5 THINGS FIRST Supreme Court to pronounce verdict on validity of Aadhaar and live streaming of court proceedings; Union Cabinet to discuss draft of the new telecom policy; SBI to e-auction 8 bad loan accounts to recover dues of over Rs 3,900 crore; Donald Trump to chair a high-level UN Security Council meeting on Iran; Pakistan play Bangladesh in a virtual semifinal of Asia Cup cricket

1. SC 'reads' the Ramayana to 'criminal' politicians Live another day: In a reprieve for politicians facing criminal charges, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by CJI Dipak Misra said it cannot cross the Lakshman rekha of the judiciary and initiate legislation disqualifying politicians with serious criminal charges from contesting elections — thus putting the onus on the parliament to enact such a law. Infamous: The apex court also directed political parties and their candidates to publish the list of criminal cases pending against them in local print and electronic media upon filing the nomination papers to contest an election — a self flagellation, if you may call it. This has to be done thrice before the polling day in order to let voters make an informed choice. It also directed the political parties to publish the list on the party website. An epiphany: The turning point in criminalisation of politics, according to SC, came in the aftermath of the Mumbai bomb blasts of 1993, when the nexus between criminals, politicians, bureaucrats and police officers came to light via the N N Vohra committee report. Count of taint: An affidavit filed by the government in the Supreme Court earlier this year pegged the number of MPs and MLAs facing a criminal trial at 1,765, or 36% of the total strength of lawmakers in the country (4,896). In the present Lok Sabha 30%, or 162 MPs, have criminal cases pending against them, while in UP, 47% of MLAs have criminal cases pending against them. Calling the bluff: In a separate case, the apex court admonished BJP MP Manoj Tiwari for breaking a court-mandated seal of a house, saying that being a lawmaker didn't entitle him to break the law. The court took exception to Tiwari's accusation of bias by the court-appointed committee monitoring the sealing drive of illegal properties in Delhi, saying that if he has evidence he should present it and the court will appoint him as the sealing officer. Meanwhile, in another ruling, the Supreme Court said that lawmakers can continue to be lawyers, and being an MP or MLA do not disbar them from practising law as legislators are people’s representatives and not employees.

2. Why Rafale risks taking Parliament back to 2010 The politics: The Congress party has demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Rafale deal. BJP says any such probe could "expose the country's defence preparedness to our enemies and opponents". As the mudslinging between the two parties continues, PM Modi also spoke, though indirectly. Why it matters: Parliament's productivity has been high in the last couple of sessions but that may change if Congress' demand for a JPC is backed by the other opposition parties. In 2010, Parliament had witnessed its worst Winter session in history over opposition's (including BJP's), demand for a JPC after the CAG report on 2G spectrum allocation. JPCs are set up by Parliament for a specific objective and a limited duration, with members from both the houses of Parliament (twice the number of members from Lok Sabha as from Rajya Sabha). The committee can take views of experts, public bodies, associations or individuals and function till they present their report to the Parliament. In the past: Seven JPCs have been created in the past: on the Bofors issue (1987), Harshad Mehta scandal (1992), Ketan Parekh stock market scam (2001), pesticides in soft drinks (2003), 2G spectrum allocation (2011), AgustaWestland deal (2013) and land acquisition (2015). Most of the reports submitted by these JPC's have either been rejected or not been acted upon. Problem with JPC: Apart from giving a handle to the opposition to drum up charges of corruption, BJP would also like to avoid what happened to PM Manmohan Singh. He was forced to appear before the JPC in 2011 in an embarrassment to the Congress. A similar situation for PM Modi will put BJP in a spot too.

3. In India's aviation boom, safety makes a crash landing South Asia's worst: India's aviation safety reached a new low, as the safety audit conducted by the UN's International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) ranked India's air safety oversight score lower than that of other South Asian countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal; only Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Vanuatu and Samoa ranked lower than India. Below par: The ranking saw India's score slipping from 66% to 57%, making it one of the 15 countries whose score is below the minimum target rates, which could lead to a downgrade by the US aviation regulator, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Impact: A downgrade by the FAA would result in Indian airlines being unable to add new flights to the US or enter into codeshare alliances with US airlines, besides having aircrafts of Indian airlines subjected to enhanced checks when they fly to the US. Read the full story here

4. A crisis that ate up Rs 8.5 lakh crore of investor money A company: Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS), one of India's largest infrastructure finance companies, has defaulted on over five of its payment obligations since August (it owes lenders Rs 93,000 crore), put its headquarters on the block, and the MD & CEO of its financial services arm has resigned. The fear: The defaults led to fears that this may be a sign of larger problems in the non-banking finance company (NBFC) space which may, in turn, pose a serious threat to financial stability of its lenders (NBFCs borrow from banks, depositors and markets to finance their own business of lending). When a fund house sold its investments in another finance company at cheaper rates, it sparked off fears of a systemic problem in the NBFC space. The unstated fear was that thanks to its inter-linkages with the financial system IL&FS, may drag the entire financial system and the larger macro-economy down with it. The markets: The fear spread to other financial stocks, and the stock markets crashed, affecting sentiments all around. Assurances from the finance minister and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) haven't helped. Sensex crashed by 1,800 points in five days (losing Rs 8.5 lakh crore in market capitalisation) before finally ending the losing streak on Tuesday by rebounded 350 points. The reality: Experts say markets may have overreacted and with IL&FS' largest shareholder (LIC) planning to bring in funds, and government and RBI pitching in to help with speedy sale of the company's assets, the problem may subside. However, the crisis also points to the lack of timely warning from regulator RBI, with which the company is registered, and rating agencies and auditors that are supposed to flag problems with companies. Read the full story here

NEWS IN CLUES 5. This fashion label has a luxury car and helicopter to its name. Clue 1: Its famous clients include Elton John, Michael Jackson, the Princess of Wales and Princess Caroline of Monaco. Clue 2: Its founder chose Medusa as the logo because she made people fall in love with her and they had no way back. He hoped his label would have the same effect. Clue 3: This year, the company announced that it would stop using fur in its collections. Scroll below for answer

6. Is another Gulf War looming? On Tuesday, a media outlet close to Iran's Revolutionary Guard released a video that threatened the capitals of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with missile strikes — the bellicose comes in response to the attack on a military parade in Iran on Saturday that killed 25, including Guard personnel and children. The Revolutionary Guard is a hardline military answerable only to Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader and thus out of control of the country's moderate President, Hassan Rouhani. Humiliated by the Saturday attack — which was claimed by the Islamic State as well as a militant Arab group in Iran that the country alleges is propped by Saudi and its allies — the Guard has vowed "revenge". That Saudi's Prince Mohammed likens Khamenei to Hitler ("he makes Hitler look good") doesn't help. If Rouhani fails to meet Trump or his team at the ongoing UN General Assembly, and the US sanctions come to cripple civilian life in Iran, the Guard may use the excuse to vent its frustration. An attack on any of the US ally will also help divert its citizens' attention from the protests in the country; of late civilians across the country have marched onto the streets in protest against economic woes and the strict Islamic rule, among others. Trump's reported wish to topple the regime in Iran (his lawyer this week said sanctions will lead to a "successful revolution") will only make matters worse. Yet, Iran may not fire missiles at Saudi or UAE, or even Bahrain, experts say. The consequences could be worse considering calmer heads are in short supply at the world stage these days. But the Guards could target key (read important to Saudi or US) areas in Iraq or Syria.

7. Flood alert: Can Google win where authorities failed? The Kerala floods cost near 500 human lives and $2.7 billionin damages. An early flood warning (and a sound dam management) could have reduced much of the losses. The situation isn't any better in rest of the Indian states. So can Google — with its AI smarts — help the authorities buckle up on timely warnings, or even substitute them? This week, Google detailed how its technology, in partnership with the Central Water Commission, is able to send predictive flood warning in India, where it says 20% of the global flood-related fatalities occur. Google will collect existing data from the CWC and use its AI and "significant computational power to create better forecasting models that predict when and where floods will occur". The warnings would be sent through the Google Public Alerts that already relays emergency information issued by the authorities to a user's smartphone. Google says data from historical events — river-level readings, terrain and elevation information and such — will be fed into its models, which will in turn help create river flood forecasting models. The company says the predictive model had already sent its first warning early this month in Patna after the heavy rains there. India has around 400 million smartphone users and over a billion mobile phone users, making direct alerts to the devices the fastest mode of warning. But global warming and environmental degradation have unsettled the regular rain pattern. Is Google's AI up to the task?

8. Do patients have a right to privacy? Not yet since... All patients have a right to privacy, and doctors have a duty to hold information about their health condition and treatment plan in strict confidentiality. That's according to the draft charter on patients' rights released by the Union Health ministry this month. However, the draft also adds "unless it is essential in specific circumstances to communicate such information in the interest of protecting other or due to public health considerations". Maybe that was the reason why Assam minister tweeted on Tuesday the names of patients, what they got treated for and in which hospital. That came two days after this: He wanted to show how successful Centre's latest healthcare scheme Ayushman Bharat has become already. Maybe that counts for "public health consideration" or maybe he doesn't know about the charter of rights or maybe he is waiting for it to come into force.

9. Finally! The Ronaldo-Messi duopoly has ended Ronaldo, Messi, Messi, Messi, Messi, Ronaldo, Ronaldo, Messi, Ronaldo, Ronaldo, _____? No IQ Test this. But Luka Modrić just ended a decade of dominance of the FIFA Player of the Award. The 33-year-old, Croatia and Real Madrid footballer bagged the honours (and 29% of the votes) for winning the Champions League with Real Madrid for the fourth time in five seasons and leading his country to its first World Cup final. (Cristiano Ronaldo came in second this year with 19% of the votes and Lionel Messi was fifth with 9%) Modrić's plaudits for 2018 now read: Champions League Winner World Cup Golden Ball World Cup Finalist UEFA Player of the Year Champions League Midfielder of the Season FIFA Player of the Year In other awards, Mohamed Salah's curling, left-footed strike in an Oct. 12, 2017 for Liverpool versus Everton won the Puskas Award for the best goal. France boss Didier Deschamps took home the prize for best manager after becoming only the third man to win the World Cup as a player and coach. Real Madrid and Belgian custodian Thibaut Courtois was voted the best goalkeeper. French club Lyon's Reynald Pedros won women's coach of the year, and Brazil's Marta was named the female player of the year for the sixth time. And the FIFPro World XI for 2018 comprises David De Gea, Dani Alves, Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Marcelo, Luka Modrić, N'Golo Kante, Eden Hazard, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo. Modrić is also favourite to break the Messi-Ronaldo duopoly in the Ballon d'Or—it was merged with the Fifa award between 2010 and 2015, but since then has retained its separate status. Five-time winner Ronaldo is the incumbent (on a par with Messi). Full story here

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10. Bacteria don't love money Demonetise paranoia: Next time you come across a dirty, soiled currency note, try not to get paranoid about some unimaginable bacterial infection — tests done on a Rs 100 note (from 2010) and a Rs 10 note (from 2014) showed they had gram positive cocci (a group of bacteria) in singles and pairs, which, doctors say, is no major cause of worry. Further, no microbial colonies were found on a new Rs 500 note freshly withdrawn from an ATM. Heard about herd immunity? Herd immunity occurs when vaccination of a significant portion of a population provides a measure of protection for individuals who have not developed immunity; doctors testing the soiled notes say the same concept applied to currency notes being handled by different people. Still, take precaution: Doctors and microbiologists say paper currencies could be contaminated with microbes, which transmit harmful organisms — a single organism can infect an immunosuppressed person, which is why they say it's important to educate people about the effects of not maintaining hygiene while handling notes. Infected currency is identified as a potential public health hazard as pathogens are spread through circulation of contaminated notes, they added. Read the full story here

PLUS Wreckage of a 16th century ship carrying Indian spices found Archaeologists have found a 400-year-old shipwreck 12 metres below the sea surface off the coast of Portugal, in what is being called the "discovery of a decade". They have discovered ceramics, cannons engraved with Portugal's coat of arms and spices around the wreck — spices most likely from India, that is. Though the experts couldn't narrow down on a year, the ship is believed to have sunk somewhere between 1575 and 1625 — at the peak of the spice trade between Portugal and India. The Portuguese Empire then controlled territories in Kerala, Goa, Diu in India and in Sri Lanka. The ship was found on September 4 and the experts spend the days since sifting through the wreckage and identifying materials. The name of the ship has yet to be identified. The remains found will now be examined by the Portuguese government's cultural heritage wing.

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Answer To NEWS IN CLUES Gianni Versace S.p.A. American fashion brand Michael Kors is buying the Italian luxury house in a deal worth more than $2 billion, continuing its hard charge into the world of high-end fashion. The purchase, announced on Tuesday, follows Kors’ $1.35 billion acquisition last year of the shoemaker Jimmy Choo. In 2006, the Milan, Italy-headquartered company partnered Lamborghini S.p.A. to produce the Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 VERSACE. And in 2008, it teamed up with AgustaWestland to create the AgustaWestland AW109 Grand Versace VIP luxury helicopter.