(CNN) -- Muslims throughout the world have been marking Eid al-Adha, but in war-torn Syria there is little to celebrate as most people struggle to meet their basic needs: food, water, and shelter.

Their plight has been highlighted by Arabic media reports that cite a fatwa, or religious ruling, by a local imam that allows people who are desperately hungry to eat dogs and cats.

Eating dog, cat or donkey is forbidden under Islamic dietary laws.

The imam in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in the capital, Damascus, reportedly said at a mosque Friday that dog, cat and donkey meat could be eaten "after reaching a desperate need and the stores of food were inadequate to feed the population under the siege."

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Yarmouk has been besieged for months by Syrian government forces seeking to flush out rebel fighters.

During the Eid al-Adha holiday, one of Islam's most revered observances, Muslims around the world sacrifice sheep and share the meat with the poor. It corresponds with the height of the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia that annually draws 2 million Muslims.

A YouTube video purports to show a group of religious leaders outside Damascus issuing a fatwa permitting the eating of cats, kittens, donkeys, and animals killed in shelling.

The man reading the statement appeals to the world, and particularly to Muslims who are completing the Hajj pilgrimage, to think of the Syrian children "dying of hunger" while the viewers' stomachs are full.

"How can't they just stand for us, for our children?" the sheikh asks. "Do they want us to get to the point when we are forced to eat the flesh of our dead martyrs and our beloved just to survive?"

CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the video.

Syria's war: CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reflects on front line reports

'We are living in despair'

At the Atmeh refugee camp in Idlib province in northern Syria, some refugees set up improvised vendor stands for the celebration -- but drew few customers who could afford their goods.

"Before the crisis, during Eid, we used to go to the shops and buy items, we were happy," said Suad Zein. "Eid was a wonderful holiday here. Now these days I can't even buy my boy a pair of trousers, or shoes, or even a loaf of bread.

"I have eight children. I can't support them all. We are living in despair."

Said another: "We have nothing to celebrate. We used to celebrate with food, drink, desserts. We used to make pastries. ... Now there's nothing."

Some refugees in Aleppo, Syria, were more fortunate. A benefactor donated sheep for the traditional animal sacrifice, which were to be slaughtered and distributed among families in need, a man in charge of the slaughter said.

The U.N. food agency, the World Food Programme, warned last month that the violence in Syria was making it hard to get aid to those in need. It estimated that 4 million people in the country were unable to produce or buy enough food.

Eid al-Adha commemorates when God appeared in a dream to Abraham -- known as Ibrahim to Muslims -- and asked him to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience. As Abraham was about to perform the sacrifice, God stopped him and gave him a sheep to kill in place of his son. Versions of the story also appear in the Torah and in the Bible's Old Testament.

The four-day celebration is also known as the Feast of Sacrifice, or Greater Eid. It is the longer of two Eid holidays observed by Muslims. Eid al-Fitr, or Little Eid, follows the holy month of Ramadan.

Asma al-Assad makes rare appearance

A rare interview with Asma al-Assad, wife of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, aired Tuesday on Syrian state TV, showing her as she visited the Daughters of Martyrs' school in Damascus.

The first lady, wearing a gray sweater with the Syrian flag in the center, is shown being greeted with applause from dozens of Syrian girls and planting olive trees with them.

The olive tree is a symbol of giving and peace, she says, as well as "a symbol of life and endurance, those who sacrificed and are sacrificing for this homeland are doing that for us so we can live and prosper in this land."

The interviewer asks Asma al-Assad, who lived in Britain before her marriage to Syria's president, about past rumors that she had left the war-torn country for Russia, Lebanon or Britain.

Smiling, she replies, "I am here, I exist here. My husband and my children are present here in Syria. It is quite rational for me to be here with them. And just like the majority of the Syrians, I was raised to love the homeland and I grew up with that notion that wherever I'd travel or lived before, and no matter how long people stay away, there is nothing more precious than the homeland."

The first lady has also been a star of the recently established Instagram account of the Syrian presidency, where she is seen smiling, showing off her volunteer work and attending social events with her husband.

Activists: Truck carrying civilians hit

Syria's descent into civil war began in March 2011, when Bashar al-Assad's regime cracked down on peaceful anti-government protesters.

That conflict spiraled into an armed uprising and a crisis that the United Nations says has claimed more than 100,000 lives.

On Wednesday, at least 53 people -- including 13 children and four women -- were killed nationwide, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria reported.

