01/11/2016 World News Today

Reporting from Washington, I'm Jane O'Brien.

as Iraqi special forces finally reach the city.

It's been two years since so-called Islamic State took control.

Our correspondent is on the front line.

Rocket propelled grenades have been incoming.

In the US, it's a week to go until election day and the race

but it all hangs on the battle-ground states.

I'm in Charlotte, North Carolina, a state that both sides desperately

want to win, and which is getting lots of visitors this week.

And what impact will Brexit have on the Ireland-UK border?

We've a special report from the Emerald Isle.

And we look at the high numbers of musicians

We begin in Iraq where two years after the humiliation

of being driven out by so-called Islamic State,

The assault on Iraq's second largest city is now in its third week.

It's involved hundreds of troops in heavily-armoured vehicles,

A team of special forces has seized control of the symbolic state TV

building in the eastern Mosul district of Kukjali -

the first important building to be captured since the offensive began.

Our international correspondent Ian Pannell and

cameraman Darren Conway are embedded with Iraqi special forces

on the front line, from where they sent this report.

Slowly and relentlessly, the territory of the so-called caliphate

is being taken back. It is almost two and a half years since the

motives for able to cross these planes, with ease, and now it's the

turn of Iraqi special forces. We have heard a sound of Ed, close to

the city over Brazil, it is sniper fire coming in from Islamic State.

-- the city of Mosul. They are responding, trying to stop the

shooting from coming in. Few expected that they would advance

this far, this farce. But the closer they get to Mosul, so the resistance

only grows. We are now literally just a few hundred meters from the

outskirts of Mosul with counterterrorism forces, coming up

against significantly stronger resistance than we have seen in the

last few days. Constantly hearing the sound of rounds coming in,

rocket propelled grenades as well as automatic weapons fire, tanks, heavy

weapons, and they are targeting a number of buildings where they think

Islamic State is based, before it is then safe to move on into Mosul.

Thought to be more than 1 million people trapped between the warring

parties, with nothing but a white flag for defence. Many fear that a

mass civilian exodus might lie ahead. This is the moment that the

troops entered the outskirts of Mosul. It is hard to exaggerate how

dangerous this day was. Islamic State fighters on the skyline barely

seem to care that these troops were advancing. But that does not mean

they are not prepared to defend the city, or fight to the death. The

advance forces have been moving through the outskirts of Mosul for

the last few hours, and met incredibly stiff resistance. We have

seen a number of Isis fighters moving around. Carrying rocket

propelled grenades. There have been incoming attacks. And a lot of

gunfire. The ground is treacherous. It is laced with IEDs and it

illustrates how hard and difficult this final stage of the battle is

going to be. This is just day one, inside Mosul. This is the road that

the troops must now take, leading to the centre of the city. A dark and

dangerous route into the heart of the caliphate of Islamic State.

Hair raising stuff from the front line of the battle for Mosul.

Here in the US, there's now a week to go before polling day

in one of the most unconventional and hostile presidential elections

And today, the race to the White House

One poll has put Donald Trump just ahead of Hillary Clinton

But the key to winning this election lies in the battle ground states

and that's where my colleague, Katty Kay is now.

There are about half a dozen of these states. Why, in particular,

are we watching North Carolina? Critical to watch North Carolina. It

has 15 electoral college votes. That will be handy for anyone trying to

get to deal with a 70 and win the White House. It is also a swing

state and has voted Republican- Democrat- Republican in the last

dozen collections. It is a real battle ground. Everyone is here,

Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, they are all

coming into North Carolina. It is getting lots of attention. All of

the battle ground states are key, and our North America and editor

John Sobell has more on how the battle is playing out. -- Sopel.

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both launched

They've been going at it nonstop ever since.

Today Donald Trump was in Pennsylvania.

Hillary Clinton is now on her way to Florida

This is where the marathon turns into a sprint as the candidates

that will determine this election. So what are the key swing states?

They are Florida, North Carolina in the south

and Ohio and Pennsylvania in the industrial north.

For Donald Trump to have a path to victory

But successive polls suggest Hillary Clinton

has comfortable leads in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

That is why, in the battle to get the keys for this place,

the FBI intervention may have given Donald Trump momentum,

it hasn't decriesively shifted the race.

Hillary Clinton is still winning where she needs to.

I was calling to see if we still have your support

Leaving polls to one side, you also need a ground game.

Here too in conventional terms Hillary Clinton

This is her team working in another swing state, Nevada.

She has far more staff, far more offices, even more money.

have the infrastructure Donald Trump may not

the Republican nominee in the race to become

It's worth underlining in many states

that early voting has already started via postal ballots or

It's estimated that around 24 million Americans

On a nationwide average, that's around 20% of the likely

But that number is obviously far higher

in early voting states, many of them key battlegrounds.

The figures of registered Republicans and registered Democrats

going to vote shows a slight edge for Hillary Clinton.

In trying to explain this race, American

political pundits have used the phrase of a British Prime Minister

from the 1960s - Howard Wilson's comment

that "a week is a long time in politics."

In this helter-skelter white knuckle ride, indeed it is.

And who knows what's going to happen next?

Jon Sopel, BBC News, Washington.

It certainly feels like a very long time indeed. Let's get more run the

state of the race in North Carolina, and I'm joined by Susan Roberts,

Professor of politics at Davidson College. How is this race looking at

the moment in North Carolina? It is looking very tight. There was an

opinion poll today, only going through Saturday of last week and

Thursday, showing the race neck and neck, 44-44. Since then we have had

the revelation about the e-mails. It still shows to be about a 4-5% lead,

and I don't know who to trust and if you look around, North Carolina has

had, just six blocks from here, six weeks ago, the shooting of an

unarmed black man in Charlotte. There has been so much going on that

we don't know how much some of these things are going to affect turnout.

Why is North Carolina such a critical battle ground state in

2016, in this race? Because it has kind of a perfect storm, Mullany 's,

African-Americans, rural, urban, suburban divides, and things that

make it very desirable, even ideological. Something that North

Carolina is, that you have had a series of pieces of legislation that

have had an ideological divide, such as HD two, the bill for Governor

McCrory, and that has created a lot of tension in terms of where do you

stand on positions about gay rights, access to abortion, voting rights.

It is a testing ground for some very liberal - conservative device. It

has become Ground Zero in America's cultural wars in the context of the

selection. Lots of visitors coming to North Carolina this week. Barack

Obama is one of them. Is he coming to try and increase that turnout

amongst African American voters, do? I think he wants to increase turnout

among African-Americans and all around the state. If you look at

Hillary Clinton, she's gone to the states where you have Mullany alls,

college educated, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, and this is where the

Democrats have their national convention four years ago, so she is

very familiar with Charlotte. She will be trying to get the

African-American vote out, because it is 22%, give or take, of the

voting block here in North Carolina. It is an important building block to

get out those African-Americans in early voting as well. The issue of

race, as a professor suggested, came to a forefront in Charlotte a couple

of months ago after an African-American man was shot dead

by police. What looks like a peaceful financial city exploded and

race riots, and race is still an important election issue in this

campaign, as I learned when I went to speak to a local pastor.

For those of us who have been Christians for a long time,

here's a question, why does Jesus save us?

Derwin Gray is a former NFL player who gave up football for faith.

He opened the Transformation Church in 2010, on Super Bowl Sunday.

When you're preaching, you're telling your congregation

That makes some people mad!

Because in America we have idolised politics, and particularly

with the religious right in the 80s, they did a phenomenal job

of shaping that Republicanism is equivalent to following Jesus.

Pastor Derwin knows the trials of being black in North Carolina.

Two years ago he was pulled over by police with his son in the car.

A policeman got behind us, put on his high beams

for over a mile, and then pulled us over and asked us,

Now, I'm a grown man, with grown children.

You don't ask a grown man what he's doing here.

I'm an American citizen who paid taxes for your job,

on the freeways that I'm driving, I paid taxes for.

I'm driving home after preaching the gospel.

