UK hospitals yet to start planning for no-deal Brexit

LONDON — The majority of U.K. hospitals have yet to make plans for a no-deal Brexit, according to data provided under Britain's Freedom of Information Act.

A survey of NHS trusts carried out by POLITICO suggests that almost no formal contingency planning for a no-deal scenario has begun at the local level. Of 38 trusts in England that responded to a Freedom of Information request to disclose documents relating to preparations and impact assessments on different Brexit scenarios, 35 said they hold no such documents.

Saudi Arabia Seeks Its First Death Penalty Against Female Human Rights Activist

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor is seeking the death penalty against five human rights activists from the kingdom’s Eastern Province currently on trial in a secretive terrorism court, groups including Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

Among the detainees is Israa al-Ghomgham, whom Saudi activists said was the first woman to possibly face the death penalty for rights-related work. Charges against her include incitement to protest and providing moral support to rioters.

'Our memories have vanished': the Palestinian theatre destroyed in a bomb strike

It was the deep panic of the last-minute rush known to everyone involved in theatre.

One of the playhouse’s top directors, a precocious 27-year-old who had been working in theatre since he was a teenager, was preparing his latest production – a dark comedy. Stage crew and actors had been working for months, all leading up to the Eid al-Adha performance, one of the biggest productions of the year timed for the Islamic holiday period.

More Russian Hacking Uncovered Ahead Of Midterms — This Time Targeting Conservatives

Microsoft announced Tuesday that it had uncovered — and thwarted — fresh Russian hacking attempts on U.S. political groups ahead of the November midterm elections.

The hacking attempts, which targeted two conservative think-tanks, have been described as attempts to “disrupt democracy” itself and to undermine any institution, regardless of political affiliation, that challenges the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Even More Evidence That Russia Is Still Meddling in U.S. Politics

WASHINGTON — Hackers affiliated with the Russian government have expanded their targets to include the U.S. Senate as well as two American think tanks critical of Russia. The discovery comes from a new report by Microsoft, which says it helped detect this new wave of hacking and is going public for the first time about its efforts to block future cyberattacks.

The two think tanks in question are the Hudson Institute, a hawkish organization that works on anti-corruption reforms in Russia, and the International Republican Institute, whose board of directors includes six GOP senators and many other right-leaning foreign-policy types who have spoken in favor of Russian sanctions and other punitive measures against the country.

Can the Manufacturer of Tasers Provide the Answer to Police Abuse?

Rick Smith, who made a fortune selling conducted-energy weapons—stun guns—likes to say that he is a “techno-optimist.” Human beings create problems, technology solves them, and a few bold thinkers get phenomenally rich in the process. Forty-eight years old, with a coplike, jacked physique, Smith is a co-founder and the C.E.O. of Taser International, which supplies police departments with weapons that are less lethal than firearms. “A hundred years ago in New York, they had a major problem,” he said. “Horse manure was spreading disease. You can imagine if you’d gone around New York and told people who love their horses, ‘We’re going to take your horses away.’ There’s the same dynamic with Americans and guns. What happened a hundred years ago was that we had a technology shift.” He paused, dwelling for a fraction of a second on the implication that cars had saved the world. “Now, that introduced some other problems,” he continued breezily. “And hopefully now we have some new technology to solve the carbon problem.” Solutions that create problems in need of solutions: that, he told me, is the definition of business.

Russian hackers targeting conservative US thinktanks, Microsoft says

The Russian group linked to the hacking of Hillary Clinton’s presidential election campaign has been launching fresh attacks in the US, including against two conservative thinktanks, in the run-up to the midterm elections, according to Microsoft.

The technology company, which uncovered the new attempts, said the hackers created fake websites that appeared to mimic the Hudson Institute and the International Republican Institute, two rightwing thinktanks broadly allied against Donald Trump. Three other fake domains were designed to look as if they belonged to the US Senate.

Labour's Chris Williamson Praises Vanessa Beeley, Blogger Who Called Jo Cox A 'Warmongering Blairite'

A Labour MP has said it was a “privilege” to meet and listen to a talk by a controversial pro-Assad blogger, who has previously described murdered MP Jo Cox as a “warmongering Al Qaeda advocate”.

Vanessa Beeley made the comment in a tweet almost a year after Cox’s death, and has also written that “Zionists rule France”.

Derby North MP Chris Williamson met Beeley at the Beautiful Days festival over the weekend, where she appeared on stage to discuss the Syrian conflict.

Human rights chief expresses fear over possible UN 'collapse'

The outgoing United Nations human rights chief has warned the world body's five permanent Security Council member states wield too much power and it could lead to its "collapse".

China, France, the UK, Russia and the United States are "running too much of the business" because they are able to veto resolutions put forward by other UN members, High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein told reporters on Monday in Geneva, Switzerland.

Robert Mueller: Roger Stone remains a convicted felon, and rightly so

Robert S. Mueller III served as special counsel for the Justice Department from 2017 to 2019.

The work of the special counsel’s office — its report, indictments, guilty pleas and convictions — should speak for itself. But I feel compelled to respond both to broad claims that our investigation was illegitimate and our motives were improper, and to specific claims that Roger Stone was a victim of our office. The Russia investigation was of paramount importance. Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so.