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.

The Australian government said radical conservationists who have been pursuing Japanese whalers in Antarctic waters could refuel their ship in Hobart, Tasmania, despite Japan’s claim that they are tantamount to terrorists.

Anti-whaling activists threw rotten butter at a Japanese whaling ship today in an attempt to sabotage their operations.

TWO anti-whaling activists who boarded a Japanese harpoon ship in a protest were last night transferred to an Australian vessel.

Two anti-whaling activists, one a Briton, who boarded a Japanese harpoon ship in a protest were tonight transferred to an Australian vessel.

The Australian government said today it would send a ship to retrieve two seized activists from a Japanese whaler in Antarctic waters.

An Australian judge today banned the company that conducts Japan’s whale hunt from killing the animals in a large part of its regular hunting grounds off Antarctica.

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

The European Union appealed to Japan to call off a hunt for around 1,000 whales, saying it would put in jeopardy the long-term survival of some species in Antarctic waters.

Searchers in freezing Antarctic waters found two anti-whaling activists today after their inflatable dinghy became lost in heavy fog, the international conservation group Sea Shepherd said.

Two Greenpeace ships that have been harassing Japan’s whaling fleet in Antarctic waters for more than three weeks have abandoned their chase and are returning to South Africa, the organisation said today.

Environmental group Greenpeace said today that it would continue hounding Japan’s whaling fleet despite a damaging collision between the whalers and a protest ship.

Environmental group Greenpeace today said that Japanese whalers used high-powered water cannons against its chase boats in a confrontation in Antarctic waters.

New Zealand today attacked as "despicable" Japan’s plans to again kill hundreds of minke whales in Antarctic waters.