Asian leaders sign environmental pact

SINGAPORE, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Leaders of 16 Asian nations, including India and China, signed a pact pledging action on climate change, forest cover and the use of nuclear energy.

The East Asia Summit members all agreed to support a U.N. plan, which members called the "core mechanism" for tackling global warming.

The signers committed to work harder to develop alternative energy sources and cleaner fossil-fuel technologies and to improve energy efficiency and conservation.

The East Asia Summit, including Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and others, set the stage for next month's U.N.-backed global climate-change talks in Bali, Indonesia.