News headlines in July 2009, page 14

One of three students in Romania studies at Spiru Haret University, the largest private university in the country. But more than 100,000 students, recent and older graduates, could be left without their diplomas because the authorities dispute the quality of education provided by the institution.

As U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began talks with Indian officials in New Delhi on Monday to take a forward a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, signed by the previous Bush administration, it was apparent that there were many roadblocks to be cleared before deals worth an estimated 10 billion dollars are signed.

Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison Monday for giving 15 million dollars in public funds to his security chief Vladimiro Montesinos in the last few weeks of his government.

Governmental corruption and the refusal to cooperate with U.S. counter-drug efforts are worsening a ballooning drug trafficking problem in Venezuela, according to a new report by the investigative office of the U.S. Congress.

Deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said the talks with the de facto regime that ousted him in late June were over and that he planned to return to his country.

The United States government is attempting to deepen its ties with South-east Asia this week when Washington finally throws its weight behind a regional peace and security treaty.

The international community, in particular the U.S., has a responsibility to ensure that this week's upcoming legal decision on the boundary of Abyei, an oil-rich and contested region along the disputed north-south border within Sudan, is respected and that the residents of Abyei and the affected surrounding areas are protected from violence, said a strategy paper by the Enough Project released Monday.

A prominent human rights group is demanding the release or trials of five Ugandan detainees held by military intelligence for up to 16 months.

Amid reports that the Barack Obama administration is quietly lobbying the Conservative government in Ottawa to keep Canadian troops in Afghanistan's Kandahar province beyond 2011, Stephen Harper is finding himself in an increasingly awkward dilemma.

Too early yet to call it a victory for anti-nuclear lobbyists, but the British government decision this week to put off an upgrade of its Trident nuclear system is at least denial of immediate victory to those who want newer nuclear weapons.