13/09/2014 BBC Weekend News

There's been a frenetic round of campaigning for votes

in the last weekend before Thursday's Scottish referendum.

A rally in Edinburgh in support of the union was joined by thousands

of people from all over the United Kingdom, while campaigners for a yes

vote started delivering leaflets to more than 2.5 million homes.

This report from our Scotland correspondent, James Cook.

On Scotland's streets, politics has come alive. They will do a better

job of it. So they are better than us? Passion aplenty, as a nation

debates its future. We will try and persuade one more go for fellow

citizens to join this great Yes Campaign. Will you do that? Yes

campaigners, for so long the underdogs, are now fired up. The

First Minister, Alex Salmond, is touring town after town this

weekend. He continues to dismiss concerns about the cost of

independence. What people want to hear from all campaigners and what

they will hear from the Yes Campaign is a positive vision about the

future of Scotland. On that ground we stand and we are winning. From

the Highlands to the lowlands, Scotland today is a nation frantic

with political activity. This is the busiest day's campaigning in the

history of the country as it tries to decide. In the heart of Glasgow,

campaigners against independents were out in force. Their message, we

are as patriotic as the next Scott what we do not want disruption and

disunity. The Better Together campaign say they have one Thousand

St stalls the length and breadth of Scotland. Political foes from right

and left have come together to campaign for the same cause. I am

confident of victory but not complacent. I am working as hard as

everybody in the campaign. We are all doing an immense amount of work.

The silent majority is finding its voice as we enter the closing

stages. I am looking forward to the result, confident, but there is work

to do. For Scotland, the stakes are getting higher, the referendum ever

closer. Well, today there have been further

warnings about the possible negative consequences

of Scottish independence. Deutsche Bank said

a yes vote would be comparable to the mistakes that led to the

Great Depression of the 1930s. It's a claim rejected

by the pro-independence It has been a week of bleak

headlines and dire warnings from big business. Banks said they would move

south, retailers said prices would go up, and now another, possibly the

most pessimistic. It would be catastrophic, bordering on the

possibility of depression in Scotland that would last for a

number of years. The first reason would be that Scottish national

institutions, banks, would lose access to borrowing from a central

bank, the Bank of England. The Deutsche Bank board also said that

companies and Scottish shoppers would stop spending due to the

uncertainty of the yes Ford. That was echoed by a letter from large

retailers, who warned today that families would have to spend even

more on their weekly shop as prices would rise. That was dismissed by

companies in favour of independence. It said that cuts -- that Scotland

would be one of the richest countries in the world. They are

talking about an economic tidal wave if we vote for independence on the

basis of the financial risk from the banks. The banks have will move the

registered offices to London under certain circumstances. They will

have protection from the lender of last resort in England. There has

been a sudden realise from financial centres in London that the break-up

of the UK would have massive consequences. Many of the largest

companies in the UK have warned of the dire economic consequences for a

yes vote Mac. But they will not decide the matter, the people of

Scotland well on Thursday. Well, let's go live now to Edinburgh

and our correspondent, Iain Watson. Iain, in the scramble for votes

in these final days there are some That is right. Our former Prime

Minister who presided over the setting up of the Scottish

parliament in Edinburgh, Tony Blair, has made his views known. He said it

would not be sensible to rip up the UK, economically or emotionally. His

views are not a surprise but the rhetoric is getting ramped up.

Gordon Brown said that an independent Scotland, if it did not

pay its debts, could end up like Weimar Germany. It was an economic

basket case that led to the rise of Hitler. There are always dire

consequences about the consequences of electing one party. Here, Alex

Salmond is trying to portray these interventions to his advantage,

since he is the underdog standing up to the police. -- to the bullies.

The family of a British aid worker being held hostage by Islamic State

militants have urged his captors to contact them.

Earlier this month, the extremists threatened to kill David Haines

unless the United States halted air strikes against them in Iraq.

Here's our correspondent, Philippa Thomas.

The family of British aid worker David Haines,

kidnapped 18 months ago, are urging his captors to talk to them.

They say, we have sent messages to you, to

We are asking those holding David to make contact with us.

The 44-year-old husband and father, seen here working

for a German aid agency in Croatia, was no stranger to warzones.

He had worked in South Sudan and Libya and he was taken last

year while helping to deliver aid to refugees in the North of Syria,

It is hoped that Haines' commitment to humanitarian work could help

There are quite a lot of foreign nationals that were

involved in the hostage gatekeeping, or the holding of those hostages.

To try and get them to turn around to seeing that this, as with any

hostage, is a normal human being, someone's son, someone's father.

Today in Cairo, the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, has been

talking about Washington's plans for a bigger military offensive

against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, an offensive that could, in

The British government is already supplying weapons to

It has made it clear that it disapproves of paying ransom

for hostages, cash that could go directly to the jihadists' cause.

That said, the Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond,

has said that it will do everything it can to protect David Haines.

Ukrainian government troops say they have repelled an attack

by pro-Russian rebels on the airport in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

Government forces control the area despite victories by

Artillery and rocket launchers were reportedly used.

The violence has renewed pressure on the ceasefire which was declared

A 36-year-old man has been charged with the murder

of mother-of-five Pennie Davis in the New Forest in Hampshire.

Mrs Davis was stabbed to death as she tended her horses in the

The accused, Justin Robertson, will appear in court on Monday.

Sport, and the Premier League Champions, Manchester Cit, grabbed

a late equaliser against Arsenal as they finished 2-2 at the Emirates.

Martin Demichelis scored in the last ten minutes for City as they avoided

Arsenal hope Danny Welbeck can be the striker to make

Manchester United let Welbeck go because he did

He was handed a chance to open his Arsenal account early on, just

Man City were outplayed for 25 minutes but in Sergio Aguero

His third goal of the season gave the champions the lead.

Arsene Wenger was becoming frustrated with his side but when

things clicked in the second half, they produced something special.

Jack Wilshere's fine finish drew them level.

Arsenal were in the ascendancy and Sanchez made their dominance count.

His sweet volley left City staring at a second straight defeat.

But resilience is a defining trait of champions and Martin Demichelis

City came closest to winning it but the post twice denied them, and

the draw proves that the new look Arsenal can live with the best.

There's more throughout the evening on the BBC News Channel.