NEW YORK

Women may be avoiding exercise because they are overly concerned with mussed hairdos, according to the United States Surgeon General.

Hurricane Irene will cause horrendous travel conditions in the U.S. East Coast region Saturday and Sunday, one official said. As airlines cancel hundreds of flights ahead of Hurricane Irene's approach, Virginia Gov. Bog McDonnell said Saturday will be a horrendous day for travel as forecasters say the storm will be one of the worst to ever hit the region. Another official -- U.S. President Barack Obama -- is urging Americans in the path of powerful Hurricane Irene to listen to...

As Hurricane Irene tracks toward New York City, Mayor Bloomberg's office has urged residents to begin preparing for a major storm.

Hurricane Irene bore down on North Carolina on Friday, tens of thousands of people evacuated and East Coast cities including New York braced for a weekend hit from the powerful storm.

President Barack Obama is urging Americans in the path of powerful Hurricane Irene to listen to warning and evacuation instructions from state and local officials. He said from his vacation rental on Martha's Vineyard Friday that citizens urged to evacuate should not hesitate. Don't wait, don't delay, Obama said. I cannot stress this highly enough, if you are in the projected path of this hurricane you have to take precautions now.

Some northeastern Cities have already been hit with heavy rainfall this month.

Wall Street stocks rebounded on Friday as investors digested Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's remarks about the economy and regained hope the door was still open for more monetary stimulus down the road.

Hurricane Irene could seriously threaten areas as far north as Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket off the Massachusetts coast, according to federal officials, who extended more hurricane watches and warnings on Friday.

With Hurricane Irene likely heading for the New York area, government officials are stepping up efforts to alert and prepare residents.

The CME Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange has contingency plans to open normally Monday, despite the potential for havoc from Hurricane Irene.

Shares of major gold mining companies fell Friday in midday trading, after the head of the U.S. central bank used a closely-watched speech to indicate that the Federal Reserve had no immediate plans to stimulate the lagging economy with another round of bond buying.

It has been quite a year for New York, as the city has been hit with tornadoes, a blizzard, a heat wave, an earthquake and now a hurricane.

Hurricane Irene caused havoc in the low-lying area of the Bahamas and continued its path of destruction toward the U.S. East Coast -- leading to a state of emergency in the six states along the coast.

As the hurricane warning area expands on the East Coast covering a large area from North Carolina to Boston, the National Weather Service warned Washington, D.C. area with a higher danger.

Check back here throughout the afternoon as IBTimes' update storm map tracks Irene's path, with links to the preparations being made to counter her assault on the East Coast.

Stocks rose Friday after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke used a closely-followed speech to express optimism about the U.S. economic recovery but offer no hint that the central bank would intervene, as it did after his last such talk.

As Hurricane Irene, currently a Category 3 hurricane, lurches up the East Coast, it's important to make a make and follow a disaster preparation plan, including an evacuation strategy.

Residents are not taking any chances with the impending Category 3 weekend storm.

As Hurricane Irene tracks towards the United States, hurricane watches and warnings have been issued from North Carolina up through Massachusetts.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech Friday at a closely watched meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyo.,

Hundreds of thousands residents in the outer boroughs of Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn were stuck in their homes for days because plows did not clear out snow from many secondary roads.