NEWSWORTHY
Japan on brink of IWC pullout after losing vote on commercial whaling plan
Japan threatens to quit the International Whaling Commission after a tense vote sinks its effort to spark a global return to commercial whaling.
The International Whaling Commission on Wednesday cast a rare strong vote in favor of whale hunting but strictly for small subsistence hunts undertaken by some communities, mostly in the Arctic. The vote confirmed a long-standing commitment to so-called aboriginal subsistence whaling (ASW) for nutritional and ...
Nations supportive of commercial whaling block South Atlantic sanctuary bid
Pro-whaling nations on Tuesday blocked a near two-decade effort to create a South Atlantic haven for the endangered marine mammals, deepening divisions at an already fractious International Whaling Commission meeting in Brazil. The South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary was backed by 39 countries with 25 voting ...
Nations lock horns in Brazil over Japan's call to resume whaling
Pro- and anti-whaling nations locked horns Monday as the International Whaling Commission (IWC) began meeting in Brazil amid outrage over Japan's proposal to end a three-decade old moratorium on commercial whale hunting. Incoming IWC Chairman Joji Morishita said the meeting could determine the future of ...
World Court weighs U.K. claim to Chagos Islands, site of key U.S. base, in Indian Ocean
The legality of Britain's claim to the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, which house a major U.S. military base, will be considered by the International Court of Justice on Monday when it starts a week of hearings. Britain has overseen the islands since 1814 ...
Japan will seek a partial resumption of commercial whaling at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission later this year, officials said Wednesday. Tokyo has regularly sought the easing of the IWC's moratorium on commercial whaling and continues to kill whales as part of what ...
122 pregnant minke whales killed in Japan's annual whale hunt: report
A highly controversial annual whaling expedition Tokyo defends as scientific research but that conservationists call "gruesome and unnecessary" killed 122 pregnant minke whales, a report by Japanese authorities shows. The four-month expedition in the Antarctic ended in March after the fleet killed 333 minke whales ...
IWC to set up fund for developing nations; Japanese named next chairman
The International Whaling Commission decides to help cash-strapped nations send delegates to its meetings and taps a Japanese official as its next chairman.
Experts blast Japan's whaling program as 'unscientific' in journal
A group of experts from around the world have criticized Japan's ongoing Antarctic Ocean whaling program as having no scientific basis in a letter published in British science journal Nature on Thursday. The 32 signatories to the letter include 31 members of the International Whaling ...
U.S., three other nations pen joint statement against Japan's whaling in Antarctic Sea
The United States, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands reiterated their opposition to Japan's whaling operation in the Antarctic Sea following the government's recent decision to resume the hunt. "We do not believe that Japan has sufficiently demonstrated that it has given due regard to ...
Resumption of Antarctic whaling flouts rule of law
The rule of law has been Japan's trump card in its ongoing rhubarb with China over competing territorial claims in the East China Sea. In the war of words with Beijing, Tokyo has gained moral authority by criticizing its rival for not abiding by ...
The government will conduct so-called research whaling off Hokkaido in northern Japan from this Saturday through late October, with plans to take up to 51 minke whales, the Fisheries Agency said Wednesday. The coastal whaling — to be conducted off Kushiro, Hokkaido, on the same ...
