Japan denies dropping humpback whale hunt: foreign ministry
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Japan said Thursday it has made no agreement to stop hunting humpback whales, denying comments from the US ambassador here that suggested a temporary deal had been struck.
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Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi sailed to a group of disputed islands, ignoring Russian warnings that his visit would hamper talks on a bilateral peace treaty.
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Japan has turned down an offer from Greenpeace to tow a whaling ship that caught fire off the Antarctic coast, recalling that activists of the conservation group had boarded the same vessel almost a decade ago.
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Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced on Tuesday that Tokyo would not support the idea to solve the problem of southern Kuril Islands and peace treaty with Moscow by getting just two islands, Shikotan and Habomai.
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Activists withdrew a threat to ram a Japanese whaling fleet in the frigid Southern Ocean on Tuesday, while in Tokyo pro-whaling nations met to push for a return to commercial fishing of the giant creatures.
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A U.N. meeting harpooned a Japanese bid  Tuesday to ease curbs on trade in whale products, but a defiant  Tokyo accused the West of "cultural imperialism" and vowed to  press efforts to expand whaling.
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French retail giant Carrefour SA has denied a press report it is planning to sell its operations in Japan.
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An animal rights group claimed Tuesday Japan has illegally killed hundreds of whales in an Australian whale sanctuary and launched legal action aimed at stopping the hunt.
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Australia and Japan agreed to disagree Thursday on a bitter feud over whaling as their foreign ministers tried to show that the countries' close relationship was otherwise intact.
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Japan is confident it can secure the  votes needed to resume commercial trade in whale products and  that this would be a step toward lifting a ban on hunting the  marine giants, a Japanese official said Wednesday.
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Pro-whaling nations, led by Japan, lost the first major vote of the International Whaling Commission&#039;s annual meeting Friday &amp;#151; an indication they may not have the majority necessary to take control of the body and try to repeal its ban on commercial hunting.
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Japan is opposed to the lifting of the European Union's arms embargo against China, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said on Thursday after discussing the hotly debated topic with British Foreign Secretary ...
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Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday he won't withdraw troops from Iraq despite information a Japanese man has been taken hostage there, Kyodo News reported.
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Activists withdrew a threat to ram a  Japanese whaling fleet in the frigid Southern Ocean on Tuesday,  while in Tokyo pro-whaling nations met to push for a return to  commercial fishing of the giant creatures.
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TOKYO, March 1 -- Japan's prime minister denied Thursday that the country's military forced women into sexual slavery during World War II, casting doubt on a past government apology and jeopardizing a fragile detente with his Asian neighbors.
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Anti-whaling nations New Zealand and Australia vowed Thursday to continue the fight to end Japan's annual whale hunts, warning that its plans to kill humpback whales off Antarctica in December could spark outrage. The warning comes just a day after Japan ended its latest southern whale program following a deadly fire that crippled the mother ship of its whaling fleet and left it drifting near the Antarctic coast. A crewman died in the fire.
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Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, right, on board a patrol boat off the Hokkaido coast. Picture:Reuters. Japan&#39;s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has defied Russian objections to sail