By Randy Boswell, Canwest News Service

ILULISATT, Greenland – Ministers from the five Arctic coast nations – including Canada – declared at a landmark conference here this week that “the race for the North Pole is cancelled,” and that science and international law will now peacefully determine who owns which parts of the vast, oil-rich polar seabed.

But the race, in fact, has only been transformed into a long, slow, three-way mud-wrestling match – a five-year struggle between Canada, Russia and more »

MOSCOW. June 9 (Interfax-AVN) – Two Russian Tupolev Tu-95 strategic
bombers have taken off for an air patrol mission over the Arctic, senior
spokesman for the Russian Air Force Lt. Col. Vladimir Drik told Interfax
on Monday.

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ST. Petersburg (Bloomberg) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc and OAO Gazprom, Russia’s gas exporter, signed a preliminary agreement to study liquefied natural gas projects on the Yamal peninsula in Russia’s far north. more »

A report issued by the World Wildlife Fund warns of the hazards of possible oil or natural gas spills in the Arctic region, citing a “response gap” attributed to a lack of adequate technology, insufficient training, and too little knowledge of how to deal with a disaster of that sort. Given the information obtained, the WWF’s recommendation is to halt exploration and retrieval in the area until the response gap is closed. While th more »