41.   Japan argues whale populations have recovered to acceptable levels to renew commercial hunting and says whales are competing directly with fishing vessels for catches.

42.   Japan argues whale populations have recovered to acceptable enough levels to renew commercial hunting and says whales are competing directly with fishing vessels for catches.

43.   Norway, which has decided to carry out a new census of the whale population along its coastlines, admits that it had overestimated the number.

44.   Robbins Barstow, a leading activist for the protection of whales, said the decision reverses hundreds of years of decimation of the whale population.