Switch off, save planet message goes global

LONDON/SAN FRANCISCO: From the Sydney Opera House to San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, iconic structures went dark as people switched off lights in their homes and skylines dimmed around the world on Saturday to show concern with global warming.

Up to 30 million people were expected to have turned off their lights for 60 minutes by the time "Earth Hour" - which started in Suva in Fiji and Christchurch in New Zealand - completed its cycle westward.

More than 380 towns and cities and 3,500 businesses in 35 countries signed up for the campaign that is in its second year after it began in 2007 in Sydney, Australia's largest city.