Blog Posts by Lylah M. Alphonse, Senior Editor, Yahoo! Shine

Wearing a niqab, Kenza Drider, the first woman arrested under France's new ban, addresses the media in front of Notre Dame Cathedral on April 11, 2011. (Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images) A controversial ban on women wearing a traditional head-to-toe covering called a Burqa went into effect in France today, and French police say they have already arrested about 60 women for protesting or disregarding the ban.

Critics call the ban anti-Islamic but President Nicholas Sarkozy insists that the burqa is not a religious symbol. "It's a sign of enslavement," he told French lawmakers last year. "It will not be welcome in the French Republic."

The ban also includes the niqab, which usually covers all of the face except for the wearer's eyes (a burqa usually has a mesh section that covers the face, including the eyes). The Interior Ministry said in a statement that "The ban does not target the wearing of a headscarf, headgear, scarf or glasses, as long as the accessories do not prevent the person from being identified." The hijab, which covers only the hair and neck, and the chador, which covers the body but not the face, are apparently not banned.

Kenza Drider, 32, was the

Photo: Amazon.comActress/lifestyle leader Gwyneth Paltrow's new cookbook, "My Father's Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating Family & Togetherness," officially hits the shelves later this month, but that hasn't stopped us from sneaking a peek via the fabulous Eater.com.

"The cookbook is many things: it is aspirational and sweet, it is seasonally-minded, it is unintentionally very funny, and it offers dinner party ideas and patronizing 'working-parent dinners,' " Raphael Brion writes at Eater.com. But while we appreciate the simple recipes and honest ingredients, much of what we've read so far just serves to remind us that the super-rich and super-thin are super-different than the rest of us. Take these lines, for example:

• "One year I was given a birthday present I'll never forget-a cooking lesson from Jamie Oliver."
• "Through this process my father and daughter had unwittingly taught me the importance of balance. Could I use some butter and cheese and eggs in my cooking without going down

The Capitol building in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Thinkstock)As the midnight deadline for averting a government shutdown approaches tonight, the Republicans and Democrats in Congress are still dueling over budget issues.

"There's only one reason we do not have an agreement as yet, and that issue is spending," House Speaker John Boehner said at a press conference today. "We're close to a resolution on policy issues. But I think the American people deserve to know, when will the White House and when will Senate Democrats get serious about cutting spending?"

But Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters that the impasse is being caused by the Republican push to cut Title X funding for Planned Parenthood. "This all deals with women's health. Everything (else) has been resolved. Everything," Reid said on CNN. "It's an ideological battle. It has nothing to do with fiscal integrity in this country."

On Monday, deputy secretaries and chiefs of staff were sent an email from the Office of Management and Budget, saying that "given the realities

Jill Schlesinger of CBS MoneyWatch, who writes the blog Jill on Money, joined Shine members on Twitter recently to talk about taxes. Schlesinger, a Certified Financial Planner ™, also hosts a nationally syndicated call-in/talk radio show, "Jill on Money," that helps listeners take control of their financial lives.

Whether you have yet to pull together all of your receipts and financial statements from the past year to do your taxes yourself, or you have neatly delivered all of your financial documents to an accountant, you probably have some last-minute questions to ask. Taxes are due April 18! Here's what we learned during our Shine Tax Twitter Chat:

Jill Schlesinger: Jill on Money/CBSMoneyWatch.comQ: What if you work two jobs, but only received one W-2 form?
A: Ask. If there isn't one, include the income on your taxes anyway.

Q: Do teenagers who earn very little working a temporary summer job still need to file taxes?
A: That's tricky. In some cases, yes. In most cases, the simple 1040EZ form is all they need.

Q: Do you still have

The Candie's Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to "communication campaigns to raise awareness about, and motivate teens to prevent, teen pregnancy," is facing harsh criticism for paying its ambassador, Bristol Palin, seven times more than what they gave to organizations that actually prevent teen pregnancy.

The tax-exempt, non-profit foundation received grants and contributions of $1,695,632 in 2009, according to tax records, but gave just $35,000 in grants to organizations that work to prevent teen pregnancy-and paid spokesperson Bristol Palin a whopping $262,500 for participating in their fundraising and awareness campaigns. In a statement, a spokesperson for the foundation said that "The Candie's Foundation is an operating foundation rather than a grant-making foundation," but tax records show that the foundation spent just $57,598 for for public service announcements promoting their "Pause Before You Play" slogan

If the idea of Candie's-the fashion brand famous

Share your child's spring photos and any other fun, embarrassing or incredible moments that you have captured on the Moments of Motherhood Flickr Group. While you are here take part in discussions with other moms.

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CEO of Candie's, Neil Cole (left), with Bristol Palin and Dr. Drew Pinsky in May, 2010, at a town-hall meeting about teen pregnancy sponsored by the Candie's Foundation. (Photo: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images) The Candie's Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to "communication campaigns to raise awareness about, and motivate teens to prevent, teen pregnancy," is under fire for paying its ambassador Bristol Palin more than a quarter of a million dollars for telling kids not to become a teen mom like she did. That's seven-and-a-half times more than what it gave to organizations that actually prevent teen pregnancy.

In case you're wondering, yes, Candie's is that Candie's, the fashion brand famous for strappy high-heeled sandals and ads featuring barely-dressed young celebrities in sexy poses. (If the idea of Candie's promoting sexual abstinence seems a bit dissonant, you may be right. Take a look at some of the company's celebrity ad campaigns.) And a look at their 2009 tax records make it seem like their dedication to educating kids about "the devastating consequences of teenage pregnancies" may have more to do with cleaning up the company's image than anything else.

The

When it comes to being successful in your career, who you know is often as important as what you know. And nowhere is that more evident than on Wall Street-especially if you're a woman.

"So much of succeeding in the business world is relationships," says Nina Godiwalla, a former analyst with Morgan Stanley and the author of "Suits: A Woman on Wall Street." Written in the hopes of giving young women a better idea of what they'll face in a high-pressure finance career, Godiwalla's book is a compelling, unflinching, first-person account of what it was like to be a junior analyst during the the dot-com boom of the late 1990s. "I just didn't think things were different for women until I experienced what I did," she told me.

If you have common experiences, it's easier to get along. But for the daughter of immigrants from India, part of the small but tightly knit Zoroastrian community, who grew up attending public schools in Texas, that common ground was hard to come by in the high-pressure