Greenpeace protesters spent Christmas riding out a force 10 gale in the icy Southern Ocean and consoling themselves with the thought that the foul weather was preventing Japanese whalers from adding to their kill, the group's team leader said yesterday.
The Japanese whalers and two Greenpeace ships, the Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise, have been playing cat and mouse in Antarctic waters for almost a week but were now simply intent on riding out the storm, campaign leader Shane Rattenbury said.
rough day
PHOTO: AP/GREENPEACE
"We're having a rough day. We're in the middle of a force 10 storm with wind gusts of 55 knots," Rattenbury said by satellite phone from onboard Arctic Sunrise.
"You could say it's a good Christmas in the sense that there's no whaling going on today -- it's a bit of a Christmas present for the whales," Rattenbury added.
Rattenbury said feelings were mixed among the crews of the two Greenpeace ships.
"Obviously people are missing their family and friends but there's also a sense that we're doing something out here that's making a difference and saving the whales," he said.
"We had a few Christmas beers last night and now we're quietly riding out the storm."
Earlier, another protest ship, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's Farley Mowat, reported it almost collided with one of the Japanese vessels.
When conditions have permitted in the past week, protesters have placed their inflatable boats between the harpoons and the whales, prompting the Japanese to spray them with fire hoses.
moratorium
The International Whaling Commission imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986 but Japan says its whale hunts are carried out for scientific research.
Critics, such as the Australian government, claim the program is a cover for the commercial killing of whales for consumption in Japan, where whalemeat is a popular food.
Despite international protests, Japan has this year more than doubled its planned catch of minke whales to 935 and added 10 endangered fin whales, with plans to eventually lift the number to 50, along with 50 rare humpback whales.
Australia has declared a whale sanctuary in a large swathe of the Southern Ocean that it considers to be its Antarctic territory but the refuge is not recognized by Japan.
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS