عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Wild Weather Hits Australia: Woman Dead, 120,000 without Power 

Anglers retreat from a pier on Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne on September 2, 2024, as winds of more than 110 kilometers (68 miles) per hour lash the region, leaving about 150,000 people without power. (AFP)
Anglers retreat from a pier on Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne on September 2, 2024, as winds of more than 110 kilometers (68 miles) per hour lash the region, leaving about 150,000 people without power. (AFP)
TT
TT

Wild Weather Hits Australia: Woman Dead, 120,000 without Power 

Anglers retreat from a pier on Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne on September 2, 2024, as winds of more than 110 kilometers (68 miles) per hour lash the region, leaving about 150,000 people without power. (AFP)
Anglers retreat from a pier on Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne on September 2, 2024, as winds of more than 110 kilometers (68 miles) per hour lash the region, leaving about 150,000 people without power. (AFP)

A woman has died and more than 120,000 were left without power after high winds and heavy rain hit southern Australia, authorities said on Monday.

There was widespread damage in the states of Victoria and Tasmania, while a 63-year-old woman was killed after a tree fell on a cabin at a holiday park on the border between Victoria and New South Wales, emergency services said.

"It's a sad and tragic set of circumstances for the woman's family and my thoughts and sympathy go out to her and the emergency services who responded to that incident," Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan told a news conference.

Victoria's State Emergency Services received over 2,800 call outs overnight, mostly for fallen trees and building damage, she added.

At least 121,000 remained without power on Monday, Allan said, down from as many as 180,000 in the early hours of the morning.

Weather warnings remain in place for much of the state's southeast coast, as winds of almost 150 km per hour (93 mph) lashed the state overnight.

A Victoria state government advisory on Monday told people to avoid coastal areas because of dangerous waves, unstable land in cliff areas, and flooding in low-lying areas. The southern island state of Tasmania has also been hit by wild weather, with thousands left without power on Sunday.

"We've seen another wild night of weather across the state with extensive destruction," Mick Lowe, executive director of Tasmania's State Emergency Services, told a news conference on Monday.

Extreme weather events are common for many Australians.

The storms across the south of the country follow days of unseasonably high winter temperatures of almost 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) in New South Wales' capital Sydney.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

Thousands of Turks Protest Controversial Law to Remove Stray Dogs 

People shout slogans during a protest against a bill approved by Turkish legislators that aims to remove stray dogs off the country's streets, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (AP)
People shout slogans during a protest against a bill approved by Turkish legislators that aims to remove stray dogs off the country's streets, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (AP)
TT
TT

Thousands of Turks Protest Controversial Law to Remove Stray Dogs 

People shout slogans during a protest against a bill approved by Turkish legislators that aims to remove stray dogs off the country's streets, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (AP)
People shout slogans during a protest against a bill approved by Turkish legislators that aims to remove stray dogs off the country's streets, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (AP)

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Istanbul on Sunday to protest recent legislation that critics say is leading to the killing of stray dogs across Türkiye.

Last month, legislators approved the new law aimed at removing millions of stray dogs from Turkish streets citing safety concerns. Animal-lovers fear it will lead to widespread culling or dogs ending up in disease-ridden and overcrowded shelters.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the law was necessary to deal with the country’s “stray dog problem.”

Sunday’s protesters called for the law to be repealed, brandishing posters reading “shelters are death camps” and “withdraw the bloody law.”

“We want this law to be withdrawn immediately,” protester Hasan Kizilyatak, 64, told The Associated Press. “They (stray dogs) are living beings, just like us. We are here because we are against them being annihilated.”

Ayten Arslan, 55, who said she supports Erdogan, also showed up to protest.

“Just like we stood beside our president on July 15 (2016) when there was a coup attempt, we are here for the stray animals,” she told the AP. “I say as an AK Party supporter, this law, is a bloody law.”

The main opposition Republican People’s Party moved to repeal the law in the Constitutional Court less than two weeks after it passed.

The government estimates that around 4 million stray dogs roam Türkiye’s streets and rural areas. Although most are harmless, several people, including children, have been attacked.

A report released by the Safe Streets and Defense of the Right to Life Association, an organization campaigning for the removal of all stray dogs from the streets, says that 65 people have died in street dog attacks since 2022.

The new legislation requires municipalities to collect stray dogs and house them in shelters to be vaccinated, neutered and spayed before making them available for adoption. Dogs that are in pain, terminally ill or pose a health risk to humans will be euthanized. The initial draft bill included cats, but that article was changed after a public outcry.

However, many question where cash-strapped municipalities would find the money to build the necessary extra shelters required.

Animal rights activists worry that some municipalities might kill dogs on the pretext that they are ill rather than allocate resources to shelter them.

Videos showing dead cats and dogs buried in ditches have been circulating on social media recently. Animal rights activists say the animals were indiscriminately killed after the passage of the law.