12 cities to turn off lights in climate-change gesture

Twelve world cities have agreed to darken their skylines for an hour in an Australian initiative to raise awareness about climate change, organisers say.

Sydney, plunged into near-darkness when millions of people switched off non-essential lights for the inaugural Earth Hour event this year, will be joined next year by 11 cities in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific, environmental group WWF Australia says.