Mkhitaryan back in training and set for Man Utd return

Henrikh Mkhitaryan is back in training after injury and is set to make his return in Manchester United’s Europa League clash against Zorya Luhansk this week, accoridng to Teamtalk.com.

Mkhitaryan, who suffered a thigh injury playing for Armenia earlier this month, has not featured since he was replaced at half-time during the 2-1 derby defeat to Manchester City on September 10.

The 27-year-old has missed United’s last four games but returned to training ahead of the 4-1 win over Leicester at Old Trafford on Saturday, but was not considered for the game.

However, he is in line to be part of Jose Mourinho’s squad for Zorya, currently second in Ukraine’s Premier League, when they visit Old Trafford on Thursday. United lost their first Europa League group game against Feyenoord and will be looking to get their campaign back on track.

Wayne Rooney is also expected to start for United, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Anthony Martial and Luke Shaw look set to miss out.

Shaw is recovering from a groin problem while Martial missed the win over Leicester after he suffered a head injury during the defeat to Watford.

Ibrahimovic was spotted in Milan on Monday with reports in Italy claiming the the 34-year-old has been granted a short holiday by Mourinho.

50 cases of ceasefire violation by Azeri side reported over the weekend

About 50 cases of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani side were registered at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces over the weekend.

The rival used firearms of different calibers as it fired over 600 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions, The NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army confidently continue with their military duty and resort to response action sin case of necessity.

Armenian Acting FM meets with UN Secretary General

On September 24, while participating in the activities of the 71st regular session of the UN General Assembly, Edward Nalbandian, the Acting Foreign Minister of Armenia, had a meeting with Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General.

The UN Secretary General expressed gratitude for the active involvement of Armenia to the activities of the Organization during his tenure and emphasized that the Armenian diplomacy has played a significant and constructive role in the international arena not only regarding its priorities, but also towards the settlement of the issues the Organization faces.

Edward Nalbandian outlined that the efficient cooperation with the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is highly appreciated in Armenia. The Minister thanked the UN Secretary General for his leadership, initiatives and exerted efforts aimed at the advancement of the UN Charter values, goals and principles.

The interlocutors discussed a number of issues on the UN agenda.

Ban Ki-moon presented to Edward Nalbandian his book, which summarizes his last ten years’ activity in the capacity of the Secretary General of the UN.

Aid convoys reach besieged Syrian towns

Photo: ICRC

 

Aid has been delivered to four besieged towns in Syria for the first time in almost six months, the International Committee of the Red Cross says, the BBC reports.

Seventy-one lorries reached rebel-held Madaya and Zabadani, near Damascus, and government-controlled Foah and Kefraya, in Idlib province, on Sunday.

They brought food, medical supplies and hygiene kits for 60,000 people.

Last week, the UN suspended aid deliveries across Syria for 48 hours after a deadly attack on a convoy.

NKR Defense Army soldier killed in Azeri firing

Private of the NKR Defense Army Sevak Hovhannes Khachatryan was killed in firing from the Azerbaijani side at about 10:40 on September 25.

Probe into the details of the incident is under way.

The NKR Defense Ministry shares the sorrow of the heavy loss and expresses its support to the Sevak Khachatryan’s family and friends.

Friends of Hrant: Dirty political games don’t concern us

Fifth hearing of the Dink case is being held today. Before the hearing, Friends of Hrant were in front of the courthouse as always, demanding justice, reports.

The Dink murder case began to be retried and the fifth hearing of the retrials started today in 14th High Penal Court. The hearing will continue throughout this week.

Before the hearing, Friends of Hrant were in front of the courthouse as always, demanding justice.

The press statement was read by Bircan Yorulmaz and the powers trying to abuse the case for their political interests were criticized.

Highlights of the statement are as the following:

“The ones who want to abuse Dink murder for their political games don’t concern us. We want everyone, regardless of their political circle, to stand trial: the instigators, the perpetrators, the ones who turned a blind eye to the plans of murder and the ones ones who praised the murderers. This is the only aim of our years-long struggle.

“The ones who say things like ‘Hrant Dink was murdered by racist-nationalist fascists or by Gulenists’ are trying to abuse this murder and they don’t concern us.

“Leaking of the footage, which seems to be held by the state for almost ten years, is not a step for clarifying the murder, but rather a product of the same dirty political games.

“Once again, we say with determination and insistence: until everyone who have a hand in this murder, from the perpetrators to the planners, from the public officials who actively worked with the murderers to the police chiefs, bureaucrats and politicians who didn’t do anything though they had the power to prevent this murder stand trial, this case won’t be closed.”

Putin awards Su-34 chief designer Rollan Martirosov with Alexander Nevsky Order

Photo: Sputnik

 

The President of Russia Vladimir Putin has awarded the chief designer of Sukhoi Su-34 Rollan Martirosov with the Order of Alexander Nevsky, according to the Kremlin’s official website.

“Rollan Martirosov led the Su-34 program.  The program officially started on 19 June 1996 and was worked on by a team managed by Rollan Martirosov on the basis of the technical-tactical demands of the Soviet air force.

Rollan Martirosov started work in the Sukhoi design Bureau in 1959 after graduating from the Moscow aviation Institute. He has made a great personal contribution to the solution of complex technical issues in the process of developing, testing and serial development of such famous aircraft of the Sukhoi as the Su-7БКЛ, Su-15, T-4, Su-24, Su-24M and Su-27.

Under his direct technical leadership, developed and implemented

The main technical solutions of the Su-34 were developed and implemented under his direct management.

As chief designer of the Su-34, Martirosov currently provides technical management works on increasing the combat capabilities of Su-34 under the state contract with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.