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Syria vows to abide by UN resolution
Syria vows to abide by UN resolution (AP) / 29 September 2013 Syria’s prime minister said Damascus will fully cooperate with UN inspectors charged with destroying the country’s chemical weapons stockpile. Wael Al Halqi’s comments on Saturday come a day after the UN Security Council voted unanimously to purge Syria of its chemical weapons programme. Al Halqi said in an interview with Lebanon’s Al Manar TV that Syria “welcomed the resolution” and “will fulfill its international duties.” He also said the government “will facilitate the work of the inspectors.” The UN resolution passed on Friday allows the start of a mission to rid Syria’s regime of its estimated 1,000-tonne chemical arsenal by mid-2014. It also calls for consequences if Syria fails to comply, but those will depend on the council passing another resolution in the event of non-compliance. Meanwhile, Syrian rebels including members of an Al Qaeda-linked group captured a military post on the border with Jordan on Saturday after four days of fighting, an activist group said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 26 soldiers were killed in the battle as well as a number of rebels, including seven foreign fighters. The post served in the past as the customs office on the border with Jordan. It was turned into an army post years ago. The post is on the outskirts of the southern city of Daraa where the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s regime began in March 2011. The uprising later turned into a civil war that killed more than 100,000 people, according to the UN. Rebels control multiple areas along the borders with Jordan, Iraq, Turkey and Lebanon as well as the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Also on Saturday some UN inspectors left their hotel in Damascus in one vehicle to an unknown location. The UN said on Friday its team of weapons experts currently in Syria will investigate seven sites of alleged chemical attacks in the country, four more than previously known. The announcement came hours before the UN Security Council voted unanimously to secure and destroy Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile. The team initially visited Syria last month to investigate three alleged chemical attacks this year. But just days into the visit, the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Ghouta was hit by a chemical strike, and the inspectors turned their attention to that case. The inquiry determined that the nerve agent sarin was used in the August 21 attack, but it did not assess who was behind it. The UN team of investigators expects to finalise its activities in the country by Monday, a UN statement said. Continue reading
Robotic tools make learning fun for kids
Robotic tools make learning fun for kids Nivriti Butalia / 28 September 2013 Coloured LEGO bricks are familiar to most people who’ve shopped in toy stores. Those interlocking bits of plastic that children play with, creating buildings, vehicles and such like out of those bricks, only for those structures to be taken apart again. Steen Lund of LEGO Education is on a mission to make learning fun. You get this impression the moment he hands you his ‘business card’. The business card is not a conventional flat paper card, but a plastic thumb-sized LEGO brick man wearing a green cap and glasses, and white shirt. On the front of the toy man’s white shirt, it says STEEN V LUND, and on the back is written his contact details. Because this innovative toy of a business card is so tiny (but effective!), there isn’t space to fit ‘Territory Manager for Europe, Middle East and South East Asia, LEGO Education’. Lund quotes Einstein (‘Play is the highest form of research’) while unveiling the latest robot tool for classrooms called the EV3, launched by LEGO Education and Atlab. ‘There’s a new robot in class’ is the tagline of this new refined product from the education arm of LEGO toys, a company present in 60 countries. There is the necessary spiel about how they are not bringing ‘toys’ into the classroom, they’re bringing in ‘learning tools’. Robots in the classrooms? There seems to be no doubt about the fact that robots will, definitely aid teaching. “It is a resource,” says Kerry Bailey, Special Advisor, E-learning, Abu Dhabi Education Council, according to whom, there are 286 public schools within Abu Dhabi that already have robot kits that can be assembled and are assembled by eight- to 18-year-olds. “Over 1,200 schools in the GCC countries — excluding Saudi Arabia — have since 2005 adopted robot teaching resources,” says Senthil Kugan, general manager, Atlab — the official distributor of LEGO Education in the GCC. Interestingly, as Bailey says, “I have never heard of a discipline problem in a robotics class,” as all kids are head-bowed and working at their study desks, engaged and learning about Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (known as STEM; and now with an addition of arts, the acronym for learning becomes STEAM) But there is no fear of class teachers being altogether replaced by these machines (made of lego bricks, but also fitted with battery-operated touch sensors and little computing units that can be fed commands). Teacher as facilitator At the age of 13, Bora Edis and Sharan Bhatia of the Repton School are a supremely confident duo who in just four hours the previous day — by following instructions, sitting with a new interface — assembled a moving device and programmed it to move backward and forward, even installing a fork lift. Domnique Cave, their proud ICT teacher (information, communications and technology) says, “They’ve learnt more in the last two days by interacting and assembling the bricks than by sitting in a classroom.” She says her role has become that of a facilitator, “they teach themselves”. nivriti@khaleejtimes.com What is EV3? The EV3 is the next generation in robotics-based learning. The platform has reinvented science, technology, engineering and maths, also known as STEM, by integrating hands-on designing and building activities into teaching material. Continue reading
UAE reaffirms support to UN role in Syria crisis
UAE reaffirms support to UN role in Syria crisis (Wam) / 27 September 2013 Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Foreign Minister, met Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary-General, at the organisation’s headquarters on Wednesday. The two discussed ways of enhancing cooperation between the UAE and the United Nations, and exchanged views on important regional and international issues, particularly current developments in Syria and Egypt, and the situation in the Middle East in general, including developments in the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and the Iranian file, as well as other issues of common concern. Ban Ki-moon receives Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed at UN headquarters. -Getty Images The UN Secretary-General briefed Shaikh Abdullah on the priorities of the United Nations during the next phase, and its views on developments in Egypt and on the Syrian crisis, including the issue of the Syrian chemical programme. Ban Ki-Moon also briefed Shaikh Abdullah on international efforts being made to prepare for the convening of the Geneva-2 Conference. The UAE Foreign Minister reaffirmed the UAE’s firm support for the UN’s efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis and to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people, as well as its efforts in support of peace negotiations. He reiterated the UAE’s commitment to continue its support for the activities of the United Nations, especially the political and humanitarian efforts to restore stability in Syria and the region as a whole. ShAikh Abdullah also met with some of his counterparts from different countries within the framework of his meetings on the sidelines of the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly. Shaikh Abdullah met with the Foreign Ministers of Poland, Portugal, Uruguay, New Zealand, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Bosnia and Herzegovina, in addition to the Prime Minister of Tonga, Sialeataongo Tuivakano. The parties discussed ways to develop bilateral relations and cooperation in all fields, especially economic, commercial and cultural fields, including promoting programmes of official visits. Shaikh Abdullah also exchanged views with his counterparts on many issues of mutual interest, especially the Syrian crisis and the developments in Egypt, Libya and the Iranian nuclear file, along with the peace process in the Middle East and global economic conditions. Continue reading
