18/09/2014 World News Today


18/09/2014

Similar Content

Browse content similar to 18/09/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

This is BBC World News Today with me Philippa Thomas.

:00:00.:00:08.

It's decision day for Scotland - a vote that could shake up the nation,

:00:09.:00:11.

the United Kingdom and Europe. A record turnout is expected

:00:12.:00:14.

of voters answering the single simple question, Should

:00:15.:00:22.

Scotland be an independent country? We have a special report from the

:00:23.:00:25.

frontline where the Syrian Army is fighting Islamic State militants.

:00:26.:00:40.

The Syrians say the soldiers are experienced, battle hardened and

:00:41.:00:44.

fighting every day. Also coming up:

:00:45.:00:49.

Ukraine's president tells the US Congress that

:00:50.:00:51.

his war is not Ukraine's alone, it is also Europe's and America's.

:00:52.:00:54.

But will they give him much more than warm applause?

:00:55.:00:56.

And is the food in your fridge really still fresh?

:00:57.:00:59.

We'll talk to the prize-winning inventor of a hi-tech safety check.

:01:00.:01:11.

Hello and welcome. After months of campaigning

:01:12.:01:16.

and passionate debate, the people of Scotland are finally

:01:17.:01:19.

casting their vote to decide whether Scotland should become

:01:20.:01:23.

an independent country. Queues formed outside polling

:01:24.:01:24.

stations from first thing this morning.

:01:25.:01:26.

A record turnout is expectedwith more than 4.2 million people

:01:27.:01:30.

registered to vote. In just three hours time

:01:31.:01:33.

the polls will close and the vote counting will begin.

:01:34.:01:37.

By Friday morning we should know the result of this historic ballot.

:01:38.:01:41.

The BBC's Special Correspondent Allan Little reports.

:01:42.:01:49.

This long campaign has reached into every remote corner of Scotland.

:01:50.:01:58.

Today it is time to decide. This ballot box was on its way to an

:01:59.:02:03.

island with a population of less than 100. An unprecedented 97% of

:02:04.:02:12.

the electorate are registered to vote. In Edinburgh the grey autumn

:02:13.:02:19.

weather did not keep voters away. This is an important state for

:02:20.:02:21.

Scotland. I think so, for This is an important state for

:02:22.:02:32.

generations as well. It is probably the most important day of my life,

:02:33.:02:37.

the future of the country and all of Britain. It will be exciting and

:02:38.:02:41.

interesting to see which one will win. Those at the top of the

:02:42.:02:51.

campaign voted early. So did two others who played key roles. The

:02:52.:03:03.

former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Deputy First Minister Nicholas

:03:04.:03:10.

Virgin. The votes from 5500 polling stations will be counted from

:03:11.:03:17.

Shetland to Dumfries and Galloway. Here at Ingliston on the outskirts

:03:18.:03:23.

of Edinburgh is clear the announcement will be made. I am

:03:24.:03:30.

focus on making sure the process go well and even if people do not like

:03:31.:03:34.

the result at the end of the day they will at least trust it. My job

:03:35.:03:40.

is to insure the integrity of the process. Reporters and television

:03:41.:03:47.

crews from around the world have come to Edinburgh for what is

:03:48.:03:53.

happening here is unprecedented in a modern European democracy. The BBC

:03:54.:04:01.

will have live coverage as all the results come in. In the other vote

:04:02.:04:06.

taking place in Scotland today we can give you a result now. The

:04:07.:04:13.

famous and ancient golf club in St Andrews has voted to allow women to

:04:14.:04:21.

become members. 85% of those who voted were in favour. The cop said

:04:22.:04:27.

there where a significant number of women who would be fast tracked to

:04:28.:04:29.

membership in the coming months. Julie Peacock is in our Glasgow

:04:30.:04:32.

newsroom. What has it been like? The polls

:04:33.:04:45.

opened at seven this morning. But reports from the polling stations

:04:46.:04:52.

are that it has been busy all day. No reports of any major queueing at

:04:53.:04:58.

the moment but a steady and firm number of people coming in to vote.

:04:59.:05:04.

Around 97% of the Scottish electorate have registered to vote,

:05:05.:05:14.

that allows -- amounts to 4.2 million people. They will be asked

:05:15.:05:18.

the question should Scotland become a independent country with the

:05:19.:05:26.

simple choice of yes or no. We will not know the result until the polls

:05:27.:05:31.

close at ten o'clock tonight which is when we will get some idea of how

:05:32.:05:37.

many people have voted, what the turnout will be like and eventually

:05:38.:05:43.

what the result will be. Do we know if people still in line at ten

:05:44.:05:49.

o'clock will be allowed to Fort? Yes, the law has changed because of

:05:50.:05:54.

problems with recent general elections in the UK. Anyone at a

:05:55.:06:03.

polling station, either inside or in a queue outside, they will be

:06:04.:06:09.

allowed to vote. People will still be able to vote because it is

:06:10.:06:14.

something that has engaged the entire population and many people

:06:15.:06:18.

want to put the vote today whenever they can. You are in for that very

:06:19.:06:23.

exciting few hours. Thank you. Islamic State militants have

:06:24.:06:29.

released a new video featuring a British hostage.

:06:30.:06:32.

The man is not Alan Henning, the British hostage threatened with

:06:33.:06:34.

death by the militants at the weekend.

:06:35.:06:35.

The footage of John Cantlie is different

:06:36.:06:38.

from previous videos as it does not feature anyone being beheaded,

:06:39.:06:40.

and no IS militants are seen. Our security correspondent

:06:41.:06:41.

Gordon Corera has more. The latest release from the group

:06:42.:06:53.

calling itself Islamic State is another propaganda video. It is

:06:54.:06:58.

different from the last. This one features the British journalist who

:06:59.:07:04.

says he is a prisoner and his life hangs in the balance as he reads

:07:05.:07:11.

from a script. After two disastrous and hugely unpopular wars in

:07:12.:07:17.

Afghanistan and Iraq why is it that our governments seem so keen to get

:07:18.:07:20.

involved in another unwinnable conflict? There is criticism of

:07:21.:07:27.

British and American intervention in Iraq and the current policy. This

:07:28.:07:33.

video is different from others we have seen recently, it is filmed

:07:34.:07:38.

inside and not in the Desert, no-one is killed in it. The group's aim is

:07:39.:07:46.

similar, using a hostage to try to affect public opinion and challenge

:07:47.:07:53.

policy. This was the freelance journalist, John Cantlie, in Syria

:07:54.:07:57.

before he was first detained in 2012. He tried to escape and was

:07:58.:08:05.

short but was eventually freed by a read by the free Syrian army where

:08:06.:08:12.

he was held. He went back in November 2012 and was captured

:08:13.:08:17.

again, this time with James Foley, the American journalist seem killed

:08:18.:08:26.

in a video a month ago. His family have now been informed about

:08:27.:08:30.

today's video which the government has condemned.

:08:31.:08:40.

Police in Australia have carried out one of their largest ever

:08:41.:08:43.

anti-terrorism raids after allegedly receiving intelligence that

:08:44.:08:47.

militants connected with Islamic State were planning to kidnap

:08:48.:08:51.

and behead a member of the public. Details of the operation,

:08:52.:08:53.

which involved hundreds of police officers in Sydney

:08:54.:08:55.

and Brisbane, were announced by the Prime Minister Tony Abbott

:08:56.:08:56.

who said his country was at "serious Our Middle East correspondent has

:08:57.:09:21.

been given a rare access to the Syrian army. A district on the edge

:09:22.:09:31.

of Damascus city centre. It has been fought over since rebels seized it

:09:32.:09:38.

two years ago. A new government offensive is happening now. The way

:09:39.:09:48.

Sony and is used to live is a memory. The Syrian army allowed us

:09:49.:09:58.

into a small corner of the front line. A Minute Drive from the south

:09:59.:10:07.

of Damascus. This village was recaptured recently from rebels

:10:08.:10:11.

after hard fighting. This is a small outpost, 300 metres separate the

:10:12.:10:18.

front lines. What happened here it says a lot about the war and how do

:10:19.:10:23.

the fight against Islamic state might go. These Syrian soldiers said

:10:24.:10:29.

they were volunteers and the West was finally catching up with the

:10:30.:10:35.

belief that on the opposite sides of the lines were religious extremists.

:10:36.:10:42.

Morale was high. These Syrian general guarding this sector who

:10:43.:10:47.

seemed popular with his men, did not want to identify himself. Islamic

:10:48.:10:53.

State is a threat on the wall world. They control Syria and will

:10:54.:10:59.

take us back to the stone age. Said he can crush them without the help

:11:00.:11:09.

of the Americans. The afternoon firefight started when bullets came

:11:10.:11:15.

in from rebel positions. The Syrian army has been much more effective

:11:16.:11:21.

than its enemies expected. The Syrian's say any attempt to fight

:11:22.:11:28.

the soldiers will not work because they are experienced, battle

:11:29.:11:37.

hardened and fighting every day. The US and UK believe this army is the

:11:38.:11:44.

tool of a brutal dictator. The Syrian soldiers were shooting at a

:11:45.:11:49.

mix of Al-Qaeda sympathisers and supported moderates who the

:11:50.:11:56.

Americans want to use to fight Islamic State. Syrian soldiers say

:11:57.:12:01.

the West should help them fight jihadists. Because I come here to

:12:02.:12:09.

fight people who want to destroy our country. I want to save my sisters,

:12:10.:12:16.

brothers and father, the great Syrian people. The politics are

:12:17.:12:23.

getting more tangled and more bloody. Staying with the situation

:12:24.:12:36.

in Syria, the United Nations are saying they will have to cut food

:12:37.:12:47.

rations to Syrian people because of the lack of funding. This comes as

:12:48.:12:54.

Syrians are preparing for the fourth winter of the Syrian civil war.

:12:55.:13:00.

Now a look at some of the days other news.

:13:01.:13:03.

Francois Hollande says France is ready to carry out air strikes

:13:04.:13:06.

against Islamic State militants in Iraq.

:13:07.:13:08.

But the French President insists he will not deploy ground troops there,

:13:09.:13:11.

and he will not intervene in Syria. Mr Hollande's comments come

:13:12.:13:13.

in response to a request for aerial support from the Iraqi government.

:13:14.:13:16.

The Chinese President and Indian Prime Minister have

:13:17.:13:18.

announced landmark economic deals, on the second day of

:13:19.:13:20.

Mr Xi Jinping's visit to India. China plans to build two industrial

:13:21.:13:23.

parks in India, as part of its overall investment of twenty billion

:13:24.:13:27.

dollars in the next five years. Fire crews in California's Sierra

:13:28.:13:31.

Nevada are battling a blaze that threatens at least 2,000 homes and

:13:32.:13:34.

has displaced hundreds of residents. The so-called King Fire is the most

:13:35.:13:37.

menacing of 11 major wildfires currently threatening California

:13:38.:13:45.

after a prolonged drought. Thailand's prime minister has

:13:46.:13:49.

apologised for suggesting that it's 'unsafe'

:13:50.:13:52.

for tourists to wear bikinis - unless they are unattractive.

:13:53.:13:55.

His widely-criticised comments, came as the police continued

:13:56.:13:58.

their search for the killers of two British holidaymakers.

:13:59.:14:01.

David Miller and Hannah Witheridge were found dead on a beach

:14:02.:14:06.

on Monday. Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko

:14:07.:14:09.

has appealed to members of the US Congress for military help

:14:10.:14:13.

for Ukrainian soldiers fighting pro-Russia separatists

:14:14.:14:17.

in the east of Ukraine. His address to the joint session of

:14:18.:14:20.

Congress followed a meeting with the US Secretary of State John Kerry.

:14:21.:14:23.

He told Congress that non-lethal material was not enough,

:14:24.:14:26.

that his soldiers needed more than night-vision goggles

:14:27.:14:30.

and blankets to win. He said that support for Ukrainian

:14:31.:14:32.

soldiers was in America?s interest. these young men are fighting today

:14:33.:14:43.

is not only Ukraine's war. It is Europe's and it is America's

:14:44.:14:45.

too. Today aggression

:14:46.:14:48.

against Ukraine is a threat to global security everywhere,

:14:49.:14:57.

hybrid proxy war terrorism. the erosion of the national

:14:58.:15:01.

and international agreements, the blurring and even erasing

:15:02.:15:06.

of national identities. All these threats now

:15:07.:15:10.

challenge Europe. If they are not stopped now,

:15:11.:15:14.

they will cross European borders and spread absolutely throughout

:15:15.:15:17.

the world. To prevent this,

:15:18.:15:20.

Ukrainian soldiers are in the line of fire exactly right now

:15:21.:15:24.

when we have a so-called ceasefire. Willis Sparks is from the

:15:25.:15:33.

Eurasia Group research firm Do you think the Ukraine president

:15:34.:15:48.

will get that militaries sport, that lethal aid that he is asking for?

:15:49.:15:54.

No. He warned. I think that the extended lead in on Iraq and Syria

:15:55.:15:58.

makes clear that the president of the United States and a lot of other

:15:59.:16:01.

leaders around the world have their plates full with not only this

:16:02.:16:06.

conflict but others as well. Frankly, Iraq Obama believes

:16:07.:16:10.

correctly that he was elected to end war is not to start new ones. That

:16:11.:16:15.

is not to say that the US will not help Ukraine. They will continue to

:16:16.:16:19.

provide financial support for the new government in Kiev which is

:16:20.:16:24.

vitally important for the Ukraine government's long-term survival.

