WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Explosions rattled the Baltic Sea before unusual leaks were discovered on two natural gas pipelines running underwater from Russia to Germany, seismologists said Tuesday. Some European leaders and experts are pointing to possible sabotage during an energy standoff with Russia provoked by the war in Ukraine.

TEHRAN, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- A high-ranking Iranian military commander said a homegrown over-the-horizon (OTH) radar with a range of 3,000 km will soon become operational in the country, semi-official Mehr news agency reported Tuesday.

Dubbed Sepehr (Sky), the radar is capable of monitoring all kinds of commercial, fighter and command and control military aircraft as well as airplanes fitted with radio relay stations and unmanned aerial vehicles, Deputy Commander of the Iranian Army's Air Defense Force Alireza Elhami was quoted as saying.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Far from shying from his contrarian reputation, Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Jonson is leaning into controversy as he runs for his third term.

Johnson has called for the end of guaranteed money for Medicare and Social Security, two popular programs that American politicians usually steer clear from. He’s trafficked in conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and dabbled in pseudoscience around the coronavirus.

27 Sep 2022; MEMO: Over 100 political parties, organisations, groups and youth initiatives around the world yesterday called on the Arab League to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the escalating Israeli aggression on Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In a statement the bodies condemned Israeli settler raids of Al-Aqsa Mosque which have escalated in the run up to the Jewish holidays.

Sept 27 (Reuters) - Slovakia's parliament on Tuesday ratified the entry of Finland and Sweden to NATO, becoming one of the last countries to back the military alliance's expansion.

Finland and Sweden sought to join NATO this year in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

NATO's 30 members have been ratifying their entry since accession protocols were signed in July. With Slovakia's vote, only Hungary and Turkey remain to approve the expansion.

DUBAI, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Iranian riot police and security forces clashed with demonstrators in dozens of cities on Tuesday, state media and social media said, amid continuing protests over the death of young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in police custody.

Amini, 22, from the northwestern Kurdish city of Saqez, was arrested on Sept. 13 in Tehran for "unsuitable attire" by the morality police who enforce the Islamic Republic's strict dress code.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s government released details Tuesday of a proposed corruption watchdog that was an important promise in its recent election campaign.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said he would introduce legislation to create the National Anti-Corruption Commission to Parliament on Wednesday.

The center-left Labor Party promised that creating the watchdog would be a priority before it came to power at elections in May.

ISS, September 27. /TASS/: Roscosmos’s Oleg Artemiyev, who is also a special correspondent and chief of the TASS bureau on the International Space Station, has ceded the post to his successor in this capacity Dmitry Petelin.

THE HAGUE, Sept 27 (NNN-GNA) — The war crimes trial of former rebel leader, Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, opened at the International Criminal Court(ICC) in the Hague on Monday.

Said is accused of seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said. Said, 52, insists he is innocent.

Said was a commander of the predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels, who overthrew President François Bozizé in 2013.

“They ruled by dictate, by fear, by terror,” Khan charged.

TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shortly after arriving in Tokyo for the state funeral of assassinated former leader Shinzo Abe.

Abe, a former prime minister who was assassinated in July, will be honored on Tuesday, and Harris is leading a U.S. delegation to pay its respects.

“The alliance between Japan and the United States is a cornerstone of what we believe is integral to peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region,” she said Monday at the Akasaka Palace.

Islamabad, Sep 27 (PTI) Ishaq Dar, the former finance minister of Pakistan who is once again set to take charge as the new financial czar, has vowed to take the cash-strapped country out of the economic vortex, the media reported on Tuesday.

The senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Monday returned to Pakistan from London with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who following a meeting with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif, announced the appointment of 72-year-old Dar as the incoming finance minister.

27 Sep 2022; MEMO: Iraqi Parliament Speaker, Mohammed Al-Halbousi, yesterday submitted his resignation.

Parliamentarians are due to vote on whether or not to accept Al-Halbousi's resignation tomorrow, details issued by the parliament's media office showed.

Tomorrow's session will also include a vote on electing the first deputy parliament speaker to replace Hakim Al-Zamili of the Sadrist movement, who resigned along with all members of his bloc in mid-June.