India vs Pakistan – T20 World Cup match: Teams, head-to-head, form, pitch | ICC Men’s T20 World Cup News

Who: India vs Pakistan
What: ICC T20 World Cup 2024 Group A match
When: Sunday, June 9, 10:30am local time (14:30 GMT)
Where: Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York, United States
How: Follow Al Jazeera’s live text and photo coverage

Gary Kirsten had his first taste of the agony associated with being a Pakistan cricket supporter when the new head coach of the men’s side saw the team crumble to a super over loss against USA in their opening match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.

Pakistan’s defeat against the tournament debutants and co-hosts was amongst the biggest shocks in the game’s history, but Kirsten believes his players have “moved forward” and are now focused on the challenge ahead.

The challenge, incidentally, cannot get any bigger than a must-win World Cup match against historic rivals India.

“There’s no need for me to motivate the team for this game,” Kirsten told reporters on Saturday.

The South African, who was in charge of the Indian team when they won their second ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011, said the atmosphere could be “a little bit different” because the game is not being played in India or Pakistan but expects plenty of support for both teams at the New York venue.

Kirsten admitted that the pitch will be difficult to bat on, and bowlers from both sides will have an advantage.

“The batters are going to have to play with courage, assess the conditions, assess what a good score could be on this wicket [if we bat first] and then make sure we get a competitive total.”

India’s captain Rohit Sharma agreed with Kirsten’s assessment, and said his team will have to assess the wicket “very quickly” and adjust accordingly.

Rohit’s side has the advantage of having played two games on the pitch, one of which was their tournament opener against Ireland. India completed the tricky chase thanks to Rohit’s half-century, but the captain had to retire hurt after being hit on the arm.

The experienced batter said he will play his innings in “a very balanced way”.

“I don’t want to be too aggressive or too cautious, but someone has to put pressure on the bowlers to try and do something different.  Otherwise, it’s a very easy game [for the bowlers].”

Pitch and weather conditions

The condition of the pitches at the Nassau County Stadium has steadily improved over the past four games, but it still has an element of unpredictability. However, it is still expected to favour seam bowlers and both sides have plenty of those in their lineups.

Following criticism from fans and ex-players, the International Cricket Council (ICC) admitted the pitches were not up to standard and that ground staff were working on remedying them.

The India-Pakistan match is expected to be played on a new surface.

Weather could have a say in the match as there is a forecast for rain in the morning.

Form guide

Both teams enter the match with contrasting forms.

India have won two of their last three T20I series at home and away, and managed to beat Ireland in their opening game.

Pakistan couldn’t have had a worse start to their campaign, which also comes on the back of a 2-0 series loss against England and 2-1 scrape past Ireland.

India: W W W W W
Pakistan: L L L W W

India team news

India are unlikely to tinker with the XI that got them past Ireland in the opening game, but there could be a case for bringing in Kuldeep Yadav in place of Axar Patel given the former’s success against Pakistan’s captain.

Squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

Pakistan team news

Pakistan’s coach Kirsten evaded questions about his side’s playing XI and also stopped short of Wasim’s inclusion in the side despite the all-rounder being declared fit.

Azam Khan’s poor run of form could see him drop out in favour of young opener Saim Ayub, while the vastly experienced Wasim could slot in for Iftikhar Ahmed.

Squad: Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Usman Khan, Azam Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abbas Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed

Key match-ups

  • Virat Kohli vs Mohammad Amir
  • Rohit Sharma vs Shaheen Shah Afridi
  • Babar Azam vs Kuldeep Yadav
  • Rishabh Pant vs Shadab Khan
  • Mohammad Rizwan vs Arshdeep Singh

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India’s Modi to take oath as PM for third term with coalition allies | India Election 2024 News

Coalition members, especially the larger parties, are expected to have demanded concessions, including ministerial posts in the cabinet.

India’s Narendra Modi is set to be sworn in as the prime minister for a third term in power, but alongside a set of allies with whom he has formed a coalition after his party failed to get a majority in the April-June election.

The swearing-in ceremony will be held at the presidential palace in New Delhi on Sunday evening at 13:45 GMT while the prime minister has yet to announce who will be serving on his cabinet.

Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) garnered 240 seats, but fell 32 short in the 543-member lower house of parliament, registering its weakest showing in after a decade of dominating Indian politics.

Leaders of the 15-member coalition, called the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), who provided him with the required numbers to govern for a third five-year term, started negotiations in New Delhi earlier this week.

