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.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
RSS