The India Decade e-paper, Sunday, 11 October 2026

What happened

Direct-to-consumer personal care brand Nat Habit has raised Rs 142 crore in a Series C funding round led by private equity firm Trident Growth Partners.

The round included existing investors Bertelsmann India Investments, Mirabilis Investment Trust and Sharrp Ventures, alongside new backers Physis Capital, Hero Family Office, Linklight Ventures, Firstport and Dharmayug Investments.

Regulatory filings submitted to the Registrar of Companies show the company issued 22.5 lakh Series C preference shares at Rs 633.5 per share. Trident Growth Partners contributed Rs 91 crore for an 11.44 per cent stake, while Bertelsmann invested Rs 37 crore to take its holding to 17.54 per cent.

Where the money is going

Nat Habit plans to deploy the fresh capital across three main areas: expanding its product portfolio, scaling distribution across quick commerce and physical retail, and deepening its reach in tier-two and tier-three cities.

Co-founder Swagatika Das said the company plans to increase its production capacity from 1 million units to 5 million units over the next two years through a greenfield project. The brand currently operates a single manufacturing facility in Gurugram and is considering establishing a central facility or splitting production across two new regional plants.

Over the next three years, the company also intends to enter new product categories, including body washes, serums, sunscreens and hair colour. A further Rs 2.6 crore from the funding proceeds will be used to reduce the company's employee stock option pool.

Key financials and expansion goals

Founded in 2019 by Swagatika Das and Gaurav Agarwal, Nat Habit has reached an annualised gross revenue of Rs 330 crore. The company is targeting 60 to 70 per cent revenue growth in the 2026-27 financial year.

In the 2024-25 financial year, regulatory filings show the business recorded Rs 106 crore in revenue from operations, up 47.2 per cent year-on-year, while net losses grew to Rs 29 crore. The company has not yet filed its financial statements for the 2025-26 financial year.

Prior to this funding round, founders Das and Agarwal held 16 per cent equity each. Estimates based on the share allotment price place the company's post-money valuation at approximately Rs 800 crore.

Modi and CM Vijay to flag off Chennai Metro Phase 2

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on a ceremonial ride of the new Chennai Metro Rail Phase 2 line on Sunday, Oct 11, 2026. The flag‑off is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at the Poonamallee Bypass station. After the ceremony the duo will travel eastward to Porur Bypass, marking the first passenger service on the 15‑kilometre Poonamallee‑Vadapalani corridor.

What the new stretch covers

The inaugural segment runs from the western terminus at Poonamallee through Vadapalani, covering key stations such as Alapakkam, Karambakkam, Valasaravakkam, Alwarthirunagar, Saligramam Warehouse and Saligramam. Initially, 15 driverless trains will operate on the line, with a headway of ten minutes during the 8 a.m.–11 a.m. and 5 p.m.–8 p.m. peak periods and fifteen minutes at other times. Service hours start at 7 a.m. and close at 9 p.m., a departure from Phase 1’s 5 a.m.–11 p.m. schedule, to allow night‑time construction at the six stations still being built.

Timeline and background

Work on the 118.9‑km Phase 2 network began in early 2019 after the Tamil Nadu government gave in‑principle approval. Union Home Minister Amit Shah laid the foundation stone in November 2020. Major milestones followed – piling on the elevated stretch started in July 2021, the first driverless train arrived at the Poonamallee depot in Oct 2024, and trial runs were completed by early 2026. The Commissioner of Railway Safety gave conditional clearance in Feb 2026 and final authorisation in May 2026, clearing the way for commercial operations.

Parallel inaugurations

Modi’s itinerary also includes a flag‑off of several infrastructure projects at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, slated for around 2 p.m. on the same day. The combined announcements are reported to involve projects worth roughly ₹13,000 crore across the state, underscoring the central government’s focus on transport and urban development in Tamil Nadu.

What commuters can expect

When the Poonamallee‑Vadapalani stretch opens to the public at about 4 p.m., passengers will be able to board a train every ten minutes in the morning and evening rush, and every fifteen minutes during off‑peak hours. The frequency is expected to improve once civil work on the remaining six stations is finished. The new line will dovetail with the existing Phase 1 network, expanding the metro’s reach into Chennai’s western suburbs and reducing road congestion along the Arcot Road corridor.

Looking ahead

Phase 2 is planned to extend further north and south, eventually linking the city’s airport and new business districts. For now, the Poonamallee‑Vadapalani segment offers a tangible glimpse of a broader vision to make Chennai’s public transport more comprehensive and reliable.

The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet on Saturday finalised a revised reservation framework for Backward Classes in upcoming local body elections, adopting empirical recommendations from the Rajiv Ranjan Mishra Commission.

The cabinet's approval follows a Supreme Court ruling that rejected the state government's earlier attempt to enforce a flat 34 per cent statutory quota without fresh empirical data. Under the newly adopted framework, statutory reservations for Backward Classes will average 28.18 per cent across all levels of local governance.

To meet its political pledge, the ruling coalition comprising the Telugu Desam Party, Bharatiya Janata Party and Jana Sena Party announced that it will voluntarily field Backward Class candidates in over 34 per cent of seats by offering party nominations where statutory quotas fall short.

