Iran

An Iranian government-backed hacking team allegedly stole and leaked private customer data belonging to French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, security researchers at Microsoft said on Friday. The magazine was hacked in early January after it published a series of cartoons that negatively depicted Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. The caricatures were part of a media campaign that Charlie Hebdo said was intended to support anti-government protests in the Islamic nation. Representatives for the Iranian and…

Spotify has launched a new playlist to amplify the voices of Iranian women, who have for the last four months have led the fight towards human rights in Iran. The playlist, titled “Women of Iran,” includes songs by iconic Iranian singers, including Googoosh, Mahasti and Hayedeh, alongside artists like Shervin Hajipour and Toomaj Salehi, who were both arrested and imprisoned after sharing music in support of the fight against the Islamic Republic’s injustices. Hajipour, who received a whopping 95,000…

Oil prices have jumped after a drone attack targeted Iran and as China pledges to promote a consumption recovery which would support more fuel demand. OPEC+ is unlikely to tweak its current oil output policy when they meet virtually on February 1. (Reuters…

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) urged those in such roles to familiarise themselves with material on its website explaining the techniques and tactics used by the attackers as well as mitigation advice. UK cyber-security chiefs on Thursday warned that Russia and Iran were increasingly targeting government officials, journalists and NGOs with so-called "spear-fishing" attacks in order to "compromise sensitive systems". The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) urged those in such roles to familiarise…

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the specter of nuclear weapon use, Earth crept its closest to Armageddon, a science-oriented advocacy group said, moving its famous “Doomsday Clock” up to just 90 seconds before midnight. With Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the specter of nuclear weapon use, Earth crept its closest to Armageddon, a science-oriented advocacy group said, moving its famous “Doomsday Clock” up to just 90 seconds before midnight. “We are really closer to that doomsday,” former Mongolian president…

Iran’s judiciary is to rule on whether to release the film-maker Jafar Panahi on bail after his conviction was overturned by the supreme court, his lawyer said.Panahi, 62, who has won a number of awards at European film festivals, was arrested on 11 July last year and sent to jail to serve a six-year sentence which had been handed down in 2010 for “propaganda against the system”. He served two months at the time before being granted a conditional release. He was also barred from leaving Iran and making films, and was…

But in a previously unreported response, Google’s US public policy head Mark Isakowitz wrote back a month later saying that newly relaxed sanctions still had not authorized those activities, “unfortunately.” Isakowitz instead urged Congress to work with the Biden administration “to identify additional means of ensuring Iranians’ access to vital communication and information tools.”Google’s Iran response, like that of other tech giants concerned about sanctions and related financial risks, prompted side projects by…

Fourteen years before she was named best actress at Cannes, Zar Amir Ebrahimi sat alone in her flat in Tehran, contemplating the wreckage of her life and wondering if she had the strength to keep going. An intimate video of the actor and her boyfriend had been stolen by a man she once considered a friend, and was being sold on streets across the country. Iranian authorities were drawing up a criminal case. Sex outside marriage is illegal in Iran, and she faced lashes and years in jail if convicted. Ebrahimi was only 26,…

BAGHDAD—Iraqis are blaming an unexpected culprit for a weakening currency that has caused the price of food and imported goods to rise: a little-noticed policy change by the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.The New York Fed began enforcing tighter controls on international dollar transactions by commercial Iraqi banks in November, in a move to curtail money laundering and the illegal siphoning of dollars to Iran and other heavily sanctioned Middle East countries, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. Iraqi…

Mehul Reuben DasJan 12, 2023 11:30:48 ISTIn a new development that seems to be coming from some dystopian future, Iran has announced that it plans to use facial recognition technology to identify and prosecute women who defy the country’s strict and draconian hijab laws. There is a suspicion that Iran might already be using facial recognition technology to prosecute women, and that Jina Mahsa Amini, may have been arrested because of Iran’s use of facial recognition. Image Credit: Pexels Critics of facial recognition…