Tech Security Update

• Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas has issued new guidance for immigration raids.
• Mayorkas said immigration agents must consider the societal impact of enforcement operations.
• The new policy goes is effective immediately.

The Biden administration has formally instructed US immigration agents to refrain from carrying out arrests at schools, churches, and COVID-19 vaccination sites, with new guidance describing these sites as "protected areas."

In a statement on Wednesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the policy would cover enforcement actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as Customs and Border Protection.

Under previous guidance, issued in 2011 under former President Barack Obama, such locations were described as "sensitive," not "protected." The new rules take effect immediately and will be accompanied by updated training.

According to the department, the new terminology is intended to convey that these sites are effectively off limits, with exceptions for national security threats, risks of imminent violence, and the "hot pursuit" of targets for arrest and deportation.

"We can accomplish our law enforcement mission without denying individuals access to needed medical care, children access to their schools, the displaced access to food and shelter, people of faith access to their places of worship," Mayorkas said in a statement.

Naureen Shah, senior policy counsel at the ACLU, described the new guidance as an "important step forward." But, in a statement, she warned that it could still be "circumvented by agents whom the agency continues to rely on to unilaterally make complex, sensitive judgments about the applicability of the policy."

As written, at least, the new guidance expands the number of places where enforcement actions cannot take place, with rare exception.

Examples of a "protected area" include:

• Schools
• Medical facilities
• Places of worship
• Daycares and recreation centers
• Food banks and shelters
• Disaster areas, including evacuation routes, and emergency-care providers
• Funerals
• Public demonstrations

A five-page memo explaining the policy says immigration agents must consider the impact their actions would have "on people's willingness to be in the protected area or engage in the essential services or activities that occur there."

Under the Trump administration, arrests at "sensitive" locations were relatively rare but not unheard of.

In September 2020, for example, ICE agents arrested an Indonesian immigrant at Glenmont United Methodist Church in Silver Spring Maryland. As The Washington Post reported, the man, Binsar Siahaan, was a caretaker who lived on church grounds. He was released weeks later following protests from clergy and a ruling by a federal judge that he be allowed to seek religious asylum.

Have a news tip? Email this reporter: [email protected]

• Within North Korea's massive army is another massive force: some 200,000 special-operations troops.
• Not much is known about those troops, but they are believed to well trained and highly motivated.
• Pyongyang would likely deploy them before or early in a war to disrupt US and South Korean military operations.

North Korea frequently taunts its rivals with a nuclear destruction, and despite its own dire economic and social situation, Pyongyang certainly has the military capabilities to instigate a war that could kill hundreds of thousands, if not millions.

Nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, thousands of artillery pieces, and millions of fanatical troops are the core of the North Korean threat. But Kim Jong Un has another ace up his sleeve: potent special-operations forces.

Not much is known about this force, but recent revelations by a senior North Korean spy who defected offer some insight into how Pyongyang's commandos train and fight.

North Korea's commandos

The Korean People's Army (KPA) is one of the largest in the world, with an active-duty force of about 1.3 million. Pyongyang also has more than 200,000 special operators organized in standard formations, such as brigades, regiments, battalions, and in even smaller, more specialized outfits.

The typical special-operations unit has between 3,000 and 5,000 commandos and falls under the different branches of the North Korean military and under Pyongyang's intelligence service, the Reconnaissance General Bureau.

North Korean special-operations units can be divided by specialty.

Reconnaissance units specialize in collecting intelligence and passing it back to headquarters. Airborne units can infiltrate by air and seize and hold targets like airfields or bridges. Maritime units can infiltrate from submarines or ships and conduct littoral raids. Commando units can conduct direct-action operations, such as raids.

North Korean troops may appear very well equipped during parades in Pyongyang, but those weapons and gear aren't necessarily distributed to the rest of the force. Because of their special mission, North Korean special-operations units receive the best equipment and training.

In a recent report, the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said "North Korean SOF are highly trained and well-equipped in comparison to other units, and, if successfully infiltrated into the South, would be capable of disruptive attacks in the rear area."

