North Korea: Nukes are our country's 'life'

North Korea said on Saturday it was entering a "state of war" with South Korea. NBC's Ian Williams reports.

By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

One of North Korea's top decision-making bodies is setting guidelines that call nuclear weapons "the nation's life" that won't be traded even for "billions of dollars,? The Associated Press reported.

The statement Sunday came after a plenary meeting of the central committee of the ruling Workers' Party attended by leader Kim Jong Un and other officials, the AP said.

It also followed a declaration on Saturday that it was entering a "state of war" with South Korea, the latest in a string of increasingly belligerent outbursts from the isolated state.

Sunday?s statement says nuclear weapons aren't "goods for getting U.S. dollars" or a "political bargaining chip." Outside analysts have said Pyongyang raises worries over its nuclear ambitions to spur nuclear-disarmament-for-aid talks, the AP said.

David Guttenfelder / AP

As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.

It said Pyongyang will also increase work to build up the economy. Kim has made fixing the moribund economy a focus.

On Thursday the U.S. sent two nuclear-capable bombers to South Korea, where they dropped inert munitions in a military exercise. The flight sparked an angry response from the North, which declared on Friday that it was preparing rockets aimed at American bases in South Korea and the Pacific.

Related:

Analysis: North Korea's threats predictable but Kim Jong Un is not

North Korea's Internet? For most, online access doesn't exist

PhotoBlog: Pyongyang marchers: 'Rip the puppet traitors to death!'

This story was originally published on Sun Mar 31, 2013 9:38 AM EDT

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Bing Gordon's Founder Checklist: Animal Energy, Blind Confidence, And A Toupee.

Editor?s note:?Derek?Andersen?is the founder of?Startup Grind, a 40-city community bringing the global startup world together while educating, inspiring, and connecting entrepreneurs. As an?Electronic Arts’ intern eight years ago, I asked Bing Gordon then the chief creative officer?and the only remaining early founding team member, a question about vision. ?How can I know where the puck is going to be?? While he delivered a satisfactory response, two weeks later I received an email from Bing saying, ?I answered that question poorly a few weeks and I wanted to try again.? A few weeks ago?Bing joined me?at Startup Grind in Silicon Valley where he delivered some great advice that has become one of his trademarks. In 2010?Mark Pincus called KPCB general partner Bing Gordon?(look for a bald guy on the front row) one of the world?s ?great CEO coaches? supporting founders on the boards of companies like Amazon, Zynga, Klout, and Zazzle. Here?are some excepts from our recent?interview. Derek: Tell us about your family and where you grew up? BING: So I grew up in a suburb of Detroit.? My dad was a first generation Scotsman and his dad was a janitor.? And he was somebody that believed the grass was always greener and didn?t have, kind of, context or resources.? Thanks, Dad!? We were the first to move in to a subdivision built out of farmlands surrounding Detroit, so I grew up kind of in the creek.? Playing sports with my brother who remembers growing up in the House of Pain. ?So I had a good Midwestern upbringing.? I didn?t work in an office before going to Stanford business school, but I did think I was a pretty damn good teenage caddy. I played hockey and lacrosse at the university level and played both, kind of, for most of my adult life. Derek: What was your plan heading to college? BING: Well I went to Yale thinking I was going to be a math major and a writer, and I got there and Yale was lousy at math and it seemed socially irrelevant, so I kind of became an athlete-near-college-dropout.? I realized I was flunking a third of my classes going into the final.? My proud accomplishments in college other than sports achievements was I wrote poetry.? Kind of light verse, in a coffee shop, and Peter Faulk when he was doing Columbo came, and liked it so much he took

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Scientists Built a Fake Virus Shell to Make a Sterile, Zombified Vaccine

Vaccines beef up your immune system by giving it a little taste of a weak—or dead—version of diseases. Now researchers in the UK have developed an alternative approach: build a synthetic doppelganger and let your body crush its hollow husk. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/xPixb_YyLrU/scientists-scooped-out-virus-guts-to-make-a-sterile-zombified-vaccine

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Pre-College Parental Chat May Reduce Freshman Drinking - Health ...

By Mary Brophy Marcus
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, March 29 (HealthDay News) ? Parents who want to help their teens better navigate the world of college drinking might consider a pre-college chat on the topic. New research suggests it will help douse their desire to imbibe when they hit campus.

?The research shows parents do influence a teen?s decisions about drinking, even at this age,? said study co-author Michael Cleveland, a research assistant professor at the Prevention Research Center at Pennsylvania State University.

The scientists recruited 1,900 soon-to-be college freshmen to participate in questionnaires about their drinking habits. The teens, who were planning to attend a large northeastern university, were asked about their high school drinking habits and were then categorized as either nondrinkers, weekend light drinkers, weekend heavy drinkers and heavy drinkers (which included drinking on weekdays and weekends).

Their parents were mailed a 22-page handbook that included general information about college student drinking, how to communicate effectively, advice on how to help teens be assertive and resist peer pressure, and detailed information on the physical effects of alcoholic beverages on the body.

Parents were asked to read the handbook and then talk with their teen about the contents at one of three randomly assigned times, either during the summer before college, during the fall semester of the first year of college, or during the summer before college and again during the fall semester freshman year.

The handbook was created by study author Robert Turrisi, a professor of biobehavioral health at Penn State. He and his colleagues hoped their research would help identify the best time to talk with a teen about college drinking, and whether chatting more than once is more effective than a one-time talk.

The findings, reported in a recent issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, show that teens who talked with their parents about anti-drinking strategies before they began their first year of college were more likely to fall into a non-drinking or light-drinking category, or to transition out of a heavy-drinking group if they were already heavy drinkers.

Talking with their child in the fall of freshman year was less effective or had no additional impact on drinking behaviors, Cleveland said.

He said some of the key points in the parent handbook include communicating to their kids that they will be faced with choices about drinking when they?re off at college and they need to be prepared to make smart choices.

?One section covers how alcohol works in the body ? what it?s doing, its physiological and psychological effects. There is also information on motives teens give for why they drink, and how to respond to peer pressure,? Cleveland said.

Reinforcing that drinking is an illegal behavior and can have serious fallout is discussed in the handbook, too. ?There?s a constellation of risk behaviors linked to underage and binge drinking: car accidents, suicides and sexual assault,? he added.

