this is bbc news. the headlines at 11pm: iraqi troops consolidate their positions inside mosul airport as they continue their campaign to drive islamic state fighters out of the city. we have a special report. counting's begun in two by—elections in labour heartlands, where the party is facing challenges from the conservatives and ukip. storm doris causes havoc across the uk. a woman's died after being hit by flying debris in wolverhampton. leicester city have sacked manager claudio ranieri, nine months after he led hem to the premier league title. and on newsnight, a rare interview with one if us supreme courtjudges on the direction america is taking and we're on the ground in the by—election which could reshape the contours of british poliitcs. good evening and

welcome to bbc news. polls have closed in two parliamentary by—elections in staffordshire and cumbria, following the resignations of the labour mps in stoke—on—trent central and copeland. the polls closed just over an hour ago with the results expected ataround 3am. in a moment we'll get the latest from tom bateman at the copeland count in whitehaven. first, let's cross to chris mason in stoke. the challenge from labour perhaps comes from ukip? it does. good evening from stoke, where the verification of the ballot papers is already under. about a dozen ballot boxes have already been brought here to the camp centre at the start of

the law night. on nights like this the law night. on nights like this the word imminent gets used frequently, but you have to define that by every hour. this is a tussle between labour, a party that has held his seat or is it very similar to it since 1930, and ukip, which hopes the breakthrough in town and city that is seen as the capital of brexit. a large majority of people decided to leave the eu, despite the official labour position being to stay in. this, like the by—election in the lake district, triggered by a labourmp in the lake district, triggered by a labour mp who packed it in because they found a betterjob elsewhere beyond parliament, that is seen by labour was my critics as a reflection on jeremy labour was my critics as a reflection onjeremy corbyn. that said, labour voices here are quietly confident that they can hold on here. they should be able to hold on as this is a seat they've always held. nonetheless they will celebrate if they do, such is the

expectation just days and weeks ago prior to the questions around paul nuttall, the ukip leader and candidate here. his remarks about hillsborough. they will still celebrate this win, although it's a hold for them, should their man gareth snell be elected in a few hours. thank you for that. over to tom bateman. of course the big question is whether it will still be a labour stronghold tomorrow. yes, the parallels don't end there. we've just been hearing from stoke and as the ballot boxes have been verified here there are number of parallels between copeland and stoke. this is another seat labour have held since the 1930s. ignored merry times labour should be comfortably olding onto it and yet they find themselves onto it and yet they find themselves on the back foot. —— in ordinary

times. it has been a pretty bare knuckle fight during this campaign. this evening, labour have been less visible than some conservative activists who seem pretty bullish and consciously optimistic. this is and consciously optimistic. this is a seat they feel they can possibly gain. on labourfigure said to me this is clearly a two horse race. that might be an understatement and we will have to wait until the early hours of the morning to find out the exact result. but in the past hour 01’ so exact result. but in the past hour or sojeremy corbyn, exact result. but in the past hour or so jeremy corbyn, labour leader, said on facebook that whatever the result this will be the time to continue to break what he called the failed political consensus. ithink this was him saying that even if he loses the seat he will stay on. thank you. tom bateman and chris mason there. we will have full coverage of the by—election results on bbc news in the next few hours. we will have all of the detail and analysis of what it means. a very

important by—election and real test across the country of the mood. that's the by—election special from 12:30am tonight. iraqi security forces have made a breakthrough in their offensive against so—called islamic state in iraq's second city, mosul. they've taken the city's airport, a key staging point in the battle to drive militants from the western half of the city. our correspondent quentin sommerville was there, as iraqi government troops fought their way in. before the attack came the air strikes, rockets and artillery. it's day five of the offensive to retake western mosul. slowly, the forces make their way past a suspected is car bomb, talks en route. these armoured columns are now moving forward to mosul airport. the attack of the

airport is under way. all night long we've heard coalition aircraft and iraqi artillery slam this area just to the north of us. and in daylight, they didn't let up. this factory flew the is flight yesterday. today it burned. in less than four hours iraqi forces had breached the airport perimeter, but is fought back. first the huge roadside bomb. it killed an iraqi officer. despite the air strikes, is fighters were still putting up resistance. the more they advance,

the more civilians they meet, and they are in a wretched state. this man says, they are dead in his house, all dead. my brother has already gone to the camp. he is heartbroken. six of his family were killed in an air strike. this is the last open ground before west mosul. iraqi forces are now less than a mile away. they are also in range of is mortars from inside the city, but the islamic state is under threat.

muscle airport may be in ruins, but more importantly it is back in government hands. —— mosul. over there the iraqi flag is flying on there the iraqi flag is flying on the airfield again. this is a landmark moment. iraqi forces now have the islamic state group on the run. is might transform itself into something else, but right now in iraq we are witnessing the final days of the caliphate. storm doris has brought chaos across the uk. winds of up to 95 mph have caused one death as a woman was killed by flying debris in wolverhampton. trees have been brought down, taking power lines with them. nearly all rail operators have been reporting delays leaving many passengers stranded. planes were grounded and bridges and roads have been closed. tens of thousands of homes have been left without power. danny savage has more. it was late morning when emergency services were called to wolverhampton city centre. a woman had been hit by flying debris.

her head injuries were so serious, she died at the scene. hours later, a heavy panel was ta ken away as an investigation started. storm doris swept into scotland this morning, leaving drivers struggling in snowy conditions, like here, on the a71. the high winds did not stay anywhere for long but they did enough damage on the way, like on this moorland road in staffordshire. further south, this railway line near st albans was closed by a single voluntary. such scenes were repeated across the rail network. the result was a long, frustrating day for many travellers. this was used and, where west coast main line services ground to a halt. my train has been cancelled so i'm unsure how to get home. i might have to stay an extra night.

we didn't know till we got here that all virgin trains were cancelled, so we are stranded and we can't get back to manchester. 145 miles north in retford tonight, they were very laid back but they knew it could have been worse. are you thankful to have got back tonight? absolutely. ‘cause there are still a lot of people in london? yes, it was awful at king's cross, hundreds of people. i spoke to a lady and she got on the 1:10pm train, sat there for an hour and had to get off the train, and she was still in king's cross at 5pm when i was there. and look at the lucky escape a driving instructor in spalding had this morning. spare a thought for the bumpy landings endured by air passengers. this was a service coming into manchester. storm doris will be remembered for its southerly track.

it's now gone, but certainly not forgotten. home office figures show that a record number of eu nationals obtained official documentation last year which proves they have a right to stay in britain permanently. there was also a sharp rise in those granted british citizenship. separate figures show that net migration, the difference between the number of people coming to live in the uk and those leaving, has fallen by about 50,000. but it stands at 273,000, still well above the government target of fewer than 100,000. it's taken four years to get through parliament, but today the go—ahead has finally be given for work to begin on the high speed rail link between london and birmingham. critics say the £55 billion project is a waste of money, and will damage the environment. supporters say it will boost the economy and the number of people to be able to travel by rail.

phase one is due to open in 2026. prisons in england and wales will be expected to perform and rehabilitate offenders as well as punishment. that's in a new plan to overhaul the prison system. other measures include clapping down on mobile phones injail. thejustice secretary said the bill aims to reduce violence and cut reoffending. claudio ranieri has been sacked as leicester city's manager. despite guiding the club to what had seemed an impossible dream, premier league triumph last season and being voted fifa's coach of the year, the club's owners tonight dismissed him, citing "long—term interests". leicester's dismal season has left them teetering above the relegation zone, as oui’ sports news correspondent richard conway has been telling. many people thought claudio ranieri would be given at least a full season would be given at least a full season in an act of loyalty perhaps from grateful owners, given the fairytale success he delivered to them just nine months ago. fans

perhaps are in shock, again a sign of the gratitude they had towards claudio ranieri, but the owners are worried. they are flirting with relegation. the team isjust worried. they are flirting with relegation. the team is just above the relegation zone and that would be financially damaging as £9 billion of tv revenue is to be carved up amongst the premier league's 20 clubs among three seasons. league's 20 clubs among three seasons. they want to be fighting amongst the very best. relegation threatens all of that. so there are 13 games left now in the season. they are in terrible form. apra on was described as performing miracles to get leicester city to that title. —— claudio ranieri. they may now need another miracle. now it's time for newsnight with emily maitlis. i am never going to step down. you can't get rid of me! supreme courtjustice, american liberal hope, and now icon of popular culture. an extraordinary rare interview with ruth bader ginsberg on the future of america.

the true symbol of the united states is not the bald eagle. it is the pendulum. and when the pendulum swings too far in one direction, it will come back. also tonight... as the polls close in two critical by—elections, we're live at both counts with a political ear to the ground. as the us secretary of state meets his mexican counterpart, we're in the border town of nogales, where they've had a security wall for decades. has it worked? it's not going to stop. no wall, no matter how beautiful or how big or how expensive, is going to stop people that are desperate, people that are needy and people that are poor. and when you're sick of minding your language. you are not free to express your opinion. because you are racist, a bigot or homophobic or depending on the topic, you are no longer allowed to an opinion.

has the rise of political correctness unleashed the populist wave? good evening, any political storm that is happening in stoke right now has been overshadowed by doris on their doorstep. but as we come on air, two critical by—elections hang in the balance. the counting is just beginning and it looks like a long night ahead in both copeland and stoke. our political editor nick watt is in stoke and the bbc‘s political correspondent tom bateman is in the copeland constituency. they have both been reading the body language as the polls close and the politicians come to the card. what are you hearing so far? in normal times we would not pay much attention to these labour seats