OSLO (Reuters) - A "doomsday" vault storing crop seeds in an Arctic deep freeze is surpassing 500,000 samples to become the most diverse collection of food seeds in history, managers said on Thursday. Set up on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard two years ago, the vault aims to store seeds of all food crops deep beneath permafrost to withstand threats ...

OSLO (Reuters) - A record 237 people and organizations have been nominated for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, with interest boosted by last year's award to President Barack Obama, organizers said on Wednesday. The world's media focused on the Peace Prize after Obama was the unexpected choice for what some see as the world's highest accolade, although he ...

OSLO (Reuters) - Pirates have hijacked a Marshall Islands-registered tanker off Madagascar and are heading toward Somali waters, the ship's Norwegian owners said Friday. The UBT Ocean, with a crew of 21, was carrying fuel oil from the United Arab Emirates to Tanzania, Svenn Pedersen, chief executive of shipowners Brovigtank, told Reuters. He said contact was lost with the ...

EXERCISE TAKES ITS TOLL At 5 foot 9 and 165 pounds, Harald Sjoelshagen is fit and healthy apart from his heart condition. He works out regularly. And on weekends, he often dons skis to traverse the 30 snowy miles to his cottage outside Oslo. This year will be the fortieth time he participates in the Birkebeiner race. But some days ...