Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, a founder of the Taliban who will control prisons under the new government in Afghanistan, has revealed that harsh punishments, including amputations and executions, will return to the country .

“Everyone criticized us for the punishments in the stadium, but we have never said anything about their laws and their punishments,” Turabi said in Kabul during an interview, which was published Thursday, September 23, by the Associated Press.

 “No one will tell us what our laws should be. We will follow Islam, and we will make our laws on the Quran.”

Under the Taliban’s previous rule of Afghanistan, Turabi served as justice minister and head of the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, a position the Associated Press stated was “the religious police.”

During that time, amputations and executions were carried out for criminal offenses, including theft and highway robbery.

Now Turabi has revealed those same practices will be brought back. 

“Cutting off of hands is very necessary for security,” Turabi said, claiming it was a deterrent to theft and other crime.

While it is not yet known whether the punishment will occur in public, Turabi said that Taliban officials are working to “develop a policy” to handle it and insisted the Taliban “are changed from the past,” 

Turabi also said the Taliban would allow television, mobile phones, photos and videos “because this is the necessity of the people, and we are serious about it.” 

He also noted that female judges would be allowed to adjudicate cases. However, Afghanistan’s laws will be based on the Quran claiming it would help spread the Taliban’s message. 

“Now we know instead of reaching just hundreds, we can reach millions,” he said, adding that if executions and amputations are approved for public viewing, then people could record those instances and share them as a deterrent for what Taliban officials consider criminal offenses.

North Korea says South Korea’s call to declare a formal end to the Korean War is premature as there is no guarantee it would lead to peace in the Korean peninsula.

The two Koreas are still technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a ceasefire following huge involvement from the US and China.

Since the war ended with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty, war can still break out between both sides at anytime with the US pledging to defend South Korea while China sides with North Korea.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday, September 21, made a call for a formal end to the Korean War in an address to the UN General Assembly and proposed that the two Koreas with the United States, or with the US and China, make such a declaration.

But North Korea has now responded saying such a move will not stop the withdrawal of “US hostile policy” toward Pyongyang, North Korean state media KCNA reported on Friday, September 24, citing Vice Foreign Minister Ri Thae Song.

“Nothing will change as long as the political circumstances around the DPRK remains unchanged and the US hostile policy is not shifted, although the termination of the war is declared hundreds of times,” Ri said on KCNA, using North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Last week both North and South Korea fired ballistic missiles as tensions rose on peninsula. The US tried under the former Trump administration to carry out negotiations with Kim Jong Un’s administration but the attempts failed.

“The US withdrawal of its double standards and hostile policy is the top priority in stabilizing the situation of the Korean peninsula and ensuring peace on it.”

On Friday, Moon said he was confident that Pyongyang will realize it is in its interest to come to dialogue with Washington.

“It seems that North Korea is still weighing options while keeping the door open for talks, since it is only raising tension at a low level, just enough for the US to not break off all contact,” said Moon, speaking to reporters aboard South Korea’s presidential jet as he flew back to Seoul from the US after addressing the UN General Assembly.

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden addressed the UN assembly and said the US wants “sustained diplomacy” to resolve the crisis surrounding North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

This week the head of the UN atomic watchdog said that Pyongyang’s nuclear program is going “full steam ahead.”

Fraud in the UK has sparked a warning of “national security threat” after £754m was stolen from bank customers during the first half of this year,  a 30% rise on the same period in 2020.

According to UK Finance, fraudsters had capitalised on the coronavirus pandemic, with criminals targeting children as young as 14 via social media to become money mules.

The banking body said the losses from bank transfer scams leapt by 71% to £355m during the first half of the year, almost £2m a day. There were a total of 106,164 cases of such fraud, equivalent to 12 people being defrauded every half an hour.

There had also been a notable increase in the use of cryptocurrency wallets to quickly move stolen money outside the banking system.

Consumer bodies say banks often wrongly try to pin the blame for fraud on their customers. However, UK Finance said much of the criminal activity was taking place outside the banking system and called on the big tech companies to do more to clamp down on the fraud being perpetrated on their platforms.

The consumer body which described the sums lost during the pandemic as “a staggering amount”.

In previous years, the largest losses have involved debit and credit cards being used to commit fraud but this year scammers focused their activity on authorised push payment fraud. This often involves email accounts being hacked in order to trick individuals and businesses into sending money to bank accounts operated by criminals posing as genuine customers.