Four children and six women were among the fatalities in a blast in Daraa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

At least 21 people died when their truck was hit by an explosive device in southern Syria, opposition activists said.

The truck carrying civilians was hit as it passed through an area controlled by troops loyal to the Syrian government, the group said. Government officials did not immediately respond to the allegation.

Two suicide bombers from the al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra rebel group detonated themselves Wednesday afternoon inside the gates of Aleppo Central Prison, killing seven regime forces, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Meanwhile, the Turkish army has reinforced its positions near a strategic border gate between Turkey and opposition-controlled northern Syria, where ISIS fighters have been active. Last month, ISIS fighters pushed more moderate Syrian rebels out of the nearby Syrian town of Azaz.

Weapons inspectors

As the war rages, international inspectors continue their mission to inventory and eliminate Syria's chemical weapons arsenal.

Experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, supported by the United Nations, have conducted verification activities at 11 sites identified by Syrian authorities, the OPCW said Wednesday.

They have overseen the destruction of "critical equipment" at six sites, as well as the destruction of some unloaded chemical weapons munitions, it said.

On Monday, Syria became bound by the international treaty banning chemical arms, the Chemical Weapons Convention, which is implemented by the OPCW.

A team of OPCW inspectors entered the country on October 1. The joint mission is tasked by a U.N. Security Council resolution with ridding the country of chemical weapons by mid-2014.

CNN's Hamdi Alkhshali, Joe Sterling and journalist Adnan Hadad in Turkey contributed to this report.

Training chemical weapons experts for Syria (Frederik Pleitgen/CNN)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• OPCW inspectors are preparing for deployment to Syria with a training program in Germany
• Week-long program teaches risk awareness, first aid, dealing with kidnapping threat
• Syria mission marks first time OPCW inspectors will be sent into a live war zone
• OPCW has been on the ground in Syria since October 1 and won this year's Nobel Peace Prize

Wildflecken, Germany (CNN) -- A team of international investigators is exploring a site for chemical weapons when a sudden explosion rips through the air, scattering the workers and terrified civilians, who make a frantic run for cover in the ensuing chaos.

In a split second, this group of inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have become de facto field medics, scouring the scene for survivors and administering first aid to those injured in the blast.

It is only after the inspectors have dressed the wounds of all the victims that an instructor appears and tells the men he is satisfied with their performance. And although this is merely a training exercise being acted out in a foggy field in central Germany, the lessons inspectors learn here could potentially save lives on their next deployment.

OPCW inspectors have been tasked with cataloguing and monitoring the destruction of all of Syria's chemical weapons. They have been in hostile environments before, but never as a war is still raging on the ground. The conflict in Syria has claimed at least 100,000 lives since 2011, and dozens more are being killed every day.

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Franz Ontal is the head of training for OPCW inspectors in Germany. "We are performing our inspections in the middle of a conflict," he tells CNN. "We've never done this before. It's not something you could have foreseen two years ago and planned for."

This hostile environment training course, conducted by the German army, is teaching OPCW inspectors to identify dangerous situations and to avoid getting kidnapped, but also to help if they witness violent events -- knowledge that may be indispensable in war-torn Syria.

In August, snipers opened fire on a convoy of U.N. experts investigating a suspected chemical weapons attack in the suburbs of Damascus. One U.N. vehicle was disabled in the attack, and the inspectors were forced to turn back.

Reinhard Barz, the head of hostile environments training for the German army, believes the biggest threats could emerge when the inspectors move into areas contested between rebel fighters and the regime forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"We have different players in Syria and I think [it will not be] easy for the trainees here," Barz tells CNN. "They have to be prepared for ambushes, but also fighting might break out in some areas. The key is to try and get out of those situations quickly."

The OPCW, which has been on the ground in Syria since October 1, was awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

The organisation has two branches. One is comprised of the laboratory scientists who analyze field samples and send them to other independent partner labs for separate analysis.

The other branch is the inspectors who catalogue stockpiles of chemical weapons, oversee their destruction, take samples after alleged attacks and speak to witnesses on the ground.

Many inspectors have a background in science, but their ranks are also made up of logistics experts, weapons experts who identify munitions that may have been used to deploy chemical weapons, and health and safety experts to make sure the teams do not get overexposed to potentially dangerous chemicals.

Twenty-five inspectors from 17 nations have taken part in the training program in Wildflecken, Germany this week. The head of training tells CNN he is happy with their performance.