Quotas fixed for rural and urban tiers

The commission's report, constituted under government orders in February 2026, laid out distinct reservation proportions for rural and urban local bodies. In rural governance, Backward Class allocations stand at 26.73 per cent for gram panchayat ward members, 27.95 per cent for sarpanches, 25.55 per cent for Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies, 24.60 per cent for both Mandal Parishad Presidents and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies, and 23.08 per cent for Zilla Parishad chairpersons.

Reservations in urban local bodies are set higher: 32.78 per cent for ward members, 33.02 per cent for municipal chairpersons, and 35.29 per cent for mayors.

Agriculture Minister K. Atchannaidu said at the Secretariat in Amaravati that the government has forwarded the commission's recommendations to the State Election Commission to initiate election scheduling. Social Welfare Minister Dola Sree Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy noted that quotas for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were determined using 2011 Census data, with the remaining allocations assigned to Backward Classes within legal limits.

Political dispute over representation

The government framed the revised structure as a restoration of political representation, with ministers criticizing the former YSR Congress Party administration for lowering Backward Class quotas to 24 per cent in 2019 — a decision they claimed stripped away nearly 17,000 local positions. Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav added that conducting elections without delay is critical to ensuring the state secures funding allocations from the 16th Finance Commission.

Delhi Police have detained former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and Kerala Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan during opposition protests in the capital on Saturday.

The demonstrations were directed against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Police picked up Banerjee and several Trinamool Congress figures, including Rajya Sabha members Derek O'Brien and Dola Sen, from South Avenue in central Delhi.

Kejriwal was detained separately as police moved in to clear opposition gathering points across the city. Multiple senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders were also taken into custody while attempting to march towards the protest site.

Opposition targets electoral roll revision

The joint protest brought together major opposition parties objecting to the handling of the Special Intensive Revision process, demanding the resignation or removal of the Chief Election Commissioner. Opposition groups claim the exercise threatens voters' rights ahead of upcoming elections.

Trinamool Congress condemned the police action on social media, framing the detentions as an attempt to suppress democratic dissent. "Since when did arresting peaceful protesters become the norm in our democracy?" the party said in a statement posted on X, describing the day as a dark moment for democratic values.

Leaders respond to police action

In a statement published on Facebook following his detention, Vijayan accused the central government of converting Delhi into an "open prison" through heavy deployments of police and paramilitary personnel. He said the protest aimed to protect constitutional rights and fundamental voting powers against government overreach.

Footage broadcast from inside a police transport vehicle showed CPM leader P Rajeev describing the vehicle as "jail-like" and confirming that central party officials had been driven around for over an hour after being picked up by officers.

The CPM's Kerala unit called for widespread demonstrations against the detentions, while party officials pledged to escalate their campaign against the Election Commission's voter roll revision. Delhi Police have not yet formally stated where the detained leaders are being held or whether charges will be filed.

BJP wins Nagaon bypoll in Assam

The Bharatiya Janata Party has reclaimed the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat in Assam after seven years, securing a decisive victory in the parliamentary by-election as the Congress party fell to third place.

BJP candidate Devashish Sharma, a recently retired IAS officer who served as Nagaon's deputy commissioner until his retirement, won the seat with 714,349 votes. He defeated All India United Democratic Front chief Badruddin Ajmal by a margin of 142,224 votes. Congress candidate Sibamoni Bora finished far behind in third place with 129,492 votes.

Why the Nagaon bypoll was held

The by-election was necessitated after sitting Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi resigned from the party in March to join the BJP. Bordoloi subsequently contested and won an assembly election from the Dispur constituency on a BJP ticket, leaving the Nagaon seat vacant.

Voting in the central Assam constituency took place on October 6. The parliamentary constituency encompasses eight assembly segments spanning Nagaon and neighbouring Morigaon district, where Sharma had also previously served as deputy commissioner.

Shift in minority votes and political fallout

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership following the victory, writing on X that voters had delivered a decisive verdict and rejected Congress. During campaigning last month, Sarma had claimed that a BJP victory in Nagaon would position the ruling alliance to win all 126 assembly seats in the 2031 state elections.

AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal, who polled 572,125 votes, said after the result that minority voters who previously divided their support between his party and Congress had backed AIUDF in this contest.

Political analysts noted that Congress suffered from a weak organisational setup and a candidate who failed to build traction, allowing both the BJP and AIUDF to reclaim ground in the constituency.

India has rejected remarks by the United Nations human rights office expressing concern over mass detentions during demonstrations in New Delhi, calling the criticism “misplaced” and an unwarranted intrusion into domestic matters.

The diplomatic pushback followed an extensive security operation on 10 October, when Delhi Police moved to halt a planned protest march to Jantar Mantar. Organisers from the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and allied opposition groups had called the demonstration to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

Responding via a statement on X, the Permanent Mission of India to the UN in Geneva said the right to peaceful assembly is guaranteed by the Indian Constitution, subject to reasonable restrictions in the interest of public order. The mission argued that authorities act in accordance with the law and that the country's independent judiciary remains open to anyone seeking redress. It also urged the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to show comparable concern for large protests in other countries, citing its mandate of impartiality.

What happened during the Delhi protests

Delhi Police refused permission for the Jantar Mantar rally, citing traffic disruption, safety risks and short notice. Authorities mobilised roughly 35,000 police and paramilitary personnel across the capital, setting up barricades, suspending select metro operations and curbing mobile internet in central districts.

By the end of the day, police had detained more than 7,000 people across the capital. Those picked up included former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, political commentator Dhruv Rathee, lawyer Prashant Bhushan and activist Yogendra Yadav, alongside hundreds of students and lawyers.

