Algerians Flee Wildfires in Country's Northeast

Civil Defense teams try to put out fires in Jijel last summer. (file photo/Civil Defense)
Civil Defense teams try to put out fires in Jijel last summer. (file photo/Civil Defense)
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Algerians Flee Wildfires in Country's Northeast

Civil Defense teams try to put out fires in Jijel last summer. (file photo/Civil Defense)
Civil Defense teams try to put out fires in Jijel last summer. (file photo/Civil Defense)

Algerian firefighters on Sunday were battling blazes in the northeastern Kabylie region as families were ordered to evacuate, local media and an AFP journalist said.

Residents were told to leave homes in the fire's path in Tizi Ouzou province, news site Ennahar Online reported quoting a forest official, though it was not immediately clear how many people were affected.

Numerous wildfires have broken out in Tizi Ouzou since Friday, though most of them have been brought under control or were expected to soon, said civil defence official Nassim Bernaoui.

"The situation is under control, but outbreaks of fire continue in hard-to-reach areas," he told AFP in the village of Ait Frah, south of Tizi Ouzou city.

The AFP journalist saw olive groves and fig orchards consumed by fires, as well as hen coops, beehives and some homes.

Authorities in Bejaia province, near Tizi Ouzou, ordered the evacuation of around 20 families from Mezouara village, which is located near a forest where blazes raged on Sunday.

Online videos showed a water bomber deployed to help contain the forest fire.

Wildfires are a common sight in summer in northern Algeria, increasingly exacerbated by drought and heatwaves scientists say are linked to climate change.

More than 30 people died in massive fires that ravaged Bejaia in July 2023, destroying thousands of acres of forests and agricultural lands as well as hundreds of homes.



Bezos' Blue Origin calls off New Glenn Launch Again, Eyes Thursday

A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket stands ready for its inaugural launch at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., January 11, 2025. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo
A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket stands ready for its inaugural launch at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., January 11, 2025. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo
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Bezos' Blue Origin calls off New Glenn Launch Again, Eyes Thursday

A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket stands ready for its inaugural launch at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., January 11, 2025. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo
A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket stands ready for its inaugural launch at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., January 11, 2025. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo

Jeff Bezos' rocket company Blue Origin moved the launch of its New Glenn rocket from Tuesday to Thursday, Jan. 16, further pushing back its inaugural attempt to reach orbit and compete with SpaceX in the satellite launch market.

The company called off its first scheduled launch on Monday after a technical issue was encountered in the lead-up to its takeoff.

The three-hour launch window opens at 1 a.m. EST (0600 GMT) on Thursday, Blue Origin said in a post on X, according to Reuters.

The development of New Glenn has spanned three Blue Origin CEOs and faced numerous delays as Elon Musk's SpaceX grew into an industry juggernaut with its reusable Falcon 9, the world's most active rocket.

New Glenn is more than twice as powerful as a Falcon 9 rocket and has dozens of customer launch contracts collectively worth billions of dollars lined up.

The rocket would seek to land New Glenn's first stage booster on a sea-fairing barge in the Atlantic Ocean 10 minutes after liftoff, while the rocket's second stage continues toward orbit.

"The thing we're most nervous about is the booster landing," Bezos, who founded Blue Origin in 2000, told Reuters in a pre-launch interview on Sunday. "Clearly on a first flight you could have an anomaly at any mission phase, so anything could happen.