:16:25.:16:27.

There will be sanctions on Russia to increase the price for the Russians

:16:28.:16:30.

of every action that they take that threatens Ukraine. Blankets and

:16:31.:16:37.

night goggles may not be enough but for the moment he is unlikely to see

:16:38.:16:41.

more than lethal forms of aid. How much do you think the White House

:16:42.:16:48.

worries about provoking Russia? Well, I don't think they worry about

:16:49.:16:51.

provoking Russia in the broader sense, because if they were they

:16:52.:16:56.

would not have gone as far, frankly, as they have already gone in

:16:57.:16:59.

sanctions on Russia's energy sector, it's a natural sector, and it's the

:17:00.:17:06.

natural sector. I think what the US wants to avoid is to be a good it

:17:07.:17:10.

did in a shooting war where it is not clear how that conflict would

:17:11.:17:13.

play out, what reaction on the ground is my provoke, and in

:17:14.:17:20.

general, when you add more weapons into a conflict zone, it is always

:17:21.:17:25.

very difficult to say where those weapons will end up in any given

:17:26.:17:28.

circumstance if the balance of power shifts. Ukraine's new leaders have

:17:29.:17:32.

made it clear they would like to join the European Union. They would

:17:33.:17:35.

like the Natal security guarantee. If there are any chance of the

:17:36.:17:41.

things happening? -- Natal security guarantee. Rob Lynott. There is very

:17:42.:17:54.

little appetite in Europe at the moment to support countries as

:17:55.:17:56.

unstable as Ukraine, given all the other worries going on. The various

:17:57.:18:03.

separatist movements that we are seeing in the UK today and in Spain,

:18:04.:18:08.

Belgium, and elsewhere. There has been an agreement signed between the

:18:09.:18:15.

EU and Ukraine that will certainly keep in both trade and political

:18:16.:18:20.

tides, but membership of the EU is a very long-term project, and

:18:21.:18:28.

membership of NATO is even more theoretical. If you would like to

:18:29.:18:34.

appease the Russians, it might be some sort of guarantee that

:18:35.:18:39.

Ukraine's membership of NATO is postponed indefinitely. It has not

:18:40.:18:43.

been offered yet, but it is probably the best thing available for the

:18:44.:18:50.

long-term struggle. Banking. -- thank you.

:18:51.:18:51.

The sister of a Russian soldier killed near the Ukrainian border has

:18:52.:18:54.

She says that the Russian authorities gave her conflicting

:18:55.:18:58.

accounts of what happened to her brother, with one official saying he

:18:59.:19:01.

was killed by artillery from ukraine, but another that he

:19:02.:19:03.

The alleged involvement of Russian troops in fighting against Ukrainian

:19:04.:19:07.

After filming the BBC team was attacked and then arrested.

:19:08.:19:10.

The BBC has lodged a formal complaint to Moscow

:19:11.:19:12.

Our correspondent there Steve Rosenberg picks up the story.

:19:13.:19:27.

Constantine fought in Chechnya. This summer, he performed his final

:19:28.:19:29.

mission. When he called to say he was going

:19:30.:19:31.

away he sounded kind of scared. He said,

:19:32.:19:34.

I will be heading south west. I thought he meant the Ukrainian

:19:35.:19:36.

border. I told him to stay safe. Three weeks later,

:19:37.:19:48.

her brother was killed in exercises I asked that official,

:19:49.:19:51.

"Do you believe the words you are I just want to understand how

:19:52.:20:01.

my brother was killed. Perhaps not everyone here is

:20:02.:20:11.

so keen to know the truth. A few hours after that interview, we

:20:12.:20:15.

were attacked by at least three men, They hit our cameraman, smashed

:20:16.:20:18.

the camera, and drove off with it. We didn't expect our day to end here

:20:19.:20:25.

in the hospital, we are here because our cameraman is having x-rays and

:20:26.:20:31.

being checked out after the attack. Someone clearly didn't want

:20:32.:20:35.

our report to be broadcast. After four hours

:20:36.:20:40.

at a police station, back in the car, we discovered our

:20:41.:20:42.

equipment had been tampered with. Someone cleaned the hard drive

:20:43.:20:48.

on my computer. Luckily, we had made copies

:20:49.:20:53.

of the interview. State-controlled media portrays

:20:54.:21:11.

these soldiers as volunteers who've taken leave of absence to go and

:21:12.:21:17.

fight. Those independent Russian journalist brave enough to conduct

:21:18.:21:21.

their own investigations face threats and intimidation. They say

:21:22.:21:31.

there is no war. They say our soldiers are not involved. So who's

:21:32.:21:36.

to blame his death? How did this happen? I am tortured by this

:21:37.:21:42.

question. It is a simple question. All she wants is an answer.

