Iran’s first hydrographic and oceanographic survey ship called Persian Gulf Explorer was launched after being delivered to National Institute for Oceanography and Atmospheric Science.

On the fifth day of Fajr Decade, the first Iranian hydrographic and oceanographic survey ship, which has been designed and built by the Iranian Defense Ministry’s Marine Industries Organization, was officially put into the water during a ceremony in Bandar Abbas.

Addressing the delivery ceremony, Head of Marine Industries Organization Rastegari commemorated victory of the Islamic Revolution saying “professional directors and specialists of Iran’s Defense Ministry, inspired by the late Leader of the Revolution Imam Khomeini as well as wise orders of the Leader, have managed to build oceanographic survey ship with advanced capabilities in accordance with global standards.”

On distinguished characteristics of the newly-built vessel, the official said “Persian Gulf Explorer enjoys an operating range of three thousand sea miles, lasting 40 days at sea and a maximum speed of 15 knots with excellent maneuverability, power, satellite communications systems, advanced CCP propulsion systems, the data transfer system and the DP system for dynamic stabilization of the ship.

“The vessel is also equipped with three laboratories and two freezers,” highlighted the official adding “the ship has received approval from reputable domestic and foreign institutions and offers numerous applications in the field of physical oceanography, marine chemistry, marine biology, geology, sea geophysics, professional climatology including atmospheric and meteorology in addition to sea mapping.”

Rastegari went on to underline that 85 mechanical, mobility, propulsion, electrical and electronics, navigation and telecommunication systems were embedded in the vessel; “a total of 150 industrial, research, academic and knowledge-based centers as well as various industry organizations of the Defense Department spent more than 300 thousand hours and carried out about 12 thousand administrative activities in order to construct the ship.

He deemed the project as a symbol of Resistance Economy commenting “sanctions imposed by enemies led to formation of the national achievement.”

The official went on to enumerate further advantages of the Iranian oceanographic survey ship including boosting self-esteem and self-reliance in marine science and industry, localization of new technologies, creation and strengthening of a network of capable partners in the supply chain and manufacturing subsystems, job creation, foreign exchange saving as well as training specialized human resources. / Meher news /

Iran wheelchair basketball team traveled to Bangkok, Thailand Friday night to take part in the U23 Asia Oceania Zone qualifying tournament for the U23 World Championships.

Six countries will participate in the championship, which will commence on the 23rd January in Bangkok, Thailand.

The six teams from across the Zone will be competing for three spots at the U23 World Championships in Toronto this June. The competing teams are: Thailand, Iran, Australia, China, India and Japan.

“I can say we are 90 percent ready for the competition,” Iran coach Hassan Palar told Paralympic.ir. “Our main goal is winning the title as well as booking a place in the U23 World Championships.”

Traditionally Australia, Iran and Japan have been favorites to win the tournament. However at the last Zone tournament China showed that they are also to be taken as a serious opponent when they defeated Japan in their final pool game but after a successful Kitakyushu Cup last December,  Japan are expected to continue their strong form in the tournament in hope to guarantee them a place at the U23 World Championships.

The tournament promises to have high level games with many close results. A simple loss of concentration from any team could easily see them eliminated from the medal round and consequently miss the opportunity to go to Canada. / Tehran times /

Najib Mayel Heravi, a distinguished Afghan expert on manuscripts, will be saluted during the Honoring Ceremony for Supporters of Manuscripts in Tehran.

The ceremony is due to be held at the National Library and Archives of Iran (NLAI) on January 15.

The message of President of Afghanistan Mohammad Ashraf Ghani in honor of Najib Mayel Heravi will also be read at the ceremony, NLAI deputy director Gholamreza Amirkhani said in a press conference held at the library on Wednesday.

“The manuscripts are our national assets and there have been extended efforts to preserve them. We are happy this ceremony is being held to pay tribute to the experts on manuscripts,” secretary of the programs Najafqoli Habibi said in the conference.

“The ceremony aims to acknowledge experts on manuscripts in different fields of history, philosophy, documents and science,” he added.

The director of NLAI Manuscript Department, Ehsan Shokrollahi, also speaking at the press conference, said that the preservation of manuscripts actually means the preservation of history, science, and literature.

“The destruction of the historical background of a country makes the future generation like an individual who doesn’t know his father and mother, and this will ruin the national identity and history of a country,” he added.

He also stated that experts on renovation of manuscripts, as well as a number of those who have donated copies of manuscripts to the library, will be honored on the sidelines of the program.

The library is ready to take care of manuscripts being preserved by Iranian individuals in their homes.

/ Tehran times /

Iran gained some 618 trillion rials (about $15.5 billion) in tax income during the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (ended November 20, 2016).

The National Tax Administration said in a press release that 89 percent of tax revenues anticipated for the 8-month period was collected, IRNA reported on Saturday.

Direct and indirect tax incomes accounted for 310 trillion rials (about $7.8 billion) and 308 trillion rials (about $7.7 billion) of the total sum respectively, showing 93 percent and 86 percent rise year on year, according to the report.

Previously, the tax administration’s director Kamel Taqavinejad announced that the tax income has registered a 25-percent increase compared to the same period last year.

President Hassan Rouhani’s economic strategy is to significantly reduce the government’s dependency on oil and instead collect tax more systematically.

According to the budget bill for the current Iranian calendar year, tax incomes are projected to rise by 14 percent from the last year’s 880 trillion rials (about $25.4 billion) to one quadrillion rials (about $28.9 billion) / Tehran times /

An Iranian knowledge-based company has manufactured a device for tracking eye movement, a process widely used in medicine, psychology and business.

The company, staffed by young graduates from domestic universities, has designed and developed two models of an eye tracking device, Tasnim News reports.

The system, one of whose models includes a fixed-head device, can record data at a speed of 200 frames per second.

Eye tracking is the process of measuring either the point of gaze or the motion of an eye relative to the head. An eye tracker is a device for measuring eye positions and movements.

Eye trackers are used for research on the visual system, in psychology, in psycholinguistics and marketing as an input device for human-computer interaction, and in product design.

The government has ramped up efforts in recent years to support local knowledge-based companies by offering  incentives, namely  credits, low-interest loans and office space in some state universities.

In September 2015 President Hassan Rouhani said knowledge-based companies can play a major role in boosting the economic growth and curb brain drain. / Financial tribune /

The 15th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) in Bangladesh will be host to 187 movies from 60 countries in different sections, including 26 films from Iran.

A total of 23 movies are set to take part in the Asian Film Competition in which ‘Malaria’ directed by Parviz Shahbazi, ‘Daughter’ by Reza Mirkarimi, ‘Paris, Tehran’ by Kaveh Oveisi, ‘Life and a Day’ by Saeed Roostaee and ‘Parting’ by Navid Mahmoudi are the Iranian entries.

In the Retrospective Film Section, five movies by the late Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami (1940-2016) will be screened, ISNA reported.

More Iranian productions will also be screened in other sections including ‘Cinema of the World’ ‘Children Film’, ‘Short and Independent’ and ‘Spiritual Film’ – three films in each section – and four other movies will be shown in the Women Filmmaker Section.

The DIFF is one of the most prestigious film events in Bangladesh and, to a great extent, has helped shape an increasingly healthy and positive national film culture.

This year’s edition of the festival is slated for January 12-20, 2017, in the capital Dhaka.

/ Financial tribune /

About $1.4 billion worth of goods were exported from production units located in Iran’s industrial parks during the nine months to December 21, Deputy Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Ali Yazdani said. “There are over 950 active industrial parks across the country, providing jobs for some 800,000 people,” Yazdani, who is also the head of Iran Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization, was quoted as saying by IRNA.

Earlier this year, Tehran and Ankara signed a memorandum of understanding based on which Turkey agreed to establish an industrial park with 140 production units in Iran.

/ Financial tribune /

The Malaysian Palm Oil Council will hold Malaysia-Iran Palm Oil Trade Fair and Seminar during February 7-8, 2017, in Tehran. Malaysian Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Mah Siew Keong will deliver a keynote speech and officially open POTS Iran 2017, IRNA cited MPOC website as reporting. The event is organized with the aim of raising awareness about palm oil’s nutritional values and its benefits for food and other industries. Iran imported close to 351,000 tons of palm oil from Malaysia during the 11 months to November 2016. Palm oil is one of the highly saturated vegetable fats difficult to digest, which causes toxicity. Its use in the commercial food industry though is widespread because it is cheap. / Financial tribune /

Supplying five percent of the country’s electricity need from renewable energies is a priority for Iran’s energy industry, IRNA quoted an energy official as saying on Monday.

According to Seyed Mohammad Sadeqzadeh, the managing director of Renewable Energy Organization of Iran (known as SUNA), the country is aiming to install some 100 megawatts (MW) capacity of renewable power plants during the current Iranian calendar year (which ends on March 20, 2017).

“The figure for installed renewable capacity for the current year shows a 700 percent rise compared to that of the last year,” Sadeqzadeh said.

The official noted that the Energy Ministry has it on agenda to install over 300 MW capacity of renewable plants in the upcoming Iranian calendar year of 1396 (March 2017-March 2018) to boost the country’s renewable capacity to 600 MW.

“Hopefully by the Iranian calendar year of 1397 (March 2018-March 2019) Iran’s generation capacity of renewable energy will reach 1300 MW which would be two percent of the country’s total power capacity,” he said.

For the time being the total installed capacity of renewable power plants in Iran stands at 243 MW, about 158 MW of which is generated by the wind power plants and the rest by solar power plants, small hydropower and biomass plants. / Tehran times /