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
TT

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.



Biden Calls for Immediate Gaza Ceasefire in Call with Netanyahu

FILE PHOTO: US President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
TT

Biden Calls for Immediate Gaza Ceasefire in Call with Netanyahu

FILE PHOTO: US President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo

US President Joe Biden spoke on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said, as US officials race to reach a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal before Biden leaves office on Jan. 20.
Biden and Netanyahu discussed efforts underway to reach a deal to halt the fighting in the Palestinian enclave and free the remaining hostages there, the White House said in a statement after the two leaders spoke by telephone.
Biden "stressed the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and return of the hostages with a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by a stoppage in the fighting under the deal," Reuters quoted it as saying.
Netanyahu updated Biden on progress in the talks and on the mandate he has given his top-level security delegation now in Doha in order to advance a hostage deal, Netanyahu said in a statement.
The two leaders also discussed "the fundamentally changed regional circumstances following the ceasefire deal in Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and the weakening of Iran’s power in the region," the White House said.
Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN's "State of the Union" program earlier on Sunday that the parties were "very, very close" to reaching a deal, but still had to get it across the finish line.
He said Biden was getting daily updates on the talks in Doha, where Israeli and Palestinian officials have said since Thursday that some progress has been made in the indirect talks between Israel and militant group Hamas.
"We are still determined to use every day we have in office to get this done," Sullivan said, "and we are not, by any stretch of imagination, setting this aside."
He said there was still a chance to reach an agreement before Biden leaves office, but that it was also possible "Hamas, in particular, remains intransigent."
During their call, Netanyahu also thanked Biden for his lifelong support of Israel and "the extraordinary support from the United States for Israel’s security and national defense," the White House said.