The International Court of Justice has ruled that Japan’s Antarctic whaling programme is not for scientific purposes and has ordered a temporary halt.

The International Court of Justice has ruled that Japan’s Antarctic whaling programme is not for scientific purposes and has ordered a temporary halt.

DOES that look blue to you?” asked a colleague and Patrick Lyne had to agree that it did.

South Korea plans to resume hunting whales for research purposes, officials said today, drawing immediate protests from non-whaling nations and environment groups.

Anti-whaling activists claimed today that they have effectively ended this year's Japanese hunt following a late-night altercation near Antarctica, but the whalers said their season will continue.

The United States is set to announce possible trade and diplomatic sanctions against Iceland for ramping up its whale hunts despite an international moratorium on commercial whaling.

Japan and other pro-whaling nations have walked out of a meeting of the International Whaling Commission to protest at a proposal for a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic.

Japan today cancelled the rest of its whale hunting season in Antarctic waters because of repeated harassment by Sea Shepherd activists at sea, after netting only a fifth of its targeted catch of 850 whales.

A government official says Japan has temporarily suspended its Antarctic whaling operations after repeated disruptions by a conservation group.

Two Greenpeace activists were today given one-year suspended jail sentences by a Japanese court for stealing whale meat they claim was intended for illegal consumption.

Japan’s fisheries agency said the country is planning to host a rally for pro-whaling nations to build support for lifting a decades-old ban on commercial whale hunts.

AN international effort to truly limit whale hunting collapsed yesterday, leaving Japan, Norway and Iceland free to keep killing hundreds of mammals a year, even raiding a marine sanctuary in Antarctic waters unchecked.

THE International Whaling Commission withdrew yesterday behind closed doors within minutes of kicking off a tense meeting that could end a global ban on commercial whaling.

Japan is considering withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission if no progress is made towards easing an international ban on commercial whaling, its fisheries minister said today.

Australia said today that it will take Japan to the International Court of Justice to argue that its “so-called scientific whaling” in the Antarctic violates international obligations.

The International Whaling Commission has proposed allowing the first legal commercial whale hunts in 25 years, ending an outright ban that had many exceptions.

Japanese prosecutors have indicted an anti-whaling activist for illegally boarding a harpoon boat as part of a protest against the ship’s whale hunting expedition in Antarctic seas in February.

Australia has called for a gradual phasing out of whaling around the world in a proposal submitted to the International Whaling Commission.

JAPAN’S foreign minister yesterday described Australia’s threat of legal action against its controversial whaling activities as “unfortunate” but said he did not believe it would hurt ties.

AUSTRALIA’S prime minister set a November deadline for Japan to stop its research whaling programme that kills hundreds of whales a year in Antarctic waters, or face legal action.

Australia’s prime minister has set a November deadline for Japan to stop its research whaling programme that kills hundreds of the creatures every year in Antarctic waters, or face legal action.

An anti-whaling activist from New Zealand is in custody on a Japanese vessel and will be taken to Japan to face charges after secretly boarding the ship as part of a protest, officials said today.

An anti-whaling activist from New Zealand was being held in custody on a Japanese whaling boat today after secretly boarding it in a protest, the whalers said.

Researchers from 12 countries will conduct research on whales in Antarctica in an open challenge to Japan’s programme that kills up to 1,000 whales a year in the name of science.

Japan’s Fisheries Agency said ships from the country’s whaling fleet returned to port from the Antarctic Ocean with a lower catch than planned after being harassed by anti-whaling campaigners.

A group of radical anti-whaling activists said they were pelted with bloody chunks of whale meat and blubber after their boat collided with a Japanese whaling vessel in a dramatic Antarctic Ocean clash.

JAPANESE whalers blasted water from a cannon at conservationists who hurled bottles of rancid butter and paint during a clash in frigid Antarctic waters yesterday.

Japanese whalers and conservationists clashed again in the Antarctic today.

One of the crew from Japan’s controversial whale-hunting fleet was missing presumed dead today after apparently falling overboard in freezing Antarctic waters south of New Zealand.

Activists who have clashed violently with Japanese whalers in Antarctic waters in recent months were headed back to port today because they were running out of fuel.

Graphic pictures of Japanese hunters harpooning whales and dragging their carcasses aboard a ship near Antarctica were evidence of “indiscriminate” slaughter, Australia said today.

Japan has resumed its annual whale hunt off Antarctica now that anti-whaling activists have stopped pursuing the country’s fleet, a Japanese official said today.

A government minister said today Japan’s whaling fleet was heading towards New Zealand-controlled waters in Antarctica, in breach of an agreement to remain in Australian waters during this year’s whale hunt.

The widow of TV “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin is to launch non-lethal research of whales in Antarctic waters next year, in a bid to shame Japan’s scientific whale kill.

JAPAN is dropping its plan to kill humpback whales in the seas off Antarctica, the country’s top government spokesman said yesterday.

Japan is dropping its plan to kill humpback whales in the seas off Antarctica, a media report said today.

Irish consumers should boycott Japanese goods in protest at its whale hunting expeditions, Ireland's National Sea Life Centre said today.

Australia and New Zealand appealed to Japan today to halt a fleet headed for the Antarctic to hunt humpback whales.

One of Japan's coastal whaling towns butchered its first catch of the season in front of watching children today.

A 21-year moratorium on commercial whaling has been upheld by the International Whaling Commission meeting in the US.

Renewing a five-year bowhead whale quota for Alaska native communities that rely on subsistence whaling is crucial, the International Whaling Commission has been told.

A Japanese whaling ship has begun moving away from the Antarctic coast under its own power, an official said today – 10 days after fire crippled the vessel and left it stricken near the world’s biggest Adelie penguin rookery.

An anti-whaling group’s boat collided twice with a Japanese whale-spotting vessel in Antarctic waters today, tearing a three-foot gash in the protest ship, the Sea Shepherd conservation group said.

A fleet of six Japanese whalers left port today for their annual hunt in the Antarctic, where they hope to kill 860 whales for a controversial research programme.