For example, car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, and about one-third of those are alcohol related, according to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. What?s more, each year about 12 percent of college students are assaulted by other students who have been drinking, according to the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Cleveland said a lot of parents have the idea that they help their teens by letting them drink at home, that it?s safe because at least they know where their child is drinking. ?But we know that when teens are asked about their parents permissibility, those students who had parents who were more permissive were more likely to be heavier drinkers later on,? he said.

An expert praised the new research.

?It?s a very good study,? said Dr. Joanne Sotelo, division director of psychiatry at Scott & White Healthcare in Round Rock, Texas. ?It gives some information we already knew about the type of intervention that?s needed, but it?s interesting to see the difference in timing.?

Talking with your teen about sensitive topics like drinking can be challenging and parental ?tone? is important, she pointed out. ?It?s such a tough age between high school and college. You?re still kind of figuring out who you are and what you want to be, but you still need your parents? support, you are not fully matured.?

She said, ideally, parents won?t wait until just before college, but will have been ?planting seeds,? having small conversations, all along.

Sotelo recommended keeping the talks open-ended, not just lecturing. ?If you come across as defensive, that?s how they?ll respond. Instead, you can say, ?I know you?re not supposed to drink, but have you already tried it with your friends??? Sotelo said then you can voice your expectations that you hope they will not get into problems with alcohol.

Football tailgates, fraternity parties ? she said there?s no doubt teens will be exposed to alcohol at college and ?it?s going to be 100 percent their decision to drink or not to drink.?

Some universities are beginning to become more aware of the need to work with parents on drinking issues by offering alcohol-free dorms and events, study author Cleveland said. But he said the best place to begin is at home. ?It?s challenging for parents to face these questions from an 18-, 19-, 20-year-old, but just having the conversation is a good thing,? he said.

The U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism supported this research.

More information

For more facts on college drinking, visit the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Source: http://news.health.com/2013/03/29/pre-college-parental-chat-may-reduce-freshman-drinking/

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Apple's 'Maps Ground Truth Specialists' fix Map app flubs

Suzanne Choney , NBC News ? ? ? 19 hrs.

Apple's Maps mess of six months ago is a distant memory for some, but not for the Cupertino company, which has worked quickly to rectify matters and improve its map app, introduced as part of its iOS 6 mobile operating system. That damage control includes hiring employees with the title of "Maps Ground Truth Specialists" around the globe to make sure Apple's maps are up to snuff.

While Apple isn't the first company to have the Orwellian-sounding position of "Maps Ground Truth Specialists" ? Google has them, too ? it's noteworthy because of Apple's map flubs, something that caused CEO Tim Cook to make a public apology.

In the United States, those flubs included initially showing the Brooklyn Bridge as almost plunging into the water and marking a Florida supermarket site as one for a hospital.

Right now, there are seven openings for "Maps Ground Truth Specialists" around the world, including one in the United States. That role, Apple says in the job description, will include:

• Testing new releases of map code and data around the U.S.
• Collecting ground truth data to allow for analysis of the impact of potential map code or data changes relative to known truth.
• Utilizing local expertise to provide feedback about U.S.-specific mapping details.
• Evaluating competing products in-region relative to our maps.

As you can see, there are jobs all over the globe, including Australia. There last fall, police were warning drivers not to use Apple Maps because it wrongly placed the city of Midura in a national park, leaving some motorists stranded and in a snake-infested area.

? Via The Verge

Check out Technology, GadgetBox, DigitalLife and InGame on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

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If employee refuses to cooperate with investigation, feel free to fire ...

Not everyone wants to cooperate when an employer begins investigating discrimination or harassment charges. That?s especially true if an employee?s job is on the line because the charges involve him.

The thinking: Why help dig your own grave? Let HR figure out what happened. Don?t say anything that might court more trouble.

Of course, when employees won?t talk, that puts investigators at a disadvantage.

One solution is to tell all em??ployees they must cooperate. Otherwise, they risk being disciplined. If that doesn?t work, you now have an option: Go ahead and fire the employee for re??fusing to help with the investigation.

Recent case: John supervised a staff of subordinates, including a lesbian who married her partner. Around the same time, John proposed putting her on a performance improvement plan (PIP) because he felt she wasn?t working up to capacity. The woman refused to sign off on the PIP. Instead, she went to HR with allegations that she had been sexually harassed and disciplined be??cause of her sexual orientation and marriage.

HR brought in an attorney to conduct an investigation. All employees were ordered to cooperate, including John. He answered many of the lawyer?s questions, but refused to provide details about how he evaluated subordinates, including the woman at the heart of the investigation.

Others employees, however, provided a wealth of information. They recounted several instances in which John?surrounded by male employees, but excluding women?was said to have told sexually offensive jokes.

The investigating attorney ultimately concluded that the woman who filed the complaint had been neither har??assed nor discriminated against based on sex or sexual orientation. John was cleared of any wrongdoing and, according to the report, his request for a PIP was legitimate.

However, the investigator recommended that John either lose his job or take an unpaid suspension for re??fus??ing to completely cooperate with the investigation. The employer fired John.

He sued, alleging he had been fired for engaging in protected ??activity. He claimed that refusing to disclose his evaluation methods was an attempt to protect his subordinates? privacy.

The court didn?t buy it, deciding instead that John had refused to follow rules and specific directives. By ignoring sexual harassment policies prohibiting dirty jokes and by refusing to fully cooperate with the investigation, he revealed professional flaws other than the ones the investigation began looking at. John?s case was dismissed. (McGrory v. Applied Signal Technology, No. H036597, Court of Appeal of California, 2013)

Final note: The employer in this case did everything right?and in the right order. It took a complaint, hired an expert to investigate and took the time to conduct a thorough and fair inquiry. It warned everyone that they were required to cooperate and answer questions to the best of their ability. Then the employer had the expert prepare a comprehensive report containing solid recommendations based on what she uncovered during the investigation.

It also didn?t let the fact that the investigation could not confirm the subordinate?s initial allegation stop it from disciplining John for being uncooperative. There was no rush to judgment. Instead, this was a deliberate and careful process aimed at uncovering what happened.

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Google opens Shopping Express pilot with free same-day deliveries in San Francisco

Looking to refresh your polo shirt collection -- today -- without making a trip to the store? There's a Google venture for that, and it's called Shopping Express. The service, which offers same-day delivery from Target, Walgreens, Toys R Us, American Eagle, Staples, Office Depot and a few local shops, has just opened its doors to testers in the San Francisco Bay Area. After signing up on Google's microsite, you'll be on your way to six months of unlimited free deliveries from select retailers. The service competes with similar offerings from Amazon and eBay, and, well, doesn't exactly seem like an obvious fit for Google. We're eager to see how it pans out -- hopefully, if it does turn out to be a worthwhile venture, it won't succumb to the search giant's annual "spring cleaning" ritual. The company is only accepting "a limited number of shoppers" right now, so if you're eligible, sign up at the source link ASAP.

Filed under: Household, Internet, Google

Comments

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Google

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/28/google-shopping-express/

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Even graphene has weak spots

Mar. 28, 2013 ? Graphene, the single-atom-thick form of carbon, has become famous for its extraordinary strength. But less-than-perfect sheets of the material show unexpected weakness, according to researchers at Rice University in Houston and Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The kryptonite to this Superman of materials is in the form of a seven-atom ring that inevitably occurs at the junctions of grain boundaries in graphene, where the regular array of hexagonal units is interrupted. At these points, under tension, polycrystalline graphene has about half the strength of pristine samples of the material.

Calculations by the Rice team of theoretical physicist Boris Yakobson and his colleagues in China were reported this month in the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters. They could be important to materials scientists using graphene in applications where its intrinsic strength is a key feature, like composite materials and stretchable or flexible electronics.

Graphene sheets grown in a lab, often via chemical vapor deposition, are almost neverperfect arrays of hexagons, Yakobson said. Domains of graphene that start to grow on a substrate are not necessarily lined up with each other, and when these islands merge, they look like quilts, with patterns going in every direction.

The lines in polycrystalline sheets are called grain boundaries, and the atoms at these boundaries are occasionally forced to change the way they bond by the unbreakable rules of topology. Most common of the "defects" in graphene formation studied by Yakobson's group are adjacent five- and seven-atom rings that are a little weaker than the hexagons around them.

The team calculated that the particular seven-atom rings found at junctions of three islands are the weakest points, where cracks are most likely to form. These are the end points of grain boundaries between the islands and are ongoing trouble spots, the researchers found.

"In the past, people studying what happens at the grain boundary looked at it as an infinite line," Yakobson said. "It's simpler that way, computationally and conceptually, because they could just look at a single segment and have it represent the whole."

But in the real world, he said, "these lines form a network. Graphene is usually a quilt made from many pieces. I thought we should test the junctions."

They determined through molecular dynamics simulation and "good old mathematical analysis" that in a graphene quilt, the grain boundaries act like levers that amplify the tension (through a dislocation pileup) and concentrate it at the defect either where the three domains meet or where a grain boundary between two domains ends. "The details are complicated but, basically, the longer the lever, the greater the amplification on the weakest point," Yakobson said. "The force is concentrated there, and that's where it starts breaking."

"Force on these junctions starts the cracks, and they propagate like cracks in a windshield," said Vasilii Artyukhov, a postdoctoral researcher at Rice and co-author of the paper. "In metals, cracks stop eventually because they become blunt as they propagate. But in brittle materials, that doesn't happen. And graphene is a brittle material, so a crack might go a really long way."

Yakobson said that conceptually, the calculations show what metallurgists recognize as the Hall-Petch Effect, a measure of the strength of crystalline materials with similar grain boundaries. "It's one of the pillars of large-scale material mechanics," he said. "For graphene, we call this a pseudo Hall-Petch, because the effect is very similar even though the mechanism is very different.

"Any defect, of course, does something to the material," Yakobson said. "But this finding is important because you cannot avoid the effect in polycrystalline graphene. It's also ironic, because polycrystals are often considered when larger domains are needed. We show that as it gets larger, it gets weaker.

"If you need a patch of graphene for mechanical performance, you'd better go for perfect monocrystals or graphene with rather small domains that reduce the stress concentration."

Co-authors of the paper are graduate student Zhigong Song and his adviser, Zhiping Xu, an associate professor of engineering mechanics at Tsinghua. Xu is a former researcher in Yakobson's group at Rice. Yakobson is Rice's Karl F. Hasselmann Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and professor of chemistry.

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation supported the work at Rice. The National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program and Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology of China supported the work at Tsinghua.

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Journal Reference:

1. Zhigong Song, Vasilii I. Artyukhov, Boris I. Yakobson, Zhiping Xu. Pseudo Hall?Petch Strength Reduction in Polycrystalline Graphene. Nano Letters, 2013; : 130325121321001 DOI: 10.1021/nl400542n

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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When cash is no longer legal tender

Workers at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing surrounded by piles of money (Discovery)Have you ever wondered what happens to all of the damaged dollar bills floating around the economy? How long does paper money actually last before it disintegrates into torn shreds or a pulpy mass that is indistinguishable from regular old paper? And at what point is paper money just too damaged to be used as legal tender?

On March 30 9 p.m. ET/PT, the Discovery Channel will give viewers an inside look at ?The Secret Life of Money,? which seeks to answer these questions along with offering many other insights into the world of money, including the history of how gold became a standard form of currency around the world.

David Kestenbaum and Jacob Goldstein from NPR?s "Planet Money" contributed to the special and chatted with Yahoo News about some of the stranger things they?ve learned about cash.

?To me, what?s most interesting is that there is a bigger idea at work here: Money is this thing that we take for granted,? Goldstein said. ?When you stop and think about money, it gets really weird, really fast.?

For example, if your money is damaged, you can legally exchange it with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. But only to a point. The bureau says it receives upwards of 300 envelopes per day, containing ?torn, blackened, blood-soaked, shrunken or otherwise maimed money.? However, so long as 51 percent of that blood-soaked bill remains intact, you can get a freshly issued replacement bill.

?It?s not paper the way we normally think of paper. It?s 75 percent cotton and 25 percent linen. It?s like a T-shirt,? Kestenbaum says, explaining why money is actually more physically durable than some might think.

Still, that hasn?t stopped thousands of people each year from testing its limits in strange ways.

For example, one Florida man attempted to dry his money after it became wet by putting it in the microwave. But instead of returning to its crisp, clean form, the money was crisped and burst into flames.

These sort of incidents resulted in the bureau exchanging $28 million worth of paper money in 2011 alone.

Of course, Goldstein and Kestenbaum note that similar incidents are on the decline as money moves toward becoming a predominantly electronic transaction between buyer and seller.

?There is no truck full of dollar bills going from my employer?s bank to my bank,? Goldstein says, noting that the very basic idea of money is really more about trust than physical value. ?The U.S. dollar is already basically an electronic currency.?

And with the advent of independent currency providers such as Bitcoin, some people are trying to establish that trust without relying on a government.

Still, Kestenbaum says that for all its shortcomings, paper money is likely to stay with us for years to come. ?I am more bearish on the future of physical money,? he said. ?At some point, we won?t be using cash at all. Not in the next year, but in 50 years? Probably.?

Ironically, one of the reasons Goldstein and Kestenbaum say the U.S. dollar has a future in its physical form is its popularity outside of America. They note that there are currently more $100 bills outside the U.S. than within the borders of the country that printed them.

If you add up all of the cash, "there?s a lot missing because of how much is used overseas,? Kestenbaum said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/secret-life-money-revealed-172617707.html

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Herzing, Owens sign reciprocity agreement | Toledo Newspaper

Herzing University Toledo will sign an agreement with Owens Community College within days establishing a ?3+1? program between the two schools.

?It is an effort to make higher education more affordable and attainable,? said Kevin Milliken, community relations coordinator for Herzing. ?This ?3+1? program is unique to the Toledo campus. It?s the first time we?ve ever done something like this. We have to continue to find unique and creative ways to help students afford and access higher education, as well as retain them and help them complete.?

The 2010 census reports that one in three adults living in Lucas County currently has at least an associate degree. One in 11 has at least a bachelor?s degree.

?And that?s worse than even the Appalachian regions of southern Ohio,? Milliken said. ?The census broke down adult education county by county. Lucas County is pretty much in the middle of the pack with that one in three [statistic]. But because Ohio is an industrial state, there?s the manufacturing mentality that says if you get a high school diploma, you can get a job on the assembly line and make good money. Of course, those days are long gone.?

By 2020, the Ohio Board of Regents projects that three of every five jobs in Ohio will require some form of higher education.

?That?s not necessarily a four-year college degree, but an associate degree or a diploma or certificate program ? something ? because of technological advancements,? Milliken said. ?And that?s seven short years from where we currently are in Lucas County.

?My message (when speaking to high school students) in the classrooms is a high school diploma is now a one-way ticket to working poor. That?s a message from the organization Complete College America.?

Milliken will follow up the March 28 Transfer Fair hosted by Owens for its students graduating with associate degrees when he meets with interested students April 2 at Owens at 10:30 a.m.

Significant cost savings

Milliken said the ?3+1? program allows students to take three years of classes at Owens and the final three semesters at Herzing. ?3+1? will save students almost $20,000 on the cost of a traditional four-year liberal arts university bachelor degree program.

?What this does is accomplish a couple of things,? Milliken said. ?No. 1, it allows students to attend a community college at a lower per credit hour cost. It also allows them to finish in a reasonable amount of time, saving that kind of money so they?re not up to their necks in student loan debt.?

Options for students

Doug Bullimore, assistant director of transfer partnerships at the Toledo campus at Owens, said he is glad Owens signed the agreement.

?I?m always looking for different options for our students after they earn their associate degree,? Bullimore said. ?The whole educational system is changing. We are going through a renaissance. This ?3+1? program can give our students another avenue to follow.?

Herzing?s ?3+1? program will allow students to take three years of classes at Owens, where tuition is $146.03 per credit hour, as opposed to Bowling Green State University ($359), The University of Toledo ($327.66) or Herzing University ($460).

However, Milliken said the cost of classes at both UT and BGSU are closer to the $450 Herzing charges.

?When you look at Herzing?s per-semester cost, we are right there in the ballpark with UT and BGSU because they stack all those fees on top of everything,? he said.

Additional BGSU costs

BGSU?s website reports that students pay a $59 fee for each credit hour, which makes one academic credit hour actually cost $418. BGSU?s website also estimates book and academic supplies will cost $1,194 annually.

Students also pay a mandatory $61 per credit hour fee with a maximum charge of $732 a semester ?to attend most campus activities and athletic events free or at a reduced admission fee.? This fee also supports the student union, intramural sports, and ?other student services, activities and related capital projects? and allows full-time students access to the Rec Center and Perry Field House.

A parking permit costs $60 a semester or $100 a year.

The website also lists 49 other fees? ranging from $7 to $720 per semester that students could potentially be required to pay.

The website also informs students that ?fees are subject to change at any time with Board of Trustees? approval.?

Additional UT costs

UT?s website reports that students pay an additional $49.60 fee for each credit hour, which makes one academic credit hour actually cost $377.26. UT?s website also estimates the ?typical annual cost of books? at $750.

A parking permit costs $120 a semester or $240 a year.

The website provides a link to a 17-page PDF from The Office of the Treasurer that identifies technology fees calculated by the college in which a student is enrolled, ranging in price from $1.25 to $17.50 per credit hour.

Herzing University

The document also lists 21 ?miscellaneous fees? ranging from $3 per credit hour to $4,825 a year that students could potentially be required to pay. The document also lists four of the miscellaneous fee categories as ?vary by course.?

The website informs students that ?fees are for a typical fall/spring semester, 15-week course. Application and new student registration fees may also apply. Tuition and fees are subject to change.?

Additional Owens costs

Owens? website reports that unlike BGSU and UT, Owens does not attach a fee to the cost of a credit hour. The advertised $146.03 cost is final.

The website lists five required fees. Two are one-time fees ? an application fee ($20) and a new student orientation fee ($65).

Recurring required fees are registration fees ($10), laboratory fees, which vary by course, and academic support service fees ($110).

Owens lists 12 optional fees, ranging in cost from $5 per academic program to $50 per semester. Owens does not charge a parking fee.

?No fee? policy

?We don?t stack fees,? Milliken said. ?We include the cost of books (in the price of a credit hour), and we don?t add any fees. We even pay for any certification test that a student would need. For example, our new information technology program will include some Cisco (Computer Information System Company) certifications. If someone has to sit for a Cisco certification test, we pay that fee as a part of their tuition.

?We don?t have technology fees, special services fees, program fees and parking fees. If you were to take a look at the typical bill for a public university, you could see as many as six to 10 different kinds of fees. When the state legislature puts a tuition freeze on what public colleges and universities can charge, those institutions generate additional revenue by establishing fees.?

