Militant protesters opposed to Japanese whaling left for the Southern Ocean yesterday as New Zealand, Australia and the Netherlands urged them to avoid violent confrontations.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s ship Steve Irwin sailed from Fremantle in Western Australia to confront a fleet of Japanese whaling ships that left Japan on Nov. 19 to harpoon hundreds of whales in Antarctic waters over coming months.
Harassment of the Japanese fleet last year led to a collision between the Steve Irwin and a whaling ship, with both sides blaming the other and trading accusations of recklessness.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully, his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith and Maxime Verhagen of the Netherlands said they respected the right to protest.
“At the same time, we do not condone — indeed we condemn — dangerous or violent activities, by any of the parties involved, be it demonstrators or whalers,” they said in a joint statement. “Our governments expect any unlawful activity to be dealt with in accordance with relevant international and domestic laws.”
The three governments said the Southern Ocean was a remote and inhospitable region where the risk of mishaps was high and there was little ability to launch any rescue.
“Our governments jointly call upon all parties to exercise restraint and to ensure that safety at sea is the highest priority,” the ministers said.
Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson dismissed the governments’ statement and accused the three of doing nothing practical to stop Japanese whaling.
Several areas of Thailand’s capital city Bangkok were inundated by continuous rain from Thursday afternoon to yesterday morning that has disrupted traffic and forced some residents to evacuate. Major canals in Bangkok filled with accumulated rainfall exceeding 20cm, officials said yesterday. Floodwaters spread across the city, particularly in the central and eastern parts, blocking roads and stopping traffic. The Thai Meteorological Department warned that the heavy rain would continue in most parts of the country through today, citing a strong low-pressure system over the central region and strengthening southwest monsoon conditions. More than 84,000 people in 21 provinces nationwide were
BAD TIMING: The disclosure of the incident, which is under investigation by at least two congressional committees, comes as Xi was to meet with Trump The Pentagon is investigating how parts of the US’ most advanced fighter jet ended up in Hong Kong, with a news outlet on Wednesday reporting that China has obtained the F-35 equipment. The F-35 Joint Program Office said in a statement that it and the US Department of Defense are aware of “a shipment issue” with F-35 components. “We are actively working with US authorities and industry partners to retrieve these components, investigate the incident and place safeguards to avoid a future occurrence,” the office said. UPS was shipping a cockpit canopy and weapons-bay door from an Australian military F-35 that was being
Yemen’s Saudi-led coalition early yesterday said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles and two drones launched by the Iran-backed Houthis toward the kingdom. The coalition said in posts on social media that the missiles were headed towards Khamis Mushait and the drones toward the capital, Riyadh, adding that it was monitoring the missile threat and drones launched at the kingdom, without providing further details. The Saudi Civil Defense had sent alerts overnight for Khamis Mushait and Abha, but not for Riyadh. The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen and much of the north, have been launching attacks
IN DEFENSE: Australia said it takes the protection of classified and export-controlled tech extremely seriously amid concerns over reverse engineering A US House of Representatives committee that oversees defense policy is investigating the diversion of potentially sensitive F-35 jet components this year from Australia to Hong Kong, a spokesperson said. “The committee is aware of this issue and we’ve received multiple briefings on it,” House Committee on Armed Services spokesperson Heather Vaughan said, adding that the group is “continuing to look into the incident and conduct oversight.” The Pentagon’s F-35 program office said in a statement that “we are aware of a shipment issue of unserviceable F-35 components and we are actively working with US authorities and industry partners to retrieve these
RSS