Today, Donald Trump announced that he is considering using the Insurrection Act to send the U.S. military to Minneapolis if state officials do not quell anti-ICE protests there. Deploying federal troops on American soil against the objections of state and local officials is an extreme measure''and seems likelier to inflame than to extinguish unrest there, given that needlessly provocative actions by ICE officers helped create conditions on the ground. Yet the president seems eager to suppress the actions of people he calls 'professional agitators and insurrectionists.' For months, members of his administration have laid the rhetorical groundwork for a martial crackdown. Insurrections are rare in U.S. history, but according to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, we've had lots of them just since 2024. In his telling, the perpetrators of recent insurrections against the United States include Joe Biden; the Colorado Supreme Court; U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani; U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston; Democrats; protesters in Los Angeles; protesters in Paramount, California; protesters in Compton, California; the city of Los Angeles; U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong; various 'radical communist judges'; the Chicago Police Department; a crowd that the Chicago police didn't stop; an Oregon judge; and 'Democrat lawmakers.' (Miller has never called the MAGA movement's storming of the Capitol an insurrection.)...

On Wednesday, Google released patches for a handful of security bugs in its Chrome browser, noting that one of the bugs was being actively exploited by hackers before the company had time to patch it. But on Friday, Google updated the page to say that the bug was discovered by Apple's security engineering team and Google's Threat Analysis Group, whose security researchers primarily track government hackers and mercenary spyware makers, indicating that the hacking campaign may have been orchestrated by government-backed hackers. According to the security advisory for iPhones and iPads, Apple patched two bugs and the company said it was aware 'that this issue may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals' running devices prior to iOS 26. That language is Apple's typical way of saying that it knows some of its customers and users were targeted by hackers exploiting zero-days, meaning flaws that at the time of exploitation are unknown to the software makers. Often, these are cases where government hackers used hacking tools and spyware made by companies such as NSO Group or Paragon Solutions to target journalists, dissidents, and human rights activists....

Google launched Android Emergency Live Video on Wednesday, which allows people to stream video when contacting emergency responders. This feature could help give first responders extra context in circumstances like car accidents, fires, or medical crises. There's no setup required to use this feature. Instead, during an emergency call or text, a dispatcher can send a request to your device. Then you can opt into sharing your camera's live video, which is encrypted and can be stopped at your discretion. 'With a single tap, you can start securely streaming from your camera, allowing responders to quickly assess the situation and get you the right help in the moment,' Google wrote in a blog post. 'This real-time view can also help them guide you through life-saving steps, like CPR, until help arrives.' Plan ahead for the 2026 StrictlyVC events. Hear straight-from-the-source candid insights in on-stage fireside sessions and meet the builders and backers shaping the industry. Join the waitlist to get first access to the lowest-priced tickets and important updates....

This catastrophic fire ' which is thought to have spread from building to building via burning bamboo scaffolding and fanned by strong winds ' highlights how difficult it is to evacuate high-rise buildings in an emergency. Evacuations of high-rises don't happen every day, but occur often enough. And when they do, the consequences are almost always severe. The stakes are highest in the buildings that are full at predictable times: residential towers at night, office towers in the day. Stair descent in real evacuations is far slower than most people expect. Under controlled or drill conditions people move down at around 0.4'0.7 metres per second. But in an actual emergency, especially in high-rise fires, this can drop sharply. Fatigue is a major factor. Prolonged walking significantly reduces the speed of descent. Surveys conducted after incidents confirm that a large majority of high-rise evacuees stop at least once. During the 2010 fire of a high-rise in Shanghai, nearly half of older survivors reported slowing down significantly....