Axios

Senior British diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall has left the U.K. diplomatic service over Brexit, saying in a letter that she could no longer "peddle half-truths" for the leaders she does not "trust," CNN reports.

Why it matters: Her resignation comes a week before the UK general election, "at a moment of deep political sensitivity for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is seeking re-election on the promise that he can 'get Brexit done,'" per CNN. In her resignation letter, she wrote that she was unnerved to see the British civil service deliver half honest information on Brexit, and how that has undermined the credibility of British diplomats around the world.

Go deeper: Everything you need to know about Brexit

Twenty years ago, on New Year's Eve 1999, a political newcomer and former KGB operative named Vladimir Putin suddenly assumed the Russian presidency.

Part two of our "20 Years of Putin" special report examines what he has built, and what will happen to it when he's gone. It's based on conversations with exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, three former U.S. ambassadors to Moscow, leading experts and former chiefs of the Pentagon and CIA. Read part one.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) delivered a speech on the floor of the Senate Thursday calling for scrutiny into the World Bank's $50 million loan approved for China's Xinjiang region, where nearly a million Uighur Muslims have been detained in internment camps.

Why it matters: The speech comes days after the House voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill pushing for sanctions on China over its mass detention of the ethnic minority, as Congress continues to pressure U.S.-based organizations that may be complicit.

Lisbon — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a briefing to reporters in Lisbon that in a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday, they discussed the issue of Israeli annexation of the Jordan Valley in the West Bank and they agreed to push the issue of a U.S.-Israeli defense treaty.

Why it matters: Both issues were prominent in Netanyahu's campaign last September and are expected to be focal points in his upcoming campaign that could launch in less than a week.

U.S. Iran envoy Brian Hook said at a press conference Thursday that the Iranian government "could have murdered over 1,000 Iranian citizens" during a crackdown on protests in recent weeks, calling it "the worst political crisis the regime has faced in its 40 years."

Why it matters: While the Iranian government appears to have carried out its deadliest crackdown since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Hook's number is far higher than most other credible estimates. Amnesty International has confirmed 208 deaths.

Chinese tech companies have ramped up efforts to set technical standards for facial recognition, raising concerns among business competitors, political observers and humanitarian advocates.

Why it matters: China has long made a systematic effort to set international standards on data and hardware compatibility across brands so that the standards reflect how Chinese products already work — giving its domestic industries a leg up in engineering races.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said this week that Ukraine meets the standard for election meddling that people first held Russia to. But that's not what the numbers show.

Why it matters: While Burr didn't draw a moral equivalence between Russia — which committed several crimes on U.S. soil during the 2016 election — and what we know about Ukraine, he muddled the debate in that direction.

The Department of Justice announced Thursday that Russian nationals Maksim Yakubets and Igor Turashev have been charged with causing tens of millions of dollars in damages stemming from their use of the "Bugat" malware. Neither has been arrested.

Why it matters: Bugat (also frequently called dridex) was one of the most successful theft operations of its type, stealing usernames and passwords from infected computers as they attempted to log on to bank websites. The State Department and FBI are offering $5 million for information that would lead to their arrest, the largest reward offer for a cyber criminal to date.