UK - Alex Salmond’s biggest lie, that an independent Scotland could float onward and upward on the strength its oil and gas resources, has finally been nailed. The greatest authority on Scottish oil, Sir Ian Wood – together with the bosses of BP and Shell – has exposed it as pure fantasy. Wood, founder of Scotland’s world-leading oil services firm Wood Group, has accused the Scottish Nationalists of misleading voters with ‘highly inaccurate forecasts, false promises and misleading information’. His intervention, along with that of Bob Dudley of BP and Ben van Beurden of Shell, delivers a devastating blow to claims being made by Salmond and his acolytes that North Sea oil, augmented by unexploited opportunities using relatively new ‘fracking’ techniques, could turn Scotland into the next Norway.

UK - Hundreds of thousands of Scottish home owners could see their mortgage repayments increasing far beyond their wages if an independent Scotland is forced to adopt a foreign currency. Mortgage experts have warned that lenders may refuse to switch current loans to a new currency and will instead keep them in sterling. This would leave Scotland's 800,000 home owners at the mercy of currency fluctuations that could lead to higher repayments and even negative equity on their homes. Ray Boulger, a mortgage expert at the mortgage adviser John Charcol, said that lenders did not have clauses in their terms and conditions that would allow them to change the currency of existing loans. If the pound strengthened against the new Scottish currency, borrowers' wages would not stretch as far, sending their repayments shooting up and increasing the mortgage relative to the property's value.

UK - Standard Life, the pensions and insurance giant, has said it is planning to shift large parts of its business to England in the event of a "Yes" vote in this week's Scottish referendum. The Edinburgh-based FTSE 100 company said that "if there was a need to do so", it would make drastic changes to its business structure to cope with Scotland seceding. "This transfer of our business could potentially include pensions, investments and other long-term savings," the company said. The statement is the biggest confirmation yet that major Scottish companies are preparing for a shift south if Scotland votes to secede. Standard Life was the first FTSE 100 company based north of the border to warn of the risks of independence back in February.

UK - Some of the UK's biggest banks will have once-in-a-lifetime decisions to make about their future if Scotland votes in favour of independence this week. One of the key issues worrying the corporate world is the effect of Scottish independence on the banking sector. Share prices in banks most exposed to Scotland have taken a major hit as a "Yes" vote becomes a real possibility, with a clear divide between Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and TSB, and Barclays and HSBC. While Barclays and HSBC are barely exposed to Scotland, the three others are either based north of the border or do a great deal of business there.

UK - Investors are bracing themselves for a potentially "horrific" slide in the value of the pound should Scotland vote for independence… The pound slipped to a fresh ten-month low on Wednesday as concerns that Scots could vote to break up the UK intensified. Sterling slid as low as $1.6051 on Wednesday morning, dipping below the levels set on Monday and Tuesday as investors continue to digest the possibility that Scots will vote to break away from the rest of the UK. Volatility also edged up having already surged in the last week, signalling intense jitters among investors over the fate of the union. Jeremy Cook, chief economist at currency exchange company World First warned that the implications of a Yes vote "could be horrific".

UK - The former Tory Prime Minister questions whether voters have realised what a Yes vote would mean for the currency, their relations with the rest of the UK and their public finances. Scots have not thought through the implications of independence, Sir John Major said on Wednesday as he warned they will become ‘foreigners overnight”. The former Tory Prime Minister described as unprecedented “incompetence” a situation where the Scots do not know what currency they would end up with if they voted Yes. Although there have been repeated warnings from UK ministers and Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, he suggested that some voters will be going to the polls without realising “all the implications” of separation.

VATICAN - A "piecemeal" World War III may have already begun with the current spate of crimes, massacres and destruction, Pope Francis has warned. He was speaking during a visit to Italy's largest military cemetery, where he was commemorating the centenary of World War I. "War is madness," the Pope said at a memorial to 100,000 Italian soldiers at Redipuglia cemetery near Slovenia.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - At the 15th annual Archaeology Conference, organized by Megalim – The City of David’s Institute for Jerusalem Studies, the central theme will be the “Jerusalem of Gold” exhibit, highlighting the history of ancient Jerusalem through her golden antiquities. “Never before have such valuable objects from the past been displayed before the public,” said Ahron Horovitz, Director of Megalim. “It is the opportunity for every individual to experience the authenticity of Jerusalem's history in its most tangible form.”

