The role of Israel’s hijacking of Iran’s street cameras in the killing of the country’s supreme leader underscores how surveillance systems are increasingly being targeted by adversaries in wartime.
Hundreds of millions of cameras have been installed above shops, in homes and on street corners across the world, many connected to the internet and poorly secured. Recent advances in artificial intelligence have enabled militaries and intelligence agencies to sift through vast amounts of surveillance footage and identify targets.
On Feb. 28, Israel vividly demonstrated the potential of such systems to be hacked and used against adversaries when Israel tracked down Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with the help of Tehran’s own street cameras – despite repeated warnings that Iran’s surveillance systems had been compromised, according to interviews and an Associated Press review of leaked data, public statements and news reports.
Scientists have made an astonishing finding that brings us closer than ever to the concept of ‘Green Mars’, by discovering a desert moss species – Syntrichia caninervis – which may be able to act as a pioneer in colonising the Red Planet. A paper published in The Innovation (Cell Press) details the abilities of this amazing plant to lose more than 98 per cent of its cellular water and completely resume its photosynthetic activity within two seconds of being rehydrated.This moss has been tested under ‘Mars Simulation’ conditions, where it has survived extreme temperatures as low as -196 degrees Celsius and received high doses of radiation, all of which would be fatal to the vast majority of living organisms on Earth. It was pointed out by the Chinese Academy of Sciences that this moss is therefore classified as ‘extremotolerant’ and has exhibited greater survivability than tardigrades, providing a biological model in which to assist future terraforming efforts and produce sustainable oxygen on other planets.
IMPERIAL — Whenever the weather changes suddenly, or the skyline becomes shrouded in a windy haze, Fernanda Camarillo braces herself for an asthma attack.
Her condition has become more manageable, but the 27-year-old said it’s still scary when her chest tightens and she starts to wheeze. It was one of her first thoughts when she heard about plans to develop a massive data center next to her home in Imperial County, a farming community near the border of Mexico that struggles with poor air quality.
Apparently, the FBI is still buying your location data from 3rd party providers, data that can be used to track you. FBI Director Kash Patel admitted to the practice in a Senate Hearing. He was asked by Senator Ron Wyden (R-OR) if the FBI was still engaging in the practice. Patel responded, “We do purchase commercially available information that is consistent with the Constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act — and it has led to some valuable intelligence for us.”
FBI is buying location data to track US citizens, director confirms – techcrunch.com
The FBI has resumed purchasing reams of Americans’ data and location histories to aid federal investigations, the agency’s director, Kash Patel, testified to lawmakers on Wednesday.
This is the first time since 2023 that the FBI has confirmed it was buying access to people’s data collected from data brokers, who source much of their information — including location data — from ordinary consumer phone apps and games, per Politico. At the time, then-FBI director Christopher Wray told senators that the agency had bought access to people’s location data in the past but that it was not actively purchasing it.
Scotland’s version of legalized euthanasia has failed to pass their legislature after a 2-year push for its passage. The bill failed 69 to 57. The bill’s passage failure essentially tables the issue legislatively for a decade or more. The move is supported by the public, with a poll showing 7 in 10 fear it could be used to pressure people to commit suicide when they otherwise wouldn’t have.
Scotland Defeats Radical Bill to Legalize Assisted Suicide – lifenews.com
Liam McArthur’s assisted suicide Bill has been defeated in a major victory for opponents of the Bill by 69 votes to 57, settling the issue in Scotland for a generation after a two-year national debate, and likely striking a mortal blow to the assisted suicide Bill in Westminster.
After two years of debate, and the most intense scrutiny that the question of assisted suicide has ever received in Scotland, Holyrood, widely regarded as one of the world’s most socially and politically progressive legislatures, has come to the conclusion that introducing assisted suicide is unsafe and dangerous.
Ahead of the vote, the Deputy Political Editor of The Scotsman, David Bol, described the final vote on the Bill at Stage 3 tonight as “potentially the biggest decision in the history of the Scottish Parliament”, and this was echoed by other prominent political commentators.
In recent years, as AI has begun to enter military planning and operational design, a persistent unease has surfaced among practitioners. Even with improved tools, increased tempo, and unprecedented access to data, plans continue to falter on integration, coherence, and a shared sense of direction. Marco Lyons’ recent War on the Rocks article on the perceived decline of operational art gives voice to this unease in a way that is both timely and important.
We do not know enough about the specific wargame, its constraints, or its internal dynamics to adjudicate these conclusions directly. What Lyons’ account nevertheless captures with clarity is a set of recurring difficulties that many practitioners recognize: fragmented campaigns, sequential decision-making, and a widening gap between planning activity and operational coherence.
Drawing on our experience teaching operational art and experimenting with planning, we share this concern. Yet Lyons’ observations may also point to something deeper: a tension between different ways of thinking about operations.
For decades, the abortion industry has lied to America.
They’ve told us that abortion is healthcare, that abortion is about women’s rights, that the unborn are not human, and that abortion drugs are perfectly safe.
But consider the stories survivors of this deadly drug shared last week during a press conference on Capitol Hill hosted by Senator Josh Hawley:
“I was [in a] medically induced coma for a month… Eventually, the damage was so extensive that doctors had no choice but to perform a partial hysterectomy… I was scared and pressured by my boyfriend to end my child’s life. In that process, I almost lost my life as well.” -Shanyce Thomas
“As someone who’s been deceived by big abortion, I’m here to say that young people like me, young, scared moms and dads, deserve the truth. And the truth is, the abortion pill is not simple, and the abortion pill is not safe.” – Rebekah Hagan
Late last year, my colleague Elizabeth Stauffer reported that “ultra-conservative” candidate José Antonio Kast had won a landslide victory in Chile’s presidential election.
And by “ultra-conservative,” what is really meant is running for office by promising to take actions that normal people want and need. Kast, a Roman Catholic and lawyer, had a campaign centered on restoring order, cracking down on crime and illegal immigration, and revitalizing Chile’s market-oriented economic model through spending cuts and pro-business reforms.
How is Kast doing at this point? Less than a week after his inauguration, construction of a border wall between Chile and Peru began.
Less than a week after his inauguration, Chile’s arch-conservative president on Monday began overseeing preparations to build a border barrier — part of his flagship campaign promise to block immigrants from crossing illegally.
From Chile’s northern frontier area of Chacalluta, where legions of immigrants have slipped across the Peruvian border into one of the region’s most prosperous nations, Kast vowed to implement what he calls his “Border Shield” plan. Among other steps, it involves the construction of a physical barrier at the nation’s northern border made up of ditches and fences and patrolled by drones and the military forces.
…Kast assured the public that “for all of Chile, this is a milestone.”
“We have taken clear and concrete decisions to close our border to illegal immigration, drug trafficking and organized crime,” he said. “We want to implement this without any delay.”
With AI becoming increasingly present in everyday life, the race to build AI infrastructure is only speeding up. At the center of that race is the rapid creation of data centers, with new ones opening on a nearly weekly basis in America. But as more data centers begin to integrate AI infrastructure, the amount of electricity required to operate them is growing at an alarming rate. Data centers are now expected to account for roughly 40 percent of US power demand growth in 2026, and the gap between what we need and what we can build is widening fast.
On today’s episode of Explain to Shane, I am joined by Lynne Kiesling, a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she leads the Electricity Technology, Regulation, and Market Design Working Group. Kiesling also directs the Institute for Regulatory Law and Economics at the Northwestern University Center on Law, Business, and Economics, and is a member of the US Department of Energy’s Electricity Advisory Committee. I am also joined by Steve DelBianco, president and CEO of NetChoice and a seasoned expert on internet governance. Their combined expertise on this issue can help us understand how we can power the AI revolution.
India is likely to double its installed power generation capacity from the current 520 Gigawatt (Gw) to 1,121 Gw by 2036, with non-fossil fuel sources contributing around 70 per cent of the total, according to the projections of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the apex power planning body under the Power Ministry.
