Thousands of people defied an official ban on demonstrations in the Algerian capital and gathered in the city centre for an pro-reform protest today, the day after weeks of mass protests in Egypt succeeded in toppling the president.

Algeria and Russia signed six deals in sectors including energy and transportation during a visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Muammar Gaddafi and Hugo Chavez urged nearly 30 leaders from throughout Africa and South America to form a strong intercontinental alliance to make the two regions a new global power.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika hailed his landslide re-election for a third term as a “lesson in democracy”, but opposition politicians and independent media alleged fraud at the polls, and the US government expressed concern.

FORMER taoiseach Bertie Ahern and his British counterpart Tony Blair are in the running for the Nobel peace prize, but then so too are Bono and Geldof — that’s Bob, not Peaches.

Two successive bombs rocked a train station in Algeria today, killing 13 people, mostly firefighters and soldiers responding to the first bomb, a security official said.

Two convicted terrorists who had been freed in an amnesty carried out the suicide bombings at United Nations and government buildings that killed 37 people, an Algerian security official said.

AL-QAIDA’S north African affiliate claimed responsibility yesterday for a car bombing in Algeria that killed 30 coast guard officers and another recent blast that ripped through a crowd waiting for the president.

A booby-trapped car exploded at a barracks housing coast guard officials in Algeria today, killing at least 17 people and injuring about 30, the country’s official news agency reported, citing hospital authorities.

Security forces killed a man described as the military adviser to the head of an al Qaida affiliate in Algeria in an assault on a mountain hide-out, it was reported.

Security officers are out in force for the Algerian election after a recent surge in violence.

The annual Arab League summit was sharply divided even before it began in Sudan today, with late-night wrangling over the wording of the final declaration and the absence of a number of key leaders at a meeting meant to tackle the region’s tricky problems.

France will rewrite a much-contested law that requires textbook publishers to put an upbeat spin on France’s colonial past, President Jacques Chirac said Wednesday.

Leaders and ministers of more than 50 Muslim countries urged their nations to fight terrorism and called for moderation within Islam, as they opened a summit yesterday in a palace overlooking Islam’s holiest shrine.

Algerians overwhelmingly approved a peace plan that provides a broad amnesty for Islamic extremists, but which critics denounced as a whitewash of past crimes, official referendum results showed today.

Algeria expected to announce referendum results today on a peace plan that provides amnesty for a broad spectrum of Islamic extremists, an effort to move past a brutal insurgency that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika says left 150,000 dead.

Algerians today voted on a peace plan the government says will help turn the page on a brutal Islamic insurgency that left an estimated 120,000 dead, but which critics say will whitewash past crimes.

IRAQ'S transitional prime minister called yesterday for a speedy withdrawal of US troops as the top US commander said he believed a "fairly substantial" pullout could begin next spring and summer.

ALGERIANS, lurching towards democracy after a bloody Islamic uprising, are going to the polls today in a presidential election that pits President Abdelaziz Bouteflika against a group of challengers warning of possible electoral fraud.

Heads of state of leading developing countries gathered in Switzerland today for a series of meetings on the sidelines of the summit of Group of Eight leading world powers.

Diggers and bulldozers began demolishing buildings today that were damaged beyond repair by last week’s devastating earthquake in Algeria.

The death toll from a devastating earthquake in northern Algeria neared 2,200 today.

The death toll from a devastating earthquake in northern Algeria has risen to more than 2,000.

Islamic militants have killed 21 soldiers who were carrying out an anti-terrorism sweep in northwest Algeria.

The Algerian President says he will not step down amid criticism of his management of two months of rioting that has left dozens dead.