auto-update week 33

middle-east/aj.json

@@ -1223,6 +1223,17 @@
       "text": "since November 2020, Russia has deployed about 2,000 peacekeeping troops to the area in and around Nagorno-Karabakh as part of a cease-fire agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan; fighting erupted between the two countries over the Nagorno-Karabakh region in September of 2020; Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under control of ethnic Armenian forces (the \"Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army\") backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994; six weeks of fighting resulted in about 6,500 deaths and ended after Armenia ceded swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh territory; tensions remained high into 2023, and both sides have accused the other of provocations since the fighting ended; Armenia has accused Azerbaijani forces of a series of border intrusions and of seizing pockets of territory (2023)"
     }
   },
+  "Space": {
+    "Space agency/agencies": {
+      "text": "Azerbaijan National Aerospace Agency (NASA; Azərbaycan Milli Aerokosmik Agentliyi, MAKA; established in 1992 from the Kaspiy Scientific Center, established 1974); Space Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azercosmos; established 2010 as a state-owned satellite operating company)  (2023)"
+    },
+    "Space program overview": {
+      "Space programs overview": {
+        "text": "national space program largely focused on the acquisition and operation of satellites; operates foreign-built communications and remote sensing (RS) satellites; has two satellite ground control stations; cooperates with a variety of foreign space agencies and commercial entities, including those of China, the European Space Agency (and individual member states such as France), Russia, and the US; Azercosmos is the largest satellite operator in the Caucasus region (2023)"
+      },
+      "note": "<strong>note:</strong> further details about the key activities, programs, and milestones of the country’s space program, as well as government spending estimates on the space sector, appear in Appendix S"
+    }
+  },
   "Terrorism": {
     "Terrorist group(s)": {
       "text": "Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS); Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)/Qods Force",
@@ -1234,9 +1245,6 @@
       "text": "<p>Local border forces struggle to control the illegal transit of goods and people across the porous, undemarcated Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian borders.<br><br><em>Armenia-Azerbaijan:</em> The dispute over the break-away Nagorno-Karabakh region and the Armenian military occupation of surrounding lands in Azerbaijan remains the primary focus of regional instability. Residents have evacuated the former Soviet-era small ethnic enclaves in Armenia and Azerbaijan.<br><br><em>Azerbaijan-Georgia:</em> A joint boundary commission agrees on most of the alignment, leaving only small areas at certain crossing points in dispute.  Consequently, the two states have yet to agree on a delimitation or demarcation of their common boundary. One area of contention is where the international boundary should run through the 6th-13th Century David-Gareja monastery complex.<br><br><em>Azerbaijan-Iran:</em> none identified<br><br><em>Azerbaijan-Russia: </em>Russia complains of cross-border smuggling.<br><br><em>Azerbaijan-Turkey:</em> none identified<br><br><em>Caspian Sea (Maritime Boundary):</em> Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia ratified the Caspian seabed delimitation treaties based on equidistance, while Iran continues to insist on a one-fifth slice of the sea. Bilateral talks continue with Turkmenistan on dividing the seabed and contested oilfields in the middle of the Caspian.</p>"
     },
     "Refugees and internally displaced persons": {
-      "refugees (country of origin)": {
-        "text": "5,270 (Ukraine) (as of 26 July 2023)"
-      },
       "IDPs": {
         "text": "655,000 (conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh; IDPs are mainly ethnic Azerbaijanis but also include ethnic Kurds, Russians, and Turks predominantly from occupied territories around Nagorno-Karabakh; includes IDPs' descendants, returned IDPs, and people living in insecure areas and excludes people displaced by natural disasters; around half the IDPs live in the capital Baku) (2021)"
       },