:00:00. > :00:08.This is BBC World News Today with me Philippa Thomas.
:00:09. > :00:11.It's decision day for Scotland - a vote that could shake up the nation,
:00:12. > :00:14.the United Kingdom and Europe. A record turnout is expected
:00:15. > :00:22.of voters answering the single simple question, Should
:00:23. > :00:25.Scotland be an independent country? We have a special report from the
:00:26. > :00:40.frontline where the Syrian Army is fighting Islamic State militants.
:00:41. > :00:44.The Syrians say the soldiers are experienced, battle hardened and
:00:45. > :00:49.fighting every day. Also coming up:
:00:50. > :00:51.Ukraine's president tells the US Congress that
:00:52. > :00:54.his war is not Ukraine's alone, it is also Europe's and America's.
:00:55. > :00:56.But will they give him much more than warm applause?
:00:57. > :00:59.And is the food in your fridge really still fresh?
:01:00. > :01:11.We'll talk to the prize-winning inventor of a hi-tech safety check.
:01:12. > :01:16.Hello and welcome. After months of campaigning
:01:17. > :01:19.and passionate debate, the people of Scotland are finally
:01:20. > :01:23.casting their vote to decide whether Scotland should become
:01:24. > :01:24.an independent country. Queues formed outside polling
:01:25. > :01:26.stations from first thing this morning.
:01:27. > :01:30.A record turnout is expectedwith more than 4.2 million people
:01:31. > :01:33.registered to vote. In just three hours time
:01:34. > :01:37.the polls will close and the vote counting will begin.
:01:38. > :01:41.By Friday morning we should know the result of this historic ballot.
:01:42. > :01:49.The BBC's Special Correspondent Allan Little reports.
:01:50. > :01:58.This long campaign has reached into every remote corner of Scotland.
:01:59. > :02:03.Today it is time to decide. This ballot box was on its way to an
:02:04. > :02:12.island with a population of less than 100. An unprecedented 97% of
:02:13. > :02:19.the electorate are registered to vote. In Edinburgh the grey autumn
:02:20. > :02:21.weather did not keep voters away. This is an important state for
:02:22. > :02:32.Scotland. I think so, for This is an important state for
:02:33. > :02:37.generations as well. It is probably the most important day of my life,
:02:38. > :02:41.the future of the country and all of Britain. It will be exciting and
:02:42. > :02:51.interesting to see which one will win. Those at the top of the
:02:52. > :03:03.campaign voted early. So did two others who played key roles. The
:03:04. > :03:10.former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Deputy First Minister Nicholas
:03:11. > :03:17.Virgin. The votes from 5500 polling stations will be counted from
:03:18. > :03:23.Shetland to Dumfries and Galloway. Here at Ingliston on the outskirts
:03:24. > :03:30.of Edinburgh is clear the announcement will be made. I am
:03:31. > :03:34.focus on making sure the process go well and even if people do not like
:03:35. > :03:40.the result at the end of the day they will at least trust it. My job
:03:41. > :03:47.is to insure the integrity of the process. Reporters and television
:03:48. > :03:53.crews from around the world have come to Edinburgh for what is
:03:54. > :04:01.happening here is unprecedented in a modern European democracy. The BBC
:04:02. > :04:06.will have live coverage as all the results come in. In the other vote
:04:07. > :04:13.taking place in Scotland today we can give you a result now. The
:04:14. > :04:21.famous and ancient golf club in St Andrews has voted to allow women to
:04:22. > :04:27.become members. 85% of those who voted were in favour. The cop said
:04:28. > :04:29.there where a significant number of women who would be fast tracked to
:04:30. > :04:32.membership in the coming months. Julie Peacock is in our Glasgow
:04:33. > :04:45.newsroom. What has it been like? The polls
:04:46. > :04:52.opened at seven this morning. But reports from the polling stations
:04:53. > :04:58.are that it has been busy all day. No reports of any major queueing at
:04:59. > :05:04.the moment but a steady and firm number of people coming in to vote.
