The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has confirmed revised plans for its club competitions after disruptions caused by the ongoing conflict in West Asia, with key matches now set to be held in Saudi Arabia.Iran’s Tractor FC will travel to Saudi Arabia to face Shabab Al Ahli in a playoff. The winner will move into the quarterfinals of the Asian Champions League Elite, where they will meet Buriram United.The AFC conducted the quarterfinal draw on Wednesday, a day after announcing that the postponed western zone playoffs would take place on April 13 and 14 in Jeddah. The same city will also host the quarterfinals, semifinals and final from April 16 to 25.In another draw, Japan’s Vissel Kobe, which finished second in the east zone, will face the winner of the playoff between Al-Hilal and Al-Sadd.Defending champions Al-Ahli Saudi will play Al-Duhail, with the winner advancing to face Johor Darul Ta’zim in the quarterfinals.Saudi Pro League champions Al-Ittihad are set to take on Al-Wahda, and the winner will go on to meet Japan’s Machida Zelvia, which topped the east zone league stage.The AFC also said that the quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League Two and the AFC Challenge League, which were postponed due to the conflict, will now be played on April 19 and 22 at centralised venues that will be announced later.Cristiano Ronaldo’s club Al-Nassr is among the teams competing in the AFC Champions League Two.

NEW DELHI: The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) on Wednesday warned hotels and restaurants of action in case it found them levying additional charges under heads such as “LPG charges,” “gas surcharge,” and “fuel cost recovery” in food bills.The authority issued an advisory invoking provisions of the Consumer Protection Act observing that such charges are being imposed by default to circumvent existing guidelines on service charges. It said that no such charges shall be levied automatically, and warned that violations may invite “strict action” as this constituted “unfair trade practice”.The CCPA said grievances received on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH), and media reports, show that certain hotels and restaurants were levying such charges in the consumer bill by default, over and above the price of food and beverages displayed in the menu and applicable taxes. The authority said input costs such as fuel, LPG, electricity, and other operational expenses are part of the cost of running a business and must be factored into the pricing of menu items. It said the price displayed in the menu shall be the final price, exclusive only of applicable taxes. Consumers should not be misled or compelled to pay any additional charge that is not voluntary in nature. The CCPA said consumers who encounter such practices may request the hotel or restaurant to remove the charge from the bill; lodge a complaint by calling 1915 or through its app and can also file a complaint before the appropriate consumer commission through e-Jagriti portal.

NEW DELHI: Home minister Amit Shah is heading an informal Group of Ministers (GoM) dealing with “overall strategic issues” that have emerged because of the ongoing conflict in West Asia, including fall in supply of cooking gas and LNG, the primary feedstock for urea production.Shah has already held a meeting with other ministers, including fertiliser minister JP Nadda and external affairs minister S Jaishankar, to assess the status of fertiliser and petroleum gas supplies.TOI has learnt another informal GoM, headed by power and urban affairs minister Manohar Lal, has been set up to deal with matters related to energy supply. The group held a meeting Wednesday where issues related to “piped gas supply to homes” were discussed at length. It was attended by food and renewable energy minister Pralhad Joshi, heavy industries minister HD Kumaraswamy and petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri. This is significant since the govt is focussed on shifting more households to PNG use in place of LPG.Chairing the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security on Saturday, PM Modi had directed that a group of ministers and secretaries be created to work dedicatedly with a whole-of-govt approach. He had also sought sectoral groups to work in consultation with all stakeholders.On Tuesday, Modi announced the setting up of seven empowered groups of secretaries to deal with different issues arising out of the crisis; some of the groups held their first round of meeting on Wednesday. “There will be greater clarity on the course of action in the next couple of days,” said an official.

NEW DELHI: Indian space company Agnikul Cosmos on Wednesday announced that it has successfully tested its 3D-printed booster engine, ‘Agnite’, which can reduce production complexity and turnaround time for missions.The engine, which is a single-piece architecture, can be fully printed within a week, unlike traditional booster engines that comprise thousands of parts and can take months to manufacture.“Humbled to announce the successful firing of our single piece Agnite engine. Agnite engines power Agnibaan’s booster stage. These engine chambers are a full meter long, fully 3d printed as a single piece of hardware and made of Inconel. Agnite engines are driven by pumps that are controlled and operated by electric motors. Thanks to Isro and INSPACe for their constant support and to IIT Madras for being our home turf from which this kind of technology is built,” Agnikul posted on X on Wednesday.This milestone is significant because it completes one end-to-end cycle of design, manufacturing, assembly and testing of our larger engines, in-house, the company said. With the successful testing of Agnite, the company will now focus on building more such engines by setting up a production line.