OSLO, March 30, 2008 (AFP) - Three people were killed and two others injured when a Russian helicopter crashed Sunday on Norway's Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic, Norwegian emergency services said.

'There is a Russian helicopter that crashed during landing ... on the Svalbard,' Sten Nikolaisen, an emergency services spokesman, told AFP.

WASHINGTON, March 18, 2008 (AFP) - The polar ice cap over the Arctic Ocean was slightly bigger last month than in February of last year due to a harsher winter, but the ice sheet is still shrinking overall, NASA said Tuesday.

LONGYEARBYEN, Norway, March 16, 2008 (AFP) - The road sign depicts a white polar bear against a black background, a vivid reminder of the danger the animals present in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, where bears outnumber people and encounters sometimes prove fatal.

LONGYEARBYEN, Norway, March 16, 2008 (AFP) - Nestled snugly between an Arctic fjord and snowy mountains, the world's northernmost school teaches students avalanche survival, how to fend off a hungry polar bear and how to skin a reindeer.

LONGYEARBYEN, Norway, Feb 26, 2008 (AFP) - A vault carved into the Arctic permafrost and filled with samples of the world's most important seeds was inaugurated Tuesday, providing a Noah's Ark of food crops in the event of a global catastrophe.

'This is a frozen garden of Eden,' said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at the opening ceremony.

LONGYEARBYEN, Norway, Feb 26, 2008 (AFP) - A vault carved into the Arctic permafrost and filled with samples of the world's most important seeds was inaugurated Tuesday, providing a Noah's Ark of food crops in the event of a global catastrophe.

LONGYEARBYEN, Norway, Feb 26, 2008 (AFP) - Here are key figures regarding the Arctic 'doomsday vault', to be inaugurated on Tuesday, which holds samples of the world's most important seeds and aims to provide mankind with a Noah's Ark of food crops in the event of global catastrophe.

LONGYEARBYEN, Norway, Feb 26, 2008 (AFP) - An airtight vault carved into the Arctic permafrost and filled with samples of the world's most important seeds is an insurance policy for mankind, according to the project head.

LONGYEARBYEN, Norway, Feb 26, 2008 (AFP) - A vault carved into the Arctic permafrost and filled with samples of the world's most important seeds will be inaugurated Tuesday, providing a Noah's Ark of food crops in the event of a global catastrophe.

LONGYEARBYEN, Norway, Feb 24, 2008 (AFP) - Aimed at providing mankind with a Noah's Ark of food in the event of a global catastrophe, an Arctic 'doomsday vault' filled with samples of the world's most important seeds will be inaugurated here Tuesday.