:05:05. > :05:14.Around 97% of the Scottish electorate have registered to vote,
:05:15. > :05:18.that allows -- amounts to 4.2 million people. They will be asked
:05:19. > :05:26.the question should Scotland become a independent country with the
:05:27. > :05:31.simple choice of yes or no. We will not know the result until the polls
:05:32. > :05:37.close at ten o'clock tonight which is when we will get some idea of how
:05:38. > :05:43.many people have voted, what the turnout will be like and eventually
:05:44. > :05:49.what the result will be. Do we know if people still in line at ten
:05:50. > :05:54.o'clock will be allowed to Fort? Yes, the law has changed because of
:05:55. > :06:03.problems with recent general elections in the UK. Anyone at a
:06:04. > :06:09.polling station, either inside or in a queue outside, they will be
:06:10. > :06:14.allowed to vote. People will still be able to vote because it is
:06:15. > :06:18.something that has engaged the entire population and many people
:06:19. > :06:23.want to put the vote today whenever they can. You are in for that very
:06:24. > :06:29.exciting few hours. Thank you. Islamic State militants have
:06:30. > :06:32.released a new video featuring a British hostage.
:06:33. > :06:34.The man is not Alan Henning, the British hostage threatened with
:06:35. > :06:35.death by the militants at the weekend.
:06:36. > :06:38.The footage of John Cantlie is different
:06:39. > :06:40.from previous videos as it does not feature anyone being beheaded,
:06:41. > :06:41.and no IS militants are seen. Our security correspondent
:06:42. > :06:53.Gordon Corera has more. The latest release from the group
:06:54. > :06:58.calling itself Islamic State is another propaganda video. It is
:06:59. > :07:04.different from the last. This one features the British journalist who
:07:05. > :07:11.says he is a prisoner and his life hangs in the balance as he reads
:07:12. > :07:17.from a script. After two disastrous and hugely unpopular wars in
:07:18. > :07:20.Afghanistan and Iraq why is it that our governments seem so keen to get
:07:21. > :07:27.involved in another unwinnable conflict? There is criticism of
:07:28. > :07:33.British and American intervention in Iraq and the current policy. This
:07:34. > :07:38.video is different from others we have seen recently, it is filmed
:07:39. > :07:46.inside and not in the Desert, no-one is killed in it. The group's aim is
:07:47. > :07:53.similar, using a hostage to try to affect public opinion and challenge
:07:54. > :07:57.policy. This was the freelance journalist, John Cantlie, in Syria
:07:58. > :08:05.before he was first detained in 2012. He tried to escape and was
:08:06. > :08:12.short but was eventually freed by a read by the free Syrian army where
:08:13. > :08:17.he was held. He went back in November 2012 and was captured
:08:18. > :08:26.again, this time with James Foley, the American journalist seem killed
:08:27. > :08:30.in a video a month ago. His family have now been informed about
:08:31. > :08:40.today's video which the government has condemned.
:08:41. > :08:43.Police in Australia have carried out one of their largest ever
:08:44. > :08:47.anti-terrorism raids after allegedly receiving intelligence that
:08:48. > :08:51.militants connected with Islamic State were planning to kidnap
:08:52. > :08:53.and behead a member of the public. Details of the operation,
:08:54. > :08:55.which involved hundreds of police officers in Sydney
:08:56. > :08:56.and Brisbane, were announced by the Prime Minister Tony Abbott
:08:57. > :09:21.who said his country was at "serious Our Middle East correspondent has
:09:22. > :09:31.been given a rare access to the Syrian army. A district on the edge
:09:32. > :09:38.of Damascus city centre. It has been fought over since rebels seized it
:09:39. > :09:48.two years ago. A new government offensive is happening now. The way
:09:49. > :09:58.Sony and is used to live is a memory. The Syrian army allowed us
:09:59. > :10:07.into a small corner of the front line. A Minute Drive from the south
:10:08. > :10:11.of Damascus. This village was recaptured recently from rebels
:10:12. > :10:18.after hard fighting. This is a small outpost, 300 metres separate the
:10:19. > :10:23.front lines. What happened here it says a lot about the war and how do
:10:24. > :10:29.the fight against Islamic state might go. These Syrian soldiers said
:10:30. > :10:35.they were volunteers and the West was finally catching up with the
:10:36. > :10:42.belief that on the opposite sides of the lines were religious extremists.
:10:43. > :10:47.Morale was high. These Syrian general guarding this sector who
:10:48. > :10:53.seemed popular with his men, did not want to identify himself. Islamic
:10:54. > :10:59.State is a threat on the wall world. They control Syria and will
:11:00. > :11:09.take us back to the stone age. Said he can crush them without the help
:11:10. > :11:15.of the Americans. The afternoon firefight started when bullets came
:11:16. > :11:21.in from rebel positions. The Syrian army has been much more effective
:11:22. > :11:28.than its enemies expected. The Syrian's say any attempt to fight
:11:29. > :11:37.the soldiers will not work because they are experienced, battle
:11:38. > :11:44.hardened and fighting every day. The US and UK believe this army is the
:11:45. > :11:49.tool of a brutal dictator. The Syrian soldiers were shooting at a
:11:50. > :11:56.mix of Al-Qaeda sympathisers and supported moderates who the
:11:57. > :12:01.Americans want to use to fight Islamic State. Syrian soldiers say
:12:02. > :12:09.the West should help them fight jihadists. Because I come here to
:12:10. > :12:16.fight people who want to destroy our country. I want to save my sisters,
:12:17. > :12:23.brothers and father, the great Syrian people. The politics are
:12:24. > :12:36.getting more tangled and more bloody. Staying with the situation
:12:37. > :12:47.in Syria, the United Nations are saying they will have to cut food
:12:48. > :12:54.rations to Syrian people because of the lack of funding. This comes as
:12:55. > :13:00.Syrians are preparing for the fourth winter of the Syrian civil war.
:13:01. > :13:03.Now a look at some of the days other news.
:13:04. > :13:06.Francois Hollande says France is ready to carry out air strikes
:13:07. > :13:08.against Islamic State militants in Iraq.
:13:09. > :13:11.But the French President insists he will not deploy ground troops there,
:13:12. > :13:13.and he will not intervene in Syria. Mr Hollande's comments come
:13:14. > :13:16.in response to a request for aerial support from the Iraqi government.
:13:17. > :13:18.The Chinese President and Indian Prime Minister have
:13:19. > :13:20.announced landmark economic deals, on the second day of
:13:21. > :13:23.Mr Xi Jinping's visit to India. China plans to build two industrial
:13:24. > :13:27.parks in India, as part of its overall investment of twenty billion
:13:28. > :13:31.dollars in the next five years. Fire crews in California's Sierra
:13:32. > :13:34.Nevada are battling a blaze that threatens at least 2,000 homes and
:13:35. > :13:37.has displaced hundreds of residents. The so-called King Fire is the most
:13:38. > :13:45.menacing of 11 major wildfires currently threatening California
:13:46. > :13:49.after a prolonged drought. Thailand's prime minister has
:13:50. > :13:52.apologised for suggesting that it's 'unsafe'
:13:53. > :13:55.for tourists to wear bikinis - unless they are unattractive.
:13:56. > :13:58.His widely-criticised comments, came as the police continued
:13:59. > :14:01.their search for the killers of two British holidaymakers.
:14:02. > :14:06.David Miller and Hannah Witheridge were found dead on a beach
:14:07. > :14:09.on Monday. Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko
:14:10. > :14:13.has appealed to members of the US Congress for military help
:14:14. > :14:17.for Ukrainian soldiers fighting pro-Russia separatists
:14:18. > :14:20.in the east of Ukraine. His address to the joint session of
:14:21. > :14:23.Congress followed a meeting with the US Secretary of State John Kerry.
:14:24. > :14:26.He told Congress that non-lethal material was not enough,
:14:27. > :14:30.that his soldiers needed more than night-vision goggles
:14:31. > :14:32.and blankets to win. He said that support for Ukrainian
:14:33. > :14:43.soldiers was in America?s interest. these young men are fighting today
:14:44. > :14:45.is not only Ukraine's war. It is Europe's and it is America's
:14:46. > :14:48.too. Today aggression
:14:49. > :14:57.against Ukraine is a threat to global security everywhere,
:14:58. > :15:01.hybrid proxy war terrorism. the erosion of the national
:15:02. > :15:06.and international agreements, the blurring and even erasing
:15:07. > :15:10.of national identities. All these threats now
:15:11. > :15:14.challenge Europe. If they are not stopped now,
:15:15. > :15:17.they will cross European borders and spread absolutely throughout
:15:18. > :15:20.the world. To prevent this,
:15:21. > :15:24.Ukrainian soldiers are in the line of fire exactly right now
:15:25. > :15:33.when we have a so-called ceasefire. Willis Sparks is from the
:15:34. > :15:48.Eurasia Group research firm Do you think the Ukraine president
:15:49. > :15:54.will get that militaries sport, that lethal aid that he is asking for?
:15:55. > :15:58.No. He warned. I think that the extended lead in on Iraq and Syria
:15:59. > :16:01.makes clear that the president of the United States and a lot of other
:16:02. > :16:06.leaders around the world have their plates full with not only this
:16:07. > :16:10.conflict but others as well. Frankly, Iraq Obama believes
:16:11. > :16:15.correctly that he was elected to end war is not to start new ones. That
:16:16. > :16:19.is not to say that the US will not help Ukraine. They will continue to
:16:20. > :16:24.provide financial support for the new government in Kiev which is
:16:25. > :16:27.vitally important for the Ukraine government's long-term survival.
