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.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS