Australia yesterday warned Japan that “diplomacy comes to an end this year” on whaling, after presenting a bold plan to phase out the controversial hunts in the Southern Ocean.
Threatening anew to sue Japan, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Canberra was sending a strong message that time was running out on its practice of killing hundreds of minke whales near Antarctica each year in the name of research.
“We are saying loud and clear to our friends in Japan that Australia does not support the continuation of commercial or scientific whaling in the Southern Ocean, we have a very basic position,” Rudd told reporters.
“What we further said in recent times, and that has been the source of some diplomatic difficulty between us, is that if Japan cannot come forward with a proposal which reduces its current catch to zero over a reasonable period of time, then we have no alternative but to initiate appropriate legal action,” he said.
The demands, made in a proposal by Australia to the International Whaling Commission this week, were described as “extremely regrettable” by Tokyo, which stood by the legality of its whaling activities.
Rudd said Australia’s position on the issue had shifted in recent weeks and insisted he was serious about taking Japan to the International Court of Justice.
“What I have said before is that we would try diplomacy,” the Australian prime minister said. “I’ve signalled very clearly in the last week or two that diplomacy comes to an end this year.
He added that “absent an agreement along the lines I described before, international legal action will commence this year.”
Under the Australian plan, released on Thursday, scientific hunting of the giant mammals would end within a “reasonable period” and a five-year timeline be set to stop whaling in the Antarctic.
Both Japan and Australia have expressed hope for a diplomatic solution to the impasse, but Canberra has stepped up its rhetoric in recent weeks after high-seas clashes between a Japanese fleet and anti-whaling campaigners.
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
RSS