A Libyan-Irish dual national, Mahdi al-Harati is a member of Ireland’s Libyan community, one of several who are aiding the rebel forces in their bid to oust Muammar Gaddaffi in the nation's capital of Tripoli.

It’s still early in 2011, but so far the Irish newcomer of the year has to be Colin O’Donoghue. The Drogheda native starred alongside Anthony Hopkins in the Exorcist-style thriller The Rite, which should be out on DVD soon. It was O’Donoghue’s film debut, and though some critics were a bit rough on the film, The Rite spent a week as the number one movie in America in January. O’Donoghue, 30, had previously starred (alongside fellow Irish thespian Jonathan Rhys Meyers) in the Showtime drama The Tudors. Prior to that, O’Donoghue had simply done theater work and television shows for Ireland’s TV network RTE. With his performance in The Rite (which also stars Irish screen veteran Ciaran Hinds), O’Donoghue certainly opened some eyes and set himself up for an interesting career. What’s next for O’Donoghue? He’s playing things coy. “I’ve got something else in the works,” he told About.com. “But I can’t talk about it.”

A recent cover story in Parade magazine offered up photos of an eclectic group of Americans such as Jimmy Stewart, Robert Redford, Dolly Parton, Rosa Parks and Mark Twain. 'Can you guess what they have in common?' the cover asked. The story was based on a new book by James Webb called "Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Changed America." All those people are of Scots-Irish descent and, in his book, Webb does an admirable job of separating the Scots-Irish from both the British and the Irish, while outlining the profound impact they have had on American history. ($25.95 / 384 pages / Broadway Books)