Japan's prime minister apologized to people suffering from a rare neurological disorder linked to eating fish contaminated with mercury dumped from a chemical plant as he attended a memorial service Saturday for those who have died of the disease. "I fully recognize the government's failure to prevent industrial pollution and contain the damage of Minamata disease, and once ...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's coastguard has obtained an arrest warrant for the head of radical anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd for allegedly ordering members of the group to obstruct Japan's whale hunt, domestic media said on Friday. The move comes as the International Whaling Commission tries to negotiate a compromise in the long-running row between pro- and anti-whaling countries that ...

Japan plans to seek an international arrest warrant against the leader of the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd over tense high-seas clashes, the nation's public broadcaster said Friday. The Japan Coast Guard has obtained an arrest warrant in Tokyo against 59-year-old Canadian Paul Watson for allegedly instructing members of his group to obstruct Japan's whaling mission and causing injury ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japan, Norway and Iceland could continue commercial whaling for another decade, despite a global ban, under a proposal released Thursday by the International Whaling Commission. Between 4,000 and 18,000 whales could be saved over the next 10 years under the compromise proposal, which sets lower catch limits for all three whaling nations than the self-imposed quotas ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is leading an effort that could result in an agreement in coming weeks to limit and ultimately end whale hunting by Japan, Norway and Iceland, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. Citing people involved with the negotiations, the newspaper said the compromise deal -- which has sparked controversy within the 88-nation International Whaling Commission -- would ...

A fragile plan to resolve the global feud on whaling is coming under attack from both sides, with Australia seeking more concessions from whalers and Japan vowing never to end its hunt completely. Key nations in the whaling debate submitted comments to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) as it fleshes out a compromise to be submitted before the body's ...

Prosecutors Friday indicted an anti-whaling activist from New Zealand on charges that could lead to a yearslong prison term after he boarded a Japanese harpoon boat to protest the ship's whale-hunting expedition in Antarctic seas. Peter Bethune had jumped aboard the Shonan Maru 2 in February during the annual face-off ...

Greenpeace activists chained themselves to the mooring ropes of a ship in the Netherlands Friday to stop it transporting a cargo of whale meat to Japan, officials and the environmental group said. Fifteen protesters took the action at 4:30 am (0230 GMT) against a Panamanian-flaggged vessel docked at Rotterdam which was carrying seven containers of meat from Iceland, said ...

Japan indicted on Friday a New Zealand anti-whaling activist who boarded a harpoon ship on charges including trespass and assault, the latest chapter in a long-running battle between environmentalists and Japanese whalers. The activist from the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society boarded the ship in Antarctic waters in February. Peter Bethune "was indicted on five charges -- trespassing, causing injuries ...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese prosecutors on Friday criminally charged a New Zealand anti-whaling activist who boarded a whaling vessel in the Antarctic following clashes between whale hunters and environmentalists. Regular attempts by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a hardline anti-whaling group, to block the annual whale hunt have sparked irritation in Japan, where the government says whaling is an important cultural ...