According to Khaled Toameh, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been "going in the wrong direction ever since the peace process started." Toameh, an award-winning Israeli-Arab journalist, spoke on Monday in Houston Hall's Hall of Flags about the situation in the Middle East.

Photographer Alvin Loke's observations on the homeless in Philadelphia. Read the related article here. Related StoriesPerspective | Structuring the problem: from streets to shelters - News

Compared with freshmen in the United States as a whole, Penn's class of 2012 is more ethnically and geographically diverse, according to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions' Web site. The Chronicle of Higher Education's recent poll, which surveyed first-year full-time students at four-year universities, depicted predominantly white, middle-class freshmen studying within roughly 100 miles of their hometowns.

The seniors have found a way to make the most out of the shortest month of the year: Feb Club. The month-long celebration is a seniors-only series of social activities, which occur at least daily - and sometimes twice-daily - throughout February. Events take place everywhere from bars to sporting arenas to campus productions like the Mask and Wig show.

John Lennon sang "Imagine" with the hopes of delivering a positive message of peace throughout the world. And in his new book, Defending Identity, Natan Sharansky seeks to deliver that same message - but instead by emphasizing the indispensable role of identity in protecting democracy.

Since 2006, Wharton vice president of corporate diversity Mori Taheripour has encouraged women and minorities to apply for an Executive MBA in an effort to increase diversity in the program. In the last two years - since Taheripour began her effort - the enrollment of women in Wharton's EMBA program has increased to 25 percent, an increase of more than 10 percent, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In Philadelphia, poverty often means death. At last count, more than 90 homeless men and women - a group that represents some of Philadelphia's most marginalized citizens - died on the streets in 2008. They died of exposure. disease and a lack of both service and support.

We look forward to several traditions when February rolls around: the symmetrical nature of the month's four weeks*, the repeated airing of Groundhog Day, the repeated airing of Groundhog Day and for seniors, the start of Feb Club, a chance to socialize with the people whose phone numbers you have from NSO, but whom you never got around to calling (Sylvia, we sat on the bus together to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

This year, the Interfraternity Council's new-member education program will feature a workshop hosted by the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center as part of a larger program to incorporate more sensitivity training into fraternity life. Each fraternity chapter must send new members to one of four workshops, which include sessions with One in Four, an all-male group dedicated to combating sexual violence, asession with the Drug and Alcohol Resource Team or a seminar on race and culture hosted by Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Scott Reikofski.

A dozen undergraduates don't often spend their Saturdays at a suburban home with a professor from the medical school. It's even less common that students would join this professor on a weekend to study the Book of James. But for students involved in Penn Students for Christ, these meetings are customary.

In Sunday's meeting, the Undergraduate Assembly discussed new proposals to improve undergraduate research, increase campus bike safety and add early-morning food options for Muslims during Ramadan. The UA passed the undergraduate research proposal, intended to increase collaboration between the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships and the UA.

Last Monday, at 7:36 p.m., Philadelphia police responded to shots fired at 39th and Ludlow streets, about a block away from Hamilton Court, Chestnut Hall and the Hub. A black Escalade drove off from the scene, later apprehended by police. Seven casings were found, no injuries reported.

Ilana Millner is an College junior from Washington's Crossing, Pa. Her e-mail address is millner@dailypennsylvanian.com.

The next time you're desperately searching for an answer for a grueling scavenger hunt on campus or simply want to know where the LOVE statue is located, you might turn to the kgb for help. The Knowledge Generation Bureau, or kgb for short, recently launched a mobile search service that claims it can answer any question- via text message.

An Do has seen many types of nail salons in her career - first in Vietnam, then on County Line and Henry Ave., and finally at 40th and Market streets. Her many incarnations as manicurist have seen changes. In Vietnam, where Do lived until 2005, people don't sit for pedicures; on County Line, clients often make appointments before they arrive and pedicures cost $26.

When a small group of people has a disproportionate influence over others' decisions, as political commentators do in an election, the impact is often attributed to the ability to persuade others through language and emotion. However, Computer and Information Science professor Michael Kearns found similar results by studying positioning in social networks.

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