Japan will seek a partial resumption of commercial whaling at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission later this year, officials said Wednesday.
Tokyo has regularly sought the easing of the IWC’s moratorium on commercial whaling and continues to kill whales as part of what it calls a “scientific research” programme despite international criticism.
At September’s meeting in Brazil, Japan “will propose setting a catch quota for species whose stocks are recognised as healthy by the IWC scientific committee”, Hideki Moronuki, an official in charge of whaling at Japan’s fisheries agency, told AFP.
Moronuki said the proposal would not specify which whale species and how many mammals Japan wants to hunt, but he said the IWC classifies several species as no longer depleted.
The moratorium has been in place since 1986, and Japan’s previous attempts to win a partial lifting have been unsuccessful.
Japan will also propose measures to change the body’s decision-making process, lowering the threshold for proposals to pass from three quarters of members to half.
“The IWC has not been functioning. We should get united to build a more cooperative system,” Moronuki said.
Tokyo has continued to hunt whales despite the moratorium, exploiting a loophole allowing “scientific research”. It says the research is necessary to prove whale populations are large enough to sustain a return to commercial hunting.
It makes no secret of the fact that meat from the expeditions ends up on dinner tables, despite a significant decline in the popularity of whale meat.
Whales were a key protein source in the immediate post-World War II years, when the country was desperately poor, but most Japanese now say they rarely or never eat whale.
But foreign pressure on Japan to stop whaling has hardened the positions of conservative activists and politicians.
Japan cancelled its 2014-2015 hunt after the International Court of Justice said permits being issued by Tokyo were “not for purposes of scientific research”.
But it resumed the hunts in 2016, and conservationists were furious this year after Japan reported it had caught 333 minkes on its latest expedition, 122 of which were pregnant.
Japanese officials said the high rate of pregnant whales showed the strength of the minke population.
Japan’s last bid to ease the restrictions was in 2014, when the IWC voted down its request to hunt 17 minke whales in its coastal waters — where smaller whales which Japan claims are not regulated by the committee are already hunted. — AFP

A vast trove of valuables seized in raids on properties linked to Malaysia’s scandal-mired former leader, including cash, jewelry and luxury handbags, are worth up to $273 million, police said Wednesday.
The searches, part of investigations into scandal-hit sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, netted 12,000 pieces of jewellery, bags containing almost $30 million in cash across 26 different currencies, more than 400 watches worth $19.3 million, and other high-end designer goods.
“I think this is the biggest seizure in Malaysian history,” said Amar Singh, the police’s head of commercial crime investigations, after officials completed the mammoth task of valuing all the items they uncovered in raids around Kuala Lumpur last month.
He said the items were worth between 910 million ringgit ($225 million) and 1.1 billion ringgit ($273 million).
The official salary of Najib Razak, the former premier, while in office was 22,827 ringgit ($5,670) a month.
Allegations of massive corruption were a major factor behind last month’s shock election loss of Najib’s long-ruling coalition to a reformist alliance headed by Mahathir Mohamad.
Najib and his cronies were accused of plundering billions of dollars from 1MDB to buy everything from US real estate to artworks. Najib and the fund deny any wrongdoing.
His luxury-loving wife Rosmah Mansor became a lightning rod for public anger due to her vast collection of handbags and jewels, and her reported love of overseas shopping trips.
The mind-boggling collection of luxury items listed by police will increase public anger at the former first couple, whose spendthrift ways came to symbolise the decadence and rot in the Barisan Nasional coalition which ruled the country since independence from Britain in 1957 until its ouster last month.
Anger at allegations of graft swirling around Najib and his inner circle had become particularly acute in recent years, as many middle-class Malaysians increasingly struggled with stagnating wages and living standards.
Tiaras, sunglasses, watches
The items were seized in raids on six premises linked to Najib, including luxury apartments in Kuala Lumpur and his main residence in an upmarket part of the city.
The huge collection of jewellery included 1,400 necklaces, 2,200 rings and 14 tiaras. The most expensive item of jewellery was a necklace, which was estimated to be worth 6.4 million ringgit ($1.5 million), Amar said.
A total of 567 handbags were also seized, including 272 Hermes bags worth 51.3 million ringgit, police said, adding that the value of the other handbags was still being calculated.
A total of 423 watches worth 78 million ringgit were also discovered, along with 234 pairs of sunglasses.
It took officials five weeks, from May 21 to June 25, to count up the items and calculate their value, Amar said.
When items are uncovered in raids, police typically try to put a value on them on site, Amar said. But this was not possible with the Najib-linked searches due to the vast quantity of valuables.
“The next best option is to seal the items, to bring them back to a secure place and ensure that these items are not compromised,” he said.
New Prime Minister Mahathir, who has just started his second stint as premier at the age of 92, has reopened investigations into 1MDB which were shut down by Najib, and has vowed the former leader will be charged.
Since their election loss, Najib and Rosmah have been questioned by anti-graft investigators over allegations that money linked to the state fund ended up in Najib’s bank accounts.
The US Justice Department, which is seeking to recover items allegedly bought with stolen 1MDB cash in America, estimates that $4.5 billion was looted from the fund. — Patrick Lee, AFP

