From Our Own Correspondent - 30/10/2010

We explore the ruined heart of an American city, laid waste by economic collapse. The hotel in Nairobi that's become a little piece of Somalia. From a South African prison -- an inspiring tale of guilt and redemption. And our correspondent struggles to embrace America's passion for Halloween.... President Obama's job may be just about to get even tougher... His Democrat allies in Congress are expected to take a beating in Tuesday's mid-term elections.... The major cause of Mr Obama's troubles is the persistently dire state of the economy. Unemployment, poverty, and the repossession of homes are making a mockery of the American Dream... And Paul Mason has been to a city at the centre of the storm... It's hard to think of any country more broken than Somalia... Nearly twenty years of war, famine and disease have taken up to a million lives. Huge numbers of Somalis have been forced into exile. And Mary Harper has been the exploring the world that some of them have built, just across the border, in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.... Nelson Mandela knows more than enough about prison life... He has said that you don't really understand a nation, until you've seen inside its jails. And the prisons in Mr Mandela's homeland are indeed a grim reflection of South Africa's troubles. They suffer from chronic overcrowding. And as in so many countries, they're frightening violent places. But as Hamilton Wende has been finding out, even in that brutal environment, it is still possible to find a better path... Istanbul is on show this year. It's enjoying its spell as Europe's officially declared "capital of culture". It's a fine chance to focus attention on the art emerging in the vibrant new Turkey. The number of galleries has mushroomed in recent years, and the city's modern artists have never had it so good.... But as Rosie Goldsmith explains, in old Istanbul....not everyone approves.... It's that time of year when...to many outsiders at least.....Americans seem to go a little mad. It's Halloween....a time for dressing up as witches and werewolves, and generally celebrating scary things. This oddest of festivals has it roots very much in ancient, pagan, Europe. And David Willis has been wondering why it's managed to gain such a grip on the imagination of modern, Christian America....