A recent fertility study suggests that those couples trying to get pregnant should focus more on having fun between the sheets and avoid a ‘quickie’ because according to experts, being excited helps boost men's sperm count, thereby increasing their partner’s chances of conceiving.
For the study, experts considered 63 sperm donors. It was found that in some cases sperm count was 58% higher when men viewed virtual reality (VR) pornography.
According to experts, this is reportedly because it made them feel they were taking part in the experience, instead of just watching the explicit material in print and in videos.
But while the study only looked at porn, experts believe it could apply to real-life sex encounters as well.
However, more research is supposedly needed.
Speaking about the results, co-author of the study Allan Pacey, professor of men’s health at the University of Sheffield, told the Daily Mail, “This study reinforces the view that having good sex can help couples trying to conceive a baby.
“It is not just about having a quickie on the day of the month when the woman is ovulating. There is growing evidence men produce better sperm samples for conceiving when they are more aroused.”
The study reportedly looked at the number of swimming ‘motile’ sperm in each sperm sample.
Sperm motility refers to the sperm’s ability to move efficiently. According to medical experts, it is a good indicator of fertility and whether a woman can get pregnant with it.
Researchers discovered that when men had not ejaculated for 14 hours after they had watched the VR porn, they were able to produce 33 million extra motile sperm.
It was also found that the effect of being more excited was reduced when men had gone longer without ejaculating before the experiment.
Apparently, this is an established method that helps to increase sperm count anyway.
Therefore, researchers are not very sure if the men enjoyed the VR porn more or if the increase in sperm counts was due to this. However, they feel it is the ‘most likely’ reason.
Dr Michael Eisenberg, fertility expert and medical adviser to Twoplus Fertility had previously shared some tips for those struggling to conceive, The Sun informs.
The doctor advises staying away from fast food as the trans-fat in these foods is linked to lower fertility. He also said prospective parents should have regular sex to increase the chances of conceiving.
Tony Matharu, Integrity International Group. Shailesh Solanki, Summix founding partner Niamh O’Connor, Integrity International Group founder Tony Matharu and Kalpesh Solanki.
AN INFLUENTIAL London hotelier won the top prize at the annual Eastern Eye Property Awards in London last Thursday (25)night
Tony Matharu is the founder and chairman of Integrity International Group, which has acquired some of London’s most iconic buildings, among them Atlas House near the Guildhall, the Crescent Buildings in Tower Hill and 55 Broadway and Albany House.
OakNorth. Shailesh Solanki, Giorgio Antonio of Aceto, Priya Chauhan, Adam Hunt, councillor Rohitkumar Dasgupta and Kalpesh Solanki
Matharu was named Eastern Eye’s property developer of the year, with nine other winners across different categories also collecting prizes.
SBI-UK. Shailesh Solanki, Abhishek Sahay of SBI, Sakuntala Sanyal of SBI, Kalpesh Solanki and councillor Ajmal Akram
The Asian entrepreneur was praised for his business achievements as well as his philanthropic endeavours and sport and community initiatives.
In all, 10 prizes were presented at the event at Park Plaza, Riverbank, hosted by the Asian Media Group, publishers of Eastern Eye and Garavi Gujaratnews weeklies.
Now in their second year, the awards celebrate and recognise key players in the property industry – from developers and financial lenders to interior designers and technology disruptors.
Matharu also took part in a masterclass with compere Nihal Arthanayake and discussed his views on the economy and his journey as a serial entrepreneur.
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage, parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, was the chief guest.
Local Government, was the chief guest. In her remarks, she paid tribute to business leaders whose work she said “has been absolutely vital in rebuilding Britain”.
The minister noted how the Labour government was committed to delivering 1.5 million homes this parliament and said, “I don’t underestimate how challenging that target is going to be. We can’t do that unless we work in partnership with the housing industry, from the constructors, to the planners, from the financial institutions to property agents and from architects to interior designers, you are all part of this mission, and we cannot deliver without you.
She noted the government’s commitment to funding for infrastructure and skills training for construction workers.
“Many of you in the construction industry tell me that skills is a real issue, so I hope this will help, and the new training will tackle the skill shortages and inspire the next generation into the construction sector.
“I want my grandchildren to see construction as a real, positive way forward, and I think we all have a duty to inspire that generation,” Baroness Taylor said.
Former Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office minister Lord Ahmad noted how property ownership “very much is within the British Asian DNA”. He said, “British Asian developers have contributed to building communities. They’ve built futures.”
The Eastern Eye Property Awards were held in association with Summix.
Co-founder Amit Bhatia described how the firm works with some of the largest house builders in the country, as well as student accommodation developers and hoteliers.
“We’re very proud of what we’ve done over the past 17 years. We’ve delivered in excess of 6,500 new homes to the country. Our pipeline is successful to deliver another close to 20,000 new homes,” Bhatia said.
He added, “There’s massive potential in the country. There’s great interest in the country to do great things, but we just need a little bit of help, a bit of clarity, bit of deregulation.”
Among other winners were OakNorth, named Eastern Eye bank of the year.
Since its launch in 2015, it has lent more than $16 billion (£11.9bn) to scaleups, and been instrumental in creating 56,000 jobs and helping build 34,000 new homes across the UK and US, the majority in affordable and social housing. OakNorth was co-founded by Asian businessman Rishi Khosla and Joel Perlman.
Prideview Group, which successfully competed 76 high value transactions in 2024, won Eastern Eye advisor of the year. Its deals in the London region were estimated to be worth £250 million.
One of India’s leading banks scooped the prize for Eastern Eye commercial lender of the year.
State Bank of India UK, with 11 branches across the country, works with its clients on serving their commercial property financing requirements.
The Eastern Eye rising star award went to Sachinkumar Gupta, director of Property Hub Limited, for building on his previous travel enterprise and diversifying to serve them with property-related services.
Oraanj Interior Design, which has transformed homes, offices, restaurants and hotels, won Eastern Eye Interior Designer of the Year.
Founder Rachana Gupta’s company offers clients a range of services, from space planning to custom furniture and landscape design.
Manni Chopra of the Chopra Property Group scooped the Eastern Eye property entrepreneur of the year award.
Along with her husband, Romey, she runs The Chopra Property Group, finding unloved properties and carefully executing conversions and developments using their own and private investor funds.
Other winners were Paresh Raja of Market Financial Solutions, who won the Eastern Eye Award for disruptor of the year, Valos, named Eastern Eye technology company of the year and Aldermore Bank, which won the Eastern Eye Specialist Lender Award.
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INDIA and China will resume direct flights between designated cities this month after a suspension of more than five years, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.
There have been no direct flights between the two countries since 2020, even though China remains India’s largest bilateral trade partner.
India’s largest airline, IndiGo, said it would start daily non-stop flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou from October 26. It also plans to launch a route connecting New Delhi with Guangzhou.
Prime minister Narendra Modi visited China a month ago for the first time in seven years to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
During the visit, he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that India and China were development partners, not rivals, and discussed steps to strengthen trade ties amid global tariff uncertainty.
Modi also conveyed India’s commitment to improving ties and raised concerns over the trade deficit with China, which stands at nearly $99.2 billion.
He underlined the need to maintain peace and stability along the disputed border, where a clash in 2020 led to a five-year military standoff.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Starmer defended a multicultural Britain and committed to raising living standards and putting money in the pockets of voters.
PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer said the government was taking its first steps along the path to “renew Britain” as he called for supporters to join forces to “fight for the soul of our country” at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Tuesday (30)
Amid rising support for Reform UK, Starmer criticised its leader Nigel Farage of being only interested in fomenting division and called on voters to be patient.
It has been a tough first year for the prime minister since Labour’s landslide victory in the 2024 July general election.
At the conference on Tuesday, Starmer defended a multicultural Britain and committed to raising living standards and putting money in the pockets of voters.
He said, “We can all see our country faces a choice, a defining choice. Britain stands at a fork in the road. We can choose decency, or we can choose division. Renewal or decline.
“No matter how many people tell me it can’t be done, I believe Britain can come together.”
The prime minister warned that the “politics of grievance” is the biggest threat facing Britain, greater than any global danger.
Starmer said there are “limits to what the state can do on its own” and stressed that renewal would only be possible if “everyone is in it together”.
According to him, the challenges ahead would be as big as “rebuilding Britain after the war”.
He argued the path to renewal would be “long” and “difficult”, but said Labour could deliver a “fairer country” where people felt “seen” and “valued”.
“These are decisions that are not cost free or easy,” Starmer said, noting that some choices could create divisions within Labour. But he insisted they were necessary to build a “new and fairer” Britain.
build a “new and fairer” Britain. He stressed renewal would require patience and unity, adding: “We cannot shy away from the hard road. But if we take it together, we can shape a country where opportunity is shared and no one is left behind.”
Starmer appealed directly to working class voters, calling on Labour’s traditional supporters to reject the “snake oil” peddled by the Reform party and back his vision of “a Britain built for all”.
There have been anti-immigrant protests in London in recent weeks as well as controversy over displaying the England flag. Starmer asserted on Tuesday that Labour was a patriotic party, as officials handed out flags to wave during several standing ovations.
“For me, patriotism is about love and pride, about serving an interest that is more than yourself, a common good,” the prime minister said.
“And the question I ask seriously of Farage and Reform is, do they love our country ... or do they just want to stir the pot of division, because that’s worked in their interests.”
He reiterated that the government will tackle the high rates of illegal immigration into the country, but said Labour will fight racism and those who “say or imply the people cannot be English or British because of the colour of their skin”.
tank British Future, said Starmer’s speech “set out a balanced vision: defending the principle of asylum as well as secure borders, challenging racism while addressing those concerns that are legitimate.
lance, Starmer is able to speak from his own sense of patriotism, bridging values and audiences in a way that this government has often struggled to do this summer and in its white paper.”
Labour, beset by missteps and U-turns since it returned to power in July last year for the first time since 2010, lags 12 points behind Reform, according to the Ipsos poll published last weekend.
The survey found Starmer had the lowest net approval rating for a prime minister since Ipsos started asking the question in 1977. It found that he was even more unpopular than former prime minister Rishi Sunak just before he led the Conservatives to their worst defeat in history at the 2024 vote. The next election is not expected until 2029, but speculation is growing that a bad result in local elections next May, including in Scotland and Wales, could trigger a leadership challenge.
Responding to Starmer’s speech, Farage said the accusations of racism had put Reform supporters in danger.
“To accuse countless millions of being racist is a very, very low blow,” he said. “It directly threatens the safety of our elected officials and our campaigners.”
Starmer faces some difficult decisions. After saying that last year’s tax rises - the biggest in more than 30 years – were a one-off in terms of scale, the government might be forced to again raise tens of billions of pounds in taxes to cover a forecast fiscal shortfall.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves used her speech on Monday (29) at conference to warn those in the party who want her to ease her fiscal rules to spend more on the nation’s ailing economy that they were “wrong, dangerously so”, keeping the door open to tax rises.
Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch MP said, “Keir Starmer has all but confirmed that tax rises are coming. The prime minister could have used his speech to own up to the mistakes he’s made on the economy, admit the country was living beyond its means, and set out a plan to avoid further punishing tax hikes this autumn, but he did not.
“In Labour’s first year, inflation has doubled, economic growth has halved and unemployment has risen almost every single month. Everyone in Britain will now pay the price for Starmer’s weakness with a smaller economy and higher taxes.
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Britain's new Archbishop of Canterbury-designate, Sarah Mullally, poses for a photograph in The Corona Chapel at Canterbury Cathedral, south east England on October 3, 2025. (Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images)
SARAH MULLALLY was on Friday (3) named the new Archbishop of Canterbury, becoming the first woman to lead the Church of England -- which can trace its origins to the Roman empire -- and the global Anglican community.
Her nomination by a committee tasked with finding a successor to Justin Welby, who stepped down earlier this year over an abuse scandal, has been approved by King Charles III, the UK government said.
The Church of England is the mother church of global Anglicanism. Mullally, 63, becomes the church's 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, the first having been appointed in the late sixth century.
In a statement, the former nurse acknowledged the "huge responsibility" of her new role, but said she feels a sense of "peace and trust in God to carry me".
Prime minister Keir Starmer welcomed the appointment of the first woman to hold the role.
"The Church of England is of profound importance to this country. Its churches, cathedrals, schools, and charities are part of the fabric of our communities," he said in a statement, adding the new archbishop would "play a key role in our national life."
Welby resigned after a report found the Church of England had covered up a 1970s serial abuse case and that he failed to report the abuses to authorities when they came to his attention in 2013.
According to the independent probe, John Smyth, a lawyer who organised evangelical summer camps in the 1970s and 1980s, was responsible for the abuse of as many as 130 boys and young men.
Smyth died aged 75 in South Africa in 2018 while under investigation by British police. He never faced any criminal charges.
The scandal shocked the UK and prompted widespread calls for reform in the Church of England, whose supreme governor is the British monarch.
The Church of England has some 20 million baptised members, but the number of regular churchgoers is estimated at just under one million, according to figures for 2022.
Mullally was appointed by King Charles following a lengthy selection process under a former head of the MI5 domestic security service.
The Anglican Church became the established state church following King Henry VIII's split from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s.
Mullally was ordained a priest in 2002 and became the first female Bishop of London in 2018.
The church only began allowing women bishops in 2014 after years of bitter factional wrangling.
Some churches around the Anglican world -- which collectively boasts some 85 million followers in more than 165 countries -- had long permitted women bishops, with the first appointed in the US in 1989.
More than 40 of England's 108 bishops are now women, with a similar proportion among priests, after women clergy were first permitted in the early 1990s.
(AFP)
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Singh had earlier said that five Pakistani fighter jets and another military aircraft were shot down in the conflict.
India says five Pakistani F-16 and JF-17 jets were downed in May fighting
Air Force Chief Amar Preet Singh specifies aircraft classes for first time
Pakistan claims it downed six Indian jets, including a Rafale
Conflict followed deadly attack on Hindu tourists in Kashmir
INDIA downed five Pakistani fighter jets of the F-16 and JF-17 class during fighting in May, Indian Air Force Chief Amar Preet Singh said on Friday.
Singh had earlier said that five Pakistani fighter jets and another military aircraft were shot down in the conflict. This is the first time India has specified the class of jets.
"As far as air defence part is concerned, we have evidence of one long range strike... along with that five fighters, high-tech fighters between F-16 and JF-17 class, our system tells us," Singh told reporters at the Indian Air Force annual day press conference.
The F-16 is US-made while the JF-17 is of Chinese origin.
Pakistan’s military did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Islamabad has said it shot down six Indian fighter jets during the fighting, including the French-made Rafale. India has acknowledged some losses but denied losing six aircraft.
On Friday, Singh declined to respond to questions on Pakistan’s claim.
The May conflict, the worst between the two countries in decades, followed an attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir. New Delhi said Pakistan backed the attack.
Fighter jets, missiles, artillery and drones were used during the four-day fighting, which killed dozens of people before both sides agreed to a ceasefire.
Islamabad denied involvement in the Kashmir attack, which killed 26 men and was the deadliest assault on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
India said in July that three “terrorists” involved in the attack were killed and that there was “lot of proof” they were Pakistanis.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry questioned India’s version of events, calling it “replete with fabrications.”
Relations between the two neighbours, who have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, have since worsened. India has suspended a water-sharing treaty, which Pakistan described as an “act of war.”