1. Scotland votes ‘No’ to independence

    Scotland voted to stay in the United Kingdom.

    With 30 out of the country’s 32 council areas having declared after the vote on September 18, the “No” side has an unassailable* lead of 1,877,252 votes to 1,512,688.

    The winning total needed was 1,852,828. Nationally, the margin of victory is about 55 percent to 45 percent.

    2. U.S. to send troops to tackle Ebola

    U.S. President Barack Obama on September 18 ordered thousands of troops to West Africa along with an aggressive effort to train health care workers and build treatment centers.

    He called on other countries to quickly supply more helpers, supplies and money.

    “If the outbreak is not stopped now, we could be looking at hundreds of thousands of people affected, with profound economic, political and security implications for all of us,” Obama declared.

    3. S. Korea detains U.S. man near border

    South Korea border guards arrested an American man who they believe was attempting to swim across a river into rival North Korea, a South Korean defense official said on September 17.

    The man was arrested on September 16 while lying on the bank of the Han River, which is in a restricted military area near the border. The man was in his late 20s or early 30s, Yonhap news agency said. He had told investigators that he tried to go to North Korea to meet leader Kim Jong Un.

    4. U.S. House votes to arm Syrian rebels

    The U.S. House of Representatives approved President Barack Obama’s plan on September 17 to train and arm Syrian rebels.

    The House voted to authorize the plan, a test of support for Obama’s stepped-up campaign to “degrade and destroy” Islamic State fighters who have seized a third of both Iraq and Syria, declared war on the West and seek to establish a caliphate* in the heart of the Middle East.

    5. Turkish hostages freed

    Turkish authorities said they had freed 49 hostages* from one of the world’s most ruthless* militant groups.

    But as the well-dressed men and women captured by the Islamic State group more than three months ago clasped their families on Saturday on the tarmac of the Turkish capital’s airport, experts had serious doubts about the government’s story.

    The official explanation “sounds a bit too good to be true,” said Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat.

    6. Japan slaughters dolphins in annual cull

    Dolphin slaughter* season began in Japan on September 16.

    Activists from the environmentalist group Sea Shepherd calling themselves “Cove Guardians” have been monitoring a bay in Taiji, southwestern Japan, since the six-month dolphin hunting season began earlier this month.

    There were no details on the number of kills.

    Defenders of the cull* say it is traditional and point out that the dolphins are not endangered, a position echoed by the Japanese Government.

    7. White House intruder had a knife

    A U.S. man arrested on September 19 for charging at the White House was armed with a knife when he climbed a fence and made it into the executive mansion after President Barack Obama had departed, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said on Saturday.

    Previously, the U.S. Secret Service had said Omar Gonzalez, 42, had been unarmed.

    A second man was arrested Saturday for trespassing* at the White House.

    (SD-Agencies)