LIVERPOOL, England — Prince William unveiled a groundbreaking suicide prevention resource for the sporting world Thursday, timed to coincide with World Suicide Prevention Day, marking what organizers describe as the first initiative of its kind designed specifically for sports organizations across the United Kingdom.

The toolkit, called “On Your Side,” aims to give sporting organizations and individuals, from grassroots clubs to elite professional teams, the confidence and practical skills needed to play a meaningful role in preventing suicide. The Prince of Wales hosted the launch at Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool, Everton Football Club’s home ground, drawing figures from across British sport for the occasion.

The resource was developed jointly by The Royal Foundation, the British Standards Institution and mental health charity Chasing the Stigma. It will be made accessible through Chasing the Stigma’s Hub of Hope platform, described as the UK’s largest mental health support directory. The toolkit is designed to work across every level of sport, relevant not only to players and coaches but also to volunteers, staff, families and spectators.

At the center of the resource is a five-step conversational framework called GOALS: Get ready, Open the conversation, Ask the question, Listen and respond, and Support and signpost. Beyond individual conversations, the toolkit also provides broader organizational guidance, including how to foster environments where people feel comfortable speaking up, how to integrate suicide prevention into formal organizational policies, how to train staff to recognize and respond to someone in crisis, and how to establish clear protocols for handling the aftermath of a suicide.

Research commissioned by The Royal Foundation ahead of the launch found that while goodwill toward suicide prevention exists broadly across the sports sector, current efforts remain fragmented, inconsistent and under-resourced, with grassroots clubs in particular lacking clear guidance on how to respond effectively.

Several major sporting organizations have already committed to adopting the toolkit. The Football Association, for which William serves as patron, is pledging to embed the resource throughout its entire structure, extending into its community and grassroots football networks. The Premier League and British Cycling have each announced commitments to prioritize suicide prevention within their organizations, while Team GB plans to roll out the resource to all of its athletes and staff. More than a dozen additional sporting bodies have signed on as champions of the initiative.

During the launch event, figures from across British sport shared experiences and reflections in a discussion led by Sue Gregory, chief executive of Everton in the Community, the club’s charitable arm.

To accompany the launch, The Royal Foundation released a short film intended to encourage people to feel confident starting conversations about suicide. The film features England football captain Harry Kane and Formula 1 driver George Russell, alongside two-weight world champion boxer Carl Frampton, GB international basketball player Kofi Josephs, Women’s Rugby World Cup winner Rocky Clark, double world champion combat sports fighter Ruqsana Begum and former elite jockey George Baker. The Liverpool event itself drew additional prominent attendees from British sport, including Dame Kelly Holmes, broadcaster Gabby Logan, boxer Campbell Hatton, former England women’s football international Jill Scott and Dame Laura Kenny.

In a speech at the launch, William is expected to describe the significant potential sport holds for reaching people who might otherwise never seek mental health support.

“My hope is that every sporting organisation in the country will look at what is being launched today and ask a question: ‘What more can we do?’” William said. “Because the opportunity before us is enormous. Sport has the ability to reach people who may never walk through the door of a mental healthcare service. People who may never seek support themselves and may be struggling in silence. The sporting community can help change that.”

Hazel Detsiny, executive director of The Royal Foundation, emphasized the toolkit’s intended scope across the entire sporting sector.

“This toolkit is the first of its kind, uniting the sector across all sports and at every level, with the aim of bringing about meaningful change,” Detsiny said.

Anne Hayes of the British Standards Institution noted that the resource draws directly on the world’s first formal standard addressing suicide within the workplace, adapted specifically to equip everyone from grassroots volunteers to professional sporting organizations with the tools to recognize emotional distress.

Jake Mills, founder of Chasing the Stigma, spoke to the broader power of sport as a vehicle for connection and support.

“Sport absolutely has the power to change lives,” Mills said. “It creates such strong communities, and when those communities come together to say they’re looking out for one another, it is a real force for good.”

Thursday’s launch builds on The Royal Foundation’s broader mental health initiatives, including the National Suicide Prevention Network established in autumn 2025, which is backed by more than £1 million in funding over an initial three-year period. That network has focused on coordinating suicide prevention efforts across multiple sectors of British society, with sport now representing the latest specific area of focus.

With major organizations including the Football Association, Premier League, British Cycling and Team GB already committing to adopt the toolkit, the initiative’s organizers say they hope to see broader uptake continue expanding across grassroots and community sport in the months ahead, building toward the kind of sector-wide, standardized approach to suicide prevention that the commissioned research found had previously been lacking across British sporting organizations.

This report discusses suicide, a sensitive topic. If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available. In the UK, Samaritans can be reached free at 116 123. In the United States, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available by calling or texting 988.