Impersonation scams were up 123% in the first six months of 2021 compared with the same period last year.

Investment scam losses, meanwhile, were up 95% as criminals exploited the low-interest-rate environment to post adverts on social media offering high returns.

“We also saw changes in how criminals moved stolen money,” UK Finance said. “They targeted people as young as 14 via social media platforms to become money mules, where their bank account is used to launder stolen money.”

It went on to say that “fraud is now at a level where it poses a national security threat”.

 UK Finance is demanding government-coordinated action across all sectors to tackle the problem, including ensuring that all economic crime is brought within the scope of the online safety bill.
 

The Taliban have asked to address world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly this week in New York City.

A United Nations committee will rule on the request but it is very unlikely to happen during the current session of the body.

Before making their request, the Taliban who are still seeking international legitimacy, nominated their Doha-based spokesperson, Suhail Shaheen, as Afghanistan’s UN ambassador.

The Taliban, which seized control of Afghanistan last month, said the envoy for the ousted government no longer represented the country.

The request to participate in the high-level debate is being considered by a credentials committee which includes the US, China and Russia, UK, France etc according to a UN spokesperson.

But the credentials committee is unlikely to meet before the end of the General Assembly session next Monday, 28 September. Until then, under UN rules, Ghulam Isaczai will remain Afghanistan’s ambassador to the global body.

He is expected to make a speech on the final day. However the Taliban said his mission “no longer represents Afghanistan”.

No government in the world has formally recognised the Taliban as Afghanistan’s new government although Pakistan and China have moved to normalize relations.

 If the UN agrees for the Taliban’s nominee for ambassador to speak it will be an important step towards international acceptance.

In the Taliban’s request to the UN, the Taliban also said that several countries no longer recognised former President Ashraf Ghani as leader.

Ghani fled Afghanistan as Taliban militants advanced on the capital, Kabul, on 15 August. He has since taken refuge in the United Arab Emirates.

At the UN meeting on Tuesday, September 21, Qatar urged world leaders to stay engaged with the Taliban.

“Boycotting them would only lead to polarisation and reactions, whereas dialogue could be fruitful,” said Qatar’s ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Qatar hosted talks between the Taliban and US which culminated in a 2020 agreement to withdraw US-led Nato forces.

A coup attempt has been thwarted in Sudan and the situation is under control, the country’s military said on Tuesday, September 21 in a statement read on state TV.

According to the Sudanese Military spokesman, Mohamed al-Faki Suleiman, interrogation of suspects involved in the attempted coup will begin immediately and the military would issue a statement shortly.

“An authorised source in the presidency of the council of ministers said that security and military authorities have thwarted a coup attempt at dawn today,” the Sudan News Agency said via Twitter.

“The situation is under control, and those involved in it [the coup attempt] have been arrested and investigations are underway,” added the statement.

Sudan’s democratic rule has been on a fragile state since the military’s ouster of the country’s longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir in April 2019, following four months of mass protests.

The country is now ruled by a joint civilian and military government that faces huge economic and security challenges.

According to Al Jazeera, information about the coup attempt was made available to the government on Monday evening, which helped thwart it quickly.

Sudanese authorities reported that the military remains in control, while Sudan’s state-run television called on the public “to counter” the attempt but did not provide further details.

“All is under control. The revolution is victorious,” Suleiman, a member of the ruling military-civilian council, wrote on Facebook. He also called on the Sudanese people to protect the transition.

Another military official reportedly said an unspecified number of troops from the armoured corps were behind the attempt and that they tried to take over several government institutions but were stopped in their tracks.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief the media, said many troops, including high-ranking officers, have been arrested.

A first edition copy of the classic novel “Frankenstein” sold for $1.17 million at a recent auction in New York.

Christie’s, which hosted the auction, estimated the book would go for $200,000 to $300,000. But by selling for nearly four to six times as much, the book set a record for the highest price paid for a published work by a woman, according to Fine Books Magazine.

Frankenstein, is a classic literary piece that tells of a scientist who brings a corpse back to life, creating a creature that goes rogue.

The book copy was one of 500 originally printed anonymously by author Mary Shelley in 1818. It comes in three volumes and features the original hardcover boards. It also includes a preface by her husband, poet Percy Shelley, along with a dedication to her father, William Godwin, a journalist and political philosopher.