The global financial crisis has hit Russia's oil and gas industries, the backbone of the economy, and ordinary Russians are starting to feel the pain. The World's Laura Lynch reports from Moscow.

Global financial crisis

It's been about 200 years since you could see a cow-hand on horse-back in Britain. But now a nature reserve in southern England has hired 30-year old Lisa Hawthornthwaite to mind the cattle on its land. Anchor Katy Clark talks to Britain's only cowgirl about her new life.

The first female judge has just been appointed to preside over the Palestinian Islamic or Sharia court in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Correspondent Irris Makler has the story.

Vera Kwakofi

Anchor Katy Clark speaks with the BBC's Vera Kwakofi about African perspectives on the US presidential election. Kwakofi is host of the interactive BBC program, "Africa Have Your Say."

The fighting in Congo today has roots in the country's colonial past and its vast wealth in natural resources. The World's Matthew Bell explains.

Tens of thousands of people in eastern Congo have flooded into the capital city, Goma. They're fleeing the latest offensive by Tutsi rebels in the region. The Red Cross has described the humanitarian situation there as catastrophic. Anchor Katy Clark gets the latest from the BBC's Thomas Fesse in Goma.

UN troops in Goma, DR Congo

War in Congo

Today on The World: Chaos engulfs the Congolese city of Goma as tens of thousands flood the city to escape rebels attacks; The global credit crisis hits Russia's oil and gas industry; and American Richard Fleming tells us why he walked across Cuba.

Haruki Murakami: AFP/Getty ImagesHaruki Murakami is one of the most widely read novelists in the world. Novels like "Norwegian Wood" and "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" have sold millions of copies. And they're translated from the original Japanese into nearly 40 languages. Here in the U.S., Murakami's rare public appearances are greeted with great excitement and reverence. The World's Patrick Cox has this report on the people who read and follow Haruki Murakami.

Murakami receives the 2006 Franz Kafka Prize:

The World's Jason Margolis and Julia Kumari Drapkin take a look at clean coal.

PRI's The World: Clean Coal from Clark Boyd on Vimeo.

Saeed Minhas is Resident Editor of the Daily Aajkal in
Islamabad, Pakistan

Washington D.C & Ohio: As the presidential race is getting focused on the seven swing states and about 20 to 30 per cent undecided voters across the country, Barak Obama and John McCain have decided to spend their last week before elections in the battle-ground states starting with Ohio from Monday and focusing on economy. Afghanistan and Pakistan seems to have been omitted from the main course of the debates but remains the undercurrent of the campaign.However, Iraq war and Iran do get mention from both the candidates during their interviews with the mainstream media, but Muslim and Arab communities seem skeptical of both the candidates on this account too.

With the country's budgetary deficit crossing the historic 10 trillion dollars mark and after the Wall Street melt-down, the entire campaign
is about the domestic issues facing the Americans. Both the candidates are trying to woo the undecided voters by reiterating that how they are going to overhaul the housing, economy, health care, tax cuts and
education, but none is making any effort to reach out to the conspicuously silent Asian Muslim and Arab communities.

Muslim-Americans-four to six per cent of the 300 million nation--are twice as likely as most Americans to be independents according to polls. A visit through various Arabs and Muslim communities reveals that most will vote for Barack Obama, but even supporters of the Democratic candidate express frustration at the rampant Islamophobia popping up throughout all sides of the presidential election. Barack Obama's message of unity and diplomacy is an appealing one for many Muslim-Americans, but his conspicuous absence from Muslim and Arab-American neighborhoods and mosques this campaign season has some
voters feeling slighted.

In Michigan and New York specially while in smaller but battleground states like Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina and Nevada-home to a big Muslim population as well as the nation's largest concentration of Arab-Americans - reaction to Obama has been mixed. For some, Obama's message transcends race, ethnicity and religion. Others say the Democratic nominee has done little to reach out to Arabs and Muslim voters, and are withholding support.Feelings about John McCain is a bit on the negative side because of his objectionable remarks about Arabs and Muslims, and many in these communities are seen quoting his remarks about those oil producing countries who does not like America.

Osama Siblani publishes the Arab American News, which is based in Dearborn, Michigan. Talking to National public Radio (npr), he said "both the McCain and Obama campaigns have done a rotten job of engaging with Arabs and Muslim voters, reports a web page. On a scale of 10? Below minus 10." Siblani said both Obama and McCain have allowed the words "Arab" and "Muslim" to be hurled as pejoratives. He added that worst of all, neither candidate has made a significant effort to reach out to his community.

Siblani also heads the Arab American Political Action Committee, which for the first time is not endorsing a presidential candidate. Many of the attacks on Sen. Obama this campaign season have centered around suggestions, not just that he is secretly a Muslim, but that being a Muslim is the equivalent of being a terrorist.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell condemned the anti-Islamic subtext of those attacks when he endorsed Obama over the weekend. He took members of his party to task for failing to challenge the bigoted assumptions that underlie the whisper campaign.

At places where American Muslims are helping out the Democrats, they are not doing so in an overtly manner, like in Ohio Muslim community is very much part of the Obama campaign but does not want theirefforts to be seen on any radar. Mr. Yahya, a long-time supporter of

Democrats has not been part of the door to door campaign of Obama camp but remains busy in arranging fund raisers, office arrangements and campaigning in his own way at Muslim gatherings and housing areas in Ohio, finds out this scribe after spending sometime with him.