Washington / AFP The Pentagon acknowledged for the first time that it has deployed US troops to Yemen since the country’s collapse last year to bolster government and Arab coalition forces battling Al-Qaeda. Spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said the US military has also stepped up air strikes against fighters with Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). A “very …

  Gaza City / AFP Israeli aircraft hit two Hamas targets in Gaza early on Saturday in response to rocket fire as the worst flare-up of violence since a 2014 war entered a fourth day. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket launch and most such fire since 2014 has been carried out by fringe extremist groups but …

  d r congo / Bloomberg The Democratic Republic of Congo said the developer for the first phase of the $100 billion Grand Inga hydropower project will be selected by August for construction to start by June next year. Two of the three groups that answered Congo’s 2010 call for bids remain in the running, Bruno Kapandji, head of the …