Teen's free-speech fight

A schoolgirl in West Virginia has come under attack for her political views. Katie Sierra (15) has been prevented from starting an anti-war club and barred from wearing her protest t-shirt on school premises.

Sierra went to Sissonville High School in Charleston wearing these words: "When I saw the dead and dying Afghani children on TV, I felt a newly recovered sense of national security. God Bless America." She was suspended from school as a result.

Sierra, a self-described anarchist, and her lawyer appealed to the West Virginia Supreme Court last week.

Her lawyer also said he is considering a libel suit against a board of education member who accused Sierra of "treason". A local Charleston newspaper editorialised: "Americans cherish the freedoms guaranteed them under the Constitution, but the thoroughly egocentric exercise of those rights becomes tiresome."

In the meantime, Sierra is back in school, complying with the rules, but wearing black armbands.

Elsewhere in the same state, Sandeep Makkur, an occupational therapist who is a native of India, told reporters is leaving West Virginia because he and his family has been the target of vandalism and threats.

Uganda 'fake' academic

A Ugandan academic is at the centre of controversy after he was accused of falsifying his qualifications and helping dubiously qualified students to gain admission to university.

Mukwanason Hyuha was sacked from his post as academic registrar at Makerere University as a result, though he is threatening to sue the university and insists that his CV is genuine. Now the controversy has moved on to the Islamic University in Uganda Mbale, where Mukwanason has applied for a teaching post in the economics. The registrar there said he would check the applicant's "international credibility, publications and previous positions".