STEPHEN HAWKING DIES

World renowned British physicist Stephen Hawking has died at the age of 76.

His family released a statement in the early hours of Wednesday morning confirming his death at his home in Cambridge.

Hawking had a rare early-onset, slow-progressing form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that gradually paralyzed him over decades. Nonetheless, he was still able to live an active in life and communicate using a single cheek muscle attached to a speech-generating device.

ARTSAKH STREET IN US

Members of the city council of Glendale, California, have unanimously voted to begin the process of renaming an avenue in the city to Artsakh Street.

Accordingly, Maryland Avenue—between Wilson and Harvard—will be renamed to Artsakh Street.

RATIFICATION OF EU-ARMENIA DEAL

There are no major obstacles to the ratification of the EU-Armenia agreement, Deputy Director General at EU neighbourhood directorate Katarina Mathernova told the Armenian News-NEWS.am correspondent.

Mathernova noted that she does not know whether the agreement will be ratified by the EU member states this year but she does not think that it is going to be any particularly complicated process on the EU side. She also said that the signing of EU-Armenia deal showed that Russia's narrative that “the Eastern Partnership is against Russia flies in the face.”

MERKEL ELECTED CHANCELLOR

Angela Merkel was elected Federal Chancellor of Germany for the fourth consecutive term.

Merkel’s candidacy was supported by 364 deputies of the Bundestag, while 315 parliamentarians voted against and nine more abstained. The first meeting of the government will be held on Wednesday afternoon.

RUSSIAN ARMS SALE TO BAKU

Russian arms sales to Azerbaijan were conducted within the framework of the agreements that were reached before April 2016, Russian MP Konstantin Kosachev said in Yerevan.

“Russia fulfills the contracts that were signed before April 2016, and Moscow are obligated to do so in accordance with the provisions of those contracts. But this is the situation that existed until that moment; and according to the information I have, in the future it will not be implemented at the current scale,” Kosachev said.

TILLERSON DISMISSED

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was fired by President Donald Trump on Tuesday, said he was delegating all of his responsibilities to the State Department’s No. 2 official and that he would leave office at the end of the month.

Director of the CIA, Mike Pompeo will replace him as a Secretary of State.

7 MEASLES CASES RECORDED IN ARMENIA

Seven cases of acquired measles have been recorded in Armenia in the first quarter of the current year, and their probable source is Russia. Six of those infected were not vaccinated against it, whereas one was vaccinated, but insufficiently.

According to the WHO, the epidemic of measles is growing worse in Europe, and the number of such cases tripled in 2017 as compared with the previous year. The respective situation is worse especially in Romania, Italy, Greece, Germany, Ukraine, Georgia, and Russia.