[ brakes screech ] flo: unh... [ tires squeal, brakes screech, horn honks ] ooh, ooh! [ back-up beeping, honking ] a truckload of discounts for your business -- now, that's progressive. hello, you're watching "gmt" on bbc. i'm lucy hawkings. our top story, how to take on islamic state in iraq and syria. foreign ministers from an international coalition are meeting in paris to come up with a strategy. we'll be looking at the role that sunni arab nations could play. >> translator: this is a global threat and the response has to be a global response. three days to go before the scottish referendum. why has the queen remained virtually silent on the independence debate? and the chief suspect in the

murder makes his debut as a host on russian television as the kremlin tries to unite the country against a common enemy. aaron joined us. >> this man, the chinese e-commerce giant goes public this week. we'll take a look at why some western firms are very worried about alibaba's move on to u.s. soil. it's midday here, where foreign ministers have gathered to come up with a unified strategy. about 40 countries, including ten arab states, have signed up to a coalition to fight the

militant group. it has sieged large swaths of territory in eastern syria and across northern and western iraq. this summit comes off the back of a whirlwind tour by u.s. secretary of state john kerry, and also after the killing of another western hostage on the weekend. the french president francois hollande has been speaking at the summit. he has described islamic state as a global threat. >> translator: this terrorist movement has attacked the weak and the most vulnerable. women and children. this terrorist movement has also attacked religious minorities. it has pursued them. it has sought to destroy whole communities. this terrorist movement has acted on whole swaths of territory in iraq and in syria. it ignores borders and it even

claims to establish a state. so this is a global threat and the response has to be a global response. >> francois hollande talking about the global response needed. well, let's take you to paris and join the bbc's lucy williamson, who is there. any more details on what this global response will be then? >> i think it will be multi-faceted. the americans have been quite clear they want to get support for air strikes against islamic state. they also want people to help train and equip the iraqi and kurdish armies on the ground. and they want states to work together to stop money and fighters going to join the islamic state in iraq and syria. so a multi-faceted approach and it won't be one size fits all. some countries will want to do one thing, some countries will want to do another thing. there are big political sensitivities in this region, so even the offers of help may not

be in accordance with what iraq wants to see in its own country, so there's a lot of political maneuvering to be going on, a very complex picture, but there should be some kind of clarity after this conference, we hope. >> it was mentioned just how the sunni arab states are going to come together, if at all, to try to defeat islamic state. any indication there from those countries about what they're prepared to contribute? >> there hasn't been very much come out of the discussions this morning that's been public as yet. but certainly the americans have said they have ten sunni arab states signed up to the campaign, some of which have offered to carry out air strikes themselves in iraq and possibly elsewhere. that's very good politically for washington, which is keen to avoid the image of being seen to back a shia-led government in iraq without the support of sunni leaders in the region. but whether or not it will happen is a different question. the iraqi president has already hinted today that he's more

comfortable with those nations being involved at the conference than he might be without actually carrying out air strikes in his country. very important politically. the offer is there. we'll have to see how things pan out on the ground. >> thanks for that. chris doyle is with me now. lucy pointing out some of the problems already. can you see this coalition of the arab countries, sunni arab countries coming together and making a difference, even working perhaps? >> i think there's going to be a coalition, but i think there are many, many fault lines about what these countries see as the outcome and the aims of such an attack. so, first of all, at the military level, which countries might be prepared to participate in an actual attack and will that be solely on iraq? and i think this is a huge problem. if you only address the islamic state in iraq, it's a bit like only addressing an infection in one side of your body and not dealing with the other, because of course, islamic state is very operational within syria.

