Breaking News

February 28, 2009 Saturday

Updated

Straits Times Headlines

GIC raises Citigroup stake to 11.1 per cent

Courts prepare for 'recession crimes'

Tour bargains snapped up

Inside

It's the middle class, stupid

View Points

10 accused of phantom worker scam

Asia needs to rethink export model

8 per cent growth decline possible

Labour chief: Focus on action

Two-wheel head turners

FTA signed with Australia and NZ

Rights body draft submitted

Hotel occupancy plunges to 60%

Huge crowds look for bargains

China firms turn to home market

Beijing trying to get citizens to spend, not stash cash

S'pore 5 on list of young global leaders

New govt-led plan for Olympic glory

Seniors want flexibility

Breaking News

Quake hits northern Japan

Sharif warns of chaos

Rebels will be punished: army

GM plans Opel spin-off

Senior UBS exec to testify **

No voice feature for Kindle?

SEATTLE - AMAZON.COM Inc. changed course on Friday and said it would allow copyright holders to decide whether they will permit their works to be read aloud using the second-generation Kindle electronic reader's new text-to-speech feature.

The move comes nearly two weeks after a group representing authors expressed concern that the feature, which was intended to be able to read every book, blog, magazine and newspaper out loud, would undercut separate audiobook sales. The Kindle can read text in a somewhat stilted electronic voice.

Hearst plans electronic reader

WASHINGTON - US publishing group Hearst Corp. plans to launch a wireless electronic reader for magazines and newspapers similar to Amazon's Kindle for books, Fortune reported on Friday.

The magazine said the device is likely to be unveiled this year and that other publishers will be allowed to adapt it for their use.

Drug combi to fight TB

WASHINGTON - TWO already existing drugs to fight bacterial infections could combine to help treat the most deadly form of tuberculosis, according to a study published on Friday.

Researchers discovered a two-drug combination that blocks the growth of 13 strains of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) isolated in a laboratory, said the study published in the journal Science.

Fossil of toothed bird found

LIMA - THE well-preseved, 10-million-year fossil craneum of a large, toothed seabird was found in Peru's southern Ica region, a spokesman for Peru's Museum of Natural History said on Friday.

'The skull of the giant bird with teeth, measuring 40 centimetres (16 inches)' was found a few months ago by paleontologist Mario Urbina in a rock strata, said Rodolfo Salas, adding that it is 10 million years old.