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Uganda's ethics and integrity minister dismisses virulent criticism of his country's proposed anti-gay law by United States President, Barack Obama.

Uganda's Ethics and Integrity Minister, James Nsaba Buturo, has dismissed virulent criticism of his country's proposed anti-gay law by United States President, Barack Obama, and warned that any interference will be unacceptable.

Buturo argues that, "Somebody should tell President Obama that the parliament is doing its legislative duty in the interest of the people of Uganda."

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has launched the Global Monitoring Report.

The focus of the report this year is ‘reaching the marginalised’ and how to bring basic education to the world's most forgotten people.

The report shows that while steady progress has been made in improving worldwide education, there is still significant work to be done.

The United States has suspended a five-year US$7 million programme for Kenya's education ministry over a massive corruption scandal.

Washington's ambassador, Michael Ranneberger, who points out that the programme was scheduled to begin this year, says that the suspension will be effective until there is a credible, independent audit and full accountability.

"Those culpable for the fraud should not merely be sacked; they should be prosecuted and put behind bars," says Ranneberger.

Microsoft has unveiled software that lets Twitter, Facebook and other hot Internet services to be delivered to low-cost ‘feature phones’ common in developing countries.

Corporate vice-president of the Unlimited Potential Group and Startup Business Accelerator at Microsoft, Amit Mital, points out that, "We designed OneApp from the ground up on feature phones with very limited memory and processing capabilities."

Social networking sites Twitter and Facebook, suffered service problems on 6 August 2009, raising speculation that they have come under a pre-planned coordinated attack by hackers.

Twitter, the popular micro-blogging service, was knocked down by a malicious attack that prevented people from accessing its website for several hours on Thursday.

Google has unveiled a new service designed to provide information via SMS to cellphone users in Africa, where mobile handsets are prevalent but Internet penetration is low.

In a blog post, the company points out that, "At Google we seek to serve a broad base of people - not only those who can afford to access the Internet from the convenience of their workplace or with a computer at home."

The editor-in-chief of technology magazine Wired has apologised for failing to cite online encyclopedia Wikipedia in passages in his new book, the ironically titled "Free".

Chris Anderson, points out on his blog at www.Wired.com that, “This is entirely my own screw-up, and will be corrected in the ebook and digital forms before publication."

Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 7, its new-generation computer operating system, will be available before the end of 2009.

Senior vice president of the Windows Business at Microsoft, Bill Veghte, points out that the company is anticipating that the next version of its client operating system, Windows 7, will be available to customers in time for the holiday shopping season.

Last week, Microsoft released a nearly-final version of Window 7 known as Windows 7 Release Candidate and invited feedback from the public.