Germany knew in advance about Nord Stream attack

Murray Hunter


Germany knew in advance about Nord Stream attack

Berlin failed to warn the navy, federal police or counter-terrorism agencies about a potential sabotage act, Der Spiegel has said

Nov 21, 2024




Germany had received several warnings from other Western intelligence services, including the CIA, about a supposed Ukrainian attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines some three months before the incident, Der Spiegel reported on Wednesday. Berlin simply dismissed that information as “wrong” and failed to react in time, the media outlet said.

Several Western intelligence services had allegedly been informed by a Swedish agent that a sabotage operation was being prepared as early as June 2022, according to Der Spiegel. Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) received encrypted messages from its foreign colleagues, including the Dutch agency and the CIA, the same month, the paper said.

The warnings contained very specific details about the impending attack, the German magazine said, citing sources familiar with the matter. According to Der Spiegel, the BND was told that at least six Ukrainian commandos with false IDs were planning “to rent a vessel, dive down to the pipelines at the bottom of the Baltic Sea with special equipment and blow them up.”

The operation was greenlit by Ukraine’s then-top military commander, General Valery Zaluzhny, the warnings reportedly said, adding that the attack was scheduled for the time of the NATO BALTOPS maritime drills, which were to be held in the Baltic Sea on June 5-17, 2022.

According to Der Spiegel, the BND only passed the information to Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s office after the drills had ended. The German government considered the information “irrelevant” since nothing had happened during the maneuvers, the paper said. “At that time, a predominant view in the bureaucratic security circles was that the information was wrong,” Der Spiegel reported, citing officials familiar with the warnings.


“Despite the warnings, no preparations were made on the German side to prevent a possible attack at a later date. The federal police, the Navy and the federal and regional counterterrorism authorities were not informed,” the magazine said.

Berlin launched a criminal probe into the incident after the pipelines were damaged in late September 2022. The German authorities have yet to provide any official information on the probe. In August, German media reported that law enforcement officials had issued a first arrest warrant in the case, allegedly for a Ukrainian national identified as “Vladimir Z.” According to Der Spiegel, the man was one of the divers who took part in the operation.

Berlin’s silence on the matter drew some criticism from the country’s opposition. German left-wing politician and MP Sahra Wagenknecht, who leads her own party – the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), questioned what she called Berlin’s ongoing “deafening silence” a full two years after the September 2022 incident. Such actions on the government’s part raise even more questions, she said at that time, calling for an independent parliamentary inquiry into the matter.

Moscow has dismissed reports linking a small Ukrainian team to the sabotage as implausible. Last month, Danish media revealed that US Navy warships were operating near the Nord Stream pipelines shortly before the blasts.

Skepticism about the ‘small Ukrainian team’ narrative persists in Germany as well. A renowned German diving expert, Dr. Sven Thomas, questioned a small team’s ability to launch the large-scale attack earlier this month. Military-grade bottom mines with a yield equivalent to 1,260 kilograms of TNT were needed for explosions of such magnitude, he argued. Planting such devices, he said, would have necessitated a large vessel, not the yacht reportedly used.

The book that no one will read

The Star:

The book that no one will read

By JOHAN JAAFFAR

Wednesday, 20 Nov 202410:38 AM MYT

The late Tun Daim Zainuddin, an enigma as complex as a Shakespearean character, leaves behind an unpublished book, its contents now sealed in silence.


I would have hoped for a better ending, one that befits a man of his stature. He was, after all, one of the greatest Malaysians of his generation.

What I have in mind is certainly not those images of a frail old man on a wheelchair at the court defending himself from what many believed a prosecution with nefarious intent.


Nor the punishing rituals of going in and out of hospitals in the last years of his life. He succumbed to his sickness on the morning of Nov 13 at the age of 86 years, six months and 14 days.

The late Tun Daim Zainuddin was to many people an enigma, not unlike the most complex of a Shakespearean character. He was inscrutable, hard to fathom. He was more than just influential; in politics he was the whisperer to prime ministers and to others a puppeteer whose intricate moves changed the political narratives.

Little wonder he was perceived as the most powerful man next only to prime ministers. Daim was loathed, adored and feared, perhaps in the same breath.

He had been in the political, social and corporate scene since the 1970s.

He was not an Umno outsider when he was appointed Minister of Finance by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in July 1984. He came in amid some of the worst financial scandals the country had ever seen at the time. There were financial crises involving BMF, Pan-El and deposit-taking co-operatives, to name a few. Many banks were in bad shape, resulting in the dipping confidence of Malaysia’s financial regimes. He was already a wealthy man when he joined the cabinet.

This newspaper featured a lead story on July 15, 1984 with the headline “Tycoon Daim Takes Finance.”

Daim soon faced the full impact of the financial global meltdown of the mid-80s. At that time, it was not uncommon for foreign publications to cast dire predictions on the state of Malaysian economy. One even declared that Malaysia “is at the verge of economic collapse.”

Daim’s fiscal policy at that time was severely criticised. A weekly news magazine had this to say: “Malaysia’s economy is in pell-mell retreat and its government fiscal policy is in complete disarray.”

Daim soldiered on, making tough and unpopular decisions.

But there was another dark cloud hanging over the political sky – the Umno crisis of 1987. Mahathir was challenged by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Tun Musa Hitam.

Umno was on the verge of a major split, at that time it was the biggest crisis ever in the history of the party. The formidable three – (Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim, Daim and the late Tan Sri Sanusi Junid – famously abbreviated AIDS – were the pillars of Mahathir’s defence in facing his well-oiled and well- organised opponents. Mahathir narrowly won the 1987 challenge.

From then on, Daim became a force to be reckoned with. He was everywhere and in everything, or so said his detractors. But he left the ministry in 1991, giving way to Anwar Ibrahim, the designated heir to the throne of Umno. But Daim was still the Treasurer of Umno, a post that by tradition should be held by the Minister of Finance.

I was toying with the idea of “Man of the Year” for Dewan Masyarakat the moment I was appointed the head of the magazine division of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) in October 1988.

Dewan Masyarakat was one of the better known magazines published by DBP. The magazine became the talk-of-town when it ran a four-series investigative reports on Maria Hertogh, better known as Natrah.

The magazine that had an average monthly circulation of 25,000 copies suddenly became a best-seller, hitting 100,000 copies by the time we published the second part of the tragic story of the Dutch girl raised by a Malay woman in Terengganu whose marriage to Mansor Adabi was declared null and void by the court in Singapore.

Dewan Masyarakat’s circulation even surpassed the biggest selling entertainment magazine at the time. We had made our presence felt. The editorial team decided on the then Datuk Paduka Daim Zainuddin to be the magazine’s first Man of the Year.

We contacted his office and he agreed to be interviewed. I was warned by friends about his no-nonsense approach, his little tolerance towards irrelevant matters and that he was fierce. I was prepared for the worst.

The interview was slotted for an hour, it went on for almost two. He too had done his homework, enquiring about what happened to Natrah and how I was smuggled into Afghanistan in the spring of 1989. Before we published the interview, I requested that he wrote a line or two about our choice of Man of the Year. He asked, how many words? About a hundred, we told him. He ended up penning 281 words as a response to our selection.

I showed him the cover of the magazine, which said, “Daim: Dibenci, Dihormati, Dikagumi”. (Daim: Hated, Respected, Adored). He gave his signature smile when he said, “You start with the word hate (benci).”

Our path crossed many times after that. I was appointed Chief Editor of the Utusan Melayu group in November 1992. I left the group on July 14, 1998, at the peak of the Mahathir-Anwar fallout.

Before the days of social media, the two most powerful newspapers in Bahasa Malaysia (Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian) and the influential private TV station TV3 had to be cleansed of “Anwar’s friends.”

I knew what was coming. Daim had told me a month before my firing that my position had become untenable. “You will have to leave,” he said.

After I left, I met him and his advice was clear, “Stay away, leave the country.”

I was one of Anwar’s key men the police would want to talk to. I knew President B.J. Habibie well and many of the members of his Indonesian Association of Muslim Intellectuals or Ikatan Cendekiawan Muslim Indonesia (ICMI). I represented Anwar in many of their functions.

Many of the members were writing for my newspaper and the newspaper associated with them, Republika was a partner to Utusan Malaysia. At the peak of the Reformasi movement, a lot of ideas about change were in the air.

When things had somewhat calmed down, Daim called to ask me if I was interested to join any organisation. I said no. I was a reasonably successful banana farmer at the time. Besides, I told him, I wasn’t “kosher” yet, the stigma against me lingered on. He understood.

But I met him with Datuk Kadir Jasin occasionally in his office or at his favourite restaurant at Jalan Chantek in Petaling Jaya. He would order roti canai garing (crisp roti canai), half of which he passed to whoever was next to him, and asked for a glass of plain water. We always found it amusing for someone whom they say was as wealthy as he was.

There were times when he took us out of town. We’d bet among ourselves that he would take us to a warung (stall), which he did. And he’d take the leftovers back to his private plane! Talk about being thrifty! He hated being wasteful.

Some time in May 2014, I was told to come to his office. He shoved me a manuscript. The title was Crisis, Crisis, Crisis. “I couldn’t find the right title for now,” he said.

“I want you to go through the text. Make corrections on dates and facts.”

“What is it about?” I asked.

“The office will send the copy to you,” he said. “This is my only copy.”

I received the manuscript with a letter dated May 10, 2014. The short letter had a line, “Most likely I don’t think I will publish but I wrote this book for the record.”

What a manuscript it was. Daim revealed his complex, unique and nuanced relationship with Mahathir and Anwar in his own words. He did have problems with Mahathir, but not for the reasons that many people thought. He acknowledged the talk about the Daim-Mahathir fallout in 2000. He even addressed the rumours about him plotting against Mahathir.

The truth is it was not about his attempt to save his cronies as alleged by some that provoked Mahathir’s angst. It was the letter he wrote in the aftermath of Lunas by-election that happened on November 29, 2000. In that letter, he wrote about what he called “the Lunas Debacle.” He reminded the Prime Minister that only he (Mahathir) could reinvent Umno.

And in the same letter, he politely reminded Mahathir of the need for a succession plan. Mahathir was livid.

But that was Daim; never mincing his words, saying his piece for he believed the truth despite hurting is the saviour of circumstances. He was known to speak his mind when it mattered. And people listened.

Daim had an equally unique relationship with Anwar. Both needed each other. They supported each other during the best and worst of times. But 1998 changed all that. Daim believed that Mahathir and Anwar thrived on each other. They have contrasting styles but that did not matter over the years despite the fervent conspiracy theories and exceptionally active rumour mills.

The Asian Economic crisis, according to Daim, provided an outlet for the differences to build up and boil over. Even then, according to him, the contrast was pretty harmless without political aims and trigger-points.

Daim wrote substantially about Anwar in the manuscript, mostly with care and respect, as the friends they once were. He was a colleague and a friend, he kept repeating. He reserved his criticism on Anwar on professional grounds, never personal.

Daim was frank to me and some of his close friends about those troubling years when he was in the government, and after. And of course the aftermath of Anwar’s sacking in 1998. After he left the ministry the second time, he really wanted to stay clear of politics.

But then 2018 came and he was leading Malaysia’s Council of Eminent Persons to sort out the mess of the previous government.

He admitted to friends that he found no solace in that. It was a job that needed to be done. And he knew it was a thankless job. But even so, he confided that getting things done, even without a word of appreciation, is in itself fulfilling.

People may have their opinions about Daim, but let’s not forget his contribution in steering the nation’s economy during the most tumultuous of times, not once but at least twice. And for planning the ecosystem for Mahathir to realise his dreams of a more prosperous and equitable Malaysia. He will always be remembered for that. He must have had his failures and he admitted that.

For a few others and I, it was a privilege to see the other side of him, real and unplugged, and at times with his guard down. We will always remember his signature laughter, his cynical smile and his favourite roti canai garing. He certainly had a lot of stories to tell, some he’d carried to the afterlife, others recorded in a manuscript that he didn’t want to publish.

Al Fatihah.



The writer is a National Journalism Laureate. He was chairman of a media company. The views expressed here are entirely his own.

Israel to annex West Bank – Seymour Hersh

Murray Hunter


Israel to annex West Bank – Seymour Hersh

The move will be aimed at preventing a two-state solution, according to the US investigative journalist
Nov 21, 2024



Palestinians travel with carts pulled by horses and donkeys as Israel continues to the entry of fuel amid the continuation of the Israeli army's attack on Deir Al Balah, Gaza on November 20, 2024. © Ashraf Amra/Getty Image

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government intends to announce the formal annexation of the West Bank in the coming weeks, a source has told the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh.

According to Hersh, Israel has been “fortified by bombs and funding” from Washington and is ramping up the expulsion of Palestinians from northern Gaza to the south of the enclave. Meanwhile, the religious parties that “dominate” Netanyahu’s cabinet are demanding full control over both occupied Palestinian territories.

“I was told this week by a well-informed Washington official that the Israeli leadership will formally annex the West Bank in the very near future – perhaps in two weeks – in the hope that the decisive step will end, once and for all, any talk of a two-state solution and will convince some in the skeptical Arab world to reconsider financing the planned reconstruction of Gaza,” Hersh wrote in an article on his Substack on Wednesday.

If true, the move would coincide with the last few weeks of US President Joe Biden’s administration and create a new “reality on the ground” by the time President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January. During his first term in the White House, Trump recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights and moved the US embassy to Jerusalem.

Israel declared war on Gaza-based Hamas last October, following a series of deadly raids by the Palestinian militants into Israeli territory. Around 1,100 Israelis died in the October 7 assault, while an estimated 250 were taken captive.

Almost 44,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the Israeli military operation, while another 104,000 more have been injured, according to local authorities.

The Israeli military and police have also cracked down on Palestinians in the West Bank, which is run by Fatah, a Palestinian faction at odds with Hamas.

The West Bank and Gaza were annexed by Jordan and Egypt, respectively, after the 1949 conflict that ended with the newly formed State of Israel in control of most of the Mandate for Palestine territory. Israel captured both in the 1967 war. International law considers the West Bank and Gaza to be occupied territories, and multiple UN resolutions have called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in those territories.



Hersh is an internationally renowned investigative reporter who earned the Pulitzer Prize in 1970 for exposing the My Lai massacre and its cover-up by the US military during the Vietnam War. He has also reported on the abuses of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib and the CIA’s domestic spying operations. More recently, Hersh has blamed the US for the September 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany, an allegation that Washington has denied.

United States: Fighting to the last Ukrainian

Murray Hunter


Guest Editorial: United States: Fighting to the last Ukrainian

By Lim Teck Ghee

Nov 20, 2024





When Joe Biden leaves office, he will leave as the president with a record that places him amongst the most militaristic of American leaders with responsibility for inflicting suffering and bringing death to possibly the largest number of innocent civilian casualties in this modern era. This is as a result of the wars taking place during his watch in Ukraine, Gaza and elsewhere. This record will become worse if the bleak outcome of his latest foreign policy decision becomes reality.

In what independent observers view as a further attempt by Biden to continue and escalate the war in Ukraine, the lame duck president has authorised Ukraine to use American long-range missiles to strike deeper inside Russia.

In the US, the following response by Congress representative Marjorie Greene has received 2 million views on X and 47,000 likes

On his way out of office, Joe Biden is dangerously trying to start WW III by authorizing Ukraine the use of U.S. long range missiles into Russia.

The American people gave a mandate on Nov 5th against these exact America last decisions and do NOT want to fund or fight foreign wars. We want to fix our own problems

Marjorie Taylor Green, Congress representative for Georgia, X post, 14 Nov 2024

This decision, allowing Kyiv to use the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMs) with their superior range of up to four times more than the current missiles supplied to Ukraine for attacks inside Russia, has been justified with the most flimsy of excuses.

Quoting American officials reported to be ‘knowledgeable’ about the matter but obviously designated by the White House to provide justification propaganda, the major policy change is being pitched by western media to the world as a response to North Korean troops reported to be positioned along Ukraine’s northern border.

The explanation rings hollow.

Since the war began, Russia has not called upon or relied on any non-Russian troops to fight its war. At this late stage when victory appears to be in sight, Putin will want for it to enter into the history books as an exclusive and singlehanded Russian victory against the combined forces of the US, Britain, Canada, Australia, the European Union, Japan and other allies of the West. It will be foolish and extremely unlikely for Putin to welcome any participation from Russia’s allies in the current battlefield and military endgame in Ukraine.

As to the presence of North Koreans in Ukraine, it is possible that there is a small number of them at the frontline. However, South Korea, which has the best intelligence on North Korea, has not been able to confirm that North Korean troops are now engaged in combat as reported by some US and Ukraine officials.

Explaining Biden's Last War Hurrah

What explains Biden’s last hurrah in US foreign policy is not difficult to understand. Firstly, he is giving way to the late ditch effort by the military-industrial (MIC) and deep state complexes that are key players of US domestic and foreign policy to obstruct the incoming president, Donald Trump, in his plan to end the war. Such a move which Trump has promised to take place within 24 hours after his assumption of office, would obviously adversely impact the windfall profits that the war in Ukraine has generated for the MIC complex.

Biden had earlier resisted pressure from Zelensky and Western supporters to allow Ukraine to strike military targets deeper inside Russia for fear that this escalation could draw the US and NATO into direct conflict with nuclear-armed Russia.

His change of mind at this late hour can also be interpreted in other ways besides his finally giving in to the military and industrial forces working behind the political scene in Washington and Kyiv.

Foremost appears to be his personal animosity towards Trump who he condemned in a recent election campaign rally as a threat to democracy and someone that needed to “be locked up”. Related to that animosity may also be a quest for retaliation against his nemesis fuelled by Kamala Harris’s election loss which many Democrat leaders attribute to Biden’s late withdrawal from the presidential race.

Failure by Trump as the new president to stop the war as promised would put Biden’s foreign policy legacy of support for Ukraine in a better light and make Trump the loser in the American history books which Biden is now focused on influencing and rewriting.

Earlier in his youth, Biden had shown promise of being anti-war in his sentiment. Like earlier presidents - George W. Bush and Bill Clinton - he was successful in avoiding the draft. According to a report by the US Army Times newspaper which serves active, reserve, national guard and retired US army personne, and analysed the draft dodging strategies of various presidents:

Biden not only received deferments for his undergraduate days at the University of Delaware, but for three years of law school at Syracuse University. When his education deferments expired in 1968, Biden requested a deferment based on the fact he had asthma as a teenager. He did this in spite of the fact that, according to his own book, he was a star athlete in high school and in college played intramural sports and was a lifeguard in the summer.

https://www.armytimes.com/opinion/commentary/2021/01/21/dodging-and-deferring-trump-wasnt-the-only-potus-to-avoid-the-draft/

The report also noted that as soon as he received his asthma deferment, Biden ran for local office and within two years after he would have been discharged from the Army, assuming he was not wounded or killed, he was elected to the Senate.

As an outgoing president, Biden clearly has embellished his war record with this latest variant of US foreign policy - that is, of fighting to the last Ukrainian. This recalibration of US foreign policy is also being applied to hotspots such as Gaza and Lebanon in the Middle East and Korea and Taiwan in Asia.

Fighting to the last Palestinian, Korean or Taiwanese can be expected as the US continues with its efforts to maintain geo-political dominance.

Lim Teck Ghee



Lim Teck Ghee, ANU PhD graduate, is a Malaysian economic historian and policy analyst. He has a regular column, Another Take, in The Sun, a Malaysian daily and Oriental Daily; and is the author of Challenging the Status Quo in Malaysia, and Dark Forces Changing Malaysia (with Murray Hunter).

Russia-Ukraine war: US embassy in Kyiv closes over threat of ‘significant attack’ as Kremlin rules out ‘freeze’ in conflict

Guardian:

Russia-Ukraine war: US embassy in Kyiv closes over threat of ‘significant attack’ as Kremlin rules out ‘freeze’ in conflict

US embassy has received ‘specific information’ of potentially significant air attack; Russia spokesperson attacks Biden administration





US embassy in Kyiv shuts over anticipated air attack

The US embassy in Kyiv has received “specific information” of a potential significant air attack on Wednesday and will be closed, the US Department of State Consular Affairs said in a post on X.

It recommended US citizens to be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced.

Italy, Spain and Greece followed the US in closing their Kyiv embassies over attack fears. The US embassy said it had received “specific information” of a potential significant air attack and would be closed.

The UK embassy in Kyiv remained open, while Germany’s embassy remained open in a limited capacity.

US defence secretary confirms Ukraine given permission to use land mines

The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has confirmed that the Biden administration will allow Ukraine to use American-supplied antipersonnel land mines to help fight off Russian forces.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday during a trip to Laos, Associated Press reported that the shift in policy follows changing tactics by the Russians.

Austin said Russian ground troops are leading the movement on the battlefield, rather than forces more protected in armoured carriers, so Ukraine has “a need for things that can help slow down that effort on the part of the Russians.”

“The land mines that we would look to provide them would be land mines that are not persistent, you know, we can control when they would self-activate, self-detonate and that makes it, you know, far more, safer eventually than the things that they are creating on their own,” Austin said.

The US’s move to allow Ukraine to use American supplied anti-personnel land mines comes despite the weapons being banned by scores of countries, including the UK.

Downing Street would not be drawn on the US and Ukrainian positions on the use of the weapons but added in “terms of the UK’s position and the support that it provides, it’s in line with the Ottawa Convention” which bans land mines.

Military Watch:

Yemeni Ansurullah Strikes Turkish Bulk Carrier Supplying Cargo to Israel

Middle East , Naval

Military Watch Magazine Editorial Staff

November-19th-2024

---

Noor Cruise Missile Launch

The Yemeni Ansurullah Coalition has launched a successful strike on the Turkish cargo ship Anadolu S, a large 183 meter long vessel operating in the Red Sea, to prevent it from supplying cargo to Israel. The attack is consistent with the Yemeni coalition’s policy of targeting shipping in order to impose a partial naval blockade of Israel, with such operations having been initiated in October 2023 in response to Israel’s alleged genocide of the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip. Israel launched of a large scale air campaign and ground invasion of Gaza that month, in response to attacks on Israeli targets by Gaza-based militias on October 7.

The Ansurullah Coalition and the Lebanese militia group Hezbollah have both closely coordinated their military actions against Israel to place pressure on Israel. Turkey, as the Middle East’s only NATO member, has previously attacked Hezbollah positions and shared intelligence on these engagements with Israel, and has continued to provide tremendous support to jihadist militias in Syria which target Hezbollah positions, leading analysts to widely consider it a de-facto ally of Israel in the ongoing conflict. 

In parallel to its strikes on NATO members’ shipping, the Ansurullah Coalition has also launched multiple successful strikes on Israel, with a notable example being its attack on September 15 which was reported to have struck a power station in the country. On July 19, coalition forces carried out a successful drone strike in central Tel Aviv, targeting an area near the American consulate and causing several casualties. In response, Israel conducted an air strike on an oil depot in the city of Al Hudaydah, located in western Yemen. In addition to drone and ballistic missile attacks, the Ansarullah Coalition has previously launched cruise missile strikes against Israeli targets.

Shariah court sentences carpenter to six strokes in Terengganu’s first public caning for repeated khalwat

Shariah court sentences carpenter to six strokes in Terengganu’s first public caning for repeated khalwat



A carpenter will be the first person in Terengganu to receive six lashes in public after being convicted of repeated khalwat (close proximity) offences. — Reuters pic

Wednesday, 20 Nov 2024 4:36 PM MYT


KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 — A carpenter will be the first person in Terengganu to receive six lashes in public after being convicted of repeated khalwat (close proximity) offences.

Senior Shariah High Court Judge Kamalruazmi Ismail sentenced 42-year-old Mohd Affendi Awang to six lashes after he pleaded guilty under Section 31(a) of the Shariah Criminal Offences (Takzir) (Terengganu) (Amendment) Enactment 2022, Berita Harian reported.


The sentence will be carried out at Masjid Al-Muktafi Billah Shah in Kuala Terengganu on December 6, after Friday prayers and the expiration of the appeal period.

“Punishment in shariah and religion aims to teach, educate, and deter so that such acts do not recur, especially for the offender and as a general warning to the public,” Kamalruazmi said in delivering his judgment.


He added, “A believer does not fall into the same hole twice. You (Mohd Affendi) have been whipped and jailed before, yet you committed the same offence. The first punishment should have been enough to bring about repentance.”


The court also fined him RM4,000, with a six-month jail term if he fails to pay the fine.

This is Mohd Affendi’s third khalwat offence.

On July 11, 2023, the Kemaman Shariah Lower Court fined him RM2,700 or three months in jail for a khalwat conviction.

He reoffended on January 25, leading to the Shariah High Court sentencing him to four lashes and a RM3,000 fine on February 19, or six months’ imprisonment if the fine was not paid.

The latest case involves a 52-year-old woman with whom he was caught in a house in Kemaman at 1.40am on June 16.

Under the Shariah Criminal Offences (Takzir) (Terengganu) (Amendment) Enactment 2022, second and subsequent khalwat offences are punishable by up to six lashes, a RM5,000 fine, or three years’ imprisonment, effective January 1 this year.

Deputy Chief Syarie Prosecutor Nik Mohd Shahril Irwan Mat Yusof prosecuted, while Mohd Affendi was unrepresented.

Faulty wiring caused teen’s electrocution on express bus, operator’s fleet suspended after similar issue found, says Anthony Loke

Faulty wiring caused teen’s electrocution on express bus, operator’s fleet suspended after similar issue found, says Anthony Loke



Transport Minister Anthony Loke said that the teenage boy who tragically died after being electrocuted while charging his phone on an express bus was the victim of faulty electrical wiring. — Bernama pic

Wednesday, 20 Nov 2024 2:19 PM MYT


KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 — The teenage boy who tragically died after being electrocuted while charging his phone on an express bus was the victim of faulty electrical wiring, Transport Minister Anthony Loke revealed today.

He said that the wiring on the bus was improperly connected, causing a fatal electrical surge when the teenager plugged in his phone.


“The wiring connection from the bus’ distribution board (DB) to that particular socket was done in reverse. We found this during the investigation into the incident, and this is part of the early findings from the special task force,” Loke said.

“The high voltage flowed into the victim’s body due to this, and that is why we’ve called for all buses to stop the use of any three-pin sockets on board,” he added.


During inspections of other buses from the company, investigators found similar wiring issues on another bus, prompting the suspension of the operator’s entire fleet.


Following this incident, Loke said the ministry and relevant authorities are working to establish proper guidelines for electrical and wiring systems on buses.

Currently, buses are required to meet mechanical and structural standards, but there are no regulations for onboard wiring.

“Until these measures are implemented, we urge all bus operators to stop using the sockets. If you want to use them, the onboard system must be approved by someone accredited or by the Energy Commission,” he said.

“We are engaging with all stakeholders and industry players and will need around six months to prepare the guidelines,” he added.

The tragedy occurred two weeks ago when the teenager was reportedly electrocuted while attempting to charge his phone using a socket on an express bus at Penang Sentral, Penang.

Preliminary investigations revealed burn marks on his left fingers, believed to be caused by the electrocution. His charging cable was found to have melted, and his phone was overheating.

According to the bus driver, the victim boarded the bus bound for Kuala Lumpur Sentral at 6pm.

Approximately 10 minutes later, a passenger alerted the driver that the boy had screamed and was foaming at the mouth.

The driver immediately called for an ambulance, but the medical team that arrived pronounced the boy dead at the scene. His body was sent to Seberang Jaya Hospital for an autopsy, which confirmed electrocution as the cause of death.

UK lawmaker says Israeli drones targeting children in Gaza like a ‘warped video game’

al Jazeera:

Israel attacks Gaza’s Kamal Adwan, kills three soldiers in Lebanon

By Lyndal Rowlands and Zaheena Rasheed

Published On 20 Nov 202420 Nov 2024

• The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza says the facility is experiencing an “extreme catastrophe” with Israeli forces firing on the building as children and elderly patients suffering from malnutrition seek treatment there.
• Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking from Gaza, says Hamas will no longer govern the enclave and announces $5m rewards for the return of Israeli captives held in the territory.
• Israeli forces kill three Lebanese soldiers in southern Lebanon, while the UN’s peacekeeping mission in the country (UNIFIL) says four Ghanaian peacekeepers were wounded by a rocket, most likely fired by “non-state actors”.
• Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed at least 43,972 Palestinians and wounded 104,008 since October 7, 2023. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day, and more than 200 were taken captive.
• In Lebanon, at least 3,544 people have been killed and 15,036 wounded in Israeli attacks since the war on Gaza began.

• UK lawmaker says Israeli drones targeting children in Gaza like a ‘warped video game’

  British MP Patricia Ferguson has told the UK parliament that hearing the testimony of British surgeon Nizam Mamode on his experiences volunteering in a hospital in Gaza “was something that I do not think any of us who were present will ever forget”.

  “For me, it was the cold calculation of using machines to kill children, as though it was some kind of warped video game, that was the most disturbing aspect of Professor Mamode’s presentation,” Ferguson said.

  He “demonstrated the symmetrical puncture wounds on a dead child’s body – wounds in the region of the body’s major arteries that were too precise to have been the work of a human sniper. They were the work of drones targeted at innocent civilians, and in this case, a child”.

  Ferguson, a member of the UK’s governing Labour Party, went on to say she hoped her country would support an upcoming UN Security Council vote for a ceasefire.
• Israeli settlers torch Palestinian vehicles in West Bank: Report

  The Palestinian Information Center is reporting that Israeli settlers set fire to the cars in the village of al-Mazraa al-Gharbiya in the occupied West Bank. It also published footage of the burning vehicles on Twitter.

  There has been a rise in Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since Israel’s war on Gaza.

  And as we’ve been reporting, the latest attack came as Israeli soldiers raided the cities of Jenin, Hebron, Ramallah and several refugee camps across the occupied territory.