In her appearance on , Polly shares her own story of overcoming physical adversity through turning to spiritual and emotional development. She warns against falling into the "perfect trap" and expands upon the idea of perfection in imperfection. Campbell also delivers a timely message of how to deal with feelings of stress and anxiety in the wake of tragedy (like the Boston Marathon bombing). She suggests that creative endeavors, as well as simply breathing mindfully, can make a powerful difference in stress levels.

Polly Campbell is a professional speaker who specializes in personal development and spiritual topics. A blogger at ImperfectSpirituality.com and PsychologyToday.com, she teaches on the Daily Om as well. For more than two decades, Polly has studied and applied the techniques she writes and speaks about to her own life. She lives with her family in Beaverton, Oregon.

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Obama says more than 2 million people are saving about $3,000 a year after restructuring their loans under his administration but that more deserve the same chance.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama also calls on the Senate to confirm "without delay" his choice of Democratic Rep. Mel Watt to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees government-controlled mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Obama says the North Carolina congressman helped enact rules to protect consumers from dishonest lenders.

In the Republican address, Alabama Rep. Martha Roby discusses legislation passed by the GOP-controlled House to give private-sector workers the right to trade overtime pay for additional time off.

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Online:

Obama's address: www.whitehouse.gov

Republican address: www.youtube.com/HouseConference

What is being taught and emphasized in high school math and English, moreover, is out of alignment with what is needed to succeed in community college, the report concludes.

, from the(NCEE), set out to look at what is actually required of first-year community college students the textbooks they use, the work theyre assigned, the tests theyre given, and the grades they receive. By contrast, previous studies of student ability have relied on faculty surveys, which tend to emphasize what teachers wish their students knew.

Community colleges enroll nearly half of all college students in , and are often a gateway both to four-year colleges and to vocational education. Thus, zeroing in on whats needed for success at community colleges made sense, says Marc Tucker, president of NCEE and an author of the report.

Were talking about the preparation of people who are absolutely crucial to the future, says Mr. Tucker.

Among the reports findings, which looked at both math and English literacy:

First-year community college students need to know fairly little math and what they do need to know is mostly taught in middle-school math courses: arithmetic, ratio, proportion, expressions, and simple equations. Most high school graduates, however, dont know it well. The typical college algebra course could be characterized as about the level of Algebra 1.25 Algebra I and a few topics from geometry and statistics.

Many community college courses require students to take complex measurements and to read schematic drawings and charts concepts that arent taught at all in most high schools.

In English literacy, most community-college texts were at an 11th- or 12th-grade level but most students had not been reading texts at that level in high school, and were unable to analyze or comprehend them with any depth.

Little writing is required in first-year community college courses, even though its an essential skill in many workplaces. A primary reason that faculty ask college students to write so little is that their writing skills are poor, and they did little writing in high school.

Clearly, says Tucker, standards are too low in both high school and community colleges if students are to be prepared for the careers they eventually hope to have.

Because our workforce will have less skills than they need, its a bad sign for the American economy, he says. And its also a bad sign for the individuals involved theyre confident that when they get their degree or certificate theyll know what they need, and it turns out thats not true.

Still, Tucker and the experts who contributed to the study said simply raising standards in community colleges would be a mistake because, even with the current low requirements, about one-third of students entering those colleges need to take remedial courses.

The first line of defense here is to greatly increase the number of young people who can meet the standards, low as they are, says Tucker.

One good sign: The Common Core standards, which are now beginning to be implemented in the 45 states that have adopted them, are an important step toward increasing rigor and student understanding.

This research strongly validates the Common Core standards, says Tucker. Theyre aiming at a level and kind of understanding that is pretty consistent with what we think ought to be demanded in community college.

In math, Tucker also hopes that the findings make some policymakers and administrators rethink commonly held beliefs about what high-schoolers need to study or the idea that a single pathway is right for all students.

In many states, theres currently a push to emphasize Algebra II, or even require it, to get a high-school diploma. Yet the main purpose of Algebra II is to enable students to study calculus a topic that may be important for only a small group of students who are interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) careers, says Tucker.

Much more important for many other students may be strengthening their understanding of middle school math topics, and exposing them to topics like statistics, data collection, or applied geometry. There ought to be an alignment between the path youll take in mathematics and the kind of work youll be doing, says Tucker.

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"The Secretary-General expresses grave concern over reports of air strikes in Syria by the Israeli Air Force," Ban's press office said in a statement.

"At this time, the United Nations does not have details of the reported incidents," it said. "Nor is the United Nations in a position to independently verify what has occurred."

It added that Ban "calls on all sides to exercise maximum calm and restraint, and to act with a sense of responsibility to prevent an escalation of what is already a devastating and highly dangerous conflict."

(Reporting by Lou Charbonneau; Editing by Sandra Maler)

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's economy may be finally gaining some ground, with stronger-than-expected growth in the dominant services sector capping a week of relatively upbeat economic news.

The services sector - which accounts for around three-quarters of Britain's economy - grew at its fastest pace in April since last summer's Olympics, boosted by the strongest increase in new orders in almost a year.

Along with recent forecast-beating gross domestic product data and manufacturing and construction surveys, Friday's services reading will ease pressure on the government to water down its austerity programme, even after a poor showing in local elections this week.

It also reinforces expectations the Bank will refrain from further stimulus next week, and possibly longer.

A Reuters poll this week showed almost half of economists now believe there will be no further government bond-buying this year.

Sterling rose against the dollar on Friday as the rise in the service sector survey further diminished expectations that the Bank might pump more money into the economy any time soon.

"Today's release marks a hat-trick of upside surprises for April," said Simon Hayes, UK economist at Barclays. "Recent activity indicators have had a more encouraging tone and add to the case for the Monetary Policy Committee holding policy when it meets next week."

The Conservative-led government coalition austerity programme has been under fire for stifling growth and the latest data may relieve political pressures reflected in poor poll showings.

The anti-European Union UK Independence Party made big gains in local elections on Thursday against the conservatives.

The Markit/CIPS services Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 52.9 in April, its highest reading since August and the fourth consecutive monthly rise. Economists in a Reuters poll had expected the index to stay at March's level of 52.4.

The improvement was broad-based, supported by the strongest rise in new orders since last May.

Markit's combined index of services, manufacturing and construction in Britain rose more than a full point to 52.1 in April, also the highest since last August.

The figures will be welcomed by the government which, until last week's GDP data, feared the country might be slipping into its third recession in five years. In the event, the data showed Britain's economy grew 0.3 percent in the first three months of this year.

Markit economist Chris Williamson said April's purchasing managers' surveys suggested the return to growth seen in the first quarter may have gained momentum at the start of the second.

That prospect should help the government avoid criticism from the International Monetary Fund draws up its annual health check of Britain's economy later this month.

(Writing by Christina Fincher; editing by William Schomberg, Hugh Lawson, Ron Askew)

The presence of the cell confirms fears that the jihadist groups, which sprang up last year in northern Mali, have succeeded in travelling past the numerous roadblocks to the country's most populous city.

The cell was first discovered more than a month ago, Sougalo Togola, press officer for the Ministry of Internal Security, told The Associated Press by telephone. The information was confirmed by an intelligence official involved in the case, as well as by a member of the capital's gendarmerie, or paramilitary police. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

"There was indeed a MUJAO cell in Bamako and it's been dismantled," said the intelligence agent.

Photographs of the seven suspects were published Tuesday on Maliweb.net, an online news portal which often publishes messages from the military. All seven have the last name "Diallo," indicating they're from the Peul ethnic group.

MUJAO is led by commanders who splintered from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, the al-Qaida affiliate in North Africa. For years the fighters operated out of bases at the feet of the Sahara desert in the remote northern triangle of Mali. Then in March 2012, after a coup in Mali's capital, they pushed south and succeeded in taking the important provincial capital of Gao, located 1,200 (750 miles) northeast of the capital.

The jihadists actively recruited locals, including from the Peul ethnic group, from the villages around Gao, an area of the country where some communities were already practicing a more conservative form of Islam, known as Wahabism. Although the cell dismantled in Bamako was in its early stages, experts have long warned that Mali's central government is too weak to stop the movement of potential jihadists to the capital.

Security at even the most crucial buildings in the capital, like the National Assembly, is lax and if a mature cell was able to take hold in Bamako, the damage they could do could be substantial, say experts.

MUJAO, and the two other Islamic extremist groups controlling northern Mali, were ousted from the main cities in January, after a full-on military intervention by over 2,000 French troops. They have not succeeded, however, in flushing out entrenched cells in rural areas and since the French-led intervention there have been repeated suicide bombings in Gao, as well as in the other two major northern cities Kidal and Timbuktu.

