the polling stations close, the ballot boxes open, the counting begins. results will flow throughout the night, throughout tomorrow. and yes, throughout saturday, too. also tonight, a man appears in court charged with murder of a schoolboy in northeast london. marcus monzo also faces several other charges, including two counts of attempted murder. plagued by delays to it's opening, take that, now won't be playing, the troubled co—op arena. in the occupied west bank a un independent expert says bbc evidence suggests the killing of a boy by israel was a potential war crime. he scored! and, aston villa score two, but it wasn't enough to beat olympiakos, in the first leg,

of their europa conference newsnight at 10:30pm, election night fever as the bbc gets ready to report the results of a last big vote before the general election. will it be boomtime for starmer or doom time the sunak? good evening. the polls have just closed in local elections across england and wales, the biggest test of political opinion, ahead of the general election. police and crime commissioners will also being chosen, there are mayoral elections, and a by—election in blackpool south. all the results will be coming in over the next couple of days, with party leaders looking for indications, of what a general election might bring. well chris is here with his take on what we should be looking out for, over the next 48 hours. chris. evening, clive. for the last 15 hours, millions of decisions have been

taken and thousands of aspiring decision makers — politicians — await their fate. this is a patchwork set of elections around england and wales with a long tail of results, going on until saturday night. let's talk councils in england first. the purple splodges are where folk are seeking election as councillors — 107 councils electing them today. many in the north west, the midlands and in commuter spots around london. this is the scene in harlow in essex — a classic spot for a conservative/labour tussle. plenty of counting for them to do. we expect the result there in the middle of the night. there have also been elections for police and crime commissioners in england and wales. they've been around for around 12 years and hold the police to account. and let's talk mayors too — 11 of them will be elected around england. here is what's going on right now in hartlepool —

they are counting council races there and the contest to be the mayor of the tees valley. an enterprising zone there as they get going with the ballot papers. the conservative ben houchen won there last time by a million miles — how will he fare this time? oh, and there's a parliamentary by election too at the home of the pleasure beach and the tower in blackpool. from the politicians, let the spin begin, the expectation management where they'd like to focus. the first result we'll look for is the blackpool by—election, which is the only result where rishi sunak and the government are really on the ballot paper. and if we can gain that it will show real progress on the way to the coming general election. the last time most of these seats were fought was in 2021 where we had

effectively a vaccine bounce as we rolled out the covid vaccine. that was our best set of local elections since 2008, so that's a very high base. so compared to that it is going to be difficult to achieve on that, so that's the backdrop, i think, for the results that we're going to see this evening. a final thought. a newish thing is needing photo id when you turn up to vote. it began in england, scotland, wales under this man — former prime minister borisjohnson, here he was encouraging people to turn out today. and this morning he rolled up at his local polling station in oxfordshire and was turned away because he'd forgotten. he later returned with the right id. his spokesman told the bbc, "mrjohnson voted conservative". eventually! clive. chris mason, political editor. chris

mentioned the blackpool by—election. well the conservatives are defending a majority ofjust 3,690, in the blackpool south by—election, and helen catt, is at the count. the tallying has already begun? we are the tallying has already begun? - are expecting their first boxes to arrive in the next five to ten minutes. it is a constituency that takes in the major sites are black though, that i was, the pier at the pleasure beach but it is the third most deprived constituency in england. laboursources most deprived constituency in england. labour sources are confident they will pick up a win here. they are framing this, as you had pat mcfadden xi, the most important contest happening this evening because it is a straight parliamentary contest. labour did win this in 1997 and they held for 22 years and they held it until 2019. this by—election has come about because of a resignation after the mp was filmed offering to lobby

