Academic

Prof Abbas Rajabifard of the University of Melbourne says he was listed as a co-author of research with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s chief negotiator in recent peace talks, without his knowledgeGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA University of Melbourne academic has denied collaborating on research with the speaker of Iran’s parliament – who has been leading Tehran’s peace negotiations with the US – saying he was named as an author on a journal article without his knowledge.On Monday Guardian Australia revealed that Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s top negotiator, had built extensive ties to Australia over the past decade, including links to a University of Melbourne engineering research centre. Continue reading...

Marco Rubio welcomes release of Dennis Coyle, who was detained in January last year for violating unspecified lawsAfghanistan’s Taliban authorities have released the American academic Dennis Coyle after holding him for over a year, with the foreign ministry saying the release came on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.A statement from the ministry said the academic researcher had been released in Kabul on Tuesday, following an appeal from his family and after Afghanistan’s supreme court “considered his previous imprisonment sufficient”. Continue reading...

Alan Jay White, nicknamed ‘the professor’, arrested after raid of Indiana home found 78 grams of suspected methIn a case that calls to mind the plot of the fictional crime show Breaking Bad, a former US educator with the last name White is faced with charges of illicitly dealing methamphetamine.A 12 March statement from police in the town of Clarksville, Indiana, said officers searched the home of Alan Jay White five days earlier, finding 78 grams of suspected meth and counterfeit cash. They contended that the amount was too big for personal use, booking him with illegally peddling meth, counterfeiting and possessing drug paraphernalia, the agency’s statement added. Continue reading...