Religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott talks to Muslim women in the US who say 9/11 pushed them into rediscovering the original values of Islam.

A bustling port, wind whipping in off the sea, English spoken with a distinctive accent, Europe's Capital of Culture 2008 is a wonderful place. But this isn't Liverpool. It's Stavanger in Norway.

A gun attack on an Amish school in the eastern US shatters the idyllic community, the BBC's Jane Little reports.

The BBC's Mark Doyle ponders the difficulties ahead for Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who was on Wednesday declared Liberia's leader.

The BBC's Tim Hirsch reports from the clean-up operation in Louisiana after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The BBC's Mark Doyle looks at how rural Filipinos are striving to meet UN development goals.

In his weekly opinion column, A Point of View, Harold Evans waxes lyrical about the great getaway season that is the New York summer.

An architect plans to build flats out of recycled cargo containers in a conservation area.

Ambivalence over whether to run ads on the one year anniversary of the US attacks means TV networks stand to lose millions of dollars.

They may not have the high profile of the Irish or the Scots, but the Welsh are certainly starting to make an impact in North America.

The BBC's Stephen Sackur looks at the profound changes that the United States has undergone since 11 September.

A small community of Shakers still holds onto their simple way of life in an increasingly complex world, but their lifestyle hangs in the balance as only a handful remain.

An economic boom is taking hold in parts of America's South, but old inequalities have not been erased, Jonathan Marcus reports.

US presidential hopeful John McCain wooed the electorate but failed to stave off virtually interchangeable favourites Al Gore and George W Bush, writes Tom Carver.

One of the world's most remote communities is finally getting self rule. The Eskimo, or Inuit people, are taking over their own corner of arctic Canada, a territory to be called Nunavut, which means Our Land.