and you can't ignore that. so i think at the moment, we're seeing politically various states, including nato member states, happy to get involved, even militarily within iraq, but not syria, where the assad regime, of course, would not welcome them unless they were part of that coalition. but of course then you move on, politically there are also major differences because many sunni arab states, not least saudi arabia, would be very nervous that any military action within iraq could empower iran. iran isn't part of that coalition, but it's very present on the ground. it is part of the military fight against the islamic state. it's there. so they will worry, those who do not like iran in the region, that this could empower teheran very much in iraq. >> western leaders have talked a lot about trying to counter the ideology of islamic state. this is obviously going to be a long-term battle, but how do

they even begin to do that? >> actually, if we look back at the past in terms of the struggle against al qaeda, that goes back into the early 1990s. actually, the western states have been very poor at this. i think there is a lack of understanding of what motivates people to join al qaeda, why it flourishes, and now why it's happening with islamic state. now, unless you address the feelings of exclusion that actually are there in many muslim communities, particularly amongst muslims who are not living in their state of origin, where they somehow don't feel a great sense of belonging to that state. we're going to have a huge problem. i think they also need to make very, very clear that the islamic state is not what it sort of states. it's not really islamic. it's not a state. it is very brutal. it's not carrying out actions that are in any way ethical. it's brutal, of course. and we need to get that message across that this is helping muslims. >> we need to get that message

across not just from western leaders, but also presumably from the leaders of these ten arab states as well. >> absolutely. and they need to be doing this very effectively. they need to be finding an improved way of communicating with their own populations and with others. egypt is very important in this, for example, because it does have al assad, which is seen as one of the preeminent sunni religious bodies, but we have overall, though, a challenge in that there is no pope in the islamic faith. there is nobody that they all look up to. even though, of course, a head of islamic state would like to pose as such, he is not. >> chris doyle, thank you very much for joining us. fascinating. thank you very much. let's get more now, if you want to get more on the iraq and islamic state, do go to the website. we've got so much analysis there for you, particularly on u.s. president obama's coalition that we've just been talking about against i.s. background on whether their brutal tactics can even be

explained. fascinating reading for you at bbc.com/iraq. time to bring you up to date with some other news now. thousands of tourists and locals in mexico have hunkered down in luxury hotels converted into shelters as hurricane odile made landfall. the storm took down trees, power lines, and roof tiles as it crashed into the baja, california, peninsula. the hurricane is expected to produce a dangerous storm surge with large waves, which could cause serious flooding. former u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton has raised speculation that she is moving closer to announcing a bid for the white house in 2016. as she visited the key state of iowa on sunday accompanied by her husband bill, she was taking part in an annual steak fry. but she was coy about a presidential bid, saying only that she was thinking about it.

troops from the united states and 14 other countries are starting 11 days of military exercises in western ukraine. the u.s. military said the drills had been planned before the crisis in the country started. let's take you to david stern who is in kiev for us. what do these exercises involve, david? >> reporter: well, yes, as you were saying, these were planned apparently well before the crisis in eastern ukraine started. it's about 1,300 troops from 15 countries, not all of them nato countries, in fact. azerbaijan is one of the participants, apparently. it's called rapid try dent 2014, and they say they're going to be focusing primarily on peacekeeping, on patrolling, on convoys, on identifying improvised explosive devices, ieds. but, of course, this is coming at a time, at a very sensitive time, a very tense time in relations between nato and russia and ukraine and russia.

so obviously, the fact that this has been declared or has been announced well in advance is still going to add to the mix of the relations, and obviously it could add to the tensions between the various capitals right now. >> it is still tense there, of course, in eastern ukraine. what is happening on the ground at the moment? we heard of some deaths there over the weekend. >> right. the fighting continues perhaps at a slightly lower level than what we saw previously. there is a cease-fire in place, but it doesn't seem to be much of a cease-fire. there is fighting in and around the area of donetsk, the city of donetsk especially, the airport which is a very key spot. the government forces still control the airport. there's been shelling as well as in the town itself. we've heard six people have died recently under many casualties, and obviously the fighting is in other areas. but as i say, even though it seems to be escalating somewhat

