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JAPAN’S FISHERIES MINISTER has said the country will not stop hunting whales, despite fierce criticism from other countries and violent clashes at sea with militant conservationists.
“I don’t think there will be any kind of an end for whaling by Japan,” Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told AFP in an interview.
Hayashi, who took the ministerial post overseeing the country’s whaling programmes in December, said the criticism of the practice is “a cultural attack, a kind of prejudice against Japanese culture”.
Japan uses a loophole in an international ban on whaling that allows for lethal scientific research on the mammals, but it makes no secret of the fact that the mammals ultimately end up on menus.
Tokyo defends whaling as a tradition and accuses Western critics of disrespecting its culture. Norway and Iceland are the only nations that hunt whales in open defiance of a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling.
Australia and New Zealand voice outrage over Japan’s annual expeditions in the Southern Ocean, which the International Whaling Commission considers a sanctuary for the ocean giants.
The anti-whaling Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has chased the Japanese fleet hunting whales off Antarctica for several years in an attempt to stop the mammals being slaughtered.
Japanese whalers and the militant conservationists have frequently been involved in dangerous clashes in icy waters off Antarctica. In the latest clash on Monday, each side accused the other of ramming its vessels.
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Hunger in many developing countries and Obesity and associated illnesses in other countries.
makes you wonder.
Obesity also becoming an issue in some developing countries, believe it or not.
Obesity and malnutrition are not opposites.
no wounder when money raised to help them is used on these go out to a third world country for two weeks and put in wster supplies etc would it not be cheaper to hire people from the countrys and let them do it instead of flying people out paying for hotels etc and it would leave more in the pot for the needy..a weeks wages is probably 10 but hundreds are used to send one person out..these countries must have trades men and if not it would be cheaper to train them
When you think of all the money we’ve given to all the charities, it’s easy to reason that your money has gone into the charity bosses pockets and not gone to where you meant it to go. Please, please , look for non-profit charities who can’t afford to advertise.
There are a lot of people in Ireland fat. There are also a lot of people hungry. It says it all about our society.
have your say