https://arab.news/wvy5q

DUBAI: The Emirates Mars Mission, the first interplanetary exploration mission launched by an Arab nation, has discovered a new form of proton aurora around Mars, the Emirates News Agency reported.

Experts said the spatially variable “patchy” proton aurora could reveal new information about the Martian atmosphere. It was discovered in images captured by the Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer, which monitors the planet’s upper atmosphere and exosphere

To fully analyze the observations, the EMM team collaborated with NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, known as MAVEN for short. Experts said the combination of EMM's unprecedented global aurora images and MAVEN’s concurrent local plasma observations open up new avenues for enhancing understanding of the planet’s enigmatic aurora.

“Our discovery of this patchy proton aurora adds a new kind of event to the long list of those currently studied by EMM and challenges our existing views of how the proton aurora on Mars’ dayside are formed,” said Hessa Al-Matroushi, EMM’s science lead.

“The EMM Hope probe has so far uncovered many unexpected phenomena that extend our understanding of Mars’ atmospheric and magnetospheric dynamics. These new observations, combined with MAVEN data, have lifted the lid on entirely new possibilities for scientific research.”

This newly observed patchy type of proton aurora is formed when the solar wind directly impacts Mars’ dayside upper atmosphere and emits ultraviolet light as it slows down.

Small regions of the planet become much brighter at these wavelengths when the aurora occurs, indicating intense localized energy deposition in the atmosphere.

“We’ve seen emissions at these wavelengths before, thanks to proton aurora studies by NASA’s MAVEN mission, but these EMM EMUS images represent the first time we’ve had a global view of spatial variability in proton aurora at Mars, and the first time we’ve been able to unambiguously observe this patchy structure,” said Mike Chaffin, a member of the EMM science team.

“We know that these wavelengths are only emitted by the hydrogen atom, which tells us that super energetic hydrogen atoms must be present in the atmosphere in order to produce the auroral emission.”

A data-sharing agreement between EMM and MAVEN allowed the new EMM images to be analyzed in conjunction with plasma observations made by MAVEN.

“Multi-vantage-point measurements of the Martian atmosphere tell us about the real-time response of the atmosphere to the Sun,” said Shannon Curry, MAVEN’s principal investigator. “These types of simultaneous observations probe the fundamental physics of atmospheric dynamics and evolution.”

Al-Matroushi added: “Access to MAVEN data has been essential for placing these new observations into a wider context. Together, we’re pushing the boundaries of our existing knowledge not only of Mars but of planetary interactions with the solar wind.”

LOS ANGELES: US actress and activist Jane Fonda announced Friday that she has cancer, and has begun chemotherapy in her battle against the disease. The 84-year-old Oscar winner, a prominent supporter of the Democratic Party, vowed to fight the “very treatable” illness. “I’ve been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and have started chemo treatments,” she wrote on her verified Instagram account. “This is a very treatable cancer. 80 percent of people survive, so I feel very lucky. “I’m also lucky because I have health insurance and access to the best doctors and treatments.” Fonda, an avowed environmentalist and social campaigner, said her position was more fortunate than that of many others in her situation. “Almost every family in America has had to deal with cancer at one time or another and far too many don’t have access to the quality health care I am receiving and this is not right,” she wrote. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a kind of cancer that starts in the lymphatic system, a part of the body’s immune defenses, and can develop into widespread tumors. According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms can include: swollen lymph nodes, abdominal pain or swelling, chest pain, coughing or trouble breathing, as well as persistent fatigue and fever. “In most instances, doctors don’t know what causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” the clinic says on its website. “It begins when your body produces too many abnormal lymphocytes, which are a type of white blood cell.” Usually those cells die, and the body creates new ones to replace them — but in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, they don’t, even as the body keeps making more. “This oversupply of lymphocytes crowds into your lymph nodes, causing them to swell,” the clinic’s website states. Fonda vowed that her treatment will not impede her environmental campaigning, and urged action on fossil fuel use, which she linked to cancer. “I’m doing chemo for six months and am handling the treatments quite well and, believe me, I will not let any of this interfere with my climate activism. “We’re living through the most consequential time in human history because what we do or don’t do right now will determine what kind of future there will be. “I will not allow cancer to keep me from doing all I can, using every tool in my toolbox.” She pointed to November midterm elections which could determine whether US President Joe Biden’s Democrats lose control of both houses of Congress, saying they were “beyond consequential.” As a result, “you can count on me to be right there together with you as we grow our army of climate champions,” she wrote. Fonda first appeared on screen in 1960, and scored Academy Awards for best actress for “Klute” (1971) and “Coming Home” (1978). She has five other Oscar nominations in her career, four of them for best lead actress. As well as anti-war activism during the US-Vietnam war that saw her dubbed “Hanoi Jane” and blacklisted in Hollywood, she was also a major figure in the home fitness video craze of the 1980s. Fonda continues to work, and appears as the voice of an elegant dragon who is the CEO of a luck-making operation in the Apple TV+ animated movie “Luck.” She also stars in the popular, long-running Netflix hit “Grace and Frankie.” Fonda comes from a family of famous stars; her father Henry was a legend of the big screen appearing as the hold-out juror in “12 Angry Men,” and winning best actor for “On Golden Pond” (1981). Her brother Peter was a seminal figure in 1960s counterculture, whose turn in “Easy Rider” is a touchstone of Hollywood history.

