01/11/2016 BBC World News America

A bit of a breeze, some showers in Scotland. The most buzz are fine,

crisp, sunny day. Thursday and Friday more cloud and staying the

chilly side. This is a special edition

of BBC World News America. Reporting from Charlotte,

North Carolina I'm Katty Kay. Iraqi forces enter Mosul

and meet fierce resistance Our correspondent is with them

as they reach the city limits. The ground is treacherous. It is

laced with IEDs and it illustrates how hard and difficult this final

stage of the battle will be. This is just day one inside Mosul.

Only one week to go before America votes in one of the most

extraordinary elections in its history - and states

like North Carolina are getting a lot of attention.

It may be hard to believe but elections used to be

At one bakery they are dusting off an old recipe

Welcome to our viewers on Public Television in America,

Two years after being driven out by so called Islamic State the first

Iraqi forces have re-entered Mosul and tonight are within

The assault, now in its third week, involves hundreds of troops

in heavily-armoured vehicles and there are concerns for the more

than a million civilians thought to be trapped inside Mosul.

Our correspondent Ian Pannell and cameraman Darren Conway

are the first Western broadcast team to enter the city.

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

is being taken back. It is almost 2.5 years since the militants swept

across these planes with ease. Today, it is the turn of Iraqi

special forces. The troops have advanced close to the city of Mosul.

We have heard a whistling sound overhead. It is sniper fire or

gunfire coming in from Islamic State. The troops have just come

down. They are trying to respond and stop the shooting coming in.

Few expected they would advance this far, this fast, but the closer they

get to Mosul, the resistance grows. We are now just literally a few

hundred meters from the outskirts of Mosul with counterterrorism forces.

They have come up against resistant and over the last few days we are

constantly hearing the sounds of rounds coming in, rocket propelled

grenades as well as automatic weapons fire. They are targeting a

number of buildings where they think Islamic State is based. When it is

safe they will move on to Mosul itself. There are thought to be a

million people trapped between the warring parties, with nothing but a

white flag for defence. Many fear and mass civilian exodus may lie

ahead. This is the moment the troops entered the outskirts of Mosul. It

is hard to exaggerate how dangerous this was. Islamic State fighters on

the skyline barely seem to care that the troops are advancing. But that

does not mean they are not prepared to defend the city or fight to the

death. The counterterrorism forces have been moving through Mosul to

the outskirts for the last few hours and the most incredibly stiff

resistance. We have seen a number 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 the final stage of the

battle will be. This is just day one inside Mosul. This is the road the

troops must now take. It leads to the centre of the city. A dark and

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

They are making advances, but it is clearly going to be tough.

It's almost impossible to talk to people trapped inside Mosul -

with Islamic State militants banning satellite dishes and mobile phones.

But some are managing to communicate with the outside world.

Orla Guerin reports from Northern Iraq.

A snapshot of Mosul, silent, besieged, braced for the assault.

See how IS have hidden an anti-aircraft gun under a bridge.

A resistance group, called the Mosul Brigades, secretly

Others are resisting by daring to speak.

The airwaves of Alghad radio station, meaning tomorrow, are open

We can't say where it's located or identify the staff,

they've received death threats from the jihadis.

We join the presenter in studio as listeners phone

Callers say they are in danger not just from IS, but also from air

Off-air, another caller told us that many in the city were waiting

for a chance to take revenge on the jihadis.

He said life was unbearable and he had to speak out,

And, God forbid, if they discovered you making this call,

The station says these days it's getting more calls from Mosul,

a sign that the captive city is recovering its voice.

Well, a week from today American's will pour into polling stations

to cast their ballots in the US presidential election.

Where we are here in North Carolina could be critical -

no Republican since Eisenhower has won the White House

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will both be here this week.

Polls show the race tightening across America - which means

Our North America Editor Jon Sopel has the latest

All our Presidents... Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both launched

their campaigns in June, June 2015 that is, and they have been going at

it nonstop ever since. Today, Donald Trump was in Pennsylvania. Hillary

Clinton is now on her way to Florida for a busy day's campaigning. And

now there is just one week to go. This is where the marathon turns

into a sprint as the candidates hurtle round the key swing states

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

They are Florida and North Carolina in the south, and Ohio and

Pennsylvania in the industrial north. For Donald Trump to have a

path to victory he needs to win all four. But successive polls suggest

houri Clinton has comfortable leads in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

And that is why in the battle to get the keys to this place, the FBI

intervention may have given Donald Trump momentum but has not

decisively shifted the race. Hillary Clinton is still winning where she

needs to. I was calling to see if we have support for Hillary Clinton?

You also need a ground game. Here too in conventional terms, Hillary

Clinton is better placed. This is her team working in another swing

state, Nevada. She has far more staff, more offices and more money.

