Senate Passes Compromise on CR. The Senate moved late Monday to give House Republicans two options to avoid a government shutdown this weekend and put an end to a dispute over offsets to disaster aid money. House Speaker John A Boehner, R-Ohio, could ask his colleagues to clear a six-week continuing resolution (HR 2608) passed Monday by the Senate. It would provide $2.65 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other disaster aid programs, instead of the $3.65 billion in the version the House barely passed last week. Or, the House might consider a separate Senate-passed measure that would keep the government operating for a few days past the Oct. 1 start of fiscal 2012 and that would allow time for further deliberations on the longer-term bill. Congressional Quarterly

China Heads to the Arctic. China is joining the scramble for Arctic territory. Chinese billionaire Huang Hubo is ready to invest 200 million dollars for the purchase of 300 square kilometers of land in north-Eastern Iceland, for the construction of a tourist center. The forthcoming deal has triggered a lot of speculation in Iceland  as  well as in other countries of the Arctic region. Most experts see the plan not as another successful business project, but as a desire by China to establish a foothold in the Arctic. The acquisition of a large piece of land in Iceland points to a hidden agenda. The Voice of Russia 

Russia and Vietnam Seek Co-operation with Iceland on Fishing. Vietnam and Russia have become the two latest countries to seek closer co-operation with Iceland - and its fishing expertise. Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai met with businessmen in Iceland recently in efforts to develop opportunities for both Vietnamese and Icelandic seafood businesses and other activities. And the Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin, invited Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, President of Iceland, to a conference on Arctic shipping and fishing matters last week. The conference was mainly about the new opportunities and responsibilities that will come with melting sea ice. Fish Update 

Alaska Eskimo Bowhead Whale Harvest Quotas Up For Review. Federal scientists plan to evaluate the number of bowhead whales Alaska Eskimos can harvest in future annual subsistence hunts. The National Marine Fisheries Service will over coming months conduct an environmental review of the bowhead harvest quota for Native hunters from 11 Arctic Alaska communities, according to a press release from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Currently, Alaska Natives are allowed to strike no more than 75 bowhead whales for harvest, according to federal records. That's estimated to be less than 1 percent of the Western Arctic bowhead whale population. Alaska Dispatch 

Reid Again Asks House for Compromise on CR. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) today called on House Republicans to pass funding legislation that would keep the federal government open through Nov. 18 but does not offset disaster relief spending. Congress has through Friday to pass a stopgap bill or the government will begin to shut down, and the Senate is set to vote this evening on a measure to fund the government and provide disaster aid. The bill is a compromise proposed by Senate Democrats, who argue that Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster funding should be provided without offsets. Roll Call 

Climate Change and the Exodus of Species. To most humans, so far, climate change is still more of an idea than an experience. For other species, it is an immediate reality. Many will be left behind as the climate alters, unable to move quickly enough or with nowhere to move to. Others are already adapting. An iconic example of these swift changes is the recent discovery that Atlantic and Pacific populations of bowhead whales - long kept apart by the frozen Arctic - are now overlapping in the open waters of the Northwest Passage. New York Times 

Canada's Far North Divided Over Arctic. Some talk of an economic boom, while others talk of a potential oil spill. Northerners in Canada are divided on the issue of offshore drilling. Inuvialuit leader Nellie Cournoyea, CEO of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation with headquarters in Inuvik in Canada's Northwest Territories, says it's a difficult balance. "People are very strong in their belief and their will to protect the environment and the wildlife. At the same time, economic opportunities are also important for people in this region." Alaska Dispatch 

Closing U.S. Arctic Ocean Science Gaps. The Pew Environment Group and Ocean Conservancy released a white paper today recommending concrete steps the Obama administration should take to address science gaps and inform conservation and development decisions in America's Arctic Ocean. The white paper is the work of 14 scientists, all experts in Arctic marine ecosystems. "When it comes to the fragile Arctic, science, not politics, needs to guide decision making," said Marilyn Heiman, director of Pew's U.S. Arctic Program. "If we are to avoid irreparable harm to an ecosystem found nowhere else in U.S. waters, we need to develop a comprehensive research and monitoring plan and set aside significant areas for protection." Alaska Dispatch 

Alaska Natives First to Feel the Heat. Although climate studies offer plenty of projections about how the world might change as the Earth warms up, it's easy for people to imagine that those numbers don't apply to them. A new study offers a wake-up call. Climate change doesn't just have the potential to alter people's lives -- it already has. For the Yup'ik people of Alaska, who still depend on hunting, gathering and fishing for much of their subsistence, interviews showed that warmer temperatures and thinner ice in recent years have altered ways of life that passed down from generation to generation. Discovery