Nagorno-Karabakh, Somalia, China.
Today's three stories you should know.
Nagorno-Karabakh
Hundreds of ethnic Armenians have started to flee Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia after Azerbaijani forces defeated the forces of the breakaway region earlier this week. The enclave is internationally-recognized as part of Azerbaijan but the overwhelming majority of its inhabitants are ethnically Armenian, and the two countries have gone to war over the territory twice in the last 30 years. Azerbaijan says it wants to integrate the ethnic Armenians and guarantee their rights but many say they are afraid of persecution. The leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh told the Reuters news agency today that it expected most of the 120,000 population to leave for Armenia.
More from Al Jazeera here.
Somalia
The death toll from a truck bomb explosion in the Somali town of Beledweyne has risen to 21, authorities said today. There has been no claim of responsibility but the al-Shabab armed group, which has been fighting the government for more than a decade, frequently carries out such attacks. Shabab appears to be battling for its survival after a sustained government offensive, which started last year, pushed it out of much of the territory it once controlled. It has stepped up hit-and-run attacks in response.
More from AP here.
China
China has sentenced a famed ethnic Uyghur scholar to life in prison for “endangering state security,” a Uyghur rights group said today. Rahile Dawut, 57, an expert on Uyghur folklore and traditions, had disappeared in 2017 along with other intellectuals in what activists said was an attempt to wipe out the Uyghur identity. The mostly Muslim Uyghur community has been subject to a crackdown from the Chinese state in recent years and, according to advocacy groups and several Western governments, it has imprisoned up to a million of them in what it calls "re-education camps."
More from BBC here.