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Thursday, 15 October 2026

Nakul Dhull evicted from ‘Bigg Boss 20’ house two days after entry? Here’s what we know

Just two days after Nakul Dhull entered the Bigg Boss 20 house, chaos erupted following a physical altercation between him and Gullu (Kushal Tanwar).

A glimpse of the alteration was posted by the official handle of JioHotstar Reality on Instagram on Tuesday. “Ek ladaai aur poora ghar khilaaf,” the caption read.

As per several social media users, Nakul has been evicted because of the physical fight. The makers have not officially confirmed the rumours.

Following the nomination task on Tuesday’s episode, Nakul confronted Qazi over claims that the latter had gossiped about ScoutOP and accused him of spitting in ScoutOP’s ear. Nakul brought ScoutOP into the discussion to clear the air, but the situation quickly escalated into a physical fight.

Qazi defended himself by stating his comment was just a joke and asked Gullu to intervene, which only infuriated Nakul further. Nakul charged at Gullu and shoved him, prompting Gullu to retaliate, resulting in a scuffle where Nakul tore Gullu’s sweater. Other housemates also stepped in to defuse the situation.

In the promo, an upset Mahhi Vij slammed Nakul for getting physical with Gullu, calling out his aggressive behaviour. Even as other housemates tried to calm him down, Nakul kept charging at Gullu, looking ready to restart the fight. Several women in the house also spoke out against the violence, stating they no longer felt safe around Nakul, while Mahhi directly demanded his eviction.

The promo ended with Bigg Boss asking all housemates to assemble in the living area.

Gullu’s team criticised the incident in a post on Instagram, writing, “This is so unfair. How are people like this even allowed to enter the house in the first place, and for what reason? He literally came from outside with a plan to fight with Gullu, got physical with him, and did exactly what he came for.”

“We have every reason to question whether this was planned. We want answers about how the news of a physical altercation between him and Gullu was leaked on Saturday when the actual fight happened on Sunday. How could such specific information about an incident be out a day before it even happened? Because, at that point, the incident hadn't even taken place in real time,” they added.

They demanded Nakul’s eviction, “Secondly, unnecessary physical violence and crossing someone's personal boundaries are absolutely unacceptable. Bigg Boss is a show, not a place where people should be allowed to threaten or physically attack others. Gullu did not enter the show to be treated like this, where someone could allegedly come in with a plan to target him and get physical with him. This kind of behaviour should have serious consequences. We demand answers and justice for Gullu. EVICT THIS GOON ASAP.”

Wednesday, 14 October 2026

Karisma Kapoor recalls Salman Khan objecting to her outfit during a song: ‘Go change it’

Salman Khan and Karisma Kapoor were among the most popular on-screen pairs of the 1990s and early 2000s. The duo delivered several hit films and memorable songs that continue to strike a chord with audiences. Reuniting on Koffee With Karan Season 9, the actors looked back on their years of working together, with Karisma recalling how Salman would often make her change her outfits before a shoot and how the two would frequently bicker on set.

Recalling an incident from the sets of Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge, Karisma told host Karan Johar, “We would fight a lot. Why? During the making of Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge – the iconic outfit. I was very excited with my fashion and this and that, to kill it. He was like, ‘What are you wearing?’ I am like, ‘What?'”

Karisma said she had put considerable effort into putting the look together, but Salman was adamant that she change her outfit before the shot. “He was like, ‘No, I will not give this shot with you looking like this.’ I had to go and complain to David Dhawan that SK is not letting me wear this outfit. Please tell him,” she recalled.

Karan asked whether Salman had objected because the outfit was too revealing. Karisma agreed, explaining that it was “too open and clingy” and that the actor was not comfortable with it. Salman, however, was quick to clarify his side of the story. “Arey, no yaar,” he said before getting up to demonstrate why he had objected to the outfit.

The actor explained that Karisma’s short skirt would ride up while she performed the dance steps, making the situation awkward. He recalled repeatedly asking her to adjust the outfit before every take. “So I used to keep on asking to get it down before every take,” Salman said, adding that the material was also sheer and transparent. Karisma agreed with his recollection.

