Uganda is abandoning its Chinese partners and turning to Turkey to build a new railway line that will connect to neighbouring Kenya. East Africa is keen on improving its railway network as part of a pan-African project. By Philipp Sandner, Emmanuel Lubega & Burak UnverenMore

Welcome to Baking Virsa, a hole-in-the-wall in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore described as the country’s most expensive restaurant for what it serves – household favourites like flatbreads and kebabsMore

Turkey is so much more than its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Christiane Schloetzer has selected twenty-four of Istanbul's sixteen million inhabitants, creating a portrait of the Bosphorus metropolis based on their life stories. By Rainer HermannMore

In Morocco, the bicycle is considered a poor man's means of transport. What's more, cycling tends to be a male-only affair. The Pikala bike initiative in Marrakesh seeks to change all this. By Marian BrehmerMore

In April 2012, Tukish novelist and Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk opened a private museum – "Masumiyet Muzesi" (The Museum of Innocence) – in an old district of Istanbul, showcasing thousands of objects relating to the life of ordinary people in the Turkish metropolis. More...More

An increasing number of government ministries in Algeria are announcing they will abandon French in future. They may be reacting to the mood among the population, but the move is also deliberate. By Dunja RamadanMore

For over fifty years, British photographer Peter Sanders travelled across the Middle East and further afield, seeking out the saints of Islam. His work uncovers a little-known world. By Marian BrehmerMore