Celebrated Iranian kamancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor won the Artist Award of the globalFEST, North America’s most important world music industry event, which was held in New York last week.

The Artist Award is one of the three main awards of the festival, which is presented to those artists who have made a lasting impression in the U.S., their homeland or around the world.

The Trouble Worldwide Award of the festival went to Lisa Stafford, the Programming director of the Festival International de Louisiane, a music festival in the U.S., while American music consultant and DJ Tom Schnabel won the Impact Award of the festival.

“We are delighted to honor three arts leaders at the globalFEST 2020 Awards, Kayhan Kalhor, Tom Schnabel and Lisa Stafford,” the organizers wrote in a statement published on January 12

“Thank you for your exceptional, visionary, and inspiring contributions to the cultural landscape in the performing arts field in the USA and beyond,” they added.

Iran’s Music Office director Mohammad Allahyari Fumani congratulated Kalhor on his win in a message published on Friday.

“Achieving this success under these circumstances, when we are mourning the loss of Martyr Soleimani and our loved ones in the Ukrainian plane crash, lessens our sadness,” Allahyari Fumani wrote.

Four-time Grammy Award nominee Kalhor has won several awards at Iranian and international music events.

He won the Artist Award at the WOMEX Awards, the World Music Expo, in Finland, last August.

He was also one of the two winners of the Isaac Stern Human Spirit Award at the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition in August 2018./T.T/

Based on indices including citations, 65 Iranian universities, 22 of them active in medical sciences, are among top universities in the world, a senior health ministry official said.
Deputy Health, Treatment and Medical Education Minister for Research and Technology Reza Malekzadeh told IRNA on Friday that 354 Iranian researchers are among the top one percent in the world 90 of whom are conducting research in the field of medical sciences, IRNA reported.

He hailed Iran’s scientific progress in 2019 in terms of the number of articles and citations, saying that it advanced one position in the number of articles and stood at 15th while it ranked 14th in terms of citations.

Calling for supporting the elites and researchers, Malekzadeh said that efforts should be made to keep them in the country.

Referring to holding of the 25th Razi Medical Research Festival, he said that the festival has been able to support 600 elites and distinguished researchers as the selected researchers over the past 25 years. / Iran Daily /

Iranian knowledge-based companies will be setting up a pavilion at the 17th Oman Petroleum & Energy Show (OPES) in March.

Over 500 exhibitors and more than 10 pavilions from 30 countries will be present in the 17th edition of the Oman Petroleum & Energy Show (OPES).

Participation at this pavilion can be a good opportunity for the Iranian knowledge-based companies active in the oil, gas, energy and related industries, to attract the large energy market of Oman and the Persian Gulf region.

Also, due to the participation of major multinational companies in the exhibition, Iranian companies will have a chance to interact with representatives of various countries active in the energy sector.

The Oman Petroleum & Energy Show (OPES), according to the event’s organizers, serves as a key meeting point for energy professionals, oil and gas companies, policy and decision-makers, and stakeholders.

The OPES 2020 will be held at Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre in Muscat, from 9-11 March 2020. / MNA/

The 11th International Exhibition of Cement, Concrete, Manufacturing Technology and Related Machinery (IRAN CEMENTEX 2020) and the 4th International Exhibition of Agriculture, Agricultural Machinery and Equipment, Input, Irrigation Systems (Iran Agri Show 2020) are running at the Tehran Permanent International Fairgrounds.

As reported by Shata, Iranian Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Reza Rahmani, Head of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) Khodadad Gharibpour and Deputy Industry Minister Hossein Modares Khiabani attended the opening ceremony of the Iran CEMENTEX 2020 exhibition.

As for the Iran Agri Show 2020, the exhibition’s opening ceremony was attended by senior officials including Iran’s Acting Agriculture Minister Abbas Keshavarz, Iranfair.com reported.

Several Iranian and foreign exhibitors gathered together in this event to showcase their latest products and services in the field of agriculture and related machinery.

Presenting the capabilities of Iranian companies and their latest industrial and technological achievements, creating opportunities for domestic and foreign participants to get to know each other and exchange experiences in order to introduce the world’s latest technological achievements into the country, as well as presenting domestic and foreign investment opportunities were reported to be some of the main goals of these four-day exhibitions which will wrap up on Friday. / T.T/

A lineup of nine Iranian movies will be reviewed during a special program named “Iranian Film Days” at the Beyoglu Academy in Istanbul.

The three-day festival, which will open on Friday, will screen “Today” by Reza Mirkarimi, “Azar, Shahdokht, Parviz and Others” by Behruz Afkhami, “Sweet Taste of Imagination” by Kamal Tabrizi, “Where Are My Shoes” by Kiumars Purahmad and “Track 143” by Narges Abyar.

