week's top stories from superstorm sandy wreaks havoc across the northeastern usa leaving a hundred dead millions called in the country's most expensive presidential campaign to date in a tailspin. no peace for the post gadhafi libya as the country's two major cities are attacked strikes the security headquarters in tripoli a car bomb detonated in benghazi. truth under attack in greece a journalist showing solidarity with whistleblowers who have been silent trying to expose government wrong. in the streets of moscow russia's most radical nationalists emerge in the capital and nationwide aiming to stir up the visions of the country's day of unity.

in the back of the day's top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly . well voters in florida lined up to cast their ballots in early voting those in new york are lining up for fuel rations and blankets much of the big apple remains paralyzed but tens of thousands still without power heat or hot water nearly a week after superstorm sandy ripped through here. with the political fallout from the disaster. she was a storm the size of europe and it might be a game changer for america's upcoming us presidential election early voting was suspended as hurricane sandy ripped through the u.s. east coast monday causing eight and a half million homes and businesses to lose power with the death toll expected to surpass one hundred president barack obama canceled campaign appearances to handle

the superstorm the election will take care of itself next week right now. is to make sure that. national polls show the commander in chief garnered excellent marks for his response is. the president. is my man. vote for obama. the possibility and the biggest praise of all came from a staunch romney supporter the cooperation for the president i did states has been outstanding the president has been all over this he deserves great credit if you think right now i give a damn about presidential politics that you don't know me looking to also score political points republican candidate mitt romney rebranded his victory rally in ohio into a relief vent for say and even if. they're not going to stop their political campaigning. so much he says they. are still being very

close thank you but while the candidates attempt to feature sandy in their quest for votes her victims are too busy piecing their lives back together below thirty ninth street has become known as the dark side of manhattan hundreds of thousands have been surviving without electricity heat and hot water for more than five days the traffic lights do not work and most businesses have remained closed city officials say that power will be restored to the borough by election day the same promise has not been made to millions of voters living in other parts of new york and nearby states on staten island polling stations are no longer standing voting locations are being moved in parts of new jersey massachusetts connecticut and pennsylvania that are still dark and damaged by the storm some experts say the last minute scrambling will undoubtedly leave countless americans disenfranchised from

democracy on november sixth that's destroying the legitimacy of the election potentially on the east coast early voting is being wiped out in these cities and states the voting of the elderly on election day the voting of the poor on election day the voting in of new yorkers on election day. is likely to be diminished through no fault of their own and that will affect the outcome of the election i don't lection now defined by two men and sandy marina port ny r.t. new york one aspect of the race that's putting many voters off is how holidays to tell the leading candidates upon from never nation ship with banks to that foreign policy there are striking similarities between the two joseph from the socialist equality party says the ballot lacks a true choice well we enter the election with the understanding that the whole

process is fundamentally antidemocratic it's controlled by billions of dollars now and corporate money the media controlled by corporations and getting on the ballot is incredibly difficult requiring millions of dollars to the. signatures in every state it's something of a farce and even within this framework of course the choices that are available even you know that within this anti democratic primary or basically agree on everything so even if of course if you had a democratic process between these two candidates the american people don't have really do think that choose from the end war the attack and democratic rights the bailout of the banks the attack on social programs all of this is really agreed to by both romney and obama. that is accepted as the framework by the media. country to what many disenchanted americans believe there is an alternative to republican and democrat joe opening we've been bringing extensive coverage of the party kind of his plans and policies and it continues on monday when we host their final

debate live from washington. keep us politics. changes. at the supreme security committee headquarters. sporadic gun battles outside the building a middle east correspondent has more details. well it got a battle raging in south tripoli between two rival libyan militias around the libyan security cave coaches building and from the information we have at least five people have been injured and part of that building has been destroyed now we are receiving reports that the whole area has been cordoned off that many residents in the area have rushed home and if they're ok in themselves and find inside of

their homes and also arming themselves with quite a weapons that security building is also makes to the tripoli central hospital and some of the what it's from his gun battle his the hospital was also on sunday morning that there was a car bomb explosion in front of a police station in the second largest city in libya of bengazi now at least three police officers were wounded in that car explosion we not hearing any reports as of the actual people who have been killed we also know that part of the building particularly the entrance has been damaged that facade to the building has been talking just for you and they are in a number of shattered windows now one of those comes up to more than a thousand protesters take to the streets of benghazi they are calling for the eastern half of libya to be separated we're talking here about roughly half the territory of the countries that holds more than three quarters of the oil reserves they want their own autonomy their one to many to the owner of things and they want bengazi to be the economic capital of the country all of this coming

a little more than a year since we saw revolution ousted the former you were in the gadhafi in what. is the polarized nation of people polarizations in terms of what people want and gun battles on the streets we also know that for weeks now the city of funny when it has been and to see and from there we saw how when pictures of death and destruction. the editor of the pan-african news want told me and if the revolution is turn the plot back from libya by several decades. historically during the period of the ottoman empire as well as a tie of colonialism the country was divided basically in the three different regions of three design in the south tripoli in the last and of course are annika in the east and as a result of the independence movement in libya after nine hundred fifty one and of course after the seizure of power back of daffy and his cohorts in nine hundred sixty nine there was a concerted effort to bring about some type of national identity and cohesiveness

inside of libya all that has fallen apart over the last year and this is why we're having these type of sexual conflicts inside the country. syria's opposition is set to revamp its ranks a move pushed by the us later this hour discuss the effect it may potentially have in the course of the bloody standoff also ahead. because library of record doesn't want to divulge anything uncomfortable so this is what you get when you search for anything linked to wiki leaks more on that coming up in a few minutes. a greek whistleblower arrested after publishing a list of the country's potential tax evaders was acquitted on thursday but another is still in custody after threatening to reveal held the books were cooked before greece got his bail out as peter out of reports the trend in greece is to root out those who reveal wrongdoing rather than the perpetrators. is the greek government using bully tactics to cover up its failings that's the question that took

thousands of greek journalists to the streets of athens i can to list for their outrage was the arrest of journalist cost us vaxevanis after he revealed the names of more than two thousand wealthy and highly influential greeks accused of stashing alyssa gains in swiss bank accounts. we published a list that other countries had in our possession and our government was aware of for two years but did nothing in the absence of democracy is governed by corrupt characters who deceived the public swimming their handling tax evasion vaxevanis was set free after judges decided that he did not have a case to answer however his story is sent a shockwave through an already fractious society we are in a period of political muscle and political crisis social crisis is obvious

we have. unemployment. one might say weimar republic kind of unemployment levels there is. there are there is more austerity coming but when it comes to reporting on government business one senior member of the greek of journalists told me that it's getting close to cooperate all quit a mess some of. the frustrations have been imposed to any voice of the opposition and the media restricting journalists some two thousand five hundred media professionals technicians included have lost their job since last year. and those who attempt to stand up to authority and expose corruption are handcuffed to be arrested because he revealed the names obviously you can understand that people can cooperate with the state. vaxevanis told me he won't keep silent i asked him if he

was given another list of names but what would he do this is my job this is what journalists do they don't cover scandals yet they tell the truth and the elites have tried for two whole years to come for a major evidence that renders them in the system entirely unreliable to give the arrest of a journalist while trying to reveal wrongdoing has left some greeks feeling that democratic rights are being a road it here in the very birthplace of democracy peter all of a party in. greece has its homework cut out of the parent needs to introduce in the one hundred fifty changes to its financial policies to please its international creditors and investment advisor patrick young thinks it's a futile effort. alice in wonderland that fabulous children's book had an alice famously saying that sometimes she imagines six impossible things before breakfast while not going to the troika of lenders that there are one hundred fifty impossible cuts before breakfast for the greek economy the greeks are in this mess

because ultimately they spend huge amounts of money we have terrible sympathy with the ordinary greeks on the street they are being left in a situation where they don't even have primary medical care in many cases but are we going to be able to see them manage to cover the economy or come back in many different ways of course not they'll be lucky to manage to get twenty of these cuts to stick let alone one hundred fifty it's alarmed alice in wonderland economics. where the money being squeezed all around there's one man who's been to the big banks by thinking small. people who rob banks go to prison banks who wrote people get paid bonuses to stop taking finance back to basics looking after his community at a time when the big lenders only account for themselves that's ahead in the week for nothing.

usually the police and occupy protesters are like oil and water but it led to they've come together to save the house of a former detective jacqueline barber unfortunately ms barber lost a lot of money badly cancer and was facing eviction when she turned to occupy homes for help so far she's managed to stay in her home despite it being sold out from under her feet but the main thing is that her fight to stay in her home has become like a bridge between two groups who are usually at each other's throats the police and occupiers the thing is that cruel economic practices can affect us all even retired police like ms barber i know there are some irresponsible people who buy thing. if they can't pay for any of the police have to do something about them but they shouldn't throw you out of your home that you've paid for for years just for getting cancer no one shift to live with the constant fear that their home will be taken away after years and years of payment just because they got sick and america

i thought we believed in private property not eternally renting from big banks but that's just my opinion. well the. sun is technology innovation all the least of melons from around russia we've dumped a huge earth covered. culture is that so much of a given to each musician of power to find that the market democracy promotion the export of a universal set of values or the means to change and control the global order twenty years after the. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you don't know i'm tom hartman welcome to the big picture.

goals fifteen goats two counts. forty kilograms of rights one thousand flatbreads. but why is the bride in a bad mood. now to tell the groom he's not the one. it is a done deal. sigrid laboratory to mccurry was able to build removed most sophisticated robots which unfortunately don't amount to anything turns mission to teach the creation why it should care about humans and. this is why you should care only.

quality of life here in moscow some of russia's most radical political groups are out in force this sunday from dawn hard nationalists to write fascists in dozens of cities tens of thousands of joined marches chanting against immigration israel is all things foreign soldiers are coming over has been watching the crowds in moscow . from the crowd behind me is that russia for russians only they want the flag of the russian order they're basically demanding jobs for your russians whatever that means and they're also pushing to repeal the law part of the russian from a law that actually punishes hate crimes motivated by religious hatred nationalist and that that patron so it's a message of national unity that probably doesn't sit well with a large chunk of the population and now there are some reports about six thousand

people in that crowd the permit us for about ten thousand people so we could see those numbers a lot of force not massive police presence here as well but so far the protest seems to be largely peaceful although we've also heard reports of about twenty five people wearing black clothes with the swastika shouting slogans they've been detained in another part of the city center here in moscow now we have to keep in mind that this is play up swastikas is of course banned in russia as well as many european countries similar types of rally has happened taking place across russia and we've heard of another report of about ninety people detained in the urals city if you can see if you are taking part of an unauthorized nationalist rally there now the police say that most of those people were teenagers again a rather disturbing sight frankly we've seen a lot of by nationalist flags sort of icons from the church which i guess is the symbol of some of the people here as well as some reports of people actually chanting long live anderson braving the person far right extremists was massacred

seventy seven people at norway's. resolute tova reform remis to full. the ban on rallies with crowds holding out against more tear gas and arrests we'll get an expert view later in the program. or so major tempers friend london after the e.u. seeks even more cash for its budget british m.p.'s saying it's not worth it may be time to go. or that sort of come first the u.s. is literally a raising wiki leaks from memory with the national archives banning any search that includes the whistleblowing organizations name civil rights groups joined by librarians aren't happy at all saying such blatant such a ship is akin to george orwell's ministry of truth and laws chaos spoke to him a little earlier he's the leader of the u.k. pirate party he sees little good in the bad. mission of the library of congress that is trying to preserve a collective body of knowledge the job of any line reached shortly should be to

share that knowledge well it's frankly not surprising that such organizations that are under pressure to actually conform to these kind of classification law but essentially this is still censorship and censorship laws actually stepping on freedom of speech we often see that the united states and its very quick to criticize its states abroad that stepping on would seem able to hold the same standards at home we can see how the wind for a principle whistle blowing. that man for democracy. an explosion in the syrian capital is a story that we'll be covering very shortly here with its consequences and implications but first stargazers now have the chance to spot a manmade marvel in the night sky with their own eyes that story on our web site of the moment and also get a tip off to see the space station with