ministers by undercoverjournalist posing as gambling customers. all the focus will be on what is the scale of the win. does it suggest keir starmer could be on course for a majority? a lot of attention being paid with what happened to reform the brexit party came third here with 60% of the vote. i think they are hoping to do better than that, they feel they had a good day today in the polling station.— in the polling station. helen reporting — in the polling station. helen reporting live _ in the polling station. helen reporting live from - in the polling station. helen reporting live from the - in the polling station. helen i reporting live from the counter blackpool south. chris, the mayoral races, blackpool south, asjournalists, we will chris, the mayoral races, blackpool south, as journalists, we will be defining what we can out of the results, what should we be looking for? it results, what should we be looking for? . ~ ., results, what should we be looking for? ., ~' ., , , results, what should we be looking for? .~ . , , for? it will take a while because as deliahted i for? it will take a while because as delighted i would _ for? it will take a while because as delighted i would be _ for? it will take a while because as delighted i would be if _ for? it will take a while because as delighted i would be if you - for? it will take a while because as delighted i would be if you could . delighted i would be if you could join us on bbc one throughout the

night and on the bbc news app, unlike general election when the sun rises tomorrow morning, we will not have a definitive outcome. why? because loads of results are being counted tomorrow, loads more on saturday. if this is wrapped up by the time much of the day is on a saturday night that will be around about what is expected. each and every result matters for its own sake, we should emphasise that but they collectively shape the mood at westminster. the conservative expect to do badly, they are telling me quite a lot of their usual voters in rural areas have not turned out and they think they have done better elsewhere. they are talking up some of the mayoral races, the tees valley. they are confident that they reckon the west midlands is on a knife edge. labour are talking up blackpool south and they are confident they will win there. conservative think they have done 0k, conservative think they have done ok, relative to reform uk, who they often fear. plenty of counting still

to come, the liberal democrats are positive in areas where they are competing with the conservatives. so the numbers in the words begin and they will roll on for 48 hours at least. , ~., ,., ., ~ , ., and there is special election coverage overnight tonight on bbc one and the bbc news channel. it's hosted by laura kuenssberg — she'll be here to tell us more about what to expect — later in this programme. a man has appeared in court, charged with the murder of the schoolboy, daniel anjorin, in north east london. daniel, who was 14, was on his way to school when he was fatally stabbed in hainault on tuesday. marcus monzo, who's 36, also faces several other charges, including two counts of attempted murder. here's lucy manning. marcus monzo arrived at court in central london with heavy security. the dual brazilian—spanish

36—year—old is accused of murdering 14—year—old daniel anjorin on tuesday in hainault. the court heard more details about what the prosecutor described as horrific offences. at 6:45, a van was driven at speed, knocking over one of the victims. mr monzo is then said to have slashed him with a samurai sword in the neck. 15 minutes later in laing close, it's alleged he forced his way into a house where a four—year—old and her parents were sleeping, attacking a man in the bedroom, saying he would cause him harm, "if you don't believe in god". it's alleged that then, in the street, he ran up behind daniel anjorin as he walked to school, slashing him in the neck and stabbing him, and then hid in the bushes and attacked a male and female police officer. today, the sister of the man attacked in his home said he was a hero for protecting his wife and child but faced a really long and traumatising recovery.

in court, marcus monzo, wearing a grey tracksuit, was flanked by security officers and held his left hand against his chest throughout the seven—minute hearing. marcus monzo stood and spoke slowly in court as he gave his name. he is charged with seven offences — murder, two counts of attempted murder, two offences of grievous bodily harm, and possession of a samurai sword. on tuesday, hours after the attack, the police started searching the suspect�*s house in newham in east london. he was really, like, minding his own business, no space for interaction, he was always by himself, no girlfriend, no parties, no anyone, just him. daniel's family described the 14—year—old is a wonderful child, well loved and hard working, and that his death left a gaping wound in the family. a loss felt across the community.

