Armenia, Azerbaijan clash for 2nd day
YEREVAN, Armenia — Armenian and Azerbaijani forces fought over the separatist region of NagornoKarabakh for a second day Monday, with both sides blaming each other for resuming the attacks that reportedly killed and wounded dozens as the decades-old conflict has reignited.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry claimed Armenian forces shelled the town of Tartar, while Armenian officials said the fighting continued overnight and Baku resumed “offensive operations” in the morning.
Azerbaijani military officials told the Interfax news agency that over 550 Armenian troops have been “destroyed (including those wounded)” in a claim that Armenia denied.
According to officials in the predominantly Armenian enclave of NagornoKarabakh, 58 servicemen on their side have been killed so far. The territory’s defense on Sunday also reported two civilian deaths — a woman and her grandchild.
About 200 troops have been wounded, but many were only slightly hurt and have returned to action, the Armenian Defense Ministry said. Azerbaijani authorities said nine civilians were killed and 32 wounded on their side. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Sunday there were losses among Baku’s forces, too, but he didn’t elaborate.
The heavy fighting broke out Sunday in the region that lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Yerevan government since 1994 at the end of a separatist war
Nagorno-Karabakh — a region in the Caucasus Mountains about 1,700 square miles or about the size of the U.S. state of Delaware — is 30 miles from the Armenian border. Soldiers backed by Armenia also occupy some Azerbaijani territory outside the region.
The European Union urged both sides to stop fighting and return to the negotiating table, following similar calls by Iran, Russia, France and the United States.
Iowa absentee voting: A judge refused to block a new Republican-backed Iowa law that makes it harder for county officials to process absentee ballot applications and more likely that incomplete requests won’t be fulfilled.
In an opinion dated Friday and released Monday, Judge Lars Anderson rejected arguments by a Latino civil rights organization and a Democratic Party group that the law is an undue burden on the fundamental right to vote.
The ruling is another victory for Republicans who want to limit absentee voting, which begins next week in Iowa. The Trump campaign and Republican Party groups have already invalidated tens of thousands of absentee ballot applications returned by voters in three counties.
At issue is a law passed recently that blocks county auditors from using their databases to fill in any missing information on voters’ absentee ballot applications.
Saudi G-20: Saudi Arabia, which is presiding over the Group of 20 countries this year, said Monday that the upcoming November gathering of world leaders will be held virtually amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The kingdom had originally planned to host world leaders for the G-20 summit in Riyadh before the pandemic, offering Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman the chance to share handshakes and wide smiles with presidents and prime ministers.
Instead, the planned virtual meet-up announced Monday strips the kingdom of the pomp that would have accompanied televised arrivals on Riyadh’s tarmac just two years after the killing and dismemberment of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi stained the crown prince’s reputation. Prince Mohammed has insisted he had nothing to do with the operation carried out by Saudi agents inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, despite U.S. senators and intelligence officials saying he bore responsibility for the slaying.
Saudi Arabia said the virtual summit Nov. 21-22 will be chaired by King Salman. The meeting will focus on “protecting lives and restoring growth by addressing vulnerabilities uncovered during the pandemic and by laying down the foundations for a better future,” a Saudi statement said.
Belarus protesters held: Authorities in Belarus have detained about 500 people during weekend protests against the country’s authoritarian president, who has claimed a sixth term in office in an election widely seen as rigged.
Belarus’ Interior Ministry said Monday that 150 protesters were detained on Saturday and over 350 more on Sunday, when anti-government protests spanned 22 cities. Daily rallies have rocked Belarus for over seven weeks now, with the largest ones drawing up to 200,000 people, in the biggest challenge yet to President Alexander Lukashenko’s long hard-line reign.
COVID-19 in India: India’s confirmed coronavirus tally reached 6 million Monday, keeping the country second to the United States in number of reported cases.
The Health Ministry reported 82,170 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, driving the overall total to 6,074,703. At least 1,039 deaths were recorded in the same period, taking total fatalities up to 95,542.
New infections in India are currently being reported faster than anywhere else in the world. The world’s second-most populous country is expected to become the pandemic’s worst-hit country in coming weeks, surpassing the U.S., where more than 7.1 million infections have been reported.
Protest for Assange: The dissident Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei staged a silent protest outside London’s Old Bailey court on Monday against the possible extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the U.S., where he is wanted on an array of espionage charges.
The court, meanwhile, heard that Assange, if convicted in the U.S., could end up spending the rest of his life imprisoned in the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. The facility is home to Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, 1993 World Trade Center mastermind Ramzi Yousef and Zacarias Moussaoui, the only man ever convicted in a U.S. court for a role in the Sept. 11 attacks.
Ai said the authorities have a responsibility to protect the freedom of the press.
“He is prepared to fight, but this is not fair to him,” he said. “Free him, let him be a free man.”
U.S. prosecutors have indicted the 49-year-old Assange on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over WikiLeaks’ publication of secret American military documents a decade ago. . The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.