Promising news as a United Nations-brokered truce brings a day of relative calm to Syria after weeks of escalating violence:
“I am encouraged by reports that the situation in Syria is relatively quiet and that the cessation of hostilities appears to be holding,” international envoy Kofi Annan said in a statement today. “Syria is apparently experiencing a rare moment of calm on the ground.”
The UN estimates 9,000 people have died since anti-government protests began just over a year ago. Many thousands of others have fled to neighboring countries — including Jordan, where the International Rescue Committee is starting up two health clinics and providing other emergency aid to Syrian refugees.
Here are just a few places where we've been following the latest developments: