The grandiose Jordanian city of Petra, carved out of pink rock, is a first-rate tourist destination. So why has its twin city, in the Saudi desert, been forgotten for so long? Because it is said to be under an ancient curse. Read more...

It'd be so nice if it was true, but the fact is it isn't: the first settlements - before the Bronze Age, before the Iron Age, probably even prior to the Stone Age - didn't happen because folks liked each other's company. As the old saying goes: safety in numbers ... and fortifications. Read more...

Despite its popularity in Chinese cinemas, the director of a film which attempts to deal with "The Rape of Nanking" - the 1937 Japanese massacre in China's former capital - has come under fire on the Chinese web, for his apparent compassion with the Japanese soldiers. Read more and see the trailer...

At the end of the 19th century, Jose Nieto Gil was president of Colombia. And yet, you won't find him in a single history book. Why? Presumably because he was black. Read more...

A study published on Tuesday claims to prove that women wearing red are more likely to drive men crazy than if clad in any other colour. We tested the theory on our Observers from Iran to Japan, and found it not far from the truth. Read more...

Sixty years before its creation, Belgium's very own mad professor, Paul Otlet, envisaged a data exchange system that bore an uncanny resemblance to the internet. Read more...