At least 42 killed in Algeria wildfires
At least 42 people, including 25 soldiers, have died in wildfires ripping through forests and villages east of Algiers, Algeria.
The soldiers were killed while saving 100 residents of two neighborhoods, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said, referring to them as "martyrs." Algeria's defense ministry said 11 other soldiers have been burned while fighting the fires, including four whose injuries are serious.
The fires are sweeping through the mountainous Kabyle region, killing cattle and chickens and destroying olive trees. The villages are not easy to get to and there is a limited supply of water, The Associated Press reports, and some residents are staying behind to try to fight the fires using buckets and branches.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Both Prime Minister Aïmene Benabderrahmane and Interior Minister Kamel Beldjoud say the fires, which broke out on Monday, may have been set by arsonists. "Thirty fires at the same time in the same region can't be by chance," Beldjoud suggested.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Bad Bunny, Lamar, K-pop make Grammy historySpeed Read The Puerto Rican artist will perform at the Super Bowl this weekend
-
Political cartoons for February 2Cartoons Monday’s political cartoons include ICE getting schooled, AI in control, and more
-
Democrats win House race, flip Texas Senate seatSpeed Read Christian Menefee won the special election for an open House seat in the Houston area
-
EU and India clinch trade pact amid US tariff warSpeed Read The agreement will slash tariffs on most goods over the next decade
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
Maduro pleads not guilty in first US court hearingSpeed Read Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty to cocaine trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracy
