Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream.

Survey data exclusive to The Associated Press points to an increasingly globalized U.S. economy, the widening gap between rich and poor, and the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs as reasons for the trend.

The findings come as President Obama tries to renew his administration's emphasis on the economy, saying in recent speeches that his highest priority is to "rebuild ladders of opportunity" and reverse income inequality.

Hair, breast milk and eggs are doubling as automated teller machines for some cash-strapped Americans such as April Hare.

Out of work for more than two years and facing eviction from her home, Hare recalled Louisa May Alcott's 19th-century novel and took to her computer.

"I was just trying to find ways to make money, and I remembered Jo from 'Little Women,' and she sold her hair," the 35-year-old from Atlanta said. "I've always had lots of hair, but this is the first time I've actually had the idea to sell it because I'm in a really tight jam right now."

I was a rotten high school student, a shirker and smart-ass of the first rank. I even found myself purged from a typing class for bad behavior - an event I regret to this precise moment, since touch-typing is obviously a convenient skill for someone in my profession. Afterward, I had to choose another "elective." Naturally, I seized upon home economics - in which, I hoped, I'd spend my time amusing girls with wisecracks and whipping up desserts from boxed mixes. If memory serves, that's exactly how it played out - especially the bit about the just-add-water confections. Mmmm, instant cake.

In other words, I retained just as much from my home ec class as I did from my failed stint as a student of the keyboard: which is to say, nothing. Yet Ruth Graham's recent Boston Globe essay "Bring back home ec! The case for a revival of the most retro class in school" strikes me as spot on. Graham isn't talking about the home ec of my wayward '80s youth, nor that of quaint stereotypes featuring "visions of future homemakers quietly whisking white sauce or stitching rickrack onto an apron."

She means a revitalized, contemporary home economics for all genders, one capable of at least exposing youth to basic skills that so many adults (i.e., their parents) lack: "to shop intelligently, cook healthily, [and] manage money." And I think such a reimagined home ec should move from the shadowy margins it now occupies - the field has been rebranded as "Family and Consumer Sciences," Graham reports - and become mandatory for all high school kids, and - why not? - even elementary school ones.

I have witnessed firsthand the vexed state of basic cooking skills among the young. When I helped run the kitchen at Maverick Farms for seven years, I noticed that most of our interns couldn't chop an onion or turn even just-picked produce into a reasonably good dish in a reasonable amount of time. And these were people motivated enough about food to intern at a small farm in rural North Carolina. If I had their cooking skills, I'd be tempted to resort to takeout often, just to save time.

It's true that in my home ec class nearly a quarter century ago, we weren't taught how to handle a knife or follow a simple recipe for a from-scratch dish. But home ec wasn't always so vapid. Graham points to New York Times reporter Michael Moss' great 2013 book Salt Sugar Fat, which contains a brief history of the home ec trade in US public schools.

The convenience food industry that's so powerful and entrenched today was just taking root in the 1950s. And as it began to aggressively market its products to a growing US middle class, it faced "one real obstacle," Moss writes: the "army of school teachers and federal outreach workers who insisted on promoting home-cooked meals, prepared the old fashioned way."

A medical test being developed by Kuwait will be used to 'detect' homosexuals and prevent them from entering the country - or any of the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC), according to a Kuwaiti government official.

GCC member countries - Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - already deem homosexual acts unlawful.

This controversial stance is being toughened, according to Yousouf Mindkar, the director of public health at the Kuwaiti health ministry.

Police tell CBS News' Crimesider that a security guard at a Victoria's Secret store in New York City found a dead fetus inside the bag of a teenage girl on Thursday.

A security guard at the store in midtown Manhattan stopped two teenage girls to question them about possible shoplifting at around 1 p.m. and discovered that one of the teens was carrying a plastic bag with the fetus of a baby boy inside, according to the NYPD.

Police say both teens are being questioned, one at Bellevue Hospital and one at a local precinct. CBS New York reports both girls are 17 years-old.

According to the station, one of the girls admitted she had a baby in her bag when stopped by the store security guard. The girl later told police that she had given birth to a fetus Wednesday and did not know what to do with the body, reports the station.

Police say the medical examiner will determine the status of the baby fetus.

A new report shows that over one third of Israelis are at risk of falling below the poverty line, almost twice the rate of poverty risk in the European Union, itself plagued by a financial crisis.

According to a report released by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on Wednesday, about 31 percent of Israelis are close to the poverty line. The current figure is up from 26 percent in 2001.

The report also indicates that some 40 percent of Israeli children are facing the risk of poverty, which is also double the rate in Europe.

The rate in 2011, the same as this year's, was even higher than in debt-ridden Spain and Greece, where 20 percent of the population was at risk of poverty.

Momi Dahan, an official at Hebrew University in al-Quds (Jerusalem), said the high poverty rate is due to Israel's constant cuts in welfare benefits over the past 30 years.

He added that the 2013 Israeli austerity budget "continues the current policy of cutting welfare spending, mainly through cuts in children benefits, which now became even lower."

You may have heard my story, thanks to Anonymous who trended #justice4daisy. I'm not done fighting yet.

Winter: cold, bleak, bitter, ugly. Almost like summer has taken off its mask and shown its true colors. Everyone is forced to see how ugly life can truly be. Others get a season of beauty: summer.

My whole life since January 8, 2012, has been a long, reckless winter.

The night everything changed I was having an old friend over to catch up and have fun. Her name is Paige, and she is a year younger than I am. At the time, she was 13, and I was 14.

We had been best friends since we were both very young, and continued to be best friends, even though I had moved from Albany to Maryville. She was in the eighth grade, and I was in the midst of my freshman year.

Life, overall, was great.

I was on the varsity cheer squad, a competitive dance team and had a lot of friends.

A U.S. air marshal was arrested Thursday and charged with using a cellphone to take photographs up women's skirts at the Nashville, Tenn., airport, police said.

The Transportation Security Administration said Adam Joseph Bartsch, 28, of Rockville, Md., had been removed from active duty and was "in the process" of being suspended or fired.

Bartsch was on duty when he was arrested after boarding Southwest Flight 3132 from Nashville to Tampa, Fla. A fellow passenger who allegedly saw Bartsch taking the pictures notified a flight attendant.

"The last thing I expected was to not have a job," said Kristopher Oswald, 30, who was fired from Walmart this week after he intervened to help a woman who was apparently being assaulted in the parking lot of the store.

It happened around 2:30 a.m. outside the Walmart store in the Livingston County town of Hartland.

Oswald, who worked stocking pet food on the overnight shift at Walmart, was spending his lunch break in his car when he heard a woman screaming and a man hanging onto the hood of her car.

At first, Oswald wondered if it was just people horsing around recklessly, but when he walked over to see if the woman was really in danger, he says the man began to attack him, punching him in the head while yelling "I'm going to kill you".

Fair Lawn - An increasing number of roadside deer carcasses are being discovered decapitated, authorities told News 12 New Jersey.

Department of Transportation workers tell News 12 that many are taking the heads for show.

George Dante, the owner of a taxidermy shop in Woodland Park, told News 12 that "When they (sportsmen) see an animal by the side of the road with this magnificent headgear on it, you can't help but stop and take it home."

Police want residents to know that taking deer heads is against the law, and those who are caught can be fined $500 the first time and up to $1,000 for a second offense, the report said.

Residents in New Jersey are allowed to keep roadkill to eat, the report said, as long as they have a permit from the Fish and Wildlife Commission.

"We would love to be able to pick up a roadkill and recycle it and turn it into a beautiful mount, give it to an environmental center," Dante told News 12. "Unfortunately, we're not allowed to recycle our wildlife."