in the past days, it's not quite at the levels that we've seen before and nobody is saying that the cease-fire, or at least that full scale hostilities are break out any time soon. >> so david, have we seen an improvement in the humanitarian situation? >> well, in some ways yes. i should start off by saying in some ways no, obviously with the fighting, it is much worse for those people who are coming under fire. that said, some people seem to be coming back to donetsk and luhansk, the cities that are controlled by the rebels. we also have been informed of prisoner exchanges or p.o.w. exchanges between the two sides. russians also have delivered another convoy of humanitarian aid. but, of course, given that this can break down at any moment and given that the fighting is happening, we must be very much concerned about the humanitarian situation. >> thanks for the update from kiev. do stay with us on "bbc world news."

still to come, the man accused of killing a former russian spy in london is to host a tv show about critics of the kremlin. we'll be speaking to him in moscow. nineteen years ago, we thought, "wow, how is there no way to tell the good from the bad?" so we gave people the power of the review. and now angie's list is revolutionizing local service again. you can easily buy and schedule services from top-rated providers. conveniently stay up to date on progress. and effortlessly turn your photos into finished projects with our snapfix app. visit angieslist.com today.

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there are just three days to go until scotland's referendum on becoming an independent nation. first minister alex salmond is to spend the day meeting business leaders. he wants to highlight the economic opportunities which he says a yes vote could bring. british prime minister david cameron is expected to emphasize to voters there will be no going back if they choose independence. our correspondent rob watson looks now at what's at stake. >> reporter: welcome to this i hope helpful guide to the scottish referendum. here it is, the united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland, but now facing its biggest shake-up, potentially, since southern ireland went its

own way in 1922. if scotland were to leave, just for starters, the uk would literally shrink. it would lose a third of its land mass, not to mention all those beautiful lochs and mountains. its population would drop by 8%. and around $239 billion, or 9% of its gdp, would disappear. scotland leaving could also affect britain's standing in the world. would it still deserve a permanent seat in the u.n. security council? would it still have the same clout at the eu? and, as any divorcing couple knows, who gets what can be horribly messy, especially when you've been married since 1707. among the problematic items, britain's scottish-based submarine born nuclear deterrent. the rest of the armed forces, and here are just a few of the bases. the oil and gas, and, well, the list is endless. but why a referendum right now?

because this man, alex salmond, promised to hold one if his party was victorious in the 2011 elections to the scottish parliament, which it duly was. as to the essence of the argument for independence, put simply, it's that surely scotland would be best governed by the people who live there and its parliament. at westminster, all the mainstream parties want scotland to stay, and have been busily telling the scots how much they're loved, while also warning them they'd be poorer and their future place in the world more uncertain if they vote for independence. and talking of voting, who's eligible? well, anyone over 16 who lives in scotland. so, about four million people. and turnout is expected to be high. >> they are saying a scotland turnout could be as high as 80%. queen elizabeth appears to have

broken her silence on the debate. after a sunday church service near her estate in scotland, the queen told someone in the crowd that she hoped people will think very carefully about the future. this comment has generated a lot of attention, but buckingham palace has issued a statement saying her majesty is firmly of a view that this is a matter for the people of scotland. let's talk to our royal correspondent peter hunt who is with me now. around the world, people are absolutely fascinated at the role the queen is playing in all of this. do you think that this was just a slip of the tongue? >> it most definitely was not a slip of the tongue. those were 11 very significant words that she thought about and wanted to utter. there was no slip of the tongue. she's a head of state of 16 countries. a wily political animal. so she knew exactly what she was doing and she would have been very happy with the coverage and the reporting of it. >> but until this moment, she has remained completely silent. the line all along has been this is for the scots for me to decide.

>> they're insisting that's it. she's walking quite a tight rope. if you are a critic of the monarchy, you might say the easiest thing for her to do is say nothing. i can't think of an election anywhere since she has been on the throne where she has spoken about an election in advance of people going to the polls. she spoke, frek, after austraor australia had a referendum. but it's pretty rare, if not unprecedented for her to speak in advance. but what the palace are saying she has said this, but still they are insisting that she is constitutionally impartial. she's not trying to influence the outcome and it is for the people of scotland. but as you say, her words have been seized upon by those who seek to keep the union together. >> a small bit of influence is the fact that she is going to be in scotland on referendum day. tell us what would happen if scotland did vote yes. >> it's pretty unclear, twill. i think her officials are

relying on this two years between if there was a yes vote and the final independence to work it out. i mean, we know that the scottish nationalist party, the first minister has said that she will be queen of scots. queen elizabeth will be queen of scotland, queen of what is left of the united kingdom. but there are lots of practical challenges. for example, does scotland end up having a governor general like they do in australia, new zealand, and the other realms, or is she queen in the uk, what's left, and scotland at the same time? what does she do if her ministers in london stay something different to her ministers in edinburgh? >> is it possible to judge, do you think, just how popular the monarchy and the queen are in scotland? because some people very clearly said we want the queen the stay, and others are like no, we want rid of the whole thing. >> i think the queen is very popular in scotland and they have insisted she will remain head of state.

alex salmond was saying he dismissed this nonsense that she wasn't impartial. but we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that there are those within his party and those within the country who believe that the next step after independence would be moving to a republic. >> okay, peter, thanks very much for joining us. we've got much more for you on the scottish independence vote here on "bbc world news." we have got a special program, in fact, looking at both sides of the referendum debate at 1,500 gmt. aaron's going to have more for you in the business coming up about some of the economic implications, depending on which way the vote goes. let's move on to thailand now. we've been getting news that the bodies of two british tourists have been found on a beach in the southern island. let's take you to bangkok. we can join our southeast asian correspondent jonathan head who is there for us. do you have more details for us? >> reporter: well, lucy, it

looks like a pretty gruesome murder that took place sometime late last night on a very popular beach. there were a lot of people around, a lot of partying going on until well into the early hours, but nobody seems to know exactly the circumstances in which this young man and young woman died. their bodies were discovered this morning. it's a very small island. there are only three policemen based there. but the island has agreed to stop all boats from leaving the island in the hope that the culprits are still there and they've brought police in from the mainland to try to investigate and see if they can find out who was responsible. it's a rather shocking death. it's a fairly quiet island. it's not as busy as some of the better known islands to the south. and i doubt they've seen anything like this before. if past performance is anything to go by, the thai authorities will move very quickly to try to resolve this apparent crime. they are very conscious that

these kinds of incidents do have a damaging effect on tourists. it is nearly eight years since the former russian agent alexander litvinenko was murdered here in london, and later on monday, the chief suspect in his killing makes his debut as a tv host on russian television. he will present a series called "traitors." critics of the kremlin are being labeled national traitors, as steve rosenburg now reports. >> reporter: to british police, he's the prime suspect in the killing of former russian agent alexander litvinenko. but back home in russia, he's set to become a tv star. from today, andre lugavoy has his own series. it's called "traitors." all about soviet citizens who

betrayed the motherland for the west. he denies murder and moscow has refused to extradite him to the uk. >>. >> translator: we know that you have your own traitors that worked for ussr or for russia. as long as there is confrontation between us, there will always be traitors. >> reporter: russia's president seems to think so. last month, live on tv, vladimir putin announced that there were people in russia prepared to betray their country's national interests. the kremlin has also warned of a fifth column threatening russia from the inside. state-controlled media have been employed the phrase national traitors. but why? with russia under increasing pressure from sanctions and increasingly isolated from the west, the temptation for the authorities here is to look for

traitors and turncoats and fifth columnists. in other words, to seek out the enemy within, to deflect criticism at home. this history teacher has ban vocal critic of russia's intervention in ukraine, but she was astonished to find herself portrayed on national tv recently as a traitor along with several pop stars and politicians. >> it's much easier to rule when you have enemies and everybody can unite against these enemies and you can always explain that crisis is arising and shops are getting empty and so many terrible things happen because of these enemies. >> reporter: tamara concedes that putin's russia is not stall lynn's russia where enemies of the people were sent to the goulag, but criticism here is still equated with treachery and russia is still searching for

scapegoats. steve rosenburg, bbc news, moscow. coming up in the next half-hour, we're going to be turning our focus to mers, a disease with no cure or vaccine. more on that coming up. do stay with us. you pay your auto insurance premium every month on the dot. you're like the poster child for paying on time. and then one day you tap the bumper of a station wagon. no big deal... until your insurance company jacks up your rates. you freak out. what good is having insurance

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i'm lucy hockings. in this half-hour, how to contain a mysterious virus that's already killed more than 300 people. the mers virus appears to have jumped from camels to humans in saudi arabia, with no known cure, what can be done to stop it? and it could be a bumpy landing for europe's rosetta spacecraft as scientists announce how they plan to land it on a comet in a few weeks time. aaron is back and investors are really hedging their bets. >> lucy, it's like trying to predict the unpredictable.

we all know the markets hate uncertainty, and because of that, investors pulled out nearly $700 million from the uk markets just last week. so today, we're taking a look at big business in scotland to see what they're thinking. welcome back. health officials in saudi arabia say they're doing all they can to avoid an outbreak of the deadly middle east respiratory syndrome, or mers virus, at this year's hajj pilgrimage. it's a mystery virus with no known cure. first detected in saudi arabia in 2012. since then, more than 850 cases of infection had been confirmed. more than 300 people have died. cases have also been confirmed in jordan, qatar, and the uae, as well as parts of africa, europe, and the u.s., usually after travel to the middle east. the exact source of the

infection isn't known, but it can cause kidney failure and pneumonia. saudi officials have been accused of not doing enough to contain the outbreak, but the country's acting health minister has told the bbc the situation is now under control. here's more. >> reporter: is this the key source of the deadly mers virus? camels are key suspects for passing the disease to humans, which is why health officials are taking samples from these prized animals. there's believed to be a strong link between camels and the virus, but still very little is known about how it jumps from animals to humans and that is worrying scientists. the virus is fairly harmless in the animals, but in humans it can cause pneumonia and kidney failure, killing more than a third of those infected. but the real problem began when patients ended up here. poor infection control measures

in hospitals like this one where i was shown around meant when a mers patient arrived, the virus spread fast. doctors here admit staff weren't washing their hands between parents or wearing masks properly, which means they were helping pass it on. it wasn't until a year and a half into the outbreak when the king sacked his health minister over his handling of the crisis that things started to change. >> so now we are going to start. >> reporter: now hundreds of hospital staff are trained in infection control and the number of mers patients have fallen dramatically, from hundreds back in the spring, to very sporadic cases now. >> deep breathing. for one minute. >> reporter: but still, relatively little is known about mers. the government has advised people to wear protective gear

when handling camels, especially if they're sick. but at this market on the outskirts, we didn't see anyone taking much notice. raw camel milk, which could contain the virus, was being sold and drunk freely. >> translator: i don't know about this virus. it didn't come here. i have drunk raw camel milk every day and i am fine. >> reporter: at these high biosecurity labs, scientists are trying to figure out where this virus came from, particularly on the run-up to around hajj, when around two million people will descend on mecca. >> being that it's a virus transmittable from human to human is a big concern, because we have overcrowding and this is an excellent media for the infection to spread. >> reporter: but the government is reassuring pilgrims.

