Briefly

AFRICA

Continental trade bloc opens for business

African countries began officially trading under a new continent-wide free trade area on Friday, after months of delays caused by the global coronavirus pandemic. The African Continental Free Trade Area, or AfCFTA, aims to bring together 1.3 billion people in a $3.4 trillion economic bloc that will be the largest free trade area since the establishment of the World Trade Organization. Backers say it will boost trade among African neighbors while allowing the continent to develop its own value chains. The World Bank estimates it could lift tens of millions out of poverty by 2035. Trade under the AfCFTA was meant to be launched on July 1 but was pushed back after COVID-19 made in-person negotiations impossible.

MIDDLE EAST

US to move aircraft carrier out of Gulf

The Pentagon has decided to send home the USS Nimitz, the only Navy aircraft carrier operating in the Middle East, a move that will reduce the country's firepower in the region. The decision, announced on Thursday by the acting secretary of defense, Christopher Miller, came one day after US Air Force B-52 bombers flew nonstop from the United States to the Persian Gulf in a show of force. The US has maintained a near-continuous aircraft carrier presence in the Gulf region since the USS Abraham Lincoln was sent there in May 2019.

ALGERIA

Road accident kills 20 and injures 11

Twenty people were killed on Thursday in Algeria when a vehicle carrying mainly African nationals overturned in the south of the country, the civil protection unit said. The crash took place near the town of Tamanrasset and 11 people were also injured, the rescue unit said on its Facebook page. Those killed were 19 African nationals, including children, and the Algerian driver of the pickup truck, which was completely destroyed in the accident, it added.

Agencies - Xinhua