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Riches await as Earth's icy north melts
AP   Sunday, 25 March 2007

The crew of Danish warship Vedderen perform a flag raising ceremony on the uninhabitated Hans Island off northwestern Greenland, in this Aug. 13, 2002 file photo. The crew was set ashore to erect a new cairn and change the flag and the flag pole. This ritual is performed when the ice situation in the area renders such a mission possible. Midway between Canada and Greenland, both Canada and Denmark claim sovereignty over the island but both sides are down-playing media reports that the issue is raising any tensions.  (AP Photo/Polfoto, Vedderen, File)AP - Barren and uninhabited, Hans Island is very hard to find on a map. Yet these days the Frisbee-shaped rock in the Arctic is much in demand — so much so that Canada and Denmark have both staked their claim to it with flags and warships. The reason: an international race for oil, fish, diamonds and shipping routes, accelerated by the impact of global warming on Earth's frozen north.


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