World Special Reports

At the wedding of François Job to Denise Berr in Paris on August 12 1943, the guests walked in procession from the town hall, along the elegant streets of the seventh arrondissement to the bride's parents' apartment. It was a remarkable sight, not least because every member of the party was wearing a yellow star - the badge of shame imposed upon Jews by the city's Nazi occupiers.

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Six months ago, in the Pennsylvanian Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton beat Barack Obama hands down for the Jewish vote by roughly a two-to-one margin.

This week, apart from the Orthodox community, it was hard to find a Jewish Pennsylvanian not voting for Obama. And early exit polls showed that he attracted the same percentage of Jewish voters as John Kerry in 2004, if not more.

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Harry Bibring was a 12-year-old boy living in Vienna when he was caught up in the horrific events of Kristallnacht. Now 82, and living in London, having come to Britain on the Kindertransport, he recalls what happened to him and his family 70 years ago:

"We were living in a flat in the 6th district, which is not the main Jewish area of Vienna - it wasn't the equivalent of Golders Green or Stamford Hill, but probably something like West Hampstead. I lived there with my sister Gertie who was 15 and my parents. I was about to celebrate my barmitzvah.

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Jerusalem is in dire straits. Israel's capital is by far the country's poorest major city, continually falling further behind more affluent cities like Tel Aviv and Haifa. It is divided, not only between Arab and Jew, but between the strictly Orthodox and the secular. The future of one of the world's oldest cities, the spiritual home of the Jewish people, looks bleak.

Next Tuesday, Jerusalem's 740,000 residents will get an opportunity to have their say on the declining state and status of their city when they vote for a new mayor.

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Sky News's coverage over the US election - www.skynews.com. You can see Adam Boulton's report on Sky News this Sunday, at 10amIt's clear how fierce the battle is the moment you leave the freeway. A group of demonstrators have gathered at the side of the main road into Boca Raton, a smart city 40 miles outside Miami, Florida. They're not shouting, they're not marching, they're not beating drums. But they are carrying placards, some of them depicting stars of David, others with three bald words: "McCain not Hussein"

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You do not need to be hooked on politics to take an interest in next week's US presidential election. Not only will the winner be the planet's most powerful man, but the personalities are compelling - the country could have the first-ever African-American president, the first female vice-president, or a 72-year-old grandfather taking the global lead. Of course, Jewish issues, particularly relating to Israel, are also occupying minds. So how do American Jews living in this country feel about the elections?

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In June, we reported Ruth Deech's plans to sue Poland's government over family property lost in the war. She has now returned - and had an emotional reunion in Krakow.

It was a story of two Polish families that had not been told for almost seven decades. One Jewish, the other Catholic - the Frankels and the Wanieks; living just a street away from each other, with children of similar ages playing together, the mother of the Catholic family giving private piano lessons to the Jewish children.

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A study suggests why young Israeli backpackers are unwelcome in some countries - and it's nothing to do with Mid-East politics.

It was in Nepal at 17,700ft, high up on the Himalayan Annapurna ridge, when 25-year-old Galit realised how deeply machismo culture affected Israeli men. "I and my boyfriend were trekking with a group of fellow Israelis, all of them ex-combat soldiers," she recalls. The equipment they had with them was immensely heavy, but the men, including Galit's boyfriend, insisted on carrying it themselves.

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On September 1, nearly 1.5 million Israeli schoolchildren went back to school after two months of summer holidays.

In a country accustomed to annual teachers' strikes, the fact that 99 per cent of the Israel's 4,021 schools re-opened on time was described as a resounding success by Education Minister Yuli Tamir. But a closer look at what those children do at school leaves little room for celebration.

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Noam Shalit has not seen his son since his kidnap in 2006. Now, as he launches a new campaign for his release, he is pinning his one hope of contact on getting a letter to Hamas

Three weeks ago, Noam Shalit sat down to write a letter to his son, Gilad. It was not the normal kind of family letter -how could it be? Noam has not seen his son since Sunday June 25 2006, the day when Gilad, a soldier in the Israeli army, was taken captive by a group of Hamas militants raiding a border crossing with the Gaza Strip.

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