the teenager just steps from his home when he was killed. lucy manning, bbc news. john swinney looks set to become scotland's next first minister. a former deputy first minister and snp leader, he's announced his intention to succeed humza yousaf. today he received the support of the woman who many thought might challenge him for the top job, kate forbes. she's been offered a �*significant�* role in any new government. james cook, has the latest from edinburgh. please show your appreciation forjohn swinney. the snp is in trouble — divided, distracted and struggling to govern. john swinney says it's time to get a grip and he is the man for the job. i could have stood back and hoped others would sort things out. but i care too much about the future of scotland, and the scottish national party, to walk on by. you've said there you can't walk

on by because, essentially, your party's a disunited mess. what specifically is wrong with it? well, the party's not cohesive just now. we are not together, we're not operating as one big unified team. but what i am absolutely certain about is, if the snp gets its act together, it will be a formidable force for good in scotland, and a formidable force for success in scotland as well, and that's what i offer. mr swinney is a veteran of scottish politics — an snp member since 1979. he led the party from 2000 to 2004 and then spent 16 years in the scottish cabinet under both alex salmond and nicola sturgeon. is he really prepared to do it all over again? i am no caretaker. i am no interim leader. i'm offering to lead my party through the westminster elections and to lead us beyond the 2026

elections, two contests which i intend to win for the snp and for scotland. applause. but first, he had to deal with a potential rival — kate forbes. he did so by lavishing her with praise and a job offer. she is an intelligent, creative, thoughtful person who has much to contribute to our national life. and if elected, i will make sure that kate is able to make that contribution. she replied in a statement, saying he offered "competent, candid government," adding, "i have concluded that the best way to deliver the urgent change scotland needs is tojoin with john swinney and advocate for that reform agenda within the scottish government." john swinney talked a lot today about the need for the snp to change. but hang on, he's no outsider — he's been shaping the party for decades. if, as expected, he becomes the next first minister, he'll be judged on whether he turns those words into deeds. james cook, bbc news, edinburgh.

take that have become the latest act to move shows away from the troubled co—op live arena, which has been plagued by delays to its opening. for the third time, last night its doors remained closed due to technical problems with fans already queueing up outside. here's danny savage. it was a surprise 18th birthday gift for a best friend — a hard—to—get ticket to see olivia rodrigo at the co—op live arena in manchester. it's all i've been looking forward to. i've got exams at the moment, it's stressful, and it was like a break, it was the big thing that i was waiting for. but last night, amy and grace found out the concert, due to take place on saturday, had been called off because of another problem with the venue. ijust cried and i cried, and it was more upset than anger. it was just awful. she was on a series on disney's

channel when i was little, i watched her on that, and then i listened to her music, i would have loved to have seen live, it would have been amazing. not a lot of artists do so many shows up north, it's kind of like... so for manchester to get two shows in this new big arena, it was like, "oh, my goodness." the latest delay in opening has been caused by part of the heating and ventilation system coming loose. it now has to be completely checked over. just before it was supposed to open, the bbc was shown round by tim leiweke, the big boss of the owners. even though it's the largest arena in the uk and europe, it's also acoustically the most perfect arena in the uk, and it's the tightest arena in the uk. and so from an engineering standpoint and a design standpoint, it's a marvel. but it's a marvel which is still to see its first big gig. the owners say they are deeply sorry for the upheaval. we booked the tickets back in september when my daughter was in hospital. she was in hospital for three months, she suffers from anorexia, and when this tour was announced,

it was a really big focus point. no olivia rodrigo concert tomorrow has really affected this family. she instantly sort of reverted into herself and got into bed and has lost sort of the hope of seeing somebody that she idolises and that part of her recovery is... you know, having those milestones and things that she can work towards is really important, and having one taken away at the last minute has had such a detrimental impact on her. peter kay was supposed to be the opening act at britain's biggest indoor arena. who it will be still isn't clear. tonight, the band keane have cancelled their gig on sunday, and take that will perform elsewhere. safety has to be the priority, say the operators of the co—op live arena. danny savage, bbc news, manchester. president biden has warned pro—palestinian demonstrators on university and college campuses across america

riot police have moved in to clear a mass protest camp at a university in los angeles with officers tearing down makeshift barriers. it follows similar police action at columbia university in new york. hundreds of people have been arrested. emma vardy has more from los angeles. after midnight, the first signs police had begun to execute their operation. we're not leaving! despite building a makeshift fortress around them, the protesters' barricades were overpowered. we're seeing police now going into one side of the encampment, and it looks like they're starting to tear tents down. but there's something of a siege mentality here right now, because protesters and their supporters have gathered around this whole encampment on all sides. if they throw pepper spray, it will be in a capsule... it became clear the encampment

was unlikely to last the night. hundreds of police formed a ring of steel, while others systematically took ground. a large number of officers are gradually making their way further in, and they're setting off a volley of flash bangs here to disrupt the crowd as they do it. the deafening police grenades continued for much of the operation. officers were seen firing rubber bullets. images online appeared to show one person wounded after being shot in the head. just before dawn, the raid was almost complete. in a matter of hours, police have now dismantled and flattened much of this encampment, and the last remaining protesters are now being detained and taken away. president biden said students have a right to protest but not to break the law. activists not affiliated with ucla had been involved, as well as students from other colleges. more than 200 arrests were made.

bbc news — can you give us your reaction to what happened tonight? expected — they're cops. why did you want to be here? it's upsetting, it's upsetting. what do you feel that you've achieved with this? by morning, this is what remained of the encampment that had occupied the main quad of ucla for more than a week. police operations across the us have demonstrated that encampments will not be tolerated for long. at ucla, it's disrupted students' exam week. and it will be some time before this campus returns to normality. emma vardy, bbc news, los angeles. sarah smith, our north america editor, is in new york. sarah, president biden has come out and been speaking and received a bit of flak for not speaking until now about what has been going on. yeah, he'd said almost _ about what has been going on. yeah, he'd said almost nothing _ about what has been going on. yeah, he'd said almost nothing about - about what has been going on. ir—u he'd said almost nothing about these protests until now, even as they have been spreading right across the country, and today we saw police

called on to the campus at portland university in oregon, they went in and arrested several students who had been occupying the library building on campus. this is continuing all over the nation. the president had said that there is a right to protest, he vigorously defends the right to protest, but thatis defends the right to protest, but that is different from the right to cause chaos. violent protest is not protected — peaceful protest is. it's against the law when violence occurs. destroying property is not a peaceful protest. so he is coming down on the side of the university authorities who have made the decision to call in police on like at ucla, where today they were cleaning up the aftermath of the dramatic police action of the dramatic police action overnight. the president said that vandalism, trespass and causing disruption to

classes does not constitute a peaceful protest. so it is not protected in the way that the right to free speech on the right to protest is, he said, because this is not an authoritarian country where people are not allowed to speak out. at the end of his statement he was asked specifically whether any of these protests had caused him to reconsider his protest in the middle east, and he gave that a very firm no, so that is him telling these protesters that all of this disruption they have caused so far has effectively been in vain. mil has effectively been in vain. all ri . ht, has effectively been in vain. all right, sarah, thank you very much, sarah smith in new york. a united nations independent expert says evidence gathered by the bbc suggests the killing in november of a boy in the occupied west bank by israeli defense forces was a potential war crime. eight—year—old adam, who was unarmed, was shot and killed, alongside his friend basil, who was 15. the idf says the circumstances surrounding what happened are under review and that "suspects had been attempting to hurl explosives towards their forces". the west bank has been occupied by israel since 1967.

the situation there is tense, but violence has increased since the hamas attacks on israel last october. now a bbc team has been to the town ofjenin, and tonight we're going to show you the circumstances that led up to the moment adam and basil were shot and killed. isobel yeung's report contains very distressing details. we've been in the west bank for five weeks, investigating how two boys died on the 29th of november last year. wow, it's very blue! are you comfortable taking me back to what happened that day?

we've been meticulously piecing together what happened on this street the day adam and basil were killed. we've obtained copies of cctv and mobile—phone footage from multiple angles. in the early afternoon on the 29th of november, a convoy of at least six armoured israeli military vehicles are returning from a nearby raid. at the same time, the boys and around seven friends are out on the street. basil is holding something in his hands. we were not able to clarify what that was. across the street, one of the friends is filming on his phone as an israeli military vehicle drives by. when the footage is slowed down and enhanced, it shows the driver's door opening. the driver has a direct view

of the boys, being around 24 metres away from basil and 36 from adam. we can see from other camera angles that just a few seconds after adam's friend captured the door opening, at least 11 shots were fired from the direction of the armoured vehicle. we've obtained copies of basil and adam's medical reports. they show that two bullets struck basil's chest. and another hit adam in the back of the head as he was running away. the israeli army has shared a picture with us, taken at the scene by one of their soldiers, which they say shows an explosive device. we've cropped the image because of its graphic content. they also say suspects had been attempting to hurl explosives towards their forces, putting them in immediate danger, they responded with fire, and the circumstances of the event are under review.

