Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands before their talks in Singapore on Wednesday. KYODO NEWS/GETTY IMAGES The leaders of Russia and Japan agreed to accelerate talks on resolving a long-standing territorial dispute over four islands that has kept two countries from sealing a peace treaty since the World War II. At their bilateral meeting in Singapore on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to activate talks on a peace treaty, a provisional version of which was signed between Japan and the Soviet Union to the end the state of war, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. In the 1956 joint document, Moscow agreed to hand over two of the four disputed islands off Hokkaido to Tokyo once a formal peace treaty was signed. I agreed with President Putin to accelerate negotiations on a peace treaty based on the 1956 joint declaration between Japan and the Soviet Union, Abe told reporters after their meeting in Singapore. Abe and Putin have met 23 times since 2012 to try to make progress in resolving the issue, and Abe said he will visit Russia early next year for further talks, expressing hopes of putting an end to the unresolved, postwar diplomatic issue through peace treaty talks between the two. The leaders did not make practical agreements but agreed to conduct further dialogue, said Sergey Markov, former member of State Duma and director of the Institute for Political Studies. At this stage, we cannot expect a resolution of the dispute, he said. Markov said Moscow hopes to develop economic cooperation with Tokyo, while not rejecting the discussion of the territorial issue. However, the Japanese side wants to link the economic agenda with specific promises from Russia to resolve the dispute over the islands. He said Tokyo should begin full-fledged economic cooperation with Russia. Chu Yin, professor at the University of International Relations in Beijing, also said a substantive agreement like a peace treaty is something that cannot be achieved, but some progress can be expected. Talks over the signing of a peace treaty will be full of twists and turns despite the strong support from Putin and Abe, Chu said. Abe insists the territorial dispute should be resolved before a peace treaty, while Putin said there are no preconditions to conclude such a thing. Wang Peng, research fellow at the China Institute of Fudan University in Shanghai, said Japan is trying to force Russia to make concessions on territorial issues at a time when Moscow is facing difficulties on nuclear arms control, geopolitics and an energy-driven economy. But given the hard stance that Russia has always showed, it is not likely to talk about territorial issues first. If they talk about it first, regardless of the outcome, it will be a blow to Putin's domestic reputation, Wang added. cle usb bracelet siliconeonline silicone wristband makernumbered wristbands for eventssilicone wristbands vancouveryellow silicone bracelets
People light candles and form the 60+ sign during the Earth Hour environment campaign in Cali, Valle del Cauca department, Colombia, on Saturday. Earth Hour, which started in Australia in 2007, was observed by millions of supporters in 187 countries. [Photo/Agencies] LONDON - In Paris, the Eiffel Tower went dark. In London, a kaleidoscope of famous sites switched off their lights - Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye. That scene was repeated over and over across the world on Saturday night: at Sydney's Opera House; at New Delhi's great arch; at Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Towers; at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland; at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate; at St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow; at the Empire State Building in New York. It lasted for just an hour and its power is purely symbolic. But in countries around the world, at 8:30 pm, people switched off their lights for Earth Hour, a global call for international unity on the importance of addressing climate change. Begun in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has spread to more than 180 countries, with tens of millions of people joining in, from turning off their own porch lights to letting the grand sites like the Opera House go dark. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower plunged into darkness as President Emmanuel Macron urged people to join in and show you are willing to join the fight for nature. The time for denial is long past. We are losing not only our battle against climate change, but also our battle against the collapse of biodiversity, he said on Twitter. Moscow's Red Square also fell dark and the Russian section of the International Space Station dipped its lights, the Ria Novosti news agency said. Images from across Asia showed buildings including Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Towers, as well as the famous harbor skylines of Hong Kong and Singapore, blacking out to mark the occasion. These 60 minutes are an opportunity to shift the consumption culture and behavior change toward sustainability, Indian Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan said. All this happens and yet many people, of course, barely notice. Around India Gate, New Delhi's monument to the Indian dead in World War I, thousands embraced the city's nightly warm-weather ritual on Saturday. They bought ice cream and cheap plastic trinkets. Young children rode in electric carts that their parents rented for a few minutes at a stretch. But for an hour the arch stayed dark, a silent call for change. In Jordan, the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature arranged 11,440 candles on a hilltop in the capital of Amman, establishing a Guinness World Record for the largest candle mosaic. The candles also spelled the Earth Hour motto of 60+. However, attempts to light the candles largely failed because of wind on the hilltop, which is close to the city's landmark, the Amman Citadel. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the event comes at a time of huge pressure on people and planet alike. Resources and ecosystems across the world are under assault. Earth Hour is an opportunity to show our resolve to change. Ap - Afp
