Iran football team defeated Uzbekistan 1-0 at the CAFA U18 Women’s Championship on Friday.

Negin Zandi scored the only goal of the match in the 38th minute. Uzbekistan were reduced to 10 in the 68th minute and went down to nine 10 minutes later.

Four Central Asian teams take their first preparatory steps on the road to the 2024 AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup as Tajikistan plays host.

The tournament has brought Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyz Republic in the round-robin event, which will give young prospects the chance to shine on the regional stage.

“First, I would like to congratulate all Iranian people for this win. I think we could have scored four goals since Uzbekistan were reduced to nine players in the last minutes of the match,” Iran coach Maryam Azmoun said in the post-match news conference.

This tournament feature players from the age group that will compete in the opening qualification stage of AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup, which is scheduled to be held in March 2023.

All six matches will be held at Central Republican Stadium, where the action will conclude on Tuesday. /T.T/

Iran’s leading artists and literati were awarded the first Nezami international prize in Tehran on Thursday, IRNA reported.

The prize was given to calligrapher Keykhosro Khorush, miniaturist Mohammad-Baqer Aqamiri, stage director Behruz Gharibpur, and the family of the late musician Hossein Dehlavi.

Scholars and researchers Mohammad Roshan-Dashti, Mehdi Mohabati, and Abdolmajid Arfaei as well as singers Saeid Shafieiun and Kurosh Asadpur, and musician Hatam Asgari Farahi also received the award.

An honorary award was also given to the prominent Iranian singer Shahram Nazeri.

Organized by the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO, the prize aims to honor studies and works on the Persian poet Nemazi Ganjavi from around the world.

The works and studies must throw the spotlight on the significance and impacts of Nezami on the Persian language, literature, art, and culture.

The prize is scheduled to be presented annually on Nezami Day, which falls on March 12 this year.

Back in February, Iranian National Commission for UNESCO director Hojjatollah Ayyubi announced that different books on Nezami’s works have been translated across the world this year, but none of them have referred to his language and identity origin.

“Due to our negligence, different aspects of Nazemi have not been introduced among the younger generation and this negligence has caused some movements.

He noted that the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO plans to hold the Persian poet in high regard in UNESCO programs more than ever.

“According to numerous documents, the origins of Nezami’s family can be traced back to Tad, a village near the town of Tafresh” Ayyubi noted.

He said that the National Museum of Iran plans a commemorative event for Nezami, which will be followed by another cultural program in Tafresh.

Abdolmahdi Mostakin, the secretary of the prize, also said, “Different massive programs have arranged by the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO to celebrate Nezami’s works, which have inspired numerous literary, dramatic, and artistic works in Iran, the region, and the world over the past 800 years.”

“Due to his creativity and unique innovations in Persian literature and his creative imagination, several countries in the region are trying to connect themselves to the great poet,” he stated.

“Regarding his great cultural potential and his Iranian origin, Nezami can join the neighboring nations to the eternal sources of Islamic Iranian culture and develop Iran’s soft power in the global culture and civilization,” Mostakin noted.

Earlier in January, Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance announced its plan to commemorate Nezami Ganjavi in a weeklong program in March.

The program, which has been set up as a hybrid event with virtual and live meetings, begins on Esfand 21 in the Iranian calendar year (March 12), which is celebrated by Iran as Nezami Day every year.  /T.T/

The national Iranian U18 women’s handball team defeated Thailand in the 2022 Asian Women’s Handball.

The Iranian U18 female handball team beat the team of Thailand 28-21 in their third match in the 2022 Asian Women’s Handball underway in Almaty, Kazakhstan from Mar. 7 to 14.

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

The 2022 Asian Women’s Handball Championship is the 16th edition of the championship which acts as the qualification tournament for the 2022 Women’s Junior World Handball Championship in Slovenia. The top two teams from the Asian championship will directly qualify for the world event. /MNA/

Several Iranian knowledge-based companies are set to participate in the 21st International Exhibition for Equipment and Technologies for Oil and Gas Industries (NEFTEGAZ) in the Russian capital of Moscow.

Head of the International Science and Technology Interaction Center of the Iranian Science and Technology Vice-Presidency Mehdi Ghalenoei announced the upcoming International Exhibition for Equipment and Technologies for Oil and Gas Industries (NEFTEGAZ) will host a number of knowledge-based companies.

The 21st NEFTEGAZ will be held in Moscow on April 18–21, 2022.

The exhibition and forum bring together the whole industry to show all new products and trends. / MNA/

The 2023 Mustafa (PBUH) Prize Award Ceremony will be held in October 2023, while the nomination for the fifth round of Mustafa (PBUH) Prize has started.

The 2023 Mustafa(pbuh) Prize Award Ceremony will be held in October 2023, during which the winners will be announced.

The winners will be among the nominees who have submitted the bests of science and technology in the Islamic world.

The Mustafa(pbuh) Prize is awarded in the four categories of Information and Communication Science and Technology, Life and Medical Science and Technology, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, and Basic and Engineering Sciences.

In this round of the Mustafa(pbuh) Prize, a Prize is also awarded to scientists residing in the Islamic countries regardless of their religion with the aim of developing science and technology in these countries.

The nominees can only be nominated by renowned scientists and/or one of the following scientific institutions: universities and research centers, Science and technology associations and centers of excellence, academies of sciences, and science and technology parks.

The prize includes The Mustafa(pbuh) Medal, the Prize Certificate, and a special cash gift that is provided from the endowment of science and technology, and so far more than 400 benefactors from different countries as members of the Khadem Al-Mustafa­(PBUH) community have supported this scientific-cultural movement.

