Harry Dunn's alleged killer was working for a US intelligence agency at the time of his death, her lawyer has confirmed.

Anne Sacoolas was leaving US military base RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August 2019 when her car was involved in a crash with the 19-year-old's motorbike. The 43-year-old had diplomatic immunity asserted on her behalf by the US government and returned home about three weeks later.

She was charged with causing the teenager's death by dangerous driving, but a Home Office extradition request was rejected by the US State Department in January last year.

Both the Donald Trump administration and new president Joe Biden's administration have described that decision as "final".


The Alexandria district court in Virginia is currently hearing an application made by Ms Sacoolas to dismiss a civil claim for damages made against her by the Dunn family.

The Russian doctor who was in charge of treating Alexei Navalny after he was poisoned by the nerve agent Novichok has died suddenly at age 55, according to multiple reports.

Sergey Maximishin died of a heart attack after being taken to the hospital where he worked on Wednesday night due to a spike in his blood pressure, Life.ru reported, citing a Russian Health Ministry spokeswoman.

"The doctor actually died of a heart attack, because he had a really stressful job and he actually lost people who were close to him," said spokeswoman Galina Nazarova.

Perhaps the most accomplished football player in NFL history, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is nevertheless a target of media and political venom as he prepares to play in his tenth Super Bowl on Sunday.

One can't argue with Brady's sporting achievements. At 43 years old, he has led the team with the worst winning percentage in NFL history to the Super Bowl in his first year on the squad, and he proved that he could get back to the championship game apart from Bill Belichick's New England Patriots dynasty.

But Brady is being portrayed this week as the enemy of the people. You see, Brady has been a friend of former President Donald Trump. Say no more. Washington's new domestic-terrorism apparatchik probably needs to probe the quarterback, triple-check his January 6 alibis and make sure that letting him walk freely isn't a danger to the republic.

A US man has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for abusing underage girls in an orphanage in Kenya.

Christian missionary Gregory Dow set up the orphanage with his wife in 2008.

"Gregory Dow was the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing," said the FBI's Michael Driscoll.

Last year, Dow pleaded guilty in the US to four counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in a foreign place.

In the fall of 2020, I became the target of a cancellation campaign after I'd suggested that the best policy for a university seeking to support underrepresented groups, while staying true to its mission of producing knowledge, is to ensure that hiring and admissions decisions are based on merit. It's an idea that directly reflects bedrock principles advanced during the Civil Rights movement, and which are still supported by a large majority of Americans. But to the mob, I was just an irredeemable enemy of progress and social justice. As part of the now-standard playbook, my attackers formed a Twitter mob and wrote a denunciatory public letter, cynically misrepresenting my views, demanding that my research and teaching at the University of Chicago be restricted, and urging that my department formally denounce me. Fortunately, at a crucial juncture in the proceedings, the Free Speech Union launched a change.org petition in my support, which was signed by more than 13,000 people. (The list probably includes many readers of this essay. Thank you so much for your support!) My university president, Robert Zimmer, subsequently issued a strong statement defending freedom of expression on campus. As a result, I seem to have survived my cancellation.

Since these cancellation tactics are increasingly being deployed against academics who advocate mainstream views on any number of subjects — including hiring and admission — I've assembled some thoughts based on my recent experience, in the hope that my advice might be useful to others who find themselves in my position. If we're going to defend the pursuit of truth, the primacy of reason, and academic freedom effectively, we need to discuss tactics that have worked, and build on these successes.

Readers may notice that my theme is similar to that of Pedro Domingos and Bari Weiss, both of whom recently have offered their own suggestions in regard to fighting cancel culture, each drawing from their own experiences. One point of contrast is that, in responding to the inevitable tension between pushing back against one's critics and forgiving them, Domingos (a fellow academic) leans a bit more toward the former while I lean a bit more toward the latter. I encourage interested readers to consider these perspectives, and more, in formulating their own views.

Tensions ran so high at the Department of Homeland Security's oversight wing that one senior official fantasized about Arya Stark, the fictional assassin in "Game of Thrones," "taking care of" the agency chief, according to an investigation obtained by The Intercept under the Freedom of Information Act. The investigation, conducted in 2020 by an outside law firm, reveals bureaucratic infighting so bitter that it drove out an agency head and led to an array of startling allegations, including that a high-level official made threatening comments about a concealed weapon during a meeting.

The investigation paints a picture of DHS's Office of Inspector General in chaos. The OIG performs an important function: probing misconduct within the sprawling DHS, the largest law enforcement agency in the country. Policing DHS and its bevy of law enforcement agencies — including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and the Secret Service, to name just a few — is a responsibility that falls upon the OIG. The dysfunction couldn't have come at a worse time, as many of these same law enforcement agencies have been implicated in some of the Trump administration's most controversial policies, like family separation at the border, the conditions of migrant detention facilities, and the crackdown on protesters in Portland, all of which DHS OIG has investigated in recent months. One of DHS OIG's most important responsibilities is investigating DHS employees' whistleblower disclosures, which appear to have been weaponized by employees who used them to go after one another.

The investigation, launched in May 2020, focuses on a senior official who brought down the agency's leader — and its morale along with it. In one striking illustration of the civil war within the agency, the investigation describes a senior official saying of the agency's top official, then acting Inspector General John V. Kelly, in an email: "Perhaps Arya would consider taking care of some business here? The DHS OIG throne isn't as glam but we do have a night king that just. won't. die." (The "Night King" is one of the "Game of Thrones" series' antagonists; he leads an army of undead bent on conquering the planet.)

A petition calling on the UK government to commit against implementing a so-called Covid-19 vaccine 'passport' has received more than 37,000 signatures, as Boris Johnson's cabinet refuses to rule the idea out.

The latest petition demanding that the government not roll out the controversial 'passport' idea was heading towards 40,000 signatures on Friday, amid reports that such a system was being actively developed for travel abroad.

A vaccine passport would allow Brits who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus to regain a certain level of freedom - including the ability to travel - that would be prohibited to others.

Last month, vaccine-deployment minister Nadhim Zahawi said there were "absolutely no plans" for vaccine passports, as concerns mounted that certificates would need to be shown before entering certain establishments. He also said mandatory vaccination itself was "discriminatory and completely wrong."

E-vaccination status certificates or 'immunity passports' could be used "to restrict the rights of people who have refused a Covid-19 vaccine, which would be unacceptable," the petition declared.

The GOP-controlled Wisconsin General Assembly voted Thursday to repeal Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' emergency order and statewide mask mandate, but the achievement did not last long.

Within an hour, Evers signed a new emergency order along with a decree requiring masks — and Republicans are threatening to overturn those, too.

What are the details?

The repeal of Evers' mask mandate passed 52-42 in the General Assembly after passing 18-13 in the Senate, with a resolution the governor cannot veto.

The Hill reported that Wisconsin state House Speaker Robin Vos (R) and state Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R) issued a joint statement following the vote, saying that Evers "has abused his limited authority for far too long by repeatedly issuing unlawful orders beyond his 60-day emergency powers. The Assembly and Senate voted to end the executive overreach and restore our constituents' voice in the legislative process."

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) wants lawyers who looked into 2020 election fraud to be disbarred, claiming they misused their law licenses.

Joined by her secretary of state and attorney general, Whitmer filed bar grievances in Michigan and Texas against four lawyers, including Texas-based pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell, Michigan attorney Greg Rohl, Scott Hagerstrom and Stefanie Junttila.

The suit claims the attorneys' arguments in King Vs. Whitmer, which sought to disqualify state electors in favor of certifying President Donald Trump the official winner, contributed to the Jan. 6 siege on the US Capitol.


According to the suit, Powell and the other attorneys "based on falsehoods, used their law license in an attempt to disenfranchise Michigan voters and undermine the faith of the public in the legitimacy of the recent presidential election, and lent credence to untruths that led to violence and unrest."