While most detainees were later released, key CJP figures—including Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, who were taken into custody off a flight from Mumbai—remained held. Scattered clashes broke out in central areas such as Connaught Place and Jhandewalan, where police said two officers were injured by stone-throwing.

Courts step in over curbs and detentions

The scale of the restrictions quickly reached the courts. Following an urgent plea from the Supreme Court Bar Association regarding advocates rounded up outside the court complex, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant intervened, communicating to authorities that lawyers detained while demonstrating peacefully should be freed.

Legal petitions were also filed in the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court challenging the administrative decisions to cut public transport links and shut down local mobile internet. The Supreme Court observed that authorities must balance the right to protest against the disruption of essential public services.

Political battle over the election commission

The confrontation has set off sharp political fighting. Opposition leaders described the sweep as an assault on democracy, with Congress MP Shashi Tharoor calling the curbs an "undeclared Emer-GenZ" and Rahul Gandhi accusing the government of attempting to muzzle democratic dissent.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party defended the police intervention and backed the revision of electoral rolls. BJP president Nitin Nabin accused demonstrators of attempting to generate unrest, while party spokespersons framed the police action as upholding order over mob rule. Meanwhile, a group of 124 retired civil servants published an open letter defending the Election Commission and its voter roll revision.

Despite the detentions, the CJP said it would not drop its demands and called for another march to Jantar Mantar.

The Reserve Bank of India has overhauled regulations governing rupee foreign exchange derivatives, clamping down on corporate flexibility to rebook cancelled positions and slashing the ceiling for taking hedges without documentary proof of underlying exposure.

Under the directions issued to authorised dealers, banks are prohibited from letting corporate users rebook any deliverable or non-deliverable rupee derivative contract once it has been cancelled. Rollovers at maturity remain permitted under existing guidelines, but companies can no longer cancel a hedge to book a fresh one on the same exposure with any authorised dealer.

What changes for corporate hedging

For years, businesses could enter rupee derivative trades to hedge contracted exposures up to $100 million across all authorised dealers without first establishing that an underlying transaction existed. The central bank has cut that threshold to $5 million.

A matching restriction applies to exchange-traded currency derivatives, where the combined position limit across all recognised stock exchanges without established exposure has also been reduced from $100 million to $5 million.

To prevent companies from hedging the same commercial transaction across multiple lenders, the central bank now requires banks to obtain and retain a formal undertaking from clients. The document must explicitly confirm that the underlying exposure has not been hedged elsewhere.

The new cash reserve requirement

The central bank has also introduced a Foreign Exchange Risk Reserve (FERR) to raise the cost of aggressive corporate dollar accumulation.

For any rupee derivative contract with a notional value exceeding $2 million equivalent undertaken to hedge current account liabilities where a user buys foreign currency against the rupee, authorised dealers must park a 20% cash reserve with the RBI. The reserve is calculated on the rupee value of the transaction's notional amount.

Why the central bank intervened

The regulatory tightening follows sharp pressure on the domestic currency and a swift drawdown in external buffers. India's foreign exchange reserves shrank by almost $52 billion in four weeks, falling from $785.7 billion on 4 September to $734 billion by 2 October.

Over the same period, the rupee fell by nearly 40 paise to 96.73, weighed down by escalating conflict in West Asia, elevated crude oil prices, rising US treasury yields and sustained selling by foreign portfolio investors in Indian debt and equity markets.

Alongside the derivative curbs, the central bank initiated direct dollar sales to three state-owned refiners—IndianOil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum—to supply their crude import requirements away from the spot market. Taking state oil refiners out of public currency dealing prevents their predictable monthly dollar requirements from worsening exchange rate volatility.

The Reserve Bank of India is stepping up efforts to manage excess cash in the banking system and support the rupee, launching a Rs 25,000 crore government bond sale alongside a dedicated dollar facility for the country's major state-run oil refiners.

The central bank will hold an open market operation auction on 13 October to sell six government securities maturing between March 2030 and April 2034. The paper on offer includes coupon rates ranging from 6.10 per cent to 7.95 per cent. RBI retained the discretion to decide the allocation for each security or accept bids below the notified amount.

Draining surplus banking liquidity

The bond sale aims to pull cash out of the financial system, where liquidity was running at an estimated surplus of around Rs 3.88 lakh crore as of 8 October. That surplus was driven by strong foreign currency inflows from Foreign Currency Non-Resident deposit mobilisation, which were swapped into rupees, alongside routine government expenditure on month-end salaries and pensions.

To align money market rates with the repo rate, RBI has conducted several variable rate reverse repo auctions in recent months. Speaking after the monetary policy meeting on 6 October, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the central bank intended to absorb the liquidity overhang over the current financial year through open market operations, currency leakage, and bank reserve requirements.

Dedicated dollar access for oil refiners

Alongside the bond auction, RBI is opening a special foreign exchange window from 12 October for three state-run oil marketing companies: Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.

Under this arrangement, the three refiners can source their entire daily dollar requirement for crude purchases through designated banks directly from RBI, rather than buying foreign exchange in the open market. Together, these three firms account for roughly 90 per cent of petroleum product sales in India, with Indian Oil representing 40 per cent, Bharat Petroleum 30 per cent, and Hindustan Petroleum 20 per cent.

Bypassing the open market for such large dollar orders removes a significant source of routine downward pressure on the rupee. The central bank stated that the dollar facility will remain active until further notice.

Funding details and expansion plans

Tamil Nadu healthcare startup B-Arm Medical Technologies has raised Rs 4.8 crore in a pre-Series A funding round led by Mudhal Partners, the investment office associated with Zoho co-founder Kumar Vembu. High net worth individual investors also participated in the equity round.

The investment brings B-Arm's total capital raised to approximately Rs 9 crore, accumulated through a combination of debt and equity funding. While the startup confirmed the transaction, it chose not to disclose its valuation or the precise equity stake acquired by Mudhal Partners and other investors.

Management said the new funds will be allocated towards product research and development, brand growth, and expanding distribution channels across India. A primary focus of this expansion phase will be expanding its core lineup of women's healthcare products.

How B-Arm was founded

B-Arm was established by husband-and-wife biomedical engineers Barathram and SruthiSri. The foundation for the company's focus on women's health emerged from SruthiSri's personal experiences during pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum recovery, and breastfeeding as a mother of three.

During those years, the couple observed that issues like post-delivery soreness, breastfeeding complications, and intimate health concerns were rarely discussed openly, leaving women to manage physical difficulties quietly without tailored assistance. Barathram and SruthiSri decided to use their biomedical engineering skills to design targeted, accessible products tailored specifically to the physical needs of Indian women.

B-Arm now develops solutions spanning female healthcare needs across life stages from puberty to menopause. Alongside its women's health offerings, the firm operates in the pulmonology and occupational therapy sectors, manufacturing specialised products for children with speech difficulties and autism. The company currently holds more than 10 patents across its various technology lines.

Recognition and future outlook

The startup previously reached a wider audience after featuring on Startup Singam, an investment reality show broadcast on Vijay Television and streamed on JioHotstar. The show gives regional founders access to capital and visibility outside traditional metro investor hubs.

During the second season of Startup Singam, B-Arm was selected as a top-ten startup from an applicant pool of approximately 3,000 businesses, securing one of the largest funding commitments made on the show.

With fresh backing from Mudhal Partners, B-Arm aims to combine public education on women's healthcare issues with expanded nationwide distribution, positioning itself as a destination provider across every stage of a woman's life.

Nvidia’s next move on Reflection AI

Nvidia is in early‑stage talks to either deepen its existing $800 million investment in, or acquire, the US‑based AI start‑up Reflection AI, the Financial Times reported on Saturday. Sources with direct knowledge say the discussions could take several forms – from a straight equity injection to an acqui‑hire that would bring the team and its technology into Nvidia while sidestepping a full‑blown merger review. A tentative timeline suggests an agreement might be struck in the coming weeks, though the parties acknowledge the talks could still collapse.

Who is Reflection AI?

Founded in 2024 by former DeepMind researchers Misha Laskin and Ioannis Antonoglou, Reflection AI builds tools that automate software development, a fast‑growing AI use case. The start‑up unveiled its first open‑weight model, Beam, on Monday, positioning itself against lower‑cost Chinese offerings such as DeepSeek and Kimi. Laskin told CNBC in April that Reflection was raising fresh capital at a pre‑money valuation of $25 billion.

Why Nvidia cares

Nvidia has already become a major strategic backer of Reflection AI, committing $800 million to the company – a figure first disclosed by the Financial Times. The chip‑maker’s interest aligns with its broader push into generative‑AI workloads, where open‑weight models promise lower inference costs and greater customisability for enterprise customers. By deepening its stake or taking the start‑up under its wing, Nvidia could secure a pipeline of software that runs efficiently on its GPUs and expand its AI ecosystem beyond hardware.

What could happen next?

If the talks culminate in an acqui‑hire, Nvidia would likely absorb Reflection’s engineering talent and licence its code, avoiding a lengthy antitrust review that a full acquisition would trigger. A fresh equity round, on the other hand, would give Reflection additional runway to scale Beam and other models while keeping the start‑up independent. Both scenarios would cement Nvidia’s foothold in the open‑source AI model arena, a sector currently dominated by a mix of US and Chinese players.

Nvidia and Reflection AI did not immediately respond to comment requests. Reuters was unable to verify the report independently, and the Financial Times noted that the discussions are still at a preliminary stage.

Bottom line

Nvidia’s potential deeper involvement with Reflection AI underscores the chip‑maker’s strategy of coupling hardware leadership with proprietary software capabilities. Whether the outcome is a larger cash injection, an acqui‑hire, or a full purchase, the move could reshape the competitive dynamics of open‑weight AI models and cement Nvidia’s role as a key enabler of next‑generation software‑development AI.

What the chief minister announced

Telangana’s chief minister, A. Revanth Reddy, on Saturday ordered a rapid‑response action plan to address the state’s looming El Niño‑related crisis. In a meeting at his Jubilee Hills residence he told senior officials that the plan must cover drinking water, irrigation, agricultural support and electricity supply for the next eight months, up to June 2027.

Why the move is urgent

The state recorded 17 % less rainfall than normal during the June‑September southwest monsoon, according to a release from the Chief Minister’s Office. That shortfall has left around 235 mandals facing drought‑like conditions – roughly a third of Telangana’s 621 mandals. The government has already tabled a resolution in the Legislative Assembly urging the Centre to declare those mandals drought‑affected and to approve a Rs 20 000 crore special assistance package.

The plan’s key components

• Water management – officials are to ensure no drop of water is wasted, accelerate groundwater‑recharge projects and monitor crop‑water needs.
• Power supply – the chief minister warned that electricity demand will rise and said the state is ready to spend “any amount” to purchase power if market supplies run short. He also asked for temporary suspension of non‑essential, power‑intensive activities.
• Agricultural support – the plan includes distribution of quality seeds, promotion of horticulture and vegetable cultivation, and logistics for moving produce to other states. Agriculture Minister Thummala Nageswara Rao stressed the need to boost oil‑palm and other high‑value crops.
• Public awareness – a multimedia campaign using cinema halls, TV and cultural troupes will be rolled out to educate villagers on water‑saving practices and the El Niño timeline.
• Monitoring hub – a “war room” and a toll‑free helpline will track the situation in real time, according to officials present at the meeting.

When the plan will be reviewed

A special cabinet meeting on 12 October has been scheduled to examine the draft plan, the drought‑assessment report prepared by Chief Secretary Sanjay Jaju, and suggestions from farmer organisations and experts. The meeting will also consider an all‑party committee and an additional 50 days of employment under the state’s guarantee scheme, beyond the standard 125 days.

What comes next

The Chief Minister’s Office has asked the chief secretary to compile a comprehensive drought‑impact report by the end of October, using twelve standard parameters – including monsoon rainfall, groundwater levels and crop‑stress indices. The report will form the basis for the cabinet’s final decisions and the request for central funds.

Context

El Niño, a periodic warming of Pacific Ocean waters, typically brings below‑normal rainfall to central India. While the phenomenon is expected to peak later this year, Telangana’s officials say the next eight months are critical to averting a severe water‑power crisis.

Bottom line

Revanth Reddy’s directive signals a proactive, multi‑sectoral response to an unprecedented climate challenge. By linking water, power and agricultural policies with a clear timeline, the state hopes to cushion farmers and households from the worst of the El Niño impact.

The Arizona Cardinals are finalising a trade to send wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr to a new team, according to league sources, bringing a swift end to his time in Tempe.

Arizona informed Harrison on Saturday that he will be inactive for Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions while the details of the move are wrapped up. A final destination has not yet been confirmed, but the Houston Texans have been in active discussions with the Cardinals and are regarded as a strong contender. A move to Houston would see Harrison reunite with quarterback C.J. Stroud, his former teammate at Ohio State.

The Indianapolis Colts are not involved in trade talks, despite Harrison's father, Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison Sr., holding multiple franchise receiving records there.

Why the Cardinals are trading their former top pick

Selected fourth overall in the 2024 NFL draft, Harrison arrived in Arizona as one of the most anticipated receiving prospects in recent years. However, his role in the offence has shrunk significantly under head coach Mike LaFleur this season.

Through four games, Harrison has managed just five receptions on 12 targets for 85 yards and one touchdown. He currently ranks fifth on the team in targets, behind tight end Trey McBride, wide receivers Michael Wilson and Kendrick Bourne, and running back Jeremiyah Love. In his first two games of the year, he was limited to a single catch.

Despite public assurances from LaFleur, who said after a recent 36-24 loss to the New York Giants that his confidence in the receiver remained high, Harrison hired agents Todd France and Tory Dandy on 23 September. The move was widely viewed across the league as an attempt to facilitate a trade away from Arizona.

Contract terms and trade value

Arizona initially communicated to interested teams that it wanted first-round pick value in exchange for Harrison. However, rival executives have viewed him as a second-day pick asset, with the Cardinals recently seeking a package built around a second-round selection.

Harrison is in the middle of his rookie contract, earning $4m this season and $5.62m next season. Arizona has already paid his $22.5m signing bonus, making his remaining contract financially attractive to potential buyers. Acquiring teams also face a fast-approaching decision on his fifth-year option this coming off-season.

Across 33 career games with Arizona, Harrison recorded 1,578 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns. His rookie campaign yielded 885 yards and eight touchdowns across 62 receptions, but his second year was interrupted by foot injuries and appendicitis, restricting him to 12 appearances.

If completed, Harrison will become the second top-10 pick from the 2024 draft class to be traded early in his career, following quarterback J.J. McCarthy's move from Minnesota to the New York Giants. The NFL has seen increased trade activity ahead of the mid-season deadline, including deals involving cornerback Joey Porter Jr moving to Dallas and centre Cam Jurgens heading to Baltimore.

Mridangam maestro Guruvayur Dorai, who accompanied seven generations of Carnatic vocalists and anchored the rhythm section for legends including M.S. Subbulakshmi, died on Saturday following age-related complications. He was 92. He is survived by his wife and daughter.

Over an eight-decade performing career, Dorai earned wide acclaim for the tonal richness of his gumkis—the deep, sliding left-hand bass modulations—and a disciplined, unobtrusive accompaniment style that elevated the main performer. Beyond Subbulakshmi, with whom he shared the concert stage as a regular accompanist for decades, Dorai played alongside virtually every major classical artist of the post-independence era.

Early start with Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar

Dorai contracted polio as a child, leaving him with a physical disability. Concerned for his future, his father sought to guide him toward percussion, recognising his keen early instinct for layam (rhythm).

When Palghat Subbaiyar arrived in town to accompany the vocalist Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, Dorai’s father asked him to instruct the boy. Dorai later recalled in an interview with the classical arts forum Parivadini that he grasped the initial lessons immediately, repeating the patterns without hesitation.

