Dr Brooke Magnanti - Scientist and former prostitute HARDtalk

headlines: A Greek tragedy in the making. Antonis Samaras has only

days to prevent his country from running out of money.

Japan's last ditch attempt to push through its finance bill.

The head of the European Central Bank has supported German plans for

a new currency commissioner, which would have the power to veto

budgets set by European governments that broker strict spending

guidelines. -- that violate street spending guidelines.

-- strict. Thank you for joining us.

The working group meeting today - what is going to be top of the

agenda? Greece. We are coming close to decision time again. Greece is

running out of money and they require this next tranche of the

bail out very soon. The Troika in Athens has found that Greece is

very far along the way on its reform promises and fiscal cuts but

there are still some serious issues remaining. First, labour-market

reforms in particular. Second, how to finance a potential two-year

extension of the programme, which would cost extra money which would

have to come from somewhere. When will we see some deals done

and announced regarding this two- year time frame? Last week, the

Greek Finance Minister told parliament that the two extra years

had been agreed upon but that was denied by the Troika. This working

group meeting today is probably not high ranking enough to announce

major decisions. Eurozone finance ministers will meet on Wednesday

and that might be when the announcement is made. It still

might not be in the final decision. That will be up to the leaders. In

terms of running out of money, we now understand that this is a

flexible matter. But November is definitely when they must make a

decision. We will receive a decision some time... There is also

talk about restructuring the debt, which Germany is not keen on.

questioning about how to finance these next two years... There are

different ways to provide the money. One would be lower interest rates.

One would be to provide more money. The Troika would prefer to cut the

official public sector debt. It is likely that they will find

some compromise were the official sector will have some of its debt

forgiven, some interest rates will be cut and more additional money

found. Thank you.

From one debt crisis to another, Japan's national debt as a

proportion of its income is nearly twice the size of Greece's.

Spending has ballooned to cover reconstruction of areas devastated

by last year's tsunami and the shutdown of most of the country's

nuclear facilities. There has been political infighting,

delaying any possible solution to the problem.

Thank you for joining us. First, or explain how critical this

is and what it means for the Japanese economy.

On the one hand, this is irregular procedure in the Japanese

government. It runs out of tax money every fiscal year. -- this is

a usual, regular procedure in the Japanese government. The problem is

that they need new legislation to make arrangements and they need a

parliamentary agreement for that legislation. At this point in time,

with political tensions as they are, this is a difficult issue. How will

politicians find any middle ground? The opposition party is trying to

use the opportunity to finally put out the government. The

government's approval rating is at its lowest point in history. The

opposition certainly has the opportunity to ask for fresh

elections. The government is trying to stick to its plans. Further

financing is desperately required. The economy is already heading to

recession. We have low demand from China and the rest of the world

economy. Also problems internally. Domestic support from the

government is very critical. All eyes are on the Bank of Japan

because the government has not been able to get its act together.

is your outlook for the economy? How will the eurozone debt crisis

affect matters? Will China's growth also affect

matters? We were also hoping that domestic demand would be stronger

this year, particularly on government spending for

Reconstruction and trying to keep the economy together. The problem

now is because of the political situation this is extremely

unlikely. The Bank of Japan will meet tomorrow and basically, the

situation is the same as in Europe and the US. Quantitative easing.

Hopefully this will have a good effect on the economy.

Staying with Japan, shares in Honda fell 6% today after it warned of

lower profits due to anti-Japanese protests. The company made just

over $1 billion in the three months to the end of September. Sales in

China fell 40% because of violent protests sparked by a territorial

dispute. Honda says it expects the anti-Japanese sentiment to continue

for some months. Heathrow Airport is Europe's

busiest, handling 17 million passengers per year. But its

operators are struggling to make a profit. In a few hours, Heathrow

Airport will release its latest quarterly results and it is

expected to be posting serious losses.

Heathrow Airport's operators used to be called the British Airport

Authority. They have been told to take control of so many UK airports

- Gatwick, Edinburgh and Stansted - they have decided to call

themselves simply Heathrow. Can they pull themselves back into

profit? In the first half of this year, they made a loss of $110

million. Debt accrued to $17.7 billion. The interest paid on that

debt was $600 million. Heathrow is not increasing revenue from

passengers fast enough to keep up with the interest charges.

Passenger numbers have tended to grow at 2.5% per year, roughly in

line with growth in real GDP. He from hopes that growth will

continue and increase. -- Heathrow hopes. How can the company ramp up

activity at the airport? At peak times, aircraft land once every 45

seconds. It is already operating to the limit of its capacity. Heathrow

Airport's directors want to build a third runway but the UK government

has deferred a decision on this contentious issue until after the

next election. In the meantime, City, Gatwick and Birmingham have

been offering their plans to the government on how they can take the

future increase in air traffic, which Heathrow Airport will

seemingly be unable to handle. But Heathrow hopes it can expand its

capacity just a little bit more. Heathrow group's a grand plan is to

reconfigure the output's layout so that its terminals are lined up

neatly, sitting at right angles to the runway. This will make more

efficient and profitable use of the space available but the rebuild

will require yet another issue chunk of borrowing from its

creditors. -- huge chunk. These are the markets at the moment.

There is absolutely no trading today later in the New York Stock

Exchange, which is closed because of Hurricane Sandy.

The government has announced it was spent another �315 million for work

on a new series of nuclear-armed submarines. The new submarines are

supposed to maintain Britain's policy of nuclear deterrence but

not everyone is happy with the decision.

The British submarine firing a Trident missile in the Atlantic

last week - just a test, the first in three years. This is one of four

ageing submarines based on the Clyde, which maintain the UK's

nuclear deterrent. They will be replaced over the next decade at a

cost of between �10,000,000,000.- 1474760187 pounds. The Ministry of

Defence -- a cost between �10 billion... And �20 billion. �3

billion has been set aside for their design.... Kicks the Liberal

Democrats and the coalition are keen on cheaper alternatives. The

Scottish government is keen on removing the system if Scotland

votes for independence. One in five people working in the UK are paid

less than the living wage, the amount needed for a basic standard

of living. These findings also suggest that low-paid workers are

feeling the worst effects of a harsh economic climate.

Coming up: Breakfast. Taking a look at what is happening across the

Atlantic with Hurricane Sandy. That is from six o'clock this

morning. This is BBC News. The headlines:

President Obama has told Americans to take Hurricane Sandy very

seriously as it approaches the east coast of the US. Michael Bloomberg

has ordered the evacuation of thousands of people from low-lying

areas in New York City. This is a serious storm. My first

messages to all the people across the eastern seaboard, the mid-

Atlantic going north - take this very seriously and follow the

instructions of your state and local officials because they are

going to be providing you with the best advice in terms of how to deal

with this storm over the coming days.

In Ukraine, the governing party of President Viktor Yanukovych has

claimed victory in parliamentary elections. His party has received

25% of the rate - are not enough to take the overall majority.

A Greek magazine editor is due in court in a few hours, charged with

violating privacy laws after publishing the names of around

2,000 people who were allegedly hold private bank accounts in

Switzerland. San Francisco has won the World

Now it is time for our newspaper review where Sally and I look at

the stories making headlines around the world. Hurricane Sandy is on

the front page of the China Daily. Thousands of flights have been

suspended as America prepares for one of the worst storms in years.

With just over a week to go before the US presidential election, the

Times reports on key battleground states for the two candidates.

Lloyds reform bid to axe sales incentives is the headline in the

Financial Times. The Moscow Times reports on Aeroflot's plans to

start a low cost airline. The head of the European Central Bank, Mario

Draghi, has said he would support proposals to give the EU the power

to veto the budgets of member countries. That story in the South

China Morning Post. The Guardian reports American television network

NBC has bought the rights to show English Premier League football in

the United States for three years. To discuss these, Sally and I are

joined by Michael Hewson, a senior market analyst from CMC Markets.

Welcome to the programme. The China Daily, Hurricane Sandy, someone

describing it as once in a century weather phenomenon. Of course we

can look at the financial implications, but it is a reminder

of how powerless we are in the face of Mother Nature. One of the things

about this year, the huge weather events we have seen. You look at

Spain, you look at the drought. The weather seems to be getting an

awful lot worse. This one is closing the New York Stock Exchange.

It could be interesting. intruded a conversation about

climate change? That has kind of died down. -- has it triggered.

it also brings up nuclear power. That is Brom -- probably the

cheapest option. Japan has bandit, Germany has. -- banned it. Where

are our energy needs going to come from? I would mention the US

presidential election. It could work in President Obama's favour.

It could make him look presidential. Commander In Chief. That the 18th

is in the Times as well. -- in the Times. This remote state of Ohio is

very important. No presidential candidate has taken the race

without Ohio. All the networks are covering it. It is going to go to

the wire. The weather problems could impact of voting. Are you

surprised how quickly this race has changed? Five weeks ago people were

saying this is Obama's Toulouse. It is now neck-and-neck. -- to lose.

Yes, it has surprised me. A lot of people in the financial markets did

not rate Mitt Romney. Despite the fact on Friday we saw a very good

GDP number. What is key is the latest jobs report out on Friday.

If that is a good number it could swing it to Obama. Is there a

candidate that the financial markets would prefer? Would they

prefer another four years of an Obama Administration? Mitt Romney

has gone on record as saying he wants to replace Ben Bernanke. That

could have impacts on the Fed's monetary policy. If the Fed decides

it wants to hold back, it could adversely affect equity markets. I

think the status quo is the preferable option rather than the

unknown of Mitt Romney. Let's be honest, he is a bit gaffe-prone. I

recall the comments he made in London about the Olympics. That did

not go down too well. We will have DC. Not long to wait now. The

Financial Times, Lloyds Bank and the reforms. -- have to see.. It

has cost the banks dearly, they are looking to mitigate that. They have

set aside �4 billion at Lloyd's. Replacing the practice of selling

and rewarding customer service. How are they going to do that? This PPI

thing, they estimate the final bill will be �15 billion. Three times

the original estimates. I think Barclays is due to report later

this week it will have to increase its provisions as well. It is not

just addressing this problem, it is a PR exercise. The banks are really

suffering at the moment on a multitude of fronts. LIBOR as well.

Let's look at the Moscow Times. Aeroflot will unveil a plan to have

a carrier between London and Moscow. Budget carriers could be going neck

and neck? Yes, Easyjet were looking to open a Moscow route from around

�125 return. It is a competitive market. Aeroflot, it has got a bit

of a reputation. I am not sure I would like to fly with them. Can I

say that? You just did. Before Aeroflot can become a low-cost

carrier, there needs to be a change in the laws in Russia. They have to

change the requirement to feed passengers and four baggage.

think you have to pay for baggage on Easyjet. I do not think that is

an issue. Most of them are doing it. Let's look at what Mario Draghi has

been saying. He did an interview with a German magazine. I was

looking at 20 yesterday and there were dozens of comments about this.

-- at Twitter. He agrees with Germany on the idea that European

officials will be able to veto it national government budgets if they

are not sticking to the rules. Very controversial. Hugely controversial.

There is a massive democratic deficit already. You are already

seeing polarisation in Spain in respects to EU demands. You have

got an election in Catalonia next month. That could be a vote on

succession. That is a key thing. They are going to have to change

the treaty. Germany wants it. will ask you very quickly, for

someone who travels back and forth across the Atlantic, are you

pleased you can watch the English Premier League on the NBC? Let's

hope they do a better job than the Olympics. There was a lot of

negative feedback about that. $250 million. Absolutely. Good stuff.

That's it. That is the newspaper That's it. That is the newspaper

review. After a bit of a mixed weekend, this week promises some

pretty typical autumnal weather. We see some rain, especially in the

south. It is breezy as well. Brighter towards the northern half

of the UK. The satellite image shows the cloud moving further

southwards overnight. Clearer skies in the north and the west. That

will continue on Monday. In the morning it is a fairly damp and

mild in the south. 4-6 degrees. It is cooler further north. A touch of

frost. It is rather mild and rather grey as we begin in the south-east.

A few spots of drizzly rain. 8-9 degrees. The rain quite persistent

across the southern counties of England. One or two light showers

for the Channel Islands and some heavy rain across Devon and