A life-saving ‘game’: Bosnia trains world’s mine-detecting dogs

In a makeshift training centre at Kabul airport, dozens of dogs that were left behind during last month's chaotic evacuations from Afghanistan have found a new home -- and new handlers.

Two fluffy white terriers wearing tartan berets pant quietly as their owner waves a treat and snaps a photo for the dogs' tens of thousands of Instagram followers. They are among a growing number of pet influencers on social media in Singapore, a trend fuelled by a rise in online shopping and pet ownership during the coronavirus pandemic.

Cambodian anti-landmine authorities are training dogs to sniff out Covid-19, hoping the sharp-nosed canines normally used to detect underground explosives can keep the virus on a tight leash.

The UN Security Council has agreed to extend the mandate of a European military mission in Bosnia. The decision came amid a simmering row over a diplomatic report citing a separatist threat.

Severe flash flooding caused by heavy rains following unseasonably warm weather has hit much of Bosnia. Power was knocked out in the capital, and a key oxygen facility for COVID-19 patients had to be evacuated.

Since the end of the Bosnian War in the mid-1990s, Bosnians, Serbs and Croats have learned to co-exist peacefully again. But the nationalistic statements of Bosnian-Serb leader Milorad Dodik are putting the country's stability to the test once again.

Separatists continue to threaten to destroy Bosnia-Herzegovina. What the tiny western Balkan state needs to combat them is democracy, the rule of law, prosperity and the prospect of being integrated into the EU soon.

The law would have allowed for the Serb-majority Republika Srpska to take over property owned by the central government. Serb leader Milorad Dodik said he does not accept the decision.

A photo from 2017, which users claim shows Ukrainian prisoners “caged like dogs” by the ultra-nationalist Azov regiment, has resurfaced. The misleading image actually depicts a Ukrainian soldier imprisoned for alcohol use. Also, users on social media claim that a Jerusalem pub rebranded from “Putin Pub” to “Zelensky Pub”. We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.

Bosnia Herzegovina is set to bid farewell next Wednesday to 16 more victims who were identified in the Prijedor massacre. The Institute for Missing Persons said the identifications of the 1992 massacre victims are 30 years late.

Published in the journal Current Biology, dogs shed tears on being reunited with their owner after five to seven hours. Researchers also plan to study whether dogs produce tears when reunited with other canine pals.

Voters turned out to choose the country's new tripartite presidency and national, regional and local lawmakers. Nearly 30 years after the Bosnian war, the Balkan country is plagued by friction between its ethnic groups.