Chembai took note of the young percussionist and became a lifelong patron. At just eight years old, Dorai made his stage debut (arangetram) accompanying Chembai himself. He continued his training under Narayana Pisharody, and during the 1940s, he regularly performed with his sister, the vocalist Guruvayur Ponnammal, handling both vocal support and the mridangam.

Mastering the Palani Subramania Pillai style

Chembai later encouraged Dorai to seek out Palani Subramania Pillai, the foremost exponent of the Pudukkottai school of percussion. After relocating to Chennai, Dorai approached Pillai to become his disciple.

Pillai was initially hesitant to accept him because Dorai's early fingering technique differed sharply from the methods of his school. It was Pillai's wife, Kolar Rajam, who persuaded her husband to take him on as a student. Dorai merged Pillai’s distinct split-finger stroke play with his own musical voice, shaping a balanced style that went on to influence dozens of students he trained across South India.

A humble figure on the classical stage

Fellow musicians frequently spoke of Dorai’s lack of pretension. Music historian Lalitharam recounted that after performing a headline concert at Chennai’s Music Academy, Dorai boarded an ordinary public bus to travel overnight to Thiruvaiyaru for the annual Thyagaraja Aradhana festival.

Dorai's contributions to Indian classical music were recognised with several of the country’s highest civilian and cultural honours, including the Padma Shri, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, and the Tamil Nadu government’s Kalaimamani title.

India's National Investigation Agency has opened a criminal case under anti-hijacking and anti-terror laws to investigate an attack on an Indian pilot aboard a flydubai passenger jet last month.

The agency acted on an order from the central government directing it to examine whether a wider conspiracy lay behind the cockpit violence. The case has been registered under Section 3 of the Anti-Hijacking Act, 2016, alongside terror charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

What happened on flydubai Flight 1073

The incident took place on 30 September aboard flydubai Flight 1073, a scheduled service from Dubai to Tel Aviv. The Boeing aircraft took off at 7:05 am Gulf Standard Time carrying 174 passengers and six crew members, under the command of Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, alongside an Omani first officer.

While cruising near the border between Jordan and Saudi Arabia, the aircraft entered a sudden, rapid descent and turned back into Saudi airspace. Inside the cockpit, the first officer drew a weapon and stabbed Captain Machchhar, inflicting deep lacerations to his head and hands in an apparent bid to seize control and crash the airliner.

Crew members and passengers intervened, overpowering and restraining the co-pilot. Off-duty flydubai pilots travelling as passengers stepped into the cockpit, stabilised the aircraft and diverted it to northwestern Saudi Arabia. The plane touched down safely at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Airport in Tabuk at approximately 10:45 am GST, where Saudi security forces took the first officer into custody.

Why the NIA is investigating

Under Indian law, the NIA can investigate offences committed against Indian citizens abroad that fall under scheduled statutes, including hijacking and terrorism. In directing the agency to register a first information report, the Union government noted that the mid-air assault carried serious national and international security ramifications.

Investigators are tasked with establishing whether the co-pilot acted entirely on his own or had assistance from an organised cell. Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have also been running a parallel investigation. The UAE attorney general stated that investigators believe the first officer intended to fly the passenger plane into the terminal building at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport.

Propaganda outfits linked to regional militant groups have also seized on the incident. Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent commended the stabbing in its publication Nawa-e-Gazwa-e-Hind, framing it as retaliation over the conflict in Gaza, though neither it nor any other group has claimed operational responsibility for planning the attack.

Machchhar survived the assault and received emergency medical treatment for his wounds after landing in Tabuk. Saudi authorities continue to hold the accused co-pilot, and Indian investigators have not yet indicated whether they will seek formal access to question him.

A Delhi court has dismissed an application by Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) legal affairs head Ratna Singh seeking the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against police officers who allegedly detained her at her residence.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Abhinav Pandey, sitting at Saket Courts, ruled on Saturday that Singh's plea was not maintainable in its current form. The court observed that the application failed to specify the jurisdiction in which the alleged offences occurred, named no individual public servants, and was not accompanied by a supporting affidavit to verify the claims.

Addressing a separate prayer in the plea that sought her immediate release from custody, the magistrate noted that the court could only exercise such powers upon receiving a formal complaint made on oath, which had not been provided.

What happened outside Ratna Singh's home

According to the plea filed through advocate Adit S Pujari, Singh was preparing to travel to the Supreme Court with advocate Tara Narula and two other colleagues on Saturday morning to join a lawyers' demonstration. The protest was directed against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

Singh alleged that two vehicles blocked her car from the front and rear as she sat outside her house. Police personnel then stood around the vehicle, refusing to explain the legal basis for restricting her movement. In video footage shared by the party, Singh said that when she asked officers for an official notice, they stated they were acting on "orders from above".

Describing the action as wrongful restraint and unlawful confinement, Singh told the court that she faced a direct threat to her liberty and safety.

Chief Justice intervenes after lawyer detentions

The action against Singh coincided with broader police operations across the capital on Saturday as the CJP called for demonstrations at Jantar Mantar and near the Supreme Court. Police and Central Reserve Police Force personnel intercepted groups of protesting lawyers near the top court, detaining several and taking them to the Yamuna Sports Complex.

The detentions prompted emergency action from the Supreme Court Bar Association, which sent an urgent message to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant. Following the Chief Justice's communication with the relevant authorities instructing that the lawyers be set free, police released the detained advocates. Singh was released later on Saturday evening.

