Up to five million travelers are estimated to visit the southern province of Hormozgan, the province’s governor has announced.

“There will be a lot of travelers in the province over the upcoming holidays, roughly three to five million people, and in this regard, there should be an increased monitoring process,” IRNA quoted Mehdi Dusti as saying on Tuesday.

The province needs to prepare its tourism facilities to welcome tourists and travelers, the official added.

Known as the province of islands, Hormozgan province is located on the northern coasts of the Persian Gulf. It embraces scenic islands among which Kish, Hormuz, Hengam, and Qeshm are the most beautiful ones and top tourist destinations in southern Iran.

Over the past couple of decades, the coral Kish Island has become a beach resort where visitors can swim, shop, and sample a laid-back and relatively liberated local lifestyle. It is home to free-trade-zone status, with ever-growing hotels, shopping centers, apartment blocks, and retail complexes.

Hormuz, which is mostly barren and hilly, is situated some eight kilometers off the coast on the Strait of Hormuz, which attracts many tourists by its colorful mountains, silver sand shores, and great local people.

Hengam Island has scenery rocky shores, serene sunset, and kind natives, which can attract travelers who enjoy a relaxing trip by spending time on this tranquil island.

Qeshm Island is a heaven for eco-tourists as it embraces wide-ranging attractions such as the Hara marine forests and about 60 villages dotted mostly across its rocky coastlines. The island also features geologically eye-catching canyons, hills, caves, and valleys, most of which are protected as part of the UNESCO-tagged Qeshm Island Geopark, itself a haven for nature-lovers. /T.T/

On the final day of Archery Asia Cup 2022 in Thailand, the Iranian archery team won two gold and four bronze medals.

Iran’s compound team with the combination of Gisa Baybordi and Hesamuddin Kowsar defeated Malaysia by 154-145 and won the gold medal.

Mohammad Saleh Palizban won a gold medal at the final of the men’s compound competition defeating India 145-126.

The men’s compound team, consisting of Hesamuddin Kowsar, Mohammad Saleh Palizban, and Hamzeh Nekouei, won the qualifying match against Bangladesh 232-226 and won the bronze medal.

The Iranian women’s compound team, consisting of Gisa Baybordi, Vida Halimian, and Kowsar Khoshnoodikia, won the ranking match against Kazakhstan 224-215 and won a bronze medal.

Hesamuddin Kowsar won the bronze medal in the men’s compound competition defeating the Indian team 147-147.

Gisa Baybordi won the bronze medal in the women’s compound match defeating the archer from Thailand with a result of 146-143. /MNA/

Iranian photographers have won gold and silver medals at the 1st FKNS SLM Circuit, a circular exhibition of photography in Montenegro.

The exhibition was organized in Podgorica from February 21 to 28 with contributions from the Federation Internationale de l’Art Photographique (FIAP), the Photographic Society of America (PSA) and several other centers in the categories of monochrome, nature, woman man child, portrait and open color.

“Cry Underwater” by Mohammad Esteki won the PSA Gold Medal in the open monochrome category.

The photo shows a man attending an Islamic mourning ritual in Iran.

In this section, “Siren” by Arlen Keshishian received a FIAP honorable mention.

Esteki also obtained the PSA Gold Medal in the woman man child category for his photo “Nushin” that depicts a woman walking in a central Iranian city.

Ahmad Khatiri’s photo “Prayer in Warzones” won a Salon honorable mention in this category.

He also was honored with the Salon Silver Medal in the nature category for “Brave Looking” that shows a fox gazing into the camera.

In this section, Esteki was awarded a Salon honorable mention for “Esferjan”.

In the portrait category, Esteki received a Salon honorable mention for “Margaret”.

Winners were chosen by a jury composed of Ali Samei from Iran, Tianyi Xiong from China and Serbian photographer Zoran Djordjevic, who was also the chairman of the exhibition.

The exhibition was also organized in Luxemburg and Serbia. The Serbian city of Novi Sad hosted the event from February 15 to 22 and the Luxemburg exhibit took place in Kaerjeng from February 17 to 24.

In the Serbian exhibition, Esteki won an honorable mention for his photo “Old History” in the portrait category, while Seyyed Ehsan Mortazavi received an honorable mention for “The Magic Window” in the open color section.

An honorable mention in the open color category of the Luxembourg exhibition went to Esteki’s “Hard Man”, while Kiarang Alaei’s “The Alley” won the same honor in the open monochrome category. /T.T/

Some 915 nanoproducts are being produced and marketed in more than 15 industrial areas based on domestic technologies, according to the Nanotechnology Innovation Council.

One of the industries that have experienced good growth in Iran in recent years, proving the country’s scientific development, is the nanotechnology industry, a subject area that has brought Iran to the world’s fourth place.

These achievements are the result of the efforts of knowledge-based institutions, and the Nanotechnology Innovation Council of the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology, IRNA reported on Wednesday.

Some 42% of the products are related to construction, 17% to oil, gas, and petrochemicals, 13% to automobiles, 10% to optoelectronic, and the rest to other fields. Currently, nanotech products are produced and marketed in more than 15 industrial fields based on domestic technologies and are being exported to 49 countries from five continents.

Over the current year (ending March 20), the total sale of Iranian nanoproducts has been equal to 115 trillion rials (nearly $425 million).

The expansion of nanotechnology export programs in recent years and the establishment of bases for exporting nanoproducts to China, India, Indonesia, Syria, Turkey, and Iraq have provided the opportunity for the entry of Iranian nanotechnology goods, equipment, and services to global markets.