Coalition members, especially the larger parties, are expected to have demanded concessions from Modi, including ministerial posts in the cabinet. Modi’s previous cabinet had 81 ministers.

The Hindustan Times described days of “hectic talks”, while The Times of India said the BJP had sought to “pare down” their partners’ demands.

‘Meeting his match’

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is the largest BJP ally with 16 seats, and is widely reported to have secured four cabinet positions. The party is led by 74-year-old veteran politician and three-time chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, and dominates politics in the southern coastal state of Andhra Pradesh.

The Janata Dal (United) party is next in line, having secured 12 parliamentary seats. Its leader, 73-year-old Nitish Kumar, is known for having changed political allegiances in the past to suit his interests, having abandoned the opposition and switching to Modi’s side weeks before the election.

Analysts said that the coalition will shift parliamentary politics and force Modi’s once domineering BJP into a somewhat more conciliatory approach.

“In the past, the BJP has had confidence because of its sheer majority,” said Sajjan Kumar, head of the New Delhi-based political research group PRACCIS. “The coalition will now force the BJP to engage in more consultation.”

Zoya Hasan of the Jawaharlal Nehru University said Modi faced potential challenges ahead – warning he may be “meeting his match” in the “crafty politicians” of the TDP’s Naidu and JD(U)’s Kumar.

Indian media have reported that Modi will assign his own trusted BJP figures to the top posts in the cabinet, including the interior, foreign affairs, finance and defence ministries.

Security was tight in the capital on Sunday, with thousands of troops and police deployed as regional leaders flew in.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe – as well as leaders including those of Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives – are due to attend the ceremony and the following state banquet.

Neighbouring rivals China and Pakistan are notably absent in not sending a top leader.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi, a descendant of top Indian politicians from the Congress party that led the alliance competing with Modi, is expected to be recognised as the country’s official opposition leader.

The position has been vacant for a decade because the BJP had dominated the previous two elections, leaving the Congress – once India’s dominant party – short of a threshold.

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Polls open in 20 EU countries to elect new European Parliament | Elections News

The election will shape how the European bloc confronts challenges including a hostile Russia, increased industrial rivalry with China and the United States, climate change and immigration.

Voters across 20 European Union countries have started picking the bloc’s next parliament amid concern that a likely shift to the political right will undermine the ability of the world’s biggest trading bloc to take decisions as war rages in Ukraine and anti-migrant sentiment mounts.

The election began on Thursday in the Netherlands and in other countries on Friday and Saturday, but the bulk of EU votes are being cast on Sunday, with France, Germany, Poland and Spain opening the polls and Italy holding a second day of voting to elect 720 members of the European Parliament.

Seats in the assembly are allocated based on population, ranging from six in Malta and in Luxembourg to 96 in Germany.

The election will shape how the European bloc confronts challenges including a hostile Russia, increased industrial rivalry with China and the United States, climate change and immigration.

An unofficial exit poll on Thursday suggested that Geert Wilders’s anti-migrant hard right party should make important gains in the Netherlands, even though a coalition of pro-European parties has probably pushed it into second place.

Since the last EU election in 2019, populist or far-right parties now lead governments in three nations — Hungary, Slovakia and Italy — and are part of the ruling coalition in others, including Sweden, Finland and, soon, the Netherlands. Polls give the populists an advantage in France, Belgium, Austria and Italy.

The elections come at a testing time for voter confidence in a bloc of some 450 million people. Over the last five years, the EU has been shaken by the coronavirus pandemic, an economic slump and an energy crisis fueled by the war in Ukraine – the biggest land conflict in Europe since World War II.

The polls also mark the beginning of a period of uncertainty for the Europeans and their international partners. Beyond the wrangling to form political groups and establish alliances inside parliament, governments will compete to secure top EU jobs for their national officials.

Chief among them is the presidency of the powerful executive branch, the European Commission, which proposes laws and watches to ensure they are respected. The commission also controls the EU’s purse strings, manages trade and is Europe’s competition watchdog.

Other plum posts are those of the European Council president, who chairs summits of presidents and prime ministers, and EU foreign policy chief, the bloc’s top diplomat.

EU lawmakers have a say on legislation ranging from financial rules to climate or agriculture policy. They also approve the EU budget, which apart from funding the bloc’s political priorities bankrolls things like infrastructure projects, farm subsidies and aid delivered to Ukraine.

But despite their important role, political campaigning often focuses on issues of concern in individual countries rather than on broader European interests. Voters routinely use their ballots to protest the policies of their national governments.

Surveys suggest that mainstream and pro-European parties will retain their majority in parliament, but that the hard right, including parties led by politicians like Wilders or France’s Marine Le Pen, will eat into their share of seats.

The biggest political group – the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) – has already edged away from the middle ground, campaigning on traditional far-right issues like more security, tougher migration laws, and a focus on business over social welfare concerns.

Much may depend on whether the Brothers of Italy — the governing party of populist far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, which has neo-fascist roots — stays in the more hardline European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), or becomes part of a new hard-right group that could be created in the wake of the elections. Meloni also has the further option to work with the EPP.

The second-biggest group — the centre-left Socialists and Democrats — and the Greens refuse to align themselves with the ECR. A more dire scenario for pro-European parties would be if the ECR joins forces with Le Pen’s Identity and Democracy to consolidate hard-right influence.

Questions remain over what group Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s staunchly nationalist and anti-migrant Fidesz party might join. It was previously part of the EPP but was forced out in 2021 due to conflicts over its interests and values.

The EPP has campaigned for Ursula von der Leyen to be granted a second term as commission president but nothing guarantees that she will be returned even if they win. National leaders will decide who is nominated, even though the parliament must approve any nominee.

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India’s Modi urged to set ‘ambitious’ economic agenda after poll humbling | Business and Economy News

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) campaigned on India’s sizeable economic expansion in the lead-up to the country’s recent national elections.

Since Modi came to power in 2014, GDP per capita has risen from about $5,000 to more than $7,500.

India’s GDP growth hit 8.4 percent in the financial year ending March, making it by far the fastest-growing major economy.

At the same time, the economy is producing much far less impressive data, including a high unemployment rate, which rose to 8.1 percent in April from 7.4 percent in March.

It is this statistic, along with high inflation, that has been touted as a key reason for the weaker-than-expected performance of the BJP, which won 240 seats, well below its previous tally of 303 and fewer than the 273 needed to form a government on its own.

While Modi has formed a government with the help of his National Democratic Alliance partners, his reliance on smaller parties changes the equation for a leader who commanded outright majorities during his previous two stints as prime minister.

“This is going to be really unusual for Prime Minister Modi,” Vina Nadjibulla, vice president of research and strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, told Al Jazeera.

“It was partly why the markets reacted the way they did,” Nadjibulla added, referring to the sharp drop in Indian stocks following the election result.

Nadjibulla said investors are concerned Modi may be unable to push through reforms needed to tackle issues such as high unemployment.

Despite strong headline economic growth, nearly half of India’s population is still employed in the relatively unproductive agricultural sector – a share that rose during Modi’s second term, from 42.5 percent in 2018-19 to 45.8 percent in 2022-23, according to an Oxford Economics report.

Young people, in particular, suffer from a lack of employment – in 2022-23, the youth unemployment rate was about 10 times higher than the adult rate, according to the report.

It is “ironic” that India’s robust growth under the Modi government “has come at the cost of economic stability for the lower classes”, Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, told Al Jazeera.

In its third term, the Modi government will have to find a way to help poorer Indians in a way that goes beyond building infrastructure, Kugelman said.

“Across the board, it’s going to be a very ambitious economic agenda,” he said.

Manufacturing vs services job

Much has been made of India’s push to boost manufacturing, create jobs and lure global brands looking to set up alternative supply chains in the face of trade tensions between the United States and China.

India’s “Make in India” drive, however, has done little to create jobs for the large segment of the population that is still employed in agriculture.

India wants to create a manufacturing powerhouse to create jobs [File: Amit Dave/Reuters]

One reason for this is that the government’s focus has largely been on promoting higher value-added yet less labour-intensive sectors such as electronics, Alexandra Hermann, Oxford Economics lead economist, told Al Jazeera, adding that this would probably not change.

Another oft-touted reason is the lack of “big bang” reforms to land and labour rules, experts say, which are needed to bring in the type of major investment needed to really expand manufacturing.

While the Modi government has failed to make serious headway in this area – despite large majorities in parliament – experts say its coalition partners may now help it pave the way for some of those measures as jobs will benefit all voters.

Coalition partners could also help the Modi government make some progress in its so far failed efforts for land and labour reform, which have been highlighted as a necessary step to attract more investment in manufacturing.

“There will have to be some coordination with state governments… and coalition partners are regional parties that will have a lot of sway in some parts of the country and that is where a coalition government will be very helpful for Modi and the BJP,” Kugelman said.

For now, rather than relying on manufacturing, India’s growth story has largely been driven by services, which experts say will only be able to continue over the longer term and create sustainable and inclusive growth if human capital levels increase.

“Raising human capital levels on a broad basis will be crucial to create inclusive and sustainable growth over the medium-to-long-term,” Hermann said.

“Although India is home to some top technology and management universities nurturing global business leaders, it is the quality of primary and secondary education that still leave the Indian population, on average, relatively low-skilled. [But in its manifesto] the BJP fell short of committing to the higher spending goal,” Kugelman said.

Kugelman agreed. 

“Some of the fastest growing sectors are in services but the labour force is not equipped for those jobs and there’s a complete mismatch,” he said.

India’s labour force is not equipped with skills for the services sector [File: Bhumika Saraswati/AP Photo]

‘Conditions for private investment’

Ultimately, though, GDP growth and job creation are driven primarily by private investment, said Ajay Shah, an economist in Mumbai.

Private investment has not fared well in India since 2009 or 2011, depending on which measure you use, so “the organising principle for economic policy should be to create conditions for private investment”, Shah told Al Jazeera.

Part of the reason for the lack of success in this area has been excessive central planning in economic policy, Shah said.

“This,” he said, “creates policy risk. Arms of the government behave in unpredictable and personalised ways. This creates risk for private persons.”

Shah expressed hope that the incoming coalition will be better positioned to address such problems.

“There are more checks and balances,” he said.

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US, France pledge support as Biden warns Russia ‘will not stop’ at Ukraine | Russia-Ukraine war News

The United States and France have both reaffirmed support for Ukraine in its battle against Russia’s invasion during a meeting in the French capital.

Speaking at a joint news conference at the Presidential Elysee Palace in Paris on Saturday, President Joe Biden warned that Vladimir Putin would “not stop” at Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron, in turn, hailed his US counterpart’s loyalty to Europe.

“All of Europe will be threatened, we are not going to let that happen,” Biden said during his state visit to France. “The United States is standing strong with Ukraine. We will not, I say it again, walk away.”

Macron then told Biden in front of reporters: “I thank you, Mr President, for being the president of the world’s number one power but doing it with the loyalty of a partner who likes and respects the Europeans.”

The US president has been in France since Wednesday, taking part in commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings that changed the course of World War II.

On Friday, both Biden and Macron met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris, pledging support for Ukraine.

In a statement released by the White House on Saturday, the French and US leaders said they agreed that wider security across the Atlantic was at stake in Russia’s war.

“France and the United States co-chair the artillery coalition at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group and intend to take new steps to provide the necessary support to Ukraine in the current phase and in the longer term,” the statement said, referring to a coalition of about 50 countries that meet regularly to discuss Ukraine’s security needs.

The US and France also reaffirmed their commitments to the “continued provision of political, security, humanitarian, and economic assistance to Ukraine”, the statement said.

US President Joe Biden, right, shakes hands with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, as they hold a bilateral meeting at the Intercontinental Hotel in Paris [Saul Loeb/AFP]

Shared goals, diverging strategy

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Former US Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker said that Washington and Paris both seek “to make sure that Ukraine survives as a sovereign, independent European democracy”.

He added the countries are also unified in their desire to halt “Putin’s ideology of re-establishing an empire and denying the existence of the Ukrainian people”.

However, the former diplomat said that the nations differ on how to carry out their goals.

“The US has been very cautious, has been very concerned about escalation and very concerned about poking Putin,” Volker said.

“Macron, more recently, has been pushing the envelope. He’s been talking about what more can be done to help Ukraine, including the possibility of helping regulate their air defences by having some trainers on the ground in Ukraine.”

Macron on Friday said he had discussed such a plan with NATO leaders, with some agreeing to join the effort. That would be finalised “in the days ahead”, he said.

The US has been staunchly opposed to having any of its personnel on the ground in Ukraine, a position that has remained unchanged since Russia invaded its neighbour in February 2022.

Biden and Macron also discussed their support for using interest earned from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, a move that has been met with scepticism from some European G7 allies.

‘We’re still in it’

Ukrainian forces, long outgunned by Russia, have struggled to maintain pressure against Russia along the 1,000-kilometre (621-mile) front line in recent months. That has come as some support from Western allies has flagged.

Still, Kyiv received a boost in recent weeks, with France and Germany at the end of May allowing Ukraine to use the weapons they provided against targets on Russian soil.

The US soon followed suit, giving Ukraine permission to use weapons provided by Washington in Russian territory near Kharkiv.

In Paris on Friday, Biden apologised to Zelenskyy for previous delays in Washington’s aid to Kyiv, stressing that the US is “not going to walk away” from supporting Ukraine.

“We’re still in – completely, thoroughly,” he said.

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World War II veteran, 100, weds 96-year-old bride near D-Day beach | The World Wars News

Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But American World War II veteran Harold Terens and his sweetheart Jeanne Swerlin proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot near the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France.

Their respective ages – he is 100, she is a youngster of just 96 – made their nuptials on Saturday an almost double-century celebration.

Terens called it “the best day of my life”.

On her way into the nuptials, the bubbly bride-to-be said, “It’s not just for young people, love, you know? We get butterflies. And we get a little action, also”.

The location was the elegant stone-worked town hall of Carentan, a key initial D-Day objective that saw ferocious fighting after the June 6, 1944, Allied landings that helped defeat Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany.

Like other towns and villages across the Normandy coast where nearly 160,000 Allied troops came ashore under fire on five code-named beaches, it is an effervescent hub of remembrance and celebration on the 80th anniversary of that day, festooned with flags and bunting and with veterans feted like rockstars.

As the swing of Glenn Miller and other period tunes rang out on the streets, well-wishers – some in WWII-period clothes – were already lined up a good hour before the wedding, behind barriers outside the town hall, with a rousing pipe and drum band also on hand to serenade the happy couple.

After both declaring “oui” to vows read by Carentan’s mayor in English, the couple exchanged rings.

“With this ring, I thee wed,” Terens said.

She giggled and gasped, “Really?”

With champagne flutes in hand, they waved through an open window to the adoring crowds outside.

“To everybody’s good health. And to peace in the world and the preservation of democracy all over the world and the end of the war in Ukraine and Gaza,” Terens said as he and his bride then clinked glasses and drank.

The crowd yelled “la mariee!” – the bride! – to Swerlin, who wore a long flowing dress of vibrant pink. Terens looked dapper in a light blue suit and matching pink kerchief in his breast pocket.

Wedding party at the Elysee

And they enjoyed a very special wedding-night party: They were invited to the state dinner at the Elysee Palace on Saturday night with President Emmanuel Macron and United States President Joe Biden.

“Congratulations to the newlyweds,” Macron said, prompting cheers and a standing ovation from other guests during the toast praising French-American friendship. “[The town of] Carentan was happy to host your wedding, and us, your wedding dinner,” he told the couple.

The wedding was symbolic, not binding in law. Mayor Jean-Pierre Lhonneur’s office said he was not empowered to wed foreigners who are not residents of Carentan, and that the couple had not requested legally binding vows. However, they could always complete those formalities back in the US state of Florida if they wished.

Lhonneur likes to say that Normandy is practically the 51st state of the United States, given its reverence and gratitude for Allied soldiers and the sacrifices of tens of thousands who never made it home from the Battle of Normandy.

“Love is eternal, yes, maybe,” the mayor said, referring to the newlyweds, although his comments also fittingly describe the feelings of many Normans for veterans.

“I hope for them the best happiness together.”

Dressed in a 1940s dress that belonged to her mother, Louise, and a red beret, 73-year-old Jane Ollier was among the spectators who waited for a glimpse of the lovebirds. The couple, both widowed, grew up in New York City: she in Brooklyn, he in the Bronx.

“It’s so touching to get married at that age,” Ollier said. “If it can bring them happiness in the last years of their lives, that’s fantastic.”

D-Day memories

The World War II veteran first visited France as a 20-year-old US Army Air Forces corporal shortly after D-Day. Terens enlisted in 1942 and, after shipping to the United Kingdom, was attached to a four-pilot P-47 Thunderbolt fighter unit as their radio repair technician.

On D-Day, Terens helped repair planes returning from France so they could rejoin the battle. He said half his company’s pilots died that day. Terens himself went to France 12 days later, helping transport freshly captured Germans and just-freed American POWs to England. Following the Nazi surrender in May 1945, Terens again helped transport freed Allied prisoners to the United Kingdom before he shipped back to the US a month later.

Swerlin made it abundantly clear that her new centenarian husband does not lack charm.

“He’s the greatest kisser ever, you know?” she proudly declared before they embraced enthusiastically for TV cameras.

“All right ! That’s it for now !” Terens said as he came up for air.

To which she quickly quipped, “You mean there’s more later?”

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Everything you need to know about UEFA Euro 2024 football championship | UEFA Euro 2024 News

The UEFA Euro 2024 tournament will be held in Germany, and 24 teams will compete to be crowned the champions of Europe.

Italy are the title defenders, having won the last edition by beating England in the final on penalties.

The 2024 edition marks the return of the tournament to its usual four-year cycle after the 2020 edition was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here’s everything you need to know about Euro 2024:

What are the key dates?

The monthlong championship will start on June 14 at the Munich Football Arena with hosts Germany playing Scotland.

The group stage will run until June 26 with the knockout stage beginning on June 29. The final will be played on July 14 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.

This will be the first time Germany has hosted the tournament since its unification in 1990. The 1988 edition was staged in what was then West Germany.

Germany was chosen as the host nation at a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Nyon, Switzerland, in 2018. Turkey was the only other nation that bid to host the tournament.

Where is the tournament being held?

Ten venues have been chosen for the tournament. Of those, nine were used when Germany hosted the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Here are the host cities and stadiums:

⚽ Berlin: Olympiastadion Berlin (capacity: 71,000)
⚽ Cologne: Cologne Stadium (43,000)
⚽ Dortmund: BVB Stadion Dortmund (62,000)
⚽ Dusseldorf: Dusseldorf Arena (47,000)
⚽ Frankfurt: Frankfurt Arena (47,000)
⚽ Gelsenkirchen: Arena AufSchalke (50,000)
⚽ Hamburg: Volksparkstadion Hamburg (49,000)
⚽ Leipzig: Leipzig Stadium (40,000)
⚽ Munich: Munich Football Arena (66,000)
⚽ Stuttgart: Stuttgart Arena (51,000)

Munich will stage matches for the second Euro in succession, having been one of 11 venues that held matches during Euro 2020.

Munich Football Arena will be one of the stadiums used during Euro 2024 [Alexandra Beier/AFP]

 

How many teams are taking part?

Twenty-four teams divided into six groups will participate in the tournament. There will be 51 matches in total.

⚽ Group A: Germany, Scotland, Hungary, Switzerland
⚽ Group B: Spain, Croatia, Italy, Albania
⚽ Group C: Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia, England
⚽ Group D: Poland, Netherlands, Austria, France
⚽ Group E: Belgium, Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine
⚽ Group F: Turkey, Georgia, Portugal, Czech Republic

Georgia are the only team making their European Championship finals debut while Ukraine and Poland qualified via the playoffs.

Who are the favourites?

France, Germany, England, Portugal and Spain are among the frontrunners.

Portugal were the only side who won all their games during the qualifying phase while France and England were unbeaten and Spain lost only one match.

Germany are also considered one of the favourites on account of being the hosts, even though they had a disappointing performance at the 2022 World Cup.

Which key teams failed to qualify?

Sweden and Norway are the two big names who failed to qualify for Euro 2024. The Swedes did not make the cut for the Euros for the first time since 1996 while Norway have not played since 2000.

Their failure to qualify means fans will miss out on watching high-profile Premier League players such as Erling Haaland, Martin Odegaard and Alexander Isak in Germany.

Manchester City superstar striker Erling Haaland will not take part in Euro 2024 after Norway failed to qualify [Marko Djurica/Reuters]

What is the tournament format?

The top two teams from each group along with the four best third-place finishers will progress to the round of 16. That will be followed by the quarterfinals, semifinals and the final.

The Euro 2024 winner will compete in the 2025 CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions against the 2024 Copa America winner.

What is the squad size?

UEFA, which governs European football, confirmed in May that the maximum squad size will increase from 23 to 26 players.

Teams were allowed 26-man squads at Euro 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic, but UEFA had initially planned to revert to the 23-man teams at Euro 2024.

Expanded squads were also permitted at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar because it was played in the middle of the domestic season.

Expanded squads are beneficial for managers as the busy schedule at the club level creates more risk of injuries to players.

When do teams have to submit their squads?

Participating countries had until June 7 to provide UEFA with a squad list containing a minimum of 23 players and a maximum of 26.

The trophy that 24 teams will be playing for at Euro 2024 [Alexandra Beier/AFP]

 

You can follow the action on Al Jazeera’s dedicated Euro 2024 tournament page with all the match build-up and live text commentary, and keep up to date with group standings and real-time match results and schedules.

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India’s Rahul Gandhi nominated as opposition leader after election gains | India Election 2024 News

Gandhi’s Congress party’s election results defied analysts’ expectations, and helped rehabilitate his political career.

Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family that governed India for decades in the wake of independence, has been nominated to lead India’s opposition in parliament following an election result that pulled his party back from the political wilderness.

A meeting of the leadership of Congress – the leading opposition party in the country – on Saturday voted unanimously to recommend Gandhi’s election as India’s official opposition leader. The role had been left vacant since 2014.

“All participants unanimously passed the resolution that Rahul Gandhi should take the position of leader of opposition in the parliament,” General Secretary KC Venugopal told a news conference after a meeting of the party’s executives.

The nomination will be put before a meeting of the 232 lawmakers belonging to a Congress-led opposition alliance later on Saturday.

On Tuesday, India’s governing BJP lost its majority in the chamber in an election that defied exit polls and shocked many supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The BJP will still form the next government, but it will, for the first time in its 10 years in leadership, be reliant on a clutch of regional partners under its National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Modi is set to be sworn into office for a third term on Sunday.

‘Voters have punished the BJP’

The six-week election saw 640 million voters head to the polls across India. It also saw Congress nearly double its parliamentary numbers, its best result since Modi swept to power a decade ago.

The comeback has aligned with Gandhi’s, who faced an embarrassing loss of his seat representing the city of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh in 2019. This year, he won the two districts he contested, Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and Wayanad in Kerala. He will eventually have to choose which one to represent.

At the heart of Gandhi’s campaign efforts were long marches undertaken across the length and breadth of the country to galvanise support against Modi.

Aiyshwarya Mahadev, a spokesperson of the Indian National Congress, hailed the marches as the largest attempt the Congress party has undertaken in recent years to connect to the masses across the diverse country.

“We wanted to hear the voices on the ground and give them a voice. So during both the yatras [marches], we saw Rahul Gandhi listening to voices that hardly ever get heard, of people from communities that have been traditionally oppressed and marginalised,” she told Al Jazeera in March.

She added that the marches were “not about political pomp or any chest thumping” but were “about reaching the people on the ground, hearing their voices and becoming their voices”.

A Samajwadi Party supporter carries portraits of party leader Akhilesh Yadav, right, and Congress Party leader, Rahul Gandhi, as he celebrates his party’s lead during the counting of votes in India’s national election in Lucknow, India [File: Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP]

Gandhi is the great-grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister following independence in 1947. His grandmother, Indira Gandhi, and father, Rajiv Gandhi, also served in the role, while his mother has long been a top official for Congress.

Support for the younger Gandhi was on full display following Tuesday’s vote count, with several people seen sporting white T-shirts with photos of Gandhi on the back at the party’s headquarters in New Delhi.

“Voters have punished the BJP,” Congress leader Gandhi told reporters after the election results. “I was confident that the people of this country would give the right response.”

“BJP has failed to win a big majority on its own,” Congress lawmaker Rajeev Shukla told reporters at the time. “It’s a moral defeat for them.”

Reduced mandate

But the surge in opposition seats are not the only factor set to transform India’s legislature and how laws are passed in the country of 1.4 billion people.

Modi is currently staring down a reduced mandate, with analysts arguing that the allies he must depend on to maintain power may also serve as a check on his government.

Critics have long accused the majority-BJP government of ramming laws through parliament without discussions and debate.

That will not be easy any more, Sandeep Shastri, the national coordinator of the Lokniti Network, a research programme at the New Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), previously told Al Jazeera.

“It is going to be a much tougher ride in the parliament, very clearly, for the BJP.”

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Two killed in southern Lebanon as Hezbollah-Israel fighting soars | Gaza News

Latest attacks come as Israeli officials ratchet up calls for expansion of fighting along Israel-Lebanon border.

At least two people have been reported killed in southern Lebanon as cross-border fighting between Hezbollah and Israel continues amid the threat of wider war.

The two killings were the result of Israeli attacks on the outskirts of the town of Aitaroun, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported on Saturday. The agency said Israeli missiles targeted a cafe at a petrol station.

In a statement, Hezbollah accused Israel of “targeting civilians”, while Israel’s military later said its forces had targeted a Hezbollah fighter in the area. The identities of those killed were not immediately known.

Also on Saturday, Hezbollah said that it had fired Falaq 2 rockets at a military command centre in northern Israel. A security source told the Reuters news agency that it was the first time the rockets had been fired at Israel. Falaq 1 rockets have been used by Hezbollah in attacks on Israel several times.

The violence comes as both Hezbollah and Israel have increased cross-border fighting that has persisted since October of last year, with the Lebanon-based group saying it seeks to draw Israeli resources away from the war in Gaza.

However, Israeli officials have ratcheted up rhetoric in recent days, raising the prospect of more destructive escalation along its northern border.

Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his country was “prepared for very intense operation” along its border with Lebanon.

“One way or another, we will restore security to the north,” he said on Wednesday. That day an Israeli soldier was killed in a Hezbollah drone attack in the town of Hurfeish. Ten others were injured.

Meanwhile, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir went further, saying on Telegram on Tuesday that “all Hezbollah strongholds should also burn and be destroyed”, and calling for “War!” A day earlier, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for a “ground invasion” to push back Hezbollah fighters from the border.

For his part, deputy Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem told Al Jazeera earlier this week that the group did not seek to widen the war, but was “ready” regardless. He warned of “devastation, destruction and displacement” for Israelis if that came to pass.

Israeli attacks since October 7 have killed more than 300 members of Hezbollah and about 80 civilians, according to the group and Lebanese officials. Attacks from Lebanon on Israel have killed 18 Israeli soldiers and 10 civilians, the Israeli military has said.

The fighting has been the most volatile since Israel and Hezbollah went to war in 2006. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes on both sides of the border.

Cross-border fighting continues

On Saturday, Hezbollah claimed six attacks on Israel. They included the targeting of the Zarit barracks and Israeli soldiers in a newly developed artillery range in the occupied Shebaa Farms. The group claimed a “direct hit” in both instances.

Israel said it had intercepted two rockets from Lebanon towards the Zarit area in the Upper Galilee region. The military also said that its jets had struck infrastructure in the area of Khiam. Its tanks had earlier fired at a Hezbollah military structure in the Kfarkela area.

Israeli attacks using “incendiary phosphorus shells” also caused forest fires in the area of Alma ash-Shaab, NNA reported.

Speaking during a joint news conference with United States President Joe Biden in the French capital Paris on Saturday, French President Emmanual Macron called for both sides to de-escalate the situation.

France, which had occupied Lebanon in the wake of the partition of the Ottoman Empire, has sought to serve as an intermediary between Israel and Hezbollah amid the most recent flare-up.

Macron said France and the US were “redoubling efforts together to avoid a regional explosion, particularly in Lebanon”.

Paris was working on “advancing parameters” to reduce tensions and end what he called an institutional vacuum in Lebanon, he added.

Meanwhile, the former head of Mossad’s intelligence gathering department, Haim Tome, told Israel’s Hayom media on Saturday that war with Hezbollah would severely harm Israel’s ability to function as a nation.

Tome warned that a full war with Hezbollah would mean attacks deeper inside of Israel, possibly targeting Tel Aviv.

The former official also warned that Hezbollah could use its sizeable arsenal, which includes precision missiles, to target Israeli gas fields.

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ISIL-affiliated rebel fighters blamed after 38 killed in DR Congo attack | ISIL/ISIS News

The armed men used guns and machetes to attack residents of villages in Beni territory, in North Kivu province.

Rebel fighters affiliated with ISIL (ISIS) have killed at least 38 people in an overnight attack on a village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), officials and a civil society leader in the region have said.

The armed men used guns and machetes to attack residents of villages in Beni territory, in North Kivu province, overnight on Friday, local official Fabien Kakule said.

District official Leon Kakule Siviwe said that the recent surge in violence was due to the attackers taking advantage of a small security presence.

Local civil society leader Justin Kavalami blamed members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) for the attack.

The ADF, which is also accused of being behind another village assault that killed at least 16 people earlier this week, was originally based in neighbouring Uganda. After spreading to the eastern DRC, it pledged allegiance to ISIL in 2018 and has mounted frequent attacks, further destabilising a region where many armed groups are active.

The ADF has killed more than 50 people in the war-torn region of the DRC this week, local officials said.

Since the end of 2021, the Congolese and Ugandan armies have conducted joint operations against the ADF in North Kivu and neighbouring Ituri, but have so far failed to stop the deadly attacks on civilians.

The eastern DRC has been plagued by violence by armed groups for decades, with both the government and foreign actors providing belligerents with weapons. The Rwandan-backed M23 (March 23 Movement) resumed its armed campaign in the region at the end of 2021, seizing swaths of territory in North Kivu, as intensified fighting continues to displace tens of thousands of people.

About 6.9 million people across the DRC were displaced by the end of last year, mostly in the eastern provinces.

Since an escalation of hostilities in March 2022, more than 1.6 million people have been driven from their homes in North Kivu in the east of the country.

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