Global marketplace

?This is career-oriented stuff where graduates can walk right in the door and do the job because, built into our curriculum, we?re using actual case studies that companies faced in logistics, product ordering, HR, benefits, financial accounting ? every aspect of the global marketplace,? Milliken said.

Milliken said Herzing?s Software Applications Platform (SAP) component to the curriculum makes its graduates more marketable.

?SAP is the software system that 60 percent of the world?s companies use, including local employers such as the City of Toledo, Owens-Illinois, Owens Corning, The Andersons and Chrysler,? Milliken said. ?It?s in demand, especially in Northwest Ohio.?

Milliken said SAP allows various software programs that companies use to talk to each other and expand out into all types of devices, including personal computers, smartphones, tablets and the Web. Milliken said SAP allows companies to present information in user-friendly ways.

Liberal arts four-year colleges and universities teach the theory behind SAP and other computing platforms, but they don?t offer students the hands-on training in operating platforms that Herzing provides, Milliken said.

?When graduates walk out with a bachelor?s degree in business with this SAP component, they?re ready to walk into any one of our major local employers,? Milliken said. ?They don?t have to leave the area to find opportunity. And we?re being told anecdotally out in the field that if you don?t have that SAP piece, many of the local employers aren?t going to look at you. Since the unemployment situation is so high right now, employers can pick and choose whom they want.?

Milliken acknowledged that critics will be skeptical of the ?3+1? program, saying it is simply a marketing ploy that a for-profit university is using to entice more students to enroll.

?There will be naysayers out there, but until we start creating the university of the future, we?re going to miss a lot of opportunity,? Milliken said. ?For the traditional bricks-and-mortar university, time is passing it by. There are almost 1,000 online programs out there. Our online bachelor?s program is now ranked 80th in the country by U.S. News & World Report. That puts us at No. 1 on Northwest Ohio and No. 2 in Ohio.?

Further implications

?We have to leverage the resources that are available to meet the students where they?re at because the adult learner, formerly known as the nontraditional student, is the norm rather than the exception these days,? Milliken said. ?In order for them to complete an education, we have to work around the work-family-children-life balance. And education is just one more thing piled on all the pressures of life. And unless and until we evolve and adapt to meet those situations, we?re not going to succeed as a region.?

Milliken said Herzing is looking to expand the ?3+1? program ?in any way we can so that students can save money on college. It?s something that may be a good fit for Northwest State [Community College, with its main campus in Archbold and satellite campuses in Bryan, Van Wert and Whitehouse] or Terra [Community College in Fremont], but those discussions have not been completed. The idea has been introduced to their leadership, but further discussions are obviously needed.?

Milliken said reciprocity programs like ?3+1? could be expanded to programs both schools have in common, including:

• Technology programs in computer networking, network management, security technology and technology management.
• A public safety program in criminal justice.
• Health care programs in health information management, health care management, insurance billing and coding, medical assistance services and surgical technology.
• Business programs in accounting, business management and paralegal services.

?Anything that we offer could be pursued at a higher level toward a bachelor?s degree,? he said. ?Anything we offer is a logical candidate for such a ?3+1? program.?

Milliken said Greg Guzman, Herzing campus president, gets all the credit for establishing the program.

?Greg used to work at Owens so he has some ongoing relationships there,? Milliken said. ?What gives us such a foothold here is that Greg has worked in higher education in many of Northwest Ohio?s public universities, including Owens, Lourdes [University] and Bowling Green [State University].

?As institutions of higher education, we have to do a better job of meeting all students where they?re at and structure programs accordingly to do two things ? help them achieve success and give them the tools and the tool belt necessary for what the workforce demands.

?And if we?ve done neither or either, then we?ve failed the students who are investing in their future success.?

Tags: BGSU, Bowling Green State University, Herzing University, Owens Community College, University of Toledo

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 28th, 2013 at 4:03 pm and is filed under Breaking News, Community, Education.
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Source: http://www.toledofreepress.com/2013/03/28/herzing-owens-sign-reciprocity-agreement/

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Making Mountains out of Molehills in Relationships

General Relationship Discussion Although anyone can post anywhere on Talk About Marriage, this section is for people interested in general relationship and marriage advice.

Yesterday, 02:07 PM	? #1 (permalink)
Member ? Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 445	A question keeps running through my head, "do we give too much life to things that might not be real?" because I find that I always seem to be worrying about one thing or another in my marriage especially, and then living based around those worries or situations I "think" I'm going through. I assume things, or making false accusations... So I guess my questions are, Why do we always tend to make mountains out of molehills? Why can't we live day to day, instead of thinking so much about yesterday and the day before that? Why do we worry so much about what will happen tomorrow, especially in regards to relationships? Why do we never want to forgive people for their mistakes? These may seem like really dumb questions, but I wonder sometimes....If we all put down our worries, and concentrated only on what we can do to better ourselves instead of trying to change other people, wouldn't that lead us one step closer to having healthier lives in general? I don't know if any of you will want to reply to this, but I just want to put it out there. Feel free to put your two cents in.
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Yesterday, 02:20 PM	? #2 (permalink)
Member ? Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 1,841	Quote: Why can't we live day to day, instead of thinking so much about yesterday and the day before that? Why do we worry so much about what will happen tomorrow, especially in regards to relationships? Why do we never want to forgive people for their mistakes? Well I think it all depends.the only time I think of yesterday or day before that (where its in anyway interupting with living today so to speak) is if its not resolved."no closure" left open ended and or even still ongoing. Pretty much for me If I do worry? Again its open ended and no closure and again especially if its a repeated "theme" ..like "lied to me again" no "security" wont lie again tomorrow because its a "pattern" with not a lot of time to heal in between.. The 3rd one is not me.I do want to forgive people for mistakes but for reasons as stated above they can sometimes make that far more difficult for you .But forgiving someone is like a breath of fresh air to me a "release" and I want to do it.Its not just for them..actually sometimes it isn't for them at all.You can forgive a dead person as an example.
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Yesterday, 03:08 PM	? #4 (permalink)
Member ? Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 1,191	Quote: Why do we always tend to make mountains out of molehills? Firstly this is not a "why do we" question because not everyone does this. I will say that when I was miserable towards the end of my marriage that things looked far bigger than I could cope with but the reality was that things actually were huge. Big big problems. On an everyday level no I don't turn the small stuff into bug stuff, I just tend to take whatever action is required and move on. Why can't we live day to day, instead of thinking so much about yesterday and the day before that? Again not everyone does this. Living in the present is the way I roll. At times there is great reflection on the past or excitement about the future but generally my days are flat out and I stick to thinking in the present. Why do we worry so much about what will happen tomorrow, especially in regards to relationships? Not worry about tomorrow with my relationship, excited about the future though. Why do we never want to forgive people for their mistakes? This is such an important thing to do not only for them but also for us. I have well and truly forgive the person that hurt me the most in life, it is a liberating feeling and let's you just get on with your life.
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Yesterday, 07:21 PM	? #7 (permalink)
Member ? Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Kansas City Metro area Posts: 2,377	Quote: A question keeps running through my head, "do we give too much life to things that might not be real?" because I find that I always seem to be worrying about one thing or another in my marriage especially, and then living based around those worries or situations I "think" I'm going through. I assume things, or making false accusations... So I guess my questions are, Why do we always tend to make mountains out of molehills? Why can't we live day to day, instead of thinking so much about yesterday and the day before that? Why do we worry so much about what will happen tomorrow, especially in regards to relationships? Why do we never want to forgive people for their mistakes? These may seem like really dumb questions, but I wonder sometimes....If we all put down our worries, and concentrated only on what we can do to better ourselves instead of trying to change other people, wouldn't that lead us one step closer to having healthier lives in general? I don't know if any of you will want to reply to this, but I just want to put it out there. Feel free to put your two cents in. It's been said that a short memory for the bad stuff and a long one for the good things is what makes a marriage last. Your idea is the same principle, just in the future.
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Yesterday, 07:42 PM	? #8 (permalink)
Member ? Join Date: Nov 2012 Posts: 529	Along the lines of dallasapple's first comment, it's very difficult for me to "move on" and forgive and forget when the issue never gets resolved...when it gets swept under the rug, when my feelings are invalidated frequently. It's little hurts that add up to one big one eventually...a dismissal of my opinion about something that affects me as much as him, a cold shoulder lasting days that ends abruptly with no explanation, a unilateral change in pre-marital decisions such as how many children to have, constant walking on eggshells to ward off angry outbursts over trivial matters. Then when trying to discuss the issue immediately, I'm told to stop taking things so personally...everyone has a bad day...if I try to bring it up later, I'm accused of holding grudges for every little thing. For me, this is why it's hard to let go of yesterday and just be happy with today, to just forgive and forget...because to forgive someone for past hurts, it sure as heck would make it much easier if that person would meet half way and acknowledge their contribution to the problem.
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Yesterday, 07:57 PM	? #9 (permalink)
Member ? Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Somewhere Out There Posts: 3,664	Quote: Well I think it all depends.the only time I think of yesterday or day before that (where its in anyway interupting with living today so to speak) is if its not resolved."no closure" left open ended and or even still ongoing. Pretty much for me If I do worry? Again its open ended and no closure and again especially if its a repeated "theme" ..like "lied to me again" no "security" wont lie again tomorrow because its a "pattern" with not a lot of time to heal in between.. The 3rd one is not me.I do want to forgive people for mistakes but for reasons as stated above they can sometimes make that far more difficult for you .But forgiving someone is like a breath of fresh air to me a "release" and I want to do it.Its not just for them..actually sometimes it isn't for them at all.You can forgive a dead person as an example. I quoted this because I think she says it better than I can. I agree with what I have emboldened. It is the open-ended, no-closure issues which make it so difficult to heal and move forward. My belief is, they know and have experienced this. It is done intentionally. If not, and they once truly loved you and wanted to forgive and be forgiven, they would provide their story, problem or reason. I have not figured out how to forgive when the issues remain. Edit: I have added this quote from Waking up to life because I agree with this part: "For me, this is why it's hard to let go of yesterday and just be happy with today, to just forgive and forget...because to forgive someone for past hurts, it sure as heck would make it much easier if that person would meet half way and acknowledge their contribution to the problem." __________________ "anything I did better today than I did yesterday is progress" - Saki Last edited by 2ntnuf; Yesterday at 08:01 PM.
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Yesterday, 08:30 PM	? #10 (permalink)
Member ? Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: starbucks Posts: 212	Quote: Along the lines of dallasapple's first comment, it's very difficult for me to "move on" and forgive and forget when the issue never gets resolved...when it gets swept under the rug, when my feelings are invalidated frequently. It's little hurts that add up to one big one eventually...a dismissal of my opinion about something that affects me as much as him, a cold shoulder lasting days that ends abruptly with no explanation, a unilateral change in pre-marital decisions such as how many children to have, constant walking on eggshells to ward off angry outbursts over trivial matters. Then when trying to discuss the issue immediately, I'm told to stop taking things so personally...everyone has a bad day...if I try to bring it up later, I'm accused of holding grudges for every little thing. For me, this is why it's hard to let go of yesterday and just be happy with today, to just forgive and forget...because to forgive someone for past hurts, it sure as heck would make it much easier if that person would meet half way and acknowledge their contribution to the problem. When you get to the point where you are walking on eggshells. That's not a molehill thats a mountain. I know, I was there and that statement was my deciding factor to save myself and my kids.
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Yesterday, 09:04 PM	? #11 (permalink)
Member ? Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Texas Posts: 1,077	Quote: A question keeps running through my head, "do we give too much life to things that might not be real?" because I find that I always seem to be worrying about one thing or another in my marriage especially, and then living based around those worries or situations I "think" I'm going through. I assume things, or making false accusations... So I guess my questions are, Why do we always tend to make mountains out of molehills? Why can't we live day to day, instead of thinking so much about yesterday and the day before that? Why do we worry so much about what will happen tomorrow, especially in regards to relationships? Why do we never want to forgive people for their mistakes? These may seem like really dumb questions, but I wonder sometimes....If we all put down our worries, and concentrated only on what we can do to better ourselves instead of trying to change other people, wouldn't that lead us one step closer to having healthier lives in general? I don't know if any of you will want to reply to this, but I just want to put it out there. Feel free to put your two cents in. We don't HAVE to do any of that. I am convinced that the secret to happiness and contentment is in the "letting go". It is also in living for today, and planning for tomorrow. I think a long time ago, I quit wishing and wondering and hoping and worrying.... especially when it comes to relationships but really, in alot of aspects of life. I think we can make a choice. To either wallow, or to forge ahead.... and if you can get past the past.... THEN you get to coast. A few tips... daily inspirations (yay for the internet!), old sayings such as "Count your blessings" etc... there are tons. Find a "mantra"... at one of my hardest times my mantra was that little mole/groundhog thing from Caddyshack singing "I'm alright, nobody worry 'bout me". That was me, finding my own way in spite of some real crap around me. My point is....it is within you... find it.
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Yesterday, 09:08 PM	? #12 (permalink)
Member ? Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 1,841	Quote: I quoted this because I think she says it better than I can. I agree with what I have emboldened. It is the open-ended, no-closure issues which make it so difficult to heal and move forward. My belief is, they know and have experienced this. It is done intentionally. If not, and they once truly loved you and wanted to forgive and be forgiven, they would provide their story, problem or reason. I have not figured out how to forgive when the issues remain. Edit: I have added this quote from Waking up to life because I agree with this part: "For me, this is why it's hard to let go of yesterday and just be happy with today, to just forgive and forget...because to forgive someone for past hurts, it sure as heck would make it much easier if that person would meet half way and acknowledge their contribution to the problem." That's so sweet of you to say..but I suspect you could have said it just as well..I have met many "wise" people who view things this way or better yet have figured this out.
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Source: http://talkaboutmarriage.com/general-relationship-discussion/70299-making-mountains-out-molehills-relationships.html

