Iran's Digital Surveillance Machine Is Almost Complete After more than 15 years of draconian measures, culminating in an ongoing internet shutdown, the Iranian regime seems to be staggering toward its digital surveillance endgame. Iranian protesters gather on Enghelab (Revolution) Street during a demonstration in Tehran on January 8, 2026. Over the past four weeks, the Iranian government completely shut down connections to the global internet while its forces killed thousands of anti-regime protesters around the country. The shutdown follows years of Tehran imposing connectivity filtering, digital curfews, and total blackouts as part of previous attempts to quell unrest. Over more than 15 years, the regime has developed technological and systemic mechanisms to fundamentally control connectivity in the country--including an internal Iranian intranet known as the National Information Network (NIN).

This Startup Thinks It Can Make Rocket Fuel From Water. General Galactic, cofounded by a former SpaceX engineer, plans to test its water-based propellant this fall. If successful, it could help usher in a new era of space travel. There's been this hand-wave, this assumption, this at the core of our long-term space programs. If we can return astronauts to the moon, we'll find ice there.

Clockwise from top left: Rachel Johnson, Polly Toynbee, Jeanette Winterson, Cathy Newman, Ann Widdecombe, Fiona Marr. Clockwise from top left: Rachel Johnson, Polly Toynbee, Jeanette Winterson, Cathy Newman, Ann Widdecombe, Fiona Marr. I asked AI to name my wife. Authors, a newsreader, a lawyer and an esteemed colleague: they're all great - but I'm not married to any of them. Can we really depend on this technology?