TURKEY CONSIDERS MILITARY ROLE AGAINST ISIL

NEW YORK (AP) -- 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday he is considering expanding support for Western and Arab operations against the Islamic State group to include military involvement.

His comments Tuesday to Turkish reporters in New York mark a potential shift in Turkey's position on international efforts to fight the group, hours after the U.S. and Arab allies launched airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria.

Erdogan spoke on the sidelines of an annual meeting of world leaders at the United Nations a day after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he expects a more robust role for Turkey in the fight against the Islamic State group after Ankara secured the release of 49 Turkish hostages that were being held by the extremist group.

Turkey, a U.S. ally and NATO member, has so far not committed to a U.S.-led coalition to take on the militants, who have swallowed large chunks of Syria and Iraq. It made commitments at various regional conferences to help in the effort against the Islamic State group, but help has been limited so far, Kerry said.

Scottish independence referendum poll: the latest tracker

What are the odds that Scotland will become an independent country? Here we track the latest polls as the day of the independence referendum edges closer.
Scottish independence referendum: will Alex Salmond (top) or Alistair Darling
(bottom) win the campaign?
By Michael Wilkinson

Here you can track the latest poll of polls to get the most accurate
picture of how people are likely to vote in the Scottish
independence referendum.
How the polls have changed
Polls for the Scottish referendum continue to indicate a tight vote
on Thursday, with a survey conducted exclusively for The
Telegraph showing on September 17 a narrowing of the No
vote's advantage from six points to four.
With the Opinium research for the Telegraph poll concluding on
Monday, the referendum battle appears to be poised for the closest
possible result.
Overall, some 8 per cent of voters remain undecided. Among
women, however, an increasing number are coming down in
favour of voting No.

Scotland's Pro-Independence Campaign Making Headway

A new opinion poll published on Sunday gave Scotland's pro-independence campaigners a narrow lead for the first time, just 11 days before a referendum will be held on separating from Britain.

The YouGov/Sunday Times poll gave the "Yes" camp 51 percent support compared to the "No" camp's 49 percent, excluding undecided voters.Although the two-point lead is within the margin of error, the findings dramatically up the stakes ahead of the vote on September 18, handing momentum to First Minister Alex Salmond's Scottish National Party (SNP).

The Sunday Times also reported that Queen Elizabeth II feels "a great deal of concern" over the independence vote and has asked for daily updates.Britain's main parties, including Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives, are now expected to reveal a plan for handing more powers to Scots in a bid to keep the 300-year-old union together.

EU delays newly adopted Russia sanctions

New sanctions, which target Russian oil companies for Moscow's involvement in Ukraine, are pushed back a few days

"EU stands ready to review agreed sanctions in whole or in part," European Council President Rompuy says [AFP]

The EU has agreed on new sanctions against Russia over its involvement in the war in Ukraine, but delayed enforcing them to leave time to assess whether the recent ceasefire is holding. "Depending on the situation on the ground, the EU stands ready to review the agreed sanctions in whole or in part," said Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, in a statement, after a last-minute meeting of ambassadors of EU member states in Brussels.

Russia still expects France to deliver Mistral warships: France24

Russia’s Industry Minister Denis Manturov said on Thursday that Moscow still expects France to provide it with the two Mistral warships, despite a decision by Paris to hold off on the delivery because of the crisis in Ukraine.

“Russia assumes that the contract will be fulfilled according to the agreements,” Manturov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

Manturov’s comments appear to dismiss French President François Hollande’s decision to suspend the delivery of “Vladivostok," the first of the two warships, amid mounting tensions with Russia over the situation in Ukraine.

Russian officials also accused France of bowing to the United States on the subject of the sale.

Hollande had for months resisted pressure from Washington and other allies to scrap the 1.2 billion euro ($1.58 billion) contract to deliver two Mistral helicopter carriers.

But on the eve of a NATO summit, the French president changed tack, releasing a strong statement on Wednesday saying that Russia’s recent actions in the country harmed “the foundations of security in Europe”.

UPDATE 2-Ukraine slashes power to Crimea as electricity crisis deepens
Wed, Sep 3 2014
* Power market is in state of emergency
* Fighting in eastern regions halted coal supplies to power plants
* Ukraine supplies 80 pct of Crimea's electricity (Adds quote on possible blackouts, expected coal imports)
By Pavel Polityuk and Svetlana Burmistrova
KIEV/MOSCOW, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Ukraine reduced electricity supplies to consumers in Crimea on Wednesday and threatened to cut power altogether if quotas were breached, as it battles a power crisis on the mainland that threatens to cause rolling blackouts across the country.
Kiev has declared a state of emergency on the electricity market after months of fighting between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian forces disrupted supplies to thermal power plants (TPP), which provide around 40 percent of Ukraine's electricity.

NATO summit to highlight unity against Russia

Leaders of alliance hold talks with Ukraine president in UK, as NATO chief warns of biggest threat since Cold War.

Last updated: 04 Sep 2014 10:58

Rasmussen, right, warned Russian intervention in Ukraine is the most serious security threat since Cold War [EPA]
NATO leaders are holding a summit in the UK in a bid to show unity against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, after France suspended delivery of a warship to Moscow despite a surprise peace plan put forward by the Kremlin.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko held talks with US President Barack Obama and other Western leaders on Thursday on the conflict with pro-Russia rebels in Ukraine ahead of the start of a NATO summit.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has warned that Russian intervention in Ukraine is the most serious security threat since the Cold War, one which the 28 member-states ignore at their peril.

US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron vowed to stand together in support of Ukraine against Russia in a joint statement in the Times newspaper on Thursday.

"Russia has ripped up the rulebook with its illegal, self-declared annexation of Crimea and its troops on Ukrainian soil threatening and undermining a sovereign nation state," the two leaders wrote in an op-ed piece.