Category: News

Zorya Luhansk visit Old Trafford as virtual unknowns to Manchester United fans on Thursday, yet Henrikh Mkhitaryan knows all about the Europa League foes from his time in Ukraine, according to . 

The summer signing played for Shakhtar Donetsk across three seasons from 2010, before moving to Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund to continue his personal ascension through the European leagues.

Mkhitaryan did not feature in two matches against Zorya during his debut season with Shakhtar, but his first appearance against them in 2011/12 was a great success, scoring twice in a thumping 5-1 away win at Avanyard Stadium that contributed to his team-mates winning the title that campaign.

The 2012/13 season was also particularly fruitful for Mkhitaryan in both home and away matches against Zorya as he netted in consecutive 3-0 wins. Those two finishes helped him to break the record for the most goals scored by a single player in a Ukrainian Premier League season (25).

In total, Mkhitaryan has scored four goals in three matches against Thursday’s Europa League opponents and the Armenian will undoubtedly hope to improve his impressive tally at Old Trafford, if fit and selected.

Henrikh has not featured for the Reds since the Manchester derby on 10 September, but Jose Mourinho suggested he is close to being available and may update that situation during his pre-match media conference on Wednesday at 13:30 BST, which you can follow live on ManUtd.com.

MKHITARYAN’S RECORD V ZORYA LUHANSK

Zorya Luhansk 1 Shakhtar Donetsk 5 | 16 April 2012 | Two goals
Zorya Luhansk 0 Shakhtar Donetsk 3 | 15 September 2012 | One goal
Shakhtar Donetsk 3 Zorya Luhansk 0 | 13 April 2013 | One goal

Member of the House of Lords, Baroness Caroline Cox and her delegation visited the military positions located in the eastern direction of the NKR Defense Army.

At the frontline they asked about the frequency of the ceasefire violations, examined the living conditions of the servicemen and the peculiarities of military duty.

Lusine Avanesyan
Public Radio of Armenia
Stepanakert

Member of the House of Lords, Baroness Caroline Cox is visiting Artakh accompanied by pilgrims. This time the Baroness and her delegation visited the frontlines and talked to the soldiers, who, she said, are protecting the border of Artsakh and not only.

“I’m not Armenian, but people like me should be grateful to the Armenian soldiers, who protect this border. They protect it not only for the Armenian people, but also for all Christians in the world. They are also grateful to the Armenian soldier,” the Baroness said.

This is the first time Caroline Cox is visiting Nagorno Karabakh after the April assault unleashed by Azerbaijan. Speaking to reporters in Artsakh, she denounced the work of western media.

“The international media work as they want, but we know what has happened in reality, and it’s our task to inform the world that Azerbaijan remains an aggressor. We know that Armenian soldiers have been brutally decapitated, some have been tortured. This is a harsh violation of international law,” Baroness Cox said.

The former Israeli PM and president, Shimon Peres, has died aged 93, the BBC reports.

He suffered a stroke two weeks ago and his condition improved before a sudden deterioration on Tuesday.

His son Chemi led tributes to “one of the founding fathers of the state of Israel” who “worked tirelessly” for it.

Mr Peres, who was one of the last of a generation of Israeli politicians present at the new nation’s birth in 1948, served twice as the country’s prime minister and once as president.

He won the Nobel Peace prize in 1994 for his role negotiating peace accords with the Palestinians a year earlier.

He once said the Palestinians were Israel’s “closest neighbours” and might become its “closest friends”.

Mr Peres died in a hospital near Tel Aviv early on Wednesday, with his family at his bedside.

He had been in the intensive care unit of the Sheba Medical Centre after suffering a major stroke on 13 September.

A chance encounter in Texas led two Adelaide filmmakers into an adventure of a lifetime as they catalogued the one thing that links almost every culture in the world: barbecue, according to the

“The day we turned up in the Philippines, the airline had lost all our cameras,” says Matthew Salleh, one half of Urtext Films along with Rose Tucker. “So, for a week, the cameras were lost until we found them in a shed full of live chickens and fruit at the airport. You have to be pretty versatile when you’re flying around filming like that.”

Salleh is talking about just one of the dozen stops made on their epic documentary feature, Barbecue. Visiting 12 countries over nine months, Tucker and Salleh delved deep into the world’s myriad barbecue cultures to produce their diverse, humorous and inspiring documentary about the bonds forged between people over meat and fire.

“Everyone thinks that their barbecue is the best,” Tucker says. “Everywhere you go, their barbecue is the best. There’s no arguing.”

Tucker and Salleh are bursting with stories from their carnivorous odyssey. One quirky tale comes from one of the first countries selected to visit, and perhaps most surprising from the Australian perspective: Armenia.

“We were picking what countries we were going to go to, and we saw this video of this old man talking about Armenian barbecue, saying things like ‘Armenian barbecue is best barbecue’,” Salleh says. “His daughter had posted it online and gotten five million views or whatever. We thought it was hilarious. We just messaged them, his daughter lived in Melbourne. We skyped him and he arranged a room for us in Armenia.

Counting on her fingers, Tucker tells The Adelaide Review the places they visited. “We did, in order, Sweden, The Philippines, Mongolia, then South Africa, Armenia, a refugee camp on the border of Syria and Jordan, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and then finished it off this year with Uruguay, Mexico and went back to Texas.”

According to a decree signed by President Serzh Sargsyan, Levon Mkrtchyan has been appointed Minister of Education and Science.

President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree today, appointing Armen Amiryan – long-time Executive Director of Public Radio of Armenia – as Minister of Culture.

According to an earlier presidential decree, Armen Amiryan was relieved of the duties of the Member of the Council of Public Television and Radio Company of Armenia.

According to a decree signed by President Serzh Sargsyan, Hrachya Rostomyan has been appointed as Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs.

Russia has started the delivery of weapons to Armenia under the $200 mln agreement, Russia’s Ambassador to Armenia Ivan Volynkin said in an interview with  Radio Liberty.

The Ambassador also commented on the sale of Iskander ballistic missile system, noting that the fact is a testament to the allied nature of the Armenian-Russian relations.

According to Amb. Volynkin, the sale of the Iskander means that “the relations between Armenia and Russia are allied and friendly.”

As for the $200 mln loan agreement, the Ambassador said it’s in the process of implementation. “It is being implemented according to the plan, the delivery has already started,” Ivan Volynkin said.