Iran defeated titleholders Italy 3-2 (25-20, 23-25, 23-25, 25-16, 15-9) at the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship final match Sunday night. Amirmohammad Golzadeh collected 20 points for Iran and Italy’s Alberto Bovolenta scored 21 points.

It was Iran’s second gold in the history of the competition. They also had a bronze medal in 2007.

Earlier in the day, Bulgaria won the bronze medal after defeating Argentina 3-0.

Iran defeated Thailand (two times), Tunisia, Bahrain, Poland, Argentina and Italy in the competition. The competition was held in Manama, Bahrain from July 7 to 16.  /T.T/

The Iran-Czech co-production “Endless Borders” by Iranian director Abbas Amini was honored at the 20th edition of Yerevan Golden Apricot International Film Festival, which came to an end in the Armenian capital on Sunday.

The film received the Golden Apricot at the Regional Panorama section dedicated to feature and documentary film competition from West Asia.

“Endless Borders”, opens in Baluchestan, in a small, scarcely “wired” village bordering Iran and Afghanistan, where complicated entanglements occur when an exiled Iranian teacher finds himself helping a refugee Afghan family fleeing the Taliban.

“Drifter”, a co-production of Portugal and France by Simao Cayatte won the Silver Apricot in this section, while “Magic Mountain”, co-directed by Mariam Chachia and Nik Voigt from Georgia received Jury Special Mention.

In the official competition of the festival, “Black Stone” by Spiros Jacovides from Greece won the Golden Apricot, while “Kiddo” by Zara Dwinger from Netherlands received Jury Special Mention.

“Black Stone” follows a documentary crew as they film civil servants who are absent from their duties. During the filming, the crew unexpectedly encounters Haroula, a Greek mother who is desperate and excessively protective, on a mission to find her son.

However, when Haroula’s son is accused of fraud, she embarks on a journey with her other disabled child and a Greek-African taxi driver to bring him back to his rightful home, even if this means discovering who her son really is.

“Kiddo” follows the journey of Lu as she leaves the children’s home and embarks on an adventure with her quirky mother, complete with cowboy boots, wigs, and sunglasses riding along in their trusty old Chevrolet. During their journey to the east, both of them fantasize about finally sharing an everlasting bond.

In this section, the festival also screened Iran’s “Silent House” co-directed by Farnaz and Mohammadreza Jurabchian.

The documentary tells the story of three generations of an Iranian family who live in a historic and exceptional hundred-year-old house.

The festival also honored Belgian filmmakers and brothers Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne as well as Filipino film director Lav Diaz with Parajanov’s Thaler for their outstanding artistic contribution into world cinema. /T.T/

 

Muḥammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, better known as Khwarazmi, is a Muslim Iranian mathematician and astronomer whose major works introduced Hindu-Arabic numerals and the concepts of algebra into European mathematics.

Tir 22nd in the Iranian calendar (July 13th) marks a Commemoration Day of Kharazmi, also known as Information Technology Day.

Al-Khwārizmī (770-840 C.E) is famous for his mathematical works, which introduced Hindu-Arabic numerals and algebra to European mathematicians. In fact, the words algorithm and algebra come from his name and the title of one of his works, respectively, Britannica reported.

The figure became famous for his mathematical works. He wrote a book on algebra from whose title the word algebra is derived, and he wrote a book on calculation that introduced to Europe the Hindu-Arabic numerals and how to do arithmetic with them, the encyclopedia added.

The mathematician’s major accomplishments were the books he wrote on mathematics and science. His mathematical books introduced the ideas of algebra and Hindu-Arabic numerals to Western mathematicians during the Middle Ages. His scientific works concerned geography and astronomy, the source added.

In the 12th century, a second work by the scientist introduced Hindu-Arabic numerals and their arithmetic to the West. It is preserved only in a Latin translation, Algoritmi de numero Indorum (“Al-Khwārizmī Concerning the Hindu Art of Reckoning”). The name of the author, rendered in Latin as Algoritmi, originated the term algorithm.

UNESCO chose the year 1983 corresponding to 1362 AH as the 1500th year of Khwarazmi’s demise.

The cultural body asked the member states to commemorate Khwarazmi, the founder of Algebra, and hold a commemoration ceremony for him.

Every year, various events are held to commemorate the occasion. International Khwarazmi Festival is one of the prestigious events in Iran.

The festival aims at encouraging entrepreneurship, identifying innovators and technologists of the country, supporting the winners of the festival, and providing a suitable platform for scientific and technological cooperation at the global level. Submitted designs are evaluated and reviewed in sixteen specialized teams with five criteria.

In 1987, the leading Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST), affiliated with the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, decided to institute an award, which acknowledges the Iranian outstanding achievements in science and technology.

Khwarazmi; influential figure in algebra

IROST proposed the creation of the Khwarizmi Award in memory of Abu Jafar Mohammad Ibn Mousa Khwarizmi, the great Iranian Mathematician, and Astronomer.

