IFAW is supporting trusted partners in Turkey who are working on the ground to provide life-saving aid alongside firefighters, veterinarians, and local authorities.
One of our established partners, Angels Farm Sanctuary (Haybap Ferdinand Hayvanlara ve Doğaya Ahbap Derneği), operates a highly trained search and rescue team, HARK, and a sanctuary in Izmir. They are taking in a wide variety of companion animals and livestock, while transferring wildlife to specialised carers. IFAW is supporting them in providing veterinary and daily care. We have worked with Angels Farm Sanctuary since 2023, when we supported their earthquake response efforts.
A newer partner, Save the Pawties (Empati Hayvan Koruma Kurtarma ve Yaşatma Derneği) in Izmir, has taken in about 60 dogs evacuated from fire-impacted communities, many experiencing burns, smoke inhalation, and other injuries. Our support will help cover veterinary costs, easing the strain on their already stretched resources.
Our support ensures animals in crisis receive the urgent care they need, while also bolstering the capacity of these local groups to respond to future disasters.
IFAW has been dedicated to helping communities prepare, respond to, and recover from disasters around the world for more than 20 years. We are collaborating with local organisations and municipalities, ensuring that animals and the people who care for them are not forgotten during this crisis and in the recovery ahead.
‘He was our eyes’: Global outcry over killing of Al Jazeera journalist by Israeli forces
LONDON: Condemnation is mounting worldwide after Israeli forces killed prominent Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif and four of his colleagues in Gaza, with fellow reporters, rights groups and officials accusing Israel of deliberately targeting the reporter for his coverage.
Al-Sharif was killed alongside reporter Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa when an Israeli strike hit their tent in Gaza on Sunday.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said the strike also killed a Palestinian freelance journalist, Mohammed Al-Khaldi, who had succumbed to his wounds, bringing the total to six.
The IDF has admitted to carrying out the attack, and justified it by alleging Al-Sharif was a “terrorist.”
Reporters Without Borders condemned what it called the “acknowledged murder” of one of Al Jazeera’s most prominent correspondents in Gaza, noting that the Israeli Defence Forces openly targeted him and others.
This is my will and my final message. If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice. First, peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings.
Allah knows I gave every effort and all my strength to be a support and a voice for my…
— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) August 10, 2025
The Committee to Protect Journalists said it was “appalled” by the killing, stressing that Israeli claims of Al- Sharif’s Hamas membership lacked evidence.
“Israel’s pattern of labeling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom,” said Sara Qudah, the CPJ’s director for the Middle East and North Africa.
The office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk issued a similar condemnation on Monday, saying Israel’s targeted killing of six journalists in Gaza was a “grave breach of international humanitarian law.”
Al-Sharif’s death came weeks after the CPJ and other organizations had warned of threats against him, following a post by IDF spokesperson Avichai Adraee on X accusing him of belonging to Hamas’ military wing.
The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression Irene Khan at the time called the claim “unsubstantiated” and “a blatant assault on journalists.”
On Sunday night, the IDF repeated its allegations, claiming Al-Sharif was “head of a Hamas terrorist cell” and had orchestrated rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and troops while “posing as an Al Jazeera journalist.”
It cited “intelligence and documents from Gaza” — including rosters, training lists, and salary records — none of which Arab News could independently verify.
STRUCK: Hamas terrorist Anas Al-Sharif, who posed as an Al Jazeera journalist
Al-Sharif was the head of a Hamas terrorist cell and advanced rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and IDF troops.
Intelligence and documents from Gaza, including rosters, terrorist training lists and… pic.twitter.com/ypFaEYDHse
Israel has often been accused of making similar claims without substantiation, a pattern critics say is reinforced by the inability of independent foreign journalists to enter Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans on Sunday to allow some foreign reporters into the enclave, but only under military escort — a condition that press freedom groups warn would compromise journalistic independence.
Since the start of Israel’s 22-month siege of Gaza, Tel Aviv has killed nearly 200 journalists, with rights groups documenting cases of what they describe as direct, intentional strikes that could amount to war crimes.
Tributes to Al-Sharif, Qreiqeh, Zaher, Noufal and Aliwa have poured in, with many demanding accountability.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Ken Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, said silencing coverage of atrocities is a “despicable rationale” for killing journalists.
“This was a targeted killing,” Roth said. Israel’s “unsubstantiated, unilateral accusations” that Al-Sharif led a unit of Hamas “are worthless.”
“And when you couple that with the pattern of harassment against him, the efforts to silence him, it’s clear what’s going on,” Roth added.
Barry Malone, a former Al Jazeera editor and Reuters correspondent, described Al-Sharif as “our eyes” in Gaza, bringing “special emotion and depth” to his reporting.
A few days ago, Anas al-Sharif publicly pleaded for protection, especially after being directly targeted by incendiary Israeli rhetoric. The spokesperson for the Israeli military issued threats against him. Some human rights advocates and press freedom organizations raised the… pic.twitter.com/IWGNp2uayn
Pulitzer Prize–winning Palestinian poet and former Israeli detainee Mosab Abu Toha accused Western media of a “deafening silence.” He said “not one of them voiced concern for the safety of Anas, or for the lives of the journalists systematically targeted and killed.”
“This silence is not neutrality. It is complicity,” he added in a post on X.
US Representative Pramila Jayapal also condemned the killing, urging Washington to halt arms supplies to Israel.
Al-Sharif’s final message, written on April 6 and published posthumously, was addressed to his wife, Umm Salah (Bayan), his son, Salah, and his loved ones. In the message he urged for the liberation of Palestine.
“This is my will and my final message. If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.
“I have lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification.
“Do not forget Gaza … And do not forget me in your sincere prayers for forgiveness and acceptance.”
GENEVA (Reuters) – Public transport will be temporarily free of charge in Geneva, in a first for Switzerland, as part of a series of measures aimed at tackling a spike in pollution in the city.
Geneva, in the western French-speaking part of Switzerland, is experiencing a severe peak of ozone pollution – a harmful gas that can cause problems breathing and can trigger headaches and asthma attacks, according to the World Health Organization.
The city’s anti-smog system showed that ozone concentrations had exceeded an environmental health safety threshold of 180 micrograms per cubic meter over 24 hours, according to a statement by the Canton of Geneva.
On Tuesday, temperatures hit 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 Fahrenheit) with the government issuing heat warnings for western and southern parts of Switzerland.
High temperatures and low cloud cover mean ozone pollutants accumulate and take longer to be dispersed, the Environment Office for the Canton of Geneva told Reuters.
In response, public transport was made free for the first time on Wednesday throughout the canton, to encourage residents and visitors to switch from their cars to buses, trams, trains and boats, in order to reduce traffic emissions.
“The measures taken under this emergency protocol aim to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide, notably by promoting public transport and limiting the circulation of the most polluting vehicles,” the environment office said.
Passengers will not require a ticket, and ticket checks will be suspended until the pollution improves, authorities said in a statement.
Between 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) and 10 p.m., only lower-emitting cars are allowed to circulate within the centre of the city.
ATHENS, Greece — Wildfires intensified across southern Europe on Wednesday after a nightlong battle to protect the perimeter of Greece’s third-largest city, with at least three more deaths reported in Spain, Turkey and Albania.
Outside the Greek port city of Patras, firefighters struggled to protect homes and agricultural facilities as flames tore through pine forests and olive groves. Tall columns of flames exploded behind apartment blocks on the outskirts of the city, while dozens of vehicles were torched as flames swept through a nearby impound lot.
“Today is another very difficult day with the level of fire risk remaining very high across many parts of the country,” Fire Service spokesman Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis said.
As water-dropping planes and helicopters swooped overhead, residents joined the effort, beating back flames with cut branches or dousing them with buckets of water.
Firefighting resources were stretched thin in many affected countries as they battled multiple outbreaks following weeks of heat waves and temperature spikes across the Mediterranean. On the Greek island of Chios, exhausted firefighters slept on the roadside following a night-long shift.
Aircraft rotated between blazes on the western Greek mainland, the Patras area and the island of Zakynthos. Athens also sent assistance to neighboring Albania, joining an international effort to combat dozens of wildfires. An 80-year-old man died in one blaze south of the capital, Tirana, officials said Wednesday.
Residents of four villages were evacuated in central Albania near a former army ammunition depot. In the southern Korca district, near the Greek border, explosions were reported from buried World War II-era artillery shells. Authorities said dozens of homes were gutted in a central region of the country.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed condolences after the death of a firefighting volunteer in the hard-hit Castile and León region north of Madrid, where thousands have been displaced by evacuations.
“The wildfire situation remains serious, and taking extra precautions is essential,” Sánchez wrote in an online post. “Thank you, once again, to all those working tirelessly to fight the flames.”
Evacuation centers were filled to capacity in parts of central Spain, with some spending the night outdoors on folding beds. The most severe fires pushed northward into more rural areas, where some residents hosed the walls of their homes to try and protect them from fire.
The government raised its national emergency response level, preparing additional support for regional authorities overseeing multiple evacuations and highway closures.
A forestry worker was killed Wednesday while responding to a wildfire in southern Turkey, officials said. The Forestry Ministry said the worker died in an accident involving a fire truck that left four others injured.
Turkey has been battling severe wildfires since late June. A total of 18 people have been killed, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers who died in July.
In France, which is recovering from massive recent fires in the southern regions, temperatures of up to 42 degrees Celsius (108 Fahrenheit) were expected for the third consecutive day. Officials issued weather alerts giving local authorities discretion to cancel public events and cordon off areas with high fire risks.
Authorities across European countries have cited multiple causes for the massive fires, including careless farming practices, improperly maintained power cables and summer lightning storms.
Law enforcement officials in North Macedonia also cited indications of arson, motivated by rogue developers. Firefighters struggled to contain a blaze at a nature reserve outside the capital, Skopje on Wednesday.
The European Union has rushed aid to fire-hit countries, including non-member states, with ground crews and water-dropping aircraft. Much of the recent effort was concentrated on Montenegro, where major wildfires continued to burn in rugged areas near the capital, Podgorica.
“Natural disasters know no borders,” Ljuban Tmusic, head of Montenegro’s civil protection agency said. “In Montenegro the resources we have … are clearly not enough.” —- Semini reported from Tirana, Albania. Suman Naishadham in Madrid, Andrew Wilks in Istanbul, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, and Konstantin Testorides in Skopje, North Macedonia contributed.
BERLIN — The top diplomats of Britain, France, and Germany threatened to reimpose sanctions on Iran as an end-of-the-month deadline nears for the country to resume negotiations with the West over its nuclear program and cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog.
The three countries, known as the E3, wrote in a letter to the United Nations dated Friday that they were willing to trigger a process known as the “snapback” mechanism, which allows one of the Western parties to reimpose U.N. sanctions, if Tehran doesn’t comply with its requirements.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Nöel Barrot posted the letter Wednesday to X. He co-signed it along with top diplomats from Germany and the United Kingdom.
“E3 have always committed to use all diplomatic tools at our disposal to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon,” the letter said. “We have made clear that if Iran is not willing to reach a diplomatic solution before the end of August 2025, or does not seize the opportunity of an extension, E3 are prepared to trigger the snapback mechanism.”
The letter comes following a period of apparent diplomatic deadlock after a 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June, where Israeli and American jets struck some key nuclear-related facilities in the Islamic Republic.
The countries met with Iranian officials last month in Turkey at Iran’s consulate building in Istanbul on the possibility of reimposing international sanctions, lifted in 2015 in exchange for Tehran accepting restrictions and monitoring of its nuclear program.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said at the time that he hoped that the meeting would see the E3 nations reassess their “previous unconstructive attitude.”
The Iranian government didn’t immediately comment Wednesday on the development.
Since the war, talks with Washington for a new nuclear deal haven’t resumed, and Iran has since suspended ties with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, following the attacks. The IAEA’s first visit to Iran since the war didn’t entail any visits to nuclear facilities Monday, and cooperation wasn’t officially restored.
One of the three countries opting to trigger the snapback mechanism would renew sanctions on Iran, but Tehran renewing cooperation with the Vienna-based IAEA and addressing concerns about its highly-enriched uranium stockpile would delay it, according to a diplomat who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity following July’s meeting in Istanbul.
Iran has had limited IAEA inspections in the past as a pressure tactic in negotiating with the West and it is unclear how soon talks between Tehran and Washington for a deal over its nuclear program will resume.
German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Josef Hinterseher on Wednesday said that the letter “once again underlines that the legal preconditions for snapback have long existed.”
“Our position and our appeal is, very clearly, that Iran still has the choice of deciding to return to diplomacy … and full cooperation with the IAEA,” he told reporters at a regular news conference in Berlin.
U.S. intelligence agencies and the IAEA had assessed Iran last had an organized nuclear weapons program in 2003, though Tehran had been enriching uranium up to 60% — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
The IAEA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
___
Kareem Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Geir Moulson contributed to this report from Berlin.
Mortar kills 2 children and their mother in northwest Pakistan where troops are targeting militants
KHAR: A mortar struck a home and killed two children and their mother in a northwestern Pakistani region where security forces are carrying out a “targeted operation ” against the Pakistani Taliban, residents and a hospital official said Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the overnight civilian casualties in Mamund, a town in the Bajaur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.
Naseeb Gul, a medical doctor at a local hospital, said the dead were two children and their mother. Two people were also wounded Tuesday when another mortar hit their home, he said.
Angered by the deaths, hundreds of demonstrators were refusing to bury the bodies and demanding an investigation, according to local villager Mohammad Khalid.
There was no immediate comment from the government or the military.
The latest development came days after security forces launched an offensive in Bajaur to target militant hideouts. The provincial government said the “targeted operation” was launched after tribal elders failed to evict insurgents from the region.
Government officials said the ongoing offensive against the Pakistani Taliban has displaced 25,000 families or an estimated 100,000 people in Bajaur, where authorities eased a curfew on Wednesday, allowing residents to buy essential items.
Thousands of displaced people are currently residing in government buildings, and many other have gone to other safer areas to live with relatives.
The Bajaur offensive is the second operation there since 2009, when the military launched a large-scale campaign against the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. The TTP is a separate but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover and have been living there openly. Some have crossed the border back into Bajaur to carry out attacks.
The so-called E3 group says they are ready to trigger the ‘snapback’ mechanism in the 2015 nuclear deal.
France, Germany and the United Kingdom have told the United Nations they are prepared to reinstate sanctions on Iran, according to a joint letter.
The letter, sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council, said the three European powers were “committed to use all diplomatic tools at our disposal to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon” unless Tehran meets a deadline to speak with them.
“We have made it clear that if Iran is not willing to reach a diplomatic solution before the end of August 2025, or does not seize the opportunity of an extension, E3 are prepared to trigger the snapback mechanism,” the ministers wrote, the AFP news agency reported on Wednesday.
Iran says its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes and has denied seeking nuclear weapons.
The warning comes amid heightened tensions over Iran’s suspension of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Tehran halted collaboration with the UN nuclear watchdog after Israel launched a 12-day war against Iran in June, targeting senior military leaders, top scientists and nuclear facilities.
Iran had been in talks with the United States at the time over its nuclear programme, before Washington later carried out its own bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear sites during the conflict.
The foreign ministers of the so-called E3 group wrote to the UN on Tuesday, raising the prospect of “snapback” sanctions – a provision in a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that eased UN Security Council measures in exchange for curbs on its nuclear activities.
Under the agreement, which expires in October, any signatory can restore the sanctions if they believe Iran is in breach.
The letter follows what the E3 described as “serious, frank and detailed” discussions with Iran in Istanbul last month, the first in-person talks since Israeli and US strikes targeted Iranian nuclear sites.
France, Germany and the UK were signatories to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) alongside the United States, China, Russia and the European Union. The accord required Iran to limit its uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief.
In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal and reimposed sanctions. The European powers pledged to uphold the agreement but now claim Iran has breached its terms, including building a uranium stockpile more than 40 times the limit set in 2015.
However, no evidence has been found that Iran has enriched uranium to weapons-grade levels of 90 percent after it allowed inspections of its nuclear facilities by the IAEA.
Meanwhile, Iran has agreed to hold talks with the IAEA and is preparing to host a visit by the UN watchdog, its first since Tehran cut ties with the agency last month following the June conflict.
The heatwave-fuelled wildfires that have killed two people in Spain over recent days, devouring thousands of hectares of land and forcing thousands of people from their homes, are a “clear warning” of the impact of the climate emergency, the country’s environment minister has said.
Speaking on Wednesday morning, as firefighters in Spain, Greece and other Mediterranean countries continued to battle dozens of blazes, Sara Aagesen said the 14 wildfires still burning across seven Spanish regions were further proof of the country’s particular vulnerability to global heating.
Aagesen said that while some of the fires appeared to have been started deliberately, the deadly blazes were a clear indicator of the climate emergency and of the need for better preparation and prevention.
“The fires are one of the parts of the impact of that climate change, which is why we have to do all we can when it comes to prevention,” she told Cadena Ser radio.
“Our country is especially vulnerable to climate change. We have resources now but, given that the scientific evidence and the general expectation point to it having an ever greater impact, we need to work to reinforce and professionalise those resources.”
Firefighters on the outskirts of Abejera de Tábara, Zamora, Spain. Photograph: Susana Vera/Reuters
Aagesen’s comments came a day after temperatures in parts of southern Spain surged past 45C (113F). The state meteorological office, Aemet, said there were no recorded precedents for the temperatures experienced between 1 August and 20 August.
A 35-year-old volunteer firefighter died on Tuesday in the north-western Spanish region of Castilla y León, where fires have prompted the evacuation of more than 8,000 residents, and where seven people are being treated in hospital for serious burns. Four are in a critical condition.
The firefighter’s death came hours after that of a 50-year-old man who suffered 98% burns while trying to save horses from a burning stable near Madrid on Monday night.
By Wednesday morning, the Madrid fire had been brought under control, but blazes in the far north-western region Galicia had consumed 11,500 hectares (30,000 acres) of land by the end of the day.
“Emergency teams are continuing to fight fires across our country,” the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said in a post on X on Wednesday. “The fire situation remains serious and extreme caution is essential. My thanks, once again, to all of you who are working tirelessly to fight the flames.”
A helicopter flies over the town of Vilar near Chandrexa de Queixa in Galicia, Spain, on Tuesday. Photograph: Brais Lorenzo/EPA
Neighbouring Portugal deployed more than 2,100 firefighters and 20 aircraft against five big blazes, with efforts focused on a fire in the central municipality of Trancoso that has raged since Saturday.
Strong gusts of wind had rekindled flames overnight and threatened nearby villages, where television images showed local people volunteering to help firefighters under a thick cloud of smoke.
In Greece, which requested EU aerial assistance on Tuesday, close to 5,000 firefighters were battling blazes fanned by gale-force winds nationwide. Authorities said emergency workers were waging a “a titanic battle” to douse flames still raging through the western Peloponnese, in Epirus farther north, and on the islands of Zakynthos, Kefalonia and Chios, where thousands of residents and tourists have been evacuated from homes and hotels.
Local media reported the wildfires had decimated houses, farms and factories and forced people to flee. Fifteen firefighters and two volunteers had suffered burns and other injuries including “symptoms of heatstroke”, the fire service said.
A man moves goats during a wildfire in Vounteni, on the outskirts of Patras, Greece, on Wednesday. Photograph: Thanassis Stavrakis/AP
Around midnight a huge blaze erupted on Chios, devouring land that had only begun to recover from devastating wildfires in June. As the flames reached the shores, the coastguard rushed to remove people on boats to safety.
On the other side of Greece, outside the western city of Patras, volunteers with the Hellenic Red Cross struggled to contain infernos barrelling towards villages and towns. By lunchtime on Wednesday, media footage showed flames on the outskirts of Patras, Greece’s third-largest city. Municipal authorities announced a shelter had been set up to provide refuge, food and water for those in need.
Officials evacuated a children’s hospital and a retirement home in the city as a precaution, and local media footage showed the roof of a 17th-century monastery outside the city on fire.
Seventeen settlements around Preveza, where fires broke out Tuesday, were reported to be without electricity or water.
“Today is also expected to be very difficult as in most areas of the country a very high risk of fire is forecast,” a fire service spokesperson, Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis, said in a televised address. “By order of the head of the fire brigade, all services nationwide, including civil protection forces, will be in a state of alert.”
Firefighters take a quick rest in Izmir, Turkey, on Wednesday. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
At first light, 33 water-dumping planes and helicopters scrambled to extinguish fires, he said.
Temperatures exceeding 35C (95F) are predicted, according to some meteorologists, to rise further later this week, the height of the summer for Greeks. Record heat and prolonged drought have already turned much of the country tinder-dry, producing conditions ripe for forest fires.
A forestry worker was killed on Wednesday while responding to a wildfire in southern Turkey, officials said. The forestry ministry said the worker died in an accident involving a fire truck that left four others injured.
Turkey has been battling severe wildfires since late June. A total of 18 people have been killed, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers who died in July.
In southern Albania a wildfire caused explosions after detonating buried second world war-era artillery shells. Officials said on Wednesday an 80-year-old man had died in one blaze south of the capital, Tirana.
The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
New Zealand PM slams Netanyahu over Gaza war – Daily Times
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