iWorld
Prime Video brings LIVE test cricket action as England Faces-off Against New Zealand
Mumbai: Prime Video, India’s streaming service, is all set to bring cricketing action LIVE to its viewers’ screens with the England tour of New Zealand beginning 16 February. The two teams will face each other on the pitch in a two-test match series which will stream live on Prime Video beginning 16 February. Viewers and fans will have access to a host of features like highlights, and fall of wickets shortly after the conclusion of every match on Prime Video.
The first test match, from 16 February 16th to 20 February, will treat cricket enthusiasts to a day & night pink ball match as England takes on New Zealand on their home turf, at the Bay Oval grounds, with Mount Maunganui as a backdrop. The second test match will be held from February 24 to 28 February , at Cello Basin Reserve, Wellington.
Bowler Kylie Jamison features in the New Zealand squad for the first time after he couldn’t play after his back injury last year. Ish Sodhi who has been the leading wicket-taker in the test series against Pakistan this January also features in the squad. In the England team, Rehan Ahmed, a promising young player, has been left out of the squad, while Stuart Broad is returning. Broad is supported by Matthew Potts and Olly Stone in the seamers department.
As part of the multi-year partnership, international men’s and women’s cricket matches played in New Zealand across all formats, are available exclusively on Prime Video India.
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
