Iranian deputy minister of health stressed the necessity of supporting young scientists and researchers and underlined that Iran has been able to rank top in producing science articles through investment on young researchers.

Dr. Reza Malekzadeh said in a scientific event on Sunday “in 2016, we published 52,160 articles and received more than 70,000 citations for our scientific articles. We have been able to rank top in the region in terms of producing scientific articles and attain a higher rank than Turkey and the Zionist regime.”

Malekzadeh said that Iran’s international share in science production has exceeded its population and has reached 8.1 and added “this achievement is not due to adequate budgets, it has been made possible through the attempts by young scientists.”

“Iran’s world ranking is 17 in science production and 18 in scientific citations. The reason for this growth is the change in the evaluation system of medical science universities that favors qualitative activities and achievements.”

“From 1,115 distinguished scientists we have in Iran, 550 are active in the field of medicine which shows that the most outstanding students enter medicine and require support,” Malekzadeh said.

/ Mehr News /

The 20th International Storytelling Festival will be held on 21-25 January 2018 at the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA) in Tehran.

According to deputy head of Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA), the annual international festival has 18,000 participants across the country.

Reza Ghamarzadeh went on to add that 6,737 stories have been evaluated at provincial, regional and national levels, and the most qualified ones will be introduced to the event.

He maintained that the aim of the festival is to promote storytelling traditions among younger generations and to keep alive this culture and ancient ritual of Iran.

The stories picked for the festival are focused on topics such as education, Razavi stories, tales from Shahnameh, and folklore, and will be narrated on stage under 20 minutes.

A number of IIDCYA instructors, teenagers and grandparents are scheduled to go on stage to narrate their tales.

In the previous edition of the festival, Cuban writer and narrator Elvia Ines Perez Napoles narrated her stories, while Norbert Kuber from Germany delivered speeches during the event. Indonesian writer Murti Bunanta also held a workshop on creativity in storytelling.

T he Iranian coal industry, long underutilized despite its massive potential, is capable of driving the mining sector, boost energy production and create the sorely-needed jobs envisioned in the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan (2017-22).

“Iran produces only 1.1 million tons of coal per year while it has 1.15 billion tons of proven reserves. This means Iran is missing out on a huge potential of job, wealth and energy creation,” Ali Palizdar, deputy head of Middle East Mines and Mining Industries Development Holding Company, said in a write-up for the Persian economic weekly Tejarat-e Farda.

It might sound strange to talk of developing coal in a clean-energy obsessed age, as investments are shifting away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy across the world.

However, the International Energy Agency’s 2017 outlook has painted a different landscape, stating that fossil fuels will remain the world’s dominant energy sources for at least the next three decades.

IEA forecasts electricity generated using coal to increase by 10% by 2040. Also, about 74% of the world’s steel are made using blast furnaces and basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS), keeping up demand for the material. The 12% growth in coking coal production in 2011-15 is a testament to coal’s resilience.

Large players such as Russia and the United States are increasingly investing in coal, while enjoying huge reserves of oil and gas. Currently, more than 40% of the world’s electricity are generated via coal and coal producing countries use an average of 0.8% of their coal reserves per year.

This is while Iran, hamstrung by its overdependence on oil, has missed out on diversifying its energy sources. It uses only 0.1% of its coal reserves and is yet to establish any coal power plant.

On top of all this, coal prices are looking highly attractive. Coking coal, the material used in steelmaking, has surged 37% in value since the beginning of November and is averaging $185.70 in 2017, a more than $40 gain compared to the average price of last year, Mining.com reported.

Job Creation Potential

The Sixth Plan envisions boosting economic growth to 8% and dropping unemployment from last year’s 12.6% to 8.6% in 2022.

The government has actually betted high on the mining sector to help deliver these goals. Mines are set to have an annual average value-added growth of 8.8% and an average job creation of 4.6%.

Considering the 100,000 workers directly involved in the industry, at least 5,000 more jobs must be created every year in the sector to materialize the goals, with the total number of jobs reaching 25,000.

This is where coal comes in, with a favorable medium-term global condition, vastly untapped reserves and considerable job creation potential.

Coking Coal Shortage

Although coking coal makes up about 900 million tons of Iran’s proven coal reserves, there is still a chronic shortage of the material for downstream industries.

Steel industry’s blast furnaces and BOS plants require 4.3 million tons of coking coal every year and about 30% of it are met through imports.

Iran’s coal mines annually produce 1.1 million tons of coal concentrate while their output capacity reaches 3 million tons. Meeting the real demand for the material requires plants to utilize their total capacity and triple output.

Aside from the immediate benefits, tripling output will at least double coal mines’ current workforce and create more than 10,000 jobs in just one sector.

Thermal Coal

Iran’s 250 million tons of proven and 1.3 billion tons of estimated thermal coal reserves are neither being properly used for energy production nor being cashed in on their exports.

The country’s only coal power plant project was kicked off eight years ago with an investment of $500 million. It was meant to generate 650 megawatts of electricity per year, but was laid off in less than a few years and is currently completely abandoned.

