Category: News

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has confirmed summer signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan will play on Thursday night when Feyenoord visit Old Trafford in the Europa League,according to Manchester United’sofficial website.

The Armenia international joined from Borussia Dortmund in July and has only made six competitive appearances in all competitions since then, partly due to a couple of unfortunate injuries but also because the manager feels his recruit requires more time to adapt to the rigours of English football.

Mkhitaryan watched from the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand on Saturday as the Reds drew 1-1 with Arsenal in the Premier League. However, the boss has since revealed a plan for the 27-year-old forward.

Asked by reporters if Mkhitaryan is closer to playing, Mourinho said: “Yes. I told him today [Saturday] that he is going to be involved in the game against Feyenoord. He is trying. Obviously he is not happy but he is transforming his frustration in a good way, which is to close the mouth, work hard and try to adapt.

“I told him ‘this was not the game for you’ because I don’t think he needs 10 or 20 minutes from the bench. I said ‘I think you need a good game and you need to either start or, if not, to come for the second half’. He needs less pressure and better conditions for him to express his qualities.”

Mkhitaryan’s appearance adds further intrigue to Thursday’s big game against Feyenoord, the Eredivisie leaders who beat United in the reverse fixture earlier in the Europa League campaign.

The Reds are currently third in Group A with six points from 12 and require a victory under the Old Trafford floodlights in order to leapfrog the second-placed Dutch club into the two qualification places, ahead of the final pool game against Ukrainian side Zorya Luhansk in December.

His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, had a meeting with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

Congratulating Patriarch Kirill on 70^th birthday, His Holiness Karekin II wished him robust health and fruitful years pontificate.

The Catholicos emphasized the progress of the Russian Orthodox Church and its spiritual rebirth during Patriarch Kirill’s pontificate.

His Holiness Karekin II attached importance to Patriarch Kirill’s support for sister churches and the Christian communities worldwide, especially those in the Middle East.  He also praised Patriarch Kirill’s mediating efforts towards establishment of peace in the region.

The Armenian Catholicos stressed the importance of combining efforts to resist the challenges facing the contemporary world.

Patriarch Kirill, noted, in turn, that the historic ties between the two peoples keep strengthening and prospering. He underlined that the Armenian-Russian relations have passed through difficulties and heroic brotherly cooperation and have further strengthened and developed in new spirit.

Photo: Voice of America–Armenian Service

 

– Major developments are expected in the near future in Armenian-American relations, U.S. Congresswoman Jackie Speier, told the Voice of America Armenian service.

She expressed a view that Armenia-US relations have huge potential for further expanding and involving new domains.

As co-chair of the U.S. congressional friendship group with Armenia, Speier plans to implement numerous projects in the coming year.

She said they plan to organize a large congressional delegation visit to Armenia in a foreseeable future.

Speier added that the declaration of new sister cities between the U.S. and Armenia as well as the launch of direct flights between Los Angeles and Yerevan are also on the agenda.

But the key pressing issue in Armenian-American relations, and which Speier hopes to resolve in 2017, is the reinstatement of the Millennium Challenge Corporation aid to Armenia.

She also noted that special importance should be given to the development of Armenia-U.S. economic relations. Per Speier in this new age of technology, scientific and technical ties should be developed more.

In her words, new prospects need to be reached in Armenian-American relations, in the new century.

Speier also stated that the American-Armenian community is stronger today more than ever, Armenia has an influential ambassador in the U.S., and the two sides should seize these opportunities and further develop relations.

Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic will have a statue erected in his honour after being named Sweden’s top player for a 10th successive year, the BBC reports.

The 36-year-old striker received his ‘Guldbollen’ – Golden Ball – award on Monday at a ceremony in Stockholm.

The statue will go outside Stockholm’s Friends Arena, where Ibrahimovic scored four goals against England in 2012.

Ibrahimovic said: “It’s huge for me. Most people do not get a statue until they have passed away.”

The Swede has won the award every year since 2007 – and also came top in 2005 before losing out to Arsenal midfielder Freddie Ljungberg a year later.

Ibrahimovic retired from international football after Euro 2016. He scored 62 goals in 116 games for Sweden and has won the domestic league title in four different countries.

Photo: Reuters

US rapper Kanye West h
as been hospitalised following an emergency services call, media reports say,the reports.

A police spokesperson told the BBC they had received a “disturbance call” on Monday afternoon, but did not name the singer.

The disturbance was later deemed a medical incident, he said, and the fire department responded.

A spokesman for the LA Fire Department said an unnamed man had been taken to hospital for “further assessment”.

“At 13:20 pacific time, the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to an unspecified medical aid request,” a spokesperson for the service said.

“An adult male described as medically stable was taken to an area hospital for further assessment.”

On 22 November 2016, the National Defense Research University of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia (NDRU, MoD, RA) hosted the Military and Air Attaché of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the RA, Senior Colonel Li Guang Ya, and the RA Military Attaché in PRC, Colonel Hamik Sayadyan. The guests were welcomed by the Head of the NDRU, Doctor of Political Science, Professor, Lieutenant-General Hayk Kotanjian. The meeting was also attended by the NDRU Deputy Head for Research – Head of the Institute for National Strategic Studies, PhD in History Beniamin Poghosyan.

During the meeting, Lieutenant-General Hayk Kotanjian handed the Military Attaché the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the NDRU and the China Institute for International Strategic Studies (CIISS).