The projection includes 315 Gw coal-based capacity, 20 Gw gas capacity, 22 Gw nuclear, 78 Gw of large hydro, 509 Gw solar, 155 Gw wind energy, 16 Gw biomass and 6 Gw small-hydro power capacity.
Training versions of AI models on classified data is expected to make them more accurate and effective in certain tasks, according to a US defense official who spoke on background with MIT Technology Review. The news comes as demand for more powerful models is high: The Pentagon has reached agreements with OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI to operate their models in classified settings and is implementing a new agenda to become an “an ‘AI-first’ warfighting force” as the conflict with Iran escalates. (The Pentagon did not comment on its AI training plans as of publication time.)
Training would be done in a secure data center that’s accredited to host classified government projects, and where a copy of an AI model is paired with classified data, according to two people familiar with how such operations work. Though the Department of Defense would remain the owner of the data, personnel from AI companies might in rare cases access the data if they have appropriate security clearance, the official said.
High-profile attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz have epitomized Iran’s hit-and-run response to superior American and Israeli firepower, but analysts warn that Tehran’s asymmetric strategy isn’t limited to guns, bombs or the physical geography of the battlefield.
from www.washingtontimes.com
The Islamic Republic has unveiled a new and dangerous weapon: the Sejjil missile. It can be set up and launched with minimal delay, making it harder to hit with preemptive strikes. Iran has only a few hundred, but they are produced indigenously. Fortunately, there is a simple way to stop production for good.
The Sejjil’s menace stems from its design for speed in deployment. Unlike Iran’s older liquid-fueled Shahab missiles, which take hours to prepare, leaving them vulnerable to preemptive strikes, the Sejjil runs on solid propellant. That means it is ready to be fired from road-mobile launchers in mere minutes, vanishing before countermeasures kick in.
Iranian state media claim it also has mid-descent maneuverability that allows it to dodge interceptors—they call it the “dancing missile”—but that has not been confirmed. There is no sign of side thrusters or similar features seen on other Iranian missiles that would make maneuvering possible.
An asteroid just exploded above Ohio with the force of 250 tons of TNT
Eyewitness accounts and videos taken from across the Midwest reveal the streak of a large fireball across the daytime sky
A flashy fireball streaked across the skies above the Midwest on Tuesday, falling to Earth near Lake Erie and Ohio at around 9:00 AM EDT. Some reported hearing a boom loud enough to shake their houses.
The object appears to have been a seven-ton asteroid that spanned nearly six feet in diameter, according to NASA. When it fell, it was traveling at around 40,000 miles per hour in a southeasterly direction before “fragmenting”—blowing up—over Valley City in Ohio. The explosion had the equivalent force of 250 tons of TNT, the agency said, and “may have also shook houses north of Medina.”
Legal Insurrection has been following news about the massive raw sewage spill caused by the Potomac Interceptor rupture.
This crisis illustrates the predictable consequences of neglected maintenance and questionable spending priorities by DC Water, resulting from political and managerial choices that prioritized image and amenities over core infrastructure, with downstream Maryland communities bearing the public‑health impacts.
We also took a look at DC Water’s 9,900% error in reporting E. coli levels after the spill, which reported 242,000 MPN/100 mL as 2,420 and may have ultimately been the result of the agency’s emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, rather than concentration on mission priorities (e.g., technical competence and accurate, safety‑critical testing procedures and interpretation).
Finally, we have some good news to share regarding this historic spill. DC Water has finally completed the emergency repair and restored flow to the Potomac Interceptor, and is now shifting to long‑term pipe rehabilitation and environmental cleanup.
Officials announced the milestone Saturday after crews spent 55 days working around the clock to repair the damaged sewer line along the Potomac River.
The collapse, which happened Jan. 19, caused roughly 250 million gallons of sewage to spill into the Potomac River.
The recent Iranian strike campaign against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has largely been viewed through images of drones striking skyscrapers and residential buildings. But it can also be understood through the dataset emerging from daily interception reports. Beginning on February 28, Iranian forces have launched nearly 1,800 drones and missiles towards the UAE, according to compiled data and interception timelines based on the daily releases shared by the UAE’s Ministry of Defence.
