The separatist government of Nagorno-Karabakh announced Thursday that it will dissolve itself and the unrecognized republic will cease to exist by the end of the year, and Armenian officials said more than half of the population has already fled.

That is after Azerbaijan carried out a lightning offensive to reclaim full control over its breakaway region and demanded that Armenian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh lay down their weapons and the separatist government dissolve itself.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday accused Azerbaijan of carrying out a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" in Nagorno-Karabakh and said all Armenians will have fled the once disputed separatist region in "the coming days".

"The exodus of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh continues. Our analysis shows that in the coming days there will be no Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. This is an act of ethnic cleansing of which we were warning the international community for a long time," Pashinyan told his cabinet.

Israel has arrested five Palestinians in a plot allegedly hatched in Iran to target and spy on senior Israeli politicians, including Israel's far-right national security minister, the country's internal security agency said.

The Shin Bet security service alleged that an Iranian security official living in neighboring Jordan had recruited three Palestinian men in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and another two Palestinian citizens of Israel to gather intelligence about several high-profile Israeli politicians.

A Lebanese military court has sentenced an official with the extremist Islamic State group to 160 years in prison for carrying out deadly attacks against security forces and planning others targeting government buildings and crowded civilian areas, judicial officials said Wednesday.

The officials said Imad Yassin, a Palestinian in his 50s, confessed to all 11 charges against him, including joining a "terrorist organization," committing crimes in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Helweh, shooting at Lebanese soldiers, and transporting weapons and munitions for militant groups.

Oil prices have risen, meaning drivers are paying more for gasoline and truckers and farmers more for diesel.

The increase also complicates the global fight against inflation and feeds Russia's war chest. That poses problems for politicians as well as the people having to spend more to get to work, transport the world's goods or harvest fields.

South Korea's president vowed to retaliate immediately against any potential provocations by North Korea in his Armed Forces Day speech Tuesday, as thousands of troops prepared to march through the capital in the country's first such military parade in 10 years.

The show of force comes as concerns grow that North Korea is seeking Russian help in expanding its nuclear arsenal in return for supplying Moscow with conventional arms exhausted by its war with Ukraine.

Lebanese security forces have detained a man suspected of being behind last week's shooting outside the U.S.-embassy north of Beirut in which no one was hurt, police said Monday.

The Internal Security Forces said in a statement that they have detained a Lebanese citizen born in 1997 in a suburb of Beirut. They identified the suspect only by the initials MK.

Wildfires fueled by climate change have ravaged communities from Maui to the Mediterranean this summer, killing many people, exhausting firefighters and fueling demand for new solutions. Enter artificial intelligence.

Firefighters and startups are using AI-enabled cameras to scan the horizon for signs of smoke. A German company is building a constellation of satellites to detect fires from space. And Microsoft is using AI models to predict where the next blaze could be sparked.

From just outside the burn zone in Lahaina, Jes Claydon can see the ruins of the rental home where she lived for 13 years and raised three children. Little remains recognizable beyond the jars of sea glass that stood outside the front door.

On Monday, officials are expected to begin lifting restrictions on entry to the area, and Claydon hopes to collect those jars and any other mementos she might find.

Kathleen Maxwell has lived in Phoenix for more than 20 years, but this summer was the first time she felt fear, as daily high temperatures soared to 110 degrees or hotter and kept it up for a record-shattering 31 consecutive days.

"It's always been really hot here, but nothing like this past summer," said Maxwell, 50, who last week opened her windows for the first time since March and walked her dog outdoors for the first time since May. "I was seriously scared. Like, what if this doesn't end and this is how it's going to be?"