5 THINGS FIRST Rahul Gandhi to address public meeting in Kurnool, Andhra; Ex-President Pranab Mukherjee starts his stint as guest faculty at IIM-A; North Korea's Kim Jong-un meets South Korea's Moon Jae-in in Pyongyang; India play Hong Kong at the Asia Cup; UEFA Champions League begins tonight 1. Is Indian army's biggest enemy Indian army? Soldiers vs soldiers: A soldier of Indian army's 18 Sikh Regiment allegedly shot dead two of his colleagues before killing himself in Dharamshala early on Monday. Last year, another army soldier had killed his colleague and committed suicide in Bihar's Danapur Army Cantonment. Fratricide (as such killings are called) has claimed the lives of at least 8 soldiers in the last four years (2014-2017) Soldier vs stress: 183 army personnel were killed in various operations or encounters in the last four years (2014-2017) — that's 46 soldiers a year. However, the army lost 340 men due to suicides in the same period — 85 a year. The factors: The reasons range from the nature of their jobs, long continuous deployments in hostile areas away from family, to domestic issues as well as the mental built of a soldier. Not just army: It's the same story in paramilitary forces. In December last year, a CRPF constable had gunned down four of his colleagues and injured one. That was a month after a Border Security Force (BSF) soldier shot dead his colleague during a scuffle inside a camp in J&K's Bandipora. Read the full story here 2. How does merging bad banks with good ones help? What: The government will merge Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank to create India's third largest bank. Last year, five associate banks of SBI and Bharatiya Mahila Bank were merged with State Bank of India to catapult the country's largest lender to among the top 50 banks in the world. Official reason: Government says the new entity will see "substantial rise in customer base, market reach, operational efficiency and wider bouquet of products and services for customers." A bigger bank gains from economies of scale and can cut costs by utilising synergies of network. Real reason: Government owns a majority stake in 21 lenders, which account for more than two-thirds of banking assets. However, they also account for nearly 90% of non-performing loans in the banking sector (Rs 8.9 lakh crore out of the total Rs 10 lakh crore) with 11 of the 21 operating under an emergency programme, supervised by RBI, which restricts fresh lending. Mergers of weak banks also mean fewer, better-capitalised banks and improved regulatory oversight. Numbers game: Government says that three banks will continue to work independently post merger and there won't be any job loss. So how does it help? Take a look at these figures: However, bank mergers are at best a short-term fix for the bad loan problem, with the bigger issue being the government interference in their functioning and appointments that has allowed private banks to corner almost 70% of new deposits and 80% of incremental loans . Read the full story here 3. Why Parrikar is so critical for BJP in Goa Missing Parrikar: Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar has been in and out of hospital for the most part of the year. He has offered to step down but has been asked by BJP to continue. In his absence, the state government curtailed the budget session (to just 4 days instead of 31) and the chief minister resented a truncated budget. While he was abroad, a three-member advisory committee (with two ministers from allies) was set up but there were murmurs of discontent as they could hardly take decisions on the 20-odd portfolios that Parrikar held. Being Parrikar: The four-term chief minister of Goa is the tallest leader who not only brought BJP to power but has also run it as a one-man party. That means BJP lacks a second-line leadership. The senior most leader after Parrikar (Francis D'Souza) is known for his party hoppings. The fragile coalition that Parrikar heads makes his role even more critical. The numbers: Congress, the single-largest party, has 17 MLAs in the 40-member house and BJP has 13. BJP formed the government with support from Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Goa Forward Party (GFP) that have three MLAs each and that of three independent candidates have also allied with the BJP, taking the coalition government's seat tally to 22. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has one legislator. The opportunity: Goa Congress on Monday asked the Governor to dismiss the BJP government and staked claim to form the government. BJP's alliance partners are also asking for a 'permanent' solution with some backing the 'senior-most minister' after him and other looking for opportunities themselves. President's rue is an option (it will keep the state in BJP's hands) but if Congress is able to show the numbers that may be legally challenged. Read the full story here 4. UAE to become a nation of retirees Earn in UAE, stay in UAE: In a bid to prevent outflow of capital and to bolster its economy, UAE has introduced a five-year residency visa policy for retired expats, a major shift from its previous stance against letting expatriates stay beyond the period of their work permit. Not you, but your moolah: The policy, to come into effect from 2019, is applicable to expats above 55 years of age with an investment in a property worth at least 2 million dirhams or savings of at least 1 million dirhams or a minimum monthly income of 20,000 dirhams. In competition: This comes as oil-dependent West Asian countries look beyond fossil fuel to sustain their economic growth; earlier this month, Qatar made permanent residency an option for a limited number of foreigners, thus giving them access to country's welfare system and commercial rights that were previously reserved for its citizens. Read the full story here NEWS IN CLUES 5. Which is the only element that can exist without neutrons? Clue 1: It comprises about 10% of the weight of all living organisms. Clue 2: Capable of forming both positive and negative ions, it does this more readily than any other element. Clue 3: It is believed to be one of three elements produced in the Big Bang, along with helium and lithium. Scroll below for answer 6. What subsidises Xiaomi's phones? Unsolicited ads These days Xiaomi sells more phones in India than Samsung, as the company attracts customers with high-specification phones at low cost. Among the reasons it is able to do so, as its former VP detailed, are sharing of components between its models, reduced physical retail footprint (though it is increasing now), and, of course, the benefits of China's well-established manufacturing ecosystem. But that's not all. Xiaomi is trying to offset its small profit margin on phones (less than 5%) by earning money through advertisement — ads pushed to your phones through its various apps and by the OS itself. On Monday, a Twitter user shared a screenshot that showed that the company was pushing ads even on the settings page of the phone — not on any app, but Xiaomi's custom UI is doing it without you clicking anything. This isn't the first instance where Xiaomi was caught on the wrong foot. In May this year, a Bengaluru-based teacher reported that Xiaomi's app store (its phones have an additional app store besides Android's Google Play) was showing her an ad that featured a woman in lingerie with an accompanying text that read: "How to download best videos? Click here now!!". Xiaomi then said the ads are served by a third-party network and is not reviewed by the company. After the latest revelation, users pointed out that these system ads can be disabled by turning off the recommendations on the settings page — yet it is an "opt out" rather than a "opt in" for ads on a device you have already paid for. What more: The company's Privacy Policy states it may collect "any and all personal information you provide", including phone number, contacts, photos synced with its cloud storage and the like. If India's draft data privacy policy comes into force, the company may need to take explicit permission for each of these rather than a one-time request in the beginning. 7. Who says print is dying? Certainly not these billionaires Print publications in the US are steadily losing subscribers. Pew research shows newspapers' weekday print circulation decreased 11% and Sunday circulation decreased 10% annually in 2017. The advertisement revenue fell by 10% annually — it has been falling since 2005. Although magazines are faring better. Regardless, billionaires are in love with venerable print titles. On Monday, Salesforce co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff bought Time magazine from Meredith Corporation for $190m; Meredith, the publisher of Better Homes, bought Time Inc last year, but then decided to retain only its lifestyle titles — putting Time, Fortune and Sports Illustrated on shopfront. Benioff joins a club that includes: Jeff Bezos, who bought Washington Post in 2013; Jack Ma, who bought South China Morning Post in 2015; and Laurene Powell Jobs (widow of Steve Jobs), who acquired a large stake in the Atlantic magazine in 2017. Though billionaire ownership of print media houses is more common in Asia, the same wasn't the case in the US — the TV is another matter, though. But that has been changing steadily. And for a reason. The print titles of yesteryears — though yet to make loads of money (thanks to Google and Facebook) — are faring better than new-age publications. New York Times and Washington Post have reported an uptick in digital revenue, whereas the likes of Buzzfeed, Viceand HuffPost have missed their revenue targets. And it could get better for the old warhorses. The 2018 Reuters Digital News Report says readers in the US trust mainstream publications such as Wall Street Journal, NPRand NYT more than the newbies. And in the age of fake news, trust is everything. Also, parting with some loose change doesn't hurt much, but does ensure plenty of goodwill. 