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OIL GIANT BP has been threatened with nationalisation in an independent Scotland. Jim Sillars, the former SNP deputy leader, also warned that bankers’ “casino days” would be over. The prominent Yes campaigner yesterday attacked “scaremongering” business leaders, claiming they will face a “day of reckoning” if Scotland votes to break away from the UK. Mr Sillars accused large companies and banks of “subverting Scotland’s democratic process” by making high-profile interventions in the independence referendum debate. He said: “This referendum is about power, and when we get a Yes majority we will use that power for a day of reckoning with...

A recent poll showed support for a "Yes" vote for Scotland independence went into the lead for the first time, overcoming a 20 percentage-point deficit. This set off a flurry of activity including ... An emotional "I would be heartbroken" plea by UK prime minister David CameronA tearful speech by former prime minister Gordon BrownFearmongering tactics by both sidesPromises of more political independence for Scotland Did it work? "No" Vote Leads 53-47 Excluding 10 Percent Undecided

Scotland’s oil and gas sector is facing a bright future as half of oil reserves remain to be exploited, the Scottish Government's Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism Fergus Ewing said Wednesday, commenting on a new study. Earlier, world leading oil expert Professor Alex Kemp, by using detailed financial modelling, predicted significant discoveries in Scottish oil sector made over the next 30 years. “His new predictions – based on that modelling – show a bright future for Scotland’s oil and gas sector for decades to come – with 99 new economic discoveries over the next three decades,” Ewing told RIA...

Separatists growing in confidence as ranks grow, while attention paid to impending Scottish independence referendum Hundreds of thousands of Catalans will take to the streets on Thursday, the National Day of Catalonia, to demand the right to hold a referendum on their future, with some hoping that the sudden surge in support for Scottish independence might boost their cause. The demonstration will take the form of a huge "v" in the north of Barcelona, where two major thoroughfares converge. The v stands for via, vote and voluntat (will), though implicitly for victory, too. While victory may not be at hand,...

The increasing predilection for fragmentation across the continent will result in Teutonic political hegemony - if we're lucky ___ Europe is disintegrating. Two large and ancient kingdoms are near the point of rupture as Spain follows Britain into constitutional crisis, joined like Siamese twins. The post-Habsburg order further east is suddenly prey to a corrosive notion that settled borders are up for grabs. "Problems frozen for decades are warming up again," said Giles Merritt, from Friends of Europe in Brussels. The best we can hope for - should tribalism prevail - is German political hegemony in Europe. The German people...

British female jihadis are running an ultra-religious police force that punishes women for un-Islamic behaviour in territory controlled by Islamist terrorists, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose. New evidence shows a number of British female recruits to the Al-Khanssaa brigade, an all-women militia set up by the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS). The Al-Khanssaa brigade is operating in Raqqa, the city where ISIS has set up its Syrian headquarters. Security services believe that the American hostages James Foley and Steven Sotloff were both beheaded in the desert surrounding Raqqa. It is possible that the British women involved in the...

WASHINGTON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Europe's Airbus said on Thursday that it sees the possibility of selling hundreds of its A400M military transport plane to the U.S. military in the medium to long term. Barry Eccleston, president of Airbus Americas Inc, told the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit that the company was focused on securing additional orders for the UH-72 helicopter that it builds in Mississippi in the short term, but its "next big project" would be focused on marketing the A400M. "There's this incredible airplane that can do just about everything," Eccleston said, noting that Airbus saw possible sales...

A Home Office researcher whose report into child sexual exploitation problems in Rotherham was ‘suppressed’ more than a decade ago has claimed she was threatened by two police officers. The researcher claims she was approached by two officers while she was in her car at night, to be told it would be a ‘bad thing’ if the abusers she was investigating found out her home address. The researcher, who has not been named, gave evidence in a private session to the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee yesterday, and said she ‘feared for her life’ as a result of harassment in...

ACTUALLY TITLE (TRUNCATED TO FIT): Rotherham abuse scandal: Grandfather of victim tells police chief: 'If I had a gun I would shoot you' Victims of child sex abuse in Rotherham confronted beleaguered police and crime commissioner Shaun Wright on Thursday as he faced angry calls from members of the public to resign. The victims accused Mr Wright of turning a blind eye to their suffering, while the grandfather of one young girl branded him a “disgrace” and threatened to shoot him when he appeared to answer questions at a meeting of South Yorkshire's Police and Crime Panel. The man, who...

Alex Salmond has received an unlikely source of international support – after North Korea came out in favour of a ‘Yes’ vote. The repressive communist state is keen to develop trade links with Edinburgh – because they ‘like the taste of Scotch whisky’. North Korea’s embrace of Mr Salmond comes after Russian separatists in Ukraine embarrassed the SNP after launching an online campaign to support independence. But the support of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un will be even more unwelcome for Mr Salmond, who is battling to overturn a six point deficit in the polls with just seven days to...

Global markets are suddenly jittery about the prospect that Scotland, after 307 years as part of the United Kingdom, could become its own country if Scots vote for independence in a Sept. 18 referendum. If proud but tiny Scotland can do it — which polls suggest is a distinct possibility — then America’s 28th state, Texas, will certainly take notice. If any state is fed up with the rest of America, it’s Texas. Republican Gov. Rick Perry floated the idea of seceding from the United States in 2009, though he later backpedaled. A petition for Texas to “withdraw" from the...

Downing Street has clarified its position on the possibility of strikes in Syria, saying it has not yet abandoned the idea of airborne attacks. The Foreign Secretary earlier appeared to strike a different note when he said the UK would not be taking part in airstrikes in Syria. Philip Hammond was speaking after Barack Obama authorised attacks on IS fighters in Syria, as well as Iraq, for the first time, saying the terrorists had a free passage across the countries' borders. Mr Obama said the move did not amount to support for the Assad regime in Syria, which has always...

Last night, Barack Obama promised America that he would take the fight to ISIS/ISIL, using a four-pronged strategy that he laid out in his much-anticipated war speech. In each phase of this strategy, Obama insisted, we would be “joined by a broad coalition of partners,” emphases mine: Obama ISIS Speech [FULL] 9/10/14: Outlining a Battle Plan | The New York Times First, we will conduct a systematic campaign of airstrikes against these terrorists. Working with the Iraqi government, we will expand our efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions, so that we’re hitting ISIL targets as Iraqi forces...

Key reports detailing child sexual exploitation have disappeared from the archives, the outgoing chief executive of Rotherham Council has told MPs. Martin Kimber said he had not seen a full copy of a 2002 report, had never seen a 2003 report and only saw a 2006 report on Sunday. A report published earlier this month found at least 1,400 children were abused in the town from 1997 to 2013. The council was heavily criticised by Professor Alexis Jay. In her report, Professor Jay said: "Further stark evidence came in 2002, 2003 and 2006 with three reports known to the police...

More women will recognise the situation than will want to admit it. You're young and a little tipsy, a delightful guy chats you up, you drink some more and end up at one or other's flat. Then you dance and laugh and drink some more... ending up in bed together. In the morning, you can hardly remember what happened, let alone whether you used contraception. Have you been there? I have, all of 47 years ago, in my first year of university. Some things don't change, do they? Of course, we all know such behaviour is not to be encouraged...

As the referendum on Scottish independence approaches, the “Yes” campaign is receiving an unexpected boost – from Russian nationalists. Supporters of the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea have latched on to Alex Salmond’s bid to leave Britain as a parallel to the struggle of ethnic Russians in Ukraine to break with a supposedly bullying overlord in Kiev. With resentment running high against Britain as a crusader for tough sanctions against Moscow over its patronage of the separatist rebels in Ukraine, blogs in Russia have become flooded with calls for Scottish “freedom”. The campaign – often tongue-in-cheek but chiming with official rhetoric...

A new opinion poll on Scottish independence has found the no vote back in the lead at 53% of voters, suggesting the sudden surge in backing for independence has subsided. Only days after a spate of polls suggested the referendum race was neck and neck, the Survation poll for the Daily Record has found that the no vote is now at 53%, giving the pro-UK campaign a six point gap over yes.

Carrot-topped children are aiming to reclaim the term “ginger” as part of a confidence-building course designed to help them beat the bullies. Run by Donna Strachan – a social worker who was teased mercilessly at school for her red hair and freckles – the workshop sees a string of flame-haired fictional characters talk about their experiences. The primary school children, aged between five and 12, then create their own red-headed personalities on mugs, T-shirts, gym bags and puzzles. Ginger activists have hailed the move, claiming the “light-hearted” approach might help redheads cope with any taunts they may receive later. Workshop...

British combat air post-2020 will depend on the RAF’s Typhoon fast jet fleet – currently planned to total 107 aircraft at the end of this decade – and the F-35 Lightning II strike fighter, operated jointly by the RAF and the Royal Navy. Then-Secretary of State for Defence Phillip Hammond said in July 2012 that the UK would buy up to forty-eight F-35B short take-off, vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft in the next ten years of the newly agreed equipment plan. These will not only form the fixed-wing complement of the new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, but will also deploy with...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Next week’s referendum on Scottish independence has largely flown under the radar screen here in the United States. The cable news networks have devoted little attention so far to the issue, as the Isil threat in the Middle East continues to dominate international coverage. There has been no polling conducted on the Scottish question in the US, and it is doubtful that many Americans outside of the Washington policy bubble or the financial milieu of New York are particularly exercised by the outcome of a vote taking place over 3,000 miles away. They should be concerned, however. What happens in...