Two new books examine the mystery of the Teamster's fate Who killed Jimmy Hoffa? And why, where and how? The main outlines of Hoffa's death were widely reported after he disappeared in 1975, but two writers provide some new details about the nation's largest and most crime-ridden major union in their forthcoming books: The Teamsters by Steven Brill, and The Hoffa Wars by Dan E. Moldea. The beginning of the end for Hoffa came in 1971, when President Nixon commuted ...

The record books of the Professional Golfers' Association will never show it, but the 1969 Los Angeles Open last month was a milestone. Short, stubby Charlie Sifford, jumping off to a first-round lead with five birdies and an eagle in one six-hole spree, won the season's opening tournament on the first hole of a sudden-death play-off against, ironically, South Africa's Harold Henning. Thus Sifford, long the victim of the apartheid in pro golf, picked up $20,000 and became, however briefly, ...

The price wars have gone nuclear. From Target's $3 coffeemakers to Best Buy's half-price washing machines to Staples's $350 laptops, the theme of this holiday shopping season is, without a doubt, "we sell for less." Even Wal-Mart's commitment to "every day" low prices isn't preventing it from going lower. An online skirmish with Amazon.com that started with $9 hardcover books has dominoed into other categories, driving down prices on everything from mobile phones to Easy-Bake ovens. The deals are everywhere. Well, pardon my saying ...

In her two previous books, French author Mireille Guiliano instructs women on how to live their lives to the fullest by, ironically enough, not eating to the fullest. She insists that the French have the right answers, pointing to the French joie de vivre as one of the reasons why the country's women stay so infuriatingly thin. In her latest book, Women, Work & the Art of Savoir Faire: Business Sense & Sensibility, released in the U.S. last ...

Amazon, the online retailing giant, did more than any other company to turn the sale of digital books into a real business with the 2007 launch of the Kindle electronic reader. The company has sold an estimated 1.7 million of the handheld devices in the U.S., and it's getting ready to ship millions more. On Oct. 6, Amazon announced it would soon begin selling Kindles — complete with a key feature that allows users to wirelessly download e-books from ...

The Web application from Google Inc. combines elements of e-mail, chat, Wiki documents, blogs and photo-sharing sites to create a form of Internet communication called a "hosted conversation," or a "wave." Google demonstrated Wave at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco, California, in May. The closed group of beta testers will help Google fish bugs out of the application before a public release by the end of the year, according to the Google ...

President Obama and his family are hoping for a chance to unwind during their weeklong getaway to Martha's Vineyard. The first family, along with Obama's sister Maya Soetoro-Ng and the first dog Bo, arrived on the Massachusetts island Sunday. The Obamas are staying at a secluded 28-acre private estate. The No. 1 priority on Obama's vacation agenda is "To get a little break," White House spokesman Bill Burton said Monday. "He certainly appreciates the hospitality of the folks who ...

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi will spend another 18 months as a prisoner of Burma's military junta, a Rangoon court decreed today. She was found guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest after an American man called John Yettaw swam to her lakeside house in Rangoon in May. Yettaw, who has been in poor health, was sentenced to seven years in prison with hard labor. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was initially jailed for three years ...

AC Milan have completed the signing of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar from Real Madrid after the Dutch international striker successfully came through a medical at the San Siro on Friday. Milan announced on their official Web site that Huntelaar had signed a four-year deal. No fee for the player was disclosed but reports have suggested a figure of $21 million secured Huntelaar's services. Spanish giants Real are seeking to balance the books after a summer of massive spending and are set ...

There is a dangerous anticheating sentiment in this country. We are disgusted by David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez for taking steroids — even though steroids made Boston relevant for the first time in 200 years. We are appalled by swimmers who break records with full-body polyurethane suits — despite the fact that this technology allows straight men to look directly at the television. These steroided, polyurethaned cheating men should be our heroes. For while we trumpet achievement through ...