ALSO READ | Inside Madhuri Dixit-Dr Nene’s sea-facing Mumbai home with over 30 MF Husain artworks

Explaining the problem, Salman pointed towards the length of the skirt and demonstrated how far it would ride up during the choreography. He said he would keep reminding her to pull it down after every shot because the energetic dance sequence increased the chances of a wardrobe mishap. Karisma laughed as she recalled how the disagreements would eventually end. “After a point, Salman was, ‘Go change this. I don’t like this outfit.’ We used to fight a lot,” she said. Despite their frequent arguments, Karisma acknowledged that Salman had always been protective of her. “He used to be very protective about me,” she said.

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Salman Khan once made Karisma Kapoor believe Biwi No 1 had flopped

The conversation also brought back memories of another prank Salman played on Karisma. The actress recalled how, after the release of their 1999 hit Biwi No 1, Salman made her believe that the film had failed at the box office.

“I was crying and he laughed,” Karisma recalled. The film, directed by David Dhawan, went on to become a major commercial success, making Salman’s prank all the more memorable for the actress.

Salman Khan on his ‘longest living affair’ with Karisma

The conversation took another playful turn when Karan revealed something Karisma had told him about their relationship. “You know, when people say that two people in the industry are close, there is always something. But this is, I can proudly say, one platonic friendship,” Karan recalled her saying. Salman immediately joked, “She is lying.”

A startled Karisma turned towards him and exclaimed, “What? Oh my God! What is he saying? See, this is what he does.” Salman continued the joke, calling her a “hyper person” before adding, “The longest living affair.” Karisma laughed and told him, “You are just giving them a lot of content.”

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Not letting the joke end, Salman quipped, “And she left me and got married.” When Karan said, “We love it,” Salman continued, “I was so heartbroken.” “Stop it,” Karisma responded, laughing at his antics.

Karisma Kapoor recalls her first meeting with Salman Khan

Karisma also revisited her first meeting with Salman after the release of Maine Pyaar Kiya. Admitting that she was a fan of the actor, she recalled being so starstruck that she froze when she saw him. She then recalled how Salman encouraged her during their first meeting, telling her that he had been watching her work and thought she was doing well.

He also recalled handing her a chocolate bar, a small gesture that sparked their friendship.

Salman was the first guest on the final season of Koffee With Karan. This marked his third appearance on the celebrity chat show, following his earlier outings with his father, Salim Khan, and his brothers, Arbaaz Khan and Sohail Khan.

How 20 years of ROG made gaming great for India

Twenty-two years ago, my parents and my uncle together got the first PC for the family. My uncle had to work on AutoCAD for his work as a civil engineer, and my mum was studying Fortran and BASIC to add to her teaching prowess at Sree Chitra Thirunal College of Engineering (SCTCE), Thiruvananthapuram. But the 14-year-old me, along with my brother, had a different idea.

We were exposed to computers at school. So there was no novelty around it. What we had was one of the first pieces of NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT in Kerala whirring through the “system”. And just like that, we were pushed into the world of gaming.

But gaming was expensive. We got the opportunity thanks to the minimum requirements of AutoCAD and Revit, and we used it to get into the skin of Tommy Vercetti, Max Payne, CJ, and Jill Valentine. Yet, we barely got our hands on the PC. We had to build our own. By 2006, a not-so-well-known company—at least in the southern tip of India—in the sea of Samsungs, IBMs, and Dells, would form something that would go on to define gaming in India for the next two decades. That revolution was called ‘Republic of Gamers’, or ROG.

For us, Asus was a motherboard maker. And ROG-marked accessories and Crosshair boards were the best because they took care of the gaming aspect, especially in telling us which retail SMPS they worked with that were readily available in the market. At a time when graphics cards and overclocked CPUS overloaded SMPS and burned down PC cabinets, this was an important aspect while building PCs.

By then, PC magazines had informed us that Asus released the ROG G70 gaming laptop on the other side of the globe. It came into a market dominated by Gateway, Vaio, and ThinkPad. In 2026, none of these brands was where they were. Other big computer giants adapted to it, making gaming laptop brands. One weathered it...

ROG celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, kicking off festivities at Computex 2026. From liquid-cooled bricks you could dent cars with to ultra-slim systems, dual-screen workstations, and modular designs, the Republic of Gamers has come a long way.

“Over the past 20 years, ROG has grown alongside the gaming community, from a brand created by gamers for gamers to a complete gaming ecosystem. We have seen the Indian gaming community become more passionate, more diverse and increasingly willing to explore high-performance gaming experiences. What makes this journey special is that the community has not just adopted ROG products, but has actively shaped the conversation around performance, innovation, esports and gaming culture,” Arnold Su, Vice President, Consumer and Gaming PC, ASUS India, told THE WEEK.

He revealed how ROG’s position in the Indian market grew with the sector itself—the gaming PC market grew from around 40,000 units in 2016 to approximately 1 million units in 2025, growing a staggering 25 times! ROG now holds more than 30 per cent of the gaming laptop segment in India.

“The growing adoption of the latest gaming technology is also evident in the strong uptake of the new RTX 5000 series gaming laptops, which now account for more than 25 per cent of current gaming laptop sales. This indicates that the Indian gaming audience is increasingly looking beyond just gaming performance and is showing a growing inclination for the latest technologies, graphics capabilities and high-performance experiences,” Asus India stated.

As ROG crosses two decades of service to the gaming industry, here is a list of recent milestones:

2015: Asus launches ROG GX700, the world’s first liquid-cooled gaming laptop, bringing desktop-class thermal engineering and overclocking to a mobile chassis.
2017: The ROG Zephyrus (GX501) is debuted as the world’s slimmest gaming laptop.
2020: ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 (GX550) is launched as the world’s first 15-inch dual-screen gaming laptop.
2023: Asus unveils the ROG Ally series, the brand’s first Windows-based handheld gaming PC—goes on the partner with Microsoft to make the ROG Xbox Ally series two years later.
2025: ROG Strix SCAR 18 (G835) is launched as the world’s first tool-less gaming laptop design, with a quick-release frame and Q-latch mechanism for memory and SSD upgrades.
2026: The brand releases ROG Zephyrus Duo (GX651), the world’s first 16-inch dual-screen gaming laptop, armed with twin 3K OLED touchscreens.

The Asus ROG Strix G18 (2026) G815 gaming laptop | ROG

These are just some of the many firsts. But as a former PC builder and a teenage gamer in the latter half of the 2000s, my association with ROG is more about how it usurped every notion that gaming devices were stuck behind business laptops and server workstations in terms of development. Gaming pushed retail laptop and PC development to such an extreme that benchmarks are now measured in how good your machine works with Cyberpunk 2077 or RDR II on the highest setting.

Arnold Su of Asus India says that ROG’s philosophy of ‘For Those Who Dare’ remains unchanged, i.e., to challenge the status quo and create experiences that take gaming forward. If that is not a great way to encompass how every gamer worth their salt looks at gaming, I do not know what else is.

Tuesday, 13 October 2026

The major cities sinking across the world due to sea level rise

Land in major cities across the world, including Mexico City, Mexico, and Medan in Indonesia is sinking, a new global satellite survey warns.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Cities, can help identify hotspots where action is needed to reduce risks to buildings, infrastructure, and communities.

A growing body of studies has shown that human activity, particularly groundwater extraction, has led to a gradual sinking of the ground surface across major cities.

As large amounts of groundwater gets pumped out in major cities, the underground sediments lose water pressure and get compressed under the weight of buildings above them.

Aerial view shows Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, (AFP via Getty Images)

However, information on land subsidence rates remains limited for most countries, making it difficult for policymakers to identify where risks are intensifying.

Country-level studies have shown that Houston and New York City in the US as well as Shanghai and Beijing in China are facing high rates of such land subsidence.

In the latest research, scientists from Peking University in China tracked land subsidence in cities across the globe, which can damage buildings, foundations, and drainage and sewage systems, and also increase flood risks.

Researchers conducted a comprehensive analysis of high-resolution satellite data collected between 2014 and 2023 to measure land movement across 465 cities with populations exceeding one million in 107 countries.

They specifically assessed radar data collected by the European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 satellites at different times, which enabled them to detect small millimetre-level changes in the position of the ground.

They found that parts of Mexico City recorded the fastest local sinking.

Some of these areas of the Mexican capital are sinking at about 217mm per year, though the citywide average sinking rate was 8mm per year.

The most severe sinking rates were found in Asia, with land in Medan, Indonesia, subsiding by about 33mm per year, and in Bandung in the same country by 22mm per year.

Aerial photograph shows Dhaka city's skyline (AFP via Getty Images)

Chittagong in Bangladesh and Rangoon in Myanmar also had some of the highest land sinking rates of all the countries studied.

Iran’s Isfahan city was found sinking by 11mm per year, making it one of the highest citywide median sinking rates.

“Subsidence is most severe in Southeast Asia, West–Central Asia and North America, and is evident in historically under-studied regions, including South America, Africa and Russia,” scientists wrote in the study.

“We further detect marked deceleration across many cities in Southeast and East Asia, while substantial urban areas in these regions continue to show accelerating subsidence,” researchers wrote.

In comparison, land movement was generally stable in Boston, New York City, London, Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, Montevideo, and Naples, researchers say.

Land subsidence rates in these cities were estimated to range from 0.1 to 1.9mm per year.

Cities in developing countries generally seemed to have faster subsidence rates than those in developed countries.

In some cities, including Beijing, replenishing underground aquifers since around 2016 seems to have halted subsidence in several areas, researchers say.

“Our global maps and trend estimates provide a consistent basis for identifying hotspots and prioritizing actions to reduce subsidence-related hazards,” they wrote.

Cyberattack hits hundreds of French supermarkets as hackers push fridge temperatures to 50°C, spoiling food

Hundreds of supermarkets across France were hit by a large-scale cyberattack overnight from Sunday, 11 October, into Monday, 12 October. Hackers disrupted refrigeration systems, causing fresh and frozen food to spoil and fires to break out at several stores. The attack targeted big retailers such as Intermarché, Coopérative U, Carrefour, E.Leclerc and Monoprix, according to Reuters and Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Hackers remotely triggered the forced defrosting of refrigeration systems, pushing temperatures in some units to as high as 50°C, according to reports by Reuters and Agence France-Presse (AFP) on 12 October. The incident exposed vulnerabilities in internet-connected systems used to preserve food in large retail outlets.

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu instructed the country's National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) to investigate the attack. Authorities are also coordinating with European counterparts regarding possible threats across the border.

Hundreds of stores affected across France

More than 300 stores from the supermarkets Intermarché and Netto were attacked, and over 100 stores belonging to the Coopérative U supermarket chain, according to figures reported by AFP. The French supermarket chain Carrefour confirmed 80 supermarkets were impacted, and Monoprix said that around 5% of its roughly 490 stores in France were affected. E. Leclerc also reported on incidents at multiple outlets.

Affected retailers had to dispose of fresh and frozen products to avoid potential food safety issues due to the disruption. Intermarché CEO Thierry Cotillard told French broadcaster BFM TV that losses could reach tens of millions of euros nationwide in a single day.

Dominique Schelcher, CEO, Coopérative U, posted on X, calling the attack on equipment vital to food preservation and national food production completely unacceptable.

Outdated Danfoss systems under scrutiny

The refrigeration management systems provided by Danish company Danfoss are being investigated. These are all connected systems to control temperatures throughout the supermarket fridge/freezer systems and let technicians monitor and manage the equipment remotely.

Danfoss said it was aware of incidents in France involving a limited number of refrigeration management systems. The company said the affected units were running outdated firmware and urged customers to upgrade supported systems and replace older equipment.

The attack follows cybersecurity research published by Claroty on 9 August, which detailed vulnerabilities in Danfoss systems that could allow attackers to bypass authentication controls.

Cybersecurity concerns extend beyond France

Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium also suffered, said Felix Aime, a senior cyberthreat intelligence analyst at Sekoia Threat Detection and Research.

France's retail federation said they want Danfoss to be “transparent” during the investigation. Police are also probing whether other French companies are vulnerable.

Steven Lachance, a cybersecurity analyst, told Al Jazeera that the scope of the incident was unusual and that flaws in interconnected industrial systems could put other critical services at risk, including energy networks and hospitals. The incident has sparked renewed concerns about the security of internet-connected systems that control physical infrastructure.