Because they flee readily to new nests, Omani colonies of Apis florea , the Little Honeybee, have been called the Bedouins of the bees - though skilled beekeepers have been managing them for centuries.

He built Maine's first steam engine, baked bread for British troops in the Crimea, - washed clothes for Florence Nightingale and founded what is today's University of the Bosporus.

From the pen of a master - Aftab Ahmad of Pakistan, ceramicist, photographer and calligrapher - more magnificent examples of the shahada , the Muslim profession of faith.

On the Tirisin Plateau and in the Gevaruk Valley in Turkey amid contorted mountains and sub-polar icefields, primitive man left a glorious record of life there 9,000 years ago.

In Jiddah these days, tajmil is the way to go. That's Arabic for green landscapes, flowering shrubs, bubbling fountains and - a unique addition - a memorable collection of eye-catching modern sculpture