Turkiye’s woof express takes disabled dogs on a daily ride

Turkiye’s woof express takes disabled dogs on a daily ride
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Buket Ozgunlu, Chairwoman of the Paws Holding on to Life Association (Yasa Pati), takes disabled dogs for a ride with a makeshift train at a shelter in Ankara on Apr. 4, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 05 April 2024
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Turkiye’s woof express takes disabled dogs on a daily ride

Turkiye’s woof express takes disabled dogs on a daily ride
  • Buket Ozgunlu, chairwoman of the Association of Paws Holding onto Life, has attached makeshift dog wagons to an all-terrain vehicle to take dogs out every day
  • The shelter houses 560 dogs rescued from the streets

ANKARA: An animal lover in Türkiye, inspired by her paralyzed father, has built a train out of plastic barrels to give daily rides to the disabled dogs at a shelter outside the country’s capital Ankara.
Buket Ozgunlu, chairwoman of the Association of Paws Holding onto Life, has attached makeshift dog wagons to an all-terrain vehicle to take dogs out every day. She believes that, like people, the dogs need a change of scene and, if they cannot walk, a drive will have to do.
“This is how the idea for the train came up: my father is also paralyzed and disabled. We felt the need to take him out (by car) and make him walk,” Ozgunlu said.
“Then, I said our kids (the dogs) do not see anything, they must want this too because the ones who are disabled are more traumatized, they feel a different intensity of emotions.”
She said the shelter houses 560 dogs rescued from the streets, including 300 who have suffered physically.
“I can say we took all of them from the arms of death,” she said.
Ozgunlu and other shelter workers have painted the plastic barrels in bright colors and plan to add a tarpaulin to provide shade for the dogs to ensure a first-class ride.


Egypt makes new proposal to restore Gaza ceasefire deal, sources say

Egypt makes new proposal to restore Gaza ceasefire deal, sources say
Updated 20 sec ago
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Egypt makes new proposal to restore Gaza ceasefire deal, sources say

Egypt makes new proposal to restore Gaza ceasefire deal, sources say
CAIRO: Egypt made a new proposal last week aimed at restoring the Gaza ceasefire deal, security sources told Reuters on Monday.
The proposal follows an escalation in violence after Israel resumed air and ground operations against Hamas last Tuesday, effectively ending a two-month period of relative calm.
The Egyptian plan suggests Hamas release five Israeli hostages each week, with Israel implementing the second phase of the ceasefire after the first week, the sources said.
Both the US and Hamas agreed to the proposal, the security sources said, but Israel had not yet responded.
The sources said Egypt’s proposal also includes a timeline for the release of all hostages in exchange for a timeline for Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza, backed by US guarantees.
Hamas has accused Israel of breaking the terms of the January ceasefire agreement but has said it is still willing to negotiate a ceasefire and was studying proposals from US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff.

Lebanese defense minister to visit Syria: official

Lebanese defense minister to visit Syria: official
Updated 1 min 50 sec ago
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Lebanese defense minister to visit Syria: official

Lebanese defense minister to visit Syria: official
  • The aim of the visit was to “discuss ways to manage the situation at the border”

BEIRUT: Lebanese Defense Minister Michel Menassa will visit Syria on Wednesday to discuss recent tensions along the border between the two countries, a Lebanese official said.
“The defense minister will head a security delegation to Damascus to meet with his counterpart, Marhaf Abu Qasra,” the official told AFP on Monday on condition of anonymity.
The aim of the visit was to “discuss ways to manage the situation at the border, strengthen bilateral coordination and prevent cross-border aggression,” the source said.
Ten people were killed in clashes that broke out along the fronter in mid-March.
Damascus accused Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group once allied with deposed president Bashar Assad, of abducting and killing three Syrian soldiers, which the Iran-backed movement strongly denied.
Subsequently, seven Lebanese were killed in air strikes from Syria, according to Lebanese authorities.
A Lebanese security source told AFP that Syrian forces shelled the border area after three Syrian soldiers were killed by armed Lebanese smugglers.
Both countries later announced they had reached a ceasefire agreement.
Syria shares a 330-kilometer (205-mile) border with Lebanon, with no official demarcation.
In February, Syrian authorities announced the launch of a security campaign in the border province of Homs aimed at shutting down routes used for arms and goods smuggling.
Hezbollah, which fought alongside Assad’s forces during the Syrian war, has long exerted influence over large parts of the Lebanese-Syrian border.
The group was massively weakened in its war with Israel late last year.


Israeli strike kills Hamas official Ismail Barhoum in Gaza hospital

Israeli strike kills Hamas official Ismail Barhoum in Gaza hospital
Updated 19 min 27 sec ago
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Israeli strike kills Hamas official Ismail Barhoum in Gaza hospital

Israeli strike kills Hamas official Ismail Barhoum in Gaza hospital
  • Member of Hamas’s political bureau was getting treatment at Nasser Hospital
  • Barhoum is the fourth member of Hamas’s political bureau killed since last Tuesday

GAZA CITY: An Israeli air strike on Sunday killed a member of Hamas’s political bureau as he underwent treatment in hospital, a source in the Islamist movement said, after Israel confirmed it targeted “a key terrorist.”
“The Israeli army assassinated Hamas political bureau member Ismail Barhoum,” the Hamas source said, requesting anonymity to speak more freely.
“Warplanes bombed the operating room at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, where Barhoum was receiving treatment after sustaining critical injuries in an air strike targeting his home in Khan Yunis at dawn last Tuesday.”
AFP photos showed the building of about four-storys largely undamaged except for fire blazing in one section off a stairwell.
Barhoum is the fourth member of Hamas’s political bureau killed since last Tuesday when Israel resumed air strikes in the territory after an impasse over continuing a ceasefire.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed in a statement that Barhoum had been targeted in the strike.
The Israeli military said it hit the hospital with “precise munitions” following extensive intelligence-gathering.
It said the target was a key member of “the Hamas terrorist organization who was operating inside the Nasser Hospital compound.”
The Ministry of Health in Hamas-run Gaza said Israeli forces “have just targeted the surgery building inside the Nasser Medical Complex, which houses many patients and wounded individuals, and a large fire has erupted at the site.”
The ministry later confirmed that one person had been killed and said many others were injured, including some medical staff. The entire department was evacuated, the ministry said in a statement.
Gaza’s civil defense rescue agency said the hospital’s emergency department had been targeted.
Earlier Sunday, Hamas said an Israeli air strike the previous day near Khan Yunis killed Salah Al-Bardawil, a senior member of its political bureau.
Bardawil, 65, was killed along with his wife in a camp in Al-Mawasi, the group said.
The Israeli military confirmed that it had targeted Bardawil, saying that “as part of his role, (he) directed the strategic and military planning” of Hamas in Gaza.
His “elimination further degrades Hamas’ military and government capabilities,” it added.


EU top diplomat: Israel strikes on Syria, Lebanon ‘risk further escalation’

EU top diplomat: Israel strikes on Syria, Lebanon ‘risk further escalation’
Updated 51 min 33 sec ago
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EU top diplomat: Israel strikes on Syria, Lebanon ‘risk further escalation’

EU top diplomat: Israel strikes on Syria, Lebanon ‘risk further escalation’

JERUSALEM: EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned on Monday during a visit to Jerusalem that Israeli strikes on Syria and Lebanon threatened to worsen the situation.
“Military actions must be proportionate, and Israeli strikes into Syria and Lebanon risk further escalation,” Kallas said at a joint news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.


Israel shooting attack kills one, gunman ‘neutralized’

Israel shooting attack kills one, gunman ‘neutralized’
Updated 24 March 2025
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Israel shooting attack kills one, gunman ‘neutralized’

Israel shooting attack kills one, gunman ‘neutralized’
  • A 75-year-old man was killed by the shooting, and that the attack also left a 20-year-old man in critical condition

JERUSALEM: A shooting attack in northern Israel on Monday killed a 75-year-old man and wounded another, first responders said, with police saying officers had “neutralized” the gunman.
The “ramming, stabbing and shooting” attack, according to emergency services provider Magen David Adom, was the first in Israel since it resumed bombardment of the Gaza Strip last week following a January truce in its war with Hamas.
A police statement said that “a terrorist opened fire at civilians and was immediately neutralized by police forces present at the scene” at a junction southeast of the coastal city of Haifa.
Magen David Adom said that a 75-year-old man was killed by the shooting, and that the attack also left a 20-year-old man in critical condition.
A paramedic said in a statement that first responders provided “medical treatment to a young man... who had been hit by a vehicle and suffered penetrating injuries in the attack.”
Israeli police label as “terror” attacks those connected to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.