People who live there, but once you start denigrating a site you are just ripping out pages out of that book woodruff those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by ive been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. The ones getting involved, staying engaged. They are not afraid to question the path theyre on. Because the one question they never want to ask is, how did i end up here . I started schwab with those people. People who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions and. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill this was referendum day in scotland, on whether to stay part of the United Kingdom. Polls suggested a slight advantage for those voting no to independence and to ending a union with england thats lasted 307 years. Alex thomson of independent Television News filed this report, while voting was still under way. Reporter what a campaign and what a poll. Today, even pipes werent enough, they needed flames at edinborough, to capture the history of the day. Out voting in aberdine, alex samin has told the nation there will be no yes camp and no no camp tomorrow. cheers just a team scotland, pulling together whatever the outcome. On that, Better Together no Campaign Leader allister darling will agree with his rival. But the question for both men would the turnout follow the extraordinary pattern of 97 . Yes, 97 , voter registration. By midafternoon, edinborough council said postal returns were at 89. 6 . You dont often see figures like these outside oneparty dictatorships and that is not lost on scottish voters. Its good that theres so many people turning out to vote as well. Thats the big thing. You know, well never get this amount of voting in the next election, which is unfortunate. It might not massively affect us or our generation, but itll definitely have a knock on effect for the kids, definitely. For the image, the very identity of a country is at stake. Its relationship with its near neighbors, that land to the south of coldstream, the slant of history, as we pass through dunfermlin abbey today, resting place of robert the bruce, through what perspective will we review such places tomorrow. Up in perth, though, it wasnt history or politics for the ladies concentrating on their magnificent scones at a church come polling station were not here to discuss politics, they told me. Its clear, when people think they personally can make a difference about something they really care about, they will come out and they will vote. But is that just the case in the borders and the noisy central belt of scotland . What happens were you to take the train north into the highlands and islands . Here, of course, voting has a rather different pace and tone to it. For a start, some have to fit the ballot box in around the needs of the flock. But the imperative to vote this time, of all times, is still there. Well i have not voted for about 20 years, so that shows you how important it is. Reporter so, too, a dutch couple in killen, who run a b b. Very, very, very important, because i live here, i work here, i pay my taxes, i love this country, and i think i have never been more convinced about going to a polling station than ive ever been before in the netherlands. There are no exit polls. First declarations expected after 2 a. M. , but the really clear picture emerges, obviously, after glasgow and edinborough declare around dawn. Its been a long campaign, theres a long night ahead. Ifill president obama has spoke out in favor of scotland remaining part of the u. K. Woodruff the Islamic State group today released a propaganda video of british hostage john cantlie, a freelance photojournalist. Three hostages have been beheaded already, and cantlie criticized the failure to win their freedom. Seeing as ive been abandoned by my government and my fate now lies in the hands of the Islamic State, i have nothing to lose. Woodruff cantlie indicated hell make a series of statements on behalf of the militants. Ifill joint chiefs of stagff chairman general Martin Dempsey said today it may take as long as a year to get Syrian Rebels ready to battle Islamic State fighters. This effort will not be easy. This effort will not be brief. This effort will not be simple. Were at war with isil, just as were at war with al qaeda, but destroying isil will require more than military efforts alone. It will require political progress in the region and effective partners on the ground in iraq and in syria. Ifill that assessment came as the senate moved to approve 500 Million Dollars to arm and train the rebels. The house approved it yesterday. At a house hearing, defense secretary chuck hagel counseled patience. Separately, french president Francois Hollande said his country will launch air strikes against Islamic State militants in iraq, but will not commit ground troops. France, he said, will not join any air missions in syria. Woodruff theres word that a new threat has emerged from al qaida fighters in syria. The director of national intelligence, james clapper, said today the Khorasan Group is helping plot attacks on american airliners. He said the cell is working with alqaedas affiliate in yemen. Ifill the u. N. Security council has declared the Ebola Outbreak in west africa to be a threat to international security. The councils Statement Today came as another u. N. Body the World Health Organization reported the death toll has risen above 2,600. More than 5,300 cases have now been confirmed. Including 700 in the last week alone. Most of the infections are concentrated in guinea, liberia and sierra leone. Woodruff in northern california, a winddriven wildfire kept spreading and threatening more than 2,000 homes. The fire is burning near the community of Pollock Pines in the sierra nevada, some 60 miles east of sacramento. Its already scorched 111 square miles and nearly tripled in size since yesterday. Authorities have now arrested a man suspected of starting the fire saturday. Ifill home depot says a data breech this spring and summer may have affected 56 million credit cards. The Home Improvement giant has now eliminated the malware in its networks. The breech began as far back as april. Woodruff and on wall street, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 109 points to close just short of 17,266. The nasdaq rose 31 points to close at 4,593. And the s p 500 added more than 9 points, to finish at 2011. Ifill still to come on the newshour, copycat jihadists arrested for allegedly plotting beheadings in australia. What roles countries in the middle east can play in the fight against Islamic State militants. Ukraines president asks congress for more economic and military aid. Preserving native american artifacts on federal land. Previously used for offroading. What can be done to rebuild trust between communities and their protectors . And, what the census says about americas richest and poorest. Woodruff now to the Islamic State groups shocking plot in australia. The sunni militant group reportedly planned on beheading a citizen there before authorities thwarted the mission. The raids across sydney, at 12 locations, were the largest in australias history. 800 federal and state Police Officers swarmed residential areas, initially detaining 15 people. The violence was to be perpetrated on a member of the public on the streets, and certainly at this stage was at a very high level. Woodruff nine suspects were let go, six others were held, including 22yearold, omarjan azari, who appeared in court. Australian Prime Minister tony abbott said intelligence indicated supporters of Islamic State or isil planned to behead a random person in public. Exhortations, quite direct exhortations were coming from an australian who is apparently quite senior in isil, to networks of support back in australia, to conduct demonstration killings here in this country. So this is not just suspicion, this is intent, and thats why the police and security agencies decided to act in the way they have. Woodruff sydney residents, especially those living near the suspects homes were unnerved. We grew up in this area and not once did we ever think we were going to have terrorists living in our back yard so now that we can see it happening of course its scary especially bringing up our own children around here now its scary. Scary, well lets put it this way, the world is a very small place now and thinking australia is immune to Something Like this is just not an option. Complacency gets you into trouble. Woodruff the raids came hours before Prime Minister abbott met with australian troops leaving for the middle east, to support a Coalition Fighting the Islamic State. A short time ago, i spoke via skype to sydneybased journalist stuart cohen, whos been covering the story. Stuart cohen, thank you for talking to us. What evidence, first of all, did police have before they arrested these suspects . Welsh obviously, as with any intelligence operation, theyre playing their cards very close to the vest, but one thing they did let out was that the raids that took place in sydney were based on an intercepted phone call between that senior isis militant, that senior australian isis militant that tony abbott mentioned in the piece before and omarjan azari, who was the 22 year old who is the only person who has been charged in these arrests so far. So thats the one piece of intelligence that they did let slip, that they had intercepted the phone call, and thats what put this whole operation in motion, realizing that they were close to possibly carrying out these attacks. Woodruff what made them think these individuals were actually going to carry them out . Well, they have been having these people under surveillance for a while. Thats the best that the police would say. Theyve been watching these people. Obviously they had reason ever since the terror alert was raised last week to high, which means that the terror alert is now or a terror attack is now likely in australia, theyve been putting some increased scrutiny on people they know where the radical islamic element is in sydney, and they keep a lot of these people under surveillance. They figured the time was right. It was time to get in there and start making arrests before the worst thing could happen and they could carry out some sort of an attack. Woodruff in fact, i was reading one report that said they estimate there are about 100 people inside australia now who are actively supporting the Islamic State group. If they know that much about them, why havent they arrested more . Well, i guess in some ways you have to wait for a crime to occur. Theyre keeping a watch on people. There are people, like you said, about 100 people who they believe are supporting the isis movement either through fundraising or helping to recruit people to send overseas. In fact, they did arrest two people last week in a raid in brisbane and charged them with supporting the Islamic State movement through raising funds and helping to recruit jihadists to send overseas. So those two people were arrested. Theyre keeping an eye on the other 100 or so that they believe have links to the movement, and then, of course, there are 60 people that they think, 60 or so people they think are overseas actively fighting for the movement. Some of those people, theyve already canceled their passports and issued arrest warrants for some of them. If they ever return to australia, theyll be arrested, but the question is if those people come back. Obviously thats a big concern is when and if those people who are fighting overseas start coming back. Thats what gives the government cause for concern. Woodruff do they have a theory about why this was going to happen or they were trying to make it happen in australia . Is it because australia is about to send troops over to fight the Islamic State group . What do you hear about that . Well, part of it is. I think there are some senior members of the opposition in parliament who are having the same concern, that because of the commitment of 600 troops to the coalition thats going to fight the Islamic State, that that makes australia a bigger target for domestic terrorist attack, but like a lot of places around the world, like the u. S. And the u. K. , there are a lot of immigrants, a lot of muslim immigrants, and there are going to be a sort of disaffected, marginalized minority that find no home in their adopted country, and the only thing that they resort to is radical islam. And they find a welcome home among a Certain Community that wants to carry out these attacks. Australia as a western nation and as a backer of u. S. Policy, a very strong backer of u. S. Policy, finds itself a target for these people. Woodruff stuart, last question. How is the australian public reacting to this, especially there in sydney . Well, i think people are quite surprised. I think its going to take a little bit longer to see how things shake out. Obviously the initial reaction is quite a bit of surprise, especially in some of the neighborhoods where people find that they have suspected terrorists living among them. A lot of these arrests took place in very immigrantrich communities. A lot of the people around there still cant believe that some of the people within their neighborhoods were even arrested and still dont believe they had anything to do. There is a certain degree of belief that maybe the government has been overinflating this terror risk to sort of distract the public from some rather unpopular domestic policies that are going on right now. Woodruff so not widespread fear . Not widespread fear at this point. There hasnt been an attack here. There has never been a terrorist attack in australia. Woodruff reporter stuart cohen in sydney, we thank you. Youre welcome, judy. Woodruff the most immediate threat that the Islamic State group poses, of course, is in the middle east. Tonight, Hari Sreenivasan takes a closer look at how that region views the group and efforts led by the United States to stop it. Sreenivasan joining me now to explore that is the former jordanian Prime Minister. Hes the author of the second arab awakening and the battle for pluralism. Robin wright has reported extensively on the arab world. Shes a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson international center. And were also joined by the direct you for the center of mideast studies. This week the Obama Administration has been laying out the case the try to drum up support for the u. S. Plan against the Islamic State. How much support is there in jordan where you are . Theres a lot of support in jordan against, you know, isis. That does not mean, of course, again boots on the ground in the case of the jordanian, but it will mean a lot of intelligence support, a lot of logistical support, a lot of support that weve seen before when jordan cooperated with the americans against Abu Musab Alzarqawi and the predecessor of i. S. In iraq in 2007. You can expect much of that support again. Sreenivasan whats your take on the people and the leaders in the middle east and how much they support the u. S. Plan . I think one always has the make that distinction between the people and the leaders of the middle east, because what the people want is not always reflected in sort of official, elite position. I think theres always the back drop of the legacy of external intervention, the legacy of colonialism, and more recently the legacy of the disaster of the iraq war. People i think are very fearful of a repeat of that scenario playing itself out if this intervention goes badly wrong. There is also just the general set of uncertainty and lack of clarity in terms of what obamas longterm strategy for the region is, because he seems to have been sending signals in recent years that he wasnt interested in investing any time and attention in the middle east. He wanted to pivot to asia and reduce the american fingerprint, all for very good reasons. Then his whole strategy with respect to the bloodletting and the disaster in syria has raised a lot of questions about where obama stands, what his grand strategy is. I think theres a lot of deep concern both at the popular level and also at the governmental level with respect to what comes next. Sreenivasan robin wright, youve been the iran twice in the past couple months now. How do leaders there view the threat from the Islamic State or the militants calling themselveses the Islamic State and the u. S. Plan to confront it . Well, after 35 years of tension, this is the first time that washington and tehran have common cause when it comes to a challenge in the region. During the u. S. Intervention for eight years, iran was the nemesis of the United States. Today they both feel that the Islamic State is the greatest threat in the region. That doesnt mean that theyre necessarily going to cooperate. It is clear that these are the two countries that are most active in confronting the