Ukraine Crisis: New Sanctions Target Russia

A new round of Western sanctions against Russia have been imposed, with Moscow threatening possible retaliation.

The tit-for-tat economic penalties stem from Russia's actions in Ukraine.

The US Treasury Department announced its latest moves, targeting Russia's financial, energy and defence sectors, on Friday afternoon - hours after fresh sanctions were implemented by the European Union (EU) in Brussels.

Both the EU and the US have said the sanctions can be withdrawn within weeks if the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine holds, though it is claimed Russian troops remain there in support of separatists.

BP holds a stake of almost 20% in Rosneft

The EU's new measures included limiting Russia's access to financial markets and targeting 24 more officials with travel bans and asset freezes.

Those individuals include leading politicians Duma deputy speaker Igor Lebedev and nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

Russia's top oil producers and pipeline operators Rosneft, Transneft and Gazprom are on the list of Russian state-owned firms that will not be allowed to raise capital or borrow on European markets.

The measures forbid EU companies from engaging in new contracts in oil drilling, exploration and related services in Russia's Arctic, deep sea and shale oil projects. 

President Putin has denied Russian troops are in eastern Ukraine

Such measures threaten to hit earnings at BP, which has a near-20% stake in Rosneft.

The FTSE 100 company revealed in July that its share of Rosneft underlying net income was $1bn in the second quarter of 2014 - revenue that is crucial to BP as it continues its recovery from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Confirmation that the fresh sanctions had been agreed in Brussels drew a furious response from Moscow.

President Vladimir Putin warned they always caused "certain damage", including to those who introduced them. 

Prisoner exchanges have been taking place as part of the ceasefire

The Russian Interfax news agency quoted foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as saying the EU had "chosen to undermine the Ukriane peace process".

Russia has denied any involvement in the fighting in Ukraine, despite Western accusations that it has been arming separatist rebels and deploying troops in the neighbouring former Soviet republic since the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March.

Nato said on Friday that it believed Russia still had 1,000 troops on the ground in Ukraine, where prisoner exchanges have been taking place following months of skirmishes.

Many EU member states had been loath to increase the sanctions against Russia for fear of jeopardising their close trade relationships with Moscow.

Firms in countries such as Germany, which rely on Russian gas for energy, fear Russia will respond to the sanctions by turning off the taps.

Russia, which has revised sharply down its own growth estimates for 2014 amid plunging stock market and rouble values, had already issued a veiled threat that it could ban Western airlines from using Russian airspace - a move that would lead to higher fuel costs and delays for flights to Asia by European airlines.

Carriers had already had to lengthen journey times to bypass airspace over eastern Ukraine in the wake of the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in July - widely blamed on pro-Russian separatists.

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New Poll Gives 'No' Small Lead In Scotland Vote

The Better Together campaign in Scotland is retaining a marginal lead, according to a new poll that puts No on 52% and Yes on 48%.

The YouGov poll of 1,300 people on the issue of Scottish independence for The Sun and The Times was taken over Tuesday to Thursday.

It covered a period when the leaders of the three main parties all visited Scotland and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown stepped up his involvement in the drive to keep the union.

Thursday was considered a good day for the No campaign as several independent heavyweights expressed their concerns if Scotland was to vote to become a separate country.

Asda and John Lewis said the increased costs of operating in an independent Scotland would inevitably be passed on to the consumer, leading to higher prices.

RBS, which has been based in Scotland since 1727 and employs 11,500 people there, also confirmed it would be moving its headquarters to London if Scotland voted for independence.

Shoppers were warned that independence could mean higher prices

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), meanwhile, said a vote for independence could have a negative effect on the markets in the short-term because of "uncertainty".

The Yes campaign, led by Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond, had been buoyed at the weekend with one YouGov poll putting it marginally ahead of former Chancellor Alistair Darling's Better Together.

There had been fears that a poor performance by David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg, who all travelled north of the border on Wednesday, could result in Yes gaining further ground.

It was also not known how Mr Brown's intervention, in support of the No campaign, would go down with the electorate.

The former premier spoke to Sky News on Sunday and made a speech on Monday setting out an alternative timetable to give the Scottish Parliament more control over finance, welfare and taxation, in the event of a No vote.

RBS will be moving its headquarters to London if there is a Yes vote

Asda CEO Andy Clarke said on Thursday: "If we were no longer to operate in one state with one market and - broadly - one set of rules, our business model would inevitably become more complex. We would have to reflect our cost to operate here.

"This is not an argument for or against independence, it is simply an honest recognition of the costs that change could bring."

Former prime minister Gordon Brown said Mr Salmond could not continue to ignore the warnings of retailers, oil companies and the financial services sector.

Mr Salmond attacked a Treasury leak that resulted in RBS's plans being announced in the press of Wednesday night, before the official announcement the following morning.

He wrote to the Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood demanding to know how the leak had occurred and calling on Mr Cameron to explain the Treasury's conduct.

Yes campaign leader Alex Salmond demanded an investigation into a leak

A Treasury source responded on Thursday night, telling Sky News: "It's nonsense - desperate distraction tactics."

Sir Jeremy responded that the Treasury had simply been confirming what the situation was after reports had appeared elsewhere in the media and there was no breach of the Ministerial Code.

Scotland's Clydesdale Bank also confirmed it would be re-registering in England if voters opted for independence, and Standard Life, which employs 5,000 in Scotland, said it would move some operations south of the border.

A poll released on Thursday, by Survation, found 53% were expected to vote No, and 47% yes. This was unchanged from August 28.

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Amazon To Create Thousands Of Jobs In London

Amazon has announced plans to open a new London office with the potential for more than 3,000 extra jobs.

The online retailer, which already employs 1,700 people in its existing UK offices, said its main corporate office would switch to a building in Shoreditch in 2017.

Amazon said its plans would increase its total office-based capacity to more than 5,000 employees in London.

Christopher North, Amazon UK's managing director, said: "We have already invested well over £1bn and created more than 7,000 permanent jobs across the UK.

"To support our continued growth in the UK, we have secured this exceptional building giving us the capacity to hire thousands of new employees in London in the coming years, in addition to the thousands of permanent roles we will create across our UK fulfilment and customer service centres."

Pic: Brookfield Property Partners

Amazon said its decision meant all corporate employees would be located in London by the summer of 2015 across three offices within the capital.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, welcomed the news.

He said: "Our city is the perfect home for top tech talent and I am very pleased that Amazon have confirmed their intention to create thousands of new jobs at a major new base in east London.

"We are proving time and again that we have the right places and people to support this vibrant sector."

Amazon said it new Principal Place building would offer it 600,000 square feet over 15 storeys.

The site, the company added, would provide "half an acre of public piazza and events space" and 20,000 square feet of retail, including cafes and restaurants offering alfresco dining.

The developers, Brookfield Property Partners, said Principal Place was destined to become the "go-to" link between the City and the media-tech sector in Hackney and Shoreditch.

Its statement said: "We are delighted to have signed a lease agreement with such a prestigious anchor tenant and we can now turn our attentions to moving the development forward".

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Yahoo Faced Huge Fine Over Surveillance Data

The US government threatened to fine Yahoo $250,000 (£154,000) a day if it failed to turn over customer data to intelligence agencies - a step the search engine company regarded as unconstitutional.

The details emerged after a federal judge ordered the unsealing of some court documents about a legal challenge launched by Yahoo in 2007 against government surveillance.

Yahoo lost the court battle, which experts say helped pave the way for the Prism surveillance programme revealed last year by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Centre, said: "It's always been a little bit behind the curtain as to what internet companies do when they actually receive these requests.

"Now we have evidence that Yahoo did in fact fight this battle and look at considerable fines as a consequence of not disclosing the data.

"It tells us how very serious the Bush administration was about trying to get the internet firms to turn over this data. Until the disclosure, it was mostly hearsay that they were willing to impose these penalties."

US internet companies are eager to disclose as much as they can about the procedure through which federal agencies request their user data in secret courts, in part because of worries about the impact on their business.

On Thursday, Yahoo said it would begin to make public some 1,500 previously classified pages documenting the lengthy tussle with the US government.

"Despite the declassification and release, portions of the documents remain sealed and classified to this day, unknown even to our team," Yahoo general counsel Ron Bell said in a blog post on the company's website.

