Sharif University is going to hold a commemoration ceremony to play homage to late Iranian math genius Maryam Mirzakhani on November 21.

The commemoration ceremony of Maryam Mirzakhani, the late Iranian mathematician, will be attended by relatives, friends, officials, university professors and students.

The Iranian winner of Fields Medal, also known as the Nobel Prize of mathematics, and Stanford University professor, Mirzakhani, passed away at 40 in a hospital in the US on July 15.

In 1994, Mirzakhani won a gold medal in the Hong Kong International Mathematical Olympiad, to be the first female Iranian student to have received a gold medal. In the 1995 Toronto International Mathematical Olympiad, she became the first Iranian student to receive a perfect score and to win two gold medals.

She obtained her BSc in mathematics in 1999 from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran. She went to the US and got a PhD from Harvard University in 2004.

Mirzakhani, who was born on May 3, 1977, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013, a year before she set the record of the first ever woman to win the prestigious Fields Medal in mathematics. / Mehr news /

Olympic gold medal winner in Rio 2016 Kianoush Rostami is going to auction his medal to give the money to the people who were affected by the earthquake.

A 7.3 magnitude earthquake that struck Iran’s western provinces has killed at least 450 people and injured more than 7,000 others.

The earthquake also caused major damage to buildings and infrastructure in the cities.

“My gold medal belongs to my people and I just hand it back to them. I didn’t sleep in the previous nights due to a sorrowful event,” Rostami said.

Rostami set a new world record of 396 kilograms in his 85kg weight class, winning his first Olympic gold medal.

A number of top athletes and sports celebrities are set to meet at Tehran’s Shiroudi stadium on Wednesday to raise money for earthquake victims. / Tehran times /

Iranian artists have announced that they would organize various programs to help the victims of the devastating earthquake that hit the western Iranian region of Kermanshah on Sunday.

The powerful earthquake killed at least 450 people and injured thousands. The Kurdish band Tarang plans to perform a benefit concert in Tehran to aid the victims of the deadly earthquake.

The concert will be held at Tehran’s Andishe Hall on November 24, bandleader Borzu Amiri said in a press release on Tuesday.

“This is not the first time that the Kurdish people feel grief… However, I hope it will be the last time they feel sad,” he stated.

Tehran’s Kurosh Cineplex also plans to help with relief efforts following the natural disaster. The cineplex will allocate half of its box office revenue on Wednesday to the victims.

Tehran’s Mojdeh Gallery also will organize a three-day exhibition to aid the quake-stricken people. The gallery is scheduled to put part of its treasure trove on sale during the exhibition to raise funds for the victims of the earthquake.

Gallery manager Mojdeh Tabatabai has also asked Iranian artists to join the charity by donating their artworks to the exhibition, which will open on November 24.

Legendary Iranian Kurdish vocalist Shahram Nazeri also expressed his sympathy for the victims of the quake during the unveiling of his new album “Who Is a Lover?” in Tehran on Monday.

The organizers observed a minute of silence before the unveiling ceremony in remembrance of those who perished in the earthquake.

The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has also stopped all art and cultural programs for three days to sympathize with those who have lost loved ones in the accident.

In addition, the National Orchestra also canceled its Tuesday night concert to remember the victims of the earthquake as many celebrities sent messages of sympathy to the victims on social networks.

/ Tehran times /

Rastak, one of Iran’s leading contemporary folk music ensembles, will perform on the final day of the Dhaka International Folk Festival 2017 that will present the diverse richness of Persian culture to the stage on November 11.

The ambassadors of Persian Music, rendering the soothing sounds of Tar, Setar, Daf, Santur, Tanbur or Tonbak will make the listeners wonder and lose their soul to the rich sounds of their musical heritage. Their music and performances combine language, culture and history while merging traditional instruments with contemporary rhythms.

The sounds of Iran including the Kurdish, Balushi, Shirazi and Arabic traditions will come alive in Dhaka.

Rastak began as an experimental music group in 1997 with a group of Iranian students who shared a passion for sharing traditional Persian folk music with an international audience.

Rastak will introduce a number of Persian folk instruments to the audience, including the tar, which is a long-necked string instrument, the balaban, which is a type of flute, the tonbak, which is a drum, and the gheychak, a stringed instrument played with a bow, just to name a few.

Their programme will include a number of songs that reflect the different regions and cultural influences in Persian culture such as Kurdish, Balushi, Shirazi and Arabic to Bangladeshis. / unb /

A photo exhibition displaying aspects of ancient Iranian civilization is currently underway at the Hellenic Photographic Society in Athens, Greece.

“Iran, Ancient Civilization”, which opened on Saturday, has been organized in collaboration with Iran’s Focus Photo Club and the society, the club announced in a press release on Sunday.