A meager 150,000-200,000 tons of thermal coal are exported every year, most of which lose their competitive edge over high transportation costs.

This is while investing in both plants and thermal coal shipments has a higher job creation potential compared to iron ore and aluminum sectors. The generation of 1,000 megawatts requires 5-7 million tons of thermal coal and will directly create 5,000-7,000 jobs.

/ Financial tribune /

Iran deputy foreign minister announced In Astana on Friday that Iran, Turkey and Russia are finalizing three important documents relating to ‘exchange of detainees, abductees and bodies of the dead people,’ ‘humanitarian demining in Syria,’ and ‘final declaration of the Astana Summit.’

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari is chairing Iranian delegation in Kazakhstan to attend the ‘8th round of Astana meeting on Syria’ that kicked off earlier on Thursday.

Jaberi Ansari said that in addition to a date for the Syrian National Dialogue Congress, the three delegates have agreed on the provisions of three important documents relating to the ‘exchange of detainees, abductees and bodies of the dead’, ‘humanitarian demining in Syria’ and ‘the final declaration of the meeting of the Astana 8.’

The 8th round of inter-Syrian negotiations on the Syrian crisis opened on Thursday (December 21st) in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan. Representatives of three peace-guarantor countries – Iran, Turkey and Russia – are attending the talks. /  Mehrnews /

Persian leopard Arezoo, well-known for being named after her habitat in Roudsar, northern Iran, was found dead apparently after a fight with a hedgehog.

On February 5, the Roudsar leopard survived a complicated spinal surgery after getting caught in a trap.

The 4-year-old leopard was transferred to Tehran and undergone a complicated surgery and surprisingly restored its ability to walk within a week and eight month later was released back to its habitat in November.

However, using a tracking device hanged around its neck the animal’s body was found in the depth of the forest on Tuesday by the rangers. It has apparently endured a fight with a hedgehog. There are no signs of human–wildlife conflict.

According to YJC, the animal’s body was transferred to Gilan province’s department of environment for autopsy and deciding the exact cause of death. / Tehran times /

Four Iranian feature-length movies as well as eight short films will go on screen at the 16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival in Mumbai, India.

“Mina’s Option” by Kamal Tabrizi, “Bench Cinema” by Mohammad Rahmanian, “Cyanide” by Behruz Shoeibi and “Soyuq” (Coldness) by directors Bahram and Bahman Ark are the four feature films, Iran’s Farabi Cinema Foundation, the producer of the movies, announced on Tuesday.

“Limit” by Javad Darai, “Birthday Night” by Omid Shams, “Save Me” by Mohsen Nabavi and “Fate” by Azar Faramarzi will be screened in the short film competition.The festival will open on Thursday and will run until December 28. / Tehran times /

K hadijeh Azadpour, Iranian kungfu practitioner, sold her Asian Championship gold medal at the weekend to help raise funds for victims in the quake-stricken areas of Kermanshah Province, western Iran. A 7.3 magnitude quake jolted Kermanshah Province on November 12. The quake killed more than 500 people and left over 10,000 injured and homeless.

Azadpour sold the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Championships gold medal for 20 billion Rials ($480,000) to build a hospital in the quake-affected area.

“This medal is valuable for me,” the wushu athlete told ISNA. “Winning the medal was an evolution in Iranian women’s sport”. After her medal, more women athletes were encouraged to take part in the international events and bring glory for the country.

“I’m glad that I have the honor of starting the movement. I sold my medal and will donate the money to the people in quake-stricken areas of Kermanshah,” she was quoted by the news agency as saying.

/ Financial tribune /

I ran Space Research Center has developed a drone that can be used for postal delivery. The center unveiled the drone during the 18th Research, Technology Achievements and Techmart Exhibition held last week in Tehran, Mehr News Agency reported. According to the ISRC, the aerial vehicle can carry a payload of up to five kilograms and travel at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour at an altitude of 600 meters. While technologically interesting, drone delivery services would not be possible in the near future at least in Tehran because flying drones were banned in the city in February following two instances when two unmanned aerial vehicles flew over restricted airspace in downtown Tehran and were brought down by anti-aircraft fire. / Financial tribune /

National Iranian chess squad overcame Belarus to stand in the third place overall at FIDE World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad 2017 in India.

World Youth Chess Olympiad-2017 was competed at Karnavati Club in India. Thirty teams from twenty-five countries had taken part at the prestigious event of World Chess Calendar for Under-16 players.

The Iranian squad consisted of Seyed Mohamad Amin Tabatabaei, Alireza Firouzja, Arian Gholami, Mahdi Gholami and Anousha Mahdian.

In Round Nine of the tournament, young Persian Chess players pulled out a decisive win (4-0) over Belarusian rivals and received the bronze medal.

Russian stood on top of the podium winning the gold medal while host India collected the bronze medal to finish in the second position.

Iran had won the title in the 2016 edition of the sportive event.In the nine round Swiss System event, each team needed to field a maximum of 5 players which include one girl player and she had to play at least three 3 rounds. For the records, the event had attracted one Grandmaster, fourteen International Masters and four women international masters and twenty nine Fide Masters. /   Mehr news /