ANCHORAGE — An ambitious plan to drill for oil off the northwest coast of Alaska has been moving ahead despite the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but the project is now facing new questions from federal regulators.

CALGARY - Industry observers are asking the National Energy Board to delay a hearing into policies for drilling offshore oil wells in the Arctic until a cause can be determined for the ongoing blowout and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In regarding the spreading slick and unabated seabed gusher in the Gulf of Mexico, some environmental campaigners and chroniclers are starting to look with concern to the north — at impending efforts to drill for oil in America’s Arctic waters.

Swedish mining giant LKAB will over the next five years open three new iron mines in northern Sweden.

Northern Norway should start preparing for a warmer, wilder and wetter climate, researchers from the Norwegian Polar Institute say.

NATO and Russia have begun exercising a joint system for air traffic coordination which focuses on the fight against terrorism. Two of the local coordination sites will be located in the Barents Region – in Murmansk, Russia, and Bodø, Norway, NATO says.

Where is the most diversified economy, the biggest growth and the most prosperous populations? And where do foreign investors place their money? Read more about the social-economic situation in Barents Russia in a new survey from BarentsObserver.