Billionaire financier Kirk Kerkorian, one of the founders of modern Las Vegas whose name is synonymous with some of best known hotel-casinos, died Monday night Los Angeles after a brief illness, the Las Vegas Review Journal has reported.

Kerkorian, who tuned 98 on June 6, was the largest shareholder in MGM Resorts International, which he founded in the early 1990s.

The number of the Armenians, died in the result of the flooding in Tbilisi, is now four. The name of the fourth victim is known: Nana Tilishvili­Eghiazarova. The Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Tigran Balayan told Armenpress about it.

Earlier it was reported that according to the data provided by the Armenian Embassy to Georgia, three Armenians died in the result of the flooding in Tbilisi – Zhanna Eghiazarova, Svetlana Eghiazarova and Liana Eghiazarova.

As there are missing people, the number of the victims is changing.

We were informed by the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Holy Church in Georgia that the bodies will be transferred to the St. Etchmiadzin Church in Tbilisi, where the requiem service will be held. The sisters lived in the Svaneti Street where the flood took place. The mud water filled their home and the sisters were unable to go out. The street is mainly Armenian­ populated.

On June 16 the UK House of Lords held a debate on the Armenian Genocide, Armenpress reports, citing the official website of the British Parliament. “Her Majesty’s Government recognizes the terrible suffering inflicted on the Armenian people and other groups living in the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century,” ­ James Stopford, the Earl of Courtown, said in response to a question by Baroness Caroline Cox on the Government plans to recognize the killings of Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians in 1915 as genocide.-

“While remembering and honoring the victims of the past, we believe that the UK’s priority should be to help the peoples and Governments of Turkey and Armenia to face their joint history together,” ­ James Stopford added.

Baroness Cox reminded that over 20 states have recognized the Genocide, including France, Canada, Poland, Chile and Austria, as well as the European Parliament and the Welsh Assembly, on the basis of irrefutable evidence of the systematic slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians. Cox noted that His Holiness Pope Francis has emphasized the necessity of genocide recognition for healing, reconciliation and moving forward.

“Her Majesty’s Government is aware of His Holiness the Pope’s comments during the papal mass to commemorate the victims of 1915, which was held in Rome. We respect his view and agree that it is important to face the lessons of history with courage and do all we can to prevent such atrocities”, ­ the Earl of Courtown said.

The parliament paid tribute to the national hero of Armenia Kirk Kerkorian with a minute of silence. At the launch of the session of the National Assembly of Armenia Galust Sahakyan ­ President of the National Assembly – reminded that Kirk Kerkorian died at the age of 98.

As Armenpress reports, Sahakyan mentioned. “Mr. Kerkorian’s contribution is invaluable. The loss is immense for all of us. On behalf of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, I am sending condolences to the relatives of the great benefactor and the Armenians of the world. ”

Kirk Kerkorian, an eighth­grade dropout who traded his way to a $15­billion fortune and for a time was the richest person in Los Angeles, died yesterday. As Armenpress informs citing LAtimes, Kerkorian’s death was confirmed Tuesday by Anthony Mandekic, the CEO of Kerkorian’s company, Tracinda Corp. He said Kerkorian died Monday evening at his home in Beverly Hills of age­related causes.

“He was the most brilliant person I’ve ever run across, and so respectful of everyone,” Mandekic told The Times. “He gave everything he could, right to the end. We have lost such a great icon. He was truly something special.”

Kerkorian took an unlikely path to tremendous wealth. He didn’t invent a ubiquitous product, like software entrepreneur Bill Gates, or specialize in one industry, like entertainment czar Sumner Redstone, or patiently nurture the same holdings for decades, like investment master Warren Buffett. Instead, Kerkorian bought and built and sold and bought again. He bought MGM Studios three times, always to his benefit, if not the studio’s.

