Algeria’s Tebboune Ends COVID-19 Treatment, to Undergo Checks

FILE PHOTO: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina
FILE PHOTO: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina
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Algeria’s Tebboune Ends COVID-19 Treatment, to Undergo Checks

FILE PHOTO: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina
FILE PHOTO: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has finished treatment for COVID-19 but will undergo follow-up checks, the country's presidency said on Sunday.

Tebboune, 75, was flown to a German hospital 19 days ago after he tested positive for the coronavirus.

Tebboune was elected last December after more than a year of mass protests that toppled his predecessor Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Algerians earlier this month approved changes to the constitution to allow more powers for the parliament and prime minister, and pave the way for the army to take part in peacekeeping missions overseas.

Tebboune has also announced plans to develop the non-energy sector to diversify the economy away from oil and gas and create sorely-needed jobs in the nation of 44 million people.



Top Israeli Security Delegation in Doha for Gaza Talks

An Israeli soldier sits on top of a tank at a camp, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, January 12, 2025. REUTERS
An Israeli soldier sits on top of a tank at a camp, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, January 12, 2025. REUTERS
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Top Israeli Security Delegation in Doha for Gaza Talks

An Israeli soldier sits on top of a tank at a camp, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, January 12, 2025. REUTERS
An Israeli soldier sits on top of a tank at a camp, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, January 12, 2025. REUTERS

A top level Israeli security delegation arrived in Qatar on Sunday for talks on a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, in a possible sign of so-far elusive agreements nearing.

Qatar and fellow mediators Egypt and the United States are making renewed efforts to reach a deal to halt the fighting in the enclave and free the remaining 98 hostages held there before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

Netanyahu's office said on Saturday that the delegation includes Mossad Head David Barnea, the head of the Shin Bet domestic security service Ronen Bar and the military's head of the hostage brief, Nitzan Alon.

Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, met on Saturday with Netanyahu, after having met on Friday with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Reuters reported.

Israeli and Palestinian officials have said since Thursday that some progress has been made in the indirect talks between Israel and militant group Hamas but did not elaborate. The sides have been keeping a tight lid on the details being worked out.

It is unclear how they will bridge one of the biggest gaps that has persisted throughout previous rounds of talks: Hamas demands an end to the war while Israel says it won't end the war as long as Hamas rules Gaza and poses a threat to Israelis.

Israel launched its assault in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders in October 2023. Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave laid to waste and gripped by a humanitarian crisis, and most of its population displaced.