Whaling ship attacked

OSLO (Reuter) - A United States environmental group said yesterday it tried to sink a Norwegian whaler in protest against Oslo's plans to resume commercial whaling. The organisation, Sea Shepherd, said it had flooded the engine room of the Nybraena at Steine, northern Norway, while the crew was at a Christmas party. Police said the vessel was saved just as it was about to disappear into the Arctic Sea.

'This is a Christmas gift to the Atlantic and to the children of the world, so that they can have whales in the future,' said Paul Watson, a Sea Shepherd activist, in Amsterdam.

Norway plans to defy an international moratorium and resume commercial whaling next year.