:16:28. > :16:30.There will be sanctions on Russia to increase the price for the Russians
:16:31. > :16:37.of every action that they take that threatens Ukraine. Blankets and
:16:38. > :16:41.night goggles may not be enough but for the moment he is unlikely to see
:16:42. > :16:48.more than lethal forms of aid. How much do you think the White House
:16:49. > :16:51.worries about provoking Russia? Well, I don't think they worry about
:16:52. > :16:56.provoking Russia in the broader sense, because if they were they
:16:57. > :16:59.would not have gone as far, frankly, as they have already gone in
:17:00. > :17:06.sanctions on Russia's energy sector, it's a natural sector, and it's the
:17:07. > :17:10.natural sector. I think what the US wants to avoid is to be a good it
:17:11. > :17:13.did in a shooting war where it is not clear how that conflict would
:17:14. > :17:20.play out, what reaction on the ground is my provoke, and in
:17:21. > :17:25.general, when you add more weapons into a conflict zone, it is always
:17:26. > :17:28.very difficult to say where those weapons will end up in any given
:17:29. > :17:32.circumstance if the balance of power shifts. Ukraine's new leaders have
:17:33. > :17:35.made it clear they would like to join the European Union. They would
:17:36. > :17:41.like the Natal security guarantee. If there are any chance of the
:17:42. > :17:54.things happening? -- Natal security guarantee. Rob Lynott. There is very
:17:55. > :17:56.little appetite in Europe at the moment to support countries as
:17:57. > :18:03.unstable as Ukraine, given all the other worries going on. The various
:18:04. > :18:08.separatist movements that we are seeing in the UK today and in Spain,
:18:09. > :18:15.Belgium, and elsewhere. There has been an agreement signed between the
:18:16. > :18:20.EU and Ukraine that will certainly keep in both trade and political
:18:21. > :18:28.tides, but membership of the EU is a very long-term project, and
:18:29. > :18:34.membership of NATO is even more theoretical. If you would like to
:18:35. > :18:39.appease the Russians, it might be some sort of guarantee that
:18:40. > :18:43.Ukraine's membership of NATO is postponed indefinitely. It has not
:18:44. > :18:50.been offered yet, but it is probably the best thing available for the
:18:51. > :18:51.long-term struggle. Banking. -- thank you.
:18:52. > :18:54.The sister of a Russian soldier killed near the Ukrainian border has
:18:55. > :18:58.She says that the Russian authorities gave her conflicting
:18:59. > :19:01.accounts of what happened to her brother, with one official saying he
:19:02. > :19:03.was killed by artillery from ukraine, but another that he
:19:04. > :19:07.The alleged involvement of Russian troops in fighting against Ukrainian
:19:08. > :19:10.After filming the BBC team was attacked and then arrested.
:19:11. > :19:12.The BBC has lodged a formal complaint to Moscow
:19:13. > :19:27.Our correspondent there Steve Rosenberg picks up the story.
:19:28. > :19:29.Constantine fought in Chechnya. This summer, he performed his final
:19:30. > :19:31.mission. When he called to say he was going
:19:32. > :19:34.away he sounded kind of scared. He said,
:19:35. > :19:36.I will be heading south west. I thought he meant the Ukrainian
:19:37. > :19:48.border. I told him to stay safe. Three weeks later,
:19:49. > :19:51.her brother was killed in exercises I asked that official,
:19:52. > :20:01."Do you believe the words you are I just want to understand how
:20:02. > :20:11.my brother was killed. Perhaps not everyone here is
:20:12. > :20:15.so keen to know the truth. A few hours after that interview, we
:20:16. > :20:18.were attacked by at least three men, They hit our cameraman, smashed
:20:19. > :20:25.the camera, and drove off with it. We didn't expect our day to end here
:20:26. > :20:31.in the hospital, we are here because our cameraman is having x-rays and
:20:32. > :20:35.being checked out after the attack. Someone clearly didn't want
:20:36. > :20:40.our report to be broadcast. After four hours
:20:41. > :20:42.at a police station, back in the car, we discovered our
:20:43. > :20:48.equipment had been tampered with. Someone cleaned the hard drive
:20:49. > :20:53.on my computer. Luckily, we had made copies
:20:54. > :21:11.of the interview. State-controlled media portrays
:21:12. > :21:17.these soldiers as volunteers who've taken leave of absence to go and
:21:18. > :21:21.fight. Those independent Russian journalist brave enough to conduct
:21:22. > :21:31.their own investigations face threats and intimidation. They say
:21:32. > :21:36.there is no war. They say our soldiers are not involved. So who's
:21:37. > :21:42.to blame his death? How did this happen? I am tortured by this
:21:43. > :21:47.question. It is a simple question. All she wants is an answer.
