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Persian Gulf Home to Giant Mammals in Danger of Extinction

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Different types of giant aquatic mammals, including dolphins and whales, inhabit the Persian Gulf in southern Iran. However, some of them are threatened with extinction mainly due to their habit of committing mass suicide and unrestrained hunting.

According to a Farsi report by the Young Journalists Club (YJC), Iranian fishermen have spotted 19 species of Iranian whales and dolphins in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman in the south of the country.

They include the humpback whales which inhabit the waters surrounding Qeshm Island and Bushehr Province’s four Islands, Porpoises living in the Mangrove or Hara forests of Qeshm, and common bottlenose dolphins which live in the waters between Qeshm and Hengam islands.

At times, for no particular reason, a group of whales come to the shore, lie on it and die there. Among the instances of mass suicide committed by whales in Iranian shores are that in 2007 by 79 spinner dolphins and 73 striped dolphins and the one by 11 long-beaked common dolphins in 2010 in Jask in Hormozgan province.

In addition, 25, 5, and 17 aquatic mammals in Bushehr, Khuzestan and Hormuzgan provinces, all in southern Iran, have killed themselves since 2010.

Unrestrained hunting is the other factor threatening the lives of whales inhabiting the country’s southern waters. Whales used to be caught for their fat in the past.

Iran President Calls for Greater Int’l Cooperation with South Africa

By
IFP Media Wire
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“Iran and South Africa can make valuable efforts for [improving] international peace and stability and [serving] the interests of developing countries through joint cooperation in international circles,” Rouhani said in a meeting with South Africa’s Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete in Tehran on Saturday.

He added that the two countries share a stance on many regional and international issues and have “good and effective” cooperation in international organizations.

The Iranian chief executive praised growing relations between Tehran and Pretoria, saying, “The Islamic Republic of Iran’s will is to strengthen all-out relations with African countries, particularly South Africa.”

Rouhani also voiced Iran’s support for the bolstering of cooperation with South Africa in various economic fields, including mining, energy, tourism and banking, expressing Tehran’s readiness to export technical and engineering services to Pretoria.

Need for enhanced international cooperation

For her part, the speaker of South Africa’s National Assembly said her country shares views with Iran on many international issues and stressed the importance of developing cooperation with the purpose of promoting global peace and friendship.

Mbete said Pretoria is determined to strengthen cooperation with Tehran in all areas.

Iran-South Africa cooperation on anti-terror fight

Meanwhile, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said the Islamic Republic and South Africa are cooperating with each other in the fight against terrorism.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Mbete, Larijani added that the two countries could boost cooperation in the fields of oil, gas, petrochemistry, transportation and investment.

Iran President Calls for Greater Int'l Cooperation with South Africa

The top Iranian parliamentarian expressed hope that Mbete’s visit to Tehran would pave the way for boosting mutual ties, particularly in trade.

Iran’s membership to BRICS

The speaker of the South African parliament said her country is willing to make all efforts to help Iran join BRICS, the association of five major emerging national economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Mbete praised Iran’s achievements in the field of education, adding that Tehran can play an influential role in a forum like BRICS.

Iran Urges India to Speed Up Railway Construction

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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India is implementing a railway project in southern Iran under a 1.5-billion-dollar agreement signed by the two sides.

“India’s state-run Ircon company should implement, as soon as possible, the memorandum of understanding on the construction of the Chabahar-Zahedan railway signed between the two countries,” said Kheirollah Khademi, the deputy Iranian minister of housing and urban development.

According to a Farsi report by IRNA, he made the remarks during a trip to New Delhi aimed at following up on mutual agreements.

He said the construction of the railroad requires between Rls. 40 to 50 trillion (around $1 to 1.3 billion) in funding, and added, “If we want to provide this amount with local resources, it will take years to do so.”

“We should complete [the construction of] road links to ports and the country’s railway to that of Afghanistan in order to further develop [Iran’s] eastern region and complete the North-South Corridor,” said the top official.

Such a move, he added, can give fresh impetus to activities in the southern Chabahar port and bring about numerous benefits for the country.

Khademi says during his trip to New Delhi, he has sat down with several Indian officials and corporate authorities.

“In these meetings, a general agreement was reached on funding the projects,” he noted.

“We are to receive a one-billion-dollar credit line from India to produce rails in the country (Iran) and purchase related equipment and locomotives,” the senior official underlined.

He also said Iran is interested to buy locomotives from India.

Iran Protests Unfair Number of European Referees at Intl. Wrestling Contests

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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“There were a total of 14 gold medalists from Asia and Europe, and 8 from America in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, but 55 out of the 99 top referees who can judge in international and Olympic competitions are from Europe, 17 from Asia and the rest from other continents,” said Khadem while referring to the World Wrestling Championships in Paris.

“This inequality amounts to gross discrimination against referees from different continents as European referees’ share is three times more than that that of Asia and five times higher than the Americas’ share,” said Khadem, who is also the president of Iran’s wrestling federation.

“This inequality will create the speculation that referees judge in favour of European wrestlers and will result in problems in competitions,” he said.

He then said non-European members of the UWW’s Presiding Board have welcomed Iran’s proposal regarding the formation of a referees’ commission comprising representatives from different continents, namely two representatives from Asia, Europe, and the Americas each, and two from Oceania and Africa, plus three referees introduced by the UWW in order to create a fair atmosphere for refereeship in international wrestling contests.

Cold, Hot Springs at Heart of Iran’s Eastern Desert

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Some 25 kilometres off Tabas county in the heart of a desert in South Khorasan Province, eastern Iran, there is a river valley, flowing through Kal Sardar Canyon, which originates from a number of hot and cold water currents, the biggest one of which is called “Morteza Ali Bath”.

According to a Farsi report by the Mizan Online News Agency, the hot and cold waters, originating from these springs, join together in a river valley flowing through Kal Sardar Canyon, but do not completely mix with each other for some 300 meters due to their structural differences caused by the higher density of the hot water.

Being a unique phenomenon, the difference in the temperature of water in the river sometimes reaches 10 degrees. ‘Morteza Ali Bath’ and ‘Qanbar’ spring are the main sources of the hot and cold waters that flow to the river.

In the proximity of ‘Morteza Ali Spring [Bath]’ there is a historical site called Shah-Abbasi Arch which is said to be constructed in Safavid era (1501 to 1722).

 

Iranian Herbal Drug Can Prevent Growth of Breast Cancer Cells

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Vahid Safaei-Rizi, a researcher at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, says he has used species of the plant genus euphorbia to make a drug that can prevent breast cancer cells from growing.

Euphorbia is a very large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae).

According to a Farsi report by ILNA, he added the impressive scientific achievement was an outcome of a research project he had carried out in cooperation with his professors Mostafa Qannadian and Mahmoud Aqaei.

Safaei-Rizi, who is a general practitioner, noted that the results of the research showed that using the compounds derived from spurge plant, the growth and reproduction of breast cancer cells can be stunted and stopped by preventing from cell cycle progression and induction of apoptosis.

He said euphorbia genus has very important therapeutic properties. The genus has been used in the production of a large number of chemical compounds.

A total of 70 species of euphorbia have been identified in Iran, among which euphorbia Sogdiana, which grows in northeastern regions of the country, is of special importance.

He listed the uses of spurge plant in traditional medicine as soothing nerves, relieving rheumatic pains and reducing backache adding it also has anti-inflammatory properties.

The Isfahan-based researcher said his study was aimed at identifying the compounds in the plant and deriving them from it to form steroid and triterpenoid compounds.

Iran Sells Screening Rights of 64 Films to Other Countries

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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cinema

Iran’s Farabi Cinema Foundation has sold the screening rights of 64 films to different countries, said Alireza Tabesh, the managing director of the foundation.

“During the eleventh administration, as a result of the negotiations held and under the contracts signed, the International Department of the Farabi Cinema Foundation sold the rights of some Iranian film, including cinematic, television, internet, video and in-flight screening rights,” he noted.

Tabesh said the screening rights of 17 movies were sold to the airlines of such countries as the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Oman, Qatar, and India.

According to the top manager, the arrangements were also made to screen eight films in Australia, Italy, Germany, the US and Canada.

The TV screening rights of 25 movies were also sold to Slovakia, Albania, Brazil, Bosnia, Turkey, Tunisia, Romania, Croatia, Malaysia, Mexico, Vietnam, India and Bangladesh.

He said 21 feature films have also been licenced to be screened on the Internet for users in China and the Far East.

He said the Farabi Cinema Foundation has been present in the International Fajr Film Festival as well as other global film events where it has concluded contracts and agreements.

He then highlighted the need to use the cyber space and the potential in the communications and information technology sector to market Iranian films on the international stage.

Tabesh said the foundation has already launched a website to market the films it is authorized to offer.

Iran Ready to Host Meeting of Female Asian MPs in 2018

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Iranian parliamentarian Fatemeh Zolqadr says the country’s Parliament stands ready to host a 2018 meeting of female representatives from countries which are members of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly.

Zolqadr, who chairs the Assembly’s Permanent Committee for Social and Cultural Affairs, made the comment at the closing ceremony of a meeting of the committee in Bhutan where she thanked the country for hosting the key event.

According to a Farsi report by the Iranian Parliament’s website, she also expressed the hope that the event and its outcome will be a key step toward boosting cooperation and rapport among parliaments and people of Asian countries.

“Given the importance of parliamentary relations, especially in the domain of women and youth’s affairs, I would like to take the opportunity and announce the Iranian parliament’s readiness to host a 2018 meeting to be attended by women representatives from the Asian Parliamentary Assembly’s member states in a bid to discuss women’s situation in Asian countries and exchange views on how to tackle the problems and challenges facing them,” she said.

“The holding of the [2018] meeting can increase coordination among female legislators of Asian parliaments to advance their common goals, and can play an important role in boosting women’s participation in social, cultural, economic, and political affairs at national and regional levels,” she noted.

 

Iran Holds International Frame Drum Festival

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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The mystic and pleasant sound of Daf (a tambourine-like drum) echoed across Sanandaj in Kordestan province from August 30 to September 1, as prominent domestic and foreign musicians played the traditional musical instrument in the Seventh National Festival and First International Course on Daf.

According to a Farsi report by IRNA, the national section of the festival was titled ‘Daf, the Sound of Mercy’.

Kordestan Province has been Iran’s hub of mystic music and Daf playing since a long time ago. Playing this musical instrument has a very high and special status among the people of the province.

The musical instrument helps the romantic and mystical spirit of Kurds in this province to become more familiar with God.

The native people’s avid interest in Daf is so much that one can hardly find a house in the province to which the musical instrument has failed to find its way. The same interest has turned the province into the world’s Daf capital.

Each year, the province hosts festivals on different occasions, during which Daf players stage their performances.

Since 2014, after a seven-year hiatus, the festival has been held nationwide in Sanandaj every year, attended by Iran’s prominent Daf players.

The motto of this year’s festival was “Art, Convergence and Kindness”. Daf players from 25 Iranian provinces as well as two foreign ensembles took part in the recently held edition of the fest.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the event, the Governor of Sanandaj said Daf is an old Iranian musical instrument, with which spiritual music can be played, and has a high status in the country and, particularly, Kordestan Province.

Mohammad-Ebrahim Zarei added playing the Daf constitutes a major part of Iran’s spiritual and mystical music.

He stressed that Kordestan region plays a significant role in preserving and promoting the art.

People in this province have preserved the art of playing the Daf for 3,300 years, Zarei said, adding plans are underway to inscribe Daf as a national intangible cultural heritage.

During the festival, a two-volume book on teaching how to play the Daf was also unveiled. The book is written by Farzad Andalibi and published by the Art Bureau of Kordestan Province.

Iran Gets Connected to 4 Video Game Developers

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Iran’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology declared the country has been directly connected to well-known video game developers Valve, Riot, Blizzard and Gameforge.

“Talks are underway to transfer the servers of [entertainment and video developing] companies popular with the youth as a permanent solution,” said Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi on his Instagram page.

He said the ping in international connection with the products of the four companies has reached 80 milliseconds, and has been improved by around 50% compared to the past.

“The jitter has also been improved considerably,” the minister added.

Ping and jitter are very important in playing video games. The ping rate, which is also known as latency, is a number that corresponds to delay time on the Internet measured in milliseconds. The higher the number, the more data transfer delays you might experience, and sense, while you are online.

If you play online games, then you want the latency to be less than 30ms. For other online activities, anything under 100ms would be good enough, according to a Farsi report by ISCA News.

Jitter refers to the amount of variation in the latency when multiple ping tests are performed. Wired connections such as Cable, Fiber, DSL, etc. will always have a lower latency than wireless connections such as Satellite, LTE, Wi-Fi, etc. Lower latency and lower jitter is beneficial in applications such as online gaming and VoIP (Voice Over IP) communications.

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