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Source: http://feeds.canada.com/~r/canwest/F280/~3/4WmSwxO4G2Q/story.html

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UN experts to probe alleged Syria chemical attacks

UNITED NATIONS (AP) ? U.N. experts will travel to Syria as soon as possible to investigate three alleged incidents of chemical weapons attacks, the United Nations announced Wednesday.

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said the green light for the investigation followed "the understanding reached with the government of Syria" during last week's visit to Damascus by U.N. disarmament chief Angela Kane and the head of the chemical weapons investigation team, Ake Sellstrom.

The announcement caps more than four months of behind-the-scenes talks aimed at getting chemical experts on the ground to investigate more than one alleged incident. Whether any signs of chemical weapons use remain at the three sites months after their alleged use remains to be seen.

The mandate of the investigation team is to report on whether chemical weapons were used, and if so which chemical weapon, but not to determine the responsibility for an attack.

When Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon agreed to a U.N. investigation in March, he said the announcement "should serve as an unequivocal reminder that the use of chemical weapons is a crime against humanity."

Nesirky said Sellstrom's team will visit Khan al-Assal, a village on the southwestern outskirts of the embattled city of Aleppo, which was captured by the rebels last week and was under attack by government forces Wednesday. The government and rebels blame each other for a purported chemical weapons attack on the village on March 19 that killed at least 30 people.

Nesirky did not give any details of the other two incidents to be investigated. A well-informed U.N. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions on the issue have been private, said Sellstrom is expected to choose the two other sites based on the technical and scientific information the U.N. has received from governments, doctors, alleged victims and others.

Syria asked the secretary-general to investigate the Khan al-Assal incident and balked at a broader investigation sought by Ban after Britain, France and the United States sent the U.N. information about other alleged attacks in Homs, Damascus, Aleppo and elsewhere.

U.N. Mideast envoy Robert Serry told the Security Council last week that the U.N. has received 13 reports of alleged chemical weapons use in Syria.

"The secretary-general remains mindful of other reported incidents," Nesirky said Wednesday, "and the mission will also continue to seek clarification from the member states concerned."

The diplomat stressed that the chemical weapons experts ought have access to all 13 sites in the future. Last week, the Syrian National Coalition, the Western-backed opposition group, told members of the U.N. Security Council that it would provide access to a U.N. investigation team to any sites they control, the diplomat said.

Britain and France initially raised allegations of chemical weapons use in two locations in Khan al-Assal and the village of Ataybah in the vicinity of Damascus on March 19 and in Homs on Dec. 23.

On June 13, the United States said it had conclusive evidence that Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime had used chemical weapons against opposition forces. That crossed what President Barack Obama had called a "red line" and prompted a U.S. decision to send arms and ammunition to the opposition, not just humanitarian aid and non-lethal material like armored vests and night goggles.

In a letter to the secretary-general the following day, then-U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said the United States had determined that the nerve agent sarin was used in the March 19 attack on Khan al-Assal and also in an April 13 attack on the Aleppo neighborhood of Shaykh Maqsud. She said unspecified chemicals, possibly including chemical warfare agents, were used May 14 in an attack on Qasr Abu Samrah and in a May 23 attack on Adra.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said earlier this month that experts from Russia, Syria's closest ally, determined that Syrian rebels made sarin and used it in the March 19 attack on Khan al-Assal. The U.S., Britain and France reiterated at the time that they have seen no evidence to indicate that the opposition has acquired or used chemical weapons.

Churkin told reporters after delivering an 80-page report to the secretary-general that Syria asked Russia to investigate the attack after the U.N. team of chemical weapons experts was unable to enter the country because of the dispute over the probe's scope.

Churkin later gave copies of the report to the British, French and Americans who discovered that several pages were missing.

The Russian Foreign Ministry's deputy information director, Maria Zakharova, told AP that "there are in fact several pages missing which contain scientific technical information not having direct relation to the results of the analysis conducted by our experts that were presented to the U.N. Secretariat."

"These pages were intended for 'internal use' and did not influence the conclusion of the report in any way," Zakharova said. "The conclusion, as we have already stated, is that the munition filled with chemical warfare agents was produced and used on March 19 in the vicinity of Aleppo by non-governmental forces."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/un-experts-probe-alleged-syria-chemical-attacks-193056332.html

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NASA technologist makes traveling to hard-to-reach destinations easier

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Traveling to remote locations sometimes involves navigating through stop-and-go traffic, traversing long stretches of highway and maneuvering sharp turns and steep hills. The same can be said for guiding spacecraft to far-flung destinations in space. It isn't always a straight shot.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/astronomy/~3/ky5--uGqbEg/130731230229.htm

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How to Get More Website Traffic Post-Penguin 2.0: 4 Free, Easy ...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Read about How to Get More Website Traffic Post-Penguin 2.0: 4 Free, Easy Things I've Done that's Paying Off. ... I'd go mad if I tried to readjust how I run my online businesses every time Google made an algorithm change. ... If there's one lesson we can all take away from Penguin 2.0, it's that we need to build a community around our content/sites. ... Even before Panda and Penguin, how Google determined the relevancy of any given web page was changing.

Source: http://www.e-junkie.info/2013/07/how-to-get-more-website-traffic-post.html

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Gilmore in China trade mission

30/07/2013 - 07:34:48Back to Business Home

T?naiste Eamon Gilmore is beginning a four-day political and economic mission to China.

Eamon Gilmore's visit marks the first time a sitting T?naiste has visited the country.

He will hold talks with the Chinese foreign minister and the chairman of the Communist Party during his visit.

It is the seventh visit to China by an Irish minister in the last year.

Source: http://feeds.breakingnews.ie/~r/bntopstories/~3/rF08eDIZgAo/gilmore-in-china-trade-mission-602081.html

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London-based offices and rebranding waste of money for charities, public say

Almost one in five respondents said that they would have more confidence in a charity if the staff paid for their own Christmas party. Photograph: Stockbyte/Getty Images

Almost three in four people have said that London-based offices and rebranding are a waste of money for charities, an nfpSynergy poll of 1,002 adults has shown.

The poll was carried out as part of nfpSynergy's Charity Awareness Monitor, which surveys a representative sample of adults in Britain. Of those surveyed, 74% felt that London-based offices for charities were a "somewhat" or "very" wasteful expenditure, with just 4% saying they were "fairly" worthwhile, and the rest saying they were unsure.

Rebranding recieved a similar response, with 72% of people saying it was wasteful for charities to spend money on changing their name, logo or look, and just 9% saying they felt it was worthwhile.

Joe Saxton, founder of nfpSynergy, said: "London offices make complete sense for many charities, so they need to be honest and proactive about the benefits. Being in London provides a much better pool of staff to recruit from and the small savings outside London would be a false economy."

More than half (62%) of those surveyed said they would feel confident that a charity spends donations well if staff did not travel in first class and 55% of respondents said they would feel confident if the organisation was mostly ran by volunteers. Of those surveyed, 51% said that if nobody in the organisation was paid more than ?50,000 a year that would increasse their confidence in the charity.

In addition, close to one in five (23%) said that they would have more confidence in a charity if staff paid for their own Christmas party, while 9% felt that staff would need to work for free one day a month for them to feel confident in a charity's spending.

"Paying someone more than ?50,000 and ?100,000 [makes sense for charities]," Joe Saxton said. "If that person brings a skillset, a breadth of experience and other benefits, be proactive and tell the world about it. I think every major charity can justify paying their chief executive over ?100,000.

"What charities need to remember is that if London offices or ?100,000 salaries are worthwhile, they need to scream and shout about why. The sector needs to talk about these issues now, not hope that nobody notices what they are doing."

Online tools and lobbying recieved a more positive response, with 70% of respondents saying they felt that spending money on a website was worthwhile and over half of those surveyed saying that lobbying government and other organisations (58%), as well as advertising (67%), were worthwhile.

In addition, 48% believed that producing a magazine to update supporters on work that had been done was a worthwhile expenditure for charities.

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To join the voluntary sector network, click here.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2013/jul/31/london-offices-waste-money

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Veeries very quiet when owls are about

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Study shows birds eavesdrop on owls and change their dusk singing patterns to avoid becoming potential prey. If you hear an owl hooting at dusk, don't expect to catch the flute-like song of a Veery nearby. This North American thrush has probably also heard the hoots, and is singing much less to ensure that it does not become an owl's next meal.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/7voZJPhRHcA/130730091257.htm

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