Works by Nima Tajeddin, Amin Dehqan, Maryam Monavvarian, Alireza Rahimi, Ahmad Samei, Amin Zamzam and several other Iranian photographers have been selected for the weeklong show.

A photo by Borna Mirahmadian was picked as best photo of the exhibit by the Hellenic Photographic Society and the photographer was awarded the Gold Medal of the society and a free ticket to Greece.

Several other photos also received honorable mentions.

Ali Samei, the representative of Iran’s branch of FIAP, who was participating in the opening ceremony, gave a brief speech about the history of photography in Iran.

He also introduced several famous Iranian photographers including Kaveh Golestan, Abbas Kiarostami, Reza Deqati and Shadi Qadirian to the participating guests at the ceremony.

In addition, a collection of photos selected from the 4th Khayyam International Exhibition of Photography is on display on the sidelines of the exhibit.

The Focus Photo Club organizes the Khayyam exhibit annually with the help of the Photographic Society of America (PSA) and FIAP.

The Athens exhibit is part of a cultural exchange between Iran and Greece as two ancient civilizations.

The Hellenic Photographic Society and the Focus Photo Club are scheduled to co-organize an exhibition of photos by a number of Greek photographers in Tehran during 2018.

Photo: People visit the exhibition “Iran, Ancient Civilization” at the Hellenic Photographic Society in Athens, Greece on October 7, 2017.   / Tehran times /

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was inked between Iran Malaysia Women Business Forum (IMWBF) and Women Entrepreneur Network of Malaysia (WENA) to elevate bilateral trade ties and boost investment opportunities.

The cooperation agreement was endorsed on Monday evening in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur by IMWBF’s Secretary, Elham Amini and Ms. Nadira Yusoff, President of WENA president.

Ms. Amini underlined that participation of women is prerequisite to exploiting all capacities to increase amount of collaborations between the two Muslim countries.

The official further urged WENA members to visit Iran and stressed the need to foster friendly cooperation between businesswomen and entrepreneurs of the two sides.

Also the signing ceremony, Malaysia’s Yusoff voiced satisfaction over increasing trade transactions between Iranian and Malaysian women and attached great significance to cooperation and signing MoUs for making presence in Iran’s mega and outstanding market.

Tehran is expected to host a meeting on November 01-02 on investment opportunities in Iran and Malaysia for women.

Later at the session, Mohammad Hafez Hakami, who heads Iran-Malaysia Trade and Exhibition Opportunities, noted that there exited proper grounds for various activities that entrepreneur Muslim women from the two countries could use, and the cooperation between IMWBF and WENA could mark an emblem for women in other Muslim countries. / Mehr News /

Head of Iran Weightlifting Federation Ali Moradi said that the Iranian women weightlifters can compete in the sport.

Gender equality in sports has always been a controversial topic.

In July 2011, International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) modified its competing rules to allow tight-fitting, body-length unitards for the first time.

“Weightlifting is an Olympic sport open for all athletes to participate without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, or national origin in accordance with the principles of the Olympic Charter and values,” said IWF President Tamas Ajan at that time. “This rule modification has been considered in the spirit of fairness, equality and inclusion.”

Now, Moradi says the Iranian federation is ready to support the Iranian female weightlifters in the domestic and international competitions.

“In the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) in Turkmenistan the Muslim women participated in the weightlifting competition. I think the women have no problem to participate in weightlifting wearing the hijab,” Moradi said.

“IOC has a special committee which monitors gender equality. This is a good opportunity for our country because the Iranian women have the potential to win medals,” he added.

/ Tehran times /

An international exhibition opened at the Art Bureau in Tehran on Tuesday to display posters on the massacre of Muslims in Myanmar and the atrocity of the country’s government that has caused thousands of these Muslims to flee to Bangladesh.

Seventy posters by artists from 19 countries, including China, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Austria, Italy, the U.S., Poland, Egypt and Algeria, have been selected for the exhibition, Art Bureau’s Visual Arts Department director Masud Shojaei-Tabtabai said earlier in a press release.

“This incident was so horrible and unexpected that the world public opinion was deeply affected,” he added.

He said that the exhibition is part of the strong response from international artists to the ethnic cleansing by the Myanmar government.

A miniature painting titled “The Wings of the Heaven” on Mohsen Hojaji, an Iranian soldier who was killed by Daesh forces in Syria during August, was also unveiled on the sidelines of the exhibit.

The miniature, which has been created by Mehdi Farrokhi, is the sixth artworks made on Hojaji under the auspices of the Art Bureau.

Photo: Art enthusiasts visit an international poster exhibition on the massacre of Muslims in Myanmar at the Art Bureau in Tehran on October 10, 2017.

/ Tehran times /