NORTH A new soccer complex was inaugurated last week in the southern outskirts of Haifa for children, teens and adults alike. Over NIS 12 million was invested in the complex, which was inaugurated by national coach Eli Guttman, Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, Ethos chairman Danny Nislis and municipality CEO Shmuel Gantz. The compound was established through Ethos, a subsidiary of the municipality for cultural and sports events. It covers a total area of some 2.2 hectares. The grounds include three soccer fields, two standard fields with natural grass that meet the Football Association's demands for league matches, and another field for training with synthetic grass, which will be used for children, youth and the general public, for a nominal fee. There is a grandstand that is accessible to people with disabilities, with some 350 seats. There are also modern rooms with advanced environmental elements, including teaching rooms, bathrooms, judges' rooms and management rooms. The sports complex was designed to accommodate large-scale cultural events, festivals and shows. A special emphasis was placed on the landscape design due to its location at the city entrance. Streets surrounding the compound were rehabilitated, expanded and repaved during the project. Yahav said the soccer fields add to the giant sports complex being built in the southern outskirts of the city, which include a tennis center, Maccabi Haifa training grounds, the Avi Ran courts and the Sammy Ofer Stadium. “All these together with the sports hall and the sports center currently under construction put Haifa in the front row of sport cities in Israel,” he said. Vegan festival kicks off around the country A vegan food festival kicked off this week around the country, which will run until March 20. Over 40 restaurants are taking part, and will offer three-course vegan meals at discounted prices – between NIS 59 and NIS 89 per person. Festival organizers say this is the first festival of its kind in Israel, and that it was born out of the vegan revolution that is taking place in the country, with many restaurants adding vegan menus and dishes and thousands of Israelis adopting a vegan lifestyle. CENTER Groom injures foot while smashing glass under huppa The custom of breaking a glass under the huppa in memory of the destruction of the Temple will certainly not be forgotten by one unfortunate groom, who injured his foot while tying the knot last week in Petah Tikva. United Hatzalah paramedics were called to the wedding venue to treat the groom's foot, which was dripping with blood. The medics treated him at the scene, before evacuating him to Terem Ichilov in Ramat Gan for further treatment. United Hatzalah's Yoni Bashari said the man had severely cut his foot. He received immediate treatment at the hospital, and within 15 minutes was released to continue celebrating his wedding. Animal rights NGO calls for dog adoptions on Good Deeds Day In honor of Good Deeds Day, which was marked around the world this week, NGO Let the Animals Live called on members of the public to do a good deed by adopting a dog. “While almost every adoption is a good adoption for the dog, there are some dogs for which it is a particularly good deed,” director Sharon Maoz stated. “There are wonderful dogs who have just been waiting at the dog pound for several years, and no one is adopting them.... Whoever adopts them will only benefit,” she added. On Good Deeds Day, anyone who adopts one of the dogs will receive training classes free of charge from dog trainer Zehavit Rothenberg, in additional to a discounted adoption package. The package costs NIS 350 and includes spaying, vaccinations and deworming, as well as a food package, a collar and a leash. The dog shelter is located at the entrance to Kfar Ruth and is open from Sunday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; on Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tel Aviv hosts annual Fashion Week Tel Aviv hosted its annual Fashion Week at the Old Wholesale Market, where the Tel Aviv Fashion Mall is being built. Hosted by Gindi Investments and Blue Square Real Estate, the event included 22 fashion shows, showcasing a variety of Israeli haute couture designer garments from their 2014-15 fall-winter collection and 2014 summer collection. Among the designers showing were Dorit Bar-Or, Gideon and Karen Oberson, Ronen Chen and Dorin Frankfurt. SOUTH Police rescue 130 students camping in Negev from storm Due to the stormy weather and fearing flash floods, police on Sunday evening rescued a group of 130 students who planned to camp out overnight in the Ramon Crater, south of Mitzpe Ramon. 15 nabbed in undercover crime organization probe Police on Sunday night arrested 15 people who are allegedly connected to a crime organization, as part of an undercover investigation the Lachish unit had been conducting for the past six months. The detainees are suspected of money laundering, extortion, drug trafficking, conspiracy and membership in a criminal organization. Equipped with search and arrest warrants, hundreds of police from the southern district, Lachish police and Border Police in the South, in cooperation with the Israel Tax Authority, raided the houses of the suspects in Eilat, Ashkelon, Rehovot, Tel Aviv and Hadera. The suspects, residents of the South, Center and North, were under investigation in Lachish District and were to be brought to the Ashkelon Magistrate's Court for remand extension. During the operation, police also seized six vehicles and cash amounting to thousand of shekels, documents and other property that the suspects allegedly used to commit offenses. Police intend to forfeit the property to the Treasury at the end of the investigation. Woman allegedly kills baby after giving birth, buries body A woman in her 30s was arrested on Friday, after police discovered that she had given birth, then allegedly killed the baby and buried the body. Police said she buried it somewhere in the Negev. An investigation into the alleged murder is under way.