The International Kharazmi Festival launched its national programs in 1987 and its international edition in 1992.

The Festival is an opportunity for both Iranian and foreign participants to put their scientific achievements on display.

The prestigious event is dedicated to recognizing outstanding scientific achievements made by researchers, inventors, and innovators worldwide.

The executive process of this festival in five competitive sections includes domestic projects, foreign projects, projects of Iranians living abroad, selected successful projects in national production, commercialized projects from the previous award winners, and special awards (to honor Iranian intellectuals and scientists). /MNA/

Reported by Tohid Mahmoudpour

Iranian students took six medals, ranking 11th at the 64th International Mathematical Olympiad which was held in Japan on July 2-13. A gold medal from Ehsan Heidari, four silver medals from Sobhan Aram, Mohammad-Parsa Jafarnejadi, Arvin Taheri, and Mohammad-Ermia Qaseri, and a bronze medal from Pouria Rahmani placed the country 11th among 111 participating countries, ISNA reported.

According to the International Mathematical Olympiad rules, approximately 1/12 of the participants receive a gold medal, 2/12 receive a silver medal, and 3/12 receive a bronze medal.

Furthermore, even if they do not receive a medal, contestants who score a perfect 7 points on at least one problem are awarded an honorable mention.

IMO is the World Championship Mathematics Competition for High School students and is held each year in a different country.

The first IMO was held in 1959 in Romania, with seven countries participating. It has gradually expanded to over 100 countries from all seven continents.

At the 63rd edition of IMO which was held in Norway, Iran grabbed three gold medals and three silver medals, ranking 8th among 104 countries.

Iranian students grabbed two gold and two silver medals at the 34th edition of the International Biology Olympiad (IBO) held in the United Arab Emirates from July 3-11.

The IBO 2023 hosted 293 students from 76 countries.

Arman Forqani and Ali Qasemloui won the gold medals, while Kiyarash Behboudi and Aidin Naziri-Fard won the silver medals.

In the 33rd International Biology Olympiad, Iran’s team was ranked first in the world by winning four gold medals.

The IBO 2022 was held in Armenia and attended by 65 countries./ T.T/

Iranian short films, namely “A Butterfly Is Knocking on Window”, “The Melody of Loneliness”, and “They” were awarded at Tracce Cinematografiche Film Festival in Italy.

Directed by Seyyed Morteza Sabz-Qaba, the short film “They” received a special award of the Mediterranean section of the festival.

The short film depicts the story of a group of people who leave Dezful city, Southwest, Iran, with a heavy heart, to go to their families. They haven’t been too far since the city starts getting bombed with warplanes.

The Iranian short film had previously won the honorary diploma and the third-best movie award at the 4th edition of ‘Three Acts of Goodness Micro Film Festival’ in Taiwan.

“The Melody of Loneliness” by Samira Azimian won the best animation award, while “A Butterfly Is Knocking on Window” by Mohammad Hassani was named the best social film.

The 12th edition of the Tracce Cinematografiche Film Fest was held in Rome on July 4-9 2023. /MNA/

Fars province, which is home to countless cultural, historical, and archeological sites in southern Iran, has registered more than 10,000 visits to those attractions within a month.

“10,472 foreign nationals visited cultural, historical sites as well as cultural heritage museums of Fars province from Khordad 20 to Tir 16,” the provincial tourism chief said on Tuesday.

Talking about the most visited destination, the official said: “Over 3,000 international travelers visited the UNESCO-registered Persepolis during the period.”

“Hafez mausoleum with 2,295 foreign visits and the UNESCO-designated Pasargadae with 2,121 international visits ranked second and third respectively,” the official added.

The ancient region of Fars also spelled Pars, or Persis, was the heart of the Achaemenian Empire (550–330 BC), which was founded by Cyrus the Great and had its capital at Pasargadae. Darius I the Great moved the capital to nearby Persepolis in the late 6th or early 5th century BC.

Celebrated as the heartland of Persian culture for over 2000 years, the capital city of Shiraz has become synonymous with education, nightingales, poetry, and crafts skills passed down from generation to generation. It was one of the most important cities in the medieval Islamic world and was the Iranian capital during the Zand dynasty from 1751 to 1794. Moreover, Shiraz is home to some of the country’s most magnificent buildings and sights. Increasingly, it draws more and more foreign and domestic sightseers flocking to this provincial capital.

Eram Garden, Afif-Abad Garden, Tomb of Hafez, Tomb of Sa’di, Jameh Mosque of Atigh, and Persepolis are among the historical, cultural, and ancient sites of Shiraz that are of interest to domestic and foreign tourists. The ancient city is also home to some magnificent historical gardens such as Bagh-e Narenjestan and Eram Garden, which are top tourist destinations both for domestic and international sightseers. /T.T/

The 20th edition of the QS World University Rankings (2024) has placed seven Iranian universities among the world’s top institutes, compared with six universities in 2023.

