RUSSIAN, JAPANESE REGIONS SIGN AGREEMENT.

The governor of Hokkaido, together with the administrative heads of Russia’s Primorye, Khabarovsk, and Sakhalin regions, signed an economic cooperation agreement on September 2 following talks in the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The accord aims to boost foreign trade and investment between the regions, and to improve the transportation network linking Hokkaido and Russia’s Far East. (Itar-Tass, September 3) The agreement comes amid a mutual effort by Moscow and Tokyo to improve broader bilateral relations.

Uproar in Russia Over Public Executions.