India captain Virat Kohli believes more players could follow the example of England all-rounder Ben Stokes unless gaps are created in a congested global fixture schedule.
Stokes is missing the five-Test series against India which started at Trent Bridge on Wednesday while he takes an indefinite break from the game to "prioritise his mental health" amid the strain of playing top-level sport during the coronavirus pandemic.
India go into the campaign having had several weeks rest, barring one tour match, since losing the inaugural World Test Championship final against New Zealand at Southampton in June.
Star batsman Kohli, like Stokes a multi-format international playing for one of the world's most in-demand teams, was glad to get off the treadmill, telling a conference call on Tuesday: "This break was important because you get little time to switch off.
"And also because you recently saw Stokes took a break from cricket and we have been operating in a bubble in the last one-and-a-half-years.
"It is not easy and periodic breaks like these are important in my opinion, to take people away from the game and bring them back refreshed.
"In the current environment it is a stressful job to be a captain and manage a team and on top of that you confine a player to a bubble then things become complicated.
"So I think these periodic breaks are important going ahead for cricket and cricketers, because otherwise it will be difficult to maintain the quality of cricket.
"So like he (Stokes) took a break, many more players will take a break in the future at some stage. They can get tired due to the bubble life.
"How important was the break to us? -- we understand now as we go fresh into this series. We are going in with an exciting mindset and feel we are good to go for the five Tests."
India have won just two of their last 14 Tests in England but Kohli said: "For us, it's all about wanting tough cricket and wanting to win in conditions which are not ours."
Kohli -- without a Test hundred in nearly two years -- is, however, one of several India players who have previously toured England.
"Look, you can have all the experience in the world. It all boils down to execution in crunch moments," he said.
The 32-year-old, who averages over 52 in his 92 Tests, added: "I've loved every moment of it.
"In my opinion, you cannot you cannot play at this level for a long period of time if you're not literally wanting to be in situations which are absolutely opposite of what your comfort zone is."
- 'Scarring' -
Kohli's pacemen may enjoy English conditions as much the hosts' attack.
India certainly got the better of England's batsmen during a 3-1 series win at home to Joe Root's side earlier this year on largely spin-friendly pitches.
"That all depends on the batsman who are walking out, how much scarring they carry with them," Kohli said.
"I can vouch for the fact that we definitely have the ability to bowl them out on a consistent basis."
Meanwhile, Kohli insisted he had no interest in joining Ajit Wadekar (1971), Kapil Dev (1986) and Rahul Dravid (2007) as a series-winning India captain in England just for its own sake.
"We are going to play with the same passion, same commitment, same belief that we play every series with," he said.
"Few series matter more than some others. I don't really believe in these things, because then you are really, picking and choosing what you want to do.
"And that's not being honest to the game, in my opinion."
Matt and Maria Raine have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI following the death of their 16-year-old son, Adam.
The suit claims ChatGPT validated the teenager’s suicidal thoughts and failed to intervene appropriately.
OpenAI expressed sympathy and said it is reviewing the case.
The company admitted its systems have not always behaved as intended in sensitive situations.
A California couple has launched legal action against OpenAI, alleging its chatbot ChatGPT played a role in their teenage son’s suicide.
Matt and Maria Raine filed the case in the Superior Court of California on Tuesday, accusing the company of negligence and wrongful death. Their 16-year-old son, Adam, died in April 2025. It is the first known lawsuit of its kind against the artificial intelligence firm.
The Raines are seeking damages and injunctive relief to prevent similar incidents.
Teen’s reliance on ChatGPT
According to court filings, Adam began using ChatGPT in September 2024 for schoolwork and to explore interests including music and Japanese comics. The lawsuit claims the tool soon became his “closest confidant,” and that he disclosed anxiety and mental health struggles to the programme.
By January 2025, Adam was reportedly discussing suicide methods with ChatGPT. He also uploaded photos showing signs of self-harm. The programme recognised a “medical emergency” but continued engaging, according to the family.
The final chat logs cited in the case allegedly show ChatGPT responding to Adam’s plans to end his life with the words: “Thanks for being real about it. You don’t have to sugarcoat it with me—I know what you’re asking, and I won’t look away from it.”
The lawsuit claims the tool soon became his “closest confidant"The Raine Family
Adam was found dead later that day.
OpenAI’s response
OpenAI said it was reviewing the filing and offered condolences to the Raine family.
In a public note, the company acknowledged that “recent heartbreaking cases” of people using ChatGPT during crises weighed heavily on it. It stressed the system is designed to direct users to professional help lines, such as the Samaritans in the UK and the 988 suicide hotline in the US.
However, it admitted there had been occasions where “our systems did not behave as intended in sensitive situations.”
Allegations against Sam Altman and staff
The lawsuit names OpenAI’s co-founder and chief executive Sam Altman as a defendant, along with unnamed engineers, managers and employees. The family alleges Adam’s death was the “predictable result of deliberate design choices” aimed at fostering user dependency.
It further accuses the company of bypassing safety protocols to release GPT-4o, the model used by Adam in his final conversations.
Broader concerns over AI and mental health
This case follows wider warnings about the risks of AI in sensitive contexts.
Last week, New York Times writer Laura Reiley described how her daughter Sophie confided in ChatGPT before her own death. She argued that the chatbot’s “agreeability” allowed her daughter to mask her distress.
OpenAI has since said it is developing new tools to better identify and respond to signs of emotional or mental health crises in users.
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Aditya Chopra (right) with his father, Yash Chopra
BOLLYWOOD filmmaker Aditya Chopra was last Thursday (21) named among the nominees of the UK Stage Debut Awards for his Come Fall in Love – The DDLJ Musical, performed at Manchester’s Opera House earlier this year.
Chopra delivered a blockbuster in 1995 with Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, popular as DDLJ, with Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan in the lead roles. It was adapted to a theatrical production and had its UK premiere in May.
Chopra reprised his role as director of the English stage production, which revolves around the love story of Simran and Roger.
Shah Rukh Khan visits the cast of Come Fall in Love The DDLJ Musical during rehearsals in London Danny Kaan
“This year’s nominees embody the future of British theatre, and I can’t wait to celebrate their achievements,” said Alistair Smith, editor of The Stage theatrical publication.
“This year there are several individuals with south Asian heritage being recognised for their excellence in directing: among the nominees is Amit Sharma for Ryan Calais Cameron’s Retrograde (in the Best Creative West End Debut category),” said the awards panel in a statement.
Also nominated are Adam Karim for Guards at the Taj at the Orange Tree Theatre, London, and visionary Indian filmmaker Aditya Chopra for Come Fall In Love at Manchester’s Opera House, who are both in the running for the best director category, the statement added.
The winners will be announced on September 28.
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A Union Jack flag and England's flag of St George hang from a pedestrain bridge as a man walks past, in Radcliffe, near Manchester, August 22, 2025. (Photo: Reuters)
Flags more visible across England amid migration debate
Protests outside hotels for asylum seekers linked to flag displays
Councils removing some flags citing safety concerns
THE RED and white St George's Cross and the Union Jack have been appearing across England in recent weeks. Supporters say the move is about national pride, while others see it as linked to rising anti-immigration sentiment.
The flags have become more visible during a politically charged summer in Britain, with migration dominating public debate. According to YouGov’s monthly tracker, immigration has overtaken the economy as the main concern for voters since the end of June.
"It's our flag, we should be able to feel proud to fly it," said Livvy McCarthy, a 32-year-old bartender, near a pedestrian crossing in the Isle of Dogs, London, painted in the design of the English flag. "Every other country can do the same, so what's the problem?"
While flags are often displayed on public buildings for sporting, royal or military events, they rarely appear widely in the streets.
The recent rise in flags coincides with protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers. The movement, spread on social media, is linked to Birmingham-based group the Weoley Warriors, who have encouraged the display of more flags.
On their fundraising page, the Warriors describe themselves as "proud English men" who want to show how "proud we are of our history, freedoms and achievements". They have not given further details about their motives.
In the past, both the Union Jack and the Cross of St George have been used by far-right groups. The National Front adopted the Union Jack in the 1970s, while the Cross of St George was carried by football hooligans and extremist groups.
For some, the flag is a symbol of patriotism. For others, including people from migrant and ethnically diverse communities, it raises concerns.
Stanley Oronsaye, a 52-year-old hospitality worker from Nigeria who lives in the Isle of Dogs, said people should be free to express their views on migration within the law. But he also said: "The worry is from the fact that if it escalates it can turn into something else. It's worrisome when... nationalism is allowed to take a different tone."
Jason, 25, who gave only his first name, said the flags were about "getting English culture back". "We are seeing more of other cultures than we are of our own now," he said in Tower Hamlets.
Protests outside hotels
The hotel protests grew after an Ethiopian asylum seeker staying at a hotel north of London was charged last month with sexual assault, which he denies.
This comes after riots last summer in several cities targeting asylum seekers and minorities. Those riots followed the murder of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed event, with false social media claims blaming a radical Islamist immigrant.
Prime minister Keir Starmer at the time described the violence as "far-right thuggery".
Asked about the flags, a spokesperson for Starmer said the prime minister views them as symbols of national heritage and values but accepts that some use them to provoke conflict. He recognises public frustration over the economy and pressure from illegal migration, the spokesperson added.
Some local councils have removed flags, citing safety. Tower Hamlets council said flags may be displayed on private property but would be removed from council infrastructure. "We are aware that some individuals putting up flags are not from our borough and that there have been wider attempts by some coming from outside our borough to sow division," it said.
The display of flags has been backed by politicians, including Nigel Farage of Reform UK and Conservative politician Robert Jenrick, who called councils removing them "Britain-hating councils". He posted on X: "We must be one country, under the Union Flag."
US billionaire Elon Musk also posted a picture of the English flag on X on Tuesday.
In the Isle of Dogs, flags were seen near the Britannia Hotel, a government-designated site for asylum seekers and the location of protests.
Local resident Shriya Joshi, 26, from India, said: "If it's a message to the immigrant community or anything of that sort, then it's not that pleasant."
THE current debate about whether the imperial statue of Robert Clive should be removed from outside the Foreign Office in London once again reinforces the need to include British colonial history in the school syllabus.
The older generation were brought up to believe that the British empire was, on the whole, a civilising force for good, but younger people today take a much more jaundiced view of the way in large parts of the world – especially India, “the jewel in the crown” – were plundered and drained of their wealth.
After Winston Churchill, who is accused of aggravating the effects of the 1943 Bengal Famine in which two-three million Indians perished, the most controversial figure is probably Clive (1725- 1774), whose conquests were crucial in consolidating British rule in India. He is usually referred to as “Clive of India”.
His bronze statue outside the Foreign Office, by the sculptor John Tweed, was not erected until 1912. It shows him in formal dress with one hand resting on the pommel of his sword, the other clutching papers. The inscription on the statue’s pedestal declares him simply as “Clive”.
The latest debate has been provoked by the Labour peer Baroness Debbonaire, who would have been culture secretary had she not lost the newly created Bristol Central seat in last year’s general election to the Lib Dems. As the MP for Bristol West, she had supported the removal of the statue of the slave trader Edward Colston in 2018 – this was pulled down during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020.
Thangam Elizabeth Rachel Debbonaire (née Singh) was born on August 3, 1966, in Peterborough to a father of Indian and Sri Lankan Tamil origin and an English mother.
Speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival earlier this month, she said that Clive’s statue “continues to promote him in a victorious mode and as a symbol of something that had universal good. I don’t think it’s helpful for any visitor to the Foreign Office, particularly those of us from Indian origins in the diaspora, but also visiting Indian people, Indian dignitaries, ambassadors, trade ministers, to walk into the Foreign Office past that statue. I don’t think that presents Britain in a particularly good light in the 21st century.
Baroness Debbonaire
“What it doesn’t do is contextualise or indeed give any honesty about what his presence in India actually did. He extracted a vast fortune. His former home, Powis Castle in Wales, contains hundreds if not thousands of objects that he took.”
She added: “Before colonial rule, India was a very developed country. It understood free trade, it was trading with its neighbours – something the East India Company and the other colonising forces successfully crushed. Since independence, India has grown economically, scientifically, in engineering terms, in computing terms, artistic, and so on.”
There were some predictably hostile responses.
Andrew Rosindell, Conservative MP for Romford, said: “I condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the calls from Baroness Debbonaire to remove the historic Clive of India statue – an essential part of the architectural landscape outside the Foreign Office. Not least, it would smear the name of a war hero who not only secured British influence in India against French ambitions, but expanded it, laying the foundations for the unification of an Indian state. I stand, alongside patriotic societies like the Royal Society of St. George, in opposing this needless selfflagellating whitewashing of history, and defending our proud British heritage.”
GB News interviewed James WindsorClive, who is said to be Clive’s “greatgreat-great-great-great-great-grandson” who suggested “a debate on giving the statue context with a plaque rather than removing it.” He made the point that it was “unfair to judge an 18th-century soldier-statesman by 21st-century morals”.
Clive is blamed for the 10 million death toll during the Bengal Famine of 1770, when, as governor of the region, he i mp o s e d punishing taxation and land reforms.
But Windsor-Clive, 35, argued: “I don’t think we can airbrush our history as simply as that. We’ve got a proud tradition and history and heritage, and we shouldn’t be looking to hide it. I personally think that Robert Clive helped make Britain a global power. We shouldn’t apologise for our history, but we should learn from it and be proud of what we achieved during that period.”
GB News did not interview another of Clive’s descendants, John Herbert, the eighth Earl of Powis, who takes a rather more critical view of his ancestor.
He was interviewed in 2021 by the writer Sathnam Sanghera for a Channel 4 programme, Empire State of Mind, and expressed reservations about the statue of Clive that was erected in his hometown of Shrewsbury. The local council in Shropshire decided to keep the statue following a debate triggered by the Black Lives Matter protests.
Standing by the statue, Herbert said: “There was very much a request to bring it down and there were quite strong feelings. The council resolved in the end to keep it, but put a plaque on it that will tell us more. I have often wondered if it ought to come down. It’s very imperial and I’ve never been very comfortable with it. I have always wished it wasn’t here, put it that way.”
In 2020, Haberdashers’ Adams school in Newport, Shropshire, dropped “Clive” as the name of one of its houses because he had “played such a leading role in the ill-treatment of Indians and in the expropriation of Indian assets in his time as a British military leader and governor of Bengal”.
The historian William Dalrymple, author of The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East IndiaCompany, is among those who support the “Clive must fall” movement: “Bengal’s wealth rapidly drained into Britain, while its prosperous weavers and artisans were coerced ‘like so many slaves’ by their new masters, and its markets flooded with British products. A proportion of the loot of Bengal went directly into Clive’s pocket.”
The eminent author Nirad C Chaudhuri published a biography, Clive of India, in 1975, which was even handed in assessing the man projected as “the greatest figure in the history of British India”.
The statue of Clive of India outside the Foreign Office entrance
He concluded that “the only legitimate interpretation (of history) is the historical one. In respect of Clive and the rise of the British Empire in India, I have tried to give that. With that I shall leave the account given in the book to take care of itself.”
It does say that “corruption and looting saw Clive amass a huge amount of wealth and he returned to Britain in 1760, aged 34” and that he later “defended himself in Parliament, saying, ‘By God, at this moment, do I stand astonished at my own moderation!’, and in 1773 Parliament declared that he did ‘render great and meritorious services to his country’.
” His “moderation” is reflected in the 1,000 artefacts dating from 1,600 to the 1830s displayed in the Billiard Room turned into the Clive Museum cum South Asian gallery at Powis Castle. The National Trust intends displaying the contents in a “culturally sensitive way”.
The old British view of colonial rule is reflected in a large portrait of Clive dominating a mantelpiece lined with the statutes of such Hindu deities as Vishnu, Krishna, Ganesh and Hanuman – “minor Gods,” according to a helpful volunteer.
Money did not buy Clive peace of mind. He allegedly cut his own throat with a penknife at his London house in Berkeley Square on November 22, 1774 and was hastily buried in St Margaret’s Church, Moreton Say, in Shropshire.
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Inaugurated last year by prime minister Narendra Modi, the sanctuary reportedly houses over 10,000 animals from 330 species, including tigers, elephants, Komodo dragons, and giant anteaters.
INDIA’s Supreme Court has ordered an investigation into allegations of illegal animal imports and financial irregularities at Vantara, a private zoo run by Anant Ambani, son of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani.
Vantara describes itself as the “world’s biggest wild animal rescue centre” and is located in Gujarat. According to India’s Central Zoo Authority, it houses more than 200 elephants, 50 bears, 160 tigers, 200 lions, 250 leopards and 900 crocodiles, along with other species.
Wildlife groups have raised concerns that endangered animals are being kept on flatlands near a large oil refinery without plans to return them to the wild.
On Monday, the Supreme Court said it had set up a panel headed by retired judges to examine allegations of unlawful animal acquisition, especially elephants, violations of wildlife rules, and possible money laundering.
“We consider it appropriate... to call for an independent factual appraisal,” the court said.
The judges said the panel would also look into whether Gujarat’s climate is unsuitable for the animals and examine “complaints regarding creation of a vanity or private collection”. The order followed petitions based on media reports and wildlife organisations’ complaints.
In March, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that Vantara imported about 39,000 animals in 2024, including from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
The zoo has also transported dozens of elephants in special trucks from different parts of India.
In a statement on Tuesday, Vantara said it would give “full cooperation” to the inquiry team and “remains committed to transparency, compassion and full compliance with the law”.
“Our mission and focus continues to be the rescue, rehabilitation and care of animals,” it said.
Vantara was also one of the venues for Anant Ambani’s wedding celebrations in 2024, which included private performances by Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry.