Armenia, Azerbaijan plan 3rd cease-fire after regional battles

YEREVAN, Armenia — Fighting over the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region continued Sunday, but Armenia and Azerbaijan announced that a third attempt to establish a lasting cease-fire after four weeks of fighting would begin Monday.

The decision on a ceasefire was announced in a joint statement by the United States, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The announcement comes after two earlier Russia-brokered ceasefire agreements, including one last weekend, frayed immediately after going into effect with both sides accusing each other of violations.

The statement said the agreement came after a meeting between Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun. The two ministers “reaffirmed their countries’ commitment to implement and abide by the humanitarian ceasefire” agreed upon earlier this month, the statement said.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994. The latest fighting that began Sept. 27 has involved heavy artillery, rockets and drones, killing hundreds.

Earlier Sunday, Armenia and Azerbaijan blamed each other for hindering peace both before and during the last four weeks of hostilities.

Nagorno-Karabakh’s military accused Azerbaijani forces of shelling civilian settlements in the areas of Martuni and Askeran late

Saturday and said that battles “on all directions of the frontline” took place on Sunday morning. Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry, in turn, alleged that Armenian forces shelled the Terter, Agdam and Aghjabedi regions of Azerbaijan.

Stormy weather: Tropical Storm Zeta could be at or near hurricane strength by the time it makes landfall Wednesday on the Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center said Sunday.

It is the 27th named storm in an active Atlantic hurricane season, nearing a record set in 2005, when 28 storms grew strong enough to have names.

The system was centered 300 miles southeast of Cozumel island in Mexico. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, and forecasters said Zeta was expected to intensify into a hurricane Monday.

Zeta is poised to deal another devastating blow to the Gulf Coast, a region battered by Hurricane Laura in August, Hurricane Sally in September and Hurricane Delta this month.

Dennis Feltgen, a spokesperson and meteorologist with the hurricane center in Miami, said Zeta could bring storm surges and heavy wind and rain “across a wide area of the northern Gulf Coast,” from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. Belarus protests: Tens of thousands of protesters in Belarus swarmed the streets of the capital Sunday, pressing for the resignation of the country’s authoritarian president, and an opposition leader said a nationwide strike would start Monday.

Over 200,000 people took part in the largest demonstration in Minsk since late August, the Viasna human rights center said. They carried red and white flags and marched while chanting “Go away!” and “New election!,” references to a disputed presidential vote that returned President Alexander Lukashenko to a sixth term and triggered almost daily protests.

Several subway stations were closed, mobile internet was not working, and water cannons and armored vehicles were seen in the center of Minsk. Rallies also took place in other cities in Belarus, and police detained scores of people across the country. A list of detained protesters released by the Viasna center had over 200 names by Sunday evening.

In Minsk, police used stun grenades to disperse the crowds. Belarusian media reported that several people sustained injuries.

Mass protests have rocked Belarus for over two months, ever since the official results of the Aug. 9 election gave Lukashenko a landslide victory with 80% of the vote. His main challenger, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, got only 10% of the votes and refused the recognize the outcome as valid.

Chilean Constitution:

Chileans were voting Sunday on whether to draft a new constitution for their nation to replace guiding principles imposed decades ago under a military dictatorship.

The country’s conservative government agreed with the center-left opposition to allow the plebiscite a month after the outbreak of vast street protests that erupted a year ago in frustration over inequality in pensions, education and health care in what has long been one of South America’s most developed nations.

If the measure is approved, a special convention would begin drafting a new constitution that would be submitted to voters in mid-2022.

Chile’s current constitution was drafted by the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, and was sent to voters when political parties had been banned and the country was subject to heavy censorship. It was approved by a 66%-30% margin in a 1980 plebiscite, but critics say many voters were cowed into acceptance by Pinochet’s regime.

Sudan-Israel talks: Sudanese and Israeli officials will meet in the coming weeks to discuss a package of cooperation deals to “achieve the mutual interests of the two peoples,” Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

The ministry statement came days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Sudan would start normalizing ties with Israel. The statement said the deals would cover agriculture, trade, aviation and migration, but did not provide details on the timing or location of the meetings.

Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tweeted Sunday saying that Israel was “sending $5 million worth of wheat immediately to our new friends” in Sudan.

The normalization deal came with another pledge by Trump to remove Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. The U.S. has linked delisting Sudan to the deal to normalize ties with the Jewish state.

1798 penny found: A man with a metal detector found a 222-year-old coin under a few inches of soil outside a Maine church.

Shane Houston, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was on a metal-detecting trip with a friend from New Hampshire when he found the coin this month, the Bangor Daily News reported.

The copper penny, dated 1798, comes from the first decade of American-minted money in North America.

The penny is not in pristine condition.

Houston said it might fetch $200, but he has no intentions of selling it. On the same trip, he also found an 1818 penny.

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/GETTY-AFP A protester carries a sign with “revolt” written in Arabic on Sunday in Baghdad on the first anniversary of anti-government demonstrations. As thousands took to the streets, police responded with tear gas to keep protesters from crossing strategic bridges. Over 500 people, many of them demonstrators, were killed by Iraqi security forces in last year’s unrest.