- Hezbollah strikes Israel, says it foiled Israeli incursions
- Jurgen Klopp to return as head of Red Bull football operations
- Sinner to face Medvedev in Shanghai Masters quarter-finals
- US weighs Google breakup in landmark trial
- Record-breaking Root guides England to 232-2 in reply to Pakistan's 556
- Japan PM dissolves parliament for 'honeymoon' snap election
- Chinese stocks tumble on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
- 7-Eleven owner confirms new takeover offer from Couche-Tard
- Goodbye Tito? Tomb at risk as Serbs argue over Yugoslav legacy
- Restoration experts piece together silent Sherlock Holmes mystery
- Sinner avoids Shanghai deja vu with assured Shelton win
- Pyongyang to 'permanently' shut border with South Korea
- Trumpet star Marsalis says jazz creates 'balance' in divided world
- No children left on Greece's famed but emptying island
- Nepali becomes youngest to climb world's 8,000m peaks
- Climate change made deadly Hurricane Helene more intense: study
- A US climate scientist sees hurricane Helene's devastation firsthand
- Padres edge Dodgers, Mets on the brink
- Can carbon credits help close coal plants?
- With EU funding, Tunisian farmer revives parched village
- Sega ninja game 'Shinobi' gets movie treatment
- Boeing suspends negotiations with striking workers
- 7-Eleven owner's shares spike on report of new buyout offer
- Your 'local everything': what 7-Eleven buyout battle means for Japan
- Three million UK children living below poverty line: study
- China's Jia brings film spanning love, change over decades to Busan
- Paying out disaster relief before climate catastrophe strikes
- Chinese shares drop on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
- SE Asian summit seeks progress on Myanmar civil war
- How climate funds helped Peru's women beekeepers stay afloat
- Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded as wars rage
- Pacific island nations swamped by global drug trade
- AI-aided research, new materials eyed for Nobel Chemistry Prize
- Mozambique elects new president in tense vote
- The US economy is solid: Why are voters gloomy?
- Balkan summit to rally support for struggling Ukraine
- New stadium gives Real Madrid a headache
- Alonso, Manaea shine as 'Miracle Mets' blitz Phillies
- Harris, Trump trade blows in US election media blitz
- Harry's Bar in Paris drinks to US straw-poll centenary
- Osama bin Laden's son Omar banned from returning to France
- Afghan man arrested for plotting US election day attack
- Brazil lifts ban on Musk's X, ending standoff over disinformation
- Harris holds slight edge nationally over Trump: poll
- Chelsea edge Real Madrid in Women's Champions League, Lyon win
- Japan PM to dissolve parliament for 'honeymoon' snap election
- 'Diego Lives': Immersive Maradona exhibit hits Barcelona
- Brazil Supreme Court lifts ban on Musk's X
- Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
- Six-year-old girl among missing after Brazil landslide
From Syria to Ukraine border: refugee aids war victims
When 28-year-old Syrian Omar Alshakal saw the exodus of desperate people fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he knew first hand what they were going through -- and starting thinking of ways to help.
"As a person who came from a war I completely understand how people are scared and fleeing, trying to be safe," he told AFP, shivering in his jacket and grey beanie in the freezing temperatures at the Siret border crossing between Ukraine and Romania.
"I try to make sure I can help as many people as I can and give them hope for the future," he says.
The stocky, bearded Alshakal spent periods in detention in Syria, along with countless others who joined protests against the dictatorship of President Bashar al-Assad.
Then, he says, in 2013 he was injured by an explosion close to the car in which he was trying to get injured people to hospital.
After making his way to Turkey to seek medical care, in 2014 he decided with two friends to undertake an arduous swim across to Greek territory, the gateway to the EU where he dreamt of starting a new life.
Following a brief stay in Germany he returned to Greece in order to help others fleeing and in 2017 founded the Refugee4Refugees association on the island of Lesbos.
- Children in tears -
Last month, moved by the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Ukraine, he decided to head to Siret, where 130,000 people have crossed the border since February 24, overwhelmingly women and children.
"I remember the first time at the border I saw a small girl screaming 'Daddy' and crying," he remembers.
Many able-bodied men have remained in Ukraine to fight the Russian forces.
His association rented a small hotel a couple of kilometres from the border where they could house between 50 and 100 refugees.
An annex of the building has already been filled with piles of food and hygiene supplies, Alshakal says, while unloading a truck carrying humanitarian aid along with other volunteers.
The wooden skeleton of an extension to the site stands nearby, with the hope that this can expand capacity.
- 'One family' -
The site is staffed by around 10 of Alshakal's colleagues from around the world, and the organisation is trying to find more people who can join the effort.
Alshakal says he wants to make those fleeing "feel like we are one family".
"We are together for the happiness and for the sadness," he adds.
Having a Syrian passport means travelling isn't always as smooth as it might be.
On his way into Romania he says he was stopped and questioned by the police about what he planned to do there.
As for his own future, he says: "My life is back home, next to my family and my friends".
"I am dreaming of going back but don't see it happening now," he adds.
Waiting for him in Syria are his parents, a brother and sister whom he hasn't seen in almost 12 years.
For now he takes things day by day.
"Today I hope no one will need help and everyone will be safe, this is my dream."
F.Schneider--AMWN