Japan kicks off whale hunt

A Japanese whaling fleet left port Saturday under tight security, marking the first hunt since the UN's top court last month ordered Tokyo to stop killing whales in the Antarctic.
Four ships departed from the northeastern fishing town of Ayukawa to cheers from local people, just weeks after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) slammed Japan's expedition in the Southern Ocean as a commercial activity masquerading as research. The coastal hunt on Saturday was not part of Japan's annual Antarctic campaign and the ICJ ruling did not affect it, according to AFP.