The shares dropped to Rs 1,330 apiece on the NSE on Thursday, after hitting the upper circuit in each of the previous four sessions. The stock had listed at Rs 1,334 apiece on Friday, a premium of over 76% to its IPO price of Rs 757.

The sharp surge in ESDS Software’s share price came amid expectations that India’s cloud and AI infrastructure spending is entering a structural growth phase.

“We believe India can realistically bring 30-40 GW of new data centre power online within the next ten years, backed by a rapidly expanding generation base, renewable capacity additions and a policy environment that treats digital infrastructure as strategic,” Piyush Somani, chairman and managing director, ESDS Software Solutions Limited told ET. “Against today’s installed base of roughly 1,545 MW, this is a structural shift,” he added.

Also read | ESDS Software surges 235% in 4 sessions as AI infra fever grips markets

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What lies ahead for ESDS Software shares?

ESDS Software Solution’s bumper listing had surpassed already bullish expectations. Rising demand for cloud computing, data-centre infrastructure, cybersecurity and digitalisation in India provides a favourable structural growth opportunity for ESDS over the long term, supporting a constructive medium-to-long-term view even after Friday’s listing gains, said Shivani Nyati, Head of Wealth at Swastika Investmart.
However, given the scale of the listing-day gain, some near-term profit-taking is likely as valuations have run ahead of fundamentals, the analyst said. “Existing allottees may consider booking partial profits at current levels and maintaining a stop loss around Rs 650–680 on the remaining holding. Investors without allotment would be better served awaiting a pullback toward Rs 600–650 before evaluating a fresh entry,” she had said on debut day.Choice Institutional Equities initiated coverage on ESDS Software Solutions with a ‘Buy’ rating and a target price of Rs 1,550, implying further upside potential.

The domestic brokerage highlighted the company’s integrated presence across cloud, colocation, GPU-as-a-Service, managed services and SaaS. It expects the company’s $1.25-billion AI infrastructure contract with Sharon AI to be a major growth driver, projecting revenue to rise from Rs 472 crore in FY26 to Rs 4,581 crore in FY28. Choice valued the company at 18 times its estimated FY28 EV-to-EBITDA.

However, the brokerage flagged execution of the AI contract, customer concentration, capital-intensive expansion, and rising competition as key risks.

Also read | ESDS Software shares skyrocket 235% from IPO price in 4 days. Should you buy or sell?

“A sensible next step would be to wait for the company’s first post listing results and an official investor presentation before acting on the AI numbers and to be clear eyed that a stock up 235% against the IPO price of Rs.429 in a week is being driven by momentum and sentiment as much as fundamentals,” said Balaji Rao Mudili, Research Analyst at Bonanza.

Disclosure: “This article has been written by Debaroti Adhikary, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an Investment Adviser. Debaroti Adhikary and her ‘relative(s)’ (as defined under Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013) do not hold any financial interest in the companies mentioned in this article as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of The EconomicTimes Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment.”

Ministers are today setting out plans to give mayors and other local leaders in England the power to impose a tourist tax on overnight stays, charged as a percentage of the cost of accommodation with no national upper limit.

A flat fee had previously been mooted. The Government has argued that a percentage charge will protect budget holidays, and expects mayors to be able to impose the levy by the end of the Parliament.

Angela Rayner, the Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary, is due to give more details of the proposals at a meeting with mayors at No 10 North later today.

Plans for the tax were first announced under Sir Keir Starmer, following similar schemes introduced by the devolved governments in Scotland and Wales. Prime Minister Andy Burnham reiterated his commitment to the policy in July as part of his wider devolution agenda.

Under proposals published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in November 2025, the levy would apply to visitors at accommodation providers including hotels, holiday lets, bed and breakfasts and guesthouses. Emergency accommodation, homeless shelters and registered Gypsy and Traveller sites used as primary residences would be exempt, and mayors would be able to apply other local exemptions.

Charges of a similar nature already exist across Europe, with the revenue used to fund local services. Mayors would decide how to invest the money raised from the levy.

In Manchester, a City Visitor Charge of £1 per room per night was introduced in April 2023.

Lord Khan, the Mayor of London, has welcomed proposals for a levy in the capital. Modelling by Central London Forward, a partnership of 12 central London local authorities, estimated in January that a 3 per cent charge on the cost of a room could raise more than £350m a year across London.

Lord Houchen, the Conservative Tees Valley Mayor, has rejected the idea of a tourist tax.

Groups representing the tourism trade have warned about the impact of the levy and called for consistency in how it operates across different regions.

Allen Simpson, chief executive of UKHospitality, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that a tourism tax introduced in Edinburgh in July is “already having damaging effects”.

He said holidays in the UK are “already more expensive” than they appear because of higher VAT, even before the tourist tax.

“What we’re talking about here is an open-ended power for mayors to set tourism taxes at any level they want,” Mr Simpson said. “And remember that if you go to Paris, if you go to Rome, if you go to Berlin, you’re paying a small tourism tax, but it’s capped.”

