Ukraine's ceasefire starts Saturday night. Can it last?

Format update: The votes are in, and man, you guys really did not care for yesterday's Sentences format! It wasn't even close. 177 people wrote in, and 169 expressed a clear preference one way or the other (many thanks to the very sweet people who said they'd read it in any format). 32 preferred the new version, while 137 liked the old one better. That's an 81 percent to 19 percent margin. Dictators win elections by smaller margins than that. We'll keep experimenting with how we do Sentences — today's the first day we'll have pictures in the email version, for example — but for now, it's back to bullets all the way through. Many thanks to everyone who wrote in and tweeted. Your feedback was invaluable. 1. Ceasefire Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius make a statement to the media following peace talks on February 12, 2015 in Minsk, Belarus. (Steffen Kugler - Pool/Getty Images) A ceasefire has been agreed upon in Ukraine. [NYT / Michael Gordon] The deal, which was negotiated between Ukraine, rebels, and leaders in Russia, Germany and France, takes effect on Saturday at midnight. [FT / Kathrin Hille, Roman Olearchyk, Anne-Sylvaine Chassany, and John Aglionby] Besides the ceasefire, the agreement requires the withdrawal of heavy weapons by both sides, and the withdrawal of foreign militias (although since Russia denies having troops in Ukraine, it's unclear how meaningful that provision is). [The Guardian / Matthew Weaver and Alec Luhn] It also includes amnesty for prisoners involved in the fighting and more local political control for rebel-controlled regions. [Reuters / Gabriela Baczynska] You can read the full text of the agreement here. [FT] "Even under the best-case scenario, Ukraine will remain in a state of frozen conflict and the rebel-held regions will remain outside of Kiev’s political control for the foreseeable future." [Slate / Joshua Keating] "The agreement is as close to a deal on Putin's terms as decency allows." [Bloomberg View / Leonid Bershidsky] The deal isn't a final political settlement, and European leaders are emphasizing that a lot more must be hammered out. [NY Mag / Katie Zavadski] 2. "Brink of civil war" Houthi militants on guard in Sanaa. (Mohammed Hamoud/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) International observers are warning that political order is collapsing in Yemen, with the UN's envoy to the country saying it's "on the brink of civil war." [FT / Simeon Kerr] About a month ago, a rebel group known as the Houthis stormed the capital of Sana'a and seized the presidential palace. [Vox / Zack Beauchamp] Then-president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, resigned shortly after, along with the prime minister and entire cabinet. [NYT / Shuaib Almosawa and Rod Nordland] A few weeks later, the Houthis dissolved parliament and formally seized power, creating a five-person council to lead the country for an "interim period" of two years. [FT / Simeon Kerr] The Houthis are Shia, while the old government is Sunni. The highly active al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen is, of course, Sunni and vociferously anti-Houthi/Shia. [FT / Simeon Kerr] Many (including the US) believe they're linked to deposed ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was overthrown in Arab Spring in 2011-2012. [AFP] The Houthis claim to be anti-US, but have not resisted drone strikes against al-Qaeda since coming to power. [NYT / Rod Nordland and Shuaib Almosawa] Al-Qaeda's benefited from the instability the Houthis' rise caused, making real military gains like capturing a Yemeni Army base. [Washington Post / Hugh Naylor and Ali al-Mujahed] 3. Officers of the law ordered to enforce the law Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore testifies in front of Congress in 2004. (Matthew Cavanaugh / Getty Images News) A federal judge has ordered county officials in Alabama to obey a prior ruling making same-sex marriage legal in the state. [NYT / Campbell Robertson] As of this afternoon, only 23 of the state's 67 counties — accounting for 45 percent of its population — were obeying the court ruling. Twenty six counties aren't issuing any licenses and 18 are only issuing them to straight couples. [Human Rights Campaign] Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore had been encouraging officials to disobey the federal order. [Vox / German Lopez] Forget where same-sex marriage is and isn't legal at the moment? here are all 37 states with marriage equality. [Vox / German Lopez] 4. Misc. The director of the FBI quoted Avenue Q's "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist" in a speech about racial bias among police. [Washington Post / Max Ehrenfreund] There's a town in Russia where basically all 400 able-bodied citizens can walk a tightrope. [Now I Know / Dan Lewis] The average worker doesn't see any wage growth from 35 to 55. [Washington Post / Danielle Paquette] Geoengineering is an insane, reckless, irresponsible thing we should think about anyway, given how bad climate change has gotten. [Vox / Brad Plumer] 5. Verbatim "One man, in his forties, overweight and wearing a Ron Paul T-shirt, was vacuuming while doing a spot-on impression of the vacuum." [BuzzFeed / Bob Plantenberg] "Liz Mair, a Republican strategist who more often contacts me about tax policy issues, asked to be quoted on the record about her distaste for the candies, but unfortunately she described them with a word that is unprintable in The Times." [NYT / Josh Barro] "A fully-charged car battery holds barely as much energy as a sandwich." [What If / Randall Monroe] "A chapter about resisting the influence of poor neighborhoods includes a startling detail about a tough but crime-averse young man named Gary: 'He pats people down before they get in his car to make sure they are not carrying anything that could get him arrested.'" [New Yorker / Kelefa Sanneh] "A brain in the initial stage of love looks surprisingly like a brain experiencing a drug addiction." [Vox / Joseph Stromberg] "The ability to reserve our fucks for only the most fuckworthy of situations would surely make life a hell of a lot easier." [Mark Manson] Read the latest Vox Sentences here!

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