Latest news with #Nazer
New Straits Times
23-05-2025
- Business
- New Straits Times
HONOR makes up 1 in 4 smartphone sales, launches 400 series
HONOR has officially launched its latest HONOR 400 series locally, aiming to cement its position as a top-tier mid-premium smartphone brand. According to third-party surveys, HONOR has captured a significant share of the local market, with one in every four smartphones sold in the RM1,500 to RM3,000 range now being an HONOR device. NEXT-GEN AI CAMERA Continuing its legacy in mobile photography, the HONOR 400 series features a 200MP ultra-clear main camera with a large 1/1.4-inch sensor and AI enhancements. The HONOR 400 Pro raises the bar with a class-leading 50MP telephoto lens. Photographer Nazer Noor, who tested the device, praised the 50x AI Super Zoom, noting its clarity and sharpness even from a distance. Powered by the HONOR IMAGE Engine, the device delivers detailed, well-balanced photos in both landscape and portrait modes. "The HONOR Number Series has a history focusing mainly on its portrait capabilities, and there seems to be more features added to the 400 Series. I am pleased with the smartphone's capability on par with a flagship," Nazer said. SMARTER EDITING TOOLS The HONOR 400 Pro includes advanced AI tools that make content creation easier without relying on third-party apps. These include AI Image to Video (powered by Google Cloud AI), AI Eraser 2.0, AI Cutout, AI Outpainting and AI Upscale. Another unique feature, Moving Photo Collage, lets users combine up to nine moving photos into dynamic visual stories. Harcourt Studio 2.0 also brings refined lighting effects to portrait photography, adding a creative edge for mobile shooters. FLAGSHIP PERFORMANCE Built with flagship specs and designed for all-day productivity and durability, the HONOR 400 series boasts a massive battery with fast wired and wireless charging, a vivid AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and ultra-high brightness and IP-rated water and dust resistance on the Pro variant. INTUITIVE AI FEATURES Running on MagicOS 9.0, the series offers AI-powered tools that boost productivity. Users can quickly summarise meeting notes with AI Summary and AI Minutes or clean up formatting and grammar with AI Format and AI Correction. For communication, AI Translation supports up to 14 languages, while AI Live Translation enables real-time call translations. On-device AI Deepfake Detection provides added security by detecting suspicious content in real time. Gemini, Google's built-in AI assistant, is also built in and can be accessed by holding the power button. Users can use it to help with planning, learning or brainstorming ideas. MAGIC PORTAL AND APP INTEGRATION The HONOR 400 series includes Magic Portal 2.0 for intuitive app shortcuts. Users can circle content with their knuckle to instantly access supported platforms like Grab, Waze, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, making navigation, shopping and sharing more seamless. Pre-orders for the HONOR 400 series are open until May 29, 3pm. Buyers will receive exclusive gifts including an instant camera or noise-cancelling headphones along with a one-year extended warranty. Selected models also come with a free double storage upgrade during the pre-order period. The HONOR 400 series will be available for purchase nationwide starting May 30.
The Guardian
24-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Drones, informers and apps: Iran intensifies surveillance on women to enforce hijab law
Like many women in Iran, Darya is used to feeling under surveillance. Yet in recent months, the 25-year-old finance analyst from northern Tehran says that she never knows who could be watching her every move. She says she has received messages from the police before warning her of suspected violations of the country's strict hijab laws, but last November she was sent an SMS message containing her car registration plate that stated the exact time and place that she had been recorded driving without her head properly covered. Next time it happened, the SMS warned, her car would be impounded. 'It was really unsettling,' she says. 'When you receive these messages you don't know who has reported you – and the police never seem to have proof of the violation.' After widespread outcry last year, the Iranian authorities said they would suspend enforcement of the new, strict, hijab laws, which impose draconian penalties – including fines and prison sentences – on women found in breach of the mandatory dress code. Yet women in Iran are reporting that state surveillance has been steadily increasing. Last week, the UN's fact-finding mission reported on Iran's increasing reliance on digital surveillance such as its Nazer mobile application, a state-backed reporting platform that allows citizens and police to report women for alleged violations. The app is accessible only via Iran's state-controlled National Information Network. Members of the public can apply to become 'hijab monitors' to get the app and begin filing reports, which are then passed to the police. According to the UN mission, the app has recently been expanded to allow users to upload the time, location and licence plate of a car in which a woman has been seen without a hijab. It can also now be used to report women for hijab violations on public transport, in taxis and even in ambulances. According to the UN report, aerial surveillance using drones has also been used at events such as the Tehran international book fair and on the island of Kish, a tourist destination, to identify women not complying with the hijab law. The government has also increased online monitoring, blocking women's Instagram accounts for non-compliance of hijab laws, and issuing warnings via text message. CCTV surveillance and facial-recognition technology has also been installed at universities. 'This 'digital repression' is not only stifling academic freedom but also causing increased psychological stress among students,' says a spokesperson for the Amirkabir Newsletter, an Iranian student media group. Sign up to Global Dispatch Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development team after newsletter promotion Skylar Thompson, deputy director of Human Rights Activists in Iran, says the app represents a dangerous escalation in the regime's digital surveillance efforts. 'Not only does this app reinforce gender-based discrimination and empower a culture of fear, but its flaws also raise serious concerns about wrongful arrests and detentions.' Last July Arezoo Badri, a 31-year-old mother of two, was shot and paralysed when a police officer opened fire on her vehicle in Noor city, Mazandaran province, after her car was reportedly flagged for a hijab violation. Yet Darya, like many others, is resolute in her defiance. 'If you walk through the streets, you'll see that many of us have stopped wearing the hijab despite these intimidation tactics,' she says. 'The money they are wasting on this surveillance could actually help some people survive.'
Egypt Independent
16-03-2025
- Politics
- Egypt Independent
Iran is using drones and apps to catch women who aren't wearing hijabs, says UN report
CNN — Iran is using aerial drones, facial recognition systems, and a citizen-reporting app to enforce mandatory hijab laws on women, according to a United Nations report released Friday. The report highlights Iran's escalating reliance on technology to monitor and punish women defying the mandatory dress code. Central to this crackdown is the 'Nazer' mobile application, a government-backed tool that allows citizens and police to report women for alleged violations. Investigators involved in a two-year fact-finding mission accuse Iran of systemic human rights violations and crimes against humanity in its repression of dissent, particularly targeting women and girls. According to the report, the 'Nazer' mobile application enables users to upload the license plate, location, and time of a vehicle where a woman is not wearing a hijab. The app then 'flags' the vehicle online, alerting the police,' the report reads. The app also 'triggers a text message (in real-time) to the registered owner of the vehicle, warning them that they had been found in violation of the mandatory hijab laws, and that their vehicles would be impounded for ignoring these warnings,' per the report. The app, accessible via Iran's police, abbreviated as (FARAJA) website, was expanded in September 2024 to target women in ambulances, taxis, and public transport. Authorities have also deployed 'aerial drones' in the capital Tehran and southern Iran to surveil public spaces and 'to monitor hijab compliance in public spaces,' researchers found, in addition to new facial recognition software reportedly installed in early 2024 'at the entrance gate of the Amirkabir University in Tehran, to monitor such compliance by women students.' CNN has reached out to the Iranian embassy in London for comment. Though suspended in December 2024 after an internal debate, Iran's draft law 'Hijab and Chastity' looms as a severe threat for women and girls in the country. If enacted, the law would impose penalties of up to 10 years in prison and fines equivalent to $12,000 for non-compliance, the report says. Under Article 286 of Iran's Islamic Penal Code, women could face the 'death penalty' if accused of 'corruption on earth.' The law would further delegate enhanced enforcement powers to Iran's security apparatus while also increasing the use of technology and surveillance, the report says. Hundreds of people were killed in protests, the UN said in 2022, against Iran's mandatory hijab law and political and social issues following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police in September of that year.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Iran deploying drones and apps to enforce hijab wearing, UN warns
Iranian authorities are deploying drones, facial recognition technology, and mobile applications to monitor and punish women who defy the country's mandatory hijab laws, the United Nations has warned. In a damning report, the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Iran revealed that the state is using an extensive digital surveillance apparatus to suppress dissent, particularly targeting women. The findings detail a pattern of 'state-sponsored vigilantism', where security forces and civilians are encouraged to report non-compliance, leading to arrests, vehicle confiscations, and even corporal punishment. Iranian authorities are using aerial drones to track women's compliance with hijab laws in public spaces, including in Tehran and southern provinces, the UN report says. Facial recognition software was also installed at the entrance of Amirkabir University in Tehran to monitor female students, it says. The UN findings come after it determined last year that Iran's theocracy was responsible for the 'physical violence' that led to the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in 2022. Witnesses said the 22-year-old Kurd was badly beaten by the morality police during her arrest, but authorities denied she was mistreated and blamed 'sudden heart failure' for her death. Her killing sparked a massive wave of protests that continue today, despite threats of violent arrest and imprisonment. 'Our situation remains the same. We are living in a prison, being watched throughout the day and night. It feels like being naked despite wearing a hijab, as drones, cameras, and other surveillance technologies are tracking our every moment,' one woman, who sustained multiple fractures in police action during the protests, told The Telegraph. She did not want to be named for fear of reprisals. A government-backed mobile application, Nazer, which means to keep an eye or watch, has played a critical role in this surveillance campaign. The app allows vetted users and police officers to report women for dress code violations in private vehicles. In September 2024, its scope was expanded to monitor women in taxis, ambulances, and public transport. According to the UN report, when a violation is recorded, police receive a real-time alert with details, including the vehicle's licence plate number. The registered owner then receives a warning via text message, and repeat offenders risk having their vehicles impounded. 'They take away our cars and penalise us for showing dissent. We could not use our cars,' the woman added. The surveillance measures are part of a broader crackdown under Iran's so called Noor (enlightenment) plan, launched in April 2024 at the request of the head of judiciary. The initiative involved nationwide deployment of police officers to target women accused of 'promoting social anomalies' by appearing in public without a hijab. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has also enlisted civilian enforcers under the banner of 'ambassadors of kindness' to monitor compliance in markets, parks, and public transport. In 2024, at least 618 women were detained under the Noor plan, the UN report says. Many have been summoned to revolutionary courts, where evidence from surveillance tools, including photos and security reports, has been used to convict them. Some have been fined, while others have faced more severe punishments. 'For two years, Iran has refused to adequately acknowledge the demands for equality and justice that fuelled the protests in 2022. The criminalisation, surveillance and continued repression of protesters, families of victims and survivors - in particular women and girls - is deeply worrying,' said Sara Hossain, chairman of the Fact-Finding Mission. On Nov 23, Roshnak Alishah was lashed 14 times after being convicted of 'disturbing public chastity'. She had been arrested weeks earlier for posting a video, which showed her without the mandatory hijab, in which she confronted a man on a motorcycle who had harassed her. In March, prominent Iranian singer Mehdi Yarrahi was flogged 74 times for a song criticising the mandatory hijab. The Iranian parliament has been pushing to formalise harsher hijab laws under the Hijab and Chastity bill, which could see women sentenced to up to 10 years in prison or fined up to $12,000 (£9,000) for non-compliance. The law would also expand the role of security forces and private citizens in enforcement. While the bill was set to take effect in December 2024, Iran's Supreme National Security Council has since suspended its implementation, citing ongoing internal debate. However, human rights advocates fear that the delay is merely procedural and that the government will soon press forward with increased restrictions. In November, authorities announced the opening of a so-called 'clinic' where young girls caught without a hijab would undergo 'scientific and psychological treatment' to correct their behaviour. Beyond digital crackdown, UN investigators conducted nearly 300 interviews with victims and witnesses, revealing deep flaws within Iran's judiciary. The report describes a legal system that operates without true independence, where victims of state abuse face further persecution, and their families are subjected to systematic intimidation. The UN mission also documented instances of extrajudicial killings, including the execution of three child protesters and three adults, later falsely classified by authorities as suicides. Further evidence uncovered by investigators details shocking accounts of sexual violence in custody. One woman, the report states, endured brutal beatings, two staged executions, and repeated sexual assault, including gang rape, during detention in 2023. 'One day, like my friends, I'll leave this doomed country and never return. Iranian women are brave and fighting every day, but a change seems impossible because they don't care about women. They have guns and no mercy, we are unarmed and powerless,' the female protester said. The UN's findings will be formally presented to the Human Rights Council on March 18. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. 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Voice of America
15-03-2025
- Voice of America
UN: Iran using drones to enforce hijab law
A Friday report by the United Nations says Iran is using advanced technology, including drones, facial recognition and a citizen-reporting app to crack down on violations of its mandatory hijab laws. A key element of the effort is the government-backed Nazer app, which enables the police and "vetted" members of the public to report alleged violations by women in vehicles, including those in ambulances, mass transit and taxis. The report describes the app as allowing users to upload the vehicle license plate, location and time of an alleged violation. It then, according to the report, alerts police. Then, according to the report, the app "triggers a text message (in real-time) to the registered owner of the vehicle, warning them that they had been found in violation of the mandatory hijab laws, and that their vehicles would be impounded for ignoring these warnings." According to the report, authorities are using drones in Tehran and the southern part of the country to monitor hijab compliance in public areas, as well as new facial recognition software said to have been installed last year at the entrance of Tehran's Amirkabir University. The report is to go to the U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday.
