BRUNEI - New Islamic criminal laws that took effect in Brunei on Wednesday, punishing gay sex and adultery by stoning offenders to death, have triggered an outcry from countries, rights groups and celebrities far beyond the tiny Southeast Asian nation’s shores. But under the new laws — which also apply to children and foreigners, even if they are not Muslim — those found guilty of gay sex can be stoned to death or whipped. Adulterers risk death by stoning too, while thieves face amputation of a right hand on their first offense and a left foot on their second. Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, called on the sultan to “immediately suspend amputations, stoning, and all other rights-abusing provisions and punishments.” “Brunei’s new penal code is barbaric to the core, imposing archaic punishments for acts that shouldn’t even be crimes,” Robertson said in a statement Wednesday.

UK - The clocks aren't broken, the kids just can't read them, and that's just not right, not even twice a day. Apparently, younger generations in Britain have been spending so much time on their digital devices that they can no longer tell time on analog clocks, reports Inspire To Change. So, rather than educate kids to properly read an analog clock, schools have elected to remove the clocks entirely from exam halls. "In the UK, many educators are phasing out analog clocks in favor of digital ones," reports the outlet. "Students taking the GCSE and A-level exams were complaining that they couldn’t read the time. In order to make everything 'as easy and straightforward as possible,' they are making the switch to digital time reading."

UK - In another blow to Theresa May’s authority, the House of Commons has passed a motion instructing the Government to seek an extension to Article 50, in order to avoid a no deal Brexit. The motion passed by just one vote on its third reading, by 313 MPs to 312, in the face of Government opposition. 

UK - Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith has branded Theresa May’s decision to hold talks with Jeremy Corbyn “appalling”. Speaking to the BBC in the Palace of Westminster’s Central Lobby, the former Tory leader raged: “This is no longer Conservative government policy. This is policy dictated by what I think is a Marxist and rather nasty Labour party. And I simply say that makes all of our lives intolerable out on the ground. I’m absolutely appalled.”

UK - Leading Brexiteers Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson have reacted furiously following the Prime Minister’s announcement that the UK will seek to further extend Article 50. Mrs May further angered the Tory backbenchers by stating her intentions to work with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to “try to agree a plan". Mr Rees-Mogg slammed Mrs May’s strategy to work with ”a known Marxist” and insisted the public “did not vote for a Corbyn-May coalition Government”. The European Research Group chairman also warned the Prime Minister that history did not show success for political leaders who tried to get policy through the Commons "on the back of Opposition votes". The leading Brexiteer added this approach is “deeply unsatisfactory” and is “not in the interests of the country”.

UK - Furious Tory MPs are demanding a new secret ballot on Theresa May's leadership today despite party rules protecting her from an official challenge until December. The Prime Minister has enraged her party by abandoning hopes of persuading hardline Brexiteers and the DUP to back her deal and instead offering talks with Jeremy Corbyn on pivoting to a soft Brexit.

UK - More than nine in ten (92 per cent) Leave voters feel ‘betrayed’ by the way the government has handled Brexit, while two-thirds of all voters feel the same. The ComRes poll, commissioned by the ‘Leave Means Leave’ group and published in The Sun on Monday, also found that 60 per cent of all voters, both leave and remain, said that Brexit had damaged their trust in politics. The poll also found that 57 per cent of Britons believe that the UK should be leaving the EU on World Trade Organization (WTO) terms instead of delaying Brexit.

VENEZUELA - At first, the US's aggressive position on Venezuela seemed uncomplicated. Troops were quickly on the mind of the top hawk in DC — White House National Security Adviser John Bolton, the man who, in the first years of the 2000s, played a key role in leading the US into an adventure — the second Iraq war — that proved to be disastrous, and placed American imperial power in a terminal crisis.

USA - Teen magazine, Teen Vogue, is at it again, diving headlong into contentious politics and calling it “science” — this time with a video titled, “5 Common Misconceptions About Sex and Gender” that proposes that “binary is bulls**t.” The video features a group of speakers telling teenagers that traditional gender roles are not “scientific.” The speakers scoff at the idea that a person with a penis has to be a boy and a person with a vagina is by nature a girl. Some of the sage comments include that of Belgian model Hanne Gaby Odiele, who is seen saying, “I’m here to tell you that binary is bulls**t.” Next up, author Katrina Karkazis sneers at the idea that “sex typically refers to your biological traits.” Another segment warns the young target audience that “This idea that the body is either male or female is totally wrong.”

USA - California is in an earthquake drought. It has been almost five years since the state experienced its last earthquake of magnitude 6 or stronger — in Napa. Southern California felt its last big quake on Easter Sunday 2010, and that shaker was actually centered across the border, causing the most damage in Mexicali.

ISRAEL - Chairman of far-right party, which is enjoying growing popularity, is a longtime advocate of Jews’ rights on Temple Mount and has called for increased Israeli control over site. The head of the far-right quasi-libertarian Zehut party said Wednesday that he wants to rebuild the Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem immediately.

UK - The leader of the English Democrats has launched a High Court battle claiming that the UK has already left the EU. Robin Tilbrook argues that Britain left the union on March 29 as originally planned, saying the PM's extension was not legally valid. The legal bid will be seen as a Brexiteer equivalent to Gina Miller's battle with the Government over triggering Article 50 in 2016. In the judicial review application, the English Democrats argue that Mrs May did not have the power to extend the exit date past March 29. 'Her purported request for an extension of the date of departure and the Government's purported agreement to such an extension is and was unlawful and is and was null and void,' the legal argument reads. ‘The Government's proceeding on the basis that we're still in. We're saying that's not the case. If there's a declaration from the High Court that we're out, the Government's got a new reality to deal with.' 

EUROPE - EU Council chief Donald Tusk this evening urged European leaders to be patient with Theresa May after the Prime Minister requested yet another extension to Brexit – but Brussels is set to reject her plan, Express.co.uk understands.

UK - The European Union will “eventually fail” and it is now time for Britain to leave the Brussels bloc on World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, the founder and CEO of British company Ebac has said. John Elliott, the founder of the manufacturer of washing machines and dehumidifiers in the UK, has called for Britain to leave the European Union with no deal and “play hard” in order to get a pragmatic response from the Brussels bloc. Speaking to BBC 5 Live’s Emma Barnett, Mr Elliott said: “I think the problem with the EU is it is not a very good organisation – they add nothing but cost and bureaucracy. So, that’s why, I think, the European Union will eventually fail.”

USA - If you were to put $5,000 in a regular Bank of America savings account (paying 0.01%) today, in a year you would have collected only 50 cents in interest. That’s true for most of us, but banks themselves are earning 2.4% on their deposits at the Federal Reserve.