While interception rates remained high and protected key locations, a closer examination of the data reveals a structured operational campaign. The pattern suggests that Iran’s objective was not necessarily infrastructure destruction but imposing economic and operational strain on advanced air-defence networks.
A humanoid robot was detained by Chinese officers after it followed and terrorized an innocent woman on the street.
“You’re making my heart race!” the woman raged in Cantonese, per a report in the Macau Post. “You’ve got plenty to do, so what’s the point of messing around with this? Are you freaking crazy?”
According to the publication, the woman was walking along the street looking at her cellphone when she realized “something” was following closely behind her.
Startled, she turned to find the robot.
In the video, you see the robot raising its arm while the woman yelled at it in Cantonese. The clip then cuts to it being escorted away by officers.
This is not the first time a robot was apprehended by police, and it likely won’t be the last.
OpenAI CEO and AI pioneer Sam Altman is suggesting AI will become like your utilities. He suggested, “People buy it from us on a meter and use it for whatever they want to use it for. We see a future where intelligence is a utility like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter and use it for whatever they want to use it for.”
Sam Altman tells BlackRock he wants AI on a meter ‘like electricity or water’ – theblaze.com
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has likened artificial intelligence to utilities that are required to live.
Altman was discussing his company’s plans during BlackRock’s U.S. Infrastructure Summit on Wednesday. A mix of politicians, union leaders, and industry executives were in attendance when he dropped the news about his vision for AI.
‘People buy it from us on a meter and use it for whatever they want to use it for.’
Speaking to Bayo Ogunlesi, chairman and CEO of BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners, Altman likened AI to lifesaving utilities that are typically viewed as human rights.
“We see a future where intelligence is a utility like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter and use it for whatever they want to use it for,” Altman explained.
The CEO then claimed that the “demand” for metered AI usage is high and that the idea only continues to become more popular. His claims contained a warning though, in that “if we don’t have enough” AI, it will become too expensive and “kind of goes to rich people.”
This claim was seemingly based off Altman’s plans to build a massive AI infrastructure system in the United States through his Stargate Project.
Announced at the beginning of 2025, the Stargate Project is a $500 billion investment plan to build sprawling AI infrastructure for OpenAI and its partners by 2029.
This would allegedly “generate massive economic benefit for the entire world,” the press release stated.
However, as it stands, there is only one data center under the project currently operating: the flagship location in Abilene, Texas.
The 980,000 square foot site produces an estimated 200+ megawatts, capable of powering 50,000 NVIDIA GB200 NVL72s in each of its buildings — which are essentially AI supercomputers.
Another data center in Port Washington, Wisconsin, is scheduled to be open in 2028.
“If we don’t have enough [AI], we either can’t sell it or the price gets really high, and it, you know, kind of goes to rich people or society makes a bunch of sort of central planning decisions that I think almost always go badly about, you know, we’re going to use our limited compute supply for this and not that,” Altman said at the BlackRock event.
He added, “So the best thing to me throughout all the history of capitalism, innovation, whatever you want, is to just flood the market,” which seemingly means the flooding should go through OpenAI.
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Pregnant mothers are facing a profound and troubling exception to the principle of bodily autonomy unfolding in their delivery rooms.
While competent adults in virtually every other medical context retain the absolute right to refuse treatment, pregnant women face a starkly different reality. In certain states, including Florida, courts have carved out a unique legal pathway allowing hospitals to seek emergency orders compelling cesarean sections against a woman’s clearly expressed wishes. These interventions transform what should be a collaborative medical decision into a state-enforced procedure in which the mother’s informed refusal is overridden.
A ProPublica/CNN investigation into court-ordered C-sections in Florida detailed how Cherise Doyley, a seasoned birthing doula with three prior children, found herself in labor at University of Florida Health in Jacksonville in September 2024. What should have been a moment of joy turned into a nightmare when hospital staff, deeming her desire for a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) too risky, initiated an emergency court hearing in her delivery room.
“It’s a real judge in there?” Doyley asked the nurse at the beginning of what would be a three-hour hearing. “Now this is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.”
