Algiers

Algeria has offered the military that seized power in Niger a "six-month transitional plan" to restore constitutional and democratic order, instead of the three years they proposed, the country's head of diplomacy said, quoted by "AFP".

In a riot of color, music and dance, thousands of Tuareg have flocked to the Sebeiba festival that marks the end of an ancient tribal feud and which once a year transforms an oasis town deep in the Algerian Sahara.

Encounters between Albanians and Africans in Western Europe accentuate the ethno-racial distinction between 'diasporic' communities as they struggle for recognition and resources.

But how, in the past, did communist ideology mediate relations between Albanians and Africans?

Albanian ties to anti-colonial figures

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni is looking to boost already strong energy ties with Algeria to further wean Italy off Russian energy, a focus of her two-day visit to the North African nation that started yesterday.

A UNESCO-listed rabbit warren of 16th-century battlements and Ottoman palaces, the Casbah of the Algerian capital is falling into disrepair, but efforts to save it have been accelerating.

The densely populated district, about a kilometer across, perches above the Bay of Algiers and has been the site of key moments in the North African country's history.

A painting by Irish-born British artist Francis Bacon of fellow U.K. painter Lucian Freud sold on June 29 for 43.3 million pounds ($52.5 million, 50.2 million euros), according to Sotheby's auction house.

The price is an auction record for a painting by Bacon sold in London and also for any single panel painting by the artist.

Italian energy giant Eni signed a memorandum of understanding on May 26 with Algeria's Sonatrach to boost gas exploration in the north African nation, as Rome seeks to reduce its reliance on Russia.

It was penned during a state visit by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to Rome, a few weeks after Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi made his own trip to Algiers.

It's the Algerian start-up that made good: despite the country's notoriously complex business climate, taxi and home-delivery firm Yassir has millions of users and is expanding across Africa.

Maribor – Opera lovers will be able to enjoy some of the most renowned arias from Italian, French and Slovenian operas at the recently renovated main square in the centre of Maribor on Thursday evening. The Night of the Opera, hosted by the SNG Maribor theatre, will also mark the closing of the opera season.

Pablo Picasso's "Woman Sitting Near a Window (Marie-Therese)" sold on May 13 for $103.4 million at Christie's in New York, the auction house said.

The painting, completed in 1932, was sold after 19 minutes of bidding for $90 million, which rose to $103.4 million when fees and commissions were added, Christie's said.