But we fit a particular profile, and the sad part is,

I've got to look my 13-year-old son in the eyes and say,

"put your hands on the back of the driver side seat,

You look him in the eyes, "yes sir, no sir".

So I didn't respond with what was in my heart, I

Derwin opened his church specifically to get

A lot of Christians in the south, in the primaries,

Yeah, and you know, that's the great thing about these United States

of America, is that we're free to vote our conscience.

So for those in our congregation who wear the Trump shirts,

I give them a high five and love them, because what brings

us together is greater than what divides us.

They have an American right to vote for Hillary or Mr Trump.

Derwin's office is a tribute to his two passions,

No pastor office is complete without a football.

You have to take the claims of the Bible true.

North Carolina is changing fast, with newcomers shaking up

It makes for a beautiful mixture, but with mixture there is always

conflict, which requires humility, which requires love,

and requires standing in the shoes of the other.

Race, obviously an important issue in North Carolina. But, is it the

same everywhere, or how the candidates fighting lots of

different races in these battle ground states? Every area has its

own concerns, but I would say that in most states I have been to

recently, Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, the predominant

issue is the economy and jobs, and that is where Donald Trump seems to

have some success, particularly amongst poorer workers whose jobs

have moved overseas, all who live in manufacturing areas were factories

have closed, and they are fed up with politicians who have not done

anything about it, we think, you know what? We're not sure that

Donald Trump can make manufacturing grape again, but we're prepared to

roll the dice and give it a go, because if we keep electing the same

type of people, and they think Hillary Clinton is the same type of

politician as they have elected four years, they will continue to have

the same problems. That is where a lot of Donald Trump's support this

coming from in the States. It is really about jobs. What the of this

one opinion poll that puts him one point ahead of Hillary Clinton? How

should we interpret that? The series of opinion polls we've had in the

last few days sure that this race is tightening. Some of that was to be

expected in the final week of the campaign, that some voters would,

and the Republican Party. Some of it is fallout from the e-mail

investigation. On that point in particular, it is worth pointing out

that that same opinion poll, one week before the 2004 election put

John Kerry ahead, and he went on to lose, and the same opinion poll put

Mitt Romney ahead, and he went on to lose. It is not always the most

reliable of opinion polls, is more reliable to look at the trend of

opinion polls and that shows the race tightening, but Hillary Clinton

still ahead. And of course anyone trying to predict what happens next

in this campaign is an idiot. Thank you.

Now a look at some of the day's other news.

Italy is continuing to suffer aftershocks after two

earthquakes on Sunday, that damaged medieval towns

and churches and left thousands homeless.

The national geology institute said that tremors

One of them, with a magnitude of 4.7,

was reportedly felt as far away as Rome.

Turkey has dismissed European Union condemnation of the arrest

of senior journalists at a leading opposition newspaper.

The EU said that, in terms of press freedom,

the detentions had crossed a "red line".

The Prime Minister of Turkey said that red lines were of no importance

and that Turkey would not take any notice.

When Britain leaves the European Union its only land

border with an EU state will be between Northern Ireland

What sort of controls might there be and how will it affect trade?

Our special correspondent, Allan Little, has sent

To understand Ireland's Brexit anxiety,

go to the farms of its rich and fertile pasturelands.

They sell more than half of what they produce

A falling pound has already made their milk

Now, there's the prospect of a new border separating them

Like, we have a huge market, 50 miles from where we stand

here now, and if we can't supply that market without tariffs,

it's not good, like, it's very worrying talk or prospect.

Once there were Customs controls between the UK and Ireland,

but those border posts disappeared when both countries joined

the European Community together in 1973.

This is what that border crossing looks like now,

you can drive down this road without even noticing that

you've left one country and entered another,

but soon this will be the edge of the European Union.

Down there, migrants from 26 other countries will still be

able to come and live and work and claim benefits,

but not if they walk up there, into the United Kingdom.

If you have no border controls here, how do you police that?

Northern Ireland's biggest party, the Democratic Unionists,

Their emphatic British unionism seems reinvigorated

by their sense of having seized back a lost UK sovereignty.

But they believe that the border can,

With the political willingness from both the British

to borders of the past, that they would never see a return

we're actually quite relaxed about it.

But we're not ignoring the fact that there are issues

that need to be worked through, but they are entirely surmountable,

In the Republic they're not reassured by this sunny optimism.

For one option is for Ireland to bow to the realities of geography

and to allow the UK to place its Border and Customs controls

You're asking for an independent state, the Republic of Ireland,

to impose and work British migration law at its ports and airports.

I mean, that's really what you're saying.

Which you're kind of saying - well, we don't really think

you're an independent country, it's just a kind of figment

I think, as an Irish person, you feel pretty angry about the fact

that something really profound has been done to Ireland without

Ireland having featured at all in the discussion.

Ireland has forged its modern identity as an independent nation

in Europe, but the powerful gravitational pull of its larger

One of the many unforeseen consequences Brexit.

It's been one of the big topics in the world of music this year -

why are so many major stars having mental health problems?

A survey by a UK charity suggests three-quarters of those working

in the industry have had anxiety and panic attacks.

Our Entertainment Correspondent Colin Paterson reports.

I went missing for about ten minutes trying to escape the venue.

I tended to do worse off the road than on the road.

At home, I'm in a bit of my own company, which I'm not so good at.

The only thing that bothers me is I have dealt with 25 years

of this and everybody treating me like a crazy person.

It is a great source of amusement and entertainment,

and we live in a world where "crazy" is a term of abuse.

Many of the big names in music have spoken

This year, former One Direction member Zayn Malik made headlines

for cancelling a number of solo gigs due to extreme anxiety.

# We're gonna let it burn, burn, burn...#.

In July Ellie Goulding postponed shows after panic attacks.

New research today claims to show just how common a problem this is.

The survey suggests more than 70% of professional musicians

That figure is almost repeated when it comes to depression.

While we are very concerned about the findings,

because of the pressures on those that are uniquely placed

within the industry, we were not unduly surprised this

pressure led to issues of anxiety, depression and mental health.

These students learning how to make it big in the music business

appreciate that even those at the top have their struggles.

All I want to do is little session gigs, and just play.

But I would hate to be like a household name.

How robust do you have to be in this industry?

Just keep your head with what you want to do,

It is a problem that there are so many people

You just hope for yourself that will not happen to you.

But the next generation of potential stars are being given

classes on how to help them deal with the issues.

Initially, when you start out, little things can seem

If you are challenged and they constantly want more,

Now the industry as a whole is being challenged to work out

how to tackle these mental health problems, which it's claimed affect

but elections used to be quite festive affairs here in the US.

And in the battleground state of North Carolina, one bakery

is reviving a centuries-old recipe used to celebrate the occasion.

You could say they're hoping to make America cake again.

An election cake is a Colonial era cake and it's a celebratory cake

that was once attached to voting places and polling sites

In some of the original recipes that we found, there would have

been 30 quarts of flour, so you can imagine

That would have been only one of the components of this cake.

Election cake was really intended to feed a lot of people, the masses.

You want to make sure that it's very bubbly and very active.

Make sure that you beat the butter very, very well.

You want to add the eggs one at a time while you continue

We reduced the mixer to low speed so it doesn't over-mix the flour.

This is the final step, getting a tough cake.

carefully folding in the booze- soaked fruit and the sherry.

The most important part in baking is to really be present,

just want to attend to every process.

It's a cake that takes at least a day, sometimes two days to make,

and so if you can give it the proper time it needs,

you will get a really beautiful,

OWL is a female-owned and led business and since the cake was once

baked by women who couldn't vote, we thought it was an interesting way

to show how gender dynamics have shifted over time.

And that electoral process was something that was celebrated.

There is a lot of bad feelings around this election and

I think that we forget how lucky we are to live in a country

where there are presumably peaceful elections.

From me Jane O'Brien and the rest of the team goodbye.

As we have arrived in November we have flicked a switch with the

weather. It is much colder, and