ALGERIA –President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 76, has returned home from Paris after a medical check-up.

It was gathered that the ailing president flew back earlier than scheduled due to an overall improvement in his health.

Mr Bouteflika, who suffered a mini-stroke last year, was admitted to the French Val-de-Grace hospital on Monday.

He also received medical treatment in France for three months in 2013.

His critics say he leads an authoritarian regime, and should hand power to a younger generation.

He became president in 1999 and is regarded as being among the last of a generation of leaders who fought in the 1954-1962 war of independence from France.