Iran Uranium Partner Could Get Gift From Lame-Duck Congress

WASHINGTON -- Congress may use must-pass legislation in the next two weeks to slip through a controversial land deal that would help a company that jointly owns a uranium mine with Iran, sources told HuffPost.

The company, the international mining conglomerate Rio Tinto, has been trying for nearly a decade to acquire 2,400 acres of the federally protected Tonto National Forest in southeast Arizona -- land that sits atop a massive copper deposit.

Government Under Fire Over Trade In Endangered Whale Meat

The Conservative government is facing tough questions about why it is allowing meat from endangered whales to be shipped across Canada.

In February, it emerged that the federal government allowed an Icelandic company to transport meat from endangered fin whales across Canada on its way to market in Japan. Twelve shipping containers of the meat arrived in Halifax and, according to Greenpeace, were transported by train to ports in British Columbia.

At the time, Environment Canada told the Vancouver Sun that Canada was obligated to allow the transport of the meat despite the fact that fin whales have been given the highest level of protection under the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which Canada has signed. Atlantic Fin whales are also of "special concern" under Canada's Species at Risk Act.

Pat Martin Asks Agriculture Minister: Have You Lost Your Freaking Mind?

Winnipeg NDP MP Pat Martin returned to his raucous ways during question period on Tuesday, asking Conservative minister Gerry Ritz if he had “lost his freaking mind.”

The colourful outburst was related to an exchange about the government’s rejection of an ownership bid back in October by Saskatoon-based Farmers of North America (FNA) to acquire the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB).

Federal government moves to strip power from top public health scientist

Buried in the current omnibus budget bill being studied by Parliament this week is a plan to demote the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada. He will no longer hold a deputy minister rank, he will have no direct line to the federal minister of health, he will be subservient to a bureaucratic agency president and he will have no secure public funding.

The new Chief Public Health Officer has said he is in favour of this plan, as shrugging off managerial oversight for the Public Health Agency will free him to provide scientific advice. That may be so, but will anybody be listening? Will he even be allowed to speak?

Veterans Affairs shed staff despite increased mental-health risks

The department of beleaguered Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino shed nearly a quarter of its work force over the past five years even as bureaucrats warned that the changes could put the delivery of services to veterans and their families at risk.

The downsizing occurred at a time when soldiers were returning home from Afghanistan with a myriad of physical and psychological injuries, and as growing numbers of veterans were butting heads with a Conservative government they accused of being indifferent to their needs.

Harper stands up for embattled Veterans Affairs Minister Fantino

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper came to the defence of his embattled veterans affairs minister Tuesday as calls continued for Julian Fantino to resign and for the government to apologize for misleading veterans.

The decision to make a senior member of Harper's media team Fantino's new chief of staff makes it clear the minister has lost control of the veterans file, Opposition Leader Tom Mulcair declared during question period.

Egyptian Court Convicts 188 To Death In Preliminary Verdict

CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court sentenced 188 people to death Tuesday pending the opinion of the country's top religious authority, the latest mass death sentence handed down by the country's judicial system despite widespread international criticism.

The 188 were charged over the killing of 11 policemen last year in Kerdasa, a restive town west of Cairo considered a militant stronghold. The attack, which saw the policemen's bodies mutilated, is considered one of the country's grisliest assaults on security forces.

Canada Bailed Out GM And Chrysler Without Really Knowing Where $13.7 Billion Went

The Auditor General of Canada recently issued a report that makes at least one thing clear: it doesn't know how effective Canadian government loans given to both General Motors and Chrysler in 2009 were in ensuring the viability of both companies. That year, our Canadian government (and the province of Ontario) dished out $10.8 billion to GM and $2.9 billion to Chrysler, but hadn't yet sorted out precisely how the funds were to be used before disbursing them.

This happened in spite of the fact that, according to a piece in Bloomberg, the loans weren't meant to be handed out until authorities were clear on the manufacturers' plans for reorganization. In fact, federal officials hadn't finished establishing the concessions made by all the involved parties, the pension liabilities, nor the long-term soundness of the automakers' financial positions. On top of that, apparently it didn't keep close tabs on the money after loaning it: the report says that $1B should have been applied to GM Canada pension plans but was instead given to GM to use.

RCMP Doctored Flight Logs, Flew Overweight: Integrity Watchdog

OTTAWA - RCMP pilots doctored flight manifests in order to fly over-loaded aircraft, the federal integrity commissioner said Tuesday as he dismissed several other serious allegations from a whistleblower for lack of evidence.

Commissioner Mario Dion says he could not establish whether the RCMP flights in 2012 posed a danger to the life, health or safety of anyone because the true weight of the aircraft is not known.

"The records were, not being accurate, it's impossible to determine actually what was the total weight of the plane on any given flight and therefore impossible to determine whether it did constitute a risk to health and safety," Dion said in conference call.

As oil prices plunge, wide-ranging effects for consumers and the global economy

Tumbling oil prices are draining hundreds of billions of dollars from the coffers of oil-rich exporters and oil companies and injecting a much-needed boost for ailing economies in Europe and Japan — and for American consumers at the start of the peak shopping season.

The result could be one of the biggest transfers of wealth in history, potentially reshaping everything from talks over Iran’s nuclear program to the Federal Reserve’s policies to further rejuvenate the U.S. economy.