The Lebanese government held a memorial ceremony in Beirut on Thursday to mourn the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials who died in the May 19 helicopter crash.
Attendees at the memorial service called Raisi's death a huge loss to Iran and the world, vowing that relations between the Hezbollah group and Iran will remain solid despite the tragic incident.
"It is a huge loss. The relationship between Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran is stable and solid, as solid as the mountains, unaffected by any variable," Ibrahim Al Moussawi, an Hezbollah official and member of the Lebanese parliament, said in an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN).
"We lost the President of the Islamic Republic, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and [other] leaders, but we will continue [with our bilateral ties]. This is the basic lesson in the history of this nation and this resistance -- that people have a great influence. And their departure increases determination, faith, and strength," said Hussein Hajj Hassan, Lebanon's minister of industry.
"[The death of] Dr. Ibrahim Raisi is the loss of the world -- not just the Islamic Republic of Iran -- the vulnerable world and even the whole world at all levels and many ideals. The Islamic Republic of Iran will continue to support the oppressed people at the level of all countries of the world," said Ali Hamieh, the Lebanese Minister of Public Works and Transport.
Raisi, along with Amir-Abdollahian and several other officials, was killed when his helicopter went down in a fog-shrouded mountainside in Iran's northwest near the Azerbaijan border on Sunday, according to the country's state media.
The General Staff of Iran's Armed Forces has launched an investigation into the crash.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei announced on Monday five days of public mourning.
Lebanese gov't holds memorial ceremony for Iran's late President
China’s first intelligent field plant phenotype precision identification platform went into operation recently in Sanya City, south China’s Hainan Province, which is a milestone in the country’s development of intelligent breeding.
The phenotype of a plant is a term used to describe observable characteristics of the plant, such as its appearance, and some inherent physiological characteristics, such as resistance to drought and diseases.
In an experimental field of the National Nanfan Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, a large piece of equipment is moving across the field. The equipment, called the field plant phenotype precision identification platform, can move according to the preset track and can be remotely controlled. While moving, the equipment can scan the plants with its six sensors, just like a CT machine for plants.
"The ultimate goal is to achieve high-throughput, large-scale, efficient and precise collection of germplasm resources, which can be four to five times higher than the efficiency of the traditional manual collection," said Jin Xiuliang, a researcher at the institute.
Although the equipment looks simple from the outside, it contains six high-precision image acquisition devices such as multi-spectral, thermal infrared, and chlorophyll fluorescence devices. Data can be collected at fixed times and points according to experimental needs, and the collection of a germplasm material can be completed within 30 seconds.
After the data collected through this platform is transmitted to the data analysis center, researchers can more quickly and accurately screen out germplasm resources with excellent traits, laying the foundation for subsequent crop breeding.
"The plant phenotype identification facility at the National Nanfan Research Institute is a milestone in the field of crop science in China. It can greatly enhance the independent innovation capabilities of germplasm innovation, gene mining, and variety breeding, and enhance the international competitiveness of China's seed industry," said Li Huihui, vice president of the institute.
China makes major progress in smart crop breeding
