Constantinople

A relatively warm spell that has been pervading Istanbul and Turkey's western coasts for months, despite the fact that it's the middle of winter, concerns experts.

According to the models of climate researchers and experts, there is an average temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius in Turkey until 2035, which indicates that a serious drought threat is at hand.

Locally produced sea taxis in Istanbul have officially set off for the first time to reduce the intercontinental transits of the city's residents to a more reasonable time.

Designed and produced at Istanbul's Haliç Shipyard and recently passed their test voyages, the boats will work like regular taxis with a reservation system on a 24-hour basis.

Nearly 7 million tourists visited Istanbul in the first 10 months of the year, while foreign tourist arrivals in the city leaped almost 116 percent in October from a year ago.

Turkey's cultural, commercial and financial capital welcomed 1.15 million visitors in October, which marked the highest number of international holidaymakers visiting the city on record this year.

Extreme winds of up to 130 kilometres an hour left hundreds of buildings damaged, trucks overturned, trees uprooted and roofs smashed on Monday and Tuesday in Istanbul and the Turkish regions of Thrace, Marmara and the Western Black Sea.

Pera Museum and the Istanbul Research Institute are presenting two exhibitions simultaneously with the sole focus on Byzantine.

A world map drawn by the famous Ottoman admiral, cartographer and sailor Piri Reis in 1513 has been put on display once again at Istanbul's Topkapı Palace after a long break. The map on display is among the most important and interesting artifacts that have survived from the age of discoveries. The visitors' interest in the exhibition is reported to be quite intense.

The historic walls of Istanbul have been transferred to a digital environment after four years of work. Now the walls, with all their information and photographs, can be viewed on the website www.istanbulsurlari.ku.edu.tr with a single click.

Ongoing excavations in Istanbul's Beşiktaş district are offering surprising and significant clues about the history of the ancient city, with one archeologist boasting the district as "Istanbul's Göbeklitepe."

Heavy fog led to a disruption of vessel traffic late on Nov. 6 in Turkey's Bosporus Strait.

The fog started to take effect on Nov. 5 evening, causing delays in air and sea traffic.

İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport has been closed to air traffic.

Some 5.8 million foreign tourists have visited Istanbul in the first nine months of the year, while in September alone the number of visitors leaped more than 100 percent on an annual basis.