>> this is "bbc world news america." funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits from newman's own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs, and aruba tourism authority. >> planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. you can find it here, in aruba. families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm, sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the

crystal blue caribbean sea. nonstop flights are available from most major airports. more information for your vacation planning is available at aruba.com. >> and now, "bbc world news america." katty: this is a special edition of "bbc world news america," reporting from our election studio in new york. i am katty kay. we are just hours away from the election date in the u.s. on the eve of an historic vote, the candidates rushing from state to state. mr. trump: well, you know what you can do? go out and vote tomorrow, that's what you can do. ms. clinton: we can do this, right? we can do this. katty: but whoever becomes president, the battle against so-called islamic state will be a priority. we have the latest on the fight in iraq and syria. and supporters of both presidential campaigns are

desperate for victory, but what happens if they lose? from prayers to moving on, we hear their plans. katty: welcome to our viewers on public television in america and also around the globe. we come from our election studio in new york's times square. for more than year the presidential candidates have battled it out and now there is just one day left until voters decide. hillary clinton and donald trump have used the remaining hours to deliver their closing arguments. tonight we have teams covering both candidates. we start with north america editor jon sopel. he is following mrs. clinton. jon: if you want to see what growing confidence looks like,

this is it. hillary clinton relaxed and joking with the press entourage, posing for photos before the final frantic push. this lunchtime in pittsburgh, afternoon in michigan, evening philadelphia, midnight north carolina, and back to new york in the small hours. when she spoke to the bbc, she was in a reflective mood about the wider challenges ahead. ms. clinton: i think i have some work to do to bring the country together. as i've been saying in these speeches in the last few days, i really do want to be the president for everybody, people who vote for me, people who vote against me, because i think that these splits, these divides that have been not only exposed but exacerbated by the campaign on the other side are ones that we really do have to bring the country together. jon: and she struck a similar note when she landed in pittsburgh. ms. clinton: we can do this. we don't have to accept a dark and divisive vision for america.

tomorrow you can vote for a hopeful, inclusive, bighearted america. jon: but in michigan, the president was putting the boot into her opponent. president obama: do not be bamboozled. don't fall for the okey-doke. in his 70 years on earth, the donald has never shown regard for working folks. i don't think he knows working people except for the folks who clean up his hotel and the folks who mowed the fairway on his golf course. >> i would like to introduce to you the next president of the united states, hillary clinton. jon: hillary clinton may not be a charismatic campaigner, but she has had formidable backup. she's been on stage with jay z, beyonce, and a host of a from the world of m.tertainment, sport, and fil they're getting ready for her rally in philadelphia tonight. she is heading the bill.

the supporting acts -- bon jovi, bruce springsteen, oh, and michelle and barack obama. she brings huge star power across the country and that has given her a huge advantage. but leave aside the campaign muscle, the one running theme of her bid for the white house has been the corrosive saga of her use of a private e-mail account from when she was secretary of state. senator sanders: the american people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails. ms. clinton: thank you. me, too. damaged who knows what the fbi has done with its 2 bizarre interventions in the final weeks of the campaign when early voting was already underway? ms. clinton: [coughing] jon: "straightforward" is a word that rarely touches to hillary clinton. when she collapsed at a 9/11 commemoration in new york, there were initial denials that anything was wrong. >> man of secretary, how are you feeling?

jon: before an eventual admission that she had pneumonia. but unpopular though polls suggest she might be, she saw one big advantage over her opponent, temperament. ms. clinton: a man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons. jon: this evening, americans will see this one last ad from hillary clinton, one last appeal. and after the harshness of the softer,, a strikingly more personal tone. ms. clinton: tonight, i'm asking for your vote, and tomorrow, let's make history together. i'm hillary clinton, and one last time, i approve this message. jon: tens of thousands of miles traveled, hundreds of millions of dollars spent. tomorrow she will find a whether it has all been worth it. jon sopel, bbc news, philadelphia. katty: approving that message one last time. well, donald trump's schedule is

