Siraj, Bumrah spearhead India as Windies fall for 162
Roston Chase confident despite moisture on pitch; visitors missing key fast bowlers for crucial tour
India's Mohammed Siraj (R) celebrates with Yashasvi Jaiswal (L) after taking the wicket of West Indies' captain Roston Chase during the first day of the first Test cricket match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 2, 2025. (Photo by R.SATISH BABU/AFP via Getty Images)
Pramod Thomas is a senior correspondent with Asian Media Group since 2020, bringing 19 years of journalism experience across business, politics, sports, communities, and international relations. His career spans both traditional and digital media platforms, with eight years specifically focused on digital journalism. This blend of experience positions him well to navigate the evolving media landscape and deliver content across various formats. He has worked with national and international media organisations, giving him a broad perspective on global news trends and reporting standards.
RED-HOT Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah led India's bowling charge with seven wickets between them as the hosts dismissed the West Indies for 162 on day one of the first Test on Thursday (2).
A depleted West Indies won the toss in Ahmedabad but the Indian attack struck regular blows at the start of the two-match series to bowl out the visitors in 44.1 overs in the second session.
Siraj returned figures of 4-40 to extend his tally of Test wickets to 27 this year, having played a key role in India's 2-2 draw in England.
After an initial first spell of 3-19 in seven overs, Siraj returned in the second session to get one more wicket and was ably supported by Bumrah.
Number seven Justin Greaves top-scored with 32 before being bowled by Bumrah.
Skipper Roston Chase (24) and Shai Hope attempted to revive the innings after the West Indies slipped to 42-4 in the first hour of play.
India's Jasprit Bumrah (R) celebrates with Yashasvi Jaiswal (L) after taking the wicket of West Indies' Justin Greaves during the first day of the first Test cricket match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 2, 2025. (Photo by R.SATISH BABU/AFP via Getty Images) www.easterneye.biz
Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav bowled Hope for 26 to end the 48-run fifth-wicket stand at the stroke of lunch.
Kuldeep got his second to wrap up the innings as early tea was called.
Earlier, Siraj drew first blood when he got Tagenarine Chanderpaul caught behind down the leg side for a duck with wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel taking a good catch.
Bumrah had opener John Campbell caught behind for eight.
The decision was denied by the umpire but replays suggested the ball grazed the bat and India reviewed in their favour.
Siraj kept up the onslaught as he bowled Brandon King for 13 when the batsman attempted to leave an incoming delivery.
West Indies were swept 3-0 at home by Australia this year and were bowled out for 27 in the third match, the second-lowest score in Test history.
They have been forced into late changes after injuries to pace bowlers Alzarri Joseph and Shamar Joseph, and are a pale shadow of the team that once dominated cricket.
A JUDGE has described how vulnerable young girls were let down by local authorities in northern England as he jailed seven members of a child sexual exploitation gang for between 12 to 35 years on Wednesday (1).
The men, all of south Asian descent, exploited at least two vulnerable white teenage girls in Rochdale, near Manchester, using them as "sex slaves".
They were repeatedly raped over a five-year period starting in 2001, a court heard.
Jurors heard they were forced to have sex "with multiple men on the same day, in filthy flats and on rancid mattresses".
"They were passed around for sex - abused, humiliated, degraded and then discarded," judge Jonathan Seely said on passing sentence.
The longest sentence of 35 years went to market stallholder Mohammed Zahid, 65.
The father-of-three gave free underwear from his lingerie stall to both teenagers, alongside money, alcohol and food, expecting in return regular sex with him and his friends.
The Manchester resident was found guilty of 20 offences including rape, indecency with a child, and attempting to procure unlawful sexual intercourse from a girl.
Fellow Rochdale market traders Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, and Kasir Bashir, 50, both of Oldham, received jail terms of 27 years and 29 years, respectively.
Both were convicted of offences including rape and indecency with a child.
Bashir, who absconded before the trial began and is believed to have fled abroad, was sentenced in absentia.
Taxi drivers Mohammed Shahzad, 44, Naheem Akram, 49, and Nisar Hussain, 41, all of Rochdale, were convicted of multiple counts of rape and received sentences ranging from 19 to 26 years.
A final offender, 39-year-old Roheez Khan, of Rochdale, was jailed for 12 years for a single count of rape.
The men sentenced on Wednesday were prosecuted as part of Operation Lytton, a police investigation launched in 2015 into historical child sexual exploitation in Rochdale.
Police probes into historic child sexual exploitation in Rochdale have so far led to the conviction of 32 offenders, including the seven sentenced on Wednesday, according to the police.
The perpetrators have collectively been jailed for more than 450 years.
Handing down the jail terms, Seely said the two victims "were highly vulnerable, both had deeply troubled backgrounds and were known to the authorities".
Seven men jailed for more than 170 years for Rochdale child sexual exploitation
"They were highly susceptible to the advances of these men and others, and both were sexually abused by numerous other men," he noted.
"Both were seriously let down by those whose job it was to protect them."
A jury hearing their four-month trial in Manchester found all seven guilty in June of rape and dozens of other offences, after both victims gave evidence in court.
Social services and police have apologised for their past failings surrounding the victims.
Liz Fell, specialist prosecutor in the case, thanked both victims for their "strength and dignity throughout what has been a lengthy and challenging legal process".
"Their determination to see justice done has been fundamental to securing these convictions," she said, noting the defendants had failed to show the "slightest remorse".
Sharon Hubber, director of children’s services at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “Rochdale Borough Council is in a very different place to where it once was more than a decade ago, and our work to improve our safeguarding practice and our response to child sexual exploitation has been recognised in every Ofsted inspection since 2014.
“We will not be complacent however, and we remain committed to doing all that we can with our partners to protect and support victims and survivors.
“We also continue to provide a safe and supportive environment to anyone affected by non-recent abuse or exploitation to ensure people get the right support that they need.”
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The government said the move is aimed at reducing the '8am scramble' when patients try to get through on the phone. (Representational image: iStock)
FROM today (October 1), all GP practices in England are required to offer online appointment bookings throughout the day.
The government said the move is aimed at reducing the “8am scramble” when patients try to get through on the phone.
Surgeries will now have to provide the service from 08:00 to 18:30, Monday to Friday. Patients will be able to request non-urgent appointments, describe symptoms, ask questions and request a call back, BBC reported.
The British Medical Association (BMA) has warned that serious health problems could be missed, creating a “potential online triage tsunami.”
It has called for safeguards, such as allowing practices to switch off online booking if staff cannot cope with demand, and said it may consider industrial action in the form of work-to-rule.
Health ministers have decided to proceed, saying £1.1 billion of additional funding has been invested to support the change.
Care Minister Stephen Kinnock said: “We promised to tackle the 8am scramble and make it easier for patients to access their GP practice – and that's exactly what we're delivering.”
NHS England’s Dr Amanda Doyle said the step would help modernise general practice, while Jacob Lant of National Voices said online booking was “a fundamental building block of a 21st Century NHS.”
Practices must also now publish a new charter, “You and Your GP,” on their websites, setting out patient expectations and how feedback can be given.
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Nigel Farage speaks during the Reform UK party conference in Birmingham on September 6, 2025. (Photo: Reuters)
Farage accuses Starmer of endangering Reform supporters with racism claims
Starmer urges voters to reject Reform and back Labour’s plan to “renew Britain”
Labour leader vows to act on illegal immigration while opposing racism
Starmer and chancellor Rachel Reeves warn of tough fiscal choices ahead
NIGEL FARAGE has rejected prime minister Keir Starmer’s criticism of Reform UK, saying accusations of racism were a “very, very low blow” that put his party’s supporters and campaigners at risk.
“To accuse countless millions of being racist is a very, very low blow,” Farage said on Tuesday. “It directly threatens the safety of our elected officials and our campaigners.”
Farage was responding after Starmer used Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool to attack Reform, accusing it of promoting “snake oil” and division.
Starmer calls for unity
Starmer urged working-class voters to reject Reform and instead back his vision of “a Britain built for all.” He appealed for patience with his Labour government, saying it was taking its first steps to “renew Britain.”
“No matter how many people tell me it can’t be done, I believe Britain can come together,” Starmer told delegates.
“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,” he said.
Starmer also sought to claim patriotism for Labour, with Union flags waved in the hall. “For me, patriotism is about love and pride, about serving an interest that is more than yourself, a common good,” he said.
“And the question I ask seriously of Nigel 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?”
Immigration and racism
Starmer said his government would act against illegal immigration but would also oppose racism and those “who say or imply the people cannot be English or British because of the colour of their skin.”
His remarks drew support from Labour members. “Farage doesn’t care about normal people, and it was important we get that message out,” said Shabaan Saleem, a 21-year-old Labour councillor.
Fiscal challenges ahead
Starmer also acknowledged tough economic choices. He said tax rises last year, the biggest in more than three decades, had been a one-off, but further increases could be needed to address a fiscal shortfall.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves warned against easing fiscal rules to allow more spending, saying those who pressed her to do so were “wrong, dangerously so,” leaving the option of tax rises on the table.
Starmer said Labour must be ready for difficult decisions. “It is a test. A fight for the soul of our country, every bit as big as rebuilding Britain after the war,” he said.
“And yet we need to be clear that our path, the path of renewal, it’s long, it’s difficult, it requires decisions that are not cost-free or easy. Decisions that will not always be comfortable for our party.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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British prime minister Keir Starmer delivers his keynote speech at Britain's Labour Party's annual conference in Liverpool, Britain, on September 30, 2025
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s declaration that the next election is “a battle for the soul of the country, exemplifies how Reform leader Nigel Farage’s new frontrunner status made him the main target of his political opponents during this year’s party conference.
"Don't let Trump’s America become Farage's Britain" was LibDem leader Ed Davey’s theme in Bournemouth. That was a confident, liberal message with an appeal to most people in this country. Davey’s literal Trump card is that he is the most prominent politician being willing to openly criticise a US president who three-quarters of the British public disapprove of. It passes the ‘tik-tok test' of being communicable in three seconds to those paying little attention to politics.
Starmer has to work with the leader that the US public chose to elect. So, he tried to make a similar argument, but in more abstract language: contrasting ‘patriotic renewal’ with ‘the politics of grievance’ - and ‘decency’ versus ‘division’. The general public may find that harder to decode than his party audience in Liverpool.
Trump once boasted that his supporters would let him get away with murder on Fifth Avenue. Farage’s opponents fear that the normal rules of scrutiny might never apply to him, either. Yet Farage made unforced errors under pressure - partly because he does not appear to recognise any risk in his close association with Trump. Being unwilling to criticise the US president’s unfounded claims about paracetamol being a cause of autism panders to a narrow conspiracist fringe that could be a red flag to the more mainstream voters who Farage needs to persuade and reassure. The 14 per cent of votes he got last time were from four million people who have often voted for Farage’s parties in the past decade. Making a serious bid for power - trying to turn 14 per cent into 30 per cent - involves targeting another four million voters, who have mostly chosen not to do so before.
Yet, there are few voices for reassurance or moderation in Reform’s internal debate to counter online and ideological pressure to radicalise. Former academic turned populist advocate Matthew Goodwin says the key is that Reform must be more like Trump’s second term than his first. That amounts to a call for the authoritarian rejection of democratic norms.
The radicalisers are winning the war for Farage’s ear. After Farage’s call for mass deportations of those here without legal status was criticised as ‘weak sauce’ by Elon Musk, the Reform leader expanded the threat to up to two million people. He proposed to abolish indefinite leave to remain entirely - including reneging on commitments made to those told Britain was their permanent home.
Downing Street’s initial flat-footed response was to call the Farage plan ““unrealistic, unworkable and unfunded” before the prime minister was persuaded that he needed to make a moral argument.
“It is one thing to say ‘we’re going to remove illegal migrants’, people who have no right to be here. I’m up for that. It is a completely different thing to say we are going to reach in to people who are lawfully here and start removing them. They are our neighbours. It would tear our country apart”, he told the BBC’s Laura Kuennsberg last Sunday (28).
Starmer made headlines by calling the Farage plan ‘racist’ too. That was an unplanned response to the journalist’s question. As Reform appears to be now exempting four million European nationals with settled status from its plan, while threatening up to half a million people - often Commonwealth nationals from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria - in a similar ethical position, the impact is discriminatory, whatever Reform’s unexplained motive for this differential treatment.
Yet Starmer’s strongly worded argument as to why those here legally should not be threatened with deportation seemed to be contradicted by his own home secretary’s keynote speech on Monday (29).
Shabana Mahmood told the Labour conference she would be a tough home secretary - but a tough Labour home secretary. On small boats and asylum hotels, the government must respond to public pressure for change - with an orderly, workable and humane asylum system. Mahmood sees this as crucial to challenging the rise of racism.
Unlike its asylum challenge, the government’s proposals on settlement do not respond to any public appetite for change. The government wants a 10-year baseline for settlement - though most people - including seven out of ten Labour voters - believe that five years is a fair timeline, as our recent British Future report shows.
The home secretary put her speech’s headline message that ‘migrants must contribute to earn their right to stay’ into block capitals on social media before government sources scrambled to clarify that this would not actually apply to those who have arrived in the past five years. The government is yet to begin its policy consultation - but what that dividing line between decency and division should mean in practice will be a crucial and contested question this autumn.
Sunder Katwala is the director of thinktank British Future and the author of the book How to Be a Patriot: The must-read book on British national identity and immigration.
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Wes Streeting has ruled out imposing VAT on private healthcare ahead of the November budget. (Photo: Reuters)
UK will not impose a sales tax on private healthcare, health secretary Wes Streeting said on Tuesday, following reports that the government was considering the option ahead of the November 26 budget.
"It's not happening," Streeting told the BBC.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to raise taxes in the November budget to address a fiscal gap that economists estimate at tens of billions of pounds.
This has led to speculation about where cuts or increases might be made.
Reeves said on Monday that she would honour Labour’s manifesto pledge not to increase sales tax, known as value added tax (VAT), national insurance contributions or income tax rates.
She added that there would still be hard choices to make in November.