The lineup also includes “Bodyguard” by Ebrahim Hatamikia, “Crazy Castle” by Abolhassan Davudi, “Mazar-i-Sharif” by Hassan Barzideh and “Once Upon a Time Love and Hatred” by Davud Bidel.

Iranian filmmaker Abolhassan Davudi and Turkish director Faysal Soysal are also scheduled to attend the festival.

Iran’s Cultural Office in Istanbul organizes the festival in collaboration with the Beyoglu District Municipality. / T.T/

Iran U19 Girl’s Futsal coach Niloofar Ardalan says her team will take part at the CAFA U19 Girl’s Futsal Championship 2020 Tajikistan.

The round-robin tournament will bring Tajikistan, Iran, Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan together in Dushanbe from Jan. 24 to 29.

“The CAFA futsal competition will be held for the first time and the participating teams will compete in the event with a mix of football and futsal players,” Ardalan said.

“I think we have to vie with Uzbekistan to win the title. We will participate in the competition with 14 players who play in Iran futsal league. The CAFA tournament can be a good preparatory tournament and we can identify what our strengths and weaknesses are,” she added.

The Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) is an association of the football playing nations in Central Asia. /T.T/

Iranian benefactor physician, Mohammad Reza Esparvarin, will construct 110 schools in deprived areas across the country, IRNA news agency reported on Monday.

These educational spaces will be built in collaboration with the Organization for Development, Renovation and Equipment of School meeting the latest standards and according to up-to-date technology.

By building these schools, more than 7,000 students will have access to safe and secure educational environment.

More than one fifth of the schools in Iran have been constructed by philanthropists, First Vice-President Es’haq Jahangiri has said.

Mehrollah Rakhshanimehr, director of the Organization for Development, Renovation and Equipping, has said that some 50 percent of the newly constructed schools which are to be inaugurated in the current school year (started September 23, 2019) have also been built by philanthropists.

Rakhshanimehr went on to say that provinces of Sistan-Baluchestan, North Khorasan, Alborz, Tehran, Qom, Gilan, Golestan, West Azarbaijan, Kerman, Khuzestan, and Khorasan Razavi are all short of adequate educational spaces.
He noted that one third of schools in Iran were dilapidated and require renovation. / T.T/

A plan on domestic production of 135 medicines is on the agenda, which will save up to $570 million per year, Mostafa Qane’ei, secretary of the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology for biotechnology development, has said.

“We have set a goal to reduce medicine imports by one billion dollars [per year],” he added.

According to the plan, one year after the production of 135 pharmaceutical products, $160 million in savings will be achieved, he noted.

Production of 44 out of the 135 products has started, of which seven are biological medicines and 37 are pharmaceutical raw materials, he explained.

According to Amir Hossein Mo’eini Zandi, vice president of the union of medicine importers, $1.373 billion was allocated to pharmaceutical companies for medicine imports in the past Iranian calendar year (ended March 20, 2019). / T.T/

The director general of Agriculture Ministry for Intl. Affairs said that Iran will hold Food Expo in Sulaymaniyah of Iraq on April 11-21, 2020.

According to the information received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was agreed to hold Iran International Food Expo in Sulaymaniyah of Iraq in the beginning of coming year (to start March 21, 2020).

This expo will be held in cooperation with an Iraqi company and Iraq’s Commercial Services Company. / MNA/

Iranian director Behzad Sheikh has dedicated his latest documentary “Aqil” to Quds Force commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and the deputy commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who were assassinated in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad on Friday.

The documentary had its premiere during the 10th Ammar Popular Film Festival in Tehran on Tuesday.

It tells the story of a young Iranian man name Aqil whose father asked in his will for one of his rings to be donated to the holy shrine of Imam Hussein (AS) in the Iraqi city of Karbala.

Aqil decides to take the ring to Karbala during the Arbaeen march, in which Iranians and Shia Muslims from other countries embark on a journey to Karbala to observe the day of Arbaeen, which marks the end of the 40-day mourning period following the martyrdom of the Imam and his loyal companions on Ashura.

“If we had not had great men such as martyrs Soleimani and Abu Mahdi, Iranians would never see great Shia gatherings such as the Arbaeen march, and consequently, the documentary would never have been made,” the film crew said in a statement before the screening of “Aqil”.

Amir-Hassan Khajavi is the producer of the documentary, which was filmed in Iran and Iraq.

The 10th Ammar Popular Film Festival will come to an end tonight. / T.T/