09/09/2014 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me Philippa Thomas.

With just over a week until Scotland votes on independence,

pro-union politicians are doing everything they can to keep

The leaders of the No campaign pledge more powers for Scotland

The Yes campaign says that's a last-minute bribe.

Just days after saying he didn't have a strategy, US President Barack

Obama is preparing to go on offence against the Islamic State militants

Also coming up, the first report into

the MH17 plane crash is published and all the evidence points towards

There are nine days to go before the people of Scotland decide whether to

declare their independence from the rest of the United Kingdom.

Scotland's First Minister, and leading nationalist,

Alex Salmond says the unionists are in a state of absolute panic

following recent polls suggesting that the vote is very close.

The week's traditional Prime Minister's Question Time

at Westminster has been cancelled as all three major party leaders

announced they will head north on Wednesday to campaign to keep

They are all promising the government here will look at three

new powers the day after the voting if only Scotland chooses to stay.

And we can join Lucy Adams and it is getting very dramatic? It certainly

is and what we have seen from the three UK party leaders is a sense of

high match the atmosphere has changed. The tension is really

frightened. What they have said today it is, rather than their

weekly clash at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, they will

travel to Scotland tomorrow, and David Cameron says Scotland is his

priority and we have he needs to be, the only place for him to be, and

there is a sole tyre over Westminster in an act of

neighbourliness and friendship and whilst they will campaign

separately, the messages United, for Scotland to stay with us, but First

Minister, Alex Salmond, says this is an indicator of the chaos of the

better together campaign and that this marks when their campaign fell

apart at the seams. We know from them that they will continue to

campaign on the ground, they have a very strong grassroots campaign and

that they are not planning to do anything different, but from the

three Scottish leaders of the prounion parties are offering a

timetable for new partners in the event of Scotland voting no. They

are not seeing that they are offering any new powers for the two

discussed earlier this year, but have said they will do it and it

will be in place and a draft by Saint Andrews Day in October and a

draft legislation by Robert Burns night in January. This from Allan

Little looking at these issues. It is intended as a gesture of

affection between close neighbours, but is the hoisting of the Saltire

over Downing Street also a sign For Westminster has woken up late

in the day to the possibility that Scotland might

just vote for independence. It's brought the three party leaders

together to set their difference There's a lot that

the political leaders disagree about, but there's one thing we all

agree about passionately and that is our United Kingdom is

better off if we stay together. So tomorrow, the right place to be

isn't in Westminster at Prime Minister's Questions,

but in Scotland, listening to The greatest pressure is on

Ed Miliband. In Liverpool today,

he too flew the cross of St Andrew. The UK Labour leader has to

demonstrate to increasingly sceptical Labour voters in Scotland

that his party still represents And that he offers a real

and credible alternative A vote for No is not a vote for no

change, it is about for change, a vote for change in terms of more

devolution of power, and a vote the change as far as I am concerned in

the way our economy and our country works,

because we have heard the call for In Edinburgh,

the three Scottish party leaders appeared together to reinforce

the impression of party unity. They agreed

on the timetable to deliver more Their difficulty is they still don't

agree The three agree on a combination

of new powers over welfare, Labour want to give Holyrood

the power to vary income tax The Conservatives want to go

further, granting the Scottish Parliament

full control over all personal The Lib Dems are the most radical,

offering to devolve most tax This intervention is a risk

for all three party leaders. David Cameron and Nick Clegg know

they are unpopular in Scotland and that interventions by UK

ministers can often make things worse here, by alienating more

people than they persuade. But it's a particular risk for

Ed Miliband. The polls show that Labour voters

have been crossing to the Yes side in such large numbers

that they have drawn level. Is standing shoulder to shoulder

with an unpopular Tory prime minister the best way to do that, or

will it play into the hands of the nationalists, who have argued for

the last three years that there is no real difference between any

