Recent research clears up some lingering mysteries about a daring 3,000-mile raid on Arabian Gulf oil installations by Italian warplanes early in the Second World War.

Using camels, mules, runners and pigeons, postmasters of the Islamic states centuries ago could race messages—and information—throughout the Middle East.

In Istanbul, a city which was once the seat of the Caliphate, foreign ministers from 42 modern Muslim nations met in May to debate, plan and forge new ties.

The Ottoman Turks carried the banner of Islam into Greece in 1354, and in Thrace, seven centuries later, the muezzin still calls the faithful to prayer five times each day.

In Nubia, archeologists are rescuing the monuments of Philae, the final project in an ambitious international campaign to save 22 ancient temples from the Nile.

In Qatar, on the Arabian Gulf, a new museum reminds young citizens of the nation's proud seafaring past and nomadic origins as they rush toward modern development.