses New Zealanders facing deportation from Australia.