:00:09. > :00:11.David Cameron has condemned the murder of the British aid
:00:12. > :00:15.worker David Haines, describing it as an act of pure evil.
:00:16. > :00:19.An edited video posted online, by the militant group Islamic State,
:00:20. > :00:21.shows that Mr Haines was beheaded, apparently by a masked man.
:00:22. > :00:24.The 44 year-old was kidnapped in Syria 18 months ago.
:00:25. > :00:25.This report from our world affairs correspondent
:00:26. > :00:28.Caroline Hawley does not show any moving pictures from the video -
:00:29. > :00:38.but it does contain a still image, which you may find distressing.
:00:39. > :00:44.His family had only just appealed to his kidnappers to make contact.
:00:45. > :00:50.Hours later came the chilling response. The video is similar to
:00:51. > :00:54.those posted after the murders of two American journalists but
:00:55. > :00:58.addressed this time to America's allies and includes a threat to kill
:00:59. > :01:01.another British hostage. The capture appears to be the same man with a
:01:02. > :01:04.British accident scene in the previous videos. He blames
:01:05. > :01:11.Britain's decision to help armed Kurdish fighters. This British man
:01:12. > :01:15.has to pay the price for your promise, Cameron, to arm the
:01:16. > :01:18.Peshmerga against the Islamic state. David Cameron emerged after a
:01:19. > :01:21.meeting of the government's emergency committee, his resolve
:01:22. > :01:27.apparently only strengthened by what he called an unspeakable act. A bit
:01:28. > :01:33.Haines was a British hero. The fact that an aid worker was killed, held
:01:34. > :01:39.and brutally murdered at the hands of ISIL sums up what this
:01:40. > :01:45.organisation stands for. They are killing of slaughtering thousands of
:01:46. > :01:49.people, Muslims, Christians, minorities across Syria. They boast
:01:50. > :01:53.brutality and they claim to do this in the name of Islam. That is
:01:54. > :02:01.nonsense. Islam is a religion of peace. They are not Muslims, they
:02:02. > :02:06.are monsters. This was David Haines in Croatia, filmed in 2003, he spoke
:02:07. > :02:10.of helping people to return to homes they had abandoned during of the
:02:11. > :02:13.1990s. There are many people that want to return but they don't know
:02:14. > :02:20.how or who to who to turn to. In doing this are office normally goes
:02:21. > :02:24.across to Belgrade and actually meet the people so they can gain trust
:02:25. > :02:28.from us. Colleagues of David Haines say he was passionate about what he
:02:29. > :02:32.was doing, work that was to take him to some of the most dangerous places
:02:33. > :02:35.in the world, from here in the Balkans to Africa and the Middle
:02:36. > :02:40.East. When he was captured in March last year he was helping supply
:02:41. > :02:41.tents, food and water for refugees in northern Syria. Paying tribute to
:02:42. > :02:55.him his brother Mike After James Foley Steven Sotloff,
:02:56. > :02:59.David Haines is the third Western hostage to be killed since American
:03:00. > :03:04.air strikes against the so-called Islamic State began last month. As
:03:05. > :03:08.the government and its allies prepare their response David
:03:09. > :03:09.Haines's family said he would be missed a terribly. Caroline Hawley,
:03:10. > :03:11.BBC News. The meeting of
:03:12. > :03:12.the government's emergency committee - COBRA - was chaired by the Prime
:03:13. > :03:16.Minister and attended by key cabinet Our political correspondent Chris
:03:17. > :03:27.Mason is at Downing Street. The Prime Minister was using very
:03:28. > :03:31.strong language, Chris. Yes, the language could not have
:03:32. > :03:35.been stronger from David Cameron in his statement within Downing Street
:03:36. > :03:40.within the last hour. That talk of a British hero, monsters not Muslims.
:03:41. > :03:44.The political challenge, though, now is working out what to do next.
:03:45. > :03:48.Don't expect a knee jerk response. Government officials have pointed
:03:49. > :03:51.out they have known about hostage takings for many months, much
:03:52. > :03:54.earlier than news of the hostage takings became public, and they
:03:55. > :03:58.wouldn't want to respond in a knee jerk way for fear that would play
:03:59. > :04:01.into the hands of the militants. Instead the focus is on building a
:04:02. > :04:05.methodical approach, as one official described it to me, an intelligent
:04:06. > :04:22.approach trying to assemble a coalition both in the region,
:04:23. > :04:24.speaking constantly to the Iraqi government and to the Kurds, but
:04:25. > :04:27.crucially at home domestically assembling a political coalition as
:04:28. > :04:29.well. A year ago a defeat for the government over a strikes in Syria,
:04:30. > :04:32.the government does not want to repeat that if it goes down the road
:04:33. > :04:34.of potential air strikes in the future. Lots of conversations
:04:35. > :04:36.between MPs on the government side and the Labour side trying to
:04:37. > :04:39.establish a coalition here so that the government can act as one if
:04:40. > :04:41.there is military involvement via air strikes. The persist at the
:04:42. > :04:44.moment is they would not be boots on the ground, but the conversation is
:04:45. > :04:50.slowly heading closer and closer towards military action from the
:04:51. > :04:54.RAF. At this stage so far the focus is primarily has been humanitarian.
:04:55. > :04:57.Plenty of discussions ongoing. Thanks very much for that Chris.
:04:58. > :04:59.Let's take a closer look at this. The murder
:05:00. > :05:00.of David Haines will bring renewed focus on British and Western efforts
:05:01. > :05:04.to combat the threat of Islamic In his statement David Cameron
:05:05. > :05:07.said he would take whatever Our security correspondent Frank
:05:08. > :05:19.Gardner joins me. This is obviously very difficult.
:05:20. > :05:22.Ideally they would have done a hostage rescue which would have got
:05:23. > :05:25.them out before they faced the situation. The Americans tried it in
:05:26. > :05:29.July and it didn't work, they got the right place but the wrong time
:05:30. > :05:34.as the hostages had been moved. David Cameron has three choices.
:05:35. > :05:36.One: Do as so-called Islamic State have asked which is backed away from
:05:37. > :05:42.the whole thing. That's not really an option and he's ruled it out.
:05:43. > :05:47.Two: Carry on supplying arms and training to the Peshmerga, the
:05:48. > :05:51.Kurdish militia, to fight ISIS. And three: To step it up, incrementally
:05:52. > :05:55.in consultation with our other allies like the Australians and the
:05:56. > :05:59.Arab states in the region. I think that's probably what they will go
:06:00. > :06:03.for. In the end that could include air strikes by the RAF but we don't
:06:04. > :06:07.know yet. He also mentions we will hunt down the killers and get them
:06:08. > :06:12.eventually. Every Prime Minister says this every time, it very rarely
:06:13. > :06:17.happens in practice, because it's very difficult to do. The job was
:06:18. > :06:20.given to the Metropolitan Police and betrayal invariably goes cold. David
:06:21. > :06:24.Cameron said it last year after the gas siege in Algeria and before that
:06:25. > :06:28.Gordon Brown said it when a Briton was beheaded in the Sahara, and
:06:29. > :06:32.before that Tony Blair said it when Britons were beheaded in Iraq. I've
:06:33. > :06:36.never heard of any of these people being brought to justice. It's
:06:37. > :06:40.something that they say. Finally, in this video I would describe this as
:06:41. > :06:45.a form of asymmetric warfare. The jihadists count so far shoot down
:06:46. > :06:47.the American air strikes, they are hurting from those air strikes so
:06:48. > :06:52.they are getting back at the West through the medium of public
:06:53. > :06:55.information. Thank you very much, Frank.
:06:56. > :06:57.Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond has described Thursday's
:06:58. > :07:00.independence referendum as "a once in a generation opportunity".
:07:01. > :07:01.But the Better Together leader Alistair
:07:02. > :07:05.Darling has insisted there would be "no way back" from independence.
:07:06. > :07:17.The referendum result is too close to goal, but unlike the question of
:07:18. > :07:20.who would face the BBC cameras first it will not be settled on the toss
:07:21. > :07:24.of a coin. Alex Salmond will be hoping for a better result at the
:07:25. > :07:29.end of this week. He wins, you can go second. He was asked if there was
:07:30. > :07:32.a close vote could he envisage another referendum but he wants to
:07:33. > :07:38.win this one and not wait for the next so his message to supporters
:07:39. > :07:43.was, it's now or never. In my view this is a once in a generation,
:07:44. > :07:46.perhaps even a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Scotland. The
:07:47. > :07:51.generation of older people are most likely to vote, and also most likely
:07:52. > :07:54.to vote no. So the Yes campaign are writing to more than a million
:07:55. > :07:57.pensioners this weekend urging them to talk to younger family members to
:07:58. > :08:03.persuade them of the case for independence. And the Yes campaign
:08:04. > :08:07.know there are not enough committed nationalists to get them over the
:08:08. > :08:13.finish line, so they are writing an open letter to Labour supporters
:08:14. > :08:15.today too to convince them that an independent Scottish government
:08:16. > :08:19.would never be under Conservative control. This weakens the No
:08:20. > :08:23.campaign has been bringing out its big beasts, targeting around 500,000
:08:24. > :08:30.undecided voters. But they also have that as of shoring up support among
:08:31. > :08:34.those who usually vote Labour. One poll suggests four in ten voters in
:08:35. > :08:38.Scotland who backed Gordon Brown at the last general election are voting
:08:39. > :08:42.for independence now. Other polls put the figure at around one in
:08:43. > :08:46.four. His friends say he was initially sidelined in the campaign
:08:47. > :08:50.but is now seen as a vital weapon in convincing Labour voters to say no.
:08:51. > :08:53.And his successor as Chancellor Alistair Darling, leader of the
:08:54. > :09:00.Better Together campaign, stressed that this isn't a general election.
:09:01. > :09:04.The result is rather more permanent. It's not like an election where you
:09:05. > :09:07.can change mind if things don't work out. If things go wrong, you have
:09:08. > :09:10.already voted you are leaving and there is no going back. These two
:09:11. > :09:14.didn't look Better Together this morning, although they praised each
:09:15. > :09:16.other's abilities, you could see in their faces how much is at stake.
:09:17. > :09:20.Iain Watson, BBC News, Glasgow. A court in North Korea has sentenced
:09:21. > :09:23.the American, Matthew Miller to six years hard labour for trying to
:09:24. > :09:26.commit an act of espionage. The 24 year-old
:09:27. > :09:28.from California is alleged to have torn up his visa when he entered
:09:29. > :09:32.the country as a tourist in April. You can see more on all of today's
:09:33. > :09:40.stories on the BBC News Channel. Including David Cameron's. It on
:09:41. > :09:44.David Haines's murder in a moment. The next news on BBC One is
:09:45. > :10:00.at 6:35pm Good afternoon. If you are after a
:10:01. > :10:03.little bit of rain to perk up the garden at the moment, compared with
:10:04. > :10:07.the week gone you have a better chance this week that some areas
:10:08. > :10:10.favoured over others and overall still very little rain in the
:10:11. > :10:11.forecast. Most will stay dry