"They identified what had happened and quickly helped everyone. I think they did really well."

But as realistic as the training was, it was just an exercise. And the next stop for some of inspectors could be one of the most dangerous places in the world.

LONDON (AP) — What many commuters choking on smog have long suspected has finally been scientifically validated: air pollution causes lung cancer.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer declared on Thursday that air pollution is a carcinogen, alongside known dangers such as asbestos, tobacco and ultraviolet radiation. The decision came after a consultation by an expert panel organized by IARC, the cancer agency of the World Health Organization, which is based in Lyon, France.

"The air most people breathe has become polluted with a complicated mixture of cancer-causing substances," said Kurt Straif, head of the IARC department that evaluates carcinogens. He said the agency now considers pollution to be "the most important environmental carcinogen," ahead of second-hand cigarette and cigar smoke.

IARC had previously deemed some of the components in air pollution such as diesel fumes to be carcinogens, but this is the first time it has classified air pollution in its entirety as cancer causing.

The risk to the individual is low, but Straif said the main sources of pollution are widespread, including transportation, power plants, and industrial and agricultural emissions.

Air pollution is a complex mixture that includes gases and particulate matter, and IARC said one of its primary risks is the fine particles that can be deposited deep in the lungs of people.

"These are difficult things for the individual to avoid," he said, while observing the worrying dark clouds from nearby factories that he could see from his office window in Lyon on Wednesday. "When I walk on a street where there's heavy pollution from diesel exhaust, I try to go a bit further away," he said. "So that's something you can do."

The fact that nearly everyone on the planet is exposed to outdoor pollution could prompt governments and other agencies to adopt stricter controls on spewing fumes. Straif noted that WHO and the European Commission are reviewing their recommended limits on air pollution.

Previously, pollution had been found to boost the chances of heart and respiratory diseases.

The expert panel's classification was made after scientists analyzed more than 1,000 studies worldwide and concluded there was enough evidence that exposure to outdoor air pollution causes lung cancer.

In 2010, IARC said there were more than 220,000 lung cancer deaths worldwide connected to air pollution. The agency also noted a link with a slightly higher risk of bladder cancer.

Straif said there were dramatic differences in air quality between cities around the world and that the most polluted metropolises were in China and India, where people frequently don masks on streets to protect themselves. China recently announced new efforts to curb pollution after experts found the country's thick smog hurts tourism. Beijing only began publicly releasing data about its air quality last year.

"I assume the masks could result in a reduction to particulate matter, so they could be helpful to reduce personal exposure," Straif said. But he said collective international action by governments was necessary to improve air quality.

"People can certainly contribute by doing things like not driving a big diesel car, but this needs much wider policies by national and international authorities," he said.

Other experts emphasized the cancer risk from pollution for the average person was very low — but virtually unavoidable.

"You can choose not to drink or not to smoke, but you can't control whether or not you're exposed to air pollution," said Francesca Dominici, a professor of biostatics at Harvard University's School of Public Health. "You can't just decide not to breathe," she said. Dominici was not connected to the IARC expert panel.

A person's risk for cancer depends on numerous variables, including genetics, exposure to dangerous substances and lifestyle choices regarding issues such as drinking alcohol, smoking and exercising.

Dominici said scientists are still trying to figure out which bits of pollution are the most lethal and called for a more targeted approach.

"The level of ambient pollution in the U.S. is much, much lower than it used to be, but we still find evidence of cancer and birth defects," she said. "The question is: How are we going to clean the air even further?"

____

Online:

http://www.iarc.fr/en/publications/books/sp161/index.php

Sea Level Rise Swamping Florida's Everglades

By Becky Oskin, Staff Writer4 hours ago

A satellite view of the southern Everglades, Florida City, Key Largo and other parts of Florida Bay and the upper Keys

Rising sea levels are transforming the Florida Everglades, a new study shows. Plant communities that thrive in salt water are expanding along the coast, leaving less room for plants that depend on fresh water.

Salt-loving mangroves in the Everglades have marched inland in the past decade, while freshwater plants — such as saw grass, spike rush and tropical hardwood trees — lost ground, according to a study published in the October 2013 issue of the journal Wetlands.

The findings, which come from an analysis of satellite imagery from 2001 through 2010, match long-term trends tracked on the ground for the past 70 years, said lead study author Douglas Fuller, a geographer at the University of Miami.

"I was very surprised at how well the results matched our understanding of long-term trends and field data," Fuller said in a statement. "Normally, we don't see such clear patterns."

Satellite imagery of the southern Everglades — a region that includes Florida City, Key Largo and the upper Keys — revealed large patches of freshwater vegetation loss within 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) of the coast. Only freshwater plants in the interior, about 5 miles inland (8 km), showed growth trends, the researchers found.

Tracking growth and plant loss is an important part of ongoing restoration efforts in the Everglades. Changes in water management, such as the implementation of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, may help offset the potential effects of saltwater intrusion, the researchers said. "However, restoration may not suffice if sea level rise accelerates in the coming decades," Fuller said.

The Everglades are one of the largest wetlands in the world. Water flows from north to south through a sea of grass underlain by cavernous limestone. In the past 200 years, about half of the original wetlands have disappeared.

Email Becky Oskin or follow her @beckyoskin. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.

Extreme weather, disappearing Western snowpack, wildfires, sea level rise, withering crops and vanishing wildlife habitat are all typically on the docket for discussion.

Credit: J.D. Pooley/Getty Images

But with the science becoming overwhelmingly clear that human greenhouse gas emissions are fueling climate change, a discussion at last weekend's SEJ conference in Chattanooga, Tenn., veered toward the philosophy of action and personal responsibility to do something — anything at all — to reduce our impact on the climate.

In other words, if we can do something about climate change, do each of us have a personal responsibility to act? On what philosophical ground should we take individual action?

Or, what would Jesus do about CO2?

That’s a tough question for a lot of conservative Christians to answer, particularly those who are uncomfortable with some scientific theories as well as uncertainty about the future that climate science implies, said Dawn Coppock, a Christian environmentalist and co-founder of the Christian environmental group LEAF, said Saturday at SEJ.

A new study by researchers at the University College of London and Yale University shows that evangelicals are less likely than non-evangelicals to believe that climate change is real, is causing harm and is caused by humans. Even so, the study shows that evangelicals are concerned about climate change and support a variety of policy measures to address it. In addition to LEAF, the Evangelical Environmental Network and other groups try to make the case to evangelicals for moral action on climate climate change.

It’s not that conservative churchgoers who don't believe in climate change are uncaring about their environment, Coppock said. They have serious doubts about science in general, requiring Christian environmentalists to be creative in inspiring people to action.

Many conservative Christians feel estranged and alienated by science, she said.

“At LEAF, we don’t talk about climate change, we talk about Earth stewardship,” Coppock said. “We’re also drinking the Jesus Kool-Aid. Scientific arguments are persuasive to a whole lot of learning styles. We already have those people in the tent. You’re not going to convert those people (in the churches) by pummeling them with more science. Spiritual and moral concern does not require you to believe there’s global warming.”

Credit: Society of Environmental Journalists.

According to Coppock, Christians in the South who doubt the reality of manmade climate change may be convinced action is necessary by showing them the environmental challenges posed by something very clear: mountaintop-removal coal mining and the dramatic effects it has on the landscape, or East Tennessee’s high asthma rates caused in part by coal-fired power plant emissions, she said.

“From a Christian frame, I would say love my neighbor, and I was commanded to care for creation,” she said.

LEAF has been successful in reaching out to congregations about how they can be less wasteful and more energy efficient, leading to greater support for greener cities in the Bible Belt.

“When you’ve got green cities, which Knoxville and Chattanooga and Nashville are working hard to be, then sooner or later, the state legislature has to listen,” she said. “That to me is how we get a hold of this problem. We do what we can do and we look at the people that can do more and we support and encourage those efforts.”

University of Tennessee philosophy lecturer Alex Feldt, who also spoke at SEJ, said any moral argument for action on climate change is complex and problematic because of the “collective action problem.”

But if humans have the power to mitigate climate change, he said they have a moral obligation to do so because much human suffering is at stake. Climate change threatens food and water supplies for millions across the globe, something studies show could lead to a much more violent world.

“Because climate change is collective, they look at it and say it doesn’t matter what I do,” Feldt said. It is important to find “moral arguments that can break through that and say, no, you actually have a responsibility … You’re morally responsible because other people are being significantly harmed.”

According to Feldt, a useful moral argument for action is to appeal to fairness and justice, because climate change will violate the human rights of a lot of people who can never be compensated.

“Information (about climate change) is part of the moral argument: We have an obligation to share this information and do this,” he said. “That’s the way to inspire without feeling paralyzed. You don’t have to go crazy green, live off the grid. You just need to talk."

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