Some 42 percent of the products in this field are related to construction, more than 17 percent to the field of oil, gas, and petrochemicals, 13 percent to the field of automobiles, over 10 percent to the field of optoelectronic.

Some 270 companies are active in the nanotechnology field and it is predicted that their revenue will reach up to 80 trillion rials (nearly $310 million), Vice President for Science and Technology, Sourena Sattari, announced.

Iran improves in nanotechnology

Iran’s ranking in nanotechnology articles citation in 2019 has significantly improved compared to 2018, as it moved 26 levels higher, according to the StatNano’s statistics collected from the WoS database.

Based on a report Nanotechnology Publications report, Iran ranked 38 worldwide for the average times the nano-articles have been cited in the Journal Citation Reports in 2019, while in 2018, it was placed 64.

Iran ranked 4th for the highest number of nano-article publications. /T.T/

Colourful flowers and blossoms of trees welcome spring in a market set up in last days of 14th century (according to the Solar Hijri calendar) in the city of Shiraz in south of Iran. People welcome the beginning of the new year on Sunday by crowding flower markets to buy flowers and bushes both for their Haft Sin tables and gardens. Photo: Shiva Al-Sadat Attaran / IRNA/

Islamic Republic of Iran and Qatar emphasized the need for enhancing and boosting outstanding role of women in the family unit.

Iranian Vice-President for Women and Family Affairs Ensieh Khazali met and held talks with Qatari Minister of Social Development and Family Mariam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misnad on Tuesday on the sidelines of the 66th Session of UN Commission on Status of Women (CSW).

During the meeting, the Iranian Vice-President pointed to the recent visit of President Ebrahim Raeisi to Doha to sign several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs).

Khazali proposed Qatari side for setting up a special Working Group for women for realizing most objectives in this respect.

Qatari diplomat welcomed the cooperation plan as proposed by Iran’s Vice-President and stressed the importance of the role of women in the family and the need for a multidimensional view of the role of women in the family.

The two sides also discussed women’s empowerment, the outstanding role of women in the family unit and children and exchanged views on new ways of educating children.

Qatari minister pointed to the cultural similarities between the two countries of Iran and Qatar in terms of the role of women in the family and highlighted the key role of women in family and childcare, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Khazali also held talks with Italy’s Minister for Equal Opportunities and Family on the vulnerability of women in calamities and the necessity for helping them.

During the talks, Khazali said Iranian women have been among those who could well help vulnerable strata in the society in critical conditions.

Khazali made the remarks while referring to the pandemic conditions when women more than others helped and supported the patients by providing face masks for them and giving cash help. / MNA/

Iran’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) witnessed a growth of 4.1% and 3.4% without oil in the first 9 months of the current Iranian calendar year of 1400 (from March 21, 2021 to Dec. 21, 2021), the Iranian Central Bank said Mon.

Iran’s total GDP registered 4.1% growth during the first 9 months of the Iranian calendar year of 1400(from March 21, 2021, to Dec. 21, 2021).

Meanwhile, the statistics released by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), the Iranian economy grew by 3.4% without taking into account the oil exports.

Also, economic growth excluding oil was equal to 5.8% during this period.

The CBI figures showed that the “Services”, “Industries and Mines” and “Oil” sectors grew by 8.1%, 3.8% and 5.4%, respectively, compared to the same period last year, while the agriculture sector recorded negative growth of 2.5%. /MNA/

The national Iranian U18 women’s handball team became runner-up at 2022 Asian Women’s Handball Championships to qualify for the 2022 Women’s Junior World Handball Championship.

The 2022 Asian Women’s Handball finished on Monday with two matches between India and Thailand and Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

India thrashed Thai team 41-18 and the Kazakh team who hosted the Asian championships beat Uzbakistan 29-22.

At the end of the Asian championships, the teams of India, Iran and Kazakhstan ranked first to third, while Uzbekistan and Thailand ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.

With these results, the teams of India and Iran booked their places in the 2022 Women’s Junior World Handball Championship, which will be held in Slovenia from June 22 to July 3.

The Iranian girls lost their first match to Kazakhstan 30-24 while they beat India 42-37 in their second match.

Iran beat the team of Thailand 28-21 in their third match in the 2022 Asian Women’s Handball which was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan from Mar. 7 to 14. For their fourth and final match, the Iranian gild won Uzbekistan 25-21. /MNA/

 

A new species of bee discovered by a research team has been named after late Iranian mathematician “Maryam Mirzakhani”, ISNA reported on Monday.

Researchers in the Department of Plant Protection at Zabul University in recent years has focused on several groups of parasitoid bees, most of which are natural enemies of agricultural pests and are of great importance in pest biological control.

The bee family called Ichneumonids is one of the most important factors in the biological control of pests and includes more than 25,000 species worldwide, of which less than 500 species have been definitively registered in Iran.

During a four-year study, several other species of this valuable group of beneficial insects were collected and identified in different parts of east, west, and central Iran, some of which were previously unknown to the world of science.

Maryam Mirzakhani, Iranian-born genius mathematician and Stanford University professor, obtained her BSc in mathematics (1999) from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran. She then moved to the U.S. and finished a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2004.

She won a gold medal in the Hong Kong International Mathematical Olympiad, in 1994, to be the first female Iranian student to have snatched a gold medal.

In the 1995 Toronto International Mathematical Olympiad, she became the first Iranian student to win two gold medals.

In 2017, Mirzakhani, the winner of the Fields Medal, also known as the Nobel Prize of mathematics, succumbed to breast cancer at 40. /T.T/