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Iceland: Goth fever grips neo-pagans

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

This week a new pagan leader was ordained at a formal ceremony of the Ásatrú Association (the old pagan Norse religion).

Icelandic composer Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson was ordained as "allsherjargodi" or "universal Goth."

The ceremony began as Hilmarsson and other Goths walked down a crevasse to the sound of trumpets. After that, a torch-lit ceremony began where goths read ancient poems. Another ceremony then took place at a hotel, where new pagan members were accepted into the faith.

July 4, 2003

Sea-based missile defense flunks test

An interceptor missile fired last month from a U.S. cruiser missed its target, a mock warhead, over the Pacific Ocean.

By September 2004, U.S. President George W. Bush wants to have missile defenses in place to guard against a strike from North Korea. The initial deployment involves six land-based missile interceptors in Alaska and four in California. Up to 20 smaller interceptors were to be added in 2005 on three Navy cruisers.

These sea-based interceptors are designed to knock out short to intermediate-range missiles closer to their launch pads.

July 4, 2003

Norway: Most babies born to unwed parents

In the 1970s, only 10 per cent of all Norwegian babies were born out of wedlock, but last year, the figure had grown to 50.7 per cent of the roughly 55,000 babies born in the country.

More babies were born to single mothers, as well. In 2002, nine per cent of the babies born in Norway had single mothers, double the number 30 years ago. Only Iceland, Sweden and Estonia registered more births among unmarried mothers.

July 4, 2003

Alaska: Where was ICC at the IWC?

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

The annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission ended last month in Berlin, Germany on a sour note, leaving Inuit who attended the meeting wondering why the Inuit Circumpolar Conference was absent.

"It is necessary to have good Inuit lobbying during the meeting, where people who are against whale hunting are winning more and more for their interests, and making it more difficult to be a whale hunter in the Arctic," said George Ahmaogak, mayor of Barrow, Alaska.

Ahmaogak criticized the Inuit Circumpolar Conference for not helping to defend the rights of whaling nations and peoples at the meeting.

"We need all the assistance we can get. Although I have a lot of respect for ICC, and maybe they had economic reasons for not coming to IWC, I think it's a critical time," Ahmaogak said.

A Canadian anti-whaling organization, the Canadian Marine Environment Protection Society, attended the Berlin IWC conference to lobby against Nunavut's limited bowhead hunt.

It distributed a report written by James Hrynyshyn, a former News North reporter and editor, that suggests Nunavut's bowhead hunt may be unsustainable.

At the conclusion of the conference, a declaration was signed condemning nations found whaling for scientific purposes. Delegates also decided to establish a special committee on whale conservation.

The 50-person delegation from Japan walked out of the meeting at this point. Japan was seeking to increase the number of whales it hunts for scientific purposes.

A resolution also passed asking Japan to stop whaling near Antarctica.

The High North Alliance, a pro-whaling Norway-based lobby group, said one-third of the IWC members want to seriously consider managing whaling outside of the IWC.

One alternative would be to establish regional organizations, such as the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO), which includes the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland and Norway.

Japan is ready to withdraw its support from the IWC.

"Have we lost patience with the commission? Yes and no. We are an Asian country, so we're very patient. But we are also very angry. If there's no progress we must use other options, including withdrawing from the commission," said Masayuki Komatsu, head of Japan's delegation and a senior official official in Japan's Fisheries Agency.

Komatsu said Japan might also decide to stop paying its membership fees. Japan and the U.S. are the IWC's two biggest supporters financially.

The next IWC annual meeting will be held next July in Sorrento, in southern Italy.

July 4, 2003

Alaska: Kotzebue's jail to close

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

This week, Kotzebue, an Inupiat community on the northwest coast of Alaska, will shut down its jail because its leaders say there's not enough money to run the facility.

Kotzebue operates one of 15 community jails in Alaska. Kotzebue says jails in different communities receive different amounts per bed - when the costs are around the same.

The North Slope Borough jail in Barrow receives $842,000 for nine beds, or $93,000 per bed, while Kotzebue is paid only $589,000 to manage 14 beds, or $42,000 per bed. Kotzebue wants Alaska's correctional services to look into the cost of running the community jails and equalize the payments.

News of the closure has sent Alaska State Troopers scrambling to find a temporary jail and money to fly prisoners out to Nome's jail.

"It's a logistical nightmare," State Trooper Lt. John Glick told the Anchorage Daily News. "There's no clear plan in place. But we're working on it....We can't get ourselves into the position of releasing prisoners that need to be remanded."

When Kotzebue closes its jail, the 911 system will also end, as will weekend dispatch service for the troopers.

July 4, 2003

Greenland: Nuuk fights for longer airstrip

Agnethe Davidsen, the mayor of Nuuk, wants Greenland's capital to have an international airport.

Due to the length of the airstrip in Nuuk, only Dash-7's and other smaller aircraft can land there.

Last week Davidsen appeared before Home Rule cabinet ministers to lobby for a project that would bring the airstrip up to 1799 metres in length.

"It would be best for Nuuk, the society and economy in Greenland, if the airstrip was longer, because it is too expensive to stop in Kangerlussuaq before passengers go to Nuuk," she said.

Most international passangers go to Nuuk.

Meanwhile, despite the absence of a Canada-Greenland air connection, it's getting cheaper to fly from Iceland to Greenland.

Air Iceland will be lower its fares to Greenland by 25 per cent in the near future. The cheapest one-way fare to Greenland from Iceland will be available for around $200.

July 4, 2003

Northwest Territories: $3 billion pipeline deal a go

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

A $3 billion project to pipe Arctic gas to southern markets will move ahead after native groups signed a deal with oil producers and builders.

The project had been delayed as natives raised the $1 billion required for their share of the project.

The deal will give local native groups a stake in the pipeline which is part of a project to tap huge natural gas deposits in the Mackenzie Delta near the north coast of Alaska.

TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. will lend the Aboriginal Pipeline Group about $80 million for preliminary work on the 1,800 kilometer-long pipeline.

Producers spent $250 million last year on preliminary engineering and environmental studies, but work ground to a halt as the Aboriginal Pipeline Group looked for ways to raise the money needed for their share of the project.

Jim Antoine, the territorial government's minister of renewable resources, called the deal "a big milestone in the evolution of oil and gas development in the North."

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