of the three Westminster parties? We have the most unpopular

Conservative prime minister in Scottish political history joined

at the hip with the most mistrusted Labour leader of the opposition ever

in Scottish politics, coming up to Scotland, Labour and Tory together,

with the entire Westminster establishment in total

and utter panic. If I thought they were coming by

bus, I would send them their fare. Gordon Brown,

who announced the timetable for transferring more powers to Scotland

last night, has throughout this campaign seemed highly reluctant to

appear in public with Conservative His allies say he knows the damage

such displays of unity can do to Labour's reputation and its message

in traditional Labour strongholds. The three leaders will not appear

together tomorrow, but they are mounting in an unprecedented show

of unity aimed at keeping Scotland This is a 1000 the campaign and some

are questioning, as we have here, why it has taken so long for the

prounion parties to wake up to the fact that Scotland could become and

could vote for independence in 90s staying, the tension is rising, the

atmosphere frightened, and people wondering what will happen next. --

in nine days time. As to whether the message for prounion will work or

backfire, we do not know and the yes campaign said they will be out

showing the unity within the campaign, they have less parties and

less difficulties to deal with, they will be out campaigning on this

leads, as they have been doing, and we will see on September 18 who's

message comes across strongest. Thank you very much.

Well, the debate over Scotland is being

closely followed by our European neighbours, not least by France.

France and Scotland have a historical relationship going

What are Scottish pipe bands doing parading in July through the middle

In Aubigny-sur-Nere, they have annual festivities

In the Hundred Years War, Stuarts from the Scottish royal

family fought near here alongside the French, against the English.

They were rewarded with a lordship and the chateau

of Aubigny, which stayed Scottish for nearly 400 years.

Enthusiasm for things Caledonian here extends to the culinary.

This is French haggis. The bond is heartfelt.

Scottish people bled for us, for French people,

Whether it's the Auld Alliance and their common antipathy towards

the English or whether it is just that both

countries like to share a drink, there is clearly deep sympathy

for the Scots, not just here in Aubigny, but right across France.

As for Scottish independence, we carried out

an impromptu poll with the audience, the result was clear enough.

Let's speak to commentator Agnes Poirier, who's in our Paris studio.

Welcome again to World News Today, high much interest do you detect in

what Scotland chooses to do? It looks as if the French media and

newspapers woke up this weekend, after the polls suggesting that,

perhaps, the yes could win. It did not cross the French mains that it

was possible. So now there is excitement and a lot of special

reporters sent hurriedly to Glasgow and Edinburgh to report on the first

referendum of that game. A lot of people in France and on the

continent think that if yes wins on the 18th of September, it will open

to the gates for many other regions perhaps within Europe and the

European Union to ask the same. So it is followed with excitement and

some fear, like in London. And if the vote was yes, it's better

feeling in France they have had a special relationship with Scotland,

perhaps more special than England? That is absolutely possible, yes,

and also in some quarters in France, some people secretly hope the guests

will win, because it means London will carry a lesser voice, one that

carries less weight than it once did, the face of British politics

will also change for ever. And on the national stage. Britain will be

reduced. It will be reduced voice and it will have a lesser

importance. So of course, that will make a lot of people smile. But

also, I think -- make a lot of French people smile. But Britain has

everything to lose and Scotland everything to win. Even if Scotland

votes no, Scotland will be offered more autonomy than it has to be and

devolution maximum, a term explained in French newspapers, so the eyes

are very much on London and David Cameron. Just briefly, you spoke

about other regions of Europe looking to this as a precedent, I

suppose Spain key among those watching closely? Absolutely, and we

can talk about the Basque region of Spain, and it will give them ideas

to many others, even some French regions, such as Corsica, and maybe

eastern Europe and in Germany, which is a federation, so let us wait

until the 18th of September to open that Pandora's box. And we will

speak to you after that if it is a yes vote. Thank you.

US President Barack Obama will unveil

his strategy to combat Islamic State militants on Wednesday.

It comes just days after a new unity government was formed in Iraq.

We can speak to Andrew Tabler, a senior fellow in

the Program on Arab Politics at The Washington Institute.

Welcome to World News Today. Mr Obama we know has been reluctant to

get involved in Syria or Iraq again, but what do you think is most likely

out of the White House? I think you have to hear the president talk

about the administration's approach in Iraq, concerning change of

government, working with the Kurds in rolling in some moderate Sunnis

into the rocky state. It is far more complicated in Syria, Islamic State

running more territory. And direct US involvement will be much more

prevalent in the weeks and months ahead. You have experience on the

ground in Syria and do you think it has to be part of the strategy? You

cannot just deal with Iraq alone. That is right and you have to deal

with severe and it is not a problem you can bomb your way out of. Once

you destroy the capabilities and facilities of IS, something has to

fill that vacuum, the Assad regime cannot do it. It is there that

President Obama is looking at backing moderate Sunni forces that

will go into eastern Syria and help fill that void. I do not think it

will be the same forces as proposed in the past, but those forces,

combine with the overall involvement of US allies that borders earlier,

that will probably be the coalition that deals with that aspect and part

of Syria. I was that they need to summon it -- I was at the summit

last week, when President Obama spoke about bilateral with the King

of Jordan and neighbours matter most here?

Yes, they bear a lot of the weight of the spill-over from the crisis.

It was previously thought that the Syrian crisis could be contained,

but the Isis outbreak proves that not to be correct. They have one ask

Tom and that is to back moderate forces to fill up those areas of

Syria that could then later negotiate or break away from the

Assad regime, and that is the path Obama will be going down in the

speech on Wednesday. Thank you for joining us.

The first official report into the Malaysia Airlines crash

Nearly two months on, there could still be passengers resting in and

haven't does not mention the word missile, but it rules out just about

every other option. There was no mechanical problem, no alarms going

off, and the pilots did not make a mistake. So, what evidence is there

that a weapon brought the plane down? The most interesting finding

centres on these holes found all over the front of the aircraft near

the cockpit. It says they are from a large number of high energy objects

does not hit the aircraft, it explodes

nearby, peppering it with small bits of metal. Investigators now believe

they have retrieved of the and the bodies, especially of the crew.

Still, the critical question the BUK, so who fired it? If they can

If they could gain safe access to the crash site, they could work it

out. Because we know the position in the sky, we could reverse engineer

the flight of the missile down to the ground and work out pretty much

within 200 square metre where the missile was fired from. There were

ten Britons on-board MH17. Three have still not been formally

identified. Liam Sweeney was heading across the world to watch Newcastle

play football. His dad says answers will not bring him back. I am happy

to know about the crash, that he probably died in instantly. It

doesn't matter who did it because he is still dead. Able are blaming

everybody else, but unfortunately we can't do anything about it, we have

just got to move on. This report includes one more sobering fact.

Three other large commercial airliners were flying over the same

area at about the same time as flight MH17.

Four people are reported to have died in the Yemeni capital Sana'a

after armed police opened fire on protestors

The demonstrators are from the mainly Shia Houthi group, which has

been calling for more representation in the government, and

We are protesting against the corrupt government

because since the 2011 revolution everything is getting worse.

Security, the health system, education.

This government is more corrupt than the one before it.

It affects me directly, the security situation in Yemen, because I work

as a translator and now there are no tourists coming to Yemen.

I have not worked with tourists for over a year now.

The protests are being organised by the Houthis, a minority Shia group.

Since they formed an armed movement 10 years ago, government forces have

been fighting the group in the north of the country.

But in recent weeks, Houthis have brought their protest

to the capital, blocking the main road to Sana'a airport, demanding

Early on Tuesday, violent clashes broke out after Yemeni police

Several demonstrators were killed and hundreds injured.

We are standing next to one of the checkpoints that have been placed by

the government across the capital Sana'a in an attempt to control the

But, in a country where almost every household owns several arms, many

worry that these checkpoints can do little to contain the situation and

The government accuses the Houthis of trying to help further Iran's

desire to empower Shia movements in the region.

This is a group supported from regional powers and it wants to

Yemen narrowly avoided a descent into chaos after its Arab uprising,

but the latest violence risk bringing Yemen's slow transition

His first book, Chavs, looked at the demonization

Now, Owen Jones is taking on the elite

in his new book The Establishment - And How They Got Away With It.

As he sees it, wealthy bankers, landowners, and even the police,

work together to defend their interests in our democracy.

Well, Owen Jones is here in our studio.

You're at the top of the bestsellers list in the UK this week.

So, are you talking conspiracy or collusion? It is an important point

to make. I am looking at a common mentality that binds people together

in power. For me, what is interesting in Britain in

particular, although we see this globally as well, is people's

attempts to direct their anger at the situation, the angry immigrants,

unemployed people, benefit claimants. What I am trying to do is

redress the balance. Is it your neighbours who are responsible for

the plight of this country, or is it those with power? I think there are

those mentalities which bind a establishment together, the sense of

being worth it, which allows bankers to claim bonuses, or MPs to bill for

expenses, but there is also this revolving door so you end up with

big accountancy firms who tell their clients how to avoid the very laws

they are creating. It is a cynical point of view because you are not

allowing for those who tried to fight or change the reform from

within. I'm not saying it is a conspiracy where people are sitting

with cigars in a smoke-filled room, I am saying this is not about

individual villains. I have met decent people with power, but they

are trapped by the system in which they operate, and that is a system

which ensures that wealth and power is concentrated in the hands of a

small group of people. Do you think it is getting worse because of the

global recession, but also we here in Britain that social mobility is

getting less and less decade by decade. Whether you look at

Parliament or the media, disproportionately people from

private schools and so on, but for me it is something more systemic

than that. It is the fact we live in Britain, a country which in the last

five years, the top 1000 people, their wealth has doubled, whilst 1

million people are dependent on food banks will stop do you think Britain

is more establishment based them, for example, the United States or

our European partners? In all modern countries are powerful interests

find ways of protecting themselves from the democracy. In a British

context, this is how they get away with it. But unaccountable power is

a problem all over the world. My message to people is, rather than

accepting a society where wealth is concentrated in a small group of

people, maybe people should start holding those in power to account,

instead of turning on each other, and find a better look way of

organising a more just and equal society.

It may be the most important literary award

in the English speaking world, and today the shortlist for the

The ?50,000 prize is now open not only to English language novels

from the UK and Commonwealth countries, but also to writers

Joshua Ferris' third novel, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, sees him one

Australian Richard Flanagan has been shortlisted for his World War Two

tale, The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves is the other American

entry on this year's shortlist, written by Karen Joy Fowler.

The 2010 winner Howard Jacobson has made the shortlist with his work,

and J Neel Mukherjee has been shortlisted with his second novel,

And, it's the third time British author

Ali Smith has been shortlisted, this time with How to be Both.

The manager of the former Formula One motor racing champion

Michael Schumacher says he has left hospital in Switzerland to continue

He's been undergoing treatment after suffering a serious head injury

The hospital in Lausanne when Michael Schumacher had been

In a surprise announcement, the manager of

the seven-time Formula One champion said he has been moved to his home

on the shores of Lake Geneva, where he is to continue his recovery.

The 45-year-old suffered a serious head injury in December whilst

Immediately afterwards, he underwent two operations to remove blood clots

on his brain, before being placed in a medically induced coma.

He was brought round in June, and since then has been receiving

treatment at a centre which specialises in recovery of severely

His manager gave no details about his current commission,

saying only that progress has been made, but she says there is still

Despite this, Schumacher's many fans will hope that his being allowed

home is another small but encouraging sign of his improvement.

Hello. The settled September sunshine is set to continue over the

next few days, but with clear skies through the night, one or two areas

could see temperatures into the low single figures, so a call