Algeria will celebrate 60 years of independence from France with a huge military parade on Tuesday.
The North African country earned its independence with the signing of the Evian Accords, following an eight-year war, in March 1962.
But memories of violence during the 132-year occupation continue to harm ties between the two countries.
Algeria broke free from colonial rule on July 5, 1962 — days after 99.72 per cent of Algerians voted for independence.
On Friday, a 16-kilometre stretch of a major road in Algiers was closed so the army could carry out final rehearsals for its parade, the first in 33 years.
The closure caused huge tailbacks on roads leading to the eastern suburbs of the capital.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is to preside over the parade, hosting several foreign dignitaries including Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, Tunisia's Kais Saied and Niger's Mohamed Bazoum.
The government has even commissioned a logo, a circle of 60 stars containing military figures and equipment, to mark "a glorious history and a new era".
Algeria's war of independence left hundreds of thousands of people dead.
Sixty years later, despite a string of gestures by French President Emmanuel Macron, France has ruled out any form of apology for the colonial period.
"There's no way we can forget or erase the human genocide, the cultural genocide and the identity genocide of which colonial France remains guilty," said Salah Goudjil, speaker of the Algerian parliament's upper house, in an interview published by newspaper L'Expression on Monday.
French-Algerian ties hit a low late last year after Mr Macron reportedly questioned whether Algeria had existed as a nation before the French invasion and accused its "political-military system" of rewriting history and fomenting "hatred towards France".
Algeria withdrew its ambassador in response, but the two sides appear to have mended ties since.
Mr Macron and Mr Tebboune confirmed in a June 18 phone call their desire to "deepen" relations, and Mr Tebboune invited his French counterpart to visit Algiers.
Gertrude Bell's life in focus
A feature film
At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.
A documentary
A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.
Books, letters and archives
Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.
The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands
50-man Royal Rumble
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos
Casket match The Undertaker v Chris Jericho
John Cena v Triple H
Matches to be announced
WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Raw Tag Team Championship, United States Championship and the Cruiserweight Championship are all due to be defended
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Rain Management
Year started: 2017
Based: Bahrain
Employees: 100-120
Amount raised: $2.5m from BitMex Ventures and Blockwater. Another $6m raised from MEVP, Coinbase, Vision Ventures, CMT, Jimco and DIFC Fintech Fund
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
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