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Army vet accused of fighting with al-Qaida

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) ? A U.S. Army veteran is charged with conspiring with an Al-Qaida group to wage war against the Syrian regime.

Eric Harroun of Phoenix was charged Thursday in federal court in northern Virginia with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction outside the U.S. An affidavit states Harroun has been engaged in military action in Syria, siding with rebel forces against the Syrian government. It says he used rocket-propelled grenades in the fighting earlier this year.

On his Facebook page, he claimed credit for downing a Syrian helicopter.

Prosecutors say one of the groups with which Harroun served is the al-Nusrah Front, which is commonly known as al-Qaida in Iraq.

Harroun has made an initial court appearance. A public defender was appointed to represent him in a detention hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-army-vet-charged-fighting-al-qaida-184044925.html

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Getting the Big Picture: BMC Ecology Image Competition Winners [Slide Show]

With the snap of a camera or the click of a mouse, participants in this year's BioMed Central image contest provided a peek into the intricate relationships uniting members of our biosphere

By Erin Brodwin

Bright green doesn?t seem like the best choice for camouflage. But the image of a vibrant green stick insect, Timema poppensis, perched almost invisibly atop the matching leaves of its host, a coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), provides visual support to the idea that color is a key part of coevolution, an ecological process in which two or more species develop together.

This image, which is the winner of the open-access publisher BioMed Central?s Ecology Image Competition 2012, was picked in large part because of it illustrates so well this natural process. ?Many of the images submitted were visually stunning,? said in a press release. Yan Wong, a member of the editorial board who helped select among the entries in photography or data visualization from people at research institutions across the globe. ?This wasn't simply a search for an amazing picture, however. Just as important were the ecological processes depicted. Ideally, images should immediately hint at one or more ecological processes,? he said.

Moritz Muschick?s photograph of T. poppensis and S. sempervirens did just that. This vibrant green insect is one example of a species that, over time, adapted to live on very different host plants at a variety of elevations. Today scientists look at Timema?s DNA to study how different forms of coloring or camouflage affect speciation.

View the BioMed Central Ecology Image Competition 2012 slide show

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=cfb2f06a2c3b5eac8aec66978c31aa90

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Hope for Galapagos wildlife threatened by marine invaders

Mar. 26, 2013 ? Increasing tourism and the spread of marine invasive non-native species is threatening the unique plant and marine life around the Galapagos Islands.

UK scientists from the Universities of Southampton and Dundee are currently investigating the extent of the problem following a grant from the UK Government's Darwin Initiative, which aims to protect biodiversity and promote sustainability around the world.

UK Environment Minister Richard Benyon said: "The UK has played a major role in supporting the establishment of the Galapagos Marine Reserve and our Darwin Initiative has funded a range of important projects protecting and enhancing both marine and terrestrial wildlife.

"Invasive non-native species can cause huge damage to local ecosystems and I am delighted that action is being taken to monitor this threat."

Project leader Dr Ken Collins, Ocean and Earth Science of University of Southampton based at the National Oceanography Centre said: "Tourism is partly to blame for the influx of invasive non-native species, due to the huge rise in ships and planes from mainland Ecuador bringing in pests. In recent years, it was realised that cargo ships were carrying disease-infected mosquitoes, which were attracted to the ship's bright white deck lights. Simply changing from conventional filament bulbs to yellow sodium lamps, along with fumigation in the hold has substantially reduced the threat.

"We are trying to protect marine biodiversity by identifying newly arrived species to the Galapagos, assessing if they have the potential to compete for space and overcome other species of algae and native corals."

White coral, which has already been reported off the mainland Ecuador coast (600 miles away), is also causing anxiety. It could easily hitch a lift on the frequent vessels supplying Galapagos tourists and residents. Already, two new algae species have been found in the Galapagos Marine Reserve, a World Heritage Site.

Another species causing concern and which has the potential to overwhelm natural populations is the Indian Ocean lionfish. This fish colonised the Caribbean through accidental release from an aquarium and has spread through the entire Caribbean in the last decade. Its rapacious appetite has led to the decimation of coral reef fish populations in the southern Caribbean. Lionfish can consume prey up to two thirds of their own length and data shows that they can eat 20 small wrasses in 30 minutes. Their stomachs can expand by up to 30 times in volume when consuming a large catch. The Panama Canal could provide a short cut to Ecuador's Pacific coast and then the Galapagos.

One of Ken Collin's PhD students is Fadilah Ali, who is at the University of Southampton studying how the lionfish is eating its way through coral reef fish populations in the southern Caribbean. For over a hundred years Southampton, one the UK's busiest ports has been receiving marine hitchhikers from around the world, changing the entire balance of its underwater marine plants and animals. One example is the Pacific Oyster, which is being studied in the Solent region by another of Ken's PhD students Steff Deane.

Prof Terry Dawson, SAGES Chair in Global Environmental Change at Dundee, added, "Invasive species are becoming one of the greatest threats to biodiversity on a global scale. The Galapagos islands are particularly vulnerable due to the fact that much of the indigenous wildlife have evolved over millions of years in the absence of predators, competition, pests and diseases, which makes them very susceptible to the negative impacts of aggressive non-native species.

"We are very pleased to have Inti Keith, one of the staff of the Charles Darwin Research Station, registered with the University of Dundee to study for her PhD on this important topic. Her extensive local knowledge of the marine environment of the Galapagos Islands gives us a head start in developing the research to tackle the issue.

The team have recently returned from the Galapagos, where they met the Ecuadorian Navy and DIRNEA, the national maritime authority, to discuss control measures and helped take part in the first underwater survey of the Galapagos capital port.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/x3Tk7129LPw/130326112048.htm

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Syrian activists say senior rebel leader wounded

FILE - In this undated file photo, Syrian Commander Riad al-Asaad, who heads a group of Syrian army defectors appears on a video posted on the group's Facebook page. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday March 25, 2013 a bomb stuck to his car targeted Col. Riad al-Asaad during a visit to the town of Mayadeen in eastern Syria. The Observatory cited conflicting reports on al-Asaad's fate, with some saying he had been killed and others saying he lost a leg. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. (AP Photo/Free Syrian Army) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HAS NO WAY OF INDEPENDENTLY VERIFYING THE CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS VIDEO IMAGE.

FILE - In this undated file photo, Syrian Commander Riad al-Asaad, who heads a group of Syrian army defectors appears on a video posted on the group's Facebook page. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday March 25, 2013 a bomb stuck to his car targeted Col. Riad al-Asaad during a visit to the town of Mayadeen in eastern Syria. The Observatory cited conflicting reports on al-Asaad's fate, with some saying he had been killed and others saying he lost a leg. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. (AP Photo/Free Syrian Army) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HAS NO WAY OF INDEPENDENTLY VERIFYING THE CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS VIDEO IMAGE.

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? A rebel military leader who was among the first to call openly for armed insurrection against President Bashar Assad was wounded by a bomb planted in his car in eastern Syria, anti-regime activists said Monday.

Col. Riad al-Asaad, leader of a now-sidelined rebel umbrella group known as the Free Syrian Army, had his right foot amputated following the blast late on Sunday, according to an activist in the town of Mayadeen where the attack took place.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the attack, saying some said al-Asaad had been killed while others said he lost a leg.

Calls to al-Asaad's cell phone went unanswered, and one of his aides reached in Turkey said he had no details.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Al-Asaad, a former colonel in the Syrian air force who defected and fled to Turkey in 2011, became the head of the Free Syrian Army, a group of army defectors who were among the first to declare armed struggle the only way to topple the regime.

"They will soon discover that armed rebellion is the only way to break the Syrian regime," al-Asaad told The Associated Press in October 2011, soon after his group was formed.

At the time, most Syrian activists were inspired by the uprisings that had successfully toppled dictators in Tunisia and Egypt and thought popular protests would bring about the same result in Syria. But the Syrian government's vast, violent crackdown on opposition caused many to resort to arms.

Today, hundreds of independent rebel groups are fighting a civil war against Assad's forces across the country and many activists no longer bother to stage unarmed protests. The U.N. says more than 70,000 people have been killed since the first protests in March, 2011.

During that transition, al-Asaad, who spent most of his time in a refugee camp in Turkey, never managed to build effective links with most rebel groups or provide the support that would have made them recognize him as their leader. While most fighters in Syria refer to themselves as part of the "Free Army," those who say they follow al-Asaad are rare.

More recently, al-Asaad's group has been superseded by the Office of the Chiefs of Staff, which is associated with the opposition Syrian National Coalition and led by Gen. Salim Idris. That body, too, has failed to project widespread authority inside Syria, where most groups still cobble together their own funding and arms.

The Mayadeen activist said via Skype that a bomb planted in the seat of the car al-Asaad was riding in blew up as he toured the town.

The activist said rebels now control the town and most of the surrounding areas, although President Assad still has supporters, whom the activist blamed for the attack. He spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for his safety.

Al-Asaad was traveling with an aide and a local activist, Barakat al-Haweish, both of whom were slightly injured, the activist said. Al-Asaad was taken to a local field hospital, where doctors amputated his right foot before transporting him to Turkey.

Also Monday, the opposition's exile political leadership, the Syrian National Coalition, said a delegation was heading to Doha, where the Gulf state of Qatar will host a two-day Arab League summit starting Tuesday.

Foreign ministers of the League's member states decided Monday to grant Syria's seat in the body to the opposition. The Syria government's membership was suspended earlier in the uprising.

Heading the delegation is Mouaz al-Khatib, the Coalition said in a statement on its Facebook page. He is going despite having resigned his position as Coalition leader on Sunday, citing restriction on his work inside the group and frustration with the level of international aid for the opposition.

Al-Khatib, a respected Muslim preacher before being chosen last year to head the Coalition, said in a post on his own Facebook page that he would address the summit "in the name of the Syrian people." He said the move had nothing to do with his resignation, "which will be discussed later."

The Coalition refused his resignation and has asked him to keep his job.

Also in the delegation is Ghassan Hitto, whom the coalition elected last week to head a planned interim government to govern rebel-held areas.

In Damascus, a series of mortar strikes near a downtown traffic circle on Monday killed one person and wounded several others, the government-run Ikhbariyeh TV station reported.

Umayyad Square, at the center of a large intersection west of downtown, sits near the government TV headquarters, the Sheraton hotel and a number of faculties of the University of Damascus.

Syria's state news agency reported no dead and at least six wounded in the strikes, which it said hit near the Opera House.

It was unclear who was behind that attack as well, reflecting the often chaotic nature of Syria's two-year-old civil war pitting hundreds of independent rebel groups against the forces of Assad. The U.N. says more than 70,000 people have been killed since the conflict began with political protests in March, 2011.

Such sporadic strikes on Damascus have grown more common in recent weeks and often appear to target government buildings. Most cause only material damage, but spread fear in Damascus that the capital, which has so far managed to avoid the widespread clashes that have destroyed other cities, could soon face the same fate.

Damascus residents reported hearing intensive shelling on Monday, though it was hard to tell where it was coming from.

____

Associated Press writer Albert Aji contributed reporting from Damascus, Syria.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-25-Syria/id-68d75fddc92d46e2a1df13ea5d393dfc

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