22/10/2012 Newsround

It's Monday 22nd October, and you're live with Newsround.

Ricky, she's Hayley, and here's what's going on around the world.

We've got the low-down on one of the closest ever races for the

White House, the boy with the solar-powered car takes us for a

test drive, and the red button finally means the end for Ceefax.

First, tonight sees the third and final instalment of one of American

TV's most popular sagas in years. Two heavyweights go head-to-head in

front of 60 million viewers to be in with a chance of winning the

ultimate prize. Sound a bit like The X Factor? Well, we're talking

about the battle to become the American President, possibly the

most powerful man in the world. And as I've been finding out, this

election is so close that it'll be won and lost on the tiniest of

The debate part three hits screens across America tonight. Starring US

President Barack Obama...and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney.

Part one was a clear win for Romney. Even the President admitted he had

a real shocker. I had a lot more energy in our second debate! I felt

really well rested after the Long Now I had in the first debate!

part two, things got a bit fiery and Obama pulled a little ground

back. Thanks, movie trailer man. Tonight's debate is the final

showdown with everything to play for.

With just over two weeks to go, the latest opinion polls show Obama and

Romney neck and neck on 47% each. That leaves just 6% undecided. Many

states pretty much always vote the same way. Romney can count on those

in red. Obama get those in blue. That means the election should be

decided by voters in just nine states out of 50. One of those

states is Florida, where tonight's debate is happening. The head-to-

head is all about America's relationship with other countries

around the world. But it's the issues at home that Americans feel

strongly about. When Obama was elected in 2008, he made history as

the first black President of America. But his popularity has

fallen, partly because four years on America's still got serious

money problems, with many millions of people out of work. That's one

of the reasons why this is one of the most closely-contested

elections America has ever seen. Neither side has yet to deliver the

killer blow to convince voters, so that's why more than 60 million

will be watching tonight to find out. Who'll come out top? American

election, coming 6th November 2012. In the last few hours, the

organisation in charge of world cycling, the UCI, has stripped

Lance Armstrong of all seven of his Tour de France titles, saying that

he has no place in the world of cycling. It's because a report by

the American anti-doping agency showed he cheated, using drugs to

help him win. Armstrong still claims he never used drugs to

improve his performance. Next, there are worrying signs that

the violence in Syria is spreading to one of its neighbours, Lebanon.

There were protests over the weekend following the killing of a

top Lebanese official who spoke out against the Syrian government. Some

people believe that Syria was behind the killing. I've been

looking at why tensions between the two countries are running so high.

These are the latest scenes of violence in the Middle East, but

this isn't in Syria, it's in Lebanon, just over the border.

These people are protesting because Wissam al-Hassan, a senior figure

in Lebanon, was killed in a car bomb attack on Friday. He

criticised the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, for violence

against his own people and the people of Lebanon. But why are

Lebanese people involved in what happens in Syria? The two

neighbours have a very close connection. For many years, Lebanon

was controlled by Syrian forces. It means many people in Lebanon have

strong views about what's going on in Syria. In both countries, the

people there fall on two sides, the Sunni and the Shia, and they don't

see eye to eye. They are two forms of the same religion, Islam, but

they have very different views on how Muslims should live their lives.

The murdered Lebanese official, Al- Hassan, was a Sunni Muslim. But

most of the Syrian and Lebanese governments are made up of Shia

Muslims. Now many Sunni Muslims in Lebanon say that Syria is to blame

for the attack. But they're also angry against their own government

for supporting Syria. When a country falls into civil war, as

has happened in Syria, the violence can affect nearby countries too.

It's thought that up to 700,000 Syrian refugees will have escaped

into Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan by the end of this year, where they'll

need food and shelter. Earlier this month, Turkey reacted angrily when

Syrian shelling just over the border killed five of its people.

And after this latest attack, people in Lebanon fear their

country could be pulled into Syria's bloody civil war too, as

Next, how much time do you get to spend with your mum or dad? A new

survey says the busy lifestyles of parents mean they're not spending

as much time with their kids as they'd like. Well over half of kids

surveyed said they'd like to spend more time with their parents. We've

been asking what you think on the Newsround website. Jasmina from

Dorset says she only sees her dad on a weekend and even then he's

still on his emails or very tired from a busy week. And Steph from

the Wirral says, my mum works, but spends as much time with us as

possible, she does a great job with the time she has with us.

Next up, this is a specially designed solar-powered car that can

travel at up to 100mph. And one boy from Wales has helped build his

very own mini version. Ten-year-old Finnbar took Newsround for a test

Hello, I am Finnbar, the youngest member of the Welsh Solar Car team.

We have been working on cars This is a small working model of a

solar car. This is where I sit to drive the car. There are around 50

solar panels funnier. It is shaped like a wing to make it go faster.

Sunlight comes into the solar panel, which converts the sunlight into

electricity. The energy goes into the battery which powers the motor.

I am going to show my solar car to We have never had anything in his

school before really cool like that. It is like a really exciting,

because it gets energy from the sun. He is a very lucky boy. The reason

I got involved is because my mum and dad were in the team, and they

built this car and needed somebody small enough to drive it. What

happens if there is no sun? It can run on the battery. When it is

cloudy, like now, or it is raining, or in the night, it can run for

five hours without problems. I like driving it because it is fast. This

is Finnbar reporting for Newsround. He is all right, isn't it? I would

love one of those! And in the days long ago before the internet and

digital TV, this used to be a familiar sight, Ceefax. It was the

world's first teletext information service for things like news

headlines and footy scores. It was pretty old-school, and much slower

than the internet, you sometimes had to wait as long as a couple of

minutes for the pages to load. But it was revolutionary. Well, this

week the service ends for good. Ceefax has been replaced with the