Anti-nuclear protesters set sail

Environmental activists have set off in yachts from Australia and New Zealand to protest against the passage of two ships carrying nuclear materials from the UK to Japan.

Three yachts have left Sydney, Australia, and four have set sail from Auckland, New Zealand, to rendezvous in international waters near Australia's Norfolk Island in early March.

Greenpeace organizer Henk Haazen says the campaigners will form a line across the routes of two British cargo ships carrying plutonium to Japan, but will not try to intercept them.

Haazen says: "Plutonium is the most dangerous man-made substance and needs to be stored safely for 24,000 years before it breaks down".

There are 39 people on the seven yachts, ranging in age from 12 to 70.