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The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the Sunday explosion in Jouber, which it said has seen heavy clashes recently between rebels and the Syrian army. It did not have any immediate word on casualties.

It said the blast targeted a police station and was carried out by the Jabhat al-Nusra, a militant group linked to al-Qaida, but did not elaborate.

The government official insisted on anonymity because he is not allowed to make press statements.

The optional service, known as two-factor authentication, is designed to verify the identity of users as they log in by requiring them to enter numeric codes sent via text message.

LinkedIn introduced the service on Friday, about a year after a highly publicized breach that exposed passwords of millions of its users. Some security experts criticized LinkedIn at the time, saying the firm had failed to use best practices to secure its passwords.

The site provided instructions to its 225 million users on how to turn on the optional service at http://linkd.in/1aIFV3D

(Reporting by Jim Finkle; additional reporting by Jennifer Saba; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

Joan of Arc (AP)

Joan of Arc martyredConsidered a heroine of France, the 18-year-old claimed to hear thethat told her to lead the French army to several victories in the 100 Years War. She was eventually captured by the British who burned her at the stake as a heretic on May 30, 1431. Five hundred years later the pious war hero was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.

Edmund Hillary, Col. John Hunt and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953 (AP)

First people to summit Mount EverestEdmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first people to summit Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, 60 years ago. The amazing feat has been followed by about 3,500 other climbers. The legacy seems to be a dirty onethe mountain is .

Big Ben clock in London (Getty Images)Big Ben goes into operationOn May 31, 1859, the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster, commonly known as Big Ben, began operation. The nickname, referring to the bell inside the tower, was officially named theto celebrate the queen's diamond jubilee in 2012.

Composer Igor Stravinsky (Getty Images)

'Rite of Spring' causes riotBallet is not normally associated with outrage, but this dance, provocatively choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky with music composed by Igor Stravinsky and performed on May 29, 1913, in Paris, was too modern for some ears and eyes.

As Slate , "As the music became more brutal and rhythmically complex and Nijinskys provocative choreographing of the sacrifice of a young virgin unfolded, laughter and catcalls devolved into an outright riot, with the audience becoming so loud at points that the orchestra could not even be heard." One hundred years later, the piece is "indisputably one of the most important and influential compositions of the 20th century."

is an online personalized finance service that helps "consumers make better decisions about their personal finances, travel plans, or higher education." The company recentlythat named the best places for women in the workforce, and Washington, D.C., was No. 1 on the big city list.

The lists, divided into large, medium, and small cities, were based on an analysis of 366 metro areas and included data from the U.S. Census. Three criteria were examined: median salary for full-time female employees, women's pay as a percentage of men's for full-time employees, and the population growth of each city.

The Study

According to a February 2013 , "Women have made notable changes in their labor force activities." The number of full-time working women has increased considerably since 1970. According to the report, "In 1979, women working full-time earned 62 percent of what men did; in 2011, women's earnings were 82 percent of men's."

NerdWallet examined cities "with characteristics that support working women, including a growing economy, a small gender pay gap, and robust salaries" and divided their rankings based on metro area size.

In an interview with TIME,"We parsed the results because some people aren't looking for jobs in big cities. While many working women want to move to places like New York City, others want to live in smaller cities where they can raise families and send their children to quality public schools. We wanted to make sure we had results that catered to all women, not exclusively young, mobile women who are drawn to big cities."

Why Washington, D.C.?

NerdWallet says that women in D.C. "benefit from a high median salary and high population growth."

While the area offers several employment opportunities for the politically inclined, many women also work in research in area universities. With the-- Washington, D.C., had approximately 16.1 million domestic visitors in 2011 -- more prospects of work have also been added.

With such avenues, the median earnings for full-time, year-round female employees in D.C. is $55,688, and women's earnings in D.C. are 81.9 percent of men's earnings.

After Washington, D.C., NerdWallet listed San Francisco, San Jose, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Denver, Raleigh, New York City, and Sacramento on the list of the top 10 big cities for working women.

Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina, took first in the list of the best medium-sized cities for women in the workforce, thanks to job opportunities at the metro area's universities. Women's pay is 93.5 percent of men's in Durham-Chapel Hill, and the median pay for full-time, year-round women is $41,736.

The small cities list is led by Napa, California, where NerdWallet reports women's earnings are 91.6 percent of men's and median women's pay is $46,949.

Lions v Barbarians Hong Kong June 1

Lions v Western Force Perth June 5

Lions v Queensland Reds Brisbane June 8

Lions v New South Wales/

Queensland Country invitational Newcastle June 11

Lions v NSW Waratahs Sydney June 15

Lions v ACT Brumbies Canberra June 18

Lions v Australia Brisbane June 22

Lions v Melbourne Rebels Melbourne June 25

Lions v Australia Melbourne June 29

Lions v Australia Sydney July 6 (Compiled by Patrick Johnson, editing by Clare Fallon)

(Logo:)

Following Kerry, the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Greece and Poland, Israel's Justice Minister and chief negotiator with the Palestinians, and, via video, the UN Secretary-General will be among the featured speakers during the June 2-4 AJC Global Forum.

The AJC Global Forum will bring together 1,500 participants from across the United States and 60 Jewish communities around the world.

"Our annual Global Forum is a unique, energizing, highly informative experience, a must for engaged Jewish advocates," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "The opportunity to learn from and speak directly to world leaders about critically important policy issues, as well as to engage with one another from across the Jewish world, is not to be missed."

At the Statesmen's Forum on June 2, Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski will share their respective views on regional and global political and security challenges. Each country has important relations with the U.S., Israel, and the Jewish people.

On the evening of June 3, at the World Leaders Plenary, Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos, Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, and, via video, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, will speak.

For Global Forum delegates, the annual conference is an opportunity to address critical issues on AJC's agenda. There are three other plenary sessions this year:

In addition, a special highlight each year for Global Forum attendees is the opportunity to engage top officials directly in a series of private dinners. This year there are more than 30 such dinners with ambassadors from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

Moreover, Global Forum delegates will also participate in informational and training sessions before leaving the hotel on Tuesday afternoon for advocacy sessions on Capitol Hill, with ambassadors of key countries, and with leaders of different faith groups.

Over the May 31-June 2 weekend immediately prior to the Global Forum, AJC will sponsor the third annual ACCESS Summit for hundreds of young activists from around the world. Ambassador Ido Aharoni, consul general of Israel in New York, will deliver the keynote address at the start of the gathering, and Azerbaijan Ambassador to the U.S. Elin Suleymanov will speak at the closing session.

Participants will delve into intense discussions during the weekend on three tracks: defending Israel's legitimacy and making the case for Israel; advancing Muslim-Jewish relations; and strengthening Latino-Jewish relations.

AJC, founded in 1906 and with headquarters in New York, maintains 22 regional offices across the United States, nine overseas posts and 31 international partnerships.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods rose more than expected in April, a hopeful sign that a sharp slowdown in factory output could soon run its course.

New orders for durable goods, which range from toasters to aircraft, increased 3.3 percent last month, the Commerce Department said on Friday.

The data was the latest to show the U.S. economy exhibiting surprising resilience in the face of harsh fiscal austerity measures enacted this year.

"(It's) another sign that growth is holding up quite well," said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics in Toronto.

While Washington hiked taxes in January and sweeping budget cuts began in March, consumer spending has looked relatively robust and many economists think the U.S. Federal Reserve could begin tapering a monetary stimulus program by the end of the year.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected new orders for durable goods, which are meant to last three years or more, to rise 1.5 percent last month. The Commerce Department also revised prior readings for orders to show a smaller decline in March than previously estimated.

The better-than-expected news helped contain losses on Wall Street, where stocks slipped for a third straight day. Investors fear that less monetary stimulus could crimp the supply of money for investing. Yields on U.S. government debt also declined.

NOT RIP-ROARING

Data earlier this month showed U.S. factory output fell in April for the second straight month, hurt by the European debt crisis which has weighed on demand at factories from Los Angeles to Shanghai.

Friday's report showed a measure of underlying demand in the factory sector, which strips out aircraft and military goods and is an indicator of future business spending, advanced 1.2 percent. That was a faster clip than analysts had expected.

Even if that signals a return to growth in the factory sector, economists expect government austerity will nevertheless sap strength from the economy as the year progresses.

"While (Friday's data) was definitely better than expected, I would not mistake this for rip-roaring strength," said Stephen Stanley, an economist at Pierpont Securities in Stamford, Connecticut.

Shipments of core capital goods, which go into calculations of equipment and software spending in the gross domestic product report, fell 1.5 percent.

That suggests that while there were signs businesses could spend more in coming months, actual transactions got off to a weak start in the second quarter, reinforcing the view that economic growth has slowed.

Economists polled by Reuters earlier this month expect GDP to grow at a 1.5 percent annual rate in the second quarter, down from a 2.5 percent pace in the January-March period.

Shipments of capital goods in the defense sector, which is shouldering a large share of Washington's austerity drive, fell 5.6 percent in April.

And while the strength in overall new orders was broad based, it received a boost from a rise in demand for aircraft, which is often volatile. The increase in aircraft orders was expected; plane-maker Boeing received orders for 51 aircraft, up from 39 in March, according to information posted on its website.

(Editing by Andrea Ricci)

NEW YORK, May 21 (Reuters) - The decision on Tuesday by golf's rule-makers to ban the anchoring of putters brought cheers and jeers from among prominent players and major golf organizations.

The U.S. PGA Tour and the PGA of America, who both emphatically opposed the proposed rule, said they were still against a ban and would evaluate their positions now that the rule has been officially adopted to begin on Jan. 1, 2016.

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), meanwhile, said it would follow the rules and adopt the ban.

"We're obviously disappointed," PGA of America president Ted Bishop, whose group runs the PGA Championship and jointly administers the Ryder Cup with the European Tour, told the Golf Channel.

"We were holding out hope that there could be some kind of a compromise."

The PGA Tour said it would discuss their position with members of their Player Advisory Council and Policy Board before announcing their position.

Players anchoring long putters have won four of the last six major championships, capped by Adam Scott becoming the first Australian to win the Masters last month.

Opponents of the anchoring style have said it is not a true golf stroke and that stabilizing the putter against one's body can give users an advantage to combat nervous hands and what golfers refer to as the yips.

Hall of Famer Gary Player of South Africa, winner of nine major championships and a career grand slam, saluted the ban.

"I spent hours and hours training my mind to have good nerves under pressure. The long putter takes away the nerves. It allows you to hide the nerves and nerves are an integral part of the game of golf," Player said.

Players that anchor their putters have insisted they enjoy no meaningful advantage and should be able to continue.

American Keegan Bradley, the 2011 PGA champion, suggested during the discussion phase of the rules process that he might consider legal action against a ban.

BIG IMPACT

Colin Montgomerie, the 2010 Europe Ryder Cup captain, said he hoped Bradley would not resort to that.

"Let's hope not," Montgomerie said on Tuesday. "He is entitled to do what he wants to do but let's hope he plays by the R&A and USGA rules.

"I have used an anchored putter and it was easier to putt with it, rather than without, but I'm in favour of the ban."

USGA executive director Mike Davis said golf would be hurt if the PGA Tour decided to ignore the ban.

"When we write and interpret the rules of golf we do it for millions of golfers worldwide, 50, 60 million golfers," Davis said at a news conference at USGA headquarters in New Jersey.

"The PGA Tour is very small, a few hundred players, but they have big impact on the game.

"When white belts appeared on the PGA Tour, guess what, they appeared in recreational golf. I think it's really important that the PGA Tour and the professional tours...follow one set of rules."

Bishop said the PGA would watch with interest how the PGA Tour acts.

"We've had our oars in the water with the PGA Tour, and we'll watch with great interest to see what they do as well," said Bishop.

USGA president Glen Nager said this was a critical time for golf to move forward in unity.

"We hope that these organizations will continue their past behavior of playing by a single set of rules for the good of the game," Nager said. "A game that's growing globally, that will be going to the Olympics and needs one set of rules to thrive." (Editing by Toby Davis)

The regulator made the announcement in a short statement on its website (www.caac.gov.cn), without giving further details.

China Southern Airlines Co Ltdand smaller rival Hainan Airlinesare among the global carriers which have ordered the aircraft.

The 787 Dreamliner was grounded worldwide in January after batteries overheated on jets owned by ANA Holdings Incand Japan Airlines Co Ltd .

Investigators in the United States and Japan have yet to establish what caused the batteries to overheat.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; editing by Jason Neely)