National cell coordinates the wildfire response
The Prime Minister’s services have installed a continuously operating national monitoring and support cell. It brings together the relevant sectors and national bodies to coordinate firefighting, relief operations and support for affected families. The arrangement provides a central point for the response. It does not show that every fire across Algeria has been extinguished or that every displaced household has returned.
In Annaba, patients evacuated from Seraïdi’s specialist physical-medicine and rehabilitation hospital began returning after the fires threatening its surroundings were put out. They had been moved to El Hadjar public hospital and El Bouni’s medical-emergency facility. The supervised return started at 13:00 on 22 July and was due to continue until all patients could be transferred back safely.
Education-linked pardons cover nearly 5,000 inmates
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has signed a decree granting pardons to inmates who passed the 2026 middle-school certificate or baccalaureate examinations. It also covers inmates who earned completion certificates in vocational-training and craft programmes during the 2025–2026 academic year. The Presidency said that nearly 5,000 people across the stated categories would benefit.
The announcement gives an approximate total and the broad qualification groups, not a person-by-person eligibility decision. It does not publish a nominal list, an individual release date or the decree’s full legal text. The measure should not be widened to every inmate who studied, and it would be premature to say that every administrative release procedure has already been completed.
Top BEM and baccalaureate achievers honoured in Algiers
The President chaired an awards ceremony at the Palace of the People for Algeria’s leading 2026 BEM and baccalaureate candidates. The honourees included top national performers, pupils from the Cadet Schools of the Nation, candidates with special needs and high-achieving pupils from the Algerian International School in France. Medals, gifts and financial awards were presented during the ceremony.
Mathematics also featured in the event. Pupils honoured the President, and Pan-African Mathematics Olympiad gold medallist Yahia Alaa presented her medal. The ceremony recognises results that have already been achieved. It does not alter examination grades, university-admission rules or scholarship entitlement, and it should not be turned into a new ranking beyond the names and results formally announced.
Education staff must request inter-wilaya transfers online
Permanent teachers in Algeria’s three school cycles who want a transfer outside their current assignment administration for 2026–2027 must apply through the National Education sector’s information system. Teachers use their professional portal, while primary-school, middle-school and secondary-school administrators use their ministry accounts. The procedure is online only for the groups covered by the communiqué.
A transfer remains dependent on a vacant budgeted post in the requested wilaya, grade and, for teachers, subject. Submission does not guarantee acceptance. This digest omits the closing date because the readable account contains an inconsistent year in the teacher paragraph. Staff should rely on the direct ministry notice in their account rather than an uncertain date repeated elsewhere.
ONPO publishes a preliminary list of 53 Hadj agencies
The National Office of Pilgrimage and Umrah has published a preliminary list of 53 travel agencies selected to participate in organising the 1448 H/2027 Hadj season. The process refers to the office director’s Decision 156 of 13 July 2026 and the selection commission’s record of 15 July. The list remains preliminary rather than a final, unconditional authorisation.
Agencies may file a written appeal from 23 July until noon on 25 July under the procedure in ONPO’s notice. That window belongs to the professional agency-selection process. It does not open pilgrim registration and does not approve visas, quotas, prices or packages. Prospective pilgrims will need to wait for the public instructions issued for their own stage of the season.
Ministry-supervised celebratory festivals paused for August
The Ministry of Culture and Arts has immediately suspended celebratory arts and cultural festivals scheduled nationally for August where they are organised by institutions and festival commissions under its supervision. The ministry linked the step to wildfires in several wilayas, exceptional heat and the need to focus support on affected communities and responders working in the field.
The scope is defined by the ministry’s supervisory authority. It is not a cancellation of every private, municipal or otherwise unrelated event in Algeria during August. Ticket holders and participants should check directly with the relevant organiser. The announcement does not establish a general refund policy, replacement date or rescheduling rule for every event that may be affected.
Algerian and Italian police sign a technical protocol
Algeria’s Director General of National Security, Ali Badaoui, received Italian Public Security chief Vittorio Pisani and a senior delegation in Algiers. Their talks covered cooperation against transnational organised crime, irregular migration and cybercrime, together with joint training. The two police chiefs signed a technical cooperation protocol intended to strengthen working mechanisms between the institutions.
The available announcement confirms the meeting and signature but does not publish the protocol’s full legal text or implementation calendar. It is not evidence of an arrest, investigation result or immediate deployment. No budget, migration target, operational case or undisclosed intelligence-sharing arrangement should be inferred from the short institutional account.
Algeria and Chad discuss a proposed joint cement plant
Industry Minister Yahia Bachir received a Chadian delegation in Algiers to discuss faster industrial cooperation. The leading project is a proposed cement plant in Chad in partnership with Algeria’s GICA group. Executives from GICA, ELEC El Djazaïr, the Algerian mechanical group, DIVINDUS and the national steel company joined the meeting.
The parties also considered cooperation in other industrial fields and closer links between Algerian and Chadian companies. The talks show an intention to move the cement project forward, but they do not establish that construction has begun. No signed building contract, site, capacity, investment value, closed financing, job total or commissioning date was announced.
Benin talks focus on electricity, equipment and training
Energy and Renewable Energy Minister Mourad Adjal and his Beninese counterpart Edouard Dahomey discussed bilateral cooperation by videoconference. The practical lanes were electricity, energy-equipment manufacturing and skills training. The meeting also reviewed work between Sonelgaz and Benin’s electricity body CEB under a 2024 memorandum covering the electricity value chain, training and expertise transfer.
Algeria expressed readiness to share expertise, support energy infrastructure and explore equipment supply to Benin and wider West African markets. These are directions for further work, not sales already secured. The discussion produced no announced supply contract, shipment, project value, generating capacity, construction start or guarantee of commercial access across the region.
Sixty Ouargla lecturers begin English training in Manchester
Kasdi Merbah University of Ouargla has sent 60 lecturers from several faculties and institutes to Manchester for one month of intensive English training. The visit forms part of the Higher Education Ministry’s overseas language-development programme. The university says it is intended to strengthen academic skills and help participation in international scientific exchanges and research publication.
The cohort size, destination and duration are established. The expected academic benefits remain programme objectives rather than measured outcomes. The announcement does not name a UK host institution, promise a qualification or report a tested language gain. It also does not establish a permanent exchange agreement or any employment consequence for the lecturers taking part.
Football: Aïssa Mandi retires from international duty
Aïssa Mandi has announced his retirement from international football after 12 years with Algeria. The 34-year-old defender leaves the national side with a reported 123 appearances and eight goals. His international record includes the 2014 World Cup and six Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, including Algeria’s title-winning campaign in 2019.
The decision came shortly after Mandi joined Levante in Spain. It applies to his Algeria career only: he has not retired from club football. No farewell match or unstated motive should be added to the announcement. The appearance and goal totals remain the figures reported with the news unless a current federation record provides a different authoritative count.