Though Donald Trump may not have the infrastructure, that did not matter

in the race to become the Republican nominee when he saw off all his

opponents. It is worth underlining in many states that early voting has

already started, either via postal ballots or polling stations open in

early. It is estimated that around 24 million Americans have already

voted. On a nationwide average that is around 20% of the likely turn out

in this election. That number is far higher in early voting states, many

of them key battle grounds. And 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 started using the phrase of a British Prime Minister in the 1960s.

Harold Wilson's commented that a week is a long time in politics. In

this helter-skelter white knuckle ride, indeed it is, and who knows

what will happen next? It feels like a long time too. We

are in North Carolina. This is the front page of the Charlotte

Observer. Everyone is here this week. Bill Clinton, Donald Trump,

Barack Obama, all coming to this state. 15 electoral college votes

makes it valuable and it is a swing state. It has voted Democrat,

Republican, Democrat in the last three elections. What will it do

this time? For more on the close race here

in North Carolina I spoke a brief time ago with the Democratic Mayor

of Charlotte, Jennifer Roberts and asked about the candidates'

focus on her state. I tell you in North Carolina, we get

up close and personal because we have had numerous visits from both

presidential candidates, from the Vice President candidates and the

First Lady. We are paying close attention. It looks like Hillary

Clinton will win North Carolina but the Paul Farbrace close. It depends

on a lot of things. It depends on turnout, what the weather is like an

election day, whether people are deterred from the polls. But it

looks like Hillary is ahead. It has gone Republican, Democrat,

Republican, we do not know which way to go this time around, why does

North Carolina swing so much? We have state with a lot of diversity

and that includes rural and urban counties. If you look at our city

centres they are largely Democratic, like Charlotte, and they have

Democratic mayors. If you look at rural areas where people are more

self-reliant and they don't need government resources so much and

they tend to be more Republican. Our registration numbers if you look at

the whole state are almost 50-50. So a lot does depend on turnout. What

motivates voters depends on what the top issues are at the time and how

people feel in their pocket books. Let's talk about Charlotte, your

city. Let's look at the view behind you, it is booming, there is a lot

of construction going on. But back in September when a black man was

shot by a police officer here, the city exploded in race riots. What

did that say about race relations in your community? I think Charlotte is

a microcosm of the discussion in the country as a whole about equality.

We know we have a history of not being equal. Women got the vote

later, African-Americans got the vote later, that have been laws

restricting African-Americans' access to things in our past and

this is still a part of who we are. We in Charlotte are working hard to

eliminate that gap and to bring opportunity to every corner of our

city, including minorities and women, small businesses, large

businesses. We are working hard to do that but we know it is an aspect

of our city. That was the mayor Jennifer but speaking earlier.

Now we've heard a lot about division in this election but probably too

little about what will bring the country together to tackle

I've gone to meet one local pastor here who is trying to change that

by welcoming all races and all political parties

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

a question. Why does Jesus save us? This man is a former NFL player who

gave up football for faith. He opened the transformation church in

2010 on Super Bowl Sunday. When you are preaching you tell your

congregation you are not voting? It makes people mad. We have idolised

politics. In the 1980s there was a phenomenal job of shaping

republicanism as following Jesus. He 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, pulled on his high beams for

over a mile and then pulled us over and asked what are you doing here?

Now, I am a grown man with growing children. You don't ask a grown man

what he is doing. I am an American citizen who paid taxes for your free

way on which you are driving. You do not ask me what I am doing. I am

driving home after preaching the gospel but we fit a particular

profile. I have to look at my 13-year-old son and say put your

hands on the back of the drive of side seat, looking in the eyes and

say yes sir, no sir. I did not respond with what was in my heart, I

responded to make sure we got home. Derwin opened his church to get

races together. That makes it different here. A lot of people in

the south are supporting Donald Trump? That is the great thing about

the United States of America. We are free to vote on our conscience. For

those in the congregation who wary Trump shirt I give them a high five

and I love them because what brings us together is more than what

divides us. His office is a tribute to his two passions, God and

football. No pastor's office is complete without a football! North

Carolina is changing fast with newcomers shaken up traditional

racial lines. It makes a beautiful mixture but it requires humility

which requires love and requires standing in the shoes of another.

You're watching BBC World News America.

Still to come on tonight's programme:

It's not just the US watching the presidential election closely.

We go to Japan where all eyes are on the potential impact there.

Italy's most powerful earthquake since 1980 has left

More than 4,000 of them have been moved to hotels, and ten

The anxious journey back to what they had left behind. Every so

often, they have to stop for someone to clear the road. Eventually, they

find what they are looking for. Italian farmers reunited with the

livestock that is their livelihood. Angelo has his herd back, but not

his home. I moved the herd here a week ago. There were cheap there.

They can go up there, behind that hill. They can go over there. The

area is enormous, so it saddens me to sell up. But there is nobody left

here, so I have no choice. Italy's most powerful earthquake since 1980

has left more than 15,000 people homeless. Local sports halls have

been turned into temporary shelters. Officials estimate it will cost

around $9 billion to rebuild the wrecked towns and villages. The

damage includes the medieval basilica of Saint Benedict which

stood for more than 600 years. It is our culture and our story, our

roots. Seeing the basilica collapse was truly bad, like ending a story.

The sun may continue to shine in this mountainous region, but winter

is coming and they will need more than tents. Shipping containers will

be brought in before Christmas with temporary wooden homes available by

spring. Longer-term challenges are protecting these towns and villages

which have proved so vulnerable to enormous devastation.

America's elections get so much attention because they have a big

In Japan they are watching closely to see what it will mean

for the security alliance between the two countries.

Since World War 2 the US has based tens of thousands of troops in Japan

and it's protected under the US nuclear umbrella.

The BBC's Rupert Wingfield Hayes reports.

F-15 fighter jets roar above a Japanese island. This has been an

America's and thinkable aircraft carrier in Asia. I am now standing

on the south-west coast of Okinawa and behind me is the East China Sea.

If you take the drone art, that off to the west there is the giant

academia airbase, the largest US air forces in the in the western

Pacific. If we turn the drone to the north, over on top of the hill there

is a Marine Corps base. The US presence here on Okinawa is

enormous, and as Donald Trump likes to remind us, it is also extremely

expensive. There are nearly 50,000 US personnel based in Japan, and

another 25,000 Japanese working on these US bases. In the first

presidential debate, Mr Trump said they should be paying us, because we

are providing tremendous service and we're losing a fortune. That true?

This man is chairman of the Okinawa garrison forces labour union. Does

he think his members are getting a free ride on the US taxpayer?

TRANSLATION: Trump really has no clue. The Japanese government is

paying to lease these areas. Japan also pays the salaries of all the

Japanese working on US bases in Okinawa. It also pays to collect the

city and water bills. Japan pays around 2 billion US dollars a year

towards the cost of keeping American forces here. A lot of people here

want that to stop. These protesters are blocking a truck from getting to

a construction site for a new US base. They say the burden of hosting

so many US troops here is just too high. So does that mean they support

Donald Trump? TRANSLATION: Mr Trump makes lots of radical comments and

even talks about removing all the US bases from Okinawa so I am a bit

hopeful but at the same time I am worried he will bring trouble if he

becomes the US president. TRANSLATION: I guess it is a good

thing. But when you listen to what he says, I have a big question about

him. I worry about human rights. I worry if he is going to make the

right decision as a human being. These people may want the US to go,

but that does not mean they want Donald Trump to be president. If

Japan had a vote, it would go to Hillary Clinton.

It's perhaps hard to imagine now but American presidential elections

used to be festive occasions and here in North Carolina

one bakery is working to revive that tradition

Baking - and booze - used to go hand in hand

Here's a look at how the tradition is being carried on today.

An election cake is a colonial era cake. It is a celebratory cake which

was once attached to voting places and polling places. In some of the

original recipes we found, there would have been 30 courts of flour,

so you can imagine this entire bowl filled with flour. That would have

only been one of the components of this cake. Election cake was

intended to feed a lot of people, the masses. This is our sourdough

culture. You want to make sure it is very bubbly and active. Make sure

you beat the butter very, very well. You want to add the eggs one at a

time when you continue to beat the butter and sugar. We mix it at low

speeds so it does not owe the mix the flour. We want to avoid getting

a tough cake. This is the final step, carefully

folding in the booze soaked fruit and sherry. It's now fight

Christmas, doesn't it? The most important part of baking is to be

present. You want to attend to every process. It is a cake which takes at

least a day, sometimes two days to make, so you can give it the proper

time it needs and you have a beautiful, beguiling cake. Hours is

a female owned and led business. Since the cake was once baked by

women who could not vote, we thought it was an interesting way to show

how gender dynamics have shifted over time. The electoral process was

something which was celebrated. There are a lot of bad feelings

around this election, and I think we forget how lucky we are to live in a

country where there are presumably peaceful elections. The great

American take-off, that is what we need to make the election more fun.

Well, that brings today's show to a close but you can find much

more on all the days news at our website.

The polls are still up in the air, too tight to say how the race will

go. I am on Twitter. For all of us here in Charlotte,

North Carolina thank you for watching World News America,

and please tune in tomorrow.