Earlier this year, Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft and Google began publishing details about the number of secret government requests for data they receive, hoping to show their limited involvement in US surveillance efforts.

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Sailorless Ships Could Travel The World

Forget driverless cars, how about sailorless ships?

With automated road vehicles apparently just around the corner, the European Union is funding a project to look at whether a similar system could be implemented at sea.

Project Munin - named after a raven from Norse mythology - would likely see international cargo shipping more energy and cost efficient.

The technology required already exists, but the safety of the systems must first be proven.

After that, changes would have to be made in international maritime regulations to allow them to travel the seas.

In a report, marine technology researcher Ørnulf Rødseth said: "The technology for electronic positioning, satellite communications, and anti-collision measures already exists."

But he added: "We mustn't forget that current rules and legislation all assume that there are people on board."

He said 75% of accidents at sea are caused by human error, and that automation has the potential to reduce this.

Without a human crew on board for which to extort ransoms, automated ships could be less vulnerable to piracy.

One operator - situated on land - could control up to 10 vessels at one time, according to the report.

The ships would by powered by natural gas rather than diesel fuel, which would reduce maintenance requirements.

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Barclays Names McFarlane As New Chairman

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Barclays has named one of Scotland's most senior businessmen as its next chairman, recruiting John McFarlane from the FTSE 100 insurance giant Aviva.

Confirming a report by Sky News, Barclays said on Friday that Mr McFarlane, who also chairs the Aberdeen-based transport group FirstGroup, would take over as Sir David Walker's successor next year.

A former board member at Royal Bank of Scotland, Mr McFarlane will be replaced at Aviva by existing board member Sir Adrian Montague, one of Britain's leading industrialists.

The appointment of McFarlane at Barclays ends a six-month search by the bank for a successor to Sir David, who took the helm in the wake of the Libor rate-rigging scandal in 2012.

A well-regarded City figure, Mr McFarlane will be charged with leading Barclays' rehabilitation alongside Antony Jenkins, the chief executive who has faced a difficult year after another shareholder row over bonus payments to staff.

There have been signs in recent months, however, that Mr Jenkins has begun to win long-term support from investors for his plans to overhaul Barclays, which include shrinking its investment bank and cutting thousands of jobs across its global operations.

Mr McFarlane, who will also relinquish the chairmanship at FirstGroup next year, said he was "excited" to be asked to chair Barclays.

A former chief executive of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and executive at Standard Chartered, he has also served on the board of Royal Bank of Scotland.

Sir David said: "I am delighted that Barclays has appointed John McFarlane to succeed me as Chairman.

"We are making good progress toward the delivery of our strategic objectives and I have every confidence that John will work very successfully with Antony Jenkins in leading this great bank through the next phase of that journey."

Mr McFarlane's arrival is likely to herald a string of changes in Barclays' boardroom, with Sir John Sunderland, who led the search for the new chairman, and Sir Mike Rake, the CBI president who is the bank's deputy chair, expected to step down.

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Scotland: Pub Boss Downs Cost Sceptics

The chairman of pub chain JD Wetherspoon, Tim Martin, has told Sky News he does not share the view that price rises are inevitable if Scotland goes it alone.

His comments will be seen as a boost to the Yes campaign of First Minister Alex Salmond after a string of major banks and retailers warned of potential cost increases under independence from the UK.

Asda and John Lewis said on Thursday that sums would inevitably be passed on to the consumer while BP went as far as to say that it opposed independence.

Sky's City Editor Mark Kleinman reported earlier on Friday that major telecoms firms were considering a similar warning on the issue of costs.

But Mr Martin, whose company operates 67 pubs in Scotland, suggested such statements were premature and "greatly exaggerated".

Mr Martin argues independence is no barrier to success

He told Business Presenter Ian King: "It will entirely depend on the policies that Scotland follows.

"We all know that New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland - small populations, extremely successful economies with their own currencies can do very well - so it becomes a question of what are the policies they're going to have."

For example, Britain is a terribly highly taxed country for pubs and if Scotland were  to say we're going to reduce excise duty to European levels, we're going to have the same VAT for pubs and supermarkets - because it's much higher for pubs in Britain at the moment - beer prices will go down".

He added: "Alex and I could be having a pint together in Vincent Square in Glasgow sometime soon".

Mr Martin, who has not taken sides in the referendum debate, spoke out following the release of the company's preliminary results for its last financial year, which showed record sales as a consequence of new pub openings and longer opening hours.

Profit before tax increased by 3.1% to £79.4m.

Mr Martin said the company generated £600.2m in taxes - the equivalent of £662,000 per pub - and employed an extra 3,000 staff.

He has consistently argued that a more favourable tax regime would allow him to invest more in new pubs and the creation of jobs.

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Telecoms Giants In Talks On Independence Vote

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Some of Britain's biggest telecoms groups are posed to deliver a collective warning that an independent Scotland would dramatically inflate their costs, raising the spectre of across-the-board price rises for consumers north of the border.

Sky News has learnt that BT, EE, O2, TalkTalk and Vodafone are in talks about a joint statement that would refer to "the inevitability of cost increases" for operators as a consequence of uncertainties over regulation and the currency that Scotland would use.

The letter is understood to be being co-ordinated by the CBI, whose president, Sir Mike Rake, is also chairman of BT Group. A source said John Cridland, the CBI director-general, was involved in the talks.

Senior telecoms industry sources confirmed the discussions and said that a statement could be issued as soon as Friday afternoon if agreement could be reached on the wording.

Sir Mike Rake is chairman of BT

As currently drafted, it is understood to focus on cost increases, although one executive said: "It doesn't take a genius to work out that that would translate into price rises.

"You are talking about a market of five million people rather than 62 million, a new regulator and even possibly a price freeze. How could prices not go up?"

At least two of the companies are said to be undecided about whether to put their names to the statement, reflecting the anxiety with which the bosses of major UK companies are treating the Scottish independence debate.

EE has previously said: "Independence is entirely an issue for the Scottish people. Any political changes could of course add complexity to our operations and for this reason we are keeping a close eye on the referendum.  We remain fully committed to our network, employees and customers in Scotland."

The need to agree wording that is acceptable to all of the companies means the statement could be delayed or even abandoned if there is not deemed to be sufficient support for it across the industry, one person said.

BT, which has an obligation to deliver telecoms services across the UK under the terms of its licence, is understood to be particularly concerned about the cost implications of an independent Scotland.

It remains unclear whether there would be a separate regulator for the telecoms industry, how it would operate, or what infrastructure commitments operators would be required to make.

In his CBI capacity, Sir Mike told the Financial Times on Friday there would be a "decade of uncertainty" if Scotland voted to secede from the UK.

A separate statement signed by retail bosses including Sir Ian Cheshire, chief executive of B&Q-owner Kingfisher, and Marc Bolland of Marks & Spencer is also due to be published in the next 24 hours.

The prospective interventions of the telecoms and retail bosses also underlines the relative success David Cameron has had since he urged business leaders on Monday night to speak out in favour of the union.

Earlier this week, a succession of Scottish-domiciled banks including Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, TSB and Tesco Bank said they would move their legal registration or establish new English legal entities if Scotland votes Yes next week.

The co-ordinated appearance of these industry announcements has angered Alex Salmond, leader of the independence movement, who has accused the Prime Minister and industry bosses of "scaremongering" to rally support for a No vote.

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Chancellor Cancels Trip Due to Yes Vote 'Risks'

The Chancellor has cancelled an official trip to Australia because of the potential economic risks of a Scottish Yes vote.

George Osborne and the Bank of England Governor Mark Carney are pulling out of a meeting of the G20 on September 20 and 21.

The decision comes as polls show the Yes and No camps neck and neck ahead of the crucial independence referendum on September 18.

The are also growing warnings from businesses over the impact of a Yes vote.

Mark Carney is to return early from Australia for the result

The Bank has confirmed that Mr Carney - who is due to chair a meeting of the financial stability board of bank regulators in Cairns on Wednesday - will now return early to be back in time for the result.

And the Treasury said that Mr Osborne will not now be going to the weekend summit so will be the UK for the outcome of the vote.

"I can confirm that he is not attending," a Treasury spokesman said.