>> mers is not any more an issue in saudi. we will do our best to ensure that we continue doing all what we can do to have a safe hajj. to all of guests, pilgrims. >> reporter: the outbreak may be under control for now, but the world health organization says the situation continues to be a public health concern. >> the health minister telling you the situation is under control, but really, how big a problem is it? >> well, the problem's come down. it's reduced in recent months. we can say that categorically. but back in the springtime when we saw this spike in cases, this really did look like a major problem. they called a meeting to decide whether this did constitution a global health emergency, so

that's how bad things did get. since then, the government has taken control of the situation much better than it had been doing. i mean, 18 months it took to get to this place. we've also seen command and control center specifically set up to look for mers cases and to treat people quickly, because that is how you stop an outbreak. but really, with hajj coming up in the next few weeks, there is a concern, the world health organization has said that, that people are being told be vigilant. >> they have had the social media campaigns and things in saudi as well. but how aware do you think the general public was about the dangers with mers? >> well, we went for a few weeks. we were on the sea front, to the markets. i'd say around 50/50 knew about it. >> young people perhaps. >> it was generally younger people that did seem to be much better informed. we've been seeing, as we can see

here, this is a public health video that's been put on youtube. so they have been quite proactive using social media, twitter, facebook, as you say. but there's also a lot of reluctance. we heard the camel herder there, that it's from camels. there are very strong links to camels and we did see some reluctance for people to acknowledge that mers existed, let alone that camels could be responsible. >> many thousands and people every year travel for the hajj. if one of our viewers are worried, what precautions could they take? >> if you are worried, particularly if you have underlying health problems, such as diabetes or kidney problems already, go and get some advice. once you are out there, do the things that you would probably do in any case. you know, just keep up that good personal hygiene. we think that this has passed through droplets when people sneeze and cough.

a, stay away from people who are sneezing and coughing a lot. b, just keep washing your hands. keep yourself clean. take those wipes with you, that hand gel. do all those sorts of things. and if you do end up getting sick, and people do get sick during hajj. it's well-known. it's a condition called the hajj cough. then just get help kwukly. go a -- quickly. >> on the website, there's video and analysis as quell and you can take a look around the new command and control center where the mers response has been coordinated from. that's at bbc.com/news. time to catch up with all the business news now, and aaron is with me now talking about alibaba. gosh, it's a big deal. >> we're going to find out thursday just how much, but we're talking tens of billions of dollars. good to see you, lucy. thank you. hello there. this week certainly sees the most hyped and talked about tech

flotation, a tech company going private for years. this is the owner, the founder. it is the giant alibaba. the chinese firm is expected to price the deal on september 18th and it will start trading a day later. so we're expecting that on friday when it actually goes public. but what is alibaba, i hear you say? what does it do? it's probably almost easier to list what the alibaba group doesn't do, but we'll give it a shot. the company's first business was alibaba.com. it was set up by mr. jack mar back in 1999. the website, basically it helps to connect exporters in china with companies in over 190 countries around the world. it allows a business -- as an example, it allows a business in the uk to find a manufacturer, in china, and then have a range of goods produced and shipped. it also owns tabbo.com. it also owns tmall.com, which offers a wide selection of

branded goods to china's emerging middle class. it continues. it also runs the online payment system alipay.com, which operates just like paypal. it also has weibo, china's version of twitter, which operates in a similar way to youtube. the company also offers online marking, cloud computing, and a logistics operation. it also has stakes in the film industry and owns half of china's most successful football club. it also plans to enter the banking industry. so no wonder around the world investors are waiting. some companies are very worried about what they see as the move on to u.s. soil. richard taylor reports from silicon valley. >> reporter: ride sharing san francisco style.

these -- since its launch here in 2012, the start-up itself has been on quite a journey. recently with alibaba in the driver's seat. jack mar's empire a key investor in a $250 million funding round earlier this year. that wager was just the latest in a silicon valley spending spree over the past 18 months. aliba alibaba's venture in mobile spreading way beyond transport, into areas as diverse as communications, gaming and app search. so what's driving these investments? this silicon valley venture capitalist himself invested in alibaba a decade ago. >> jack is very astute, both operator and investor. eng they' i think they're trying to learn as much as they can about the u.s. market, the tech market, the tech economy in general, and obviously many of them have a strategic aspect where they're trying to bring them back into china or using them here as a beach head to expand here in the