EUROPE - The tit-for-tat sanction madness in Europe took a huge leap forward today with new sanctions in the work on Russian energy companies. Russia responded by threatening to restrict commercial flights over its airspace and by threatening to halt reverse flows of natural gas to Ukraine. Moscow is seeking to prevent its European customers re-exporting Russian gas to Ukraine, threatening to choke off a crucial lifeline for Kiev and deepen the energy crunch it faces this winter. Why EU and US economic-jackasses think sanctions will accomplish anything positive or change Russia's behavior one bit is at first glance a bit of a mystery. However, economic-jackasses by definition are going to do stupid things, so we should expect more and more of the same failed tactics.

SIBERIA - Spiritual leaders from different corners of the globe gathered for the 'Call of 13 Shamans', a four-day festival held near the village of Khorum-Dag in the Tyva Republic. It is the centre point of the Asian continent and an area that is said to have high spiritual 'charge'. The timing of the event had been chosen to match natural cosmic cycles. The group of shamans, who travelled from countries including Mexico, Mongolia, Greenland, Russia and Korea, began by trekking to isolated locations for three days of meditation before performing a number of ceremonies - many of which originated in prehistory. They then slaughtered animals as a sacrifice before throat-singing, dancing and playing drums in different areas of the mountainous region.

USA - A devil-worshiping group hell-bent on hosting a satanic black mass is planning to go ahead with its controversial ceremony this month, despite fervent protests by residents of Oklahoma City and a lawsuit from the Catholic Church. The co-founder of Dakhma of Angra Mainyu told ABC News that the religious and educational organization decided to hold the black mass in public but it will be a “tamer” version than some traditional satanic ceremonies by, for example, substituting vinegar for acts involving urine to comply with state health laws. The upcoming event has generated controversy because black masses mock Christianity and the rituals that make up their services but organizers see it as an integral part of their religion. "One of the dictates of the church is not only to educate the members but to educate the public,” Dakhma of Angra Mainyu’s Adam Daniels said, “and to debunk the Hollywood-projected image of our beliefs.”

AFRICA - Thousands of new cases of Ebola are expected in the coming weeks as the disease spreads "exponentially" through Liberia, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned. More than 2,000 people have been killed in West Africa by Ebola since the outbreak began this year, including 79 health workers. The UN's health agency has now warned the response to the crisis is "not having an adequate impact" and efforts to contain the virus must be stepped up "three-to-four fold". As WHO staff in Liberia confirm, no free beds for Ebola treatment exist anywhere in the country.

RUSSIA - Russian hackers have apparently hacked millions of Google and Gmail accounts. Around 5 million passwords and usernames for the Google accounts are now posted online. The data just showed up on a Russian website forum. The poster, who goes by the name tvskit, claimed that 60% of the usernames and passwords are legitimate active accounts. The hacked accounts are listed on the Russian website that's been the epicenter for some high-profile leaks over the last few days. Google responded to the leaks claiming that most of the data in this hack is actually old information. Google suspects they were collected over years of phishing attacks on individual accounts, rather than a broad hack on any of Google's systems. Many of the accounts and passwords seem to be old and outdated. That being said, if you haven't changed your password in awhile, your account could still be at risk.

UK – (By Mr Nigel Farage, Member of the European Parliament) In a week’s time, Scotland will not hold a referendum about becoming independent. Everybody is describing it as such. But what is being voted on – and only by those who actually live in Scotland – is separation from England. Understand that and much that is otherwise inexplicable falls into place.

EUROPE - 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 so far remain a bastion of rationalism, holding together as others tear themselves apart. The French are too paralysed by economic depression and the collapse of the Hollande presidency to play any serious role.