House GOP Calls Halt to UC Approval of Bills During Recess. A brief thaw in the two years of partisan stalemate in the House will apparently be very brief indeed, as both sides are blaming each other for a breakdown in the practice of granting routine approval of consensus bills by unanimous consent during pro forma sessions. Republican leaders briefly revived the procedure last week, allowing three bills to speed through the chamber after consent was gained from all lawmakers. Bipartisan agreement has been a rare commodity in the House since Republicans took control in 2011, and that perception left many surprised when it was used to advance the trio of bills to protect whistleblowers, make it easier for military personnel to get commercial driver's licenses and delay disclosure requirements mandated by an insider trading law. Congressional Quarterly 

Stopgap Spending Measure Provides Clarity to Sequester Threat. The potential sequestration scheduled for January 2013 creates a lot of uncertainty for the government, but if that dreaded scenario occurs, then the recently enacted six-month spending measure makes some things clearer. Federal employees have wondered how the six-month continuing resolution funding the government through March would affect the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts set to take effect Jan. 2, 2013. One Government Executive reader asked, "I think a lot of us are confused about how the CR at 2012 levels inter-relate with sequestration impacts. Will we toodle along at 2012 funding levels for six months and then [see] draconian cuts in the second half of the year if the reductions are implemented?" Government Executive

Foreign Oil Giants to be Welcome on Russia's Arctic Shelf. In an interview with London's Financial Times Friday, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that his agency is pushing an initiative to scrap restrictions that limit foreign  companies to 33% ownership in oil and gas projects on Russia's Arctic shelf. He called these restrictions obsolete and counterproductive. Senior analyst at the National Energy Security Foundation, Dr Alexander Pasechnik, says he does not expect rapid change: "True, economic liberalization always brings progress. Today, even Russian-registered private companies are kept at bay from leading shelf projects. Similarly to their foreign counterparts, their stakes in such projects are usually limited to 33%. Unfortunately, the near future is unlikely to bring any change to these rules." Voice of Russia

Canada Poised for Undersea Land Grab: Territory to be gained beyond Arctic, Atlantic coasts roughly the size of three Prairie provinces. Canada is poised to claim ownership of a vast new expanse of undersea territory beyond its Atlantic and Arctic coasts that's greater in size than Quebec and equal to about 20 per cent of the country's surface area, Postmedia News has learned.

The huge seabed land grab has been in the works since 1994, when federal scientists first conducted a "desktop study" of Canada's potential territorial expansion under a new UN treaty allowing nations to extend their offshore jurisdictions well past the current 200-nautical-mile limit of so-called "Exclusive Economic Zones" in coastal waters. Leader-Post

China and the Northern Rivalry. Why might China need up to 500 personnel in its embassy in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, a country of 320,000 people? That number would far outstrip any other diplomatic presence in the country, according to Damien Degeorges, a Greenland expert who spoke Thursday morning at an event in London hosted by the European Council on Foreign Relations. New York Times

EU Makes Pitch for Arctic Cooperation: "The time has come to work together, constructively and with determination on the future of the Arctic." The European Union has a stake in what happens in the Arctic, says Maria Damanaki, the European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, who argued Oct 4 for more cooperation between the EU and Arctic states. Speaking at the annual Arctic Futures conference in Brussels, Damanaki addressed scientists, academics, business representatives, indigenous groups and policymakers, "in the heart of Europe, to discuss future scenarios for the Arctic." The EU itself is "an Arctic actor by virtue of three Arctic states, Denmark, Finland and Sweden," she said - "four, if Iceland accedes to the EU." Nunatsiaq Online

Uvic Ocean Science Group Installs First Underwater Arctic Observatory. The University of Victoria's ocean science network is dipping a toe in the Arctic Ocean, commissioning the region's first underwater scientific observatory. Scientists received the first data stream Tuesday from the sea floor observatory - a five-metre-wide frame equipped with instruments to measure temperature, pressure, oxygenation and ice thickness - installed last weekend at the hamlet of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. The observatory is a smaller version of units designed and operated by UVic-based Ocean Networks Canada. ONC operates NEPTUNE, a cable-connected 800-km deep ocean network of observatories off the west coast of Vancouver Island and VENUS, a 50-km network in the Strait of Georgia. Vancouver Sun