NZ and Australia's opposition to whaling is "an emotional moral crusade" that tolerates violent extremism, Japan has told the world's top court.

Lawyers for Japan are due to state its case today for continuing its whaling programme, at the International Court of Justice.

Australia and New Zealand join forces to fight Japan's whaling programme, with their legal battle starting in The Hague today.

While humans were stayed indoors out of the cold yesterday, orcas were enjoying a swim and a meal in the Bay the Islands.

The breathtaking aerobatics of a humpback whale astounded onlookers at an Australian marine resort.

Commercial fishermen have been praised for looking after an orca stranded in the Kaipara Harbour until rescuers arrived.

The protection afforded to blue whales in New Zealand waters may need to be increased, now a study has found they may be more regular visitors to the South Taranaki Bight than previously thought.

A group of Hawaii fishermen is asking the US federal government to remove northern Pacific humpback whales from the endangered species list.

Anti-whaling Sea Shepherd vessels have collided with the whaling ship Nisshin Marym. The Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), which owns the Japanese ship, said in a statement its vessel was rammed at least five times by Sea Shepherd vessels Steve Irwin, Bob Barker and Sam Simon. The incident occurred yesterday as the Nisshin Marym came along its supply tanker for refuelling, ICR said. There were no injuries to the crews of the Nisshin Marym or its supply tanker. ICR claimed video of the incident showed Sea Shepherd deliberately ramming its vessel.

Crews aboard an anti-whaling protest ship in the Southern Ocean have escaped injury but are struggling to mend "significant damage" to their vessel after it was rammed by Japanese whalers.

Sea Shepherd's launching a massive campaign against Japanese whalers in the waters around Antarctica.

Natalie Fox, a co-founder of the campaigning group Women for Whales, is to be a key player in the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's Operation Zero Tolerance.

New Zealand has joined Australia in questioning the validity of Japan's whaling for scientific purposes in the Southern Ocean, says MP Murray McCully.

The world's rarest whale - the spade-toothed beaked whale - has been sighted for the first time, according to University of Auckland scientists.