>>> seenor officials from russia and japan are hammering out details of economic cooperation. vladimir putin is scheduled to fly to japan and sign the deal next month. representatives from both sides led a meeting on tuesday. they said they'll speed up talks on about ten agreements to be signed by putin and shinzo abe. they want the countries to work together in political, economic, and cultural fields and he said he hopes they can get closer to a peace treaty acceptable to the people of both countries. russia and japan did not sign a peace treaty after world war ii. >>> workers in fukushima have started building an intermediate soil facility for soil and waste contaminated in the 2011 nuclear disaster. ground-breaking ceremonies were held tuesday in fut aba and okuma. two facilities will be built, one for storing waste, the other to store soil.