The Iranian sportswoman has been named the best goal scorer at the 2023 CAFA Women’s Futsal Championship. Sara Shirbeigi was named the best goalscorer of the event with eight goals.

Also, Fereshteh Karimi was selected as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

Iran’s women’s futsal team became champions of the 2023 CAFA Women’s Futsal Championship on Monday after beating the hosts Uzbekistan.

The Championship was the second edition of the CAFA Women’s Futsal Championship. /MNA/

The fifth national snow festival was held January 26-27 at Dena mountain slopes in the southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh-Boyerahmad.

The event aimed to promote a spirit of social enthusiasm and introduce the province’s capacities for winter tourism. /T.T/

Iran defeated Uzbekistan 5-4 to win the 2023 CAFA Women’s Futsal Championship on Monday. Sara Shirbeigi and Mahsa Kamali scored two goals each and captain Fereshteh Karimi also was on target for Team Melli.

Iran had defeated Kyrgyzstan 5-0 and Tajikistan 16-0 in the tournament. Earlier in the day, Tajikistan defeated Kyrgyzstan 4-2 in the bronze medal match.

The round-robin tournament was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from Jan. 25 to 30.

The Championship was the second edition of the CAFA Women’s Futsal Championship, the annual international futsal championship organized by CAFA for the women’s national futsal teams of Central Asia.

Iran had won the 2022 inaugural edition. /T.T/

Five Iranian students have won awards at the 13th Kao International Environment Painting Contest for Children. As many s 13,214 drawings had been sent to the 13th Kao International Environment Painting Contest for Children in Japan while 5 members of the Iranian Center for the Intellectual Development of Child and Adolescent (CIDCA) gained awards.

9-year-old Ahura Bakhtiari from CIDCA No. 41 in Tehran received the Kao Award, 6-year-old Taranom Sheikh Sharifi from Larestan in Fars Province and 10-year-old Zeinab Bagheri from Azarshahr in East Azerbaijan Province received the Eco-Friendly Award and the Special Jury Award.

Also, 11-year-old Bahar Rezaiyan from Tehran CIDCA No. 21 and 8-year-old Zahra Mozafari from Kangan in Bushehr Province won the Eco-Friendly Award.

Kao International Environment Painting Contest has been held annually since 2010 in the hope that paintings and thoughts expressed by children around the world, on their sincere consideration of the environmental conservation around them, the earth and its future. /MNA/

Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) Mohammad Rezvani-Far said on Wednesday that Iran’s non-oil export reached 103 million tons worth $45.3 billion.

Iran’s non-oil export (excluding crude oil export) stood at 103 million tons worth $45.3 billion during the first ten months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Jan. 20), registering a 2.9 % and 17.6% year-on-year rise in weight and value respectively, Rezvani-Far said.

The exports mainly included natural gas with $6.8 million, he added.

The main destinations for the Iranian exported goods were the China, Iraq, Turkey, UAE, and India, he further noted.

He said that a total of 31 million tons of goods worth $48.5 million were imported from the country which shows a 7.6 % and 16.8% year-on-year fall in weight and value respectively,

Foreign transit during the first ten months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Jan. 20), registering 11 million tons which shows a 7.4% rise compared with the corresponding period of last year, he underlined. /MNA/

Directed by Hamed Azizi, the animation “Home” was chosen as the best short film at the Festival Internacional de Cine Austral (FICA) in Argentina.

The genre of Azizi’s one-minute-long animation is drama and science fiction and it is about environmental protection.

“So far so close, everyone is looking to return to their originality, and their hearts rest at home. Protect your home,” the synopsis of “Home” reads.

“Home” was previously nominated and awarded at other international film festivals as well.

The Austral International Film Festival, based in the province of Córdoba, Argentina, is proposed as a space for reflection for sustainable, socially and economically conscious audiovisual production. /MNA/

Iranian drama “Motherless” was named best film while “Life & Life” garnered the best director award for Iranian filmmaker Ali Qavitan at the 21st Dhaka International Film Festival, the organizers announced on Sunday.

Written and directed by Seyyed Morteza Fatemi, “Motherless” is about an educated, middle-aged couple, Amir-Ali and Marjan, who lead a quiet life. When Marjan insists on renting a womb and a surrogate mother enters their life, unintentionally they go through different tests and face moral dilemmas.

IRIMAGE handles the international sales of the film starring Amir Aqai, Mitra Hajjar and Pejman Jamshidi.

Also written by Qavitan, “Life & Life” follows a teacher who is concerned about the students who have not attended online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. She decides to visit them. She buckles her four-year-old daughter into the car and takes off for the students’ houses. Her goal for this trip is to look in on the students, but she has another purpose. She tells her daughter about her own life, and the girl begins to understand the world as she meets other people.

Written by Anik Dutta, “The Undefeated” from India won the award for best screenplay.

