Concern over future of Antarctica McMURDO BASE, Antarctica (AP) - Officials from 24 countries meeting in the Antarctic said Wednesday that the region faces several serious threats, including illegal fishing. But they stopped short of taking any specific steps to protect it. Environmental groups such as Greenpeace had urged the delegates at the first meeting of Antarctic Treaty nations ever held on its frozen tundra to achieve more than a photo opportunity. The group's final statement, however, did little more than name a few of the challenges facing the Antarctic, the only region in the world devoted to peace and science and which does not contain a single country, government or armed force. See full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558220569-4cc> Men fined for disturbing polar bear OSLO, Norway (AP) - Two men who chased a polar bear with snowmobiles for a picture worth a thousand words received fines worth thousands of dollars instead. The fines, levied Wednesday by the district court for the Svalbard islands, were the heaviest ever imposed by Norway for disturbing the protected species. In May, the men spotted a polar bear on the outskirts of Longyearbyen, the main town on Norway's Arctic islands, and chased it on their snowmobiles. A passer-by recorded the chase with a video camera and turned the tape over to the authorities. See full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558221880-72f>
