A "doomsday" vault storing food crop seeds from around the world in man-made caves on a remote Norwegian Arctic island will receive more than 14,000 new samples on Tuesday, a custodian of the facility said.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, set deep inside a mountain to withstand disasters from nuclear war to global warming, was launched in 2008 as a backup for the world's gene banks that store the genetic code for thousands of plant species.
Protected by permafrost, the vault has received samples from across the world, and played a leading role between 2015 and 2019 in rebuilding seed collections damaged during the war in Syria.
"The seeds deposited this week represent not just biodiversity, but also the knowledge, culture and resilience of the communities that steward them," Executive Director Stefan Schmitz of the Crop Trust said in a statement.
The new contributions include a sample of 15 species from Sudan, consisting of several varieties of sorghum - a plant that is significant both for the country's food security and its cultural heritage, the Crop Trust said.
The war between the Rapid Support Forces and the army which broke out in April 2023 has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced 12 million, while plunging half of Sudan into hunger and several locations into famine.Arctic
"In Sudan...these seeds represent hope," the director of Sudan's Agricultural Plant Genetic Resources Conservation and Research Centre said in a statement.
The total of 14,022 new samples will be deposited at 1430 GMT, including seeds of Nordic tree species from Sweden and rice from Thailand, the Crop Trust said.
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Norway is holding a commanding lead in the medal standings with 12 golds and a total of 26, with Italy having an historic performance on home soil on the ninth day of the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday (15 February).
Norwegian police searched the homes of former prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland on Thursday (12 February) as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged ties between prominent Norwegians and the late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, authorities and media reports said.
Norway’s Sturla Holm Laegreid, who won bronze in the men’s biathlon at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics on Tuesday (10 February) in Italy, stunned viewers by publicly admitting he had cheated on his girlfriend and pleaded for another chance during post-race interviews.
Norwegian prosecutors have launched a corruption investigation into former prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland after newly released documents linked to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein allegedly showed possible benefit transfers during Jagland’s time in senior international roles.
Italy said a fond farewell to the Winter Olympics on Sunday with an open-air ceremony in the ancient Verona Arena that celebrated art and sporting achievement at a Games lauded as a model for how to stage such events.
The United States and Iran will hold a new round of nuclear negotiations in Geneva on Thursday as part of renewed diplomatic efforts to reach a potential agreement, Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi announced on Sunday.
Further Iran-U.S. nuclear talks are scheduled in Geneva on Thursday (26 February) as diplomacy resumes over Tehran’s nuclear programme following earlier mediation efforts. But will the talks move Iran-U.S. negotiations closer to a deal, and what should be expected from the meeting?
Mexican authorities said on Sunday that Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho and head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was killed during a military operation in the western state of Jalisco.
The European Parliament’s trade chief has urged a temporary suspension of the EU–U.S. trade agreement approval, citing “tariff chaos” following President Donald Trump’s new 15% tariffs and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling invalidating his previous global tariff programme.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday (12 February) announced the repeal of a scientific finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, and eliminated federal tailpipe emissions standards for cars and trucks.
Tropical Cyclone Gezani has killed at least 31 people and left four others missing after tearing through eastern Madagascar, the government said on Wednesday, with the island nation’s second-largest city bearing the brunt of the destruction.
Rivers and reservoirs across Spain and Portugal were on the verge of overflowing on Wednesday as a new weather front pounded the Iberian peninsula, compounding damage from last week's Storm Kristin.
Morocco has evacuated more than 100,000 people from four provinces after heavy rainfall triggered flash floods across several northern regions, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
Greenland registered its warmest January on record, sharpening concerns over how fast-rising Arctic temperatures are reshaping core parts of the island’s economy.
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