The cell dismantled in Bamako did not have the capacity to do significant damage, said the official with the gendarmerie in Bamako. "These are people who were based in the north and who received military training," he said. "When the war started, they got spooked and they fled south. They are not experienced fighters."

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Associated press writer Rukmini Callimachi contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal.

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Baba Ahmed can be reached at www.twitter.com/babahmed1

Rukmini Callimachi can be reached at www.twitter.com/rcallimachi

Students at the Army, Navy and Air Force academies are taking more courses and participating in elaborate cyberwarfare exercises as the military educates a generation of future commanders in the theory and practice of computer warfare.

The academies have been training cadets in cyber for more than a decade. But the effort has taken on new urgency amid warnings that hostile nations or organizations might be capable of crippling attacks on critical networks.

James Clapper, director of national intelligence, called cyberattack the top threat to national security when he presented the annual Worldwide Threat Assessment to Congress this month. "Threats are more diverse, interconnected, and viral than at any time in history," his report stated. "Destruction can be invisible, latent, and progressive."

China-based hackers have long been accused of cyber intrusions, and earlier this year the cybersecurity firm Mandiant released a report with new details allegedly linking a secret Chinese military unit to years of cyberattacks against U.S. companies. This year, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post all reported breaches in their computer systems and said they suspected Chinese hackers. China denies carrying out cyberattacks.

On Tuesday, hackers compromised Associated Press Twitter accounts and sent out a false tweet. AP quickly put out word that the report was false and that its accounts had been hacked. AP's accounts were shut down until the problem was corrected.

Once viewed as an obscure and even nerdy pursuit, cyber is now seen as one of the hottest fields in warfare "a great career field in the future," said Ryan Zacher, a junior at the Air Force Academy outside Colorado Springs, Colo., who switched from aeronautical engineering to computer science.

Last year the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., began requiring freshmen to take a semester on cybersecurity, and it is adding a second required cyber course for juniors next year.

The school offered a major in cyber operations for the first time this year to the freshman class, and 33 midshipmen, or about 3 percent of the freshmen, signed up for it. Another 79 are majoring in computer engineering, information technology or computer science, bringing majors with a computer emphasis to about 10 percent of the class.

"There's a great deal of interest, much more than we could possibly, initially, entertain," said the academy's superintendent, Vice Adm. Michael Miller.

Since 2004, the Air Force Academy has offered a degree in computer science-cyberwarfare initially called computer science-information assurance that requires cadets to take courses in cryptology, information warfare and network security in addition to standard computer science. The academy is retooling a freshman computing course so that more than half its content is about cyberspace, and is looking into adding another cyber course.

"All of these cadets know that they are going to be on the front lines defending the nation in cyber," said Martin Carlisle, a computer science professor at the Air Force Academy and director of the school's Center for Cyberspace Research.

About 25 Air Force cadets will graduate this year with the computer science-cyberwarfare degree, and many will go on to advanced studies and work in their service's cyber headquarters or for U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Md., the Defense Department command responsible for defensive and offensive cyberwarfare.

Almost every Army cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., takes two technology courses related to such topics as computer security and privacy. West Point also offers other cyber courses, and a computer security group meets weekly. One of the biggest cybersecurity challenges is keeping up with the head-spinning pace of change in the field.

"You know American history is pretty much the same" every year, said Lt. Col. David Raymond, who teaches a cybersecurity course. "In this domain, it's really tough to keep up with how this thing evolves."

In his congressional report, Clapper noted that the chance of a major attack by Russia, China or another nation with advanced cyber skills is remote outside a military conflict but that other nations or groups could launch less sophisticated cyberattacks in hopes of provoking the United States or in retaliation for U.S. actions or policies overseas. South Korea accused North Korea of mounting a cyberattack in March that shut down thousands of computers at banks and television broadcasters.

Gen. Keith Alexander, head of U.S. Cyber Command, told Congress in March the command is creating teams to carry out both offensive and defensive operations. A spokesman said the command is drawing cyber officers from the service academies, officer schools and Reserve Officer Training Corps programs.

Teams from the three academies compete in events such as last week's National Security Agency Cyber Defense Exercise, in which they try to keep simulated computer networks running as an NSA "aggressor team" attacks. Teams from the U.S. Coast Guard and Merchant Marine academies also took part, along with graduate students from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and Canada's Royal Military College.

Air Force won among undergraduate schools. The Royal Military College won among graduate schools.

That hands-on experience is invaluable, said 2nd Lt. Jordan Keefer, a 2012 Air Force Academy graduate now pursuing a master's degree in cyberoperations at the Air Force Institute of Technology.

"You can't just go out there and start hacking. That's against the law," he said. The competitions, he said, "gave me actual experience defending a network, attacking a network."

Counterterrorism expert Richard Clarke, noting that really high-level computer skills are rare, suggested the military might have to re-examine some of its recruiting standards to attract the most adept cyberwarriors.

"Hackers are the 1 percent, the elite and the creators," said Clarke, who served as White House cybersecurity adviser during the Clinton administration. "I wouldn't worry a whole heck of a lot (about whether they) can they run fast or lift weights."

Cyber's appeal was enough to get Keefer to put aside his dream of becoming a fighter pilot, a job with undeniable swagger. "It's a challenge, and for people who like a challenge, it's the only place to be," Keefer said.

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Witte reported from Annapolis, Md. Associated Press Writer Michael Hill in Albany, N.Y., contributed to this report.

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Follow Dan Elliott at http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP. Follow Brian Witte at http://twitter.com/APBrianWitte . Follow Michael Hill at http://twitter.com/MichaelTHill

The 154-foot-long (47-meters) external tank, one of the shuttle program's original test articles that for years was displayed at Kennedy's visitor complex,at the Keystone Heights Airport in Starke, Fla., about an hour southeast of Jacksonville.

"It is the last one," Bob Oehl, the executive director and co-founder of the Wings of Dreams, told collectSPACE about the tank. "So it is quite a historic artifact in its own right." []

Known as the Structural Test Article (STA), the external tank was built in 1977 and used for loading and stress analysis tests. It was then exhibited at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. In 1987, it was shipped to the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for display where it remained for 10 years, prior to its transfer to Kennedy.

Theuntil November of last year, when it was moved to make way for the retired space shuttle Atlantis and its new exhibition facility. A mock external tank is set to benext month.

The displaced real tank, along with several other large shuttle artifacts including a nose cone and aft skirt of a solid rocket booster, as well as the crew transport vehicle that astronauts rode in after landing the shuttle at Kennedy, were making the first leg of their journey to the Wings of Dreams by water, before embarking on a still-to-be-scheduled 55-mile (88.5 kilometers) road trip to the museum.

"This will be the largest aviation article that has beensince Howard Hughes moved the Spruce Goose," Oehl said.

Leaving the turn basin located opposite the 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building where external tanks were once mated with the shuttle orbiters they would help launch, the artifact-laden barge set sail by tugboat to the Intracoastal Waterway. It was then to head down the St. Johns River to end up in Green Cove Springs in about 30 hours time, where the shuttle parts will be offloaded for eventual delivery to the Wings of Dreams.

Before the artifacts can be trucked to the museum, however, miles of power and telephone lines, as well as street signs and traffic signals need to be cleared from the route's rural highways.

"It is a tremendous, tremendous effort and what is really unique about Wings of Dreams is that everything you see, the cranes, the tug boats, the barge, the huge trucks, the electricians, the welders, they are all donated," Oehl said. "This is not a government project."

"We have no major sponsor," he added. "We're looking for one because we have to house all of this."

The Wings of Dreams has already received from NASA more than 40 artifacts from , including the guidance and navigation "single system" trainer, or simulator, that the astronauts used to prepare for missions at Johnson Space Center in Houston. The museum is also receiving the full-size mockup of the Hubble Space Telescope that shuttle crew members used to practice servicing the orbital observatory while floating underwater.

Established in 2005 to showcase aviation history from World War I through the , the Wings of Dreams has plans for three sprawling hangars for a total exhibit space of 50,000 feet (15,240 meters). Until the museum can find the funding to erect the buildings, the artifacts are being stored in temporary warehouses and, if too large like the tank, outside.

Still, Oehl says, the public is welcome to come and see what they have just be sure to call ahead first.

"Right now, it is by appointment," he said. "We're planning a partial opening of our field headquarters on May 4. Then it will be progressing through the year, building up from the there."

NASA is inviting members of the public who "Spot the Tank" and the other shuttle artifacts on their way to the Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum to share any photos they take with the Kennedy Space Center through social media.

for a photo gallery of the external tank and other space shuttle artifacts on their way to the Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum.

Follow collectSPACE.com onand on Twitter at @. Copyright 2013 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.