but it seems likely they were in an armoured vehicle at the time, and according to all the video evidence we've examined, eight—year—old adam was not armed when he was shot in the back of his head. unlike gaza, the west bank is not classed as a war zone, and so the international laws around the use of lethal force are more prohibitive. un rapporteur ben saul acts as an expert for the human rights council. he's reviewed our findings and says, "while there may be questions about if the use of lethal force could be applied in basil's case, for adam, this appears to be a violation of international humanitarian law, a war crime, and a violation of the human right to life." we also showed the footage to a former israeli military commander. there is a possibility of unlawful activity conducted by israeli soldiers. it happened, but you see a certain portion of reality and not the overall picture.

that overall picture is complex. israel does face threats in the west bank from armed palestinian resistance groups, but experts have told the bbc that the actions of its military that we've seen may well be in breach of international law. isobel yeung, bbc news, the west bank. and if you'd like to see the full investigation, you can watch the other war on the bbc iplayer british scientists have used tiny fragments of bone to piece together the skull of a 75,000—year—old neanderthal woman. the intricate 3d jigsaw puzzle has allowed them to reconstruct what the woman, called shanidar z, would have looked like. the crushed skull was found in a cave in northern iraq in 2015, and it's taken more than a year to painstakingly rebuild. scientists say the discovery has advanced our understanding of the speices, and it's now believed neanderthals were much more

advanced than previously thought. aston villa, the last premier league club left in european competition, have lost 4—2 to olympiacos in the first leg of their europa conference league semifinal. joe wilson has more from villa park. villa park, home of the european champions. yeah, that was true — in 1982. well, here it is, the goal that won aston villa the european cup. here and now, it's the europa conference league. third tier of european football, maybe, but it brings the possibility of glory. when olympiacos scored, villa were shocked, then relieved, then shocked again. given offside on the pitch, it was ruled on by var — just. such is the modern roller—coaster. villa's defence only confused themselves when ayoub el kaabi took another chance in his stride. where was villa's shot at glory?

their manager was inquiring urgently. the prince of wales — villa fan — was keeping calm... ..and so, when it mattered, was ollie watkins. 2—1, back in the game. then level. moussa diaby scored from there. it was not finished. douglas luiz, arm raised. referee said penalty, ayoub el kaabi said thank you. when the ball flew from konsa's back into the net, olympiacos led 4—2. still time for a villa penalty and for douglas luiz to miss. this semifinal has a second leg, if you have anything left. joe wilson, bbc news, villa park. back to our main story and the local elections across england and wales. laura will be presenting special coverage on bbc one throughout the night as the results start rolling in, and she's here with me. we are all going to be trying to divine what is going to happen potentially in the collection, what

should we be looking for? we potentially in the collection, what should we be looking for? we need to remember that _ should we be looking for? we need to remember that for _ should we be looking for? we need to remember that for every _ should we be looking for? we need to remember that for every win - should we be looking for? we need to remember that for every win and - remember that for every win and loss, it matters in its own right, we need to bear that in mind, but in a general election air, the significance of eight local election has rocket boosters on it, and there are three big questions that the results will help answer. is the tories�* performance going to be as woeful in the national polls? they are as unpopular as during the calamity of liz truss. is the labour lead is credible and big when it comes to real votes going into ballot boxes? if the answer to those it seems to be yes by the end of saturday, will tory mps band together and actually have the bottle to push the button on trying to oust rishi sunak? that seems unlikely at this juncture, but number ten knows it is not impossible, so there is a huge amount riding on these results we will be on bbc one from 11:40pm tonight, me, chris and a gang of top political guests, so do join us

then, it might be quite a ride. tap this programme continues on bbc one.