Iranian rower Mahsa Javar finished in second place at the 2016 Asian and Oceania Olympic Qualification Regatta on Monday.

Javar, who has already secured a place at the Rio 2016 by advancing to the final six, came second in the 2,000 meters women’s single sculls event with a time of 8:05.08.

She is the nine Iranian woman to book a place at the Rio 2016.

Chinese Taipei’s Yi-Ting Huang came first, clocking a time of 8:01.86.

Kazakhstan’s Svetlana Germanovich finished in third place with a time of 8:07.12.

/ Tehran times /

Despite the fact that forests across the globe are shrinking at a rate of 0.09 percent annually Iran’s forests expanded 0.98 percent on average per year over the past 15 years, according to a report by the World Bank titled “World Development Indicators: Rural Environment and Land Use”.

Based on the assessments provided by the World Bank Iran is among the countries with an increase in their forest vegetation from 2000 to 2015, Tasnim news agency reported.

Countries such as Iceland, China, France, Egypt, Denmark, Germany, India, Iraq, Spain, and the U.S are of the same status as Iran regarding their vegetation.

Meanwhile countries such as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Mexico, Portugal, and Zimbabwe are countries experiencing a decrease in their vegetation.

Generally, forest vegetation in the Middle East increased by 0.88 percent a year, in Europe increased by 0.1 percent a year, in East Asia increased by 0.17 percent a year, in South Asia increased by 0.37 percent a year, and in North America increased by 0.06 percent a year, according to the report.

Sub-Saharan Africa set the records for the highest amount of deforestation by an average of 0.48 percent a year decrease as well as Latin America with 0.36 percent a year decrease over the same period. / Tehran times /

The general plan to build Iran’s first igloo-style tourist resort in Qazvin has been approved by the city council and the municipality.

The idea of the innovative multi-purpose complex, which was put forward by an unnamed private stakeholder, was discussed in the meeting of the high council for investment attended by the members of the council, the mayor and deputy mayors of Qazvin. It was approved unanimously.

The scheme includes portable igloo-style (semispherical) suites of 20 to 25 square meters which will be built in Barajin National Park once preliminary studies are completed. The project will be fully funded by the private sector.

“Staying in such facilities offers tourists a different and unique experience,” said Nasser Ganji, investment and public participation deputy at Qazvin Municipality.

Emphasizing that the project is ecofriendly, Ganji said the fact that this innovative project was completely designed by Iranian architects and will be funded by domestic investors makes it all the more special.

“The resort will be visually attractive and have a unique appearance,” the official said, adding that it is a low-cost project. “Should the project prove to be a success, we’ll expand it,” Ganji noted.

/financialtribune.com/

Director of Production Control in Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Alimohammad Bossaqzadeh said that domestic petrochemical industry requires attracting $77 billion of finance by 2020.

Bossaqzadeh noted that the undergoing projects in this sector worth from $100 million to several billion dollars but they cannot be financed domestically, the ISNA news agency reported on Sunday.

“Foreign investors have voiced readiness to back completion of petrochemical projects in Iran and related negotiations are taking place,” he added.

According to the NPC director, the Iranian government prefers to attract the foreign finance in form of investments and via making joint venture with Iranian partners.

The Islamic Republic drew up 30 new petrochemical projects to be implemented in the post-sanctions time, Marzieh Shahdaie, the managing director of NPC, said in an exclusive interview with the Tehran Times in January.

Questioned about the status of Iran’s petrochemical sector for the attraction of foreign investment in the post-sanctions time, Shahdaie answered that foreign companies mainly from Europe and East Asia are seeking to make investment in the implementation of Iranian petrochemical projects now that the sanctions are being removed against the country.

She mentioned Iran’s huge reserves of energy, its strategic location as well as domestic capabilities and expert manpower as the country’s advantages for the attraction of foreign investment.

/ Tehran times /

A memorandum of understanding was signed between two Iranian and South Korean knowledge-based companies active in the field of herbal-based medicines. The MoU was signed between Hekmat Pajouhan Company, affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences, and ViroMed Co. Ltd., a biotechnology company located in Seoul, South Korea, in the presence of Professor Sung-Young Kim from Seoul National University and Mahmoud Khodadoost, deputy for Traditional Medicine at the Health Ministry.”The MoU aims to promote Iranian traditional medicine and harness international capacity in commercializing and globalizing herbal-based medications,” the Health Ministry’s online portal reported. Prof. Kim also addressed a meeting of university officials on ViroMed’s activities in biological medicine for various life-threatening diseases and herbal-based medicines.

/financialtribune.com/

Young Iranian soccer player Mehrdad Oladi, 30, passed away after a heart attack on Tuesday, (April 19), in Tehran.

He was taken to Shohada Hospital, in the northern part of the capital on Tuesday afternoon; however, attempts to revive him failed, Varzesh3.com reported.

Oladi started his career at Iran pro League (IPL) with Tehran’s Persepolis football club in 2003 before moving to the Dubai football club Al-Shabab in 2006.

He joined Iran’s Malavan in 2009. He had two great seasons with the club, reaching the final of the Hazfi Cup. He was the top scorer for Malavan with 15 goals in the 2010–11 season.

He joined Esteghlal in 2013, but returned to Malavan in 2014 where he stayed until his untimely death.

Playing as a striker, he made over 150 club appearances and scored almost 50 goals. He played in 13 matches for the national football team and scored one goal.

Last October, Hadi Norouzi, captain of Persepolis, also died of cardiac arrest. He too was 30.

/financialtribune.com/

Iran has signed an agreement with French aerospace company Thales Group to buy three Airport Surveillance Radars for Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport and airports of the southern cities of Shiraz and Bandar Abbas.

The agreement was signed in a meeting between Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi and French Transport Minister Alain Vidalies in Tehran on Tuesday.

The new state-of-the-art radars will replace the dilapidated   equipment that have been in use in Iran’s airports, including one in Mehrabad which is 18 years old, to facilitate landings and increase flight safety, member of the board of directors at Iran Airports Company, Seyyed Ahmad Momeni, was quoted by IRNA as saying.

/financialtribune.com/

Some 386,000 foreign nationals are studying at schools in Iran, while 360,000 of them are Afghan nationals, said Shahin Noushabadi, the deputy education minister for international affairs.

Those under-privileged foreign nationals who cannot afford tuition fees will be either entitled to discount of more than 80 percent or can pay the fee in installments, Mehr news agency quoted Noushabadi as saying.

Noushabadi went on to say that according to the decree issued by the supreme leader, all foreign nationals, even those who have no identification and are living in Iran illegally, can go to schools in the country.

There are people who have proposed to build schools with educational curriculum of India, Pakistan, Iraq, Kuwait, etc., he said adding, “in case we succeed in obtaining the required standards for such schools we will set them up in Iran as well.” / tehran times  /