One out later, Matt Holliday singled. Carlos Beltran walked. Yadier Molina delivered a two-run single. And then a throwing error on Daniel Descalso's grounder padded the score.

Just like that, 23 pitches in, the Cardinals built a three-run lead against Strasburg's Washington Nationals. And that, pretty much, was enough. On the strength of that half-inning, the Cardinals beat the Nationals 4-2 Wednesday to complete a sweep and give Washington's All-Star ace the only four-start losing streak of his young career.

"It was good to get on Strasburg early," Cardinals shortstop Pete Kozma said. "That's what we were trying to do from the get-go."

Jaime Garcia (2-1) allowed a run on Harper's sixth-inning groundout, but otherwise added to the offensive struggles of the Nationals, who have lost six consecutive home games and nine of their last 12 overall to fall to 10-11.

With his team averaging 2.9 runs over its past dozen games, Washington manager Davey Johnson said he would insert bench player Steve Lombardozzi in the lineup Thursday against Cincinnati and make other changes to the batting order.

"We're just not doing the things we're capable of doing right now," Johnson said. "It'll change, but I'm going to have to jumble things up a little bit. Try to light a fire."

The Nationals produced only four runs in this three-game set, a rematch of the 2012 NL division series won by St. Louis.

"We feel pretty comfortable against them," Kozma said.

Needing to be nearly perfect given Washington's lack of offense, Strasburg (1-4) improved considerably after that 12-minute first inning. Getting ahead in the count, he threw 110 pitches over seven innings, giving up no other runs and a total of five hits, along with seven strikeouts.

"I was trying to throw the perfect pitch. I tell myself going into the game, 'Don't do that.' And I go out there and I do it," said Strasburg, who hasn't won since opening day against Miami. "So I was really happy I was able to make the adjustment, get the feeling back. My velocity came back up, I was throwing a lot more strikes, and they weren't taking as good swings."

That initial inning, though, was precisely the sort of "scratch and claw" offense that Cardinals manager Mike Matheny spoke about before the game.

"People hate our 'small ball' theory," Matheny said, "but when we're not banging balls into the stands every single night, we've got to do other things, whether people like it or not."

His club used that style to add an insurance run in the eighth off Drew Storen who blew a ninth-inning lead against St. Louis in Game 5 in October on Holliday's chopped single that didn't leave the infield.

"The thing that the Cardinals did is, they've got their boppers in the middle, but then they've got guys like Descalso and (Shane) Robinson and Kozma," Strasburg said. "They grind you out. They're not going to give in. They're not just going to strike out."

The Nationals, meanwhile, went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. Trying to generate something for Washington's slumbering offense, Ian Desmond bunted for a base hit with one out in the second, then stole second and advanced to third on a flyout to the warning track. But rookie third baseman Anthony Rendon struck out to end the inning.

Strasburg actually was the one who got Washington going at the plate, grounding a single up the middle to lead off the sixth. Denard Span followed with a single, and Jayson Werth's groundout moved the runners up for Harper. He grounded out to second, but at least that got Strasburg home to make it 3-1.

A walk to Tyler Moore ended Garcia's day after one run and four hits in 5 2-3 innings. Righty Joe Kelly entered to face Desmond, who struck out swinging, then flung his bat and helmet.

In the seventh, a pair of singles put runners at the corners with one out, but Kelly got out of that jam when pinch-hitter Lombardozzi struck out and Jhonatan Solano, taking off from first on a hit-and-run, was thrown out at second by catcher Molina.

Werth's fourth homer, off Trevor Rosenthal in the eighth, gave Washington its second run. But that was too little to stop the Nationals from dropping below .500 for the first time since finishing the 2011 season 80-81.

"Somebody said last night it feels like we're 0-20. But it's not that bad. We're only one game under .500, and it's April. We'll be all right," Werth said. "What we're going through: It's the first time this team has dealt with expectations, and there's something to be said about that. But we'll adjust."

NOTES: Cardinals RHP Edward Mujica threw a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save of the series and fourth of the season. ... Cardinals CF Jon Jay was out of the starting lineup for a second consecutive game, but singled as a pinch hitter in the eighth and stayed in to play center. ... The Cardinals are off Thursday, before opening a three-game series at home against the Pirates. On Friday, Cardinals RHP Lance Lynn (3-0, 3.68 ERA) starts against LHP Jonathan Sanchez (0-2, 11.12).

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Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich