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UNESCO Designates 6 New Arab Creative Cities

A general view of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters is seen at dusk in Paris, France, October 12, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer
A general view of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters is seen at dusk in Paris, France, October 12, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer
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UNESCO Designates 6 New Arab Creative Cities

A general view of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters is seen at dusk in Paris, France, October 12, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer
A general view of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters is seen at dusk in Paris, France, October 12, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

UNESCO has designated six new Arab cities as Creative Cities, becoming part of a network coming from all continents and regions with different income levels and populations.

The Lebanese capital Beirut, Iraq’s Sleimaniyah, Ramallah in Palestine, Essaouira in Morocco, Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain’s Muharraq have been added to the list along with 60 other cities.

“All over the world, these cities, each in its way, make culture the pillar, not an accessory, of their strategy,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay. “This favors political and social innovation and is particularly important for the young generations.”

The UNESCO Creative Cities Network now counts a total of 246 cities.

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NASA's Parker Solar Probe Aims to Fly Closer to the Sun Like Never Before

The sun sets in Santiago, Chile, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, as a forest fires burns on the outskirts of the capital. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
The sun sets in Santiago, Chile, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, as a forest fires burns on the outskirts of the capital. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
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NASA's Parker Solar Probe Aims to Fly Closer to the Sun Like Never Before

The sun sets in Santiago, Chile, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, as a forest fires burns on the outskirts of the capital. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
The sun sets in Santiago, Chile, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, as a forest fires burns on the outskirts of the capital. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

A NASA spacecraft aims to fly closer to the sun than any object sent before.
The Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018 to get a close-up look at the sun. Since then, it has flown straight through the sun's corona: the outer atmosphere visible during a total solar eclipse.

The next milestone: closest approach to the sun. Plans call for Parker on Tuesday to hurtle through the sizzling solar atmosphere and pass within a record-breaking 3.8 million miles (6 million kilometers) of the sun's surface, The Associated Press reported.
At that moment, if the sun and Earth were at opposite ends of a football field, Parker "would be on the 4-yard line,” said NASA's Joe Westlake.
Mission managers won't know how Parker fared until days after the flyby since the spacecraft will be out of communication range.

Parker planned to get more than seven times closer to the sun than previous spacecraft, hitting 430,000 mph (690,000 kph) at closest approach. It's the fastest spacecraft ever built and is outfitted with a heat shield that can withstand scorching temperatures up to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,371 degrees Celsius).

It'll continue circling the sun at this distance until at least September.

Scientists hope to better understand why the corona is hundreds of times hotter than the sun’s surface and what drives the solar wind, the supersonic stream of charged particles constantly blasting away from the sun.

The sun's warming rays make life possible on Earth. But severe solar storms can temporarily scramble radio communications and disrupt power.
The sun is currently at the maximum phase of its 11-year cycle, triggering colorful auroras in unexpected places.

“It both is our closest, friendliest neighbor,” Westlake said, “but also at times is a little angry.”