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SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called on Asia-Pacific countries Thursday to form a European Union-style grouping that he said would enhance regional security and prosperity. Rudd said an Asia-Pacific Community-a potential economic powerhouse including China, India, the United States and Japan-could be established by 2020. "The key thing is to enhance security and regional cooperation, which at present is fragmented," Rudd said after outlining the idea in an address to the Asia Society Australasia on Wednesday night.
-- AFP
LOS ANGELES: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday declared a statewide drought in the state. In an executive order, Schwarzenegger directed the state Department of Water Resources to speed water transfers to areas with the most severe shortages and ordered state officials to help local water districts with water conservation efforts and directed them to help farmers suffering losses from the drought. The declaration came after many communities had been requiring water conservation or rationing.
-- Xinhua
WASHINGTON: NASA has delayed gathering of Martian soil samples by the Phoenix Mars Lander due to a communication glitch on a satellite. The Phoenix team learned on Wednesday that NASA's Odyssey orbiter, which relays the lander's data to and from Earth, had entered a "safe mode," wherein the spacecraft turns off non-essential operations, thus, preventing Wednesday's instructions from reaching the lander. Odyssey mission managers are running a check of the orbiter to determine what triggered such incident.
-- Xinhua
SEOUL: South Korea's new parliament opened to a near half-empty chamber Thursday after an opposition boycott, deepening the crisis facing President Lee Myung Bak amid damaging protests over US beef imports. The National Assembly opened for a new four-year term, but opposition legislators instead concentrated their forces for a 72-hour rally starting later in the day. Lee's Grand National Party earlier suffered heavy losses in a series of local elections, its first electoral test since taking power.
-- AFP
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's government faced street demonstrations and public outrage Thursday over its decision to hike petrol prices 40 percent overnight in a bid to curb its massive subsidies bill. Opposition groups held protests in downtown Kuala Lumpur and in the northern city of Ipoh, putting further pressure on Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who is fighting for his political future after disastrous March elections. "The effect is going to be a tremendous burden to people," said Democratic Action Party lawmaker Teresa Kok.
-- AFP
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