Biographies “St. Clarus - Catholic Online” plus 3 more |
- St. Clarus - Catholic Online
- Former Gitmo detainees help al-Qaeda in Yemen - USA Today
- Allen Barra on Yogi Berra: One of My Favorite Sports Biographies Ever - Huffingtonpost.com
- Great Mystery Books and Biographies for Holiday Reading - Hollywood Today.net
| Posted: 31 Dec 2009 11:57 PM PST Feastday: January 1 Clarus was born near Vienne, Dauphine', France. He became a monk at St. Ferreol Abbey and later was spiritual director of St. Blandina Convent, where his mother and sister were nuns. In time he became Abbot of St. Marcellus monastery at Vienne and lived there until his death on January 1. He is reputed to have performed numerous miracles, and his cult was confirmed in 1903 by Pope Pius X. He is the patron of tailors. His feast day is January 1st. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |
| Former Gitmo detainees help al-Qaeda in Yemen - USA Today Posted: 01 Jan 2010 03:53 AM PST
| Instead, al-Shihri, who was released in 2007 under the Bush administration, is now deputy leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a group that has claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day attempted bomb attack on a Detroit-bound airliner. His potential involvement in the terrorist plot has raised new opposition to releasing Guantanamo Bay inmates, complicating President Barack Obama's pledge to close the military prison in Cuba. It also highlights the challenge of identifying the hard-core militants as the administration decides what to do with the remaining 198 prisoners. Like other former Guantanamo detainees who have rejoined al-Qaeda in Yemen, al-Shihri, 36, won his release despite jihadist credentials such as, in his case, urban warfare training in Afghanistan. He later goaded the United States, saying Guantanamo only strengthened his anti-American convictions. "By God, our imprisonment has only increased our persistence and adherence to our principles," he said in a speech when al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula formed in Yemen in January 2009. It was included in a propaganda film for the group. Al-Shihri and another Saudi released from Guantanamo in 2006, Ibrahim Suleiman al-Rubaish, appear to have played significant roles in al-Qaeda's expanding offshoot in Yemen. While the extent of any involvement in the airliner plot is unclear, al-Rubaish, 30, is a theological adviser to the group and his writings and sermons are prominent in the group's literature. After the group's first attack outside Yemen, a failed attempt on the Saudi counterterrorism chief in August, al-Rubaish cited the experience in Guantanamo as a motive. "They (Saudi officials) are the ones who came to Guantanamo, not to ask about us and reassure us, but to interrogate us and to provide the Americans with information — which was the reason for increased torture against some," he said in an audio recording posted on the Internet. Pentagon figures indicate that al-Shihri and al-Rubaish are a small if dramatic minority among the released detainees: Overall, 14% of the more than 530 detainees transferred out of Guantanamo are confirmed or suspected to have been involved in terrorist activities since their release. Still, three other Saudis released from Guantanamo under the Bush administration surfaced with al-Qaeda in Yemen over the last year. They include field commander Abu al-Hareth Muhammad al-Oufi, who later surrendered and was handed over to Saudis, and two fighters who were killed by security forces: Youssef al-Shihri and Fahd Jutayli. All five men passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program praised by U.S. authorities before crossing the southern border into Yemen. At least one Yemeni from Guantanamo apparently rejoined the fight. A Yemen Defense Ministry newspaper said last week that Hani al-Shulan, who was released in 2007, was killed in a Dec. 17 air strike that targeted suspected militants. At Guantanamo, some of the men had played down their links to terrorism. Said al-Shihri, who is now formally known as the secretary general of the al-Qaeda branch, told American investigators that he traveled to Afghanistan two weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks to aid refugees, according to documents released by the Pentagon. The file also says he received weapons training at a camp north of Kabul and was hospitalized in Pakistan for a month and a half after he was wounded by an airstrike. Although he allegedly met with extremists in Iran and helped them get into Afghanistan, he claimed he went to Iran to buy carpets for his store. He said that if released, he wanted to see a daughter born while he was at Guantanamo and try to work at the family store in Riyadh, according to the documents. In contrast, Youssef al-Shihri, who was killed in October near the Yemeni border with Saudi Arabia, openly declared rage against America to his captors at Guantanamo. He is not related to Said al-Shihri. "The detainee stated he considers all Americans his enemy," according to documents from his Guantanamo review hearings. "Since Americans are the detainee's enemy, he will continue to fight them until he dies. The detainee pointed to the sky and told the interviewing agents that he will have a meeting with them in the next life." The U.S. has repatriated 120 Saudi detainees from Guantanamo, including some still considered to pose a threat, in part because of confidence the Saudi government can minimize the risk. The Saudi rehabilitation program encourages returning detainees to abandon Islamic extremism and reintegrate into civilian life. The deprogramming effort — built on reason, enticements and counseling — is part of a concerted Saudi government effort to counter extremist ideology. Returning detainees have lengthy talks with psychiatrists, Muslim clerics and sociologists at secure compounds with facilities such as gyms and swimming pools. Bruce Hoffman, a security studies professor at Georgetown University, stressed that the large majority of those going through the program have not rejoined extremist groups. "It's unrealistic to say none of them will return to terrorism," he said. "Is two too many? I don't know how to make that judgment. But you have to look at it in the broader perspective ... There's also a risk in imprisoning people for life and throwing away the key." For the roughly 90 Yemeni detainees remaining at Guantanamo, the recent terror plot's Yemeni roots will add new layers of scrutiny to any transfers. Repatriation talks with the Yemeni government have stalled for years over security issues, with the U.S. sending back only about 20 Yemenis out of concern over the impoverished nation's ability to contain militants. U.S. Congress members have called on the Obama administration to stop releasing any detainees to Yemen or other unstable countries. "I have read the classified biographies of the detainees to be released. They are dangerous people. I am troubled by every one of the detainees who is being sent back," said U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, a Virginia Republican. Six Yemenis were sent home from Guantanamo in December, and detainees' attorneys say about 35 more have already been cleared for release by an administration task force. They are the largest group left at Guantanamo, so finding new homes for them is key to Obama's pledge to close the prison. Their attorneys are not optimistic about the transfers going through. "I'm fearful that will grind to a halt after the events of Christmas Day," said Rick Murphy, a Washington attorney who represents five Yemenis at Guantanamo. Obama has vowed not to release any detainee who would endanger the American people. A senior administration official said the U.S. has worked with Yemen's government to ensure that "appropriate security measures" are taken when detainees are repatriated. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss bilateral talks. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Allen Barra on Yogi Berra: One of My Favorite Sports Biographies Ever - Huffingtonpost.com Posted: 22 Dec 2009 12:23 AM PST There's no question that Allen Barra is one of the best long-form sports journalists working today. (One I'd put near him is L. Jon Wertheim, whose Running the Table, rating: 90, and Blood in the Cage, rating: 79, are among the best books ever written about billiards and mixed martial arts, respectively.) His 2005 book The Last Coach, a biography of Paul "Bear" Bryant, considered by many to be the greatest college football coach of all time, was simply masterful (rating: 90); I loved it even though I have no interest in college football. His new book, Yogi Berra: Eternal Yankee, a biography of his near-namesake, is just as good. Yogi's one of the most famous living athletes, author of numerous World Series highlights, a number of memoirs, and scores of half-remembered quotes, and Barra's book is the first comprehensive biography of the man; it's also one of the quintessential baseball biographies. Any Yankee fan, any baseball fan, will enjoy it. Long-form baseball writing is harder than ever these days because of the widening rift in the baseball writing community over the merits and proper use of advanced statistics. It's a generational thing: old-school sportswriters are still attached to newspapers, and are dwindling as newspapers shed staff, and they're an aging bunch. They're getting more and more outnumbered by internet professionals and bloggers like me who pontificate about sports in other media. This also frequently leads to disdain for advanced baseball research performed by fans and laymen. Barra gracefully tiptoes through this minefield. In deference to the sportswriting of the time, he characterizes Yogi's year-to-year performances with standard stats like home runs, RBI, and batting average. But in an absorbing, thoughtful appendix, he quotes the work of well-known baseball researchers and sabermetricians like Bill James, Pete Palmer, Eddie Epstein, Rob Neyer, and more, to put Yogi's career in proper context. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Barra is an old-school writer comfortable with the new world of baseball statistics. The author starts the book with the audacious claim that his subject, one of the most famous men in America, is vastly underrated as a player -- that his reputation as a quotable clown obscures his career as arguably the greatest catcher in baseball history. But he also gives a sense of Yogi the man. He was a shy, humble, devout Catholic who still carried photos of his late parents in his wallet well into his '60s, who has been married to his wife for 60 years, and who is far happier to talk about his grandchildren than himself. But he was a fierce competitor supremely confident in his own abilities and self-worth. He threatened holdouts for a higher salary from the Yankees' famously skinflint general manager, George Weiss, until he got the amount of money that he wanted. And, in 1985, after George Steinbrenner fired him as manager of the Yankees without telling him personally, he swore he'd never again set foot in Yankee Stadium as long as Steinbrenner was manager, an oath he kept for 14 years until Joe Dimaggio convinced Steinbrenner to personally apologize. Of course, Berra's era is the golden age of the Yankees -- he won ten World Series from the late '40s to the early '60s, and was the undeniable leader of ten different World Champion teams. (That's a record. By a lot.) It's also the tentative, rocky, hesitant period of integration in baseball. Of course, the 1950s are perhaps the most-written about decade in baseball, so while Barra on Berra yields new, interesting details, the atmospherics of the era are a bit more warmed-over -- so he often tends to fast-forward through the seasons to get to the parts that really matter, the World Series. And that's fine. Barra's obviously fond of his protagonist, so if you have a real problem with the Yankees winning every year, you're not going to find much of a sympathetic voice on the page. Berra runs into a little more trouble after he retires, as political upheaval in the Yankee front office resulted in his being fired as Yankee manager on two different occasions, despite relative success with the team. He went through further drama, which Barra touches only lightly, when his son Dale Berra, also a major leaguer, was implicated in the 1980's cocaine scandal. Yogi's a man who's lived a full life and lived it well. The book doesn't exactly read like a hagiography, but Barra clearly doesn't have much bad to say about the man -- nor does anyone else. I couldn't help smiling while reading it. And I'm already hungry for Barra's next. Rating: 93Crossposted on Remingtonstein. Follow Alex Remington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/alexremington Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |
| Great Mystery Books and Biographies for Holiday Reading - Hollywood Today.net Posted: 28 Dec 2009 03:36 AM PST Books to read this holiday season, today's installment is mysteries and biographies, catch tomorrow's installment for historical fiction by Gabrielle Pantera  Expose by Hannah Dennison, the dangers of snail racing HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 12/28/2009 – Book gift cards from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers make great holiday gifts. If you're wondering what to get using a gift card you received, or just looking for a good read during the holidays, let's take a look at some great mysteries Mysteries Exposé! By Hannah Dennison Exposé! is the third adventure in the Vicky Hill mysteries. Dennison always introduces an unusual British pastime or profession in her books. This time it's snail racing season in the small town of Gipping-on-Plym. Obituary writer Vicky Hill receives an anonymous tip of the secret funeral of local celebrity Scarlett Fleming, coordinated by her husband Doug. The entire town is baffled by the sudden death and oddly discreet funeral. After all, Scarlett was never one to stay in her shell. Expose! (A Vicki Hill Mystery) Hannah Dennison Paperback, 320 pages Publisher: Berkley (December 1, 2009) Language: English ISBN: 9780425231586 Sheer Folly: A Daisy Dalrymple Mystery by Carola Dunn Sheer Folly is the latest mystery in the Daisy Dalrymple mystery series. Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher and her friend and avid photographer Lucy visit Appsworth Hall to photograph the best grotto in the country for a book. Daisy and Lucy are not the only guests. There's the boorish Lord Rydal, Rhino to his few friends, Lady Ottaline Wandersley who's having an affair with Rhino. Julia Beaufort who's being pursued by Rhino in marriage, Charles Armitage, a Canadian rival charmed by Julia, there's Mr. Pritchard of Pritchard's Plumbing Products, the current owner of the grotto, and his sister-in law Mrs. Howell who's hostess. The grotto explodes, taking Rhino's life. Who killed him? Hardcover, 288 pages, Publisher: Minotaur Books, September 15, 2009, Language: English, ISBN: 9780312387754 $24.99 The Case of the Missing Servant: A Vish Puri Mystery by Tarquin Hall The head of Delhi's Most Private Investigators Ltd., Vish Puri, searches for a missing servant and pursues other cases in this first book in the series. Ajay Kasliwal, a lawyer who has a case against corrupt government officials, is suspected of killing his maid who's missing. Kasliwal hires Puri to find her alive. A body is found instead, but Puri thinks something's not right. He must keep digging. Hardcover, 320 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster Release date: June 2, 2009 ISBN: 9781416583684 $24.00 Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen Royal Flush is the third book in Rhys Bowen's Royal Spyness Mystery series. Set in 1932, Lady Georgiana is a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria and 34th in line to the English throne. Georgie is sent home to Scotland in disgrace after putting an advertisement in the paper to be a female escort. Georgie meant dinner and dancing, the gentlemen have something else in mind. At Rannoch Castle, Georgie finds accidents happening to members of the royal family and her brother. Georgie searches for answers. Can she solve this before a relative gets killed? Royal Flush is the third book in Rhys Bowen's Royal Spyness Mystery series. Hardcover, 320 pages Publisher, Berkley Release date: July 7, 2009 ISBN 9780425227886 $24.95 In a Gilded Cage by Rhys Bowen A Molly Murphy Mystery In a Gilded Cage has Irish-born New York detective Molly Murphy joining the march for women's rights in 1903 with Vassar college women who want the vote. She makes friends with former Vassar girl Emily Boswell who works at a pharmacy. Emily asks Molly to help find out more about her parents who died after she was born. As Molly searches Emily's past, Vassar girls start dying. Why are they dying? What really happened to Emily's parents? Hardcover, 288 pages Publisher: Minotaur Books Release: 1st edition, March 17, 2009 ISBN 9780312385347 $24.95 The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown The Lost Symbol is the follow-up book to The Da Vinci Code. The Lost Symbol is a deadly race through a real-world labyrinth of codes, secrets, and unseen truths. This book has Brown's most terrifying villain to date. Set within hidden chambers, tunnels, and temples of Washington, D.C.. don't forget to breath when reading this book. Hardcover, 528 pages, On Sale: September 15, 2009, ISBN: 978-0-385-50422-5. Price: $29.95 Biographies The Irregulars by Jennet Conant Roald Dahl became associated with an interesting assortment of British spies, including James Bond 007 author Ian Fleming, spymaster Bill Stephenson believed to be the inspiration for James Bond, and "The Father of Advertising" David Ogilvy. Dahl came to America after serving as a RAF pilot and ace in the skies of Libya and Greece. With only seven RAF aircraft defending Greece, Dahl and his comrades shot down 22 German aircraft in one battle. Dahl's exploits in the war are detailed in his autobiography. Conant's book details his efforts in Washington to get America to enter the war against Germany. Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington Publisher: Simon & Schuster Price: $16 Paul McCartney A Life Paul McCartney a Life traces the origin of Paul McCartney's life, how he met John Lennon, and how they became the Beatles. The book looks at his loves, his life with first wife Linda through to her unfortunate death, and his disastrous second marriage with Heather Mills. Hardcover, 384 pages, Publisher: Touchstone, November 3, 2009, Language: English, ISBN: 9781416562092 $26.00 Home: A Memoir of My Early Years by Julie Andrews Julie Andrews' life was difficult as a child, and it wasn't only her experiences during the London Blitz. She grew up in poverty. The family moved from rural England to London for her parents' career in vaudeville. Julie Andrews helped support her family from a young age. Trade Paperback, 352 pages, Publisher: Hyperion, Reprint edition (April 7, 2009) Language: English, ISBN: 9780786884759 $15.99 Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Biographies - Bing News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment