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Denmark joins polar race

OSLO (Norway): Danish scientists head for the Arctic ice pack on Sunday seeking evidence to position Denmark in a race to claim the potentially vast oil and other resources of the North Pole region.

Russia sent two small submarines to plant a tiny national flag under the North Pole last week. Canada, the U.S. and Norway also have claims in the Arctic region, where a study suggests 25 per cent of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas could be hidden. The month-long Danish expedition will seek evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge, a 2,000-km underwater mountain range, is attached to the Danish territory of Greenland, making it a geological extension of the Arctic island. That might allow the Nordic nation to stake a claim under a U.N. treaty that could stretch all the way to the North Pole.

The team includes 40 scientists, and the crews of the icebreakers, which will use sophisticated equipment to map the seabed under the ice. — AP

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