Harare - A coalition of human rights groups in Zimbabwe has vowed on Wednesday to campaign against a new constitution, which is being drafted by the power-sharing government as part of the deal between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
The group called the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), made up of churches, workers groups, students and other activists, said it was hopeful that it could win a referendum set for next year.
San Francisco - Californians could soon be powering their homes, and no doubt their hot tubs, from a space-based solar electricity program.
The plan by the state's massive energy company PG&E calls for the generation of 200 megawatts over 15 years to be collected by space-based solar arrays and beamed down to earth via radio frequency.
PG&E hopes to have the system running by 2016 and is seeking permission from regulators to contract with a company called Solaren to put the system in place.
Taipei - The Taipei City Government Wednesday set up a suicide prevention centre, in an effort to reduce the local suicide rate, seen as the second highest in Asia after Japan.
Mayor Hau Lung-bin unveiled the opening of the centre, staffed by eight specialists and a number of volunteer workers, the city government said in a statement.
Washington - The US government is weighing taking an equity stake in General Motors Corp, Bloomberg financial news reported Tuesday citing people familiar with the negotiations. The largest US carmaker faces a June 1 government deadline to further restructure or lose government support designed to keep the industry afloat through the economic crisis and declining demand for US-made cars.
Washington - Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was booted from office by the state legislature earlier this year over a series of corruption allegations, pleaded not guilty to the charges in federal court on Tuesday. In a court appearance in Chicago, Blagojevich pleaded not guilty to 16 criminal counts that included racketeering and wire fraud, the US District Court of Northern Illinois confirmed.
Islamabad - Taliban militants in Pakistan's restive north- western Swat valley on Tuesday refused to lay down arms hours after Pakistani government approved Islamic sharia law for the troubled north-western region, to honour a truce with them. "My brother, we have only conventional weapons - and Islamic sharia gives people the right to keep them. Islamic jihad will continue until Judgement Day," Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told Geo television's Capital Talk show.
Harare - A coalition of human rights groups in Zimbabwe has vowed on Wednesday to campaign against a new constitution, which is being drafted by the power-sharing government as part of the deal between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
San Francisco - Californians could soon be powering their homes, and no doubt their hot tubs, from a space-based solar electricity program.
Taipei - The Taipei City Government Wednesday set up a suicide prevention centre, in an effort to reduce the local suicide rate, seen as the second highest in Asia after Japan.
Washington - The US government is weighing taking an equity stake in General Motors Corp, Bloomberg financial news reported Tuesday citing people familiar with the negotiations. The largest US carmaker faces a June 1 government deadline to further restructure or lose government support designed to keep the industry afloat through the economic crisis and declining demand for US-made cars.
Washington - Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was booted from office by the state legislature earlier this year over a series of corruption allegations, pleaded not guilty to the charges in federal court on Tuesday. In a court appearance in Chicago, Blagojevich pleaded not guilty to 16 criminal counts that included racketeering and wire fraud, the US District Court of Northern Illinois confirmed.
Islamabad - Taliban militants in Pakistan's restive north- western Swat valley on Tuesday refused to lay down arms hours after Pakistani government approved Islamic sharia law for the troubled north-western region, to honour a truce with them. "My brother, we have only conventional weapons - and Islamic sharia gives people the right to keep them. Islamic jihad will continue until Judgement Day," Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told Geo television's Capital Talk show.