:21:43.:21:47.

When the James Dyson Foundation asked young people to

:21:48.:21:49.

"design something that solves a problem" for an engineering

:21:50.:21:55.

competition, they received some remarkable submissions.

:21:56.:21:57.

Winners included the PrintAlive BioPrinter, which 3D prints complex

:21:58.:21:59.

structures mimicking human skin layers that can be used to close

:22:00.:22:03.

the wounds of severe burn victims, Solari, a solar powered outdoor

:22:04.:22:10.

cooker, and Mima, a kit to inspect a beehive without

:22:11.:22:12.

An overall winner will be announced in November.

:22:13.:22:20.

With me is Solveiga Pakstaite a Lithuanian Industrial Design

:22:21.:22:22.

Technology student from Brunel University who was one

:22:23.:22:24.

She designed 'Bump Mark' a bio-reactive food expiry label which

:22:25.:22:32.

shows you exactly when your food is going off so you don't have to rely

:22:33.:22:36.

Tell me why we needed this. I noticed that we waste a lot of food

:22:37.:22:56.

annually. It is clearly an issue and the current expiry labels are not

:22:57.:22:59.

working so well to prevent this. Another problem is visually impaired

:23:00.:23:05.

people are not able to gain this type of information at all. They

:23:06.:23:10.

have no clue about the freshness of their food. Yes, they have to

:23:11.:23:18.

guess, and perhaps end up throwing food away to be cautious, and that

:23:19.:23:22.

is money they don't have. One third of blind people are not in paid

:23:23.:23:28.

employment, so it is a struggle. This is why this is tactile. I

:23:29.:23:35.

wanted the texture to change, to let them know. So this is an food

:23:36.:23:41.

packaging, you will have a little marker, and tell me about the

:23:42.:23:46.

texture. What should you feel? If the food is fresh, it should feel

:23:47.:23:50.

solid. When it expires, you will start to feel bumps. The way it

:23:51.:23:56.

works is that you put a solid gelatin gel on top of the bumps, the

:23:57.:24:00.

Yukon QB bombs, and then the gelatin has this property, because it is a

:24:01.:24:03.

natural substance, it expires just like food, it turns back into a

:24:04.:24:09.

liquid when it expires, so that enables you to feel the dumps. So if

:24:10.:24:16.

it feels smooth you know your food is safe. Sometimes we do all we food

:24:17.:24:25.

that is too fresh. Exactly. My research found that 87% look at the

:24:26.:24:32.

expiry date and if it has expired, they want even check the condition

:24:33.:24:36.

of it, they want smell it, they will just throw it away. You have used

:24:37.:24:44.

gelatin. Have you had interest from industry, from business, you think

:24:45.:24:47.

this is a workable idea as well as a brilliant concept? I have currently

:24:48.:24:53.

got a patented pending for this, so it is protected, and I was able to

:24:54.:24:57.

do that because I won a scholarship with the James Dyson foundation.

:24:58.:25:05.

That's let me finance... It was an extensive recess, so I was able to

:25:06.:25:09.

file for patents. Now I can get to the next age of finding an investor,

:25:10.:25:13.

so I am talking to a view different comedies about this. Commercial

:25:14.:25:18.

confidence gelatin. This kind of scheme, I suppose, allows you to

:25:19.:25:23.

work without a big company behind you at the beginning. Yes, I was

:25:24.:25:30.

able to take this as far as it could go within my university. And now

:25:31.:25:33.

you're going to a global edition. How exciting. You could get

:25:34.:25:38.

inspiration from the other products as well. Yes, it is Williams firing.

:25:39.:25:49.

-- it is really inspiring. We are going to regroup with the astronomy

:25:50.:25:53.

photographer of the year awards. This year is no exception to the

:25:54.:25:57.

stunning images that have been provided. It is as good as

:25:58.:27:01.

as we look ahead to the weekend, it looks a lot fresher with some

:27:02.:27:07.

welcome sunshine coming from the north. With this weather

:27:08.:27:08.

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS