Bloomberg Chernobyl, Ukraine|AFP: Defying radioactive contamination and a government evacuation order, Yevgeny Markevich returned to his beloved Chernobyl shortly after it suffered the world’s worst nuclear accident 30 years ago this week. The sturdy 78-year-old former teacher is among 158 people still living in the 30 kilometre (19 mile) exclusion zone around the Ukrainian nuclear power plant where reactor …

  Aden / AFP Yemeni troops have recaptured a key port city from Al-Qaeda militants who controlled it for a year, in what a Saudi-led coalition hailed on Monday as a major victory that saw more than 800 extremists killed. The assault on the southeastern city of Mukalla, home to some 200,000 people, was part of a wider counter-offensive against …

  HANNOVER / AP President Barack Obama on Monday announced the deployment to Syria of an additional 250 US special operations forces to assist local troops who are trying to dislodge IS extremists, significantly broadening the American presence in the war-torn country. The move will bring the number of personnel to roughly 300, up from about 50 special operations forces …