Istanbul Province

Swissôtel The Bosphorus and Istanbul Les Ambassadeurs Bar continues its series of "Ambassadors of Jazz Music are in Town" concerts with Gypsy music legend Florin Niculescu. 

Istanbul's anti-terror police have detained 11 suspects in connection with the Feb. 11 attacks on the offices of dailies Yeni ?afak and Yeni Akit. Reports indicate that the suspects are linked to an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) called the United Freedom Forces (BÖG). 

A team of Turkish archeologists are set to unearth a lost underwater island off the coast of Istanbul.        

Vordonosi was an island in the Byzantine-era, but it now lies under Turkey's Marmara Sea.        

No religious minority group in Turkey should have to look abroad to educate its religious clerics, Directorate General of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) head Mehmet Görmez said on Feb. 28, expressing lukewarm support for the reopening of the Halki Seminary.

The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has pushed the button on the restoration of Riva Castle, situated on Istanbul's Black Sea coast. A tender will be initiated on March 17 for the restoration and environmental organization of the castle.

Istanbul's Princes' Islands municipality has banned the use of plastic bags on its five inhabited islands.

The ban, which was issued by the council of the municipality, will come into effective at the businesses of the islands by May 1.

Some 40 percent of the shops in Istanbul's leather exporting district, Zeytinburnu, have been closed down, leaving 3,000 people jobless, as the sector faces the risk to lose its largest market, Russia. The owners of the remaining shops have said their products were seized in Russia. 

Istanbul police seized 2,700 prescription drugs, including ones to treat cancer and diabetes, before the goods were smuggled to Egypt and Syria during a raid on Feb. 16 on an organized gang.

Turkish airport operator TAV aims to add one or two airports to its portfolio and boost revenue from its service businesses to compensate for the looming expiry of its contract to run Istanbul's Atatürk Airport, Chief Executive Sani ?ener said on Feb. 14.

A five-story building collapsed on Feb. 12 off bustling ?stiklal Avenue near Istanbul's Taksim Square in the city's Beyo?lu district.

The building located on Kurabiye Street, which connects to Istanbul's most crowded pedestrian street, ?stiklal Avenue, collapsed at around 2:30 p.m., around fifteen minutes after a cracking noise was heard, witnesses said.