News in brief

Buenos Aires
Argentina's new education minister, Graciela Giannettasio, says she will maintain free education at the country's public universities. She takes over from Andres Delich, who resigned the post.

Tehran
An Iranian university law lecturer due to go on trial before a revolutionary court on Tuesday was once interrogated uninterrupted for 24 hours and three times for more than 18 hours, Human Rights Watch claimed today. Reza Raeis Toussi, 65, a professor at Tehran University, is one of 15 members of the National Religious Alliance facing prosecution in what HRW condemned as a violation of their basic rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association.

Vancouver
Forty-seven students from Simon Fraser University have been accused of cheating. The alleged cheats, who were all in the same class, have been sent letters recommending they should be failed. Identical answers were found in the papers. One administrator said it was the worst case of cheating he had seen in 35 years.
 
Bonn
Members of an independent task force investigating Germany's worst case of scientific misconduct have accused the country's main research funding body, the DFG, of watering down their report on a cancer research scandal. The DFG denies the allegations.