A fire that swept through a state-run children’s home in the Mohammadia suburb of Algiers in the early hours of Thursday killed ten children and a 52-year-old carer, according to Algerian police and civil protection authorities. Forensic investigators have attributed the blaze to an electrical spark from a faulty air-conditioning unit that had been running continuously during an intense heatwave. Nineteen other residents were injured, ten of them with burns of varying severity, and are being treated at the country’s main burns hospital in Zéralda.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, returning from an official visit to Germany on Friday evening, went directly to the hospital to visit survivors and was briefed by medical staff. He stated that all state resources had been mobilised for their care and stressed the importance of psychological support. Earlier, Prime Minister Sifi Ghrieb had attended the burial of ten victims at Sidi R’zine cemetery in Baraki, where freshly closed graves were marked only by numbered plaques or the word “Rahma” (mercy), without names. The eleventh victim was interred by relatives in Boudouaou. The absence of names on the graves has been noted by local media as a reflection of the children’s institutionalised lives.

In Sudan, the population of al-Obeid, a city of over half a million people, is enduring what UN officials and aid agencies describe as siege-like conditions. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have encircled the city on three sides, blocking most trade and transit routes, while the Sudanese army has dug a 50-kilometre trench perimeter. Drone strikes have targeted civilian infrastructure including hospitals, schools, and fuel depots, and a recent aid shipment of 50 tonnes was destroyed. Access to drinking water is severely limited amid temperatures reaching 40°C, and a cholera outbreak is compounding the crisis. The European Parliament adopted a resolution on 9 July calling for the RSF to be designated a terrorist organisation.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the return of displaced people to their homes in Lebanon has slowed in recent days due to ongoing hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. More than 741,000 people have gone back to their areas of origin since the escalation in March, but over 412,000 remain displaced, including some 30,000 still in collective shelters. Many returnees face destroyed homes, lost livelihoods, and mounting debt. The UN’s $640 million emergency appeal is less than half funded. In Algeria, opposition parties and social media users have demanded a transparent investigation into the orphanage fire and a nationwide review of fire safety standards in public institutions. Authorities have not yet indicated whether any charges will be brought.