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/ 21 June 2005

Japan loses key votes at whaling summit

Japan’s quest to overturn a 19-year-old ban on commercial whaling started poorly on Monday when it lost two votes at the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). The proposals were rejected, by 30 votes to 27 and 29 to 28, suggesting Japan does not yet have support of the majority of IWC members it needs to challenge the ban.