Prodded by the largest protest in Tehran since the Iranian revolution of 1979, Iran’s top clerics mull a recount of last Friday’s presidential election, but stop short of agreeing to a new vote.

The campaign for Afghan president begins today. Incumbent Hamid Karzai faces dwindling popularity and a challenge from 40 disparate candidates, but is still considered the top contender.

Tens of thousands march in Niger to protest President Mamadou Tandja’s plans to hold a referendum that would allow him to run for a third term.

Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi agrees to take three Guantanamo detainees.

Pakistan’s military prepares for battle against Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan.

Photos: Adam Toy

In the summer of 2006, as the Iranian-backed Hezbollah fought off Israelis in Lebanon and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faced down President George Bush at the United Nations, a bus full of Iranian pilgrims left Tehran on a journey to the holy city of Karbala, deep inside a shattered Iraq. “Pilgrimage To Karbala” follows this intense journey into the heartlands of Shia Islam, revealing how two ancient crimes — the murder of Muhammad’s grandson and the disappearance of a six-year-old imam became the founding legends of Shiism and increasingly dominate events and attitudes in the Middle East today.

Photos: Adam Toy

BAFTA award-winning filmmaker Kevin Sim directed WIDE ANGLE’s “Beslan: Siege of School No. 1″ about the bloodiest act of terrorism in modern Russia in which Chechen gunmen took over a school and kept more than 1,000 women and children hostage for three days. His other films include “Sacred Ground,” a FRONTLINE episode on rebuilding the Twin Tower site; “Remember My Lai,” also for FRONTLINE; HITLER’S SEARCH FOR THE HOLY GRAIL; THE SHAKESPEARE MYSTERY; and COLLEGE GIRLS, a six-part series chronicling a generation of students at Oxford’s last women-only college.

The offices of the Shargh newspaper in Tehran, Iran Photo: Taghi Amirani

CIA World Factbook: Iran
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ir.html
The CIA’s dossier on Iran. It provides basic information on population, economics, trade, and military and political issues.

Iran – A Country Study
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/irtoc.html
The Library of Congress’ collection of historical materials on Iran, prepared in 1988 by the Library’s Federal Research Division for the U.S. Department of the Army.

Shargh
http://www.sharghnewspaper.com
The official website of Shargh newspaper. The text is in Persian only, but includes downloadable PDFs of the print edition for those outside of Iran who can read Persian, or are simply interested in the look of the paper.

Gooya
http://www.gooya.com
This is a comprehensive page of links to news sites, newspapers, radio, television, and weblogs covering Iranian and Iran-related news and events in a number of languages.

The Iranian
http://www.iranian.com
An English-language digest of Iranian news, culture, and events. Includes links to a wide variety of news sources worldwide.

Payvand
http://www.payvand.com
Payvand, an English-language digest site that features news links and search tools.

IranMania
http://www.iranmania.com
IranMania is an Iranian-centered web portal; it features a very useful news digest page along with a lot of online commerce.

Encyclopedia Iranica
http://www.iranica.com/
This is the homepage of a Columbia University/National Endowment for the Humanities project, currently in progress, that aims to assemble an authoritative encyclopedia on Iranian civilization and culture.

LexicOrient
http://i-cias.com/e.o/index.htm
LexicOrient is an interactive encyclopedia of people, places, and concepts pertaining to North Africa and the Middle East.

Iran Chamber Society
http://www.iranchamber.com/
This site provides extensive features on Iranian history and archaeology, along with links to news and current affairs sites.

Arab World Institute
http://www.imarabe.org/index-ang.html
This French site offers content in English as well. The site explores Arab and Islamic culture in detail. Though Iran is not officially included, the historical section provides relevant material.

Iranian Cultural & Information Center
http://tehran.stanford.edu/
This huge inventory of links on Iran-related topics includes everything from historical information, to online translations of literary works, to a listing of Iranian university websites.

BBC Religion & Ethics: Islam
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/
This BBC site offers an introduction to Islam, with a complete discussion of the Shia/Sunni schism.

Channel 4: Karbala
http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/K/karbala/index.html
This is a documentary site covering, in detail, the Shia tradition of pilgrimage to Karbala and the Iraqi observance of Ashura.

The Way to Truth: Understanding the Islamic religion
http://www.thewaytotruth.org/
A Web site dedicated to explaining Islam, the Qur’an and clarifying Islamic positions on contemporary issues.

Islaam.com
http://www.islaam.com/
A resource devoted to Islam featuring articles, audio lectures and Qur’anic recitations.

Understanding Islam
http://www.understanding-islam.com/
A Web site committed to answering questions and criticisms about Islam and the Qur’an.

Renaissance, a monthly Islamic journal
http://www.renaissance.com.pk/
Renaissance, a monthly online journal, presents the teachings of Islam and applies its principles to current issues.

IslamiCity
http://www.islamicity.com/
IslamiCity, a global Muslim e-Community, contains information on Islam and Muslims with articles, audio and video components.