The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be the 21st FIFA World Cup, a quadrennia international football.

 tournament contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It is scheduled to take place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018,  after the country was awarded the hosting rights on 2 December 2010.

This will be the first World Cup held in Europe since the 2006 tournament in Germany, and the first ever to be held in Eastern Europe. All of the stadium venues are in European Russia, to keep travel time manageable.

Fifa World Cup New Theme Song; Fans can now discover the music that will help to define the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ following the release of the Official Song – ‘Live It Up’ by Nicky Jam, featuring Will Smith and Era Isterefi.

Produced by Diplo, it follows in the footsteps of ‘We Are One (Ole Ola)’ performed by Pitbull and Shakira’s ‘Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)’, promising to fill the stadiums around Russia with a lively atmosphere to bring fans together. Fans at the Final on 15 July can also look forward to being treated to a live rendition of the song.

Listen to the track above and get in the mood for the tournament kicking off on 14 June!

                                                                      Team Buses

The votes have been counted. The fans have spoken. We now have the 32 slogans that captured the hearts, and votes, of the global FIFA Club community!

The winning slogans will be displayed on the 32 team buses at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ and each lucky slogan creator will win a trip to Russia to Be There With Hyundai at the FIFA World Cup.

                              The 2018 World Cup might be missing some big nations

The 2018 World Cup might be missing some big nations, but that's what makes this tournament the best in sports. Brazil are looking to bounce back from a travesty in 2014, while Spain, Argentina and France are hoping to dethrone defending champions Germany and their typically deep squad. Can Belgium or Portugal make a splash? Do England have what it takes to challenge too?

ESPN FC is previewing every team ahead of the opening game on June 14 in English, Spanish and Portuguese to give a truly global feel to our team profiles. Here's what you need to know about the 32 teams set to do battle in Russia beginning on June 14.

Read the team previews in Spanish here.

Read the team previews in Portuguese here.

- Russia: Do weak hosts have easiest group ever?
- Saudi Arabia: New coach faces tall task to gel average squad
- Egypt: Pharaohs' fortunes come down to one player... Salah
- Uruguay: Suarez and Cavani's goals enough to reach the semifinals

- Portugal: Can Ronaldo lead Euro 2016 champs to global glory?
- Spain: Andres Iniesta, Spain poised to reclaim World Cup from Germany
- Morocco: Escaping the group will require some serious upsets
- Iran: "Team Melli" are fighting for pride in 2018

- France: Semifinals a realistic aim if Pogba, Griezmann & Co. unite
- Australia: Socceroos facing uphill battle under new manager
- Peru: No hope without Paolo Guerrero
- Denmark: Eriksen the key if Danes are to escape the group

- Argentina: Messi has to bring home the trophy
- Iceland: Don't expect underdogs to escape the group
- Croatia: Modric, Rakitic the key to a last-16 appearance
- Nigeria: Goalkeeping issues will ruin a talented squad

- Brazil: Selecao, Neymar hungry to avenge 7-1 humiliation in 2014
- Switzerland: Don't expect Shaqiri & Co. to stick around
- Costa Rica: Ticos hoping for repeat run to quarterfinals
- Serbia: Raw squad led by Mitrovic, Milinkovic-Savic hoping to shock

- Germany: Champs boast depth but Manuel Neuer's fitness a concern
- Mexico: Is this the year they finally crack the round of 16?
- Sweden: They're united without Zlatan Ibrahimovic but struggling for form
- South Korea: Son Heung-Min not enough in tournament's hardest group

- Belgium: "Golden generation" led by De Bruyne must deliver
- Panama: First World Cup should provide platform to build for future
- Tunisia: Injuries will derail underdogs before they get started
- England: Can Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling carry the Three Lions?

- Poland: Underestimate Lewandowski & Co. at your peril
- Senegal: It will take more than Sadio Mane to make an impact
- Colombia: James Rodriguez & Co. will accept nothing less than Round of 16
- Japan: Sudden coaching change spells doom

In 1956, Solomon Bandaranaike came to power in Ceylon, on a majority Sinhala nationalist platform. The new government passed the Sinhala Only Act , making Sinhala the sole official language of the country. This was done despite the fact that nearly a quarter of the population used Tamil as their primary language. The Act immediately triggered discontent among the Tamils, who perceived their language, culture, and economic position as being subject to an increasing threat. In protest, Tamil Federal Party politicians launched a satyagraha (Nonviolent resistance) campaign. This led to an environment of increased communal tensions and to the death of over 150 Tamils in the Gal Oya riots in the east of the country. Eventually Bandaranaike entered into negotiations with them and the Federal party and agreed to the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact of 1957, which would have made Tamil the administrative language in the Tamil-speaking north and east regions.

 But he was forced to cancel the pact under pressure from Sinhala nationalists and some Buddhist monks , particularly the United National Party , which organised a ‘March on Kandy’, led by JR Jayawardene. Meanwhile, 400 Tamil labourers were laid off when the British Royal Navy closed its base in Trincomalee. The government proposed to resettle them in then Polonnaruwa district. This angered the Sinhalese population there, which began forming gangs and threatening vigilante attacks on

As the first full-scale race riot in Ceylon in over forty years, the events of 1958 shattered the trust the communities had in one another. Both major ethnic groups blamed the other for the crisis, and became convinced that any further compromises would be interpreted as a sign of weakness and be exploited. Thus, the path to the Sri Lankan Civil War was clear. Velupillai Prabhakaran, a small boy at the time of the riots, said later that his political views as an adult were shaped by the events of 1958.

The famous book “Emergency ‘58” records the events of this pogrom. Popular journalist Tarzie Vittachi who published the book was expelled by the Sri Lankan Government soon after the pogrom. The book clearly demonstrates how the riots were one-sided against the Tamils and hence meets the definition of a pogrom. The book also explores into the manifestation of Sinhalese nationalism in the form of anti-Tamil movement in a large-scale pogrom as a result of closely coordinated action of politicians, Buddhist monks, and rural Sinhalese.

From classical Greek plays performed live in ancient amphitheaters and five-cent machines at carnivals, flashing images that created the illusion of a dancing nude, to our modern digital technology and special effects, the history of film is a long and successful story. If you’re an international student looking to study film in the U.S., chances are in your classes you will learn all about the zoetrope, the kinetoscope and many other “scopes” and “tropes,” as well as the rich history of the art of storytelling.

Theatre and dance have been around for thousands of years. Many of the elements of theatre and dance are the basis of the modern movie-making industry such as scripts, lighting, sound, costumes, actors and directors. Like today’s technological inventions, the Greeks had to invent the perfect amphitheater in order for its large-scale audiences, sometimes 1,400 people, to be able to hear the play. Mathematicians spend days creating a flawless stage for acoustics.

In the Victorian era, inventions of cinema seemed to spring up rapidly, each one building off another, creating a monumental era in the history of film. One of the first inventions involving still pictures which appeared to be moving was the thaumatrope, in 1824. The thaumatrope may sound high-tech, but it was as trivial as a toy. In fact, it was a toy! The thaumatrope was a disk or card with images on both sides and strings attached to the side. To operate, one simply twisted the strings and the two images would blend together to create one.

Less than a decade after the invention of the thaumatrope, Joseph Plateau invented the fantascope, which was a slotted disk with pictures situated around the perimeter of the disk. When the disk was spun the pictures appeared to be moving. Shortly after, the zoetrope was created. It was very similar to the fantascope, except it consisted of a hollow drum with a crank.

Film is synonymous for motion picture, so you can’t have a movie without a picture! That’s where the daguerreotype comes in. The daguerreotype, invented in 1839 by French painter Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre, was the first commercially successful photographic process. It worked by capturing still images on silvered copper plates. But before the daguerreotype, as early as 470 BCE, there was the camera obscura. It was a primitive contraption where a box with a hole in one side allowed light to pass through, striking a surface inside which created an upside down colored image.

In 1878, Eadweard Muybridge conducted an experiment to determine if a running horse ever had all four legs lifted off the ground. Taking pictures at one-thousandth of a second, cameras were arranged alongside the horses track, being tripped by a wire when the horse’s hooves came in contact with it. It was a success for film development. Incidentally, Mr. Muybridge was able to prove that the horse’s legs did lift off the ground all at once.

All these inventions were tricking the eye into believing that stills were moving. A true motion picture needed to have split-second pictures on transparent film. Etienne-Jules Marey invented the chronophotographic gun in 1882, which took 12 frames per second on the same picture. This was a huge step for cinema and a landmark in the history of film.

Charles Francis Jenkins invented the first patented film projector, called the phantoscope, in the early 1890s. The Lumiere brothers in France invented the cinematographe around the same time, which was a portable, hand-held projector. The word cinema was born from this invention and the brothers showed ten short films on their projector in the world’s first movie theatre, the Salon Indien.

For thirty years, the silent era reigned until 1923. Until then narration and dialogue were presented in intertitles.

In 1903, the ten-minute-long “The Great Train Robbery,” was shown, and it was the first Western narrative with a plot. Previously, films were just actions of mundane things like a short dance, a greeting or a kiss.

In the early 1900s, nickelodeons became an escape for the middle class, staying open from morning to midnight. But they often got a bad reputation for their shows, which involved crimes, violence and sexual conduct. And so they were transformed into nicer, lavish movie houses that charged higher admission.

A decade later, the industry decided to override their fears that the American public would not sit through an hour-long show, and begin releasing longer films such as Dante’s Inferno, Oliver Twist and Queen Elizabeth.

In the 1920s, film stars were being made, their face recognized and praised. Also in the 1920s, sound made its appearance in “The Jazz Singer,” which used the vitaphone system. “Talkies” were the movies of the future and sound-on-film methods were developed including the movietone, phonofilm and photophone. With the introduction of sound, the Golden Age had begun.

During the 1940s, a rise of propaganda and patriotic films appeared. “Woman’s pictures” also reached their peak during this time.

During the 1950s, television caused many film theatres to close.

In the 1960s, many films were being shot in foreign countries on location and there was an increase in popularity among foreign films.

The 1970s saw a revival of traits of the Golden Age films. Called the “post-classical” era, films from this decade were characterized by shady protagonists, endings with a twist and flashbacks. Adult cinemas also begin to take root. They died out in the 1980s when the VCR allowed home viewing.

The 1990s saw the success of independent films, such as “Pulp Fiction.” Special effects films wowed audiences. DVDs replaced VCRs for home viewing media.

In the early 21st century, documentary films and 3D films have become widely popular. IMAX technology also has been increasingly used. Now we enjoy watching movies in many different forms, such as on the computer or on a mobile phone. With the inventions of online streaming, handheld, portable cameras and file sharing, copyright infringement of films has run rampant.

Discovery of Sea-route to India by western countries happens to be one of the most important events in modern times. The wealth of India was an attraction.

On May 20, 1498, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama landed in what is now Kozhikode, India. Da Gama was the first European to reach the lucrative trade centers of India by sea.

Portugal and other European empires had been trading with communities in India and throughout Southeast Asia for centuries. The legendary Silk Road was an overland trade route that linked the fabled spice markets of the east with the bustling commerce of the west. However, traveling through disputed territories in the Mediterranean Sea and Arabian Peninsula was dangerous and time-consuming.

Da Gama and his fleet used well-traveled routes to navigate down the western coast of Africa. After re-supplying in the Canary Islands, da Gama took a chance and sailed west into the Atlantic Ocean—the opposite direction of where he wanted to go. He took advantage of the strong, reliable winds called Westerlies to quickly steer him to the southern coast of Africa. Da Gama and his fleet rounded the Cape of Good Hope in December 1497, and named the nearby coast Natal, after the Portuguese word for Christmas. (The South African province of KwaZulu-Natal retains this name today.) Da Gama established poor relations with leaders in what are now the coasts of Mozambique and southern Kenya—the Europeans became pirates of Arab trading ships in the region. 

In what is now the port of Malindi, Kenya, da Gama met and interacted with Indian merchants and sailors. They advised him on the favorable monsoon winds of the western Indian Ocean. In fact, da Gama actually hired an experienced Indian navigator to guide his fleet to the trade center of Calicut (now known as Kozhikode). 

Da Gama’s sea route to India allowed Portugal to establish a rich trade with India and southeast Asia. Portugal was also able to expand its empire to include provinces from India (centered around the state of Goa, whose largest city is Vasco da Gama) to China (the island of Macau).

A brief history of the Lebanese-Israeli conflict:

Because Israel and Lebanon have never signed a peace accord, the countries remain officially in a state of war that has existed since 1948 when Lebanon joined other Arab nations against the newly formed Jewish state.
The two countries have been bound by an armistice signed in 1949, which regulates the presence of military forces in southern Lebanon.
With a large Christian minority in an overwhelmingly Muslim region, mercantile and Westernized, Lebanon was considered the least hostile Arab neighbor to Israel _ and the weakest. The rare skirmishes that occurred were mostly symbolic.That began to change as Palestinian guerrillas became active. In 1968, Israeli commandos landed at Beirut airport and blew up 13 Lebanese airliners in retaliation for Arab militants firing on an Israeli airliner in Athens, Greece.
Under pressure from staunch anti-Israeli Arab regimes in 1969, Lebanon signed an agreement that effectively gave away a southern region for Palestinian guerrillas to use as a springboard to infiltrate Israel or launch cross-border attacks.
Notable among these were an April 1974 raid on the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, when Palestinian gunmen killed 16 civilians, mostly women and children, and an attack the following month on a school in Maalot in which a militant group killed 20 teenagers.
Israel retaliated regularly as Palestinian guerrillas fired on northern Israel, and Israeli forces invaded southern Lebanon in 1978. A U.N. peacekeeping force deployed and the Israelis pulled out after installing a local Lebanese militia in a border buffer zone, but the attacks continued.
Israel invaded again on a wider scale in 1982 to destroy Yasser Arafat's Palestinian guerrilla movement, which had established itself as a force within Lebanon during the country's civil war that began in 1975. The bulk of Palestinian guerrillas were evacuated from Lebanon, but a new Lebanese guerrilla force, Hezbollah, emerged with the aid of Iran and drawn from the Shiite Muslim community that inhabits southern and eastern Lebanon.
U.S.-sponsored negotiations produced a Lebanon-Israel agreement but that deal died as Lebanon collapsed in another round of civil war.
After a destructive and costly military campaign that lasted for three years, Israeli forces withdrew from most of Lebanon but retained a self-proclaimed "security zone" just north of its own border.
Fighting inside Lebanon would escalate periodically, including a 1993 Israeli bombing offensive and the 17-day "Grapes of Wrath" military campaign in 1996 that left about 150 Lebanese civilians dead. At that time, Israel was reacting against guerrilla attacks by Hezbollah against Israeli soldiers inside the occupied zone and against Katyusha rockets being fired by Hezbollah into Israel proper.
Israel left that zone in 2000, but warned that it would return if its security to the north was compromised.
Hezbollah trumpeted Israel's withdrawal as a great victory but claimed that Israel continued to occupy illegally a small, empty parcel near Syria called the Chebaa Farms.
Diplomats mostly see that claim as a convenient excuse to justify attacks against Israel. Nevertheless, the Israeli-Lebanese frontier had remained largely quiet for the past six years with occasional outbursts _ until a cross-border raid by Hezbollah July 12 resulted in the capture of two Israeli soldiers and the killing of eight others, sparking the current warfare.