World News Update, what you need to know

The UN's top court has ruled that Japan's whaling hunt in the Southern Ocean is not a scientific program as Tokyo has always claimed.

ELSEWHERE:

CAIRO - In an unusual move, the judge trying three Al Jazeera journalists, including Australian Peter Greste, on terror charges in Egypt has called them out of the defendant's cage to hear individual requests.

BERLIN - Russian President Vladimir Putin has informed German Chancellor Angela Merkel about having ordered a partial withdrawal of troops from a region on the border with Ukraine.

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will travel to Perth to observe the multinational search for missing flight MH370, his government says.

LONDON - The political appointment of Alexander Downer as Australia's high commissioner in London is justified because he's clearly the best man for the job, the head of the Liberal Party in the UK says.

DAKAR - Aid organisation Doctors Without Borders says an Ebola outbreak suspected of killing at least 78 people in Guinea is an "unprecedented epidemic" that has spread across the west African nation.