Japanese coast guard and police will inspect the country’s whaling fleet this week after the ships’ heated clashes with conservation activists in the Southern Ocean earlier in the year, media reported yesterday.
Investigations so far have eyed possible charges such as assault and obstruction of business through threats, although authorities will probably have a hard time identifying suspects, Kyodo news agency said.
The fleet returns to Tokyo this week after a tumultuous hunting season marred by several confrontations with hardline anti-whaling activists.
Last month, members of the Sea Shepherd group threw bottles and containers of foul-smelling substances at a whaling ship in an attempt to disrupt the hunt, resulting in three sailors complaining of eye irritation.
The incident followed a high-profile standoff in January in which two activists boarded another Japanese whaling ship.
The clashes led to a spate of diplomatic complaints between Japan and Australia, with the Australian government, while strongly opposed to whaling, urging both sides to show restraint.
Australia has promised to try to stop Japan’s whaling, and is considering international legal action, although the two countries have agreed not to let the issue hurt ties.
Meanwhile, Japanese and Chinese coastguards stepped up the search yesterday for 13 fishermen who have been missing since their boat collided with a freighter in international waters off southern Japan.
“We have dispatched a plane and patrol boat to the area for the search but we have so far no report of any finds,” a Japanese coastguard official said.
The freighter, believed to be based in Hong Kong, and the Chinese fishing boat collided late on Friday about 350km west of Takarajima island.
The fishing boat sank with the loss of three crew with 13 more missing, but two others were rescued by another fishing vessel.
Trinidad and Tobago declared a new state of emergency on Friday after authorities accused a criminal network operating in prisons across the country of plotting to kill key government officials and attack public institutions. It is the second state of emergency to be declared in the twin-island republic in a matter of months. In December last year, authorities took similar action, citing concerns about gang violence. That state of emergency lasted until mid-April. Police said that smuggled cellphones enabled those involved in the plot to exchange encrypted messages. Months of intelligence gathering led investigators to believe the targets included senior police officers,
FOREST SITE: A rescue helicopter spotted the burning fuselage of the plane in a forested area, with rescue personnel saying they saw no evidence of survivors A passenger plane carrying nearly 50 people crashed yesterday in a remote spot in Russia’s far eastern region of Amur, with no immediate signs of survivors, authorities said. The aircraft, a twin-propeller Antonov-24 operated by Angara Airlines, was headed to the town of Tynda from the city of Blagoveshchensk when it disappeared from radar at about 1pm. A rescue helicopter later spotted the burning fuselage of the plane on a forested mountain slope about 16km from Tynda. Videos published by Russian investigators showed what appeared to be columns of smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane in a dense, forested area. Rescuers in
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is to meet US President Donald Trump this week, hoping Manila’s status as a key Asian ally would secure a more favorable trade deal before the deadline on Friday next week. Marcos would be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term. Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila’s regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in trade talks even with close allies that Washington needs to keep onside in its strategic rivalry with China. “I expect our discussions to focus on security and defense, of course, but also
RSS