What happened in Tulsa

US country music artist Ella Langley cancelled her sold-out concert at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Friday night after receiving a security threat just hours before she was due on stage.

The 27-year-old singer announced the cancellation on social media roughly two hours before the performance at the 19,000-seat arena was scheduled to start. Langley said the decision was made to protect the safety of fans, venue staff, and her touring team.

The venue management confirmed the cancellation shortly after, explaining that after careful consideration alongside authorities, officials determined the concert could not proceed.

What police found at the BOK Center

Tulsa Police Department officers conducted multiple security sweeps of the arena prior to the show. Police Captain Richard Meulenberg said an anonymous caller had claimed that "great harm" would be carried out at the venue using firearms and explosives.

Following the phone call, officers assisted by sniffer dogs performed another full sweep of the building. Investigators found nothing suspicious inside or around the facility.

"We could not find a credible threat," Meulenberg said, adding that the venue was cleared and ready to host the event. He noted that the hoax caller had successfully disrupted the event for thousands of attendees who had already gathered or were travelling to the arena.

How the decision was taken

Writing on Instagram, Langley described the cancellation as an "incredibly difficult" choice, but stressed that she refused to place anyone in potential danger. She noted that the move was made in coordination with local law enforcement, venue officials, and her private security staff.

Langley apologised to her fans and said details regarding ticket refunds would be released as soon as possible.

The Alabama-born singer-songwriter has seen her profile rise rapidly over the past year, sweeping major honours at the Academy of Country Music Awards in May.

Neither Tulsa police nor arena management have disclosed whether investigators have identified the person responsible for making the threatening phone call.

Riyadh airport attack

A loud explosion ripped through King Khalid International Airport on Saturday, October 10, 2026. Witnesses described seeing the blast near gates 3 and 4 of the domestic terminal, and thick smoke billowed from the site. Saudi civil aviation authorities immediately suspended operations, diverted incoming flights and cancelled departures. Kuwait Airways, Etihad, Qatar Airways and several others announced cancellations, while flight‑tracking data showed all flights bound for Riyadh were either diverted or grounded.

Casualties and medical response

Local hospitals reported at least a dozen people injured, including five in intensive care. The exact toll remains unclear, but the consensus across reports is that “dozens” were wounded. Ambulances rushed to the scene, and the Saudi Ministry of Health confirmed that several victims suffered shrapnel injuries from shattered glass.

Trump weighs US involvement

President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters outside the White House, said the United States is evaluating whether to join Saudi Arabia’s air campaign against the Houthi rebels. “We may. We’re going to look at it,” he said, adding, “We just found out about the recent attack. So we’ll make a decision. We move very quickly.” The comment reflects Washington’s long‑standing partnership with Riyadh and its concern over the growing Houthi missile threat.

Who is behind the strike?

The Houthi movement, an Iran‑aligned rebel group fighting the Saudi‑backed Yemeni government, has claimed responsibility for several recent attacks on Saudi infrastructure. While the group had not immediately claimed this particular blast, a Houthi military spokesperson later said a ballistic missile had been launched toward the airport and hit its target. The incident follows earlier assaults that killed four people and damaged an aircraft earlier in the week.

Diplomatic and travel advisories

Embassies in Riyadh – including those of the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada – issued alerts urging citizens to avoid the airport and surrounding areas. The U.S. embassy described itself as “aware of attacks on King Khalid International Airport” and recommended Americans stay clear of the site. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also advised travelers to contact their embassies for assistance.

Broader context

The attack comes amid a renewed Saudi‑led coalition offensive in Yemen, launched in early October, aimed at pushing back Houthi advances along the Red Sea. Riyadh is set to host several high‑profile energy and investment conferences later this month, and officials say the events will proceed as planned despite security concerns. The latest strike underscores the expanding front in the Iran‑backed conflict and the pressure on Washington to decide how actively to support its Gulf ally.

What happened at Sharjah Anchorage?

A Panama-flagged crude oil tanker carrying 22 Indian crew members was hit by a drone attack off the coast of the United Arab Emirates on 9 October, but all seafarers on board escaped without injury.

Union Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal confirmed the incident involving the vessel, the MT GEM NO. 2, in a statement on Saturday. The attack took place while the ship was positioned at Sharjah Anchorage in the Arabian Gulf.

Sonowal said Indian authorities were monitoring the situation closely and were in direct communication with the vessel's management company to ensure the ongoing security and well-being of the crew. He did not say who launched the drone or state the extent of any physical damage to the tanker.

Who is involved and who is responsible?

The vessel is registered under the flag of Panama, but its entire 22-person crew consists of Indian nationals.

Officials have not named any suspect or group responsible for the strike. Sharjah Anchorage sits in waters near Dubai, an area through which a substantial volume of international oil traffic passes daily.

The strike comes amid broader regional concerns over commercial vessel safety across the Gulf and the Black Sea, where merchant ships have increasingly faced targeted strikes and collateral risk.

What is India doing about maritime safety?

The incident follows recent steps taken by New Delhi to raise maritime security on the global diplomatic agenda.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India recently co-chaired the launch of a new international coalition, the Group of Friends on Safety and Security of Shipping and Seafarers, alongside Liberia. The group held its inaugural meeting in New York with representatives from 25 countries.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Liberian Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti co-chaired the session, issuing a joint declaration calling for an immediate halt to attacks on commercial shipping in the Gulf region and the Black Sea.

India is one of the world's largest suppliers of merchant seafarers, while Liberia operates the world's largest ship registry by tonnage. In their joint statement, both nations condemned attacks on peaceful trade as indefensible, pressing international partners to put the physical safety of crews at the centre of global maritime policy.

What the parliamentary panel recommended

A parliamentary standing committee has called for a sweeping overhaul of the National Testing Agency (NTA), recommending that the NEET-UG medical entrance examination be moved to an online, computer-based format to prevent paper leaks.

The report, presented to the Rajya Sabha by the 31-member panel on education, women, children, youth and sports chaired by Congress MP Mukul Wasnik, argued that traditional paper-and-pen examinations leave critical security gaps. The committee urged the agency to shift major entrance tests to computer-based testing (CBT), where encrypted question papers are transmitted directly to exam centres moments before the test begins, eliminating early physical printing, transport, and storage.

To prevent question papers from leaking during preparation, the panel proposed building large, continuously updated digital question banks. These would be curated by experts from premier academic institutions, including the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). Under the proposed system, final papers would be drawn digitally close to the examination time, and the experts responsible for vetting them would remain in strict isolation until tests conclude.

Institutional gaps and staff shortages inside the NTA

The report exposed severe internal weaknesses within the agency responsible for testing roughly 1.2 crore candidates every year. The NTA currently leaves 16 of its 39 sanctioned permanent posts vacant — a vacancy rate of 41 per cent.

The panel highlighted that the post of director general was held as an additional charge for nearly two years between June 2024 and April 2026. Meanwhile, contractual staff increased from 39 in 2023–24 to 76 in 2025–26, alongside 136 outsourced personnel. The committee warned that relying heavily on short-term deputation and private contractors hampers institutional memory, operational security, and technical expertise.

The scale of legal disputes facing the testing body was also highlighted by its 2024–25 annual report, which recorded 474 court cases, including 356 concerning NEET-UG 2024 alone.

A national registry for blacklisted vendors

To prevent compromised contractors from operating across state and central testing systems, the committee recommended establishing a centralised digital registry of penalised vendors.

At present, service providers, technology partners, or frisking agencies penalised by one state or testing body can still secure contracts with other autonomous institutions. The proposed registry would track defaulting companies, active police investigations, and individual executive directors to stop tainted firms from re-emerging under new corporate names. Access would be mandatory for major bodies, including the UPSC and SSC, with listed firms automatically disqualified nationwide.

What happens next

To expand online testing capacity, the committee suggested using NTA's accumulated revenue surplus of ₹590 crore to build a network of 1,000 secure, government-owned testing centres, ensuring at least one per district. It also advised utilising mid-sized IT labs in public universities, polytechnics, and government engineering colleges.

The panel further suggested that the education ministry explore structural options for future medical tests, including multi-session exam schedules, reasonable age limits, attempt caps, and a potential two-stage NEET-UG examination structure.

A barrage of charged particles from the Sun illuminated night skies across the entire United Kingdom on Friday and Saturday, pushing vibrant displays of the Northern Lights as far south as Devon, Hampshire and Kent.

While the Aurora Borealis is normally confined to the Arctic Circle and northern fringes of Scotland, the weekend display was powered by an unusually powerful solar event that overwhelmed typical geographic limits.

Why the aurora reached so far south

The display began late last week when the Sun released multiple coronal mass ejections — immense eruptions of plasma and magnetic fields fired directly towards Earth. When this stream of energetic particles collided with our planet’s magnetic shield, it funnelled down along magnetic field lines into the upper atmosphere.

The colours themselves come from basic atmospheric chemistry: charged solar particles crash into oxygen and nitrogen atoms between 80 and 300 kilometres above ground, exciting them and releasing light in shades of pink, green and purple.

What brought the phenomenon to southern England, however, was raw magnetic force. Scientists measure geomagnetic disturbance in nanotesla (nT). Typically, activity needs to reach roughly 200nT for auroras to become visible in northern Britain. On Saturday night, readings hit 600nT — a surge strong enough to push the auroral oval thousands of kilometres south of its standard track.

This kind of deep intrusion is becoming more frequent as the Sun approaches the height of its roughly 11-year solar cycle. Forecasters expect solar activity to peak around 2026, meaning violent coronal eruptions will remain common over the next two years.

Where they were seen

Stargazers across the country documented the lights throughout Friday and Saturday. Sightings were reported in Kendal in Cumbria, Saltburn-by-the-Sea in North Yorkshire, and Winterton-on-Sea in Norfolk, alongside purple and pink glows above Surrey, Wiltshire and the Orkney Islands.

In the south, where high levels of ambient street lighting often wash out faint celestial displays, the sheer strength of the geomagnetic storm allowed the colours to cut through wherever skies stayed clear of cloud cover.

Can you see them again tonight?

The Met Office said sightings could remain possible under clear skies until Tuesday, particularly in Scotland and areas along similar geomagnetic longitudes, though activity is likely to taper off from Saturday's peak.

For those hoping to catch a glimpse, conditions require finding a spot with an unobstructed view towards the northern horizon, away from street lamps. Even if the sky appears merely grey or hazy to the naked eye, a mobile phone camera can often reveal the show. At night, human vision relies on rod cells, which cannot distinguish colours in low light; camera sensors do not share that limitation and can easily gather enough photons over a short exposure to reveal bright purples and greens.