a nasa alert to tell you when the yes goes flying overhead the details up online and also a prize for the applied piper you can read a small south african town where rats are on the rampage or online we tell you what the bounty is for being a rodent terminator. that's at r.t. dot com free but first the the u.k. is reportedly planning to send warplanes to the persian gulf the jets will be stationed in the united arab emirates just a couple of hundred kilometers from iran britain's defense ministry insists there's no connection to concerns over iran's nuclear ambitions but antiwar activist john reese finds that hard to swallow. this is not the first report we've had all western increased deployments in the area there have been a whole spate of them in recent weeks and months which all pull in the same direction of increased us british and western nations deploying a great deal more than the normal commitment to the gulf area not big enough in

normal times i think we all understand what the imperial structure of the of the middle east is that the western powers of america with the support of european powers believe that it has an absolute right to control this area of the globality employees the israeli state has its watchdog we reached the israelis and the us now come to an agreement about a time scale within which they must deal with iran so that's going to happen the day after the us elections but i do think that things will move on and will be clear exactly what the program deploying further pressure on the iranian regime is in a week or so is time. coming up later in the program q.h. opposition gets the promised heavy response for ignoring the government's public gathering ban despite keeping its protests peaceful life analysis on that a little later on altie. and spain and italy insists they don't need

a bailout any time soon unless shouted germany's idea to tightly police the e.u. members budgets and punish those like you behind the story more ahead for you after the break stay with us. russia would be so much brighter if you move about some from finest impression it's

. nice for stocks on t.v. dot com. wealthy british style it's not on the. market find scandal find out what's really happening to the global economy for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines to name two crimes a report on. just give me can i speak with you sir let me finish please my son died in iran don't agree you don't agree we don't want to look for him my son isn't isn't it marina i don't know who it is can't be your. we're just trying to urge you shared. the incident to share a new country. with a country's impures. the moon or in hope to help you find me.

you find in so many old says war and meet some serious debt. what will change when america picks its president amid muslim rage walking the iran tightrope pushing china and russia as occupy anger spreads kids to parties still dictate will there be a chance this election a close guy. to enter fifth artsy.

in. an explosion in the syrian capital is wounded at least eleven people the blast took place in a heavily guarded minute tree and government buildings nobody. admitted the attack but al qaeda linked militant groups have been behind similar recent incidents meanwhile syria's opposition leaders are trying to reshuffle their ranks and agree on a more common platform as they meeting qatar's capital the shake up has been proposed by washington which revealed plans to bring in militants fighting on the front line

it's good thoughts now dr ali mohammed is the editor in chief of the syria tribune so the fifty one members of the so-called national initiative council will be unveiled in doha the syrian national council and said to have just a few seats now why this reshuffle now and why reduction of the s.n.c.f. presence. if you want to be more specific we should call it every branding process . let's look at it this way the syrian national council was established about a year ago mainly to give legitimacy to militarization of the more granting of syria because the beginning it was highly looked for at the end of the free syrian army was announced. it was clear that it was a military more the syrian national council was established to support this and give it a political. under which it can work now failed the syrian national council feel that so many levels in gaining support inside syria and unifying the opposition in

even supporting the rebels is happening now is really is merely if ending because if you look at the. projects it calls for the new council they are exactly the same and the syrian national council but with different people so this is this is in effect is saying is superficial and it won't actually have a tangible impact on any sort of peace process in syria. i don't see it would have any impact because the goals are the same the targets are the same but different people so what changed are they willing to do. just that to stop fighting and start because he. announced that they are backing the rebels so what change would be the people for you what's this about washington then revealing. plans to have more political power to major figures fighting on the front line will help bring peace or actually make matters worse. it will make it worse the only thing that can make things better in syria is for everybody to. put pressure on the rebels to put down

their weapons and stuff and you push and process and it's funny that you are. an opposition body of the syrian people i mean if those people claim that they have support in syria what is the initiative come from the same person who a year ago is the syrian national council leading legitimate representative of syria is looking for the same person now saying to those washington openly supporting the rebels russian foreign minister lavrov during his very recent meeting today indeed with the u.n. peace envoy lakhdar brahimi he said no resolution can solve the syrian crisis as he says as long as western powers are determined to which is exactly what washington is showing it wants to do so really diplomacy doesn't stand a chance now that. it's part of any policy at the moment but what we can be hopeful is there the they will realize this or that militarization did not work and that that will stand no chance of.