Suharto's health state 'critical'

Indonesia's former leader Suharto's health is "critical", doctors treating him in Jakarta tell the country's president. more

Benazir’s husband alleges government involvement in killing

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan 5 (AP) - The husband of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto accused elements within Pakistan's government on Saturday of responsibility for her murder and urged Britain and the United States to support a U.N. investigation into the killing. “An investigation conducted by the government of Pakistan will have no credibility, in my country or anywhere else,” Asif Ali Zardari said in a commentary published Saturday in The Washington Post. “One does not put the fox in charge of the hen house.” Zardari _ who was named the effective leader of Bhutto's political party soon after her death _ reiterated earlier demands that a Hariri commission-like U.N. probe was the only way to reveal the truth about the murder. He urged “friends of democracy in the West, in particular the United States and Britain, to endorse the call for such independent investigation.” “Those responsible _ within and outside of government _ must be held accountable,” wrote Zardari, whose party intends to contest elections on Feb. 18. Pakistan's government does not support a U.N. probe, and Washington has already indicated it sees no need for one. In fact, anti-terrorism officers from Britain's Scotland Yard arrived in Pakistan on Friday to provide technical and forensic help in the investigation

DAWN

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Japanese Prime Minister Becomes YouTuber

First, the American presidential candidates, then (reportedly) the outgoing Australian Prime Minister. Then the Queen of British Empire. Now the Japanese Prime Minister. It seems now anyone who is anyone is posting videos to YouTube.

Now, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda posted a New Years greeting both in English and Japanese. In the version I could understand, the Asian PM commemorated the 100th anniversary to the end of the Japanese-Russo war, but pointed to a number of problems facing the Japanese that he intends to face: descending birthrate, economic disparity, the global war on terror, diseases like AIDS and malaria, and global human rights issues.

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Pingie: RSS to SMS Utility

By: Kristen Cole

Since Twitter is the topic du jour today, this little web app fits right in with the concepts of convergence, mobility, and New Media, especially for those users of Twitters out there that primarily utilize the service from their mobiles. Paul Stamatiou today reviews a nifty little utility called Pingie, the purpose of which is to take RSS feeds and send them to your mobile phone via SMS.

Pingie is was announced today by the folks over at UNEASYsilence with several suggestions on how you might use the utility. Obviously, you aren’t limited to the suggestions they have (deal of the day type feeds like Woot or Slickdeals), but those are some of the better applications. Others that spring to mind would be RSS feeds to any calendaring programs you may have set up, or any other type limited use alert system (update feed on a collaborative document in Google Docs?).

The applications are wide, varied, and endless. It is a simple service to use, too. Create your account on Pingie you can add feeds and later login to change settings. The system is simple to stop, if you need to; just reply to any Pingie SMS with the text “STOP PING”.

Paul points out the same thing I found to be slightly annoying in the service: a bit too much wasted space in the message. In SMS, real estate is highly valuable, and a bit of the info Pingie relays is “superfluous and redundant,” as Paul says.

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8 Sites to Learn Typing

10-Fast-Fingers.com - A 10-step typing tutorial program that teaches you more finger placements in each lesson, and then tests you on them. When you’re all done there is a speed test to see how you improved.

GoodTyping.com - Has over 27 lessons, offers 18 different keyboard layouts and is available in multiple languages.

Learn2Type.com - Offers a typing test to test where you are skill wise, and besides teaching just the QWERTY keyboard setup, they also offer AZERTY and Dvorak layouts. Also has lessons for kids as it’s never too early to start learning to type.

PowerTyping.com - Okay, so maybe typing sites aren’t all fancy with rounded corner logos, or gradient images, but did you come to look at the pretty, or to learn to type? This site focuses on QWERTY and Dvorak keyboard layouts.

Typing-Lessons.org - While the site has a very 1990’s feel to it, the site explains this is on purpose so as not to distract you from the purpose of the site which is to teach. Teaches you all th rudimentary skills you need to get started on the road to being a better typist.

TypeOnline.co.uk - Offers lessons on normal keyboard placement, and has practice lessons for touch typing and speed tests. Also offers a nice selection of information on safe typing so you don’t develop things such as Carpel Tunnel Syndrome.

TypingWeb.com - A full-featured online typing tutor with lessons, games, statistics to track your progress and more. The system is free for individuals, and they do have packages available for schools and companies for a fee with group progress reports.

Bonus: after you’re done with all these, you can have some fun with Qwerty Warriors, a strangely addicting game that forces you to type faster and faster before the enemies swarm you.

Google Presentations Introduces Embedded Slide Shows

Source: TechCrunch

Google Docs just added some cool new features to its Web-based Presentation software: slide shows that you can embed anywhere on the Web. Check it out below:

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Corruption shadow casts Bhutto in a different light

Source: The Age

That one shouldn’t speak ill of the dead is conventional wisdom but conventional wisdom usually turns out to be an oxymoron. And so the dead Benazir Bhutto is now the “former prime minister of Pakistan” rather than “the fugitive facing corruption investigations in Spain, Britain and Switzerland” that she was a fortnight ago.

Corruption aside, Bhutto showed a remarkably cavalier disregard for the lives of even her own supporters. Guns of any make, either genuine or cheap local rip-offs, are freely available in Pakistan. The use of bombs has also become more widespread.

So when Bhutto arrived back in Pakistan in October, rather than being whisked by helicopter amid tight security from the airport to wherever she needed to be, she had her party organisers bus in 200,000 people to the route from the airport so the world’s television cameras could record her glorious return. The route was lengthened to heighten the drama of the procession. read more