NORD STREAM: A Ukrainian man suspected of being involved in causing undersea explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany in 2022 was arrested in Poland, a spokesperson for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw said today.

Volodymyr Z was detained in Pruszkow, central Poland, according to Polish radio station RMF FM, which first reported his capture.

He has been transferred to prosecutors in Warsaw. The man’s full name wasn’t released due to Polish privacy rules.

IRAN: The United States will deport hundreds of Iranians back to Iran in the coming weeks, with the first 120 deportees being prepared for a flight in the next day or two, Iran said today.

The deportation of Iranians has not yet been publicly acknowledged by the US government.

AFGHANISTAN: The United Nations mission in Afghanistan urged the Taliban today to restore internet and telecommunications access across the country, saying the blackout imposed by the government in Kabul has left the nation almost entirely cut off from the outside world.

The outage was the first nationwide shutdown since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021 and was part of their professed crackdown on immorality.

PAKISTAN: A powerful car bomb outside the headquarters of Pakistan’s paramilitary security forces killed at least 10 people today and wounded 30 others, authorities said.

No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the blast in the south-western city of Quetta, though suspicion is likely to fall on separatists who often target civilians and security forces in insurgency-plagued Balochistan, where Quetta is the provincial capital.