OSLO, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Norway will deploy its military to protect its oil and gas installations against possible sabotage after several countries said two Russian pipelines to Europe spewing gas into the Baltic had been attacked, the prime minister said on Wednesday.

Gas leaks as a result of suspected sabotage discovered on the Nord Stream pipelines on Tuesday have roiled energy markets and heightened security concerns.

KHERSON, September 28. /TASS/: Head of the Kherson Region’s military-civilian administration Vladimir Saldo has asked President Vladimir Putin to accept the region into Russia, as Saldo himself wrote on Telegram on Wednesday.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- In their general debate speeches at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, leaders and senior representatives from developing countries underscored the importance of development and called on the international community to lend a helping hand to developing countries facing challenges.

Furthermore, the Global Development Initiative (GDI) proposed by China is hailed as "timely" and a valued contribution to addressing common challenges.

COLOMBO, Sept 28 (NNN-XINHUA) – At least 80 houses were destroyed, due to a fire that broke out in a highly populous area in Colombo, last night, with around 220 people displaced, Sri Lankan police said.

The fire broke out at the Kajeemawatte Flats in Thotalanga, at around 8.00 p.m. (1430 GMT) yesterday, and it took firefighters several hours to get the fire under control. Twelve fire trucks were deployed.

No casualties were reported in the incident, and those affected are housed in community centres and places of worship.

BERLIN (AP) — Austria announced Wednesday that it will start checking travel documents at its border with Slovakia following a similar decision by the Czech Republic to keep migrants from entering without authorization.

The checks were set to start at midnight Wednesday and initially will be enforced at 11 border crossings for 10 days., the Austrian government said.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 29 (APP): As the war in Ukraine stokes a crisis for countries that are struggling just to access the food they need, the world community needs to ensure that doesn’t spill over into a “food availability crisis”, the head of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a Rome-based UN agency, said Wednesday.

CAIRO, Sept 28 (NNN-MENA) – Egypt aims at increasing the number of foreign tourists by 25 to 30 percent annually, and boosting its revenues, Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Ahmed Issa said, yesterday.

Issa’s remarks came, during an evening ceremony held at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, to mark the annual World Tourism Day on Sept 27, which coincides this year with the 200th anniversary of the creation of the field of Egyptology and the decoding of ancient hieroglyphs.

DUBAI, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Hardline President Ebrahim Raisi planned a television address to the nation on Wednesday amid a tide of anti-government unrest in Iran, with protesters chanting "death to the dictator" after the death of a young woman in police custody.

Despite a growing death toll and a fierce crackdown by security forces using tear gas, clubs, and in some cases, live ammunition, social media videos showed Iranians persisting with protests, often calling for the end of the Islamic clerical establishment's more than four decades in power.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 28 (APP): Antony Blinken, America’s top diplomat has stoutly defended the sale of F-16 aircraft maintenance package to Pakistan, as India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who had sharply criticized the Biden administration’s move a day earlier, listened silently while his US counterpart justified the deal, saying it was aimed at bolstering the country’s capacity to fight terrorism.

KEMEROVO, September 28. /TASS/: The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) may get its rights with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) reinstated by the end of 2022, RUSADA Director General Veronika Loginova told TASS on Wednesday.

"We are waiting for reinstatement. We have already cleared the audit inspection and we are awaiting its results. We are complying with all the decisions as of December 17 [2020]. We are adhering to everything and hope for a positive outcome," Loginova specified.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 28 (NNN-Bernama) — Since the launching of Vision 2030 in 2016, the Saudi government has achieved many successes in the implementation of several basic reforms which in turn contributed to many other important achievements, said Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Malaysia Dr Mahmoud Hussein Saeed Qattan. 

These achievements included strengthening the status and role of the kingdomat the Islamic, regional and international levels and Saudi’s contributions and its leading role in the stability of global energy markets and the global economy.

JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) — At least four Palestinians were killed and 44 wounded during an Israeli military raid Wednesday into the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported, marking the deadliest episode since Israel escalated a crackdown on the occupied territory earlier this year.