LONDON: The popular “Assassin’s Creed” video game franchise is set to return to the Middle East, with the latest title in the series, “Assassin’s Creed Mirage,” reportedly set in medieval Baghdad.

The news was broken by a French YouTube channel and later corroborated by Bloomberg writer Jason Schreier, citing a source familiar with the matter.

In February this year, Bloomberg reported that the next installment of the Ubisoft series, then codenamed “Assassin’s Creed Rift,” was set to be an expansion of the previous game “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla,” and not a standalone title.

Bloomberg reported at the time that the game would not be “a massive open-world role-playing game like previous recent entries, focusing more instead on stealth gameplay.”

Those plans appear to have changed, with “Mirage” set to return to the series' roots in the 9th century Middle Eastern metropolis, featuring an assassin called Basim as its main character, first introduced to players in “Valhalla.”

Artwork leaked on the fan site The Codex Network appears to confirm Basim’s presence as the protagonist, as well as a subtitle “The Forty Thieves Quest,” which draws on a Syrian story from “One Thousand and One Nights.”

Schreier added that the game was set to be released early in 2023. There have been 12 “Assassin’s Creed” games since the initial title's launch in 2007.

That game, starring the fictional assassin Altair Ibn La’Ahad, was also set in the Middle East, comprising missions across the Holy Land in the late 12th century between Jerusalem, Damascus, and Acre, and featuring historical characters from the Crusader period.

LONDON: A dazzling pink diamond, described as one of the world’s purest, could fetch more than $21 million when it goes under the hammer in Hong Kong in October, auction house Sotheby’s said on Wednesday. At 11.15 carats, the cushion-shaped gem is called “Williamson Pink Star,” in tribute to two other pink diamonds. One is the “CTF Pink Star,” a 59.60-carat oval mixed-cut diamond which sold for a record $71.2 million at auction in 2017. The other is the “Williamson” stone – a 23.60 carat diamond given to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth as a wedding gift by Canadian geologist John Thorburn Williamson. Worn by the monarch in a Cartier brooch, it was discovered in his mine in Tanzania. The “Williamson Pink Star” also originates from that mine. “(Pink diamonds) are exceptionally rare in nature...,” Kristian Spofforth, Sotheby’s head of jewelry, told Reuters at a press preview. “You then add in the extra factors like it being over 10 carats, internally flawless and Type IIA, and you get right down to the pinnacle,” he added referring to a subgroup of the most chemically pure diamonds. Top quality colored stones are prized by the super wealthy and Spofforth said he expected many bids for the gem when it is offered for sale in a standalone auction on Oct 5. “We saw over the lockdown crisis and the COVID crisis that there is always demand for the rare and the beautiful in the world, and this is something exceptionally rare that I think will have plenty of bidders on the day,” he said. Ahead of the auction, the “Williamson Pink Star” will go on tour to Dubai, Singapore and Taipei before arriving in Hong Kong.

CHICAGO: Saudi and Arab women filmmakers are outpacing their counterparts in the US and Europe, leading voices in the industry and media said Wednesday.

Documentary filmmaker Danya Alhamrani, co-founder of EggDancer Productions based in Jeddah, said that women are changing long-held stereotypes.

This view was supported by Arab News Deputy Sections Head and Regional Correspondent Rawan Radwan, whose research shows that more women directors from the region are involved in the industry compared to their peers in the US and Europe.

During an appearance on The Ray Hanania Radio Show Wednesday, Alhamrani said that one problem with movies made in Hollywood or by Western male filmmakers is that the stories of Arab women have always been told by others.

“I think for so long we have had people tell our stories for us. And they are being told from the perspective of somebody who has not walked in our shoes and so therefore can’t tell our stories authentically. And so this is something we are really striving to do, to tell our own stories and in our own voice,” said Alhamrani who in 2006 became with her business partner, Dania Nassief, the first women in Saudi Arabia to own and manage a film production company.

Alhamrani said the biggest challenge is getting the industry to support their projects. Their first long format documentary is “Rise: The Journey of Women in Saudi Arabia,” which conveys the evolution of female empowerment in the Kingdom.

“It is about the history of women in Saudi Arabia starting in the 1950s when education for women was first started and schools were first opened and how that changed their trajectory. And so our film is full of female pioneers and different industries, from sports to art to media, and business, and even in law and politics,” Alhamrani said.

“So I think the stereotype that is very common about Saudi women is that we are oppressed. But that is why it was so important for us to make this film. Why? Because it actually shows the different side in the history of Saudi women who have been working in all these industries and pushing boundaries for a very long time.”

Alhamrani said she and company co-owner Nassief prefer documentaries because it allows them to engage directly with people and experience their real lives rather than pursuing fiction which imagines a life and often feeds stereotypes.

“We like to do stories with a social issues slant. Our goal is to bring the stories, our local stories here in Saudi Arabia, to tell stories that are biased and for us but also to bring our stories to the world,” explained Alhamrani, who led the late celebrity chef, author, and travel documentarian Anthony Bourdain on a tour of Saudi Arabia in 2008 for his CNN program “Parts Unknown.”

EggDancer Productions is online at EggDancer.com.

Alhamrani is one of several women filmmakers who were part of a special feature by Arab News’ Radwan which explored this growth in the Kingdom and across the region.

“There are more women behind the cameras than one would expect,” Radwan noted. She said data shows that “26 percent of directors are female in the Arab world, but only 8 percent are female directors in the US.”

Arab women filmmakers are also now submitting more independent productions at Cannes than their European peers.

“All of these women are out there and they have been in the scene for more than 10, 15 years now. Just because it is not mentioned in the news, just because you don’t look at us or have a microscope on us, doesn’t mean we are not out there,” Radwan said.

“And yes, there are challenges as it is with every female filmmaker in the world. It is not a problem that is just isolated here in the region. It is a global problem. Look at the numbers. We just said 8 percent in the US and 26 percent here in the Arab World. That is a lot. That is a huge comparison.”

Radwan added that there was “a growing appetite” to make films beyond the typical television game shows or interview programs, with Saudi women getting support from the Film Commission established in the Kingdom several years ago.

“They invited men and women filmmakers to participate rather than going outside of the country,” she said.

Danya Alhamrani and Rawan Radwan appeared on The Ray Hanania Radio Show on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022, broadcast on the US Arab Radio Network in Detroit and Washington D.C. The radio program is rebroadcast in Chicago on Thursdays.

You can listen to the radio show’s podcast by visiting ArabNews.com/rayradioshow.

