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 wristbands canadacustom silicone bracelets canadarubber bracelets canadasilicone bracelets canadasilicone wristbands canadacustom wristbands canadacanadian wristbandswristbands canada
The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference holds a news conference on March 2, 2019. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/chinadaily.com.cn] The Chinese mainland will deepen democratic consultation with parties and individuals from Taiwan to push forward peaceful national reunification, a spokesman said on Saturday. On the political basis of adhering to the 1992 Consensus with the one-China principle and opposing Taiwan independence, forms of democratic consultation can be flexible and diverse, Guo Weimin, spokesman for the second session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said at a press conference. President Xi Jinping said in a speech at a gathering to commemorate the 40th anniversary of issuing Message to Compatriots in Taiwan on Jan 2 that the principles of peaceful reunification and one country, two systems are the best approach to realizing national reunification. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, proposed that the mainland and Taiwan conduct democratic consultation on cross-Straits relations and establish institutional arrangement for peaceful development. The proposal of democratic consultation across the Taiwan Straits has won wide applause , Guo said, adding that democratic consultation is a more extensive and full democracy. It will play an important role in promoting exchanges between peoples, resolving differences and building consensus of the two sides, he said. It will also help Taiwan residents participate in the development of cross-Straits relations and the peaceful reunification of the motherland, he added. By advocating democratic consultation, we are placing our hope on the people of Taiwan and respecting the mainstream public opinion of the island, Guo said. However, the Democratic Progressive Party, the island's ruling party, rejected the 1992 Consensus and refused to conduct political negotiations with the mainland, ignoring the people's demands for reunification, he added. Therefore, the democratic consultation can provide a more open channel for Taiwan residents to express their opinions, he said. It will not affect or replace the cross-Straits negotiation, but provide solid public support. Guo said that the CPPCC provides an important channel for cross-Straits democratic consultation to reach the institutional arrangement for peaceful reunification. We will continue to deepen exchanges with various parties, organizations and individuals of the island, and work with our compatriots in Taiwan to promote the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations and the peaceful reunification of the motherland, he said.
