As governments around the world amass armies of hackers to protect their countries' computer networks and possibly attack others, the idea of getting officials together to discuss shared threats such as cybercrime is challenging.

"You just don't pick up the phone and call your counterparts in these countries," said retired Lt. Gen. Harry Raduege Jr., former head of the federal agency responsible for securing the military's and the president's communications technologies. "They're always guarded in those areas, and they're always wondering if there's some other motive" behind the outreach.

So the idea behind an international security conference in Dallas this week is to get government officials, industry executives and others talking, informally, about where they might find common ground. [Read the full article]

Oumou Wague has been braiding hair in her Chicago shop for more than a decade, carrying on a tradition passed down for generations in her native Senegal. To braiders, her talent for weaving women's hair into elaborate styles isn't just a livelihood, it's an art form.

Illinois requires hair braiders to get a cosmetology degree -- which can take 1,500 hours and cost $15,000 -- and then apply for a license, just like people who give haircuts, manicures and facials. Proponents say the rules are needed to protect consumers if they develop problems such as hair loss or have service complaints.

But the law seems ridiculous to many braiders, the majority of whom are African and African-American women who learned as children and have refined their talent in kitchens and on stoops for generations.

"Hair braiding is not cosmetology," said Alie Kabba, executive director of the Chicago-based United African Organization. [Read the full article]