Philip Haney, a Department of Homeland Security ( DHS) whistleblower who was an outspoken critic of the administration of former President Barack Obama, was found dead Friday, about 40 miles east of Sacramento, Calif., local authorities said. Haney, 66, "appeared to have suffered a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound," the Amador County Sheriff's Office said in a release.

Amid the chaos of the 2009 holiday travel season, jihadists planned to slaughter 290 innocent travelers on a Christmas Day flight from the Netherlands to Detroit, Michigan. Twenty-three-year old Nigerian Muslim Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab intended to detonate Northwest Airlines Flight 253, but the explosives in his underwear malfunctioned and brave passengers subdued him until he could be arrested.

Wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein has been found dead in his prison cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, US media report. His body was discovered at 07:30 local time (11:30 GMT) on Saturday at the facility in New York. The circumstances of his death are unclear.