From Our Own Correspondent - USA and France

On the east coast of America many people are still trying to climb out of that abyss of damp destruction caused by superstorm Sandy. Stephanie Hegarty got a frontline-sense of the scale of the task, when she volunteered to help people in a low-lying part of New York City Meanwhile, people will vote in snap elections on Sunday in the Spanish region of Catalonia. If pro-independence parties win, they've promised to hold a referendum on full-blown nationhood- to the fury of the central government in Madrid. Could this have consequences for the Catalans who have lived north of the Spanish border in France for more than three centuries? Petroc Trelawney has been getting a sense of the feeling in French Catalonia. (Image: A sign reads 'Volunteers needed please', Credit: Getty Images)