He accumulated large chunks of Chrysler Corp. when the automaker was considered all but defunct in the early 1980s, selling as it recovered. He did the same with a beleaguered General Motors in 2005, less successfully but still profitably. Kerkorian instinctively sensed the promise of Las Vegas on his first visits immediately after World War II, when it was an isolated desert town with only one luxury hotel, mobster Bugsy Siegel’s Flamingo. He eventually acquired many of its most famous properties, including the Bellagio, the Mirage and the MGM Grand.

“I’ve had more people tell me, did you envision this or that?” Kerkorian told The Times in a rare interview in 2005. “I just lucked into things. I used to think that if I made $50,000, I’d be the happiest guy in the world.”

He opened the first MGM Grand in Las Vegas in the 1970s, the world’s largest resort hotel at the time, and years later, he built another MGM Grand, then also the world’s largest.

Jim Murren, chief executive of MGM Resorts International, said in a statement Tuesday that the company was “honoring the memory of a great man, a great business leader, a great community leader and an innovator.”

Kerkorian always tried to act with a minimum of flamboyance. He never would have named a hotel after himself, the way his Las Vegas rival Steve Wynn did. When he wasn’t making deals, his great joys were playing tennis with friends, and going with the masses to the movies at local theaters in Century City and Westwood.

Kerkorian rose from hard­scrabble poverty to comfort to extreme wealth, powered by little more than energy and guts. He might have called himself lucky, but like most successful entrepreneurs, he made his own way. Kerkor Kerkorian, later Americanized to “Kirk,” was born in Fresno on June 6, 1917. He was the fourth and last child of immigrants from Armenia. The boy’s formal education ended in the eighth grade at a school for delinquent kids at 6th and Main streets in downtown Los Angeles. Despite all his achievements and wealth, this bothered him until the end of his life.

President Serj Sarksian today convened a consultation attended by the members of the Organizing Committee of the 6th Summer Pan-Armenian Games. The participants discussed the status of the organization of the Pan-Armenian Games to kick off on August 2 and the works to be carried out during the pre-opening phase.

The Department of Public Relations and Mass Media reports, the Chairman of the Control Chamber, Ishkhan Zakarian (chairman of the organizing committee), Chairman of the World Committee of the Pan-Armenian Games, reported that the solemn game opening ceremony will take place in the Republican Stadium, and the closing ceremony will be held on August 13 at Liberty Square. Bearing the “Unity through Sport” slogan, the games will be organized in Yerevan, NKR capital Stepanakert, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Abovyan and Artashat. According to rules, city representative teams take part in the Pan-Armenian Games.

The chairman of the organizing committee presented the kinds of sports included in the game program, the applications to participate in each of them, the number of applicant citizens and participants that will be summarized following the application deadline which is July 15. The participants of the consultation were also introduced to the chronology of the Pan-Armenian Games, starting from 1999, and the condition of the sports grounds, as well as to the works to be carried out by different ministries and agencies.

President Serj Sarksian stressed the importance of the excellent organization of the pan-Armenian games and gave respective instructions, emphasizing that the 6th Pan-Armenian Games are being held as part of the events marking the Armenian Genocide Centennial, and all the government bodies and the people in charge of the event are required to make utmost efforts to organize and hold them in the due manner.

Armenia relies on the 3 principles of the final Helsinki act of the OSCE conflict resolution and makes an effort to keep these principles, while Baku gives priority to the principle of territorial integrity. It hinders the efficiency of the negotiations. As Armenpress reports, the former French co­chair of the OSCE Minsk Group ­ Jacques Faure – stressed this at the “Rose Roth” seminar. He mentioned that the parties of the conflict make agreements, sign documents but they are not applied.

“One thing is evident today: the negotiations have brought forth to ideas but not results. One side does not trust the other,” Faure highlighted; adding that one of the problems between the sides is that there is an armory race in the region.

Faure thinks that internal political problems are also hindering the efficiency of negotiations. He stresses that many people don’t exclude the possibility that after the European Games Baku will again apply violence but the former Co­Chair highlights that Azerbaijan will lose a lot in that case.