*** IRANDAILY
-- Visa waiver to bring 3.5b tourists to Iran: Minister
Iran’s Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts announced that with the cancellation of visa requirements for nationals of 33 countries, approximately 3.5 billion people globally will have the opportunity to travel to Iran without visas.
Speaking at a meeting held at the National Museum of Iran, Ezzatollah Zarghami stated that the government has shown special attention to the tourism sector, with the recent move to abolish visas for citizens of numerous countries seen as a significant step in boosting tourism.
-- Iran’s animation wins at Cleveland festival, eligible for Oscar
Iranian animation ‘Anita, Lost in the News’, directed by Behzad Nalbandi, won the Best Animated Short Jury Award at the 48th Cleveland International Film Festival, an Academy Award-qualifying event, held from April 3 to April 13 in the United States.
The 17-minute film competed in the international documentary section along with ‘Nyanga,’ ‘Medhin Tewolde Serrano’.
-- Pro-Palestinian protesters shut down highways, bridges in US cities
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked roadways in Illinois, California, New York and the Pacific Northwest on Monday, temporarily shutting down travel into some of the nation’s most heavily used airports, onto the Golden Gate and Brooklyn bridges and on a busy West Coast highway.
In Chicago, protesters linked arms and blocked lanes of Interstate 190 leading into O’Hare International Airport around 7 a.m. in a demonstration they said was part of a global “economic blockade to free Palestine,” according to Rifqa Falaneh, one of the organizers.
** KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL
-- Iran-Made Hearing Enhancement Device Patented by U.S.
Researchers at a knowledge-based company in Iran have successfully designed and produced an electronic stimulation device for the auditory system to improve hearing in deaf people.
“This product is the result of developing know-how of electronic cochlear implants. Its production started two years ago and it was put into operation by the experts in this company this year,” Samira Koshkestani, the managing director of the Iranian knowledge-based company that manufactures medical equipment for people with hearing loss, told ANA.
-- Pakistan Defense Minister: Iran’s Retaliation Legitimate
Pakistan’s defense minister says the Israeli assault on the Iranian consulate in Damascus was a breach of its sovereignty, and that Tehran’s reaction to the violation was defensive and in proportion to the attack.
Khawaja Muhammad Asif condemned the Israeli attack on Iran’s diplomatic premises in Damascus that led to the assassination of seven senior military advisors, including a senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
** TEHRAN TIMES
-- Movie on Iran’s missile power’s founding father being produced
The filming of "Endless," a movie portraying the life of Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, the founding father of Iran's missile power, has commenced in Tehran.
Sasan Fallahfar directs this unique narrative, which brings one of the most significant chapters of Martyr Tehrani Moghaddam's life to the big screen, IRNA reported on Tuesday. In this production, Hamid Ebrahimi takes on the role of Martyr Tehrani Moghaddam, the report added.
-- SIR 2024 includes 197 Iranian institutions
SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) 2024 has placed 197 Iranian universities among the top institutions in the world compared to 194 universities in 2023.
The SIR is a classification of academic and research-related institutions ranked by a composite indicator that combines three different sets of indicators based on research performance, innovation outputs, and societal impact measured by their web visibility. The research ranking refers to the volume, impact, and quality of the institution's research output.
-- Half of the world’s population can travel to Iran without visas, tourism minister says
According to the tourism minister of the Islamic Republic, Iran grants visa-free access to approximately half of the world’s population, totaling around four billion people. “Currently, half of the world’s population can travel to Iran without visas,” Ezzatollah Zarghami said on Monday.
“Fortunately, considering the special attention that the government pays to the tourism sector, in the latest move, the government agreed to abolish visas for citizens of 33 countries, which is a significant step for the tourism sector,” the minister explained. He made the remarks in a meeting with the head and members of the cultural fraction of the Iranian parliament held at the National Museum of Iran.
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