The Bank said that Mr Carney will be represented at the G20 by the deputy governor for financial stability, Sir Jon Cunliffe.

The latest opinion poll on independence suggests the result is on a knife edge, with both side neck and neck.

With less than a week to go, a new survey for Guardian and ICM indicate support for the No campaign is on 51%, while those in favour of Yes is just 2% behind on 49%.

But 17% of those asked said they had still not made up their minds.

Another poll also suggests the Better Together campaign has narrowly edged back into the lead with a 4% gap.

A YouGov survey put No on 52% and Yes on 48%.

The results came as as several independent heavyweights expressed their concerns if Scotland was to vote to become a separate country.

Asda and John Lewis said the increased costs of operating in an independent Scotland would inevitably be passed on to the consumer, leading to higher prices.

But Tim Martin, chairman of JD Wetherspoon, has told Sky News that price rises are not inevitable if Scotland votes for independence.

RBS, which has been based in Scotland since 1727 and employs 11,500 people there, also confirmed it would be moving its headquarters to London if Scotland voted for independence.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), meanwhile, said a vote for independence could have a negative effect on the markets in the short-term because of "uncertainty".

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Salmond: 'Intimidation Is Going To Backfire'

A confident Alex Salmond has told Sky News the "orchestrated campaign of intimidation" by opponents of independence will "spectacularly backfire".

Mr Salmond was speaking after a new opinion poll gave the "No" campaign an eight point lead on the final weekend of campaigning ahead of the vote on September 18.

A leading bank has also warned a "Yes" vote could be a mistake akin to those that sparked the Great Depression, and more retailers have said independence would mean higher prices.

Mr Salmond said: "Isn't it rather humiliating when a Prime Minister has to call in big business into Downing Street to try and get them to say negative things about Scotland because he's not capable of carrying forward a political campaign himself.

Coverage starts at 9pm

"I think this orchestrated campaign of intimidation is going to backfire, is backfiring spectacularly on the no campaign and we'll see the results of that next Thursday.

"The people of Scotland are not going to have big government orchestrating big oil and big supermarkets to tell us we can't run our own country."

The latest poll, which was commissioned by the Better Together campaign and carried out by Survation, has the "No" vote on 54% and the "Yes" camp on 46% when undecided voters are factored out.

Deutsche Bank has claimed that the economic arguments against independence are "overwhelming".

Alex Salmond's cause will be backed by 35,000 volunteers this weekend

Chief economist David Folkerts-Landau said a Yes vote could be a "mistake as large as Winston Churchill's decision in 1925 to return the pound to the Gold Standard or the failure of the Federal Reserve to provide sufficient liquidity to the US banking system, which we now know brought on the Great Depression in the US".

Scotland's SNP Government accused him of failing to take into account the country's "strong fiscal position", and two senior bankers also hit out at the claim, calling it "preposterous" and "disingenuous".

Ian Blackford, who used to run Deutsche Bank's operations in Scotland and the Netherlands, and Edward McDowell, a former risk manager for Lloyds Banking Group, played down the warnings.

It comes after it was revealed Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland have drawn up plans to move their legal bases to London in the event of a "Yes" vote.

An estimated 10,000 people attended a rally by the Orange Order

Mr Salmond said there is "overwhelming evidence that the Treasury's fingerprints are all over the Royal Bank leak".

However a Treasury source told Sky News earlier this week: "It's nonsense - desperate distraction tactics."

Former prime minister Gordon Brown has also said Mr Salmond cannot continue to ignore warnings from retailers, oil companies and the financial services sector.

Meanwhile, three more retailers - Marks and Spencer, B&Q and Timpson - have said customers would be hit by higher prices under independence, in a letter published in the Daily Record.

A sign of support for the Union during the Orange Order march

Asda and John Lewis made similar assertions this week.

Many of Britain's newspapers reported on comments by a former SNP deputy leader which appeared to threaten recriminations against businesses that backed a "No" vote.

Jim Sillars said there would be "a day of reckoning with BP and the banks" if Scotland votes Yes, adding that BP would "need to learn the meaning of nationalisation".

Mr Salmond praised Mr Sillars's dedication to the campaign but said rather than a "day of reckoning", a Yes vote would be followed by a "day of celebration".

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