Istanbul

Last week, the teams stayed in Bangladesh and got very hot. The Twins somehow failed to fall for Boyfriend Ryan's nerdy charm, and the Goat Farmers came in last but were spared from elimination by a benevolent Phil and a pretty woman at the Pit Stop. The next destination is Istanbul (not Constantinople). Did you know that Istanbul (not Constantinople) is the only metropolis in the world that stands on two continents? Europe and Asia. How cool is that? Any final thoughts about Bangladesh, teams?

Last week, the teams stayed in Bangladesh and got very hot. The Twins somehow failed to fall for Boyfriend Ryan's nerdy charm, and the Goat Farmers came in last but were spared from elimination by a benevolent Phil and a pretty woman at the Pit Stop. The next destination is Istanbul (not Constantinople). Did you know that Istanbul (not Constantinople) is the only metropolis in the world that stands on two continents? Europe and Asia. How cool is that? Any final thoughts about Bangladesh, teams?

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- At 5:30 a.m., Istanbul awakens to the sound of the muezzin's call to prayer. As the monophonic tones blare over loudspeakers throughout this city of minarets and mosques, they draw the many faithful to worship. Though we are not Muslim, we stir to the sounds. We are here, in this ancient land on the Bosporus, in a hotel, on a one-day stay before embarking on a Mediterranean cruise. The rhythm and pitch of the muezzin's call is exotic and alien to our Western ears and serve as potent reminder that Istanbul is a strange land rich in religion and history and, for a Westerner, even in mystery.

Janset Nahum, a registered nurse and neighborhood activist who was known as the "Unofficial Mayor of Sugarville," died March 9 of lung cancer at Gilchrist Hospice in Towson. She was 79. Janset Aranlar was born in Adapazari, near Istanbul, one of three children. After her father died when she was 2, her mother was unable to care for her, and she was put up for adoption. "She was adopted by a wonderful couple who adored and raised her," said her husband of 50 years, Dr. Albert Nahum, a retired internist and former chief of staff at the old Church Home Hospital.

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Tens of thousands of mourners wound through the heart of this ancient city yesterday in the funeral procession for an ethnic-Armenian journalist whose murder triggered soul searching over national identity, freedom of expression and the historical ghosts that shadow Turkey. Followed by the largely silent throng, a black hearse slowly bore the flower-strewn coffin of editor Hrant Dink to an Armenian Orthodox church, where he was eulogized as a voice of courage and conscience.

I am going to Istanbul, Turkey, for the first time in October. I have reservations at the Ritz-Carlton and the Sumahan. I like the idea of staying on the Asian side instead of the New Town. Any thoughts on this? I don't need to be where everything is happening. If you are interested in staying on the Asian side, the Sumahan (Kuleli Caddesi, 51, Cengelkoy; 90-216-422-8000; sumahan.com), where rooms start at $280, is ideal for travelers "who like the idea of holing up in a very cozy design hotel and gazing at the gorgeous Istanbul skyline across the water," said travel writer Seth Sherwood.

Q: Do you know of any five- to seven-day tours along the western coast of Turkey, including some time in Istanbul? I plan to travel in late September and early October.A: As Istanbul is at least 200 miles from the west coast of Turkey and the coast itself is 300 miles long, you are unlikely to find a tour package that covers both in as short a time as you wish. What you can do is ask tour companies to design an independent tour. A trip can combine, say, four days on the Aegean coast and three in Istanbul, providing in each place hotels and an English-speaking guide who also acts as driver.

ISTANBUL IS a perfect location for the second United Nations conference on human settlements. Not because of its breathtaking views or its rich history. But because this Turkish city of 10 million people keeps growing by about 400,000 each year. Istanbul, in brief, is a case study in the rapid and uncontrolled urbanization that is evidenced in many countries, particularly in the Third World.The current tidal wave of urbanization is so huge that if U.N. estimates are correct, half the world will be living in cities by the year 2000.

ISTANBUL, Turkey - When the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamit II opened the first subway here 125 years ago, some of his devoutly religious subjects refused to use it because they feared going underground before they died. Yesterday, with the opening of the city's first new subway since then, the anxieties were rooted in a more mundane concern. Little more than a year ago, the region was rocked by a devastating earthquake that killed at least 17,000 people. Smaller quakes have occurred frequently since that time, and inhabitants of the city's apartment buildings often flee their homes at the slightest tremor.

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- A powerful bomb exploded yesterday evening outside a busy shopping mall in Turkey's capital, killing at least six people, injuring more than 80 and heightening tensions in advance of contentious national elections. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described as a "vicious, ruthless terror attack." The explosion outside the five-story Anafartalar mall in Ankara shattered windows, wrecked a bus shelter and scattered debris over a wide area.

The United States ended a long wait by beating Turkey 81-64 in the final Sunday in Istanbul to win its first world championship in 16 years thanks to forward Kevin Durant . The 21-year-old Thunder prodigy won the tournament's MVP award with a series of majestic performances. Easing past defenders to score from a wide range of positions, Durant racked up 28 points in the final, including 20 in the first half after the hosts had taken a 17-14 lead. Durant buried one 3-pointer after another to give the U.S. a 42-32 halftime lead, and his Thunder teammate Russell Westbrook provided excellent support with 13 points, six rebounds and three assists.

ISTANBUL, Turkey - U.S. and Turkish investigators worked urgently yesterday to determine the motive and affiliation of gunmen who attacked the U.S. Consulate here, leaving three Turkish police officers and three assailants dead in a hail of bullets. Turkish news reports cited police sources as saying al-Qaida was suspected in the attack, the most serious assault on a foreign diplomatic mission in Turkey in five years. But there was no immediate confirmation of the report or claim of responsibility.

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- At 5:30 a.m., Istanbul awakens to the sound of the muezzin's call to prayer. As the monophonic tones blare over loudspeakers throughout this city of minarets and mosques, they draw the many faithful to worship. Though we are not Muslim, we stir to the sounds. We are here, in this ancient land on the Bosporus, in a hotel, on a one-day stay before embarking on a Mediterranean cruise. The rhythm and pitch of the muezzin's call is exotic and alien to our Western ears and serve as potent reminder that Istanbul is a strange land rich in religion and history and, for a Westerner, even in mystery.

I am going to Istanbul, Turkey, for the first time in October. I have reservations at the Ritz-Carlton and the Sumahan. I like the idea of staying on the Asian side instead of the New Town. Any thoughts on this? I don't need to be where everything is happening. If you are interested in staying on the Asian side, the Sumahan (Kuleli Caddesi, 51, Cengelkoy; 90-216-422-8000; sumahan.com), where rooms start at $280, is ideal for travelers "who like the idea of holing up in a very cozy design hotel and gazing at the gorgeous Istanbul skyline across the water," said travel writer Seth Sherwood.

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- A powerful bomb exploded yesterday evening outside a busy shopping mall in Turkey's capital, killing at least six people, injuring more than 80 and heightening tensions in advance of contentious national elections. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described as a "vicious, ruthless terror attack." The explosion outside the five-story Anafartalar mall in Ankara shattered windows, wrecked a bus shelter and scattered debris over a wide area.

Salman Rushdie once noted that societies that emerged from colonial rule in the '50s, '60s and '70s became hotbeds for literary invention. "The Empire Writes Back," he called the phenomenon, punning on George Lucas' Star Warsfilm. That phrase is gaining new currency in Turkey, where, according to 35-year-old writer Elif Shafak, a young generation of Turks is using the novel, a form that came to them from the West, to reimagine their society from within. "Novelists have played a very, very critical role as the engineers of social and cultural transformation in Turkey," Shafak says, sitting in an empty hotel ballroom in New York City.

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Yesterday was a day of more funerals, peace marches across Turkey to protest last week's suicide bombings, and surging anger - some of it directed at the United States. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking at a funeral under sunny skies that belied the sorrow felt by those gathered, said the killers of more than 50 people in four attacks were Turkish citizens "with links abroad." He thus confirmed what had been widely reported last week, and he appealed for unity and perseverance.

In a power struggle with international implications, members of the U.S. Greek Orthodox Church filed suit against their archbishop yesterday in New York seeking greater self-governance and autonomy from the church's leadership in Istanbul. The plaintiffs, 35 laypeople hailing from across the church's eight American dioceses, said they were trying to roll back a new church charter imposed by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul which diminishes the traditional role laity and clergy play here.

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Tens of thousands of mourners wound through the heart of this ancient city yesterday in the funeral procession for an ethnic-Armenian journalist whose murder triggered soul searching over national identity, freedom of expression and the historical ghosts that shadow Turkey. Followed by the largely silent throng, a black hearse slowly bore the flower-strewn coffin of editor Hrant Dink to an Armenian Orthodox church, where he was eulogized as a voice of courage and conscience.

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- The Turkish police arrested a 17-year-old suspect yesterday in the killing of a newspaper editor who championed Armenian rights, Turkish authorities said. The editor, Hrant Dink, 52, a Turk of Armenian descent, was shot Friday afternoon outside the office of his newspaper, Agos. A gunman was recorded by a surveillance camera nearby, and the police appealed to the public for help in identifying him. Ogun Samast was captured last night in Samsun on the Black Sea after his father recognized the teen's image on the surveillance video and notified the police in Trabzon, their hometown, said Muammer Guler, Istanbul's governor, at a news conference.