u.s. >> reporter: and those potentially expansionist intentions are getting some in silicon valley concerned. right now, its new retail outlet doesn't so much as carry any alibaba branding. but some observers say its e-commerce ambitions could eventually pose a real threat to established american players like amazon and e-bay. >> alibaba knows they can't just come to the u.s. and drop. they want some other services like ali pay to expect it to work. they're going to take a long-term sort of approach and try to introduce other services slowly but surely into the u.s. but they have a ton of money and experience and you can never discount alibaba. >> reporter: but for start-ups needing investment, alibaba's investment is positively welcomed. chinese funding these days seen as a badge of credibility. it's clear that alibaba's presence here in silicon valley

isn't simply a one-way street. many established u.s. firms may fear what they see as the encroachment by the chinese internet giant on u.s. soil. but for many others, it's a gateway into china itself, not just a new market, but the world's biggest. richard taylor, bbc news, silicon valley. >> there you go. we're going to have more of that all this week. as you've been hearing, in three days time, the people of scotland will decide on their future. i tell you what, the world is watching very closely as it becomes harder to predict the outcome of the vote on independence and financial markets. we all know what do they hate? they hate uncertainty. the 307-year union means that scotland is economically and politically imbedded with britain. so how are the companies and investors likely to react if scotland decides it's going to break away? our scottish economics correspondent has this one.

>> reporter: over the last few weeks, it's the banks that have been the center of attention. five uk banks have legal headquarters in edinburgh, but the majority of their customers live in the rest of the uk. so now there's been a flurry of announcements stating that the five banks with registered offices in edinburgh would move. if scotland votes yes, rbs, lloyd's, tsb, tesco, and clydesdale say they plan to move their legal homes south of the border into england. and the banks aren't the only ones. the life assurance giant standard life has said that if scotland votes for independence, they're planning new registered companies in england, into which they would transfer parts of their business if they needed to do so. most of these companies already have offices in london, so it wouldn't be difficult to do and they've all rushed to reassure their staff in scotland that jobs aren't at risk. so would it really matter or is

it just a case of moving the brass plaques? the two sides of the referendum campaign don't agree. >> i thinklem relies entirely, they have been caught red handed with a campaign of scare mongering. >> it's not about brass plates, it's about bras ts tax. it will cost us funds. >> reporter: all of this uncertainty centers on the question of what currency they would be using. the scottish government think it could be easily resolved with a currency union, but westminster has ruled that out and many are left wondering what options are left. >> what will that mean for my borrowing costs, for my mortgages, and for jobs? think of what is that alternative, and if there isn't a clear answer to that question, then that's a lot of economic uncertainty. >> reporter: one investor says they've already moved hundreds

of millions of pounds out of scotland, but others in edinburgh are urging caution. there would be a lengthy period of transition. >> what they do know is the bank of england and the financial regulators have con tin -- c contingency plans. >> if people do move their deposits out of scotland after yes votes, it would have a big impact on the economy. but the companies and regulating bodies are working overtime to try to plug any leaks and avoid any panic. collette smith, bbc news. >> more on that the rest of this week as well. shares of air france have fallen almost 3.5%. why? because pilots are beginning a one-week strike over company plans to cut costs to recapture the market share, which has been taken by the budget airlines. the main pilot's unit at air france has called for a week-long strike, which would

also be the longest strike the company has had since 1998. air france says it still hopes to operate close to 50% of planned flights. if you are planning, trying to fly air france this week, i'd check before you go to the airport. lots going on. follow me on twitter. i'll tweet you. you can tweet me back. >> spend the weekend in paris. a little air france. >> just blame it on paris. >> the accent changed, though. do stay with us on "bbc world news" still to come. get ready for a bumpy ride. it's not air france. take a look at why scientists are planning to land on this rocky comet. ♪ ♪ ♪

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i'm lucy hockings. the top stories this hour. the french president has opened an international conference on fighting islamic state militants by saying the response to the extremists must be global. with just three days to go before the scottish independence referendum, it's still too close to call on which side might win. the link between poland and shakespeare might not be immediately obvious, but in the 17th century, a polish city was one of the main destinations for traveling english actors, and now a new theatre hopes to revive that tradition. >> reporter: the works of shakespeare were so popular in this part of poland, that this black brick building stands on the site of a 17th century elizabethan play house. the actors would come every summer to perform.

