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WORLD NEWS Monday 16 noveMber 2020
Brexit: Trade deal 'may not succeed' before year end

By SYLVIA HUI til a transition period ends warned Sunday that there
Associated Press on Dec. 31. The two sides will be no trade deal if
LONDON (AP) — The U.K.'s are trying to strike a new Britain continues to push
chief Brexit negotiator said trade deal before then, but ahead with legislation that
Sunday before renewed key sticking points such as breaks a legally binding
talks that a trade deal with fishing rights and competi- Brexit treaty with the EU.
the European Union may tion rules haven't been re- Prime Minister Boris John-
not succeed, but he was solved. son's government has ac-
still hopeful of a resolution. The two sides say any post- knowledged that the In-
Arriving in Brussels, David Brexit deal must be agreed ternal Market Bill breaches
Frost tweeted that "there upon by mid-November in international law. But offi-
has been some progress time for it to be ratified by cials insist the bill is needed
in a positive direction in re- year-end. as an insurance policy, or
cent days." Environment Secretary "legal safety net," to en-
"We also now largely have George Eustice said the sure smooth trade among
common draft treaty texts, coming week is "a week all parts of the U.K. — es- Pro EU supporters argue with Brexit supporters in London,
though significant ele- when things need to move" pecially Northern Ireland, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020. Associated Press
ments are of course not yet for the U.K. and the EU to which shares a border with
agreed," he said. "We will come to an agreement. the EU — no matter what government is breaking the has also drawn condemna-
work to build on these and "Both sides recognize that happens to U.K.-EU trade existing agreement that tion by U.S. President-elect
get an overall agreement time is very, very short," he after Brexit. is not even 12 months old, Joe Biden, among others.
if we can. But we may not said. "There does come a Irish Foreign Minister Simon and breaking international A failure to strike a deal will
succeed." point frankly where busi- Coveney told Sky News law by doing that." hurt both sides, with busi-
Britain left the EU on Jan. 31, nesses need to know what that "there is no way the EU Britain's House of Lords vot- nesses facing tariffs and
but continues to follow the they are preparing for." will agree to ratify a new ed by large margins Mon- other barriers to trade start-
bloc's economic rules un- Ireland's foreign minister agreement if the British day to reject the bill, which ing on Jan. 1.q

Azerbaijan delays takeover, denounces fleeing Armenians

By JIM HEINTZ nians of desecrating Muslim
Associated Press sites during their decades
MOSCOW (AP) — Azerbai- of control of Nagorno-
jan on Sunday postponed Karabakh and surrounding
taking control of a territory territories, including hous-
ceded by Armenian forces ing livestock in mosques.
in a cease-fire agreement, The Armenian Foreign Min-
but denounced civilians istry on Sunday denounced
leaving the area for burn- vandalization of the Gha-
ing houses and committing zanchetsots cathedral in
what it called "ecologi- the Azerbaijan-held city of
cal terror." The cease-fire Shusha as "outrageous."
ended six weeks of intense The Armenian Apostolic
fighting between Azerbai- Church earlier said van-
jan and Armenia over the dals defaced walls of the
Nagorno-Karabakh region church after Azerbaijani
and territories outside its for- forces took the city.
mal borders that had been Nagorno-Karabakh was an
under the control of Arme- autonomous republic of
nian forces since 1994. The Azerbaijan during the So-
agreement calls for Azer- viet period. A movement
baijan to take control of to join with Armenia arose
the outlying territories. The Smoke rises from a burning house as cars and trucks stuck in a huge traffic jam climbing along the in the late Soviet years and
first, Kelbajar, was to be road from Kalbajar leaving the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, on Saturday, after the Soviet Union col-
turned over on Sunday. Nov. 14, 2020. lapsed, a war erupted in
But Azerbaijan agreed to Associated Press which an estimated 30,000
delay the takeover until houses ablaze to make deemed their presence il- to the ninth century. died and hundreds of thou-
Nov. 25 after a request from them unusable to Azerbai- legal. "The placement and Azerbaijani President Ilham sands of people were dis-
Armenia. Azerbaijani presi- janis who would move in. settlement of the Armenian Aliyev assured Russian Pres- placed. Sporadic clashes

dential aide Hikmet Hajiyev "Armenians are damaging population in the occupied ident Vladimir Putin, who erupted after the war end-
said worsening weather the environment and civil- territory of the Kelbajar re- negotiated the cease-fire ed in 1994 and internation-
conditions made the with- ian objects. Environmental gion was illegal ... All illegal and is sending about 2,000 al mediators unsuccessfully
drawal of Armenian forces damage, ecological terror settlements there must be peacekeeping troops, that sought for a resolution of
and civilians difficult along must be prevented," Haji- evicted," Hajiyev said. Christian churches would the dispute. Full-scale fight-
the single road through yev said. Prior to a separat- The imminent renewal of be protected. "Christians of ing flared anew on Sept.
mountainous territory that ist war that ended in 1994, Azerbaijani control raised Azerbaijan will have access 27. Azerbaijan made sig-
connects Kelbajar with Kelbajar was populated wide concerns about the to these churches," Aliyev's nificant advances and a
Armenia. After the agree- almost exclusively by Azer- fate of Armenian cultural office said in statement week ago announced that
ment was announced baijanis. But the territory and religious sites, particu- Sunday.Azerbaijan is about it had seized the strategi-
early Tuesday, many dis- then came under Arme- larly Dadivank, a noted Ar- 95% Muslim and Armenia is cally critical city of Shusha.
traught residents prepar- nian control and Arme- menian Apostolic Church overwhelmingly Christian. The cease-fire agreement
ing to evacuate set their nians moved in. Azerbaijan monastery that dates back Azerbaijan accuses Arme- came two days later. q