Author: Mary Lazarian

Man of the Match Henrikh Mkhitaryan was delighted with his own and the team’s performance as Manchester United brushed aside West Ham United in Wednesday’s EFL Cup quarter-final tie, accordig to

After starring against Feyenoord, the Armenian captain earned his second star man award in a week – taking 78 per cent of the votes on United’s official Twitter feed – with another positive display in the Reds’ 4-1 victory over the Hammers at Old Trafford.

The summer signing from Borussia Dortmund, who was making his third start for the Reds, received a rapturous applause from the United faithful when replaced by Marcus Rashford late on. And he told afterwards he was pleased with his contribution to a fine overall display from the team to set up a two-legged semi-final against fellow Premier League side Hull City.

“I’m excited for the performance, I’m excited for my performance,” Mkhitaryan said. “We’ve done a good job. We’ve tried our best to win because the last game, on Sunday against West Ham, wasn’t very good for us when we didn’t win. But I think this time everything worked out and we’re very pleased.”

The Reds have often reserved the best form for the cup competitions on home soil having also put four past both Feyenoord and Fenerbahce, as well as knocking out EFL Cup holders Manchester City in the previous round, at Old Trafford. And Mkhitaryan believes the clinical edge was the difference in putting Slaven Bilic’s Hammers to the sword second time around – something the Reds must maintain heading into Sunday’s league game at Goodison Park.

He said: “The last game we couldn’t score our chances, but now we’ve scored our chances so the difference is that. This time we’ve done maybe more than what we have to do and we’ve scored four goals. Maybe we could score more but in the end we stopped on four goals and I think we’ve done a very good game and the transition from defence to offence was great. We have to keep working to be ready for the next game against Everton.”

The 27-year-old was a constant menace to the West Ham defence, setting up a goal apiece for Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Anthony Martial, but he acknowledged the team’s efforts and said it was a performance which can allow the Reds to kick on as the busy festive period approaches.

“Sometimes after the game you’re feeling tired but it’s a very good tired because you’ve done everything on the pitch and you’re satisfied with the work you’ve done on the pitch, so I think this is the day that everyone is tired but satisfied,” Mkhitaryan added.

“Of course, it’s always a pleasure to win games because you’re recovering faster, you’re recovering better, you have more fun in the dressing room so it makes you keep the good atmosphere in the dressing room which is what we’re trying to do.”

Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan participated in the 71^st regular sitting of the Council of Defense Ministers of CIS participating states in Moscow.

A number of documents regulating the cooperation between the Defense Ministries of the CIS participating states were discussed, key directions of joint work were outlined at the meeting.

Issues related to the joint air defense system, development of communication systems, humanitarian mine clearance, training of military personnel and joint field exercises, implementation of joint educational programs were discussed.

Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan had meetings with his Russian and Belarusian counterparts.

The Defense Ministers of Armenia and Russia signed the agreement on Joint Group of Forces and approved the 2017 cooperation program.

President Serzh Sargsyan sent a letter of condolences to the President of the Federal Republic of Brazil Michel Temer on the plane crash near Medellin town in Columbia which killed dozens, President’s Press Office reports.

At the this difficult for Brazil times, the President of Armenia expressed condolences and support to President Temer, the friendly people of Brazil and families of the victims, wishing them tenacity and patience.

At the same time, according to the President of Armenia, the very fact that there are survivors in the crash, gives strength to move forward.

An airplane with 72 people on board, including players from a Brazilian football team heading to Colombia for a regional tournament final, has crashed on its way to Medellin’s international airport, AP reports.

Medellin’s Mayor Federico Gutierrez said that it is possible there are survivors.

“It’s a tragedy of huge proportions,” Gutierrez told Blu Radio on his way to the site in a mountainous area outside the city where the chartered aircraft is believed to have crashed shortly before midnight local time.

He said ambulances and rescuers were on their way. It is not clear what caused the crash.

Medellin’s airport confirmed that the aircraft, which departed from Bolivia, was transporting the Chapecoense football team from southern Brazil, which was scheduled to play the Copa Sudamerica finals against Atletico Nacional on Wednesday in Medellin.

Photo: Reuters

Some 77 people, most of them Shia pilgrims from Iran and Afghanistan, have been killed in a truck bomb attack in Iraq, officials say, the BBC reports.

The blast struck at a petrol station and restaurant near Hilla, some 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad.

Busloads of pilgrims had stopped there on their way home from commemorating Arbaeen in the holy city of Karbala. Some 40 people were wounded.

The jihadist group Islamic State said it carried out the attack.

Galawezh, a literary festival in the city of Sulaimani that has endured for two decades, is focusing this year’s edition on literature from the Armenian genocide under the Ottoman Empire, reports.

Donald Trump’s election as US President will have a positive impact on the situation in the Middle East, since the confrontation between Russia and the US will tend to weaken, expert of Turkish studies Ruben Safrastyan considers.

Speaking about the perspectives of development of American-Turkish relations, Safrastyan said “the close allied relations will be maintained, but the relationship will be void of extra sensitivity.”

What’s more important to Armenians is the perspective of recognition of the Armenian Genocide. “American Armenians face a tough task in this respect as they have not raised the issue during Trump’s candidacy,” political scientist Stepan Grigoryan says. According to him, this is the first time American Armenians get no promise, the first time they do not work in that direction.

“Trump, who has a reputation of an unpredictable man, may once recognize the Armenian Genocide in the same unexpected way,” Stepan Grigoryan says.

According to Ruben Safrastyan, for the first time American Armenians will have to deal with President, who has never been related to Armenians or the Armenian Cause, which is a challenge to both American Armenians and Armenia.

“Before the inauguration ceremony scheduled for January 20, Armenians have to do their best to have Trump’s administration present him true information about Armenia-related issues,” Safrastyan says.

He notes that “Donald Trump has not given importance to the South Caucasus during his campaign, which means  he will approach the issues of the South Caucasus from the Russian perspective.”

Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan hosted a group of intellectuals today to present the proposed program of increased social security benefits to be paid to the families of servicemen killed or handicapped in action.

The participants exchanged views on the expediency of implementation of the proposed program, formation of effective management mechanisms, the willingness of the society to support the families of the servicemen, the need for transparent oversight, etc.

The participants of the meeting stressed the importance of public discussions, noting that is provides an opportunity to get full comprehension of the initiative and present different public perspectives.

The Armenian Defense Minister initiates public discussions featuring NGO representatives, journalists and intellectuals, the Ministry’s Press Service informs.

The program of increased state insurance fees to be paid to the families of servicemen killed or handicapped during military actions or military service will be presented to the discussions, which will be followed by exchange of views on the issue.

More than 60 cases of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani side were registered at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces last night, the NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The rival used weapons of different calibers as it fired over 870 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions.

The Azerbaijani side used 60 and 82mm mine throwers in the direction of the military posts located in the northeastern and grenades in the northern direction of the Defense Army.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep full control of the situation at the frontline and confidently fulfill their military duty.