The moratorium on commercial whaling, one of the environmental movement's greatest achievements, looks likely to be swept away this summer by a new international deal being negotiated behind closed doors.
The new arrangement would legitimise the whaling activities of the three countries which have continued to hunt whales in defiance of the ban – Japan, Norway and Iceland – and would allow commercial whaling in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary set up by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1994.
Conservationists regard it as catastrophic, but fear there is a very real chance of its being accepted at the next IWC meeting in Morocco in June, not least because it is being strongly supported by the US – previously one of whaling's most determined opponents.



At least seven people are dead as the result of a monster winter storm in the...
The world has entered an era of “global water bankruptcy” that is harming billions of people,...
A major winter storm is set to sweep the nation this weekend, bringing snow, sleet, ice...
The aurora could be visible across Canada and much of the northern tier of US states...





