That gear is rudimentary compared to other countries' special-operations units, but even with technological or logistical shortcomings compared to US and South Korean special-operations units, North Korean commandos are a dedicated and dangerous foe.

Crossing the line

According to the US military, KPA doctrine and tactics for ground operations have largely remained the same since the Korean War in the 1950s. Special-operations forces play an important part in KPA's war-fighting doctrine, which seeks to attack an enemy target simultaneously from numerous angles.

North Korean special-operations doctrine emphasizes speed and surprise. Pyongyang's special-operations forces have two strategic missions: to infiltrate South Korea and conduct unconventional warfare and sabotage on the US and South Korean rear lines and to defend North Korea against US or South Korean special-operations units.

If a major war broke out, the North Korean play would be to swiftly cross the Demilitarized Zone and flood South Korea with troops, attempting a repeat of the early stages of the Korean War, when communist forces almost drove South Korean and UN troops into the sea.

In such a scenario, North Korean heavy infantry or mechanized units would strike at South Korean and US forces' frontlines. North Korean special-operations forces, organized in commando or light infantry units, would conduct unconventional warfare to the rear or on the flanks, attacking supply lines, command-and-control centers, and other strategic facilities.

By design, North Korea's commandos are aggressive and would prefer to be on the offensive, which is in line with special-operations doctrine around the around.

They "would be a fierce enemy" if a war broke out, a former Green Beret who served in South Korea told Insider.

The Kim regime has cultivated a cult of personality around its leaders, with public pledges of loyalty by troops and military elites.

"We have the technological advantage and our planes and missiles can bomb them back to the Stone Age, but they will be fighting for their 'god,'" the former Green Beret said. "Since birth, they have been brought up in this cultish environment where the supreme leader is their 'god.' They are fanatical and tough. Korean winters are no joke, and these guys have been trained to survive and operate in such environments. They would fight to the last man."

Pyongyang might also use conventional military operations to distract US and South Korean forces and allow its special-operations units to infiltrate the South successfully.

In 2010, 46 sailors were killed when a South Korean vessel was sunk in a suspected North Korean submarine attack. A few months later, North Korean artillery shelled a South Korean island near the two countries' maritime boundary, killing four people.

In a recent interview with the BBC, Kim Kuk-song, a senior North Korean intelligence officer who defected to South Korea, described how Kim Jong Un uses North Korea's military and intelligence resources for personal enrichment or revenge against real or perceived enemies. North Korean special-operations forces may also facilitate such "gang-style" operations.

In the event of a war with South Korea, North Korean commandos would also likely attempt a strike against South Korea's leaders and command-and-control centers, seeking to decapitate South Korean leadership and sow confusion in the initial hours of the conflict.

It wouldn't be the first time North Korean commandos have tried something like that. On January 31, 1969, a North Korean special-operations assault force infiltrated into South Korea with the goal of assassinating South Korean President Park Chung-hee.

The commando team moved fast and aggressively and managed to reach Park's residence in Seoul, even though they were spotted by some farmers along the way. That's when everything unraveled, however, as the North Koreans didn't know the code word to enter the residence and got into a running firefight with South Korean troops.

In the end, only one North Korean commando managed to get back into North Korea, with the rest captured or killed.

The threat of infiltration and of other attacks by North Korean commandos remains. North Korea may exaggerate its military capabilities regularly, but its special-operations forces are no joke.

Stavros Atlamazoglou is a defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate.

• When you create a Gmail account, Google automatically gives you a Google account which grants you access to dozens of apps and services.
• You can create a new Gmail account on a browser or using the Gmail mobile app.
• You can customize Gmail settings like your profile picture, inbox appearance, and vacation auto-responder.
• Visit Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories.

While Gmail is just one of the many services you get when you create a Google account, for all intents and purposes you can think of them as the same thing. When you sign up for a Google account you automatically get Gmail, and if you have a Gmail account that means you already have a Google account.

