5 Things to Know This Morning
5 Things to Know This Morning
— -- Your look at the five biggest and most buzz-worthy stories of the morning.
1. Scots Decide Whether to Declare Independence
The fate of the United Kingdom was at stake Thursday as Scotland began voting in a referendum on whether to become an independent state, deciding whether to unravel a marriage that helped build an empire but has increasingly been felt by many Scots as stifling and one-sided.
The question on the ballot paper is simplicity itself: "Should Scotland be an independent country?" Yet it has divided Scots during months of campaigning — and on Thursday they decide on the fate of a 307-year old union with England.
More than 2,600 polling places opened Thursday at 7 a.m. and will close at 10 p.m. Turnout is expected to be high, with more than 4.2 million people registered to vote — 97 percent of those eligible.
2. Australia Raids Sparked by ISIS Attack Fears
Police said they thwarted a plot to carry out beheadings in Australia by supporters of the radical Islamic State group by detaining 15 people and raiding more than a dozen properties across Sydney on Thursday.
The raids involving 800 federal and state police officers — the largest in the country's history — came in response to intelligence that an Islamic State group leader in the Middle East was calling on Australian supporters to kill, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said.
Abbott was asked about reports that the detainees were planning to behead a random person in Sydney.
"That's the intelligence we received," he told reporters. "The 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."
3. Accused Cop Shooter Eric Frein Acted in War Films
The suspect in the shooting of two Pennsylvania state troopers has spent years reenacting military history and has shaved the sides of his head into a bizarre Mohawk as "part of the mental preparation" for his alleged attack, police said.
Eric Matthew Frein, 31, is charged with killing one trooper and wounding a second last Friday and there is a massive manhunt underway for him. He is considered dangerous, possibly armed with a rifle and an AK-47. Schools in the district were closed because of the search.
Lt. Col. George Bivens said that Frein "belongs to a military simulation unit" that focused on Eastern European armies. "He has his head shaved on the sides with long hair on top," wider than a Mohawk, Bivens said.
4. Missing University of Virginia Student Hannah Graham Seen on Video
Surveillance videos of the last time missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham was seen were released and they appear to show the sophomore running at one point and retracing her steps as if she was uncertain of which way to go.
Charlottesville police also said that there is a legitimate reason to consider Graham's case as similar to that of at least one other girl who has disappeared in the area in the past five years.
“Both of them occurred within the proximity of the University of Virginia. Both of them are young girls,” Chief Timothy Longo said in reference to the 2009 case of Morgan Harrington.
5. Ancient Skeletons Found Holding Hands in England
Archaeologists with the University of Leicester uncovered remains of two skeletons holding hands believed to have been resting that way for at least 700 years.
University of Leicester Archaeological Services has so far excavated 11 skeletons, dated to the 14th century by radiocarbon, under the "lost chapel of St. Morell," which overlooks the small village of Hallaton in Leicestershire, England.
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