He said people in communities which rely on tourism and hospitality would see jobs at risk.

“I would say to those people in these communities that their jobs are now at risk,” Mr Simpson said. “It will be the case that you’ll have holiday parks which can’t open in the shoulder seasons and of course people who go on holiday will just have that little bit less money in their pocket.”

Jon Hendry Pickup, chief executive of Butlin’s, said the levy would hit hardest those who can least afford a holiday.

“Big cities may welcome these mayoral powers, but treating every destination and hospitality business the same will leave resorts like ours to shoulder the burden,” he said.

“We were concerned enough about the impact of a Holiday Tax when the discussion was around 5 per cent or £2 per person per night.

“Giving mayors the power to impose a levy without a national upper limit takes those concerns to another level and risks making family holidays less affordable, damaging demand and making it harder for businesses to hire young people.”

A Government source said mayors were unlikely to make the levy too costly in order to protect their local tourism industry, with most indicating it would be a few per cent.

The source said: “We have always been clear that while central government will set the framework for this power, it will be up to local leaders and local voters to decide what is right for their area.”

Jamie Young

Jamie Young is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, covering SME finance, employment law and Westminster policy since 2016. He has reported on every Budget and Autumn Statement since 2018, helped make sense of the ‘covid era’ and the bounce-back loan scheme from launch through the fraud investigations, and broke the magazine’s coverage of the 2024 late-payment reforms. He joined Business Matters straight from completing his BA in Administration from Exeter University and is NCTJ-qualified. Reach him at jyoung@cbmeg.co.uk

Coforge shares rose to Rs 1,878 apiece on NSE on Thursday morning. This comes after the stock plunged more than 5% on Wednesday after the company announced the resignation of non-executive Independent Director and Chairperson Om Prakash Bhatt with immediate effect.

As part of the internal audit plan, Coforge’s internal auditor reviewed the process followed for the Board Evaluation Exercise under the Chairman’s guidance and the resulting Board Evaluation Report (BER). The review found some concerns regarding how the board dealt with and presented the BER. This included concerns that certain material information relating to the BER and the Chairman’s performance was not fully disclosed to the board when the BER was presented.

Following the observations, the board shared its concerns with the Chairman and sought an explanation regarding the identified matters. Bhatt provided his response, after which the board began considering and evaluating his explanation. The board had not made a final decision on the matters raised with him.

Also read | Coforge shares crash after Chairman Om Prakash Bhatt resigns post audit

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In his resignation letter, Bhatt said he carefully considered the matters, his response to those matters and the resulting circumstances. He said it was only appropriate for him to resign from the board with immediate effect.

Nuvama on Coforge share price

Nuvama highlighted that Om Prakash Bhatt’s tenure was anyway coming to an end, as the renewal was not approved by shareholders in the recent AGM. Vivek Sharma, a Non-Executive Independent Director, has been appointed as Interim Chairperson till January 31, 2027. The brokerage sees no impact on the business or financials of the company.“We also do not see any concern related to the functioning of the board, as the matter relates to disclosure and process concerns, which are not from the Board’s side,” Nuvama said, adding that it stays positive on the Coforge story. It retained its ‘Buy’ call on the stock with a target price of Rs 2,350 apiece, implying more than 27% upside potential from the stock’s previous closing price of Rs 1,845 apiece.

Also read | Key Coforge shareholders were against OP Bhatt’s reappointment

Motilal Oswal on Coforge share price

Motilal Oswal Financial Services also noted that Bhatt’s term was anyway ending, and his resignation appears to have been voluntary and initiated by him given that his term was nearing its end. “We see limited implications for the underlying business as of now and await more clarity on the permanent appointment of the new chair. We therefore do not change our business outlook at this stage,” the domestic brokerage said.

“We have kept our estimates unchanged following this development. We continue to expect Coforge to be the growth leader within our coverage universe and reiterate it as our top pick. Strong deal wins, continued execution, improving cash conversion, and further margin upside from the Encora integration support our medium-term growth outlook,” Motilal Oswal said, as it reiterated its ‘Buy’ call on the stock with a target price of Rs 2,200 apiece, implying more than 19% upside potential.

Coforge share price

Coforge shares have gained 2% in a month and 11% so far in 2026. The stock has gained 4% in one year despite AI worries and rate hike concerns keeping sentiment muted for IT stocks.

In the longer term, Coforge shares have jumped 66% in three years and 80% in five years. The company has a market capitalisation of Rs 81,426 crore.

Also read | Coforge shares double from March low, outperform Nifty IT peers. Is more steam left in the rally?

Disclosure: “This article has been written by Debaroti Adhikary, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an Investment Adviser. Debaroti Adhikary and her ‘relative(s)’ (as defined under Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013) do not hold any financial interest in the companies mentioned in this article as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of The EconomicTimes Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment.“

NEW YORK — AT&T Chief Executive John Stankey did not treat Apple’s first foldable iPhone as a Jobs-era reset. He treated it as another book-style phone in a category his stores have already sold.

“The best characterization I can give is, looking at the foldable phones that have been out in the market, this is not new,” Stankey told Yahoo Finance at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Tech Conference on Wednesday, hours after Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo at $1,999. “Android users are as passionate about Android as iOS users are about iOS,” he said. They are “a smaller percentage of the U.S. market, but they are still passionate, and there’s been some really good foldable devices in the Android ecosystem for a couple years. And what we’ve seen is that it tends to function more as a specific niche type application as opposed to it’s broadly accepted.”

He left the door cracked. “Will iOS users view it differently or will there be some unique take that Apple comes up with that changes that penetration dynamic a little bit? I suppose it’s possible, but my guess right now is we’re going to kind of see it contained to a portion of the user base that wants that larger device and is maybe willing to invest more money to pick it up and get it.” On whether he would carry one: “I’m going to have to see if it replaces something that I use. I’m pretty adept at moving back and forth between my iPad and my mobile device right now. And if it becomes something where it says maybe I don’t need to carry the larger iPad around with me, I might be interested.”

That is a carrier talking about attach rates, not a keynote talking about magic. The Duo folds from a 5.4-inch cover display to a 7.6-inch inner panel with a matching 1:1.4 aspect ratio. Preorders open Oct. 16. Shipments start Oct. 23. Storage runs from 256GB at $1,999 to 2TB at $3,199. Apple CEO John Ternus framed rivals as unfinished work. “Others have created foldables that just feel like two phones awkwardly stuck together,” he said. Of the Duo: “It’s entirely new and at the same time remarkably familiar. A similar size to your passport, it feels familiar to hold and comfortable to use with one hand.”

Samsung spent Wednesday answering with hardware it already has on shelves. The Galaxy Z Fold 8, launched in July at $1,899, is listed at 201 grams. The Duo is listed at 254 grams. Hee-Cheul Moon, a Samsung research lead, told Wired the rivalry was “absolutely welcome” and that “the key to providing the highest customer value in this market is all about the weight of the device.” Seoul put up “Welcome to Foldables” and “The World’s Lightest Fold” billboards and posted lines on X that read as jabs at a late arrival.

Liz Lee, an associate director at Counterpoint Research, called Apple’s sticker the surprise. “Apple’s pricing was one of the most impressive parts. Keeping the iPhone Duo just under the $2,000 mark, at $1,999, and only about $100 above the Galaxy Z Fold 8 looks like a pretty bold move by Apple,” she said. “We expect that Apple will really change the competitive landscape in foldables, and Samsung will see the most visible share pressure. But Samsung also has scale, years of experience and strong global distribution.”

Counterpoint’s 2026 forecast puts Samsung at about 38 percent of global foldable shipments, Apple at 25 percent and Huawei at 22 percent, with Apple’s first-year volume capped near 6 million units by supply, not demand. Lee said even a short selling window would be “a very strong start.” An earlier Counterpoint note had Samsung at 32 percent and Apple at 25 percent depending on the cut of the year. IDC’s Nabila Popal told Wired foldables are still “around 2 percent by the end of this year of the global smartphone market.” In an IDC survey, 60 percent of consumers said they were not likely to buy a foldable at upgrade time — but almost 33 percent said they “absolutely” would if Apple made one. “Apple has such a strong market pull,” Popal said.

Francisco Jeronimo of IDC said Apple “set the price and the standard every rival will now be measured against.” Ben Wood of CCS Insight said Apple “has never been afraid to enter a product category once it has reached a certain level of maturity” and that the Duo “could act as a rising tide for all manufacturers.” Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management wrote that the phone is “sick,” with “no seam” and an ultra-thin body, and raised his fiscal 2027 revenue guess from 5 percent of iPhone sales to 10 percent. “They’re going to sell more than I thought before seeing it.”

Those forecasts and Stankey’s niche label can both be true. Foldables remain a sliver of phones and a larger sliver of premium revenue. Counterpoint sees the category rising from about 2.2 percent of global units in 2026 toward 3.1 percent by 2030, with a bigger share of dollars. AT&T will sell the Duo next to Fold 8s and Pixel folds. Stankey’s point is that passion for a hinge has not yet equaled passion for an iPhone.

Apple is selling software defaults — Split View, tent-mode StandBy, a crease it says you can feel but not see — to people who never bought a Galaxy Fold. Samsung is selling seven years of hinges and 53 fewer grams. Stankey is selling whatever customers will finance. His sentence that will follow the Duo into stores is the shortest: this is not new. The $100 gap and the Apple logo are what he is waiting to measure.

Copyright ©2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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