Armenia, Azerbaijan OK new cease-fire after first truce fails
GORIS, Armenia — Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a new cease-fire in their conflict over a disputed territory, the countries said Saturday, days after a truce negotiated a week earlier had unraveled.
Thewarring neighbors in the southern Caucasus region announced the agreement over the disputed territory, Nagorno-Karabakh, in terse statements issued by their foreign ministries late Saturday, describing it as a “humanitarian truce.”
But the intense fighting leading up the announcement raised questions of whether this cease-fire would be any more durable than the deal reached after 10 hours of talks inMoscow last weekend, which failed to end the fierce conflict along the front line.
The new truce took effect at midnight, but neither side provided a timeline for how long itwould last.
The war has already killed more than 600 Armenian soldiers, scores of civilians and an unknown number of Azerbaijanis. It has threatened to spiral into a wider regional conflict, with the potential to further draw inTurkey, Azerbaijan’s main ally; Russia, which has a mutual defense agreement with Armenia; and even the region’s southern neighbor, Iran.
Nagorno-Karabakh is an ethnically Armenian enclave that is part of Azerbaijan under international law but is closely aligned with Armenia.
A previous war over Nagorno-Karabakh, in the early 1990s, killed some 20,000people and displaced about1 million, mostofthem Azerbaijanis. Years of tensions since then between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the enclave’s status erupted into open warfare Sept. 27, with Azerbaijan seeking to take control of the territory by force.
On Saturday, Azerbaijan said 14 people were killed in the city of Ganja, the country’s second-largest, in an overnight missile attack by Armenia.
Abortion ruling: A federal appeals court has upheld a decades-old Kentucky law requiring abortion clinics to have written agreements with a hospital and an ambulance service in case of medical emergencies.
The 2-1 decision by the 6th U.S. Court of Appeals reverses a federal judge’s ruling, who had said the 1998 Kentucky law violated TurkishCypriots topolls: constitutionally protected Turkish Cypriots vote Sundue process rights. day in a leadership runoff
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Planned Parenthood of pened since New Zealand for the Cameron Peak fire deal instead of a federation. Indiana and Kentucky later implemented a proportional said early Saturday. “We’re joined the suit, claiming voting system 24 years ago. facing the same critical fire Bevin’s administration had Typically, parties must form conditions today as we did used the transfer agreealliances to govern, but this yesterday.” mentsto block its request for time Ardern and Labour can They were expecting a license to provide aborgo it alone. gusts of 60 mph midday, he tions in Louisville. In a victory speech in said.
Critics of the law claimed front of hundreds of cheerThe fire grew to 293 such licensing requirements ing supporters in Auckland, square miles by Saturday were designed to give the Ardern said her party had morning and only 57% was state a reason to ban abortions. Supporters said the lawbolstered patient safety.
Thetwo clinicshave since been allowed to provide abortions after Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who supports abortion rights, took office in late 2019.
New Zealand election:
gotten more support from New Zealanders than at any time in at least 50 years.
A record number of voters cast early ballots in the two weeks leading up to the election. contained.
Lebanon protest anniversary: A year ago, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese took to the streets protesting taxes and a rapidly deteriorating economic crisis. A spontaneous and hopeful nationwide movement was born, denouncing an entire political establishment that had for decades pushed Lebanon toward collapse.
Today, as crises multiply and the country dives deeper into uncertainty and poverty, protests seem to have petered out.
On Saturday, thousands marked the first anniversary of the protest movement in different parts of Lebanon including its three largest cities, Beirut, Tripoli and Sidon. But the protesters were far fewer than those last year.
Some argue the protests lost momentum because of the political elite’s moves to hijack and weaken the movement. Protesters have been met with violence, arrest and intimidation. Others say Lebanese have become numb to incompetence and corruption among the political class.
But Lebanon’s confessional-based power-sharing system also proved difficult to bring down. A revolt against the status quo means breaking a sectarian patronage network cultivated by the ruling elite.