just as busy today. the republican nominee was holding rallies in five states, prize of the key crie florida, where he continued to say that the election is rigged against him. gavin hewitt is traveling with the campaign. gavin: donald trump spent his last campaigning day in florida, a state he needs to win if he wants to get to the white house. in his final pitch to voters, he described hillary clinton -- mr. trump: the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency of the united states. gavin: even though she won't face charges over a careless use of her e-mail account. mr. trump: hillary clinton is being protected by a totally rigged system. and now it is up to the american people to deliver justice at the ballot box tomorrow. that's what's going to happen. gavin: the trump campaign was asked whether it would accept the result. >> election results are verified and certified, absolutely. but also, we know we are going

to win. i changed the invitations for tomorrow night's parties from election party to victory party. gavin: donald trump brought his closing arguments to north carolina. mr. trump: i'm not a politician, i can say proudly. my only special interest is you. it's you. tomorrow is going to be a very historic day, i really believe that. i think it is going to be brexit plus plus plus. does that make sense? plus plus plus. bled our country dry. gavin: donald trump has spent $4 million on his last two-minute tv commercial. he describes his campaign as a movement, taking aim at global power structures, including financiers and bankers. mr. trump: and we will make america great again. gavin: donald trump's final campaign stop will be here in grand rapids, michigan.

whatever happens, it has been an incredible journey that has changed american politics. a political outsider, a man who has never held public office, could yet win the presidency. here was a candidate from the reality tv stable, vain, thin-skinned, comfortable with trading insults. but his large crowds saw a billionaire property developer willing to tear down the walls of the washington establishment. he broke rules. was willing to cause offense. mr. trump: i would like to punch him in the face, i'll tell you. gavin: he trampled on the traditions of debate, calling hillary clinton into her face. mr. trump: such a nasty woman. gavin: he mocked a disabled reporter. mr. trump: "i don't know what i said, i don't remember!" gavin: he denounced mexican migrants as rapists. mr. trump: they are rapists. and some, i assume, are good

people. gavin: he threatened to exclude muslims from america. mr. trump: calling for a total of complete shutdown of muslims from the united states. gavin: his appeal was mainly to white voters, that somehow he would restore american greatness, grow jobs, and build a wall on new mexico border. mr. trump: grab them by the [bleep] gavin: his campaign was nearly derailed by old footage were he bragged about using his fame to grope women. but he managed to survive the scandal. in the end, many of his supporters loathed hillary clinton more than donald trump's comments about women. if he wins, america will have taken a step into the unknown, with a leader who casts doubt on international agreements. if donald j. trump captures the white house, both america and the world will be entering a new and uncertain era.

katty: gavin hewitt traveling with the trump campaign. for more on where this campaign stands in the final hours, i spoke a short time ago with matthew dowd, chief political analyst for abc news. he served as chief strategist for george w. bush's reelection campaign, in 2004. where are we, matt, on the eve of one of the most extraordinary elections in american history? matthew: the most unprecedented election i've seen. this one has been both unprecedented and predicable, different than a lot of people think of it. i think donald trump, when he entered the race, was the odds o n that he would quickly win the primary. now he is the odds on to lose the race. hillary clinton will break the glass ceiling tomorrow with a margin that is probably bigger than obama's in 2012. katty: the question from people watching america is what is america doing, how did we get to

this position -- there is a certain amount of fear among america's allies that donald trump might win, but they also can't believe he is going to win. matthew: i think how we got here was a generation in the making that exacerbated itself along the way. but i think when donald came down the escalator and give that speech where he attacked a series of minorities, specifically latinos, and then talked about building the wall, that put him in a great position to win the primary and an awful position to win a general election. that captures the race as an asset to him and the liability it became. katty: you say hillary clinton is the all-time favorite, if you are looking at the polls, to win tomorrow. -- is the odds-on favorite, if you are looking at the polls, to win tomorrow. it is still a close race. why is it close if he has these liabilities? matthew: the united states has become so polarized, and even in

the races that were dominant races, barack obama in 2008 wins by seven points. we are at that point in america, geographically, demographically, very divided. and there has been a building group of voters, white working-class voters, that donald trump has captured. and capturing that group of voters even though he is going , to lose minorities and college-educated women badly, it him a base of support, 43, 44% of the vote. katty: there is a lot of concern with people watching america and americans themselves about what happens after the election. is it going to be a peaceful transition of power? matthew: i think it will be a peaceful transition of power in the white house between barack obama and hillary clinton but tomorrow is the anniversary of abraham lincoln getting elected in 1860. we are as divided as during the -- as in the advent of the civil war. i don't think we will have violence or social unrest, but it is as divided and a first order of business is how they

are going to unite such an incredibly divided america. as divided, as i say, in the 150 years we have been doing this. katty: good luck to either of them. thanks very much for coming in. matthew: great to be here. katty: i have to say, i've never known an american presidential election -- this is the fourth i have covered -- where there has been quite as much interest around the globe. still to come on this program, foreign policy will be one of the major challenges for whoever becomes the next president. we will have the latest on the battle against the so-called islamic state. myanmar'ss growing on de facto leader aung san suu kyi to investigate claims that her country's army has been abusing muslim civilians. jonah fisher is in an area that has been shut down the army. jonah: it is off-limits to western journalists. the burmese military does not want is looking into claims that its soldiers have been killing

and raping muslim civilians. we send someone into film secretly. this is the group that triggered the latest violence, made up of what appears to be muslims from the rohinga minority, they killed nine policemen before fleeing. most people fled, but for some reason, these 2 brothers from age 13 and 18, stayed in her home. >> the soldiers pointed a gun at them and then took out documents that showed them at school. they didn't accept that and said they were terrorists who had become. jonah: we were shown where the boys were shot and their bodies dumped, along with a third man. there have been scores of stories like this that we've been prevented from verifying at least 30, possibly as many as 100 rohinga have died, and a dozen women claim to have been raped by soldiers. a year after winning an historic

election, where is myanmar's de facto leader, aung san suu kyi, on all of this? the army isn't under the control kyi but it is striking how little concern this icon of democracy appears to have both for the plight of the rohinga people and the abuses committed by the burmese military. and know shes weak can do nothing about her kind, or she thinks the relationship between the army and power is more important than trying to tackle abuses against a minority. katty: it is a very busy time in iraq. we want to get the latest on the push to liberate mosul from so-called islamic state. iraqi military forces say they have found a mass grave containing about 100 decapitated bodies. the discovery south of the city

comes as the bbc spoke to residents of i.s.-controlled towns who say they have been used as human shields by by extremists. a town was recaptured by iraqi security forces in recent days. karen allen has been speaking to people there. karen: less than an hour from the front line, these people were the push to dislodge i.s. is proving so tough. until a few days ago, even these children were held by the jihadis as human shields. entire families surviving on five pieces of bread each day, turned into tools of war. >> they were herding us like sheep. we were moved from village to village until we arrived. we were then split into 2 houses. one house was struck by a mortar shell one night, and my family was separated. three of them are still missing.

karen: it's thought thousands are still being used as human shields, as part of a systematic strategy by i.s. to thwart iraqi and coalition force attacked. this elderly woman and her son told me they were moving hostages further northwest. one thing we keep hearing from people we have spoken to along the way here is they may be free but they have other family members who are still being held by i.s., the further north you go towards mosul. and they are being moved to strategic positions along the way. as iraqi forces patrolled the villages they reclaimed, commanders say the tactic of using human shields is slowing their advance to mosul. "this has been the biggest challenge for us, to protect civilians and avoid casualties,"

he says. "but it is important and people are returning." but the danger still remains. this homemade armored i.s. vehicle hidden behind the house has just been seized. a second one primed and stuffed with explosives was positioned nearby. a potent reminder that the jihadists will use all means to defend their last stronghold here. karen allen, bbc news, northern iraq. katty: this has always been the fear in mosul. we know there have been something like a million civilians cap in the city and it was always a suspicion that islamic state militants would use them as human shields. as of course the iraqi forces pushed further into the populated areas, we will discover more of those citizens and what their life has been like under islamic state. for more on the push against

islamic state both in iraq and syria, i spoke to short time ago with richard haass, the president of the council on foreign relations. richard: it is going slower than people thought after the initial couple of days. it is a question of when and not if. it is going to be costly. civilian atrocities are staggering. i really do think it is a question of when and not if mosul is liberated. katty: let's talk about syria because that is potentially more complicated, and the push into raqqa. the americans and turks have been meeting and they say they have devised a plan for taking raqqa and then governing it. but how complicated is that going to be, given kurdish involvement in that push? richard: both of these cities, once they are liberated, the governance is going to be incredibly complicated. in mosul the danger will be these different factions and if you cannot get it right, the division that led to groups like isis in the first place could come back.

that is the last thing we want to see. in the case of raqqa, you don't have a large force like the iraqi army, and the kurdish forces with only a modicum of sunni arab participation. and the turks are moving in on the city from a different direction. needless to say, the relationship between the turks and the syrian kurds is about as as one could expect. working this out first militarily and then politically in the aftermath will be extraordinarily difficult. katty: you had seen the americans in istanbul trying to do you think they can? richard: i'm skeptical. the real question is the pace of advance on the city and the direction of the advance. right now it looks like the kurds and the turks are coming at it from different directions. but we shouldn't kid ourselves. the principal turkish role is best goal -- principal turkish goal is not to liberate the city per se, it is to make sure that

the kurds don't get a major foothold there. so i'm skeptical, at least worried, about how this will play out. militarily it could be quite difficult because a lot of the isis fighters will be leaving mosul and will go to raqqa and that is going to raise the quality and quantity of the defense of raqqa. katty: richard haass of the council on foreign relations. it is a bit hard to believe that tomorrow this long election may actually come to an end, and for support is one campaign, they are bound to be disappointed. if they areople do on the losing side? we have gone to find out. >> what do i say to my future self if donald trump loses? >> donald trump loses, in two years we have another election for the senate and congress. the republicans are going to kick butt. >> if clinton loses, run for the hills, run for the canadian border, because we are all in trouble. >> pray. i'm going to do that.

not a religious man, but i might just start. >> i say to myself -- >> suck it up, buttercup. fur coat back in the closet because you are not moving to canada anytime soon. >> worried about our borders open to illegals who have committed crimes in america. >> i am going to look at myself and say, well, you had one opportunity to change and you tried your best. what you can do now is to vote out as many of her opposition in the senate and house who will gridlock anything that happens. >> you have to pick up the pieces, move on, find a better candidate for the next election, and support the president whether i was behind her or not. >> i keep this one-way plane

ticket and just run. >> once again, we have work to do. >> if donald loses, i will feel that someone ripped out my gut. >> we have to start looking beyond the election, what we do to make the governments of the -- make the government serve the american people. >> you shouldn't be so bitter that some guy got elected. >> i would know where the nearest evacuation route is should there be a chance of nuclear war or whatever. >> my son is in the military. i would probably need therapy to relieve my anxiety. >> well, you take it with a grain of salt. it is what it is and what can you do? there is nothing you can do. if he wins, he wins. if he loses, he loses. >> while it would be nice to live in a country with universal health care, it is not happening. but we will band together. >> if trump wins, i will buy a round of drinks for everybody. >> beautiful, america lives.

>> i would be ecstatic. i would say let's go get 'em. , two presidents for the price of one. thumbs up to that. katty: one of the things that the world admires about america and american democracy is there is this peaceful transition of power and we all hope that whatever happens on election day tomorrow, whether donald trump wins or hillary clinton wins, that process will happen peacefully once again. it has been an extraordinary election campaign. america is on the verge of electing either donald trump, a unique candidate who came out of the stable of reality television , said controversial things that have diehard supporters. i have met many of them. they are hard-working, decent, committed americans who just want a better life. or is america going to elect hillary clinton, after 44 man in the oval office? she would be the first female president of the united states. i am katty kay.

from all of us here at "bbc world news america," thanks so much for watching. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits from newman's own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs, and aruba tourism authority. >> planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. you can find it here, in aruba. families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the

island with warm, sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the crystal blue caribbean sea. nonstop flights are available from most major airports. more information for your vacation planning is available at aruba.com. >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.

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