The FIFA Council revised the 2026 World Cup group stage structure to 12 groups of four teams from 16 groups of three teams on Tuesday, bringing the total number of matches up to 104 from 64 in the 2022 tournament in Qatar. A fresh set of 32 teams will begin the knockout stage, with the top two teams in each group and the top eight third-place teams moving on. 

As the tournament increased from 24 teams to 32 teams in 1998, third-place teams were no longer eligible for advancement. As a result of the alteration, there will be 104 matches, up from the 80 matches under the planned 2026 format and double the 52 matches at the World Cup held in the United States in 1994. More tickets to sell and more content for television broadcasters to provide translates to more money for FIFA.

As the World Cup was enlarged from 32 to 48 nations commencing in 2026, the Council decided to adopt the original format for the competition in the United States, Mexico, and Canada in January 2017. The group’s last day would have included two teams competing while one team rested, which could have encouraged corruption.

The Disgrace of Gijón at the 1982 World Cup in Spain, where West Germany and Austria knew that a one- or two-goal win by the Germans would advance both nations at the expense of Algeria, which played a day earlier, led to the adoption of the current schedule, which has all teams in a group kick off simultaneously on the final day. West Germany prevailed 1-0 as Horst Hrubesch scored in the tenth minute with no further threats from either team.

The FIFA announced the July 19 date for the championship. The location has not yet been chosen, but the three front-runners are East Rutherford, New Jersey; Arlington, Texas; and Inglewood, California. The tournament’s duration, which is anticipated to run between 38 and 42 days, has not been stated. This is an increase from 32 for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and 29 for the competition held in Qatar last year. The 1994 competition took place between June 17 and July 17.

Pakistan’s former PM Imran Khan is under the radar of Islamabad Police. The local police started shelling all around his residence around 6 am this morning (Wednesday). As per the reports police seized all the roads around the house of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman. They blocked the roads with heavy containers along with riot personnel who took part in the operation in which PTI supporters were also injured. Imran Khan previously faced arrest by the police in the Toshakhana case.

Supporters of Imran Khan earlier clashed with police and faced teargas shells and batons. A police team arrived from Islamabad to arrest Imran Khan over the order of the court but his supporters gathered outside his residence. A senior leader of Imran’s Party PTI, Farukh Habib gave a statement to the media saying that come what may Imran Khan would not surrender to police in fake cases.

Understand the story in major points:

1. Imran Khan was found guilty by Pakistan’s election commission of unlawfully selling gifts to foreign dignitaries in October last year.
2. Charges were filed against ex-pm Imran Khan and former cricketer in an anti-corruption court last week and an arrest warrant was issued after him, but he skipped the summon.
3. When the police came again to arrest Imran his supporters gathered outside his residence to prevent his arrest. In a confrontation with police, one PTI (Tehreek-e-Insaf) activist was killed.
4. By accusing the government Imran told the media, “This is a part of London plan and a setting has been made there to put him in jail. Make the PTI fall and finish all cases against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.”
5. This is the second time in the last weeks that Pakistan police came from Islamabad with an arrest warrant from the court to arrest Imran after he skipped several court hearings.
6. Mr Khan released a video message as mayhem erupted outside his home. He said, “The cops are here to take me into custody. They think that if Imran Khan goes to jail, the masses will go to drowse. You have to show them wrong, you have to prove that the people are alive.”
7. This is allegedly the 81st FIR against Imran Khan since the formation of the PML-N-led federal alliance came into power 11 months ago.

The famous football club, Barcelona, which has made big names like Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho, and even Neymar, is on the radar of other clubs now that it has been facing charges for bribing referees over the span of many years, more than two decades possibly of relegation threatening large. The biggest news is if found guilty, the club could be stripped of all the Champions League titles it has won in years. 

If the court proceedings go against Barca, Pep Guardiola could lose the trophies from his list of honors. “The chance of relegation [from European competitions] may occur. UEFA can judge facts that do not have international significance. If there is any proof of some peculiarities, they have the power to act,” Catalan Sports Court president, Joan Maria Xiol, told the media in an interview. 

“Also, on the list of actions against the Catalan side, there is a possibility that they may lose trophies and be out of European competitions definitively,” the source added. 

Barca has been accused of buying off referees from 2003-2018, indicating that this could lead them to lose the four Champions League trophies and titles they won during that period of time, which includes the 2006 win against Arsenal, where Guardiola famously defeated Wenger, Henry, and co. 

Former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi who is the Former Bihar Chief Minister and 14 others are likely to appear before a Delhi district court on Wednesday in association with a case linked to the alleged land-for-jobs scam. On February 27, The Rouse Avenue Court in the national capital summoned individuals regarding the alleged appointments that were reportedly exchanged for land parcels given or sold to Lalu Prasad’s family during his tenure as Union Railway Minister from 2004 to 2009, under the UPA government. 

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) included in its charge sheet that appointments were improper and violated the Indian Railways’ established standards and guidelines for recruitment. The agency’s report alleged that the job-seeker gave land to Yadav’s family members at extremely cheap prices, which directly benefited close family members and relatives. The CBI filed the charge sheet in the case on October 10, 2022, against the minister’s family members and others. 

Special judge Geetanjali Goel issued summon on February 27 to the accused people including Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharti and directed them to appear before the district court on March 15. “A perusal of the charge sheet, the documents and material on record prima facie show the commission of offences under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy), read with sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using forged document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and many sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA). Accordingly, notice is taken of the said offences,” the Special Judge stated.

The CBI alleged that many residents of Bihar were appointed as replacements in the ‘Group D post’ from 2004 to 2009 in different zones of Indian railways located at Kolkata, Jaipur, Mumbai, Jabalpur and Hajipur. The investigation agency also added that there was no official advertisement or any public notice issued for substitute appointments in the zonal railways. On the other hand, the evaluation of the land as per the existing circle rate was about ₹ 4.39 crore, estimated by the CBI.

On March 15’ 2023, Wednesday, Veteran Film and Television actor passed away at the age of 71, his brother Ganesh Khakhar confirmed the news of his death. Sameer Khakhar, who was seen in Salman Khan’s film Jai ho, died due to multiple organ failure. The actor was admitted to M M Hospital at, Borivali on March 14th where he breathed his last. He also suffered from urinary issues and respiratory problems, according to a report. 

In an interview with ETimes, Ganesh, cousin brother of Sameer Khakhar said, “He was suffering from respiratory issues, then he went to sleep and went unconscious. We called the doctor and he suggested that we should admit him to the hospital. His heart was also not working properly and he had urinary issues as well. His condition worsened, he was kept on a ventilator, but eventually, he collapsed at 4:30 am this morning.” Sameer’s funeral is reported to be held in the evening at Babhai Naka crematorium, Borivali.

Veteran actor Sameer Khakhar was best known for his role as Khopri in the cult Doordarshan television series, Nukkad. In the 38 years of his acting career, he was a part of several films and TV shows. The actor had taken a short break from showbiz and settled in the USA, later he returned and did two Gujarati plays as he was also a known name in the Gujarat theatre, and was popular for his character in Salman Khan’s film Jai Ho. Mr. Khakhar actively participated in both the TV and film industries. He did a lot of shows, such as Manoranjan, Circus, Naya Nukkad, Adalat, Shrimaan Shrimati, and the most famous one Nukkad. He was last seen in Surbhi Chanda and Namit Khanna’s starrer Sanjivani. 

Sameer Khakahr was also a part of some films including Shehzaade, Awwal Number, Parinde, Ptakha, Aatank hi Aatank, and the most popular one was Jai Ho. Once, the actor had spoken to a news portal and revealed that he was in a search of good roles after returning from the USA but he did not get one. He said, “Everyone is looking for work, so am I, and by looking for work I mean approaching and applying for the job.” Sameer Khakhar also stated that he is hopeful that people who know him will offer him work and he did not want to stop working till the day he died. He wished to entertain the audience all his life. The death of Veteran actor Sameer Khakhar shocked the whole Television and Film industry.  

Netflix which is one of people’s favourite OTT platforms just announced the new seasons of some web series that had become audience favourites. Do you remember how Kota Factory made everyone question the education system, Mismatched gave everyone butterflies in their stomach and Delhi Crime made shivers run down the spine? Well, to bring back all those emotions back, Netflix announced the third season of each of these shows. Along with that the OTT platform also announced the third season of Imtiaz Ali’s She and reality TV Series- Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives.

 Team Netflix took to Instagram while giving the news. They wrote a caption saying, “Shway Shway! It is time to refill your coffee cups because these favourites are back for a brand NEW SEASON with whole lotta twists, crime and drama!” Further, sharing a video announcement on YouTube the team wrote, “Psstttt…. We have an announcement to make. They say the third time’s a charm and we took it seriously! Your favourite shows like Mismatched, Fabulous Lives Of Bollywood Wives, Delhi Crime, Kota Factory & SHE return for a much-awaited Season 3! Streaming soon, only on Netflix!” Fans from all around got very much excited and expressed their feelings by sharing Instagram stories, tweets and commenting on Instagram posts. 

An insight into every series so that you do not miss out on the masterpieces!

• Delhi Crime

Shefali Shah is in the lead role in the drama that follows the officials of Delhi Police as they investigate heinous high-profile crimes that took place in the National Capital. The first two seasons were an amalgamation of real-life and fictional events. Shefali Shah also shared a story on the gram while mentioning that ‘madam sir is back.’ 

• Mismatched 

Inspired by Sandhya Menon’s 2017 novel ‘When Dimple Met Rishi’, Mismatched has Prajakta Kholi and Rohit Saraf in the lead. The plot revolves around the love story of these two actors. The lead actors also shared a collaborative post on Instagram and said that they weren’t ready to leave yet, thus, they are back. 

• Kota Factory 

Directed by Raghav Subbu, Kota Factory is about a boy Vaibhav who is on his journey to get admission to one of Kota’s leading training institutions. The show reflects how he tries to balance friendships, relationships and the pressure of getting into IIT. Ahsaas Channa who plays one of the significant roles in the show also shared her excitement. While sharing the announcement video she tagged her fellow actors and wrote that “Yes we are coming back with Season 3.”

• Fabulous Lives Of Bollywood Wives

The lives of four ‘Bollywood ladies,’ Maheep Kapoor (wife of Sanjay Kapoor), Bhavana Pandey (wife of Chunky Panday), Seema Khan (wife of Sohail Khan), and Neelam Kothari  (wife of Samir Soni), are followed in Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives. The show is produced by filmmaker Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment, the digital imprint of Dharma Productions. One of the fabulous wives, Maheep Kapoor shared a story on Instagram and told that lot of fun things will be coming with season three. 

• She

Imtiaz Ali’s film ‘She,’ is both written and directed by him. The web series stars Aaditi Pohankar as the lead character of an undercover Mumbai police officer. Tipping Point and Window Seat Films of Viacom 18 Studios are the production house of the series. Vijya Varma and Kishore Kumar G are the other lead actors in the show. 

The excitement is too much and honestly, that is understandable. Even though these shows are renewed still the fans have to be patient through the whole production process. It will be a while before all these known characters will be back on our screens, however, it will all be worth the wait. 

ACS IT Solutions, a leading provider of business communication solutions, has announced a strategic partnership with Adroit Software Service, a prominent software development company. This partnership aims to provide businesses with enhanced software development solutions and other IT support services. As part of this partnership, Adroit will become the software development division of ACS IT Solutions, offering its expertise in software development to ACS IT Solutions’ existing clients. Adroit has an established reputation for developing innovative and user-friendly software applications across various domains such as healthcare, education, finance, and more.

The Founder of ACS IT Solutions Laneesh said, “We are delighted to have Adroit as our software development division. They have experience in software development and our domain knowledge enables us to provide more comprehensive and innovative IT solutions to our customers.” Co-Founder of ACS, Bivin Baby adds, “Our goal was not just to provide IT services but to become a partner to our clients, helping them achieve their business goals with our solutions. We believe in building long-term relationships with our clients, and that’s why we focus on delivering quality services.

“Founder of Adroit Aneesh TA said, “We are excited to be a part of ACS IT Solutions’ growth journey, this partnership will enable us to offer our expertise in software development to a broader audience and help businesses achieve their goals with our innovative solutions.” He further adds that “We are proud of what we have achieved so far, but we know that there is still a lot to do. We are continuously evolving and improving our services to meet the changing needs of our clients.” says the founder.

Over the years, ACS IT Solutions has expanded its services and added new domains such as software development, digital marketing, and more. Today, the company has a strong presence in the market, serving clients across various domains, including many organisations such as education, finance, and more. With their dedication and commitment to providing innovative and affordable IT solutions, Laneesh and Bavin Baby are poised to take ACS IT Solutions to greater heights in the future.

ACS IT Solutions is a leading provider of web hosting, bulk SMS services, email services, and overall IT support to businesses. They offer a range of IT solutions that help businesses enhance their productivity, efficiency and achieve their business goals. Whereas Adroit is a software development company that provides innovative and user-friendly software solutions across various domains such as healthcare, education, finance, and more. They specialize in custom software development, web development, and more.

On March 14, 2023, Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with his top ministers to formulate the strategy of the government ahead of the second part of the budget session in the Parliament. The list of ministers present included Prahlad Joshi Union Minister of Coal, Narendra Singh Tomar Union Agriculture Minister, Piyush Goyal Commerce and Industry Minister, Anurag Thakur Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Nitin Gadkari Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Union Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju.   

In the meeting, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Piyush Gahlot demanded an apology from Rahul Gandhi as he tried to defame Indian Democracy. BJP sources said that the party will be firm on its stand for Rahul Gandhi’s apology as he has not only sullied the country’s image but also sought interventions of other countries in domestic affairs that too only vested political purposes. 

While accusing Mr. Gandhi of abusing Indian Parliament and Democracy, the Congress leader visited Karnataka for Bharat Jodo Yatra, while in London he delivered a speech which shows that he wants to do Bharat Todo (dividing nations). Rahul Gandhi delivered an insulting speech against Indian Democracy, and now he also attempted to insult the Indian Parliament. Mr. Gandhi should apologise, while talking to the reporters outside the parliament, said Union Minister Bhupender Yadav. 

Union Minister Giriraj Singh said, “Sought action against Rahul from Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla for his recent comments in London and favoured a sedition case against him.” Law minister Kiren Rijiju slammed Rahul Gandhi and said It’s most inappropriate that one MP of India went to London and appealed to foreign countries to intervene in India’s internal matters. India is proud of its democracy and supports democratic legacies. We will never allow foreign countries to rule us again. 

Silicon Valley Bank, a financier for a prominent name in the technology industry, collapsed on Friday, making it the biggest bank failure since the financial crisis of 2008. Its ripple effect is being felt across the economics world. As a result the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp now has control over customer deposits worth nearly $175 billion. The Silicon Valley Bank debacle hit the global startup ecosystem. Here are the details regarding this ongoing debacle event.

The financial regulators of California, the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation closed down Silicon Valley Bank on Friday, shortly after the bank urged its customers not to withdraw their money due to fears that it did not have enough cash available. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed by the regulators to take over the bank operations. Many startups that relied on the bank for funding and support are now left wondering what their future holds. 

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) established a fresh financial institution named the National Bank of Santa Clara to manage the deposits and other possessions of the failed bank. As per the news release from the agency, the newly formed entity will be functional from Monday morning onwards and checks released by the former bank will still be processed. American President Joe Biden gave a statement on Monday, he said,  “Thanks to the quick action of my administration over the past few days, Americans can have confidence that the banking system is safe. Your deposits will be there when you need them.”

Silicon Valley Bank had a surplus of funds from successful startups and decided to invest a significant portion of it in bonds over a year ago. Similar to other banks, they retained a small portion of the funds as deposits and utilised the remaining amount for potential returns through investment. The strategy was successful until the Federal Reserve increased the interest rate in the past year to reduce inflation. At the same time, there was a downfall in startup funding, causing strain on several of the bank’s customers and leading to their withdrawal of funds. To meet these requests, SVB had to sell some of its investment, which had decreased in value at the time. In a surprising announcement on Wednesday, the bank revealed a loss of almost $2 billion. 

Although Silicon Valley Bank only has $209 billion in assets compared to JP Morgan Chase’s over $ 3 trillion, there is still a possibility of bank runs occurring if customers or investors become panicked and withdraw their deposits. The main concern at the moment is that if Silicon Valley Bank fails, it could lead to customers losing trust in other banks and causing them to withdraw their funds. 

On Friday, there was a decline of over 20% in the stock prices of the First Republic Bank and Singapur Bank, which are located in San Francisco and New York respectively. However, the stock prices of several major banks such as JP Morgan, Citigroup and Well Fargo, which had dropped on Thursday, slightly increased on Friday. Many economic experts say that the fallout of SVB has not directly hit the Indian markets, because the banking system is in a strong hold on asset liabilities management.

Amidst the confusion surrounding the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which served almost half of the technology and life science companies backed by venture capital, as well as over 2,500 venture capital firms such as Bain Capital, Lightspeed, and Insight Partners, some of the entrepreneurs who have had their funds frozen in the bank are resorting to borrowing money to meet their payroll obligations.

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has continued to target Rahul Gandhi for his speech in London on the state of Indian democracy. Anurag Thakur, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports of India, on Tuesday, demanded Congress MP’s apology in the lower house for allegedly insulting the nation overseas. “Rahul Gandhi trips overseas and insults the nation. He should come to the house and apologise to the country. He says that he is not allowed to speak in Parliament, on the other hand, his presence in Lok Sabha is lower than the average attendance of MPs in the Parliament,” Minister said ahead of the ongoing Budget session. 

The Union Minister also alleged that the Congress knows the ‘art of corruption and corruption through art.’ Anurag Thakur further added, “They are continuously running a campaign against the nation. Stop Cambridge cries and London lies, come here and carry out a ‘kshama yatra’ (apologise to people of the country),”. Anurag Thakur, Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, has criticised the Congress party for their alleged involvement in a bribery scandal that was highlighted in the report by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The report indicates that a former CEO of an Indian bank had purchased overpriced artworks from a “close relative” of the Congress party member in exchange for national awards. However, the report did not mention the CEO by name. 

He stated that there is a continued unveiling of different examples of corruption within Congress, such as the National Herald and Vadra land scam among others. The latest revelation involves a case study published by FATF, which describes how a former Union Minister in the UPA government tenure coerced someone into purchasing Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s mediocre painting for Rs. 2 crores. 

Rahul Gandhi made some claims during a recent event at Chatham House in London, stating that the microphone of opposition leaders in Parliament is frequently muted. He criticised  them for various wrongdoing. Additionally, the Congress leader expressed concern that multiple institutions in the country are facing threats from the current government. He also called the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) a ‘fundamentalist’ and ‘fascist’ organisation alleging that it has captured pretty much all of India’s prime institutions.