:21:48. > :21:49.When the James Dyson Foundation asked young people to
:21:50. > :21:55."design something that solves a problem" for an engineering
:21:56. > :21:57.competition, they received some remarkable submissions.
:21:58. > :21:59.Winners included the PrintAlive BioPrinter, which 3D prints complex
:22:00. > :22:03.structures mimicking human skin layers that can be used to close
:22:04. > :22:10.the wounds of severe burn victims, Solari, a solar powered outdoor
:22:11. > :22:12.cooker, and Mima, a kit to inspect a beehive without
:22:13. > :22:20.An overall winner will be announced in November.
:22:21. > :22:22.With me is Solveiga Pakstaite a Lithuanian Industrial Design
:22:23. > :22:24.Technology student from Brunel University who was one
:22:25. > :22:32.She designed 'Bump Mark' a bio-reactive food expiry label which
:22:33. > :22:36.shows you exactly when your food is going off so you don't have to rely
:22:37. > :22:56.Tell me why we needed this. I noticed that we waste a lot of food
:22:57. > :22:59.annually. It is clearly an issue and the current expiry labels are not
:23:00. > :23:05.working so well to prevent this. Another problem is visually impaired
:23:06. > :23:10.people are not able to gain this type of information at all. They
:23:11. > :23:18.have no clue about the freshness of their food. Yes, they have to
:23:19. > :23:22.guess, and perhaps end up throwing food away to be cautious, and that
:23:23. > :23:28.is money they don't have. One third of blind people are not in paid
:23:29. > :23:35.employment, so it is a struggle. This is why this is tactile. I
:23:36. > :23:41.wanted the texture to change, to let them know. So this is an food
:23:42. > :23:46.packaging, you will have a little marker, and tell me about the
:23:47. > :23:50.texture. What should you feel? If the food is fresh, it should feel
:23:51. > :23:56.solid. When it expires, you will start to feel bumps. The way it
:23:57. > :24:00.works is that you put a solid gelatin gel on top of the bumps, the
:24:01. > :24:03.Yukon QB bombs, and then the gelatin has this property, because it is a
:24:04. > :24:09.natural substance, it expires just like food, it turns back into a
:24:10. > :24:16.liquid when it expires, so that enables you to feel the dumps. So if
:24:17. > :24:25.it feels smooth you know your food is safe. Sometimes we do all we food
:24:26. > :24:32.that is too fresh. Exactly. My research found that 87% look at the
:24:33. > :24:36.expiry date and if it has expired, they want even check the condition
:24:37. > :24:44.of it, they want smell it, they will just throw it away. You have used
:24:45. > :24:47.gelatin. Have you had interest from industry, from business, you think
:24:48. > :24:53.this is a workable idea as well as a brilliant concept? I have currently
:24:54. > :24:57.got a patented pending for this, so it is protected, and I was able to
:24:58. > :25:05.do that because I won a scholarship with the James Dyson foundation.
:25:06. > :25:09.That's let me finance... It was an extensive recess, so I was able to
:25:10. > :25:13.file for patents. Now I can get to the next age of finding an investor,
:25:14. > :25:18.so I am talking to a view different comedies about this. Commercial
:25:19. > :25:23.confidence gelatin. This kind of scheme, I suppose, allows you to
:25:24. > :25:30.work without a big company behind you at the beginning. Yes, I was
:25:31. > :25:33.able to take this as far as it could go within my university. And now
:25:34. > :25:38.you're going to a global edition. How exciting. You could get
:25:39. > :25:49.inspiration from the other products as well. Yes, it is Williams firing.
:25:50. > :25:53.-- it is really inspiring. We are going to regroup with the astronomy
:25:54. > :25:57.photographer of the year awards. This year is no exception to the
:25:58. > :27:01.stunning images that have been provided. It is as good as
:27:02. > :27:07.as we look ahead to the weekend, it looks a lot fresher with some
:27:08. > :27:08.welcome sunshine coming from the north. With this weather