The Rankings features 1,500 institutions across 104 locations and is the only ranking of its kind to emphasize employability and sustainability.

Sharif University of Technology, University of Tehran, Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran University of Science and Technology, Shiraz University, Shahid Beheshti University (SBU), and Ferdowsi University of Mashhad are the top Iranian universities.

This year, the largest-ever methodological enhancement has been implemented, introducing three new metrics: Sustainability, Employment Outcomes, and International Research Network.

The results draw on the analysis of 17.5m academic papers and the expert opinions of over 240,000 academic faculty and employers.

The number of top Iranian universities and research institutes in the Essential Science Indicators (ESI) database has increased from 112 last year (March 2022-March 2023) to 115 this year, the Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC) has reported.

The number of top Iranian universities and research institutes in this database has increased from 112 last year to 115 this year.

Iran’s top universities and research institutes are present in 19 subject areas, and the largest number is in the engineering subject area with 59 universities and research institutes.

The number of institutions in the fields of clinical medicine was 57, chemistry 50, material sciences 25, agricultural sciences 23, pharmacology and toxicology 19, plant and animal sciences 16, environment/ecology 15, social sciences, biology and biochemistry, and computer sciences 13 each.

Meanwhile, the number of institutions in the fields of neuroscience and behavior was 7, geology 6, physics and immunology 5 each, molecular biology and genetics 4, mathematics and microbiology 2 each, and psychiatry/psychology 1.

Reviewing the status of universities worldwide shows that the number of Iranian universities has increased in nearly all subject rankings.

At the beginning of its formation, rating systems provided a comprehensive view of institutions and evaluated them from all aspects and as a whole. But in the past few years, many of these systems evaluate and rank institutions in various scientific fields.

This new ranking method has emerged to meet the needs of users who seek to know the position of an institution in a special field.

Some of these systems evaluate broad scientific fields such as humanities and social sciences, technical and engineering, and medicine, and others measure special fields such as chemistry, mathematics, artificial intelligence, anthropology, and nursing in institutions.

The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2023 has placed 65 Iranian universities among the top Asian institutions.

The Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2023 use the same 13 performance indicators as the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, but they are recalibrated to reflect the attributes of Asia’s institutions.

The universities are judged across all their core missions – teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook – to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons available.

The Sharif University of Technology is ranked first in the country and 64th in Asia. The position of two Iranian institutions is also mentioned as a reporter.

In the 2023 edition of the Times Higher Education’s Asian University Ranking System, the names of 928 institutions from 36 Asian countries are included in the final list. In the previous edition of this ranking system, 58 universities from Iran were among the top institutions in Asia, IRNA reported. /T.T/

Iranian taekwondo practitioners snatched seven colorful medals to become first at the Turkey Open 2023–G2. Iranian men national squad won 4 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals and became champion at the Turkey Open 2023–G2.

Mehdi Haji Musaei (weight -54 kg), Abolfazl Zandi (-58 kg), Mateen Rezaei (-63 kg), and Arian Salimi (- 87 kg) received gold medals in the sporting event.

Other Iranian fighters Mehran Barkhordari (- 80 kg) and Abulfazl Abbasi (+ 87 kg) won silver medals, while Erfan Bozorghi (-68 kg) gained the bronze medal in the tournament.

Bizhan Moghanlou led the men’s teams at the tournament.

The Turkish Open Taekwondo Tournament was held in Ankara, Turkey on July 06-09, 2023. /MNA/

The simulator system for MiG-29 fighter jets was put into operation in a ceremony at Shahid Sattari Aeronautical University on Sunday.

The ceremony was attended by the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Major General Abolrahim Mousavi.

Mousavi appreciated the elites of the Army Air Force at Shahid Sattari University for producing this simulator system for MiG-29 fighter jets.

He also attached great importance to the construction and production of such a simulator, which has already been built for other aircraft.

Stating that the MiG-29 electronic warfare training simulator has passed successful tests, Mousavi added that it will definitely be effective in improving the combat capability of the Air Force.

These simulator systems will be delivered to bases that are equipped with MiG-29 fighters in the coming days. /MNA/

The value of trade exchanges between the US and Iran in the first five months of 2023 has reached $22.4 million, indicating a 5% YOY growth.

According to the latest report released on Sunday by the United States Department of Commerce, the value of trade exchanges between the US and Iran from January to May 2023 reached $22.4 billion that shows 5 percent growth as compared to the corresponding period the year before although the figure is negligible as compared to the total trade exchanges of the two countries with the world.

US export to Iran during the first five months of 2023 reached $21.9 million which shows a 34% YOY increase, while Iran’s exports to the US during the mentioned period reached % 0.5 million indicating an 89% YOY decrease.

Iran ranked 175th among US target export markets in the said period, the report noted. /MNA/