LONDON: A British bereavement charity is set to resume a series of workshops next month to teach young people the Islamic practice of washing and shrouding a dead body, following an increase in demand after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Supporting Humanity, which is based in London and also provides mental health support for minority communities, launched the ghusl workshops in February. In the last few months it has seen an interest from Muslim communities and universities across Britain.

“Supporting Humanity has been running some ghusl workshops for the past few months. They basically are washing and shrouding of the body in an Islamic manner, and we have been teaching females from across the area, and more broader across London, about how to do this procedure for family and friends and become volunteers themselves around it,” Sumaiya Khoda, trustee at Supporting Humanity, told Arab News.

In Islam, the preparation for the burial should take place as soon as possible after death. The body is washed and then wrapped in a clean and perfumed white shroud, while the hair is combed and, if female, braided. Usually, the relatives of the deceased are involved in the procedure along with an expert guide.

“Although we initially anticipated only doing three, because it’s such a popular demand we’re actually going to continue with running these and looking to offer them more nationally, because we’re getting reach out for people to teach the practice across England,” Khoda added.

She said the charity was looking to broaden the initiative to young males as well.

“Surprisingly, it’s become increasingly popular. So most of the people coming to them is coming through word of mouth, because people are going away feeling quite enlightened with the knowledge and understanding, (and) breaking myths that they thought were around it,” Khoda said.

“We do support anybody from any community that wants support with the burial process, and we do have engagement with the coroners … but in terms of the burial itself, we are adhering to Islamic principles for burial,” Khoda said.

She added that when it comes to the burial procedure, there are limited distinctions made between the different casts of Sunni and Shiite, but the workshops were following the Sunni method of burial.

Previously, the elderly women in the Muslim community used to take on this responsibility. However during the pandemic people over 60, those with chronic conditions, or those considered high risk had to protect themselves, and they struggled to find younger females who were able to take on the task, said Tahreem Noor, head of operations and communications at Supporting Humanity.

“We need to teach people how to do it, especially the youth, we need to show them that it’s an important part of our culture, our religion, and we need to promote it as something that is rewarding, elevating. It liberates you as a Muslim who goes into a wash and shroud room to wash a body, because you have just prepared that body to meet Allah and that is the most precious part of that person’s journey,” she said.

“We think helping them throughout their life would be, whereas it’s not, it’s actually the end of their life, where you’ve really treated them with utmost respect, you’ve treated that female body with dignity, you’ve given them the modesty that they’ve always preserved throughout their life, and you follow the Sunnah (way of the Prophet Muhammad),” Noor added.

She said the purpose of the workshops was also to destigmatize the myths that come with washing and shrouding, and raise awareness on a more nationwide scale, adding that the next set of workshops, which are held on a monthly basis, will recommence on Sept. 25.

Salma Patel, lead facilitator at the ghusl workshop, said she was approached during the pandemic to help wash and shroud and in the last three years has done thousands of ghusls and gained vast experience.

She instructed the attendees on personal protective equipment, how they should be dressed, have their hair covered, and to have performed ablution before beginning the process.

Honour us with your presence at our successful wash & shroud workshop on 25th Sept! Our expert sisters have been teaching this workshop & executing real ghusls for years and will be available to answer all your questions. Register you interest via Watsapp on the number below. pic.twitter.com/7AiYLmQw3F

“We are not to see any part of their body apart from their face, hands and feet, and the way that we’ve got to wash them, just like we normally would wash ourselves, washing all the private parts is very, very important. So we make sure all that is clean, and then how we’ve got to dry them,” Patel said.

She also dealt with some myths regarding the process of embalming the body if it is to be transported to another country. It is forbidden in Islam to have the body meant for transport to be drained of blood and then filled with an alcohol-based substance.

She answered questions on whether hair, eye and nail extensions should be removed, or any artificial materials attached to the body. This should be dealt with carefully as the deceased person feels pain “70 or 100 times more.” She also tackled a myth on whether females can perform the process while on their menstrual cycle.

“I have most of them coming up to me saying it is brilliant, because there’s a lot of things that they didn’t know, there was a lot of myths. Basically I’ve cleared the myths especially, so I think everybody has been really happy,” Patel added.