Sydney - Australia and Japan are in talks that would see more whales killed in the North Pacific in return for fewer being taken in the Antarctic, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Tuesday.
The negotiations, held under the auspices of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), are at a preliminary stage, he told national broadcaster ABC.
"It's quite clear from reports that we've seen coming out of the IWC that suggestions of this nature have been made at officials' level," Smith said.
Tokyo - Tokyo stocks opened with little action Monday as cautious investors retreated to the sidelines ahead of upcoming corporate earnings reports by major Japanese companies.
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average inched up 11.72 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 7,756.97.
But the broader Topix index of all first section issues dipped 1.13 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 772.42.
On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar traded at 88.40-45 yen, up from Friday's 5 pm quote of 88.32-35 yen.
Tokyo - Historic change is possible in Japan in 2009, as for the first time in more than half a century a single opposition party gained enough support to unseat the ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
According to polls released on Monday, support for LDP Prime Minster Taro Aso dropped to 19 per cent, while 76 per cent reject his government.
Tokyo - At first, they blackmailed their victim. Again and again, four high school students sent text messages to their classmate, demanding hundreds of thousands of yen.
Then they posted a nude photograph of the 18-year-old boy online, complete with phone number and email, leading to more text messages on his mobile phone and humiliation.
In the end, the student saw only one solution to end his torment - and jumped to his death from the roof of his school in Kobe, central Japan, in late 2007, a case that shocked the Japanese public.
Tokyo - The disapproval rating for Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso's cabinet hit the second-worst level since 1949 as many voters expressed loss of confidence in his leadership, opinion polls conducted by Japanese newspapers said Monday.
The worst was recorded at 75 per cent in 2001, when former prime minister Yoshiro Mori managed the cabinet, and it dissolved two months later.
Recently, Japanese researchers found that people who have faith in mass media like TV and newspaper are healthier than people who criticize them.
Research team led by Yasuharu Tokuda from St. Luke's International Hospital and Takashi Inoguchi from Chuo University analyzed data collected from 39,000 people in 29 Asian countries.
Data analysis revealed that people in the Maldives had the most trust and good health as compared to people in Hong Kong who more cynical and sickly.
Sydney - Australia and Japan are in talks that would see more whales killed in the North Pacific in return for fewer being taken in the Antarctic, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Tuesday.
Tokyo - Tokyo stocks opened with little action Monday as cautious investors retreated to the sidelines ahead of upcoming corporate earnings reports by major Japanese companies. 
Tokyo - Historic change is possible in Japan in 2009, as for the first time in more than half a century a single opposition party gained enough support to unseat the ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Tokyo - At first, they blackmailed their victim. Again and again, four high school students sent text messages to their classmate, demanding hundreds of thousands of yen. 
Tokyo - The disapproval rating for Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso's cabinet hit the second-worst level since 1949 as many voters expressed loss of confidence in his leadership, opinion polls conducted by Japanese newspapers said Monday.
Recently, Japanese researchers found that people who have faith in mass media like TV and newspaper are healthier than people who criticize them. 