In other words, if you have one you already have the other. Your Google or Gmail account also gives you free access to a large library of other apps and services, including Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Maps, and dozens more.

Here's how to set up a new Gmail account to use with all of Google's services.

How to create a Gmail account

You can create a Gmail account using a web browser on your computer or on the mobile app. No matter where you create your account, you'll be able to access it from any of your web browsers or devices.

On desktop:

1. On your Mac or PC, go to Google's Create your Google Account page. You can go there directly or find it by going to Google.com, clicking Sign In, and then clicking Create account.

2. Follow the instructions to complete the first page; start by entering your first and last name. It doesn't need to be your legal name, but it should be the way you want to be identified in Gmail.

3. Enter the email username you'd like to use. Keep in mind that there are billions of Gmail users, so your first choice might not be available.

4. Enter your desired password and enter it a second time in the Confirm field. For safety and security, your password should be strong - use a combination of upper- and lower-case characters, numbers, and symbols that's at least 8 characters long (and preferably 12 characters).

5. Click Next.

6. Continue to follow the instructions to set up your account. Enter your mobile phone number - this is an optional step, but highly recommended, to help recover your account if there's a problem signing in. Likewise, you should also add a secondary email address to help in account recovery. Also enter your birthday and gender.

7. Click Next.

8. Google may ask you to verify your phone number. Click Send to receive a code at your designated mobile phone number, and then enter the code to verify the phone number is yours.

9. If you want to use this number with other Google services (like using it for video calls with Google Meet) click Yes, I'm in. Otherwise, click Skip.

10. Finally, click I agree after reviewing Google's terms of service.

You're now logged into this new Google account in this browser. Once it's set up, you can access your personal contacts in Gmail, and use your Google account to find, add, and manage those contacts.

On the Gmail mobile app:

1. Open the Gmail app and tap the account icon at the top-right.

2. Tap Add another account.

3. On the Add account screen, tap Google.

4. On the Google Sign in screen, tap Create account and choose For myself.

5. Enter your first and last name. It doesn't need to be your legal name, but it should be the way you want to be identified in Gmail. Tap Next.

6. Enter your birthday and gender, then tap Next.

7. Choose one of the premade Gmail addresses or tap Create your own Gmail address to make your own unique address. Tap Next.

8. Create a strong password for your new Google account and then tap Next.

9. You can add a phone number that can be used to recover your account if you forget your password, and with other Google services (like using it for video calls with Google Meet). If you want to do this, enter a mobile phone number and then click Yes, I'm in. Otherwise, click Skip.

10. If you added a phone number, enter the verification code that's texted to your number.

11. Finally, click I agree after reviewing Google's terms of service.

Gmail mailbox settings

If you regularly use Gmail, you might want to change the mail app's settings. Google gives you a lot of options for configuring Gmail. One of the first things you may want to do is change your Google profile picture; after that, you can access a wide variety of other settings from the web and your mobile device.

On desktop:

1. Open Gmail in a web browser and sign in if needed.

2. Click the gear-shaped Settings icon at the top-right. You should see some quick settings that let you change the overall appearance of the inbox.

3. Click See all Settings at the top of the menu.

Here you'll find the Settings page. Google tends to change the organization and content of Settings often, but you should be able to find what you need with a little browsing. There are a number of tabs at the top of the page, such as General, Labels, Accounts and Import, and others.

Each of these tabs has its own group of settings, though you'll probably find most of the features you need in General. Here you can configure your vacation auto-responder, for example, as well as turn on and off features like grammar checking, spell check, and autocorrect.

On the Gmail mobile app:

1. Open the Gmail app.

2. Tap the three-line icon at the top-left and tap Settings.

3. Tap the Gmail account that you want to configure. If you have several Gmail accounts, there might be more than one account in the list.

Here you'll find a list of all the settings you can configure. Your options will be a little different than in a web browser - the display options are very different on a mobile device, for example - and there are no tabs at the top of the page.

Even so, it's easy to browse, because you can scroll to see all the available settings. For example, instead of the Labels tab in the browser, you can tap Label Settings in the Settings menu to create folders in Gmail.

• Donald Trump bashed Democrats' proposal to tax billionaires to pay for their social spending bill.
• This comes after House Finance Chair Richard Neal said the proposal is off the table.
• But his Senate counterpart and author of the proposal Ron Wyden said the tax is not "dead."

Former president Donald Trump assailed the new billionaire tax proposal from Democrats on Wednesday, suggesting he might flee the United States to escape taxation. But he says he'll be sticking around.

"I just wonder, will I be allowed to run for president again if I move to another country?" he said in a statement. "No, I guess I'll just stick it out, but most others won't!"

Trump was referring to the new billionaire tax proposal that's already on life-support in the Senate only hours after it was introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon. It would levy a 23.8% capital gains tax rate on assets like stocks and bonds in an effort to compel roughly 700 billionaires to pay annual taxes on their gains, regardless if they sell or not.

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia imperiled the measure after criticizing it as both punitive to successful people and unworkable. "I don't like the connotation that we're targeting different people," he told reporters, floating a 15% "patriotic tax" without elaborating further.

As Insider previously reported, this proposal would slap people like Tesla CEO Elon Musk with a $10 billion annual bill, which Musk himself spoke out against on Twitter: "Eventually, they run out of other people's money and then they come for you."

An analysis from economist Gabriel Zucman found that the tax could bring in $500 billion, $275 billion of which would come from just the top 10 richest billionaires. If the proposal came to fruition, it would be a "a major structural reform to the tax system" to tax income from wealth like income from wages, according to Frank Clemente, executive director at the left-leaning advocacy group Americans for Tax Fairness.

But just a day after the proposal was brought to the table, House Finance Chair Richard Neal struck it down, telling reporters on Wednesday that it's "very unlikely" the tax will be used to finance Democrats' scaled-down social-spending bill. At the same time, though, Neal's counterpart Wyden was far from throwing in the towel on the proposal he authored.

"I'm not saying that it's dead!" Wyden told Insider, noting that the White House still backs the proposal.

This disagreement is emblematic of the negotiations Democrats are undergoing as they work to develop a framework for their scaled-down bill. Free community college, paid family and medical leave, and an extended five-year child tax credit are already reportedly on the chopping block, and a major Democratic priority to roll back Trump tax cuts were struck down by Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.

• Democrats are removing paid family and medical leave from the social spending package, according to Politico.
• It's yet another big cut to the bill, which is getting whittled down as negotiations with moderates continue.
• However, lawmakers and advocates say the fight to implement paid leave isn't over.

Senate Democrats have decided to strip paid family and medical leave benefits from Biden's social spending package, Politico reporter Eleanor Mueller said on Wednesday.

Sources told Mueller that attempts to water down the bill didn't work out. In recent weeks, Democrats have scrambled for new revenue sources to pay for the "Build Back Better" bill, which was initially targeted at $4 trillion and may end up at $1.5 trillion or smaller. Key centrist Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have variously opposed most of the new tax proposals that Democrats have suggested.

"It is still a little inconceivable to me that after the last 18 months - and everything we saw during the course of the pandemic - that we are hearing that Congress is going to leave paid leave for another day," Laura Narefsky, counsel on education and workplace justice at the National Women's Law Center, told Insider.

"If the news reports are true, this is a devastating and incomprehensible blow to American families," Vicki Shabo, a paid leave expert at think tank New America, told Insider.

She added: "This was a once in a generation opportunity to build on the Family and Medical Leave Act to finally bring the promise of paid leave to the US, to end its outlier status, and to make good on promises that the president ran on."

The family and medical leave benefits were a central focus of President Joe Biden during his 2020 campaign and, even if enacted, would leave Americans with some of the stingiest leave benefits in all the developed world, The New York Times' Upshot reported. The US is already an outlier when it comes to benefits. A report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found that, out of 41 countries, the US was the only one not to mandate paid leave. The US also has no federal sick leave mandates.

