The African Union says it plans to withdraw its forces from Somalia by the end of 2020 after years of trying to secure the Horn of Africa country against extremist group al-Shabab. The AU’s Peace and Security Council statement issued this week comes after a series of challenges for the 22,000-strong multinational peacekeeping force, including funding issues that left some Read More

Congress general secretary in-charge of party affairs in Uttarakhand Ambika Soni on Thursday met Chief Minister Harish Rawat and state party chief Kishore Upadhyay to review relief efforts in the wake of torrential rains and cloudbursts in Pithoragarh and Chamoli districts that killed 21 people. Taking stock of the relief efforts at the Congress office, Soni asked party workers to Read More

The prospect of Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt missing the Rio Olympics through injury will rightly give organisers and fans palpitations. But track and field’s chief administrator, Sebastian Coe, insisted today that the Summer Games were not based around one athlete, albeit acknowledging the “genius” of the six-time Olympic gold medallist. Bolt is facing a race against time to be Read More

Indian boxer Neeraj Goyat (69kg) lost in the semifinals but remained in the hunt for an Olympic quota berth in the International Boxing Association’s Olympic qualifying tournament for professional boxers in Vargas, Venezuela today. The 24-year-old Neeraj, who is the reigning WBC Asian champion, went down 0-3 to second-seeded German Arajik Marutjan, a former European Championships silver-medallist. However, the loss Read More

BJP President Amit Shah met party leaders and Ministers in Gujarat, where Assembly election is due in late 2017, and discussed organisational matters. Shah, who arrived in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, is expected to stay till Friday and meet some more leaders, said Gujarat BJP media convener Harshad Patel. Several top BJP leaders and Ministers, including state unit chief and Transport Read More

Two investigative journalists at the heart of a controversial leaks trial at the Vatican were acquitted on Thursday after judges ruled they did not have the authority to examine their cases. Italians Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi, who had published books based on the documents at the heart of the trial, were not considered to have committed a crime on Read More

The Portugal reign of Fernando Santos will come full circle in the Stade de France on Sunday. In October 2014, Santos began his mission to revive Portugal’s fortunes after a poor World Cup with a friendly defeat by France at the stadium outside Paris. Portugal will be back there in Sunday’s European Championship final, against either France or Germany, which Read More

Donald Trump faced a tough crowd when he met Republicans in Congress on Thursday but several lawmakers, including past critics, emerged from the closed-door meeting with encouraging words about their presumptive White House nominee. Republican aides cited good attendance from both houses of Congress at the two meetings, although some lawmakers made a point of staying away, citing previous commitments. Read More

Terming as a deliberate “attack” on the Ambedkarite movement the demolition of Ambedkar Bhavan at Dadar in central Mumbai, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar on Thursday said a rally to protest against the move has been postponed to July 19 from July 15. The Ambedkar Bhavan and the Buddha Bhushan printing press started by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar were demolished Read More

Poland’s ruling conservatives rushed an amended version of its constitutional court reforms through parliament on Thursday, apparently in an effort to reassure its Western allies over the issue hours before a NATO summit opens in Warsaw. Opposition critics said, however, the changes fell short of what was needed to keep from undermining democratic checks and balances, a concern expressed by Read More