>> we are standing right now on the site of this theatre where english players performed, and during shakespeare's own lifetime, his plays were performed here, so it's a historical site and the whole idea is not somebody's crazy idea or thought, but it has strong historical backing. >> but unlike shakespeare's actors, today's performers have one big advantage. this is the only theatre in the whole world with an opening roof to give theatre goers that authent authentic experience. >> the roof comes from history, for sure, because elizabethan theatre was an open theatre. >> would it not have been easier to do a sliding roof? >> if you work with a sliding roof, you lose the experience of the inner space, because now the inner space becomes double.

>> reporter: the theatre has some famous supporters. britain's prince charles is an honorary patron, as well as the most celebrated dr ed director. >> reportero >> translator: they will show their interpretation of the place. this will be beautiful. shakespeare has returned here. >> reporter: the curtains will be raised, as will the roof, for the theatre's grand opening at the end of the week. the rosetta spacecraft is getting closer to its first ever attempt to land on a target. a comet some 406 million kilometers from earth. in paris, scientists have been revealing details of how and where the spacecraft will try to place its land of robot on the comet. watching closely was rebecca

morelle who is with me now. this is hugely exciting. >> it's really exciting. >> what do we know about where it's going to land? >> they've chosen site j, whatever that means. but this is going to be really difficult, because for a start, this comet is kind of weird. it's a really odd shape. so i think the scientists are hoping it would be more of a spherical shape, a bit like a misshapen potato. that's what most comets are like. this one looks a bit like a flying rubber duck. there's a big part to the body and a smaller part on the top. they need somewhere flat to land it and that's an issue, because this comet is covered in cliffs, crevices, boulders. so say spot j is perched on the top of the duck's head, on its crown. the size is saying it's kind of the least bad option. they had five choices. when they looked at all of them in detail, they were really difficult and it's maybe the easiest of the bunch. >> and this is a one-shot

opportunity, isn't it? >> that's right. one chance to do it partly because it takes 20minutes for messages here on earth. so essentially the lander, which is the size of a washing machine, is strapped on to rosetta at the moment. it's going to be released and it's going to drop -- it's not going to steer itself down. it's literally going to free fall to the surface of the comet. that's going to take about seven hours, a terrifying seven hours for the scientists. once it gets on the surface, it literally has to bolt itself on to stop it bouncing off again, because the worst case scenario -- well, there are several. one, it might miss the comet altogether. two, it might hit the comet and bounce off again. and the worst worst case scenario is if it bounces off and hits the rosetta spate craft. >> the tricky issue of gravity to deal with as well. while we've still got time, can you tell us why all this matters? >> well, comets are really

amazing objects. they date from about 4.6 billion years ago. so, from the very dawn of our solar system. and they're unchanged as well. they're pristine objects. looking at them and understanding what they're made of tells a lot about the formation of the earth. >> so it actually helps us understand how earth got here and where we're from. >> it can tell us about the origins of us because there is a theory that perhaps the comet was carrying the chemicals needed for organic life to start. so perhaps an impact of a comet with the earth seeded the earth with these comicals. so getting on to the comet and seeing what it's made of might tell us about the origins of us, too. >> so the most exciting outcome would be if they found some kind of organic compounds. >> exactly. and you can only really do that by studying the thing up close. actually, sort of picking the stuff up, feeling it, analyzing it, seeing what it's made of. even if the landing part doesn't

work, actually getting a spacecraft into orbit around a comet, that's a first. no one's ever attempted that before. we've flown past them. >> tremendously exciting. thanks so much. thanks so much for being with us here on "gmt."

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