The basis for cooperation between the two institutions was laid in 2014, during the visit of NDRU’s Head Hayk Kotanjian to the CIISS. The MOU was signed during the visit of NDRU’s Deputy Head for Research Beniamin Poghosyan to China in 2016.

During the meeting, Senior Colonel Li Guang Ya emphasized the cooperation between the NDRU and the CIISS, expressing confidence that it would further deepen the relations between the two nations.

On November 22, 2016, Deputy Minister of Finance of Armenia, Armen Hayrapetyan, and the Speaker for the South Caucasus at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Johannes Dopffel, signed the results of the bilateral governmental consultations on development cooperation.

The Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, Matthias Kiesler, praised the good cooperation between Armenia and Germany in his opening speech at the beginning of the consultations. “One of the hallmarks of German development cooperation is partner orientation. That is why our joint projects are so successful,” said Ambassador Kiesler.

For the bilateral financial cooperation via the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), loans and grants of EUR 54.4 million were agreed. The funds will finance the federal government programs of the German-Armenian Fund (GAF) on sustainable economic development (36.1 million euros) and promote the introduction of an agricultural insurance system (5.3 million euros). In the area of municipal infrastructure, EUR 8.3 million will be used for waste management in the Lori region, EUR 2 million to strengthen the water sector, and EUR 2.7 million for integrated water resource management in the Akhouryan River.

The German federal government will provide 22 million euros for regional projects within the framework of the Federal Government’s Caucasus initiative. Of these, EUR 21 million relates to technical cooperation and EUR 1 million to regional projects for financial cooperation.

The ongoing regional projects of the German Association for International Cooperation (GIZ) in the field of sustainable economic development, energy and the environment as well as democracy, municipal development and the rule of law are being pursued.

In its new report on Armenia published today, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) noted positive developments in the treatment of life-sentenced prisoners, but pointed out remaining problems with ill-treatment in the police custody, understaffing and lack of meaningful activities for inmates. The response of the Armenian government was published together with the report.

While the decreased number of allegations of police ill-treatment in detention suggests an improvement in this area, there are indications that this problem has not been entirely eradicated. In this respect, the CPT identified a number of deficiencies in the procedure for recording injuries of detainees.

The CPT recommends that the Special Investigation Service be significantly reinforced in terms of operational staff, in order to no longer need to rely on local police officers. Legal safeguards against ill-treatment, although effectively operating, do not cover situations when persons are “invited” to come to the police for “informal talks”, but have to stay there for hours and even days before being formally declared a criminal suspect. The visit to the military detention facilities in Yerevan revealed an extremely poor offer of activities, which, coupled with the problems in providing adequate psychiatric and psychological assistance, made it clear that the isolator was not a suitable place for prolonged detention.

At the national level, there was no longer any overcrowding of prisons, but some establishments, (especially the Nubarashen Prison) were overcrowded. The CPT strongly encouraged the Armenian authorities to further pursue measures to combat overcrowding, to step up efforts to combat corruption in the prison system, and to take resolute steps to put an end to the practice of the management delegating authority to a select number of inmates (the so-called “watchers”).

The delegation noted positive developments in the treatment of prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment: they were no longer routinely handcuffed when outside their cells, and for the first time several of them had been transferred from closed to semi-closed regime.

In Nubarashen and Yerevan-Kentron prisons the CPT delegation observed serious overcrowding and very poor material conditions. The Committee remained seriously concerned by the almost total absence of any regime of activities in any of the prisons visited, and called on the authorities to develop such programmes.

Healthcare services in prisons remained understaffed and poorly equipped, serious shortage of medication was observed, and the medical screening on admission, especially recording of injuries, remained totally inadequate, with the police and prison stuff routinely present, in violation of the medical confidentiality principle.

The report is based on the visit of the CPT’s delegation to Armenia from 5 to 15 October 2015.

The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s 17th annual Pan-European Phoneathon, held during November 16-20, has raised 1.34 million euros in donations and pledges exceeding the last year’s result by 1%.
The large-scale campaign mobilized the Armenian communities of France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Greece.
In the course of the four-day Phoneathon, around 700 volunteers have called some 46,000 households, businesses, and organizations to request their support. This year’s phoneathon involved 1700 new donors.
Proceeds from the large-scale fundraising campaign will be used to rebuild Artsakh communities that have sustained heavy damage as a result of the four-day war this year, to support the continued growth of agricultural-development projects in Armenia’s Tavush Region, and to provide assistance to the Syrian-Armenian and Iraqi-Armenian communities. Proceeds from the Greek affiliate will be contributed to the construction of the kindergarten, now underway, in Artsakh’s Karin Tak village.

The Hayastan Fund’s European affiliates will continue to accept donations and pledges till January 15, 2017.

Giuseppe Galati (Italy, EPP/CD) and Alan Meale (United Kingdom, SOC), co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of obligations and commitments by Armenia, will make a fact-finding visit to Yerevan on 22-23 November 2016.

Discussions will focus on the electoral reform, the 2017 parliamentary elections, the implementation of the constitutional reform, including the reform of the government and judiciary, as well as the reform of the police and the establishment of an independent mechanism for complaints against the police.

In Yerevan, Mr Galati and Mr Meale are due to meet, in particular, the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the President of the National Assembly, and the Minister of Justice. Talks are also scheduled with the Armenian delegation to PACE, the judicial authorities, and the Head of the National Police.