Advocates for paid leave argue that it bolsters the economy, with an analysis from the University of Massachusetts Amherst finding that paid leave would increase Americans' incomes by $28.5 billion every year.

Paid leave is among the latest of many cuts Democrats have reportedly made to appease Manchin, including tuition-free community college and an expanded five-year child tax credit. But some lawmakers have been clear that they will keep fighting for all of their priorities until they see the final version of the bill.

"Until the bill is printed, I will continue working to include paid leave in the Build Back Better plan," New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has been a leading advocate for paid leave, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Other lawmakers have been making similar statements with regards to wanting to see the final bill text. Michigan Rep. Andy Levin, for example, told Insider during a Tuesday interview that he will keep fighting to get free community college in the bill "right up to the closing whistle."

Democrats were hoping to pass the "Build Back Better" bill - along with a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill - this week.

"We cannot recover holistically unless you provide the full range of supports that working families need," Narefsky said. "It is so short-sighted to think that because we are trimming down some abstract top-line number, that that is the end goal. Paid family and medical leave is a benefit that touches everyone."

• If YouTube is not working for you, there are several ways to troubleshoot the problem to get it up and running.
• Start by making sure you have a reliable internet connection, and check YouTube's status at DownDetector.
• You can also close and restart the YouTube app, clear the app cache, and assess your overall internet speed.
• Visit Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories.

There's no question that YouTube is among the most pervasive video streaming services today; while Netflix and Hulu might have more commercial cachet, almost everything on YouTube is free. And though YouTube claims around 2 billion users worldwide, there are times when a site even that large and relied upon experiences problems.

How to troubleshoot when YouTube is not working

Like any website that may not be working, it can be hard to know exactly what the problem is - there might be a number of issues with the site, your internet connection, or the device you're trying to connect with. Work through your YouTube issue by trying each of the troubleshooting tips below until you uncover the problem.

See if you have a reliable internet connection

Despite myriad problems that might keep you from successfully watching a video on YouTube, the most likely one is also the easiest to troubleshoot: Do you have a reliable internet connection? If you're on your phone, check the status icons at the top of the screen to see if you have Wi-Fi or a cellular connection. If in doubt, open your phone's Settings app and turn the Wi-Fi off, then on again.

A sure-fire way to check for internet access is to try another app that requires a connection. You might check to see if you can start playing a video in the Netflix app, for example, or see if you can send and receive email.

Check to see if YouTube is down

YouTube is a relatively dependable video streaming service, but the site has occasional outages. If you know your own internet access is solid, then it might be a good idea to see if the service is offline before you waste your time trying other troubleshooting tips. The easiest way to check is to go to YouTube's status page at DownDetector, or just search for "Is YouTube down" in a Google search (DownDetector is typically at the top of the search results). If the site is down, wait a while and try again later.

Close the YouTube app and then restart it

If you're trying to watch YouTube on a mobile device, it's possible the YouTube app is misbehaving. The remedy? Force the app to close and then restart it - here is how to close an app on Android and close an app on iOS. If you were trying to watch YouTube on a smart TV or streaming media player, you can close and restart the app there as well, though the steps vary depending on what device you own.

If you're trying to watch YouTube in a web browser on your computer, you can close the browser and restart it, but an even better solution is to open a different browser (like switching to Firefox if it's not working in Chrome).

If that doesn't solve your problem, restart the entire device (for example, here is how to restart an iPhone).

Try it somewhere else

One of the best ways to troubleshoot a problem that could have a lot of possible causes is to try it on another device. If you're watching YouTube on your phone, check to see if YouTube has the same glitch on a tablet, Roku player, or in a browser on your laptop. If you're on a computer and don't have easy access to other devices, you can try running YouTube in a different browser.

Clear the device's app cache

If YouTube refuses to work properly on your phone or tablet but it seems to be working fine elsewhere, then you might have a problem with the app or its cache.

If you're using an iPhone, there's no way to clear YouTube's cache without uninstalling the app, so do that - uninstall YouTube from your iPhone, and then reinstall it from the App Store.

If you are using an Android phone or tablet, it's a little easier. The steps might vary slightly depending on which version of Android you are running, but here's the general procedure:

1. Start the Settings app.

2. Tap Apps & Notifications.

3. Go to the list of apps (you might need to tap See all apps) and tap YouTube.

4. Tap Storage & cache.

5. Tap Clear cache.

Check to see if your internet connection is fast enough

Sometimes the problem isn't that the app won't launch or nothing works at all. If the video lags and stutters or the audio is out of sync, your connection might not be fast enough. You can run an online speed test like Google's Internet Speed Test to see how fast your connection is. You can do this on a phone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer.

YouTube says your connection needs to be at least 1.1Mbps for a standard-definition 480p video, but the faster the better, and a high-resolution 1080p video will need at least 5Mbps. There are several ways to speed up your internet connection.

• You can pair your Firestick remote by pressing and holding down the "Home" button.
• There are extra steps you'll need to take if you're pairing a second Firestick remote.
• You can pair some non-Firestick remotes, but they must use specific Bluetooth profiles to work.
• Visit Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories.

If you have an Amazon Fire TV, the Firestick remote can be a useful tool. But before you can start using it, you have to pair the remote to your TV.

The process will vary slightly depending on whether or not you have existing paired remotes, as well as whether you're using an off-brand Bluetooth remote.

Here's what you need to know to pair your Firestick, or other compatible remote, to your Amazon Fire TV.

How to pair a Firestick remote

1. Hold down the Home button on your Firestick remote for 10 seconds.

2. You'll then either see the blue light on your remote flash a few times, or there will be an on-screen confirmation message that your remote has been paired. If you don't see either, try unplugging the Firestick from its power source and taking out the batteries, then reconnecting it and adding the batteries back. Then try holding down the Home button again.

How to add or replace a Firestick remote

1. Press the Home button on your original Firestick remote.

2. Select Settings.

3. Choose Controllers and Bluetooth Devices.

4. Go to Amazon Fire TV Remotes.

5. On the next screen, select Add New Remote.

6. Press and hold the Home button on your new Firestick remote until it's recognized.

7. Using your old remote, press Select. Both remotes should then appear in your list.

How to pair a Firestick remote when you lost the old one

If you don't have a working, paired remote, you can use your phone as a remote to connect your new Firestick remote instead:

1. Open the Firestick app on your iPhone, iPad, or Android.

2. Select your Fire TV device - or select Add device if you don't see that option - then enter your account login information.

3. Enter your PIN to start using your phone as a remote.

4. Using your phone or tablet, select Home then hit Settings.

5. Choose Controllers and Bluetooth Devices.

6. Go to Amazon Fire TV Remotes and select Add New Remote.

7. Press and hold the Home button on your new Firestick remote until it's recognized.

8. On your phone or tablet, press Select. Your new remote should then appear in your list.

How to pair a non-Firestick remote

In order to pair a non-Firestick remote, it has to be compatible.

Amazon Fire TV recognizes specific types of Bluetooth profiles, including advanced audio distribution profile (A2DP), human interface device profile (HID), and serial port profile (SPP).

Your remote's user manual should say which type of Bluetooth profile it uses, and it might even say if it's Amazon Fire TV compatible.

If it is compatible, here's how to pair your remote:

1. Go into the Settings of your Fire TV menu.

2. Choose Controllers and Bluetooth Devices.

3. Select Other Bluetooth Devices.

4. Choose Add Bluetooth Devices.

5. Your Amazon TV will then scan for your device. Once it recognizes it, select the name from the list of devices on the screen.

You should see a confirmation message letting you know that your non-Firestick remote has been paired. You can then start using it as you would a regular Firestick remote.

Subverted libraries likely intended as a prank but should be taken seriously, say security researchers

Yet another NPM library has turned up infected with malware. Security firm Sonatype on Wednesday said it had spotted two related malicious NPM libraries that were named so they might be mistaken for a popular legitimate module that serves as a Roblox API wrapper.…