The Japanese Coast Guard has obtained an arrest warrant for the leader of the Sea Shepherd environmental group for its disruption of Japan’s annual whale hunts, media reports said yesterday.
The move would be the latest in an increasingly aggressive campaign against the radical conservationists by Tokyo, which accuses them of endangering lives during the Antarctic hunt.
US-based Sea Shepherd has long said that the Japanese fleet is conducting banned commercial whaling under the guise of scientific research.
The warrant is for Paul Watson, the Canadian founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, on suspicion of assault and obstruction of business, Kyodo News agency reported, citing investigative sources. It did not say which court issued the warrant.
Watson, who was believed to be in New York, said in a statement that he was being targeted by Tokyo because of the damage his anti-whaling campaigns have caused.
“The Japanese government is desperate to stop the Sea Shepherd ships from returning to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary for the 2010 and 2011 season. There is no doubt that the motives of the Japanese Coast Guard and the Japanese government are political,” he said in a statement.
A Coast Guard spokesman would not comment directly on whether a warrant has been issued for Watson, saying only that he was part of a continuing investigation into Sea Shepherd’s activities against the Japanese whaling fleet.
Spokesman Masahiro Ichijo said that if a warrant was issued for someone in a foreign country, Tokyo would generally negotiate directly with that country on how to proceed. National broadcaster NHK said the Coast Guard wanted Watson placed on the wanted list of Interpol, the international police agency.
Watson was to scheduled sail on the Sea Shepherd flagship today from New York for the Mediterranean, on a campaign to protect bluefin tuna.
The longtime environmental activist was an early member of Greenpeace, but after a disagreement with that group founded Sea Shepherd to “pursue direct action conservation activities on the high seas,” its Web site says.
Watson captains one of the Sea Shepherd ships that each year seeks to disrupt Japan’s whaling activities in the Antarctic seas by trying to disable or cut off the Japanese ships. Confrontations have sometimes turned violent, including collisions in icy waters.
Japan has recently struck back. Last month, a protester who had climbed aboard a whaling vessel was formally arrested, and Tokyo issued a request to Australian authorities that led to a police search of Sea Shepherd anti-whaling boats.
Japan each year hunts hundreds of mostly minke whales — which are not an endangered species — under a research program, an allowed exception under international law. Excess meat is sold for consumption, leading critics to call the program a cover for commercial hunts.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS