Geography of Algeria

At least 26 people died and dozens of others were injured in forest fires that ravaged 14 districts of northern Algeria on Wednesday, the interior minister said.

Kamel Beldjoud told state television that 24 people lost their lives in fires in El Tarf, near the border with Tunisia, in addition to two others who died earlier in Setif.

Eight babies were killed in a fire in a maternity ward at a hospital in eastern Algeria.

The fire broke out about 4:00 am this morning at a hospital in the city of El Oued Souf about 500 km southeast of the capital Algeria. The firefighters rescued 11 babies and 107 patients and 28 staff, according to Fire ChiefCaptain Nassim Bernaoui  

Turkey's Constitution Court has ordered the state to pay Baskın Oran, the columnist of Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, 27,000 Turkish Liras (around $4,400) in spiritual damages due to a lack of an inadequate investigation into the death threats that Oran had received.

The number of people believed to have died in an Algerian military plane crash on Wednesday has risen to 257, according to state TV, quoted by Reuters. 

The military transport plane crashed into a field shortly after take off at Boufarik airport, southwest of Algiers.

An investigation has been launched into Turkish political scientist Baskın Oran on charges of "making terror propaganda" in an article titled "Tragicomic experiments on Kurds," daily Cumhuriyet reported on Aug. 25. The lawsuit was reportedly opened upon a complaint from Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu.

It's a rubbish job, but someone has to do it. Or some animal: in the alleyways of Algiers' famed Kasbah, donkeys shift tons of trash every day.

Some streets in the Kasbah are so narrow that single file is necessary. Others are wider but are steep and stepped, ruling out more usual rubbish collection methods.

An archaeological treasure trove on the site of a planned metro station in central Algiers is set to become a museum, opening a window on 2,000 years of history.

The site, close to the Algerian capital's UNESCO-listed casbah, has yielded remains from the city's Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and French periods.

At least 22 people have died in fighting between Berbers and Arabs in southern Algeria, the bloodiest toll in two years of frequent clashes between the communities, national news agency APS reported on July 8.

Three-time world champions Germany had to go through extra time in order to beat Algeria in the 1/8 final of the World Cup.

The African side was playing its first ever match at this stage of a World Cup, but had a positive record against Germany in their previous meetings, the last of which came in 1982.

BELGRADE/ALGIERS - Serbia is on the right track to renew cooperation with non-aligned nations, Serbia's First Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic, who is also foreign minister, has said in Algiers, where he attended a ministerial conference of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) nations.