10 things you need to know today: July 18, 2012

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on July 17 in Washington, D.C.: Bernanke warned that economic growth in th — (Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

1. REPORTS: BOMB KILLS SYRIAN DEFENSE MINISTER

Syria's state-run media reports that the country's defense minister was killed in a suicide bombing on Wednesday. The bomber reportedly targeted a national security building in Damascus and struck as ministers and officials were meeting there. Reports have not made note of other casualties. Violence and chaos are intensifying in the Syrian capital and throughout the country as the U.N. considers what to do with the 300 U.N. monitors sent there. The observer mission's mandate expires Friday. The U.S., Germany, France, and Britain are pushing for a resolution that would keep monitors in Syria for 45 more days, but also would incude the threat of sanctions; Russia has said it would veto the resolution and has proposed one without sanctions. The Security Council is expected to vote Wednesday. [CNN]

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According to North Korean state media, the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, has been given the title of marshal, further strengthening his status as the top leader of the country's 1.2-million-strong military. Kim already had the title of supreme commander of the Korean People's Army. The new title is "another brick in the wall of consolidating Kim Jong Un's power, across party, state, and military institutions," according to a North Korea analyst at a university in South Korea. [Associated Press]

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke painted a gloomy picture of the U.S. economy in testimony to Congress on Tuesday. He said progress in lowering the unemployment rate, which is currently at 8.2 percent, "seems likely to be frustratingly slow." Bernanke outlined a number of options for further monetary easing but was vague as to whether the central bank would soon provide a new round of monetary stimulus. [Financial Times]

The news that Marissa Mayer will not only be Yahoo's new chief executive but also give birth to her first child in October is generating a new conversation about working motherhood. "The question isn't how is [Mayer] going to balance her work-family life, but it's how do we ensure that companies are fully using the talent pool [including women of childbearing years] so we can have an economic engine that will deliver a strong economy?" says the founding executive director of the Women and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Victoria Budson. [Boston Globe]

The National Collegiate Athletic Association could impose severe penalties on Penn State University in the wake of a report showing that some of the school's former top officials worked to cover up the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal. Penn State President Rodney Erickson says the university will be responding to the NCAA's request for information in the coming days and that he doesn't want to "jump to any conclusions" about the possibility of a "death penalty" that would shut down the school's athletic program. [Bloomberg]