8. Has Imran Khan delivered an inswinger at Pak military? New PM Imran Khan said Pakistan would grant citizenship to all Afghan and Bangladeshi refugees born in the country. Pakistan is home to over 1.39 million UNHCR-registered Afghan refugees and more than 200,000 ethnic Bangladeshis, including many Rohingya. U.N. surveys suggest that around 60% of Afghan refugees were either born in Pakistan or were minors when their parents migrated to Pakistan. This is a marked departure from the country's previous stand wherein it saw the refugees as unwelcome and has consistently pushed Afghanistan for repatriation. In fact, only a day earlier, Khan's foreign minister had "underlined the need for dignified, sustainable repatriation of Afghan refugees to their homeland through a gradual and time-bound plan". Pakistan military, which has been fighting Pakistan Taliban — comprising Afghan natives — has been particularly against giving rights to the refugees. Human Rights Watch reportsthat the security establishment's harassment of Afghan refugees had spiked since the Pak Taliban's attack on Peshawar's Army Public School in 2014 that killed more than 140 — many children of soldiers. Thus, Khan's announcement in Karachi came as a surprise to many. Has the military changed its stance or has PM Khan truly become politician Khan, for there is a political play here. Citizenship to Afghans could benefit Khan's PTI, as many of them are Pashtuns, and Pashtuns in Pakistan had supported PTI. By embracing Bangladeshis and Afghans, Khan also gets to project himself above other Islamic parties in the assembly, many of whom have their own "vote banks"; granting the refugees citizenship would help Khan's claim as the leader of all. YOU SHARE YOUR B'DAY WITH... Source: IMDB 9. Coming soon: Cow urine digestive and cow dung soap RSS dot com: Had a heavy dinner? Not to worry, as you can easily digest that by consuming a cow urine-based digestive, Kamdhenu Ark, retailed by an RSS-backed pharmacy, Deen Dayal Dham, and available soon on Amazon. Stinking freshness: Among the other products that will be available online are a cow dung-based bathing soap, and Modi and Yogi kurtas — the former a long kurta variety available in white, grey and pink, while the latter will be available only in saffron. Bottomline: Most of the pharmacy's products are reasonably priced, between Rs 10 and Rs 230, while the kurtas retail for Rs 220 each. Dham sells personal care and medicinal products worth more than Rs 1 lakh, and apparel worth Rs 3 lakh, every month. 10. 36 years later, a Beatle is back atop the Billboard We're talking of Paul McCartney's new studio effort Egypt Station — a 16-track album in which he melds a younger rock feel with his classic Beatles sound — which premiered at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. It's his first chart-topping project since April 1982's Tug of War. The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption (read equivalent album units). According to Nielsen Music, the former Beatle earned 153,000 units in the week ending Sept. 13, Eminem's Kamikaze was #2, with 136,000 units. And for McCartney, it's now: His 8th No. 1 album: This includes his albums with Wings and, of course, with The Beatles (who own the record for the most No. 1s on the Billboard 200 with 19 chart-toppers). His first debut at No. 1: He had previously logged a pair of No. 2-debuts with Flaming Pie (1997) and Wingspan: Hits and History (2001). Incidentally, The Beatles boast four No. 1 debuts, all with albums in the 1990s and 2000s. His biggest sales week in over a decade: Before Egypt Station, he posted a larger sales frame when Memory Almost Full debuted at No. 3 with 161,000 copies sold on the Billboard chart dated Jun. 23, 2007. A No. 1s span of 48 years: That's 48 years, 3 months and 16 days between McCartney's first list topper album (the solo debut McCartney in 1970) and Egypt Station. PLUS A tale of 5 tails What a tangled web: Five baby squirrels were caught in a knot in Wisconsin, US, when their tails got entangled with each other, and grass and plastic in their nest — a painful scenario where each tried to break free in different directions. Human help: The squirrels were spotted by a "caring finder" who took them to an animal welfare NGO, where vets anaesthetised the rodents and disentangled them in a 20-minute operation. The squirrels are doing fine save for some tissue damage in their tails. Not uncommon: This is not the first such incident — earlier in May, the tails of six baby squirrels in Nebraska, US had become matted after getting entangled, requiring an hour-long operation to set them free. Follow news that matters to you in real-time. Join 3 crore news enthusiasts. GET APP Answer To NEWS IN CLUES Hydrogen. The world's first hydrogen fuel cell train to conduct passenger service has begun operations in Germany. The Coradia iLint, built by French manufacturer Alstom, can reach speeds of 140 kmph by using fuel cells that can convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity. The train itself is emission free, but the production of hydrogen does release some emissions.