Energy firms rallied on Wednesday after a surge in oil prices but Asian markets struggled to maintain early momentum and extended their recent losses as trade war fears torment investors.
Both main crude contracts piled higher after the State Department warned US allies they would be hit with sanctions if they did not halt Iran oil purchases by November 4.
Analysts said that while the announcement was not unexpected, the mere confirmation of the fact was enough to push investors into buying mode.
The commodity has enjoyed a healthy run since the weekend, when OPEC and Russia agreed to a moderate lift in their 18-month-old output ceiling.
Unrest in producer Libya was also providing support.
The higher oil prices — Brent added more than two percent and WTI more than three percent Tuesday — lifted energy firms. CNOOC soared more than four percent in Hong Kong while PetroChina added 1.6 percent. Woodside Petroleum in Sydney added 1.4 percent, while Tokyo-listed Inpex climbed 1.5 percent and JXTG soared more than six percent.
However, trade tensions continue to loom large, with investors on edge awaiting the next developments.
Tokyo ended 0.3 percent lower. Hong Kong lost more than one percent in the afternoon and Shanghai closed 1.1 percent down, with the mainland Chinese market now in a correction — down 20 percent from its recent highs.
Seoul edged 0.4 percent down, while Singapore shed 0.1 percent and Sydney was marginally lower. Taipei and Mumbai fell but Wellington, Manila, Bangkok and Jakarta were up.
Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trading at OANDA, said Donald Trump’s attack on Harley-Davidson indicated he is not ready to back down on his hardline protectionist America first agenda.
‘No one is safe’
The president on Tuesday hit out at the motorbike maker after it said it was planning to shift some manufacturing overseas because of European Union tariffs put in place as retaliation for US duties.
He said the bikes should “never” be built outside the United States, and tweeted: “Harley must know that they won’t be able to sell back into US without paying a big tax!”
In a commentary, Innes said: “The only thing I can think of that is more iconic Americana than apple pie is Harley-Davidson.
“So, after the president’s recent Twitter tirade directed at the iconic motorcycle manufacturer, it cements the view that, friend or foe, no one is safe from the wrath of the US administration’s America First trade policy.”
He added that, while the US economy remains in rude health, which should provide equities support, “investors are caught between a hammer and anvil on escalating trade wars”.
On currency markets, the trade uncertainty is pushing the dollar up against most high-yielding units owing to its safe haven status, though it weakened against the yen, euro and pound.
The Chinese yuan also fell and is coming under increasing pressure owing to concerns about the impact of a trade war on the world’s number two economy, which is also showing signs of weakness.
The People’s Bank of China at the weekend lowered lenders’ reserve requirements in a bid to free up cash but while it was welcomed it added to the yuan’s weakness and fuelled a sense of unease in the economic outlook.
Markets are keeping an eye on US durable goods orders later Wednesday “with some interest here in whether the concerns being flagged by various Fed officials about trade worries leading to deferred investment and hiring decisions are showing up in orders,” Ray Attrill, head of forex strategy at National Australia Bank, said.
In early trade London rose 0.3 percent, Paris was flat and Frankfurt edged up 0.1 percent.
Key figures around 0720 GMT
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 22,271.77 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng: DOWN 0.1 percent at 28,847.66
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 1.1 percent at 2,813.18 (close)
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 7,557.50
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1660 from $1.1600 at 2100 GMT
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3225 from $1.3200
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 109.87 yen from 110.08 yen
Oil – West Texas Intermediate: UP 31 cents at $70.84
Oil – Brent Crude: UP 33 cents at $76.64 per barrel
New York – Dow Jones: UP 0.1 percent at 24,283.11 (close)
— AFP

The House Committee on Labor and Employment has been urged to investigate alleged labor practices implemented by NutriAsia that led workers to set up a picket protest in early June.
The Makabayan bloc on Wednesday filed House Resolution 1974, to probe “labor-only contracting, union busting, illegal dismissal of 75 employees, and other violations of workers’ rights in NutriAsia, Inc.”
As stated in the resolution, only 100 of the 1,500 workers in the NutriAsia plant in Marilao, Bulacan were regularized. It was also noted some workers remained contractual despite being employed for over ten years.
The Department of Labor and Employment had already issued a compliance order in February 2018, which the company reportedly ignored. — Charmaine A. Tadalan

The cosmetics and toiletries (C&T) industry in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region is expected to grow by an average of more than 6% over the next five years, driven by rising disposable income and a prevailing image consciousness among consumers.
Global data and analytics firm GlobalData projects the C&T industry to record a compounded annual growth rate of 6.3% from 2017 to 2022, with growth coming mostly from Indonesia and the Philippines.
“Rising disposable income and image consciousness among the consumers are boosting demand for cosmetics and in turn translating surge in spend and market opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in Indonesia and the Philippines,” GlobalData Consumer Research and Analysis Director Sumit Chopra said in a statement. — Arra B. Francia

The government is set to identify local “high sugar” drinks that need labeling on its estimated sugar content. This move towards transparency is aimed at cautioning consumers and eventually cutting down consumption of sugary drinks among Filipinos.
Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said Wednesday that he was meeting the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the morning and private stakeholders in the afternoon to thresh out the rules and hear concerns from drink manufacturers.
“We will select the products that will be included and what kind of warning will be included in the label,” Mr. Lopez told reporters in Pasay City on Wednesday.
“The policy… emanated from discussion with the president who commented na dapat warningan ang consumer about dun,” he added.
The agency proposed to the FDA, which crafts rules on the labeling of products, that the warning include the estimated sugar content — in grams — on a per serving basis instead of the current standard in which a drink’s sugar level per pack is shown.
The agencies will be reviewing all forms of sugary drinks, namely ready-to-drink, powdered, and concentrated. The release of the list of firms that will be mandated to follow will be out “quick.”
While Mr. Lopez noted that the implementation period will take time, he says two months may suffice for manufacturers to transition. As such, the DTI expects them to have all products prior to the effectivity period of the new rule already consumed and the firms, compliant, come August. — Janina C. Lim