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It's a "he-cession" out there and, man, it's brutal. Today's government employment report is expected to bring bad news about job losses in a tough economy. The pain will be worse, however, for one gender more than the other. To a much greater extent than in past recessions, men are bearing the brunt. In December 2007, when the economy started tanking, unemployment ran nearly even at 4.4% for men and 4.3% for women. In February, that tally had shot up to 8.8% for men and 7.3% for women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The 1.5-point spread is historic...

BOULDER — A cyclist in Boulder County was injured after a run-in, literally, with a bear. Tim Egan, 53, was riding on Old Stage Road Tuesday afternoon when suddenly a bear appeared in front of him. Egan hit the bear and ended up skidding across the road. "This bear looked at me with a look of terror on his face and sort of made a noise," said Egan. "I looked at him with a look of terror and we went, 'aaaahhhhh.'"

Fifty years of DARPA: Hits, misses and ones to watch 18:00 15 May 2008 NewScientist.com news service Duncan Graham-Rowe The internet: Precisely who 'invented' the mass of linked computer networks that is today's internet is a moot point. But it wouldn't have happened without the ARPANET network built by DARPA in the 1960s. The idea was to make a "self-healing" communications network that still worked when parts of it were destroyed. It was the first network to transmit data in discrete chunks, not constant streams, and led to the development of the TCP/IP specification still in use today. GPS: We...

PARIS - From next week, one of France's most iconic institutions — the smoky cafe — will be but a hazy memory. The extension of France's smoking ban to bars, discotheques, restaurants, hotels, casinos and cafes on Jan. 1 marks a momentous cultural shift in a country where thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir once held court while clutching cigarettes in Left Bank cafes. For smokers, this is the most distressing part of a phased smoking ban that began last February in workplaces, schools, airports, hospitals and other "closed and covered" public places like train stations. But many...

ST. JOHN, U.S. Virgin Islands, Oct. 31, 2007 – Five days after their adventure began, seven injured veterans packed up with the satisfaction of knowing they’d done what they set out to do: conquer sand, sea and the cloud of mosquitoes that seemed to follow them everywhere. Kevin Pannell (left) works on Andrew Butterworth's broken prosthetic leg in Cruz Bay, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands on Oct. 21, 2007. The two former soldiers, who both lost legs serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom, were part of a small group of wounded veterans on a paddling trip to the island. Photo...

WASHINGTON - One of the nation's most vexing political and social issues — how to deal with millions of illegal immigrants — can be solved only if Congress and the White House embrace the same can-do spirit that marked this week's tentative deal. Don't count on it. Forged in secrecy, the proposal now faces the harsh realities of the public arena, its fate in the hands of politicians averse to compromise or taking chances. In particular, the 2008 presidential candidates seem determined to play politics with immigration: They're changing their tone and positions, or hedging to meet election-year demands. "In...

Was just watching BB, and they were saying that the general impression that the Internet is awash in :Liberal websites and posters, but in fact, while ther may be more Dim/Lib websites..the statististics show that the top 5 Repub/consevative websites/blogs, get more than twice as many "hits" as the top 5 Dim/Liberal sites...whod'a thunk??? Yes, FR was one of them! :-) Sorry no link availiable..i checked BBs page, but nothing.

Some miracles are harder than others to come by. On Wednesday, it looked like the Marines, a congressman and the Blue Star Mothers had moved enough medical mountains to keep a fallen Modesto Marine's promise to save a dying Iraqi girl.

More than half of California's K-12 public education students enrolled in free or reduced-price meal programs last year, the first time that the majority of youngsters were approved for assistance, according to state and federal officials. California was one of a dozen states where the majority of students were certified for such programs, said Jean Daniel, a U.S. Department of Agriculture spokeswoman. In Contra Costa, almost a third of all students signed up for the federally subsidized lunch and breakfast programs, the third school year in a row the county has seen an increase in the percentage of students. Nearly...

Britain hits back at Russia as G8 tension escalates By Graeme Wilson (Filed: 14/07/2006) Tensions between Tony Blair and Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, over human rights and energy security surfaced yesterday as the Prime Minister prepared to fly out to this weekend's G8 summit in St Petersburg. Downing Street offered a robust response after Mr Putin criticised Anthony Brenton, Britain's ambassador to Moscow, for interfering in Russia's "internal" affairs by attending an opposition conference. Mr Putin criticised the ambassador for interfering in domestic affairs The Prime Minister's spokesman said that Mr Brenton had made clear he was not attempting...

WASHINGTON, July 2, 2006 – An investigation continues today into a June 30 rocket attack on Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan that injured 10 people, military officials reported, while extremists continue to target Afghan civilians. Three people were treated for their injuries and were released, officials said. Six people were reported to be in stable condition, and one person was in serious condition at the base hospital, officials said. "Taliban extremists employ rockets in a manner that makes them highly erratic and inaccurate," said Army Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, Combined Joint Task Force 76 spokesman. "Unfortunately, this time a rocket...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (April 19) - For 84-year-old Josephine Crawford, the golden years just got a lot more golden. After a night playing the slot machines, the retired waitress widow was about to call it quits Tuesday when she hit a $10 million jackpot - the biggest in the history of casino gambling in Atlantic City. Crawford, who gambles here twice a week and has been going to the casinos since the first one opened in 1978, had never won more than $1,000 before she came into the big money at the nickel slots at Harrah's Atlantic City. The widow...

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, April 6, 2006 – The military commissions case of accused terrorist Omar Khadr, which has already dealt with questions about pre-trial publicity, was confronted with more legal issues yesterday, with the defense team facing an ethical dilemma and then going on to challenge the presiding officer's fitness to serve. The defense's ethical dilemma came after Canadian-born Khadr, 19, told the court he was boycotting the proceedings because he was not being treated fairly, even though he was cooperating in the commissions. Khadr's defense counsel, Marine Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, said the boycott came because Khadr...

Laura Murphy planned on attending her prom at Villa Maria Academy. She paid the $100 deposit, scheduled a limousine rental and asked her date. She ran into a snag, however, and it has nothing to do with what shoes to wear. Administrators of the private, all-girls Catholic high school school don't like Murphy's choice of companion, and they've told her to find someone else or come alone. Murphy, a senior who is openly lesbian, wants to bring her girlfriend of six months, Lindsey Shelton, and believes school administrators are discriminating against them. "They said, "We want it to be traditional....

The number of illegal immigrants in the United States has grown to as many as 12 million, and they now account for about one in every 20 workers, a new estimate says. Efforts to curb illegal immigration have not slowed the pace, said a report Tuesday by the Pew Hispanic Center. Instead, the report's author said, those efforts are having an unintended consequence: People who illegally enter the United States from Mexico are staying longer because it is harder to move back and forth across the border. "The security has done more to keep people from going back to Mexico...

Bird flu hits new areas in Europe Health officials step up precautions near Thessaloniki, northern Greece The deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus has reached three new European countries, officials have confirmed. The virus has been found in wild swans in Sicily, and other cases are suspected elsewhere in Italy, the country's health minister says. A specialist UK laboratory has identified the virus in dead swans found in northern Greece and Bulgaria. The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed at least 80 people since early 2003, mostly in South-East Asia. Seventeen migratory birds which had fallen ill...

Voters electrified as Canada's PM hits back in war of words with US By Francis Harris in Washington (Filed: 16/12/2005) Canada's increasingly heated war of words with the United States intensified yesterday, with the prime minister demanding that Washington halt attempts to "dictate" to its northern neighbour. Paul Martin responded after the US ambassador to Ottawa accused him of playing politics with the relationship between the two countries. Paul Martin: 'I am not going to be dictated to' Mr Martin, who has called an election for next month, shot back: "I am not going to be dictated to as to...

US hits al-Qaeda village stronghold By Adam Lusher (Filed: 02/10/2005) About 1,000 US troops, backed by attack helicopters and fighter jets swept into Sadah, a village near the Syrian border, yesterday in an offensive to root out al-Qaeda militants and stem the violence that has shaken Iraq before this month's referendum on the new constitution. Air-to-ground missiles struck houses and cars as the force moved into the village of about 2,000 people on the banks of the Euphrates, eight miles from the border. The US military said that the offensive, named Operation Iron Fist, was mounted because al-Qaeda had taken...

BATON ROUGE, United States (AFP) - Civil Rights leader Jesse Jackson fired off a fierce attack on President George W. Bush over Hurricane Katrina and claimed black people were being locked out of top relief roles. Jackson raised the sensitive issue of race, simmering below the surface in New Orleans, even before the hurricane tragedy, pointing out that many of those trapped in the city by the storm were poor and black. "There is a historical indifference to the pain of poor people, and black people ... we seem to adjust more easily to black pain." Jackson spoke after leading...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A powerful explosion late Monday rocked a shopping center and hotel in the Zalka neighborhood in north Beirut, injuring at least two people and causing extensive damage, security officials said. Heavily armed Lebanese soldiers cordoned off the area, punching and hitting journalists to keep them back. Two workers could be seen helping a black-clad, veiled woman down the glass-covered front stairs of the Promenade Hotel. She appeared shaken but not injured. Security forces were seen rounding up several suspects, including five men with their hands tied behind their backs. The were taken to a military vehicle. Officials...