New York City

"Good evening. I'm Peter Smith, and this is your World News Tonight."

It was 6:30 Eastern Standard Time and the citizens of the U.S. were about to hear of the events that took place in Oslo that same day.

Reading from the prompter while appearing to be gazing into the TV camera, Smith began his report:

"Our first story tonight is from Oslo, Norway. It appears the International Whaling Commission has lifted the ban on whaling in both the North Atlantic and the Northern Pacific waters. Citing the increased number of whales since the ban was initiated some 20 years ago, the Commission stated after reviewing reams of scientific data it no longer believes a threat of extinction exists and controlled hunting will begin within days. Strict quotas will be enforced, a spokesman said at the announcement, but they are still to be worked out. The moratorium continues in all the world's southern oceans until more evidence can be examined on the health of the whale population in these waters."

He hesitated, then continued;

"It was not a good day in Oslo. Fearing such an announcement, Greenpeace held a massive demonstration that took on the appearance of a strategy exercise pitting Greenpeace organizers against the authorities. Although all details are not in, it appears that Oslo police, fearing violence during the planned demonstration, in an early morning raid rounded up a number of demonstration organizers. Apparently, the police believed that by arresting the leaders, they could disrupt the demonstration. The arrests had a negative impact on the demonstrators, who apparently changed their plans from holding one massive rally to holding four separate rallies catching the police totally off guard. Having positioned their officers to handle the single rally, the massive traffic jams caused by the four separate demonstrations during the busy lunch hour, totally prevented the police from responding."

"We understand that tensions are so high that two of the demonstrations are still going on, and it is now 2:30 AM in Oslo."

"Authorities hoping to calm the demonstrators, who have stretched the resources of this city to their maximum, have released the leaders detained earlier and are now negotiating with them to end the demonstrations."

"Greenpeace, headquartered in Washington, DC, denounced the detention of their members in what they described as gestapo-type tactics and vows to prevent the resumption of whaling. Those of us old enough, will remember it was in 1958 when Greenpeace received worldwide recognition as their members, shown here in this file footage (the footage was run while Peter spoke), took to high speed inflatable boats, positioning themselves between the Russian whaling vessels and the whales they were chasing, preventing the whalers from firing their harpoons into the whales. Fearing an international incident, the Russian whalers withdrew. It was several years later, after countless confrontations, that the moratorium on whaling was instituted." The file footage stopped and the camera returned to Smith.

"More news in a moment, but first this message from your local stations."