This film directed by Anik Dutta is a tribute to master filmmaker Satyajit Ray in his birth centenary and it’s inspired by the story behind the making of Ray’s iconic film “Pather Panchali”.

The award for best actor went to Ikkei Watanabe for his role in the Japanese film “Marriage Counselor” by Naoki Maeda.

Ketaki Narayan was picked as best actress for her role in “Hawk’s Muffin” by Indian director Krishnendu Kalesh.

The best children’s film Badal Rahman award was given to “Martin and the Magical Forest”, a co-production from Czech, Slovakia and Germany by Petr Oukropec.

In the Women Filmmakers Section, “Listen” by Maria Douza from Greece was selected as best feature film.

In this film, financial upheaval forces Valmira, a 16-year-old deaf girl, to leave her progressive Athens school and return to her father’s struggling island where she is confronted by the danger of prejudice and intolerance, most shockingly — her own./T.T/

Even though a frozen fall by definition is no longer a waterfall, many of them, like Abshar-e Akhlamad in northeast Iran, still hold appeal for ardent tourists.

Situated in a village of the same name some 85 kilometers from Mashhad in Khorasan Razavi province, Akhlamad waterfall is about 40 meters high. Fossils and mineral deposits in its pond testify that the cascade has a very long history.

The waterfall entirely freezes during the harsh winters when it presents magnificent natural views on the one hand and offers a challenge to rock climbers, on the other hand.

According to some sources, Abshar-e Akhlamad supposedly dates from the Late Jurassic. It boasts enormous amounts of pouring water during the first few months of the year as a result of the intense downpours.

Visitors may stay for a couple of hours, unwinding while taking in the fresh air in a setting known for its abundant apple and cherry trees.

Despite the country’s ongoing struggles to preserve reliable sources of water, Iran is home to many beautiful falls and cascades. Although they are not among the highest, wildest, or heaviest waterfalls in the world, what makes them remarkable is that they are located in a region with a climate that primarily consists of arid and semiarid ranges.

Therefore, a waterfall with a strong flow would be rather eye-catching and worthwhile for some time for the vast majority of local and even some foreign travelers.

Over 300 waterfalls can be found on the Iranian plateau; some of the most well-known include Margoon in the province of Fars, Rayen in the province of Kerman, Latun in the province of Gilan, Piran in the province of Kermanshah, and Akhlamad in the province of Khorasan Razavi./T.T/

Twenty-four percent of foreign students in Iran are studying in state-run universities, the deputy science minister has said.

More than 94,000 foreign students are studying in the country, and 24 percent of them, equaling 27,000, are studying in state-run universities, IRNA quoted Hasham Dadashpour as saying.

Attracting foreign students is among the priorities of the science ministry, he said, adding that president [Ebrahim Raisi] has emphasized the need for attracting foreign students.

All the universities across the country should be prepared to attract foreign students, Dadashpour stressed.

The Planning and Budget Organization is of the opinion that the higher education sector should help the national economy by attracting foreign students.

For the time being, 107 universities are authorized to enroll foreign students. Some 56,000 Iraqi students, 33,000 Afghan students, and 5,000 students from other countries are studying in Iranian universities, he concluded.

In December 2022, Dadashpour said the number of foreign students will double in Iranian universities in the next three years.

Universities should increase their interactions and scientific exchanges in order to attract international students and accelerate internationalization in the region and the world, he highlighted.

Iranian universities achieved good ranks at the global level and based on the evaluations of the world’s most prestigious institutions so that there is the capacity to attract international students, he said.

He mentioned holding the cultural and sports Olympiad for international students as a way to make them more aware of Iran’s capabilities, ISNA reported.

By the next three years, the number of foreign students from 120 countries will increase by two times in the universities of the country, he predicted.

Iran is among the 15 successful countries in attracting international students, according to Mohammad Javad Salmanpour, the deputy head of the Organization for Student Affairs.

The education of foreign students in Iran has grown significantly compared to previous years, even last year, it has doubled, he said.

However, it is far from the desired position; Because Iranian universities have higher capacities in all respects than the universities of regional or European countries, he noted.

Iran has the ability and capacity to have more than 250,000 foreign students by 2026, he stated.

These students are studying in different fields of science, research and technology, health and medical education, and also in the fields of humanities, Islamic sciences, Persian language and literature, law, fundamentals of Islamic law, management fields, economics, psychology, social sciences, as well as engineering, agricultural sciences, animal sciences, and basic sciences.

Health insurance coverage, longer residency, shorter visa processing time, and awarding exemplary students are among the conditions provided for foreign nationals studying in Iran, Jafar Razeqi, the deputy minister of science for foreign student affairs, has stated.

The residency is currently extended for one year, but for the first time, some international students have been granted long-term residency based on the length of their education.

One of the most important problems for non-Iranian students, especially in recent months, was the visa processing time, which took time due to problems at the host university and administrative processes in different parts of the organization, but now this time has been reduced by one third, he noted.  /T.T/