The fifteen European countries of the border-control free zone known as the Schengen area have agreed they no longer need to consult each other before issuing visas to Algerians, a move expected to cut the waiting time from 15 days currently to 1-3 days, France's interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, has announced.
Algiers- Song, folk music and plays are included in the programme made by the National Office of Culture and Information (ONCI) specially for the month of Ramadan. These activities will be kicked off by the dress rehearsal of ''Les prétendants'' (pretenders), a play adapted of the work of the Russian playwright Gogol, performed by the association ''Kaouss Kouzeh'' of Algiers and directed by Saïdi Merzoug.
Seville (Spain) - President of the Republic Abdelaziz Bouteflika, arrived Thursday in Seville (Spain) where he will attend the inauguration of the exhibition "Ibn Khaldoun, the Mediterranean at the 14th century: Development and decline of empires." This exhibition, which is held on the occasion of the celebration of the sixth centenary of the death of famous thinker Ibn Khaldoun, will propose an examination of political, economic and social relations existing in the 14th century between Europe and the Arab-Moslem world. Many heads of state of the Mediterranean basin will partake in this event.
