Foreign Graduates in STEM Fields Can Boost U.S. American universities' reputation for excellence, advanced research and innovation attracts the best and brightest students from around the world. These foreign graduates in science, technology, engineering and math - the STEM fields - are behind many crucial innovations and new businesses that are key to U.S. economic growth. These foreign graduates could contribute greatly to our economy and create jobs for countless unemployed Americans. Unfortunately, our immigration system prohibits many of them from staying here. They have the potential to come up with an invention that could save thousands of lives or jump-start a whole new industry. They might also start a company that could provide jobs to tens of thousands of U.S. workers and generate economic growth. Politico

Fresh Hope for BP in Russia as Bob Dudley Meets Vladimir Putin. BP's chief executive Bob Dudley met Russian President Vladimir Putin last night, raising hopes the British major can successfully exit its troubled venture TNK-BP and could even have another chance at exploration in the Russian Arctic. BP is in talks to sell its 50pc stake in TNK-BP to state-controlled Rosneft, whose President, Igor Sechin, also attended yesterday's meeting at the Russian resort of Sochi, along with BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg. The Kremlin said, "The meeting discussed the continuation and broadening of BP's presence on the Russian market, as well as prospects for cooperation with Russian companies." The Telegraph

Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis. Sea ice extent for September 17 was 3.41 million square kilometers (1.32 million square miles). Weather conditions near the ice edge heavily influence the timing of the minimum, which has occurred as late as September 23. We are now five days past the 1979 to 2000 average minimum date of September 13. The decline has slowed in recent days and the minimum will likely be confirmed any day now. National Snow & Ice Data Center  

Just 100 Cod Left in North Sea: Overfishing has left fewer than 100 adult cod in the North Sea, it was reported. A survey of catches at European ports has found that fishermen did not catch a single cod over the age of 13 last year. The findings raise concerns for future stocks of cod, which become more fertile as they age. The fish can live as long as 25 years and grow to 6ft. Researchers warned a lower life expectancy meant a lower birth rate and a faster decline. Callum Roberts, professor of marine biology at York University, told the Sunday Times that intense industrial fishing meant that few fish survived beyond the age of four, when they reach sexual maturity. The Telegraph  

University Windsor Researcher Tracks Fish in Arctic. A Windsor man will soon be searching the Arctic seas. But he won't be looking for shipwrecks or sunken treasure. Steve Fields, a communications officer from the University of Windsor, usually reads and writes about research. This time he'll be getting his hands dirty. Fields will be tracking migration patterns of arctic fish while working with a team from the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research. CBC News  

New Icebreaker for Russian Arctic: Shipbuilders at Baltiisky Yard start the construction of Russia's biggest and most modern diesel-engined icebreaker. The start of construction was marked by a ceremony at the Baltiiksky Yard in Saint Petersburg, Russia. According to the ship designers Petrobalt, the vessel will be 146,8 meters long and have a deadweight of 22258 tons. It will have a crew of 38 and will be able to operate autonomously for 60 days in up to two meters thick ice. The construction contract is worth 7,25 billion RUB, and the ship will be ready by the end of 2015. Marine Link 

Scientists Look for Clues Causing Record Arctic Ice Melting. The Arctic sea ice will hit its minimum any day now and freeze up will begin again. But the extent of this summer's melt has already smashed the previous record set in 2007. Scientists are starting to draw a link between Arctic ice retreat and unusual weather around the world. Jennifer Francis, a Research Professor at Rutgers University, is immersed in this emerging area of science. She says Arctic ice melt is altering the jet stream waves that govern weather patterns, causing them to move more slowly. Alaska Public Radio 

BP Agrees to Truck Natural Gas to Energy-Starved Fairbanks. Anxious to avert a burgeoning energy crisis in Alaska's heartland, Golden Valley Electric Association reached an agreement with BP on Tuesday to truck huge quantities of liquefied natural gas from the Arctic oil fields to Fairbanks by 2015. "The high cost of space heating is crushing Interior Alaska," Golden Valley noted in a news release announcing the deal. Over the next 20 years as much as 23 billion cubic feet of natural gas could move annually to Fairbanks, the state's second-largest city, according to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. That amount "is sufficient to meet both the immediate and long-term needs of Interior Alaska residents and businesses," according to Golden Valley. Alaska Dispatch 

Race is on as Ice Melt Reveals Arctic Treasures. With Arctic ice melting at record pace, the world's superpowers are increasingly jockeying for political influence and economic position in outposts like this one, previously regarded as barren wastelands. At stake are the Arctic's abundant supplies of oil, gas and minerals that are, thanks to climate change, becoming newly accessible along with increasingly navigable polar shipping shortcuts. This year, China has become a far more aggressive player in this frigid field, experts say, provoking alarm among Western powers. New York Times