Pro and anti-whaling nations are set for a showdown when the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets in Brazil from Monday as Japan leads an assault on a three-decade old moratorium on commercial whale hunting. Tokyo heads into the biennial meeting as chair of the 88-nation body determined to shake-up what it says is a dysfunctional organization mired in dispute and unable to make key decisions.
At least 85 dolphins have beached in a shallow inlet of a US nature reserve at Cape Cod, officials reported adding that the cause of the mass stranding remained a mystery.
US President Barack Obama announced diplomatic measures to be taken by the United States against Iceland in condemnation of its whaling activities.
The Japanese whaling fleet has called an early end to its whaling season in Antarctica a move which conservationists tentatively say could spell an end to whaling in the Southern Ocean. But Greenpeace Japan said there were other reasons to halt “scientific whaling”.