HEWITT: What's curious is that none of these "casual" conversations ever touch on the candidates' economic plans. There's a reason for that. The financial crisis is moving so fast that it's leaving the candidates behind. Almost nothing they say now may have any relevance come January. So no-one on the road gets into the detail of McCain's or Obama's plans. What they do talk about are the "low blows" of the campaign.

1 October 2008 - BBC Worldwide Channels announced plans today to launch a portfolio of BBC-branded thematic channels into Scandinavia. The channels will be available through Canal Digital, the largest pay TV operator in the Nordic region, from early December* 2008.

The United Nations has covered up crimes by UN troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This claim is being made by the BBC, which says that it has confidential sources within the UN.

The Hollywood actor and movie star Kevin Spacey has spoken criticizing BBC for airing another 13 week long talent show, saying it's promotional and lacks quality programing.

The British Broadcasting Corporation launches its new Arabic-language cable and satellite television channel, in its second attempt to enter the Middle East market.

The Museum of Zoology will offer a unique insight in to the production of the BBC's new natural history series at a talk taking place next week.

The BBC and Adobe® Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE), today announced a strategic relationship around the delivery of Web video. By adopting Adobe® Flash® Player software, the BBC will make its free catch-up TV service — BBC iPlayer —available as a streaming service across Macintosh and Linux®, as well as Windows®, by the end of the year.

The BBC has unveiled 1,800 redundancies as part of a cost-cutting plan to plug a billion-dollar funding shortfall caused by lower than expected government funding for the British broadcaster.

Travel guide publisher Lonely Planet has been sold to BBC Worldwide for a reported $250 million. The privately owned business was founded in 1972 by Tony and Maureen Wheeler and has operations in Australia, the US and UK.

Supplying energy-efficient high power transmitters for UK digital switchover

The Palestinian militant group Hamas says kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston has been freed after nearly four months in captivity in the Gaza Strip.

A video has been posted on an Islamist website showing the first pictures of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston since he went missing in Gaza City on March 12. The video was reportedly released by the Army of Islam, which has claimed responsibility for Johnston's kidnapping.