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As Polls Tighten, Britain Promises Scots More Self-Rule if They Reject Independence

LONDON — Shaken by polls showing momentum shifting toward independence for Scotland, the British government will offer proposals for greater political and fiscal autonomy for the Scots if they vote to remain within the United Kingdom in a referendum on Sept. 18, George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, said on Sunday. The narrowing polls have caused considerable anxiety among politicians and business leaders, driving down the value of the pound and raising questions among investors about the stability of the economy and the fate of the current British government. The vote, which could bring an end to the 307-year union between Scotland and England, is also regarded as important to the future of the British prime minister, David Cameron. As leader of what is still formally known as the Conservative and Unionist Party, Mr. Cameron, already facing internal divisions over Britain’s membership in the European Union, may not […]

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Supporters of Scottish independence take narrow poll lead for first time

LONDON (Reuters) – Supporters of Scottish independence from Britain have taken their first opinion poll lead since the referendum campaign began, indicating a real possibility that they might win, according to a YouGov survey for the Sunday Times newspaper. With less than two weeks to go before the Sept. 18 vote, the poll put the "Yes" to independence campaign on 51 percent against "no" camp on 49 percent, overturning a 22-point lead for the unionist campaign in just a month, the Sunday Times said. YouGov said that the results excluded those who would not vote and those who did not plan to vote or did not know how they would vote. With those groups included, secessionists would be on 47 percent and those championing the United Kingdom would be on 45 percent, it added. It said that the poll, conducted after pro-independence leader Alex Salmond was widely judged to […]

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EU Need for Russian Gas Via Ukraine Wanes as Stores Fill

Europe ’s reliance on Russian natural gas shipments via Ukraine is declining after the region pumped a record volume of the fuel into underground inventories, minimizing the risk of shortages during the coming winter. The blue line on the CHART OF THE DAY shows average daily flows at Velke Kapusany on the Slovakian-Ukrainian border, the biggest single entry point for Russian gas into the European Union, last month fell to a record, according to data from Slovak grid operator Eustream AS going back to 2011. The red histogram shows the 28-nation bloc has pumped a record volume of gas into storage, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe, a lobby group in Brussels. Russia, which meets about 15 percent of Europe’s gas demand through Soviet-era pipelines across Ukraine, halted supplies to its neighbor on June 16 in a dispute over debt and prices, echoing similar spats in 2006 and 2009 that […]

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New EU Sanctions to Stop Fundraising by 3 Russian Oil Giants

A Rosneft logo at the company’s headquarters in Moscow. New sanctions from the European Union will expand the number of companies unable to raise money in the bloc’s capital markets. Bloomberg News BRUSSELS—New European Union sanctions on Russia will expand the number of Russian companies unable to raise money in the bloc’s capital markets to include three major state-owned oil companies, according to documents seen by The Wall Street Journal. Under a modest expansion of sanctions introduced in late July, the three oil companies— Gazpromneft , the oil-production and refining subsidiary of OAO Gazprom , oil transportation company Transneft , and oil giant Rosneft—will be forbidden from raising funds of longer than 30 days’ maturity. Five state-controlled banks, including Sberbank and VTB Bank , already barred from raising funds for longer than 90 days under the July sanctions, will also have the maximum maturity cut to 30 days. The […]

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Pound falls as poll puts nationalists ahead for first time this year

Sterling Chart Sterling fell to a 10-month low on Monday after the campaign for a Yes vote on Scottish independence took the lead in a poll that left the pro-union camp scrambling to head off a surge in support for a breakaway from Britain. Chancellor George Osborne on Sunday promised within days “a plan of action to give more powers to Scotland”, including more control over taxes, welfare spending and job creation if the country rejects independence on September 18. However, behind the scenes some senior Tories were preparing for possible defeat. More On this story On this topic IN UK Politics & Policy The pound was down 1 per cent against the dollar in early trading to $1.6163, its weakest level since last November. Sterling is 0.2 per cent weaker versus the euro, the single currency now able to buy 80.02p. UK government debt is underperforming peers, too, […]

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UK wades into BP fight over US payouts

PASCAGOULA, MS – JULY 1: Oil cleanup workers pick up oily globs as they remove residue washing ashore from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on July 1, 2010 in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Millions of gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf since the April 20 explosion on the drilling platform. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Britain has for the first time waded in to BP ’s legal battle over payouts for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, saying US court rulings against the energy group raise “grave international comity concerns”. In a filing to the US Supreme Court, the UK government said BP had “gone to great lengths to restore the gulf coast”, but was being forced to pay large sums to individuals and businesses who were not affected by the spill. More On this topic IN Oil & Gas It warned that the […]

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Ukraine and Russia Face Gaps in a Truce and a Chasm on the Issues

MOSCOW — Scattered fighting threatened a shaky cease-fire in eastern Ukraine on Sunday as officials now confront a task even more formidable than maintaining the truce: fashioning some form of decentralized governance in the war-ravaged region that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia will accept and that President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine can deliver without turning his country against him. But just two days after the truce was signed in Minsk, Belarus, calling for “decentralization of power” as the most important step after a halt to the violence, Yuri V. Lutsenko, an influential adviser to Mr. Poroshenko, published an article on Sunday denouncing the idea of creating a special autonomous zone in the east — which Russia has demanded — saying it would be “a cancerous tumor in the Ukrainian organism.” The article on the Ukrainska Pravda news site by Mr. Lutsenko, who is leading Mr. Poroshenko’s political […]

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A Stress Test for E.U. Energy Supplies

Political Economy Europe is conducting two stress tests. One is on its energy suppliers, to see how badly they would fare if flows of Russian natural gas were disrupted. The other is on eurozone banks to ensure they are strong enough to finance economic recovery. It is hard to know which of the two stress tests is more important. But it is clear that an effective system of energy security requires many of the same elements as financial stability. One is the need for credible stress tests. Europe flunked its original bank tests by modeling conditions that were not sufficiently stressful. The new test being conducted by the European Central Bank looks more credible. The European Union is only now conducting its first gas test. Member states submitted their results last month to the European Commission , which is now reviewing them before coming up with recommendations next month. […]

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On The Brink Of A Major Crisis: “This Will Be A Literal Collapse of the Entire Global Monetary System”

Discussions of the possible collapse of the U.S. dollar often center around how such an event will affect the domestic economy. But the dollar doesn’t just operate inside of a bubble. It is the world’s reserve currency for a reason. Some sixty-six countries world-wide either utilize it as their primary currency or peg their own currencies to its exchange rate. What this means, as noted by Future Money Trends in the micro documentary below, is that if and when the dollar does come under attack the fallout will be everywhere. The collapse will happen simultaneously and affect billions of people worldwide. This is 33% of the nations of the world all submitting their currency sovereignty to the US Federal Reserve. If and when the U.S. loses its currency status this will be a literal collapse of the entire global monetary system… A system that is built on lies, fraud and […]

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Oil’s Losing Streak Continues

Oil prices extended losses for a second day Friday as investors abandoned bullish positions amid mixed economic data, cooling tensions in Eastern Europe and perceptions that the world’s oil supply is more than adequate. Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell $1.16, or 1.2%, to settle at $93.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices for the global Brent contract fell $1.01, or 1%, to $100.82 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. Both contracts have been on a pronounced slide since mid-June as the geopolitical strife that stoked fears of supply disruptions earlier in the year has so far proved an unfounded threat, and supplies have mounted amid increasing production in the U.S., Libya, Iraq and elsewhere. There was little in the way of fundamental drivers for the market Friday, with no major news about supply-demand balances, and the disappointing U.S. jobs report had little […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple