Photos: Obama's final week

President Barack Obama convenes a conference call to discuss the response to Hurricane Sandy in his office aboard Air Force One during the flight to New Hamsphire on Oct. 27, 2012. Obama holds backstage with Nancy-Ann DeParle, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, and traveling aide Bobby Schmuck prior to an event at the Elm Street Middle School in Nashua, New Hampshire, on Oct. 27, 2012. Obama has lunch following an event at the Elm Street Middle School in Nashua, New Hampshire, on Oct. 27, 2012. Obama walks with daughters Sasha, right, and Malia, center, and Kaye Wilson as they return to the White House from St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington on Oct. 28, 2012. Obama, seated between FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate (r) and Richard Serino, FEMA deputy administrator, (l) receives an update on the response to Hurricane Sandy at the National Response Coordination Center at FEMA headquarters in Washington on Oct. 28, 2012. Obama talks with former President Bill Clinton at the DoubleTree Downtown Orlando Hotel in Orlando, Florida, on Oct. 28, 2012. After cancelling an appearance at a campaign event in order to return to Washington to monitor the response to Hurricane Sandy, Obama arrives at the White House on Oct. 29, 2012. Obama receives an update on the response to Hurricane Sandy in the Situation Room of the White House on Oct. 29 2012. Obama receives an update from officials on the response to Hurricane Sandy in the Situation Room of the White House on Oct. 30, 2012. Obama discusses the response to Hurricane Sandy by phone with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, while Alyssa Mastromonaco, the Deputy White House Chief of Staff for Operations, sits at right in the Oval Office on Oct. 30, 2012. Obama receives an update on the Hurricane Sandy response in the Situation Room of the White House on Oct. 30, 2012. Obama "tweets" a thank you message to people making donations to the Red Cross during his visit to the Disaster Operation Center of the Red Cross at national headquarters in Washington on Oct. 30, 2012. Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie look at storm damage along the coast of New Jersey on Marine One on Oct. 31, 2012. Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie talk with local residents at the Brigantine Beach Community Center in Brigantine, New Jersey, on Oct. 31, 2012. Obama hugs Donna Vanzant, the owner of North Point Marina, as he tours damage from Hurricane Sandy in Brigantine, New Jersey, on Oct. 31, 2012. Obama works with Jon Favreau, director of speechwriting, aboard Air Force One en route to Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Nov. 1, 2012. Obama greets Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, at the Cheyenne Sports Complex in Las Vegas on Nov. 1, 2012. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 CNN asked each campaign to submit photos from the final week before Election Day Pete Souza is President Barack Obama's Chief Official White House photographer and was a White House photographer during Ronald Reagan's second term Many of these photographs are exclusive to CNN (CNN) -- As President Barack Obama and former Gov. Mitt Romney crisscrossed the country during the final week of the 2012 presidential campaign, few people were able to see the candidates in their most candid and unguarded moments, except for their personal photographers. Several weeks ago, CNN invited each campaign team to submit images from the last week of the race, from Friday, Oct. 26 through Saturday, Nov. 3. Little did anyone know that the last week would be dominated not by last-minute stops in swing states or wall-to-wall speeches to rally the party faithful, but rather one story: Superstorm Sandy. Here are images, many provided exclusively to CNN by the Obama campaign and The White House, displayed in chronological order and shot by photographer Pete Souza. Souza, who is Chief Official White House photographer and Director of the White House Photography Office, has been at Obama's side since before he was elected president in 2008 and was a White House photographer during Ronald Reagan's second term. Click here to see a similar gallery from the Romney campaign.

Suspect's sister apologizes to Malala

Malala Yousufzai poses Friday with her father, Ziauddin and her two brothers Atal Khan and Khushal Khan in a British hospital. "He has brought shame on our family," says suspect's sister "I don't consider Atta Ullah my brother any more," she adds The 23-year-old student is being sought in connection with the attack on Malala Swat Valley, Pakistan (CNN) -- The sister of a man suspected in the shooting of Pakistani teenager Malala Yousufzai has apologized to the victim. "Please convey a message to Malala, that I apologize for what my brother did to her," Rehana Haleem told CNN on Sunday in an exclusive interview here about her brother, Attah Ullah Khan, 23. "He has brought shame on our family. We have lost everything after what he did." Police have said they were searching for Khan and two boys, whom authorities have not identified. Since age 11, Malala had been encouraging her fellow Pakistanis to stand up to the Taliban, who were trying to push girls from classrooms. Pakistan's Malala: Global symbol, but still just a kid Brown: Malala a symbol for girls' rights Brown: Malala a symbol for girls' rights Minister: Malala is 'pride of Pakistan' On October 9, Malala -- who is now 15 -- was on her school van in the Taliban-held Swat Valley when thugs stopped the vehicle and jumped on board. They demanded that other girls riding identify Malala. They shot two girls, who suffered non-life-threatening injuries, and fired at Malala, striking her in the head and neck, according to officials. "What he did was intolerable," Haleem said. "Malala is just like my sister. I'd like to express my concern for Malala on behalf of my whole family; I hope she recovers soon and returns to a happy and normal life as soon as possible. I hope Malala doesn't consider me or my family as enemies. I don't consider Atta Ullah my brother anymore." A day after the attack, security forces searched the family's house, seizing documents and pictures, and taking Haleem and her family to a nearby house equipped with bars on the doors and windows, she said. The officers asked where Atta Ullah was and whether his sister knew how to reach him by cell phone, but she said she told them she did not. Read more: Malala is face of global attacks on schools "I was pregnant and sick," she said. "Then, finally, after a day or two, they released me and my husband and told me they were letting me go only because I was sick." Haleem spoke to CNN from her home in Warhi Mast Malik Abad, a village on the outskirts of the city of Mingora, where the attack tookplace. After the couple were released, they returned to the house, where she gave birth to a daughter, she said. Five days later, the army again raided the house, this time taking away only her husband. Malala's high-profile visitors Pakistanis outraged by Taliban attack Malala's emotional family reunion in UK Haleem said her husband, her aged mother, her uncle and another brother remain in custody. Haleem said she had little doubt that her brother was involved in the shooting. "If he was innocent, he would have come back and claimed he was innocent and come to the aid of his mother and our family," she said. "His behavior is that of a guilty man. How could he abandon us?" Read more: Malala is face of global attacks on schools Her culture considers raising a hand against a woman to be dishonorable, she said, adding, "Let alone a man who tries to kill a woman." Police said last month that they had arrested six men in connection with the shooting but were still searching for Khan, whom they said was pursuing his master's degree in chemistry. Malala is recovering in a hospital in Birmingham, England. "She is lucky to be alive," Dr. Dave Rosser, the medical director of University Hospitals Birmingham, told reporters late last month. Read more: Pakistan to honor girls injured in Malala attack But she does not appear to have suffered significant brain damage and "she shouldn't need to be in hospital for more than a few weeks, maybe a couple of months at the most," he said. When Malala was 11, she worked with the BBC and published a blog in 2009 detailing her struggles to attend school in Swat. In January of that year, the Taliban issued an edict ordering that no school should educate girls. After the shooting, the Taliban issued a statement online saying that, if Malala were to survive, they would attack her again. If Malala returns to Pakistan, guards will protect her and her family, Pakistan's interior minister, Rehman Malik, has said.

Nor'easter may bring 50 mph winds to Sandy-hit areas

Thousands of runners who planned to participate in the canceled New York City Marathon pitched in across the city, helping to distribute supplies to hard-hit neighborhoods. NBC's Mara Schiavocampo reports. Allison Joyce / Getty Images Residents of Rockaway, N.Y., stay warm by a fire during near-freezing temperatures on Sunday. TODAY's Al Roker takes a look at a slow-moving storm set to hit the Northeast this week, bringing coastal wind gusts up to 55 mph, 2-4 inches of rain and dumping heavy snow in the mountains. By NBC News staff and wire reports Updated at 12:30 p.m. ET: NEW YORK -- A week after Superstorm Sandy ravaged the New Jersey and New York coastlines, another challenged loomed Monday for the region: a slow-moving Nor'easter, capable of delivering punishing amounts of wind, rain and snowfall. "Though this storm will not have near the magnitude of the impact Sandy had, the combination of rain, wind and snow will add insult to injury for the recovery process along the East Coast," The Weather Channel's Chris Dolce reported. Starting in Florida Tuesday morning, the storm will gradually move up the East Coast and into the Carolinas late in the day, NBC TODAY show Chief Meteorologist Al Roker said. By Wednesday morning, the storm will move into the New Jersey coastline with strong onshore wind gusts of more than 50 miles per hour and waves measuring 10 to 20 feet high. The storm could bring 2 to 4 inches of rainfall in the area as it makes its way into the New England area Thursday. Full coverage of Sandy's aftermath "Normally we wouldn't worry about it, but this is a potentially dangerous storm only because when we're talking about tides of four to five feet when you have almost no beaches and no dunes, that could be big problems all along the areas already affected by Sandy, and it may bring some more power lines down," Roker said. Behind the rain will be more cold air, Roker said, which means there is the potential for heavy amounts of snow in the White and Green Mountains in New England all the way back down to areas in West Virginia. While close to 2 million people remained without power Monday, life was expected to return slowly to normal for many in the region ahead of the nor'easter. Still, yet another roadblock: commuters, public school students and motorists – forced out of their own vehicles by fuel shortages – will converge on transit systems not fully ready for them. Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters he expected to take the subway to work on Monday. He will be joined by many of the students returning to class in the nation's largest school system. About 90 percent of the 1,700 schools will reopen for the first time since Sandy hit last Monday, the mayor said. Lucas Jackson / Reuters Local residents salvage food from bags thrown out of a flooded store on Coney Island on Sunday. The good news in New York City was that, unlike last week, service on key subway lines connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn under the East River had been restored. But officials warned that other water-logged tunnels still were not ready for Monday's rush hour and that fewer-than-normal trains were running — a recipe for a difficult commute. "Service will not be normal tomorrow, and we need you to understand that before you enter the system," Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned Sunday. Want to help the recovery? Here's how Last week, with much of the subway system still crippled, commuters who turned to street transportation caused gridlock in Manhattan and elsewhere. A patchwork solution of shuttle buses and rules limiting bridge traffic to cars carrying at least three people did not provide much relief. Brooklyn Heights resident Whitney Browne, a 43-year-old father of two grade school girls, was lucky that their school provided some daycare last week. But the girls, 7-year-old Annabel and 5-year-old Lucy, frowned when asked how they felt about having regular school again, and Browne worried about returning to work Monday as a digital marketer based in lower Manhattan. "Everybody is going to be coming back to work so I expect it's going to be a zoo on the subway," he told The Associated Press. Repair crews have been laboring around-the-clock in response to the worst natural disaster in the transit system's 108-year history, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Joseph Lhota said Sunday. Lucas Jackson / Reuters Superstorm Sandy made landfall Monday evening on a destructive and deadly path across the Northeast. Problems getting fuel Sandy — which killed more than 100 people in 10 states, caused massive power outages and left tens of thousands in need of emergency housing —disrupted supply to many gas stations, leading New Jersey to enforce odd-even rationing for motorists. N.J. Gov. Chris Christie tried to reassure people that refineries and pipelines were back online and gas was being delivered. "We do not have a fuel shortage," he said at a news conference on Sunday. Fuel shortage expected to last for days, Cuomo says There was no rationing in New York City, where the search for gas became a maddening scavenger hunt over the weekend. Manhattan doorman Iver Sanchez, who lives in Queens, waited at an Upper West Side gas station for three hours and still had a long line of cars ahead of him. "If I don't get gas today, I won't be able to get any for the rest of the week," he said. In Highlands, a blue collar fishing town, 1,200 homes were flooded, including the mayor's. The federal government has pledged to pay for housing in the region. Meanwhile in New York, transit returns on line. NBC's Michelle Franzen reports. In New Jersey, Monday promised to begin the return to some everyday activities. About half the school districts reported they will reopen and New Jersey Transit said it would have more train and bus service restored in time for the workweek. Philadelphia's transit authority loaned 31 buses that New Jersey Transit planned to use to support shuttle service for commuters traveling to New York City. The challenges were more severe for tens of thousands of people unable to return to their homes and many more than that living without power or heat. Bloomberg said Sunday that 30,000 to 40,000 people in New York City were in need of shelter, including 20,000 in public housing. Temperatures will remain chilly in the days ahead, according to The Weather Channel. Highs in the 40s or low 50s will be commonplace through Wednesday. Some interior and New England locations may not get out of the 30s, it said. Election Day disruptions? Concerns are also growing that voters displaced by Sandy will not get to polling stations on Election Day on Tuesday. Scores of voting centers were rendered useless by the record surge of seawater in New York and New Jersey. New Jersey has said it will allow people displaced by the storm to vote by email. In New York City, some 143,000 voters will be reassigned to different polling sites. Both states are normally easy wins for the Democrats. After a peak of 8.5 million outages across 21 states affected by the massive storm, the rate of restoring power each day has eased as line crews must work on increasingly difficult and isolated outages. Still, about 1.9 million homes and businesses remained in the dark on Sunday. In New Jersey, about a quarter of the state remained without power. For many, that meant they had no heat. NBC News staff, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. More content from NBCNews.com: Pulpit politics: Pastors endorse candidates, thumbing noses at IRS Boy falls into zoo exhibit, mauled to death by African painted dogs Weed wars: If states legalize pot, will feds still crack down? Delphi retirees say government betrayed them Video: Marathon runners racing to help out Sandy victims Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

A tough clean-up begins in Breezy Point

David Friedman / NBC News KeriLynn and Drew Allen clean their flood-ravaged Breezy Point, N.Y., bungalow. By Miranda Leitsinger, NBC News BREEZY POINT, N.Y. -- The Allens hauled out the fridge, board games and the many other everyday objects that were the props of their lives on Thetford Avenue before Superstorm Sandy flooded their bungalow and turned their world upside down. The possessions were piled high on their deck on Sunday in front of their one-story home, which now has a slight but noticeable tilt. Many of them were headed for the dump, but they were determined to keep the most important ones, such as a heart-shaped photo of KeriLynn Allen's deceased mother, Ann Marie McCarron, who owned the home before her daughter and husband bought it upon her death six years ago. "We both went house shopping together and as soon we walked in here, we fell in love with this house," Allen, 41, said of the mother-daughter search for a home 16 years ago. "We both said, 'This is it,' you know. We knew there was no more searching, no more looking, it was done. So, it's hard to see it in this shape." A difficult clean-up has begun in Breezy Point, a tight-knit community nestled between Jamaica Bay and the Atlantic Ocean in a small corner New York City, days after Hurricane Sandy unleashed raging floods that damaged thousands of homes and triggered an inferno that burned more than 100 others. Some families can get inside their homes, while others are still waiting for the waters to recede to make a first assessment of the damage. Still others have nothing to clean up because their homes were consumed by the six-alarm fire that blazed for hours. Over the weekend, the Sanitation Department began removing storm debris, an important milestone because the community had no dumpsters to throw out the spoiled food and soaked rugs and furniture. But a lot of the work is being left up to the people of Breezy Point and their bands of friends, as it is elsewhere in the disaster zone. David Friedman / NBC News KeriLynn Allen looks through a family photo album rescued from the family's flooded home. "I was a basket case for the past couple of days but, you know, you come in here and you've got to put on your big girl pants and … you have to get through it," said Allen, who barely escaped the floodwaters during the night of Oct. 29 with her husband, Drew, and 12-year-old son, Ryan. "This is the first step in getting things together." Residents are concerned about the threat to their water-logged homes posed by toxic black mold. Many are emptying out their first floors, including ripping out dry wall, floor panels and sheet rock, in a bid to salvage them. In front of the nearby home of Rod and Anna Court, a slab of wood with the message "1 day at a time" painted on it leaned against the open hood of an SUV. "We just got to do one day at a time because if you start thinking about it, it gets too depressing in the long term," said Dan Court, a 56-year-old nutritionist, who was helping his parents -- Rod, 80, Anna, in her late 70s -- clean their home, concentrating for the moment on mopping tiles with bleach. Court began to list how many of the extended family's Breezy Point homes were damaged, stopping when he got to eight. Then he started laughing. "It's a total disaster," said Court, who lives in Yorktown, a suburb north of New York City. "That's what I'm saying, you can't think that far. It's … unbelievable." He noted one concern of many family members is what they should and shouldn't do, "whether they're hurting themselves, shooting themselves in the foot" regarding insurance claims. That concern also was raised by Ann Marie Campbell, who was cleaning out the flooded first floor of the nearby home of her 85-year-old mother, Kathleen. "We're trying to figure out what's going on and what to do. I don't know what to do, do you like save this, wipe it down with bleach?" Campbell asked as she cleaned furniture on Friday. "We're really not being guided what to do … because I think the people who would be guiding us (the community's cooperative board) also lost their houses." The uncertainty of the road ahead is something that the people of Breezy Point, a tight-knit community founded more than a century ago by Irish immigrants, will have to come to terms with, said the Rev. Msgr. Michael Curran of St. Thomas More Catholic Church, where many residents and their pets -- cats, dogs and birds -- took shelter during the storm. "We're still making this up as we go along. Nobody knows exactly where we're going. … It's not going to be easy," Curran said after Sunday Mass. "The image I am using is like a very extended experience of Lent, that we go from ashes literally and water, to new and better life. And I think God will see us through it, and the nature of this community … will pull everybody through." There have been some laughs as the cleanup proceeded, with Campbell joking about her Irish mother's obsession with the Kennedy clan, as demonstrated by her hand-painted watercolors of the family. Dan Court's brother, Ken, said he has been dealing with requests for offbeat items from relatives, such as brass knobs on a cabinet door, a check and a metal box. There has been heartache, too. Mary Ann Dalton was out on Sunday to support her parents, Chris and Tom, who are in their mid-80s and have lived in Breezy Point for 55 years. They're house is "down to wire and boards," with the couple having lost everything, she said. "I was sitting there taking pictures of … my parents' dresser that they had when they were first married and it just went in the (dump) truck … and crumpled up as they do that turning thing. So it's really been tough," she said, her voice trembling. David Friedman / NBC News A bag of ruined possessions goes out the door of the Breezy Point, N.Y., home of Drew and KeriLynn Allen. The Allens are hoping they can return to live in their bungalow, which KeriLynn said they bought after her mother's death at 60 to "feel her presence." "We almost died. … So, all of this is, this is nothing," she said of the aftermath. "I was praying to every angel I had in heaven to save us and somebody was with us that night." "I just sat there with my family and we just prayed out loud, and I called in my parents and my grandparents," she added. "I said one of them had to be with me, so I think my mother was working overtime." More Sandy coverage from NBCNews.com: Nor'easter may 'add insult to injury' following Sandy  Fuel shortage expected to last for days 'Free gas'  causes rush in NY; state then tells public to wait Concert to help Sandy victims raises nearly $23 million, Red Cross says PhotoBlog: Cleanup, discovery and determination in Breezy Point NYC Marathon canceled Cops: NYC man pulls pistol after cutting in line for gas Deadliest zone: Staten Island reels from devastation Your Sandy photos: Show us the heroes in your life Sandy's aftermath: How you can help Full NBC News coverage of Sandy aftermath Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook