news in brief.

The article provides information on the recent developments across the world related to science and technology. Months of confusion ended last week when the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued licenses that permit the U.S. publishers to accept and print scholarly papers with authors from Cuba, Iran and Sudan. A convoy carrying US$4.6 million worth of laboratory equipment and $1 million worth of academic books is bound for higher-education institutions in Iraq. Impulse Devices, a company in Grass Valley, California is launching an experimental power reactor based on "bubble fusion," despite reservations within the scientific community over whether the effect exists. Zsuzsanna Jakab, secretary of state at Hungary's ministry of health, was last week nominated as the inaugural director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.