The deadline for nominations is August 31, 2022.

For more information about the criteria and how to submit an application, visit www.mustafaprize.org

/MNA/

Iranian documentary film ‘Tonight’s Homework’ will be screened in the Ljubljana Documentary Film Festival in Slovenia.

Directed by Ashkan Nejati and Mehran Nematollahi, the Iranian documentary film ‘Tonight’s Homework’ has made its way to the critical societal section of the Ljubljana Documentary Film Festival in Slovenia.

Following last year’s online edition, the Ljubljana Documentary Film Festival is underway in hybrid form this year to feature 22 feature-length documentaries and three shorts between 9 and 16 March

In ‘Tonight’s Homework’, Ashkan Nejati and Mehran Nematollahi, the directors of the documentary, repeat questions, asked by Iran’s prominent director Abbas Kiarostami in his 1989 film ‘Homework’, to students at a public school, including questions about homework, punishments, and dreams of the future to see how the society has changed. /MNA/

Islamic Republic of Iran and China stressed the need to develop and enhance cooperation in the field of sports and tourism in particular. In a meeting held between the Iranian Deputy Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Ali-Asghar Shalbafan and the Chinese Ambassador to Iran Chang Hua in Tehran on Tuesday, the two sides expressed their readiness to boost bilateral cooperation in the tourism field.

The Iranian official pointed to the cultural and historical commonalities between the two countries and stated that Iran and China enjoy high capabilities and potentials to develop their cooperation in the field of tourism.

Executive planning has been compiled by the Iranian tourism ministry with the aim of expanding tourism relations between the two countries, Shalbafan underscored.

Chinese envoy to Iran, for his part, pointed to the salient tourism attractions of Iran and said that capacities such as favorable skiing environment and rail lines are among the attractions that have been put at the focal attention of Chinese people. /MNA/

The spokesman for Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) said that 15,799,000 tons of goods and commodities, valued at $9.858 billion, were exchanged between Iran and other countries in the Iranian month of Bahman.

Seyyed Rouhollah Latifi said on Wednesday that 15,799,000 tons of goods were exchanged between Iran and other countries in the Iranian month of Bahman (from Jan. 21 to Feb. 22, 2022), showing a 45 and 52 percent hike in terms of weight and value respectively as compared to the same period of last year.

These statistics showed that Iran’s foreign trade has registered a 41 and 21 percent hike in terms of weight and value respectively as compared to a month earlier, he added.

He went on to say that 12,233,000 tons of Iranian goods, valued at $4.754 billion, were exported from Iran to other countries in the same period, showing a 45 and 64 percent growth in terms of weight and value respectively as compared to the last year’s corresponding period.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Latifi pointed to the volume of products imported into the country in this period and added that 3,566,000 tons of goods, valued at $5.104 billion, were imported into the country, registering a 46 and 42 percent hike in terms of weight and value respectively.

More than 1,070,000 tons of foreign goods were transited via Iranian land and territory, recording a 36 percent hike as compared to the same period of last year, IRICA spokesman added.  /MNA/

The final phase of the largest vaccine factory in Western Asia has been put into operation in the Iranian province of Alborz. In the presence of the Iranian health minister Bahram Einollahi, the final phase of the largest vaccine factory in West of Asia, as well as the production of 60 million doses of COVIran Barekat vaccine, was put into operation in Barakat Pharmaceutical Industrial Town located in Alborz province.

Barakat is the first ant-Covid vaccine manufactured in Iran. COVIran Barekat is developed in Iran by Shifa Pharmed Industrial Group. /MNA/

Scholarships will be awarded to 100 talented students of the Islamic world studying in Iranian universities at the master’s and doctoral levels in basic sciences, Sa’dollah Nasiri, the chancellor of Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti University, said.

He made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the International Year of Basic Sciences on Wednesday.

Proclaimed for 2022 by the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly 2 in December 2021, the day aims to stress that the applications of basic sciences are vital for advances in medicine, industry, agriculture, water resources, energy planning, environment, communications, and culture.

On this occasion, it was decided to grant 100 post-doctoral recruitment capacity or study opportunities in basic sciences to doctoral graduates or faculty of neighboring and Islamic countries to put research on the agenda under the supervision of the country’s leading professors, Nasiri added.

He went on to note that the birthday anniversary of Abu Rayhan al-Biruni (March 4) is proposed to be approved as the national day of basic sciences in the Iranian calendar.

Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the “founder of Indology”, “Father of Comparative Religion”, “Father of modern geodesy”, and the first anthropologist.

520,000 foreign students in Iran

The Iranian minister of foreign affairs has said that more than 520,000 foreign students in Iran study for free and that the vaccination of Afghan asylum seekers has been considered and taken on a par with that of Iranian citizens.

Some 57,675 college students from 133 countries are studying in Iranian universities, many of whom have returned to their country with the outbreak of the pandemic.

Some 30,600 of the whole students are studying in universities affiliated with the Ministry of Science, while 25,000 others are receiving education in Azad University, and about 2,000 in medical universities.

Fifty-seven percent of the international students are studying for a master’s degree, 27 percent for a bachelor’s degree, and 15 percent for a Ph.D. degree, while the remaining one percent study at other levels.

Law, Persian literature and computer engineering are the top three fields of study for foreign students in Iran, while civil engineering, business management, political science, English language and literature, Quran and hadith sciences, international relations, electrical engineering, and other majors with the highest number of non-Iranian students. /T.T/