5 THINGS FIRST Doors of Sabarimala temple open today for the first time after SC allowed entry of women; OPEC to hold talks with India on oil price and supply; Boards of Hathway Cable and DEN Networks meet amid RIL stake buy buzz; EU leaders to discuss Brexit; Student Union elections in Haryana to be held today after a gap of 22 years

1. Will SC's order really open Sabarimala's divine doors for women? Gates of equality: As the gates of the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala are thrown open today for the monthly prayers, for the first time after last month's Supreme Court order allowing the entry of women of all age — the temple hitherto disallowed entry of women of age between 10 and 50 (menstruating age) — devotees, including a large number of women, have taken it upon themselves to physically stop any women in the said age group from entering the temple. Hell at heaven's gateway: With protesters picketing the approach road at Nilackal, the main gateway to the temple, and checking vehicles for any woman of menstruating age, Kerala is on the edge. CM Pinarayi Vijayan has warned against any violent protest and has deployed police forces to ensure women are not stopped, though the state has dropped its plan of deploying women police personnel near the sanctum sanctorum. Deadlock: Even as political parties, such as the Shiv Sena, have threatened mass suicides if women are allowed to enter the temple, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which oversees the temple, tried unsuccessfully to resolve the logjam by talking to other stakeholders including the erstwhile royal family of Pandalam and temple priests — the latter want the TDB to maintain the status quo and immediately file a review petition in the Supreme Court, which the TDB has declined, saying it could only be filed after October 22 as the apex court was closed till then, and as such, it was bound to obey the court's directive. Read more here

2. Congress isn't getting Goa after all BJP's crisis: Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar has been in and out of hospital for most part of the year. Parrikar has run BJP in Goa virtually single-handedly which means the party lacks a second line of leadership. The political void created by Parrikar's absence has had BJP's allies putting pressure to choose a new leader with some backing the 'senior most minister' after him and others looking for opportunities themselves. The numbers: Congress had 16 MLAs in the 40-member house and BJP 14. BJP formed the government last year with support from Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Goa Forward Party (GFP), which have three MLAs each, and that of three independent candidates, taking the coalition's seat tally to 23. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has one legislator. Congress' opportunity: Goa Congress had emerged as the single largest party in the fractured verdict last year. However, it failed to form the government as it could not muster the majority. Since, then it has been repeatedly laying claim to form the government, arguing that it was the single largest party. Advantage BJP: In a major setback to the Congress, two of its legislators resigned Tuesday as members of the state Assembly, reducing the party's strength from 16 to 14 in the 40-member House. Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte went to Delhi on Monday and faxed their resignation letters to the Speaker, and are set to join the BJP. With their resignation, the Congress ceases to be the single largest party in the Assembly, whose effective strength now stands reduced to 38. Read the full story here

3. Why J&K's panchayat elections matter Let's talk money: At the core of the local body elections in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) — both panchayat and municipality — is an amount of Rs 4,335 crore, from the Central grant, which is to be made available to these bodies, to be spent on the welfare of the people, who have been deprived since 2005, when the last municipality elections were held. The last panchayat elections, on the other hand, were held in 2011. Greater autonomy: These elections, for which the final phase of polling was on Tuesday, will also see the direct election of Sarpanches of the Panchayats, to restore credibility of the rural local bodies and ensure accountability — the local bodies are also being vested with significantly enhanced devolution of powers in line with best practices in the country to enable them to address most of the local issues in their jurisdiction. Not an ideal election: Three political parties — National Conference (NC), People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPM) — have boycotted the 4-phase elections to 79 municipal bodies, due to the legal challenge by the Centre to J&K's special status under Article 35A that prohibits a non-resident from acquiring any property in the state. Of the 17 lakh electorate, the state witnessed a voter turnout of 8.3%, 3.4%, 3.49% and 4.2% in the four phases of polling respectively. Read more here

X-PLAINED 4. Does diplomatic immunity cover murder? Turkish officers have carried out a nine-hour probe of the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in the case of missing, and possibly murdered, journalist Jamal Khashoggi, after Saudi Arabia opened up to an investigation. There are suggestions that Saudi may, after two weeks of denial, admit that Khashoggi — a former adviser turned critic who walked into the consulate to collect some documents — was indeed killed inside the consulate but in an interrogation that went wrong, and not a pre-planned crime. Now the question is does the diplomatic immunity that embassies and consulate officers enjoy cover the crime? What is diplomatic immunity? Embassies and consulate offices are protected under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (pdf) and Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (pdf), which enable diplomats to function freely in their roles without interference or undue pressure by the host nation, even at the time of a war. Consulate vs Embassy: But do note, the premise in the context of Khashoggi is a consulate office and not an embassy, and hence enjoys lesser rights — for instance, a host nation can carry out a search operation of areas or check documents of a consulate office that is explicitly not related to consular function (say the garden or an employment contract between an officer and a house-servant entered in his personal capacity). FYI: A consulate is a satellite office whereas an embassy is the permanent house of a diplomatic mission headed by an ambassador. Caveats: The diplomatic immunity, however, has certain caveats. For instance, the Vienna law says "consular officers shall not be liable to arrest or detention pending trial, except in the case of a grave crime and pursuant to a decision by the competent judicial authority". A murder of a person — in this case a resident of Turkey as well as US — certainly is a grave crime under the accepted practice, and thus is not covered by immunity. Side note: In 2015, a Saudi diplomat in India had used diplomatic immunity to escape punishment after being accused of raping two Nepali maids in his private home. The Saudi-Turkey play Yet, the Saudi officers thought to have killed Khashoggi cannot be arrested; simply because they are not in Turkey and left the same day of Khashoggi's disappearance. Hence, an extradition is required, and Saudi and Turkey do not have a mutual extradition treaty. But reports suggest, Turkey may not seek for an extradition, instead an admission of crime from Saudi and more importantly, some arrangement in the Syria crisis, where the nations are supporting opposing sides.

NEWS IN CLUES 5. Which is the 71st richest company in the world? Clue 1: Last week, it joined the Open Invention Network community despite holding more than 60,000 patents. Clue 2: Its 1986 IPO, and a subsequent rise in share price, created three billionaires and nearly 12,000 millionaires among its employees. Clue 3: Previous taglines of the company include 'Your potential. Our passion' and 'Be What's Next'. Scroll below for answer

6. Modi govt may have to pay a high cost for cheap food Low inflation, high worry: A low rate of inflation in a pre-election year may be good news for the electorate, but it's only increasing the forehead creases of the Central government and its mandarins, as it not only means low food prices but also implies more compensation to be paid by the Modi government to farmers for falling market prices of crops. Bumper bump: The irony of a bumper harvest leading to a fall in prices may be delicious for the masses, but is not quite relished by the finance ministry — the recent increase in minimum support price (MSP) by 50% over and above the production costs could cost the government Rs 15,000 crore if the market prices crash, which could make it difficult for the Centre to stick to its fiscal deficit target of 3.3% of GDP. Cash 22: The government's move to increase the MSP is in line with its objective of doubling farmers' incomes by 2022 — adding pressure is the fall in consumer food price inflation, from 2.8% in April this year to 0.5% in September, which, while fetching some votes, could imperil its fiscal management by increasing the deficit and the inflation, leading to a raising of interest rates. Read more here

7. Software firms are becoming cable companies Google announced it will, in partnership with telecom company Orange, lay a 6,600-km cross-Atlantic undersea cable connecting France and the US. The cable, to be operational in 2020, will have a capacity of "more than 30 terabits per second, per [fibre] pair" and will be Google's fourth completely private undersea cable — the other major one connects the US west coast to Chile. Google isn't alone in getting into the good old cable business. Microsoft and Facebook, in partnership with Telefonica, together laid a 6437-km cross-Atlantic cable last year; it is to be operational in 2019. Amazon has invested in a Trans-Pacific undersea cable in 2016, and last year struck a dealwith Facebook and Softbank to lay a cable system that connects the US west coast to Asia. Closer home, Reliance Jio is laying an Asia-Africa-Europe undersea cable. But why now? Control. Earlier, tech companies used to lease capacity in undersea cables laid largely by telecom companies (such as AT&T, Singtel) to power their business. But the internet is now an economy — it is the foundation of everything, and companies such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon run cloud services that host the data (and computing power) of almost all major companies (and even countries). Also because you watch a lot of videos (on YouTube, Amazon and the like). That means, they are no longer willing to base their super-state powers on telecom companies but want greater control. Owning the cables that are the foundation of the internet would give them that. The outlier here is Facebook, which does not own a cloud hosting division (yet). Why are they into cables, then? Because Mark Zuckerberg's stated aim is 'internet for all', which means Facebook and all its services — Instagram, WhatsApp, video and who knows what in the future — for all. He wouldn't want to depend on a telecom executive in an old building for that, would he? FYI: It was also working on a drone that beams internet, before halting the project.

8. Will Saudi agree to this Iran model for India? Rupee-oil problem: India will import over $90 billion worth of oil this year and will pay for most of it in US dollar. Oil companies that import crude oil buy (or borrow) dollars (or euros) from the market to pay for it. When rupee depreciates, they have to spend more rupees to buy dollars and that makes oil even more expensive. Oil-rupee solution: India has suggested to the world's biggest oil producers (OPEC) that they allow India to make payments for oil in rupees instead of euros or dollar. OPEC supplies 60% of India's oil needs. The move, if accepted, will also help India's current account deficit (the net of import and export) as a higher deficit results in more obligations for the country to make its payments in foreign currency. Iran model: India has paid Iran (its third-largest oil supplier) in rupees in the past due to the US sanctions on Tehran. Iran, in turn, used some of the rupee it earned to buy items like medicine and food grains from India. That way the two countries avoided dealing in dollars. Iranian oil became even more lucrative as it came with 60 days of credit for purchases (not available with other oil suppliers) and Iran bore the cost of transportation and insurance. Currently, India pays for Iranian oil in euro using European banking channels. Old tricks, new result? India is not just the third-largest importer of oil in the world, it is also a key demand growth driver and forcing India into alternatives can lead to a demand destruction that may be difficult to create again (goose that lays golden eggs, as the PM pointed out). However, India has tried such persuasions in the past but it hasn't worked. In 2013, when rupee fell by 20% against the dollar, India had lobbied its major trading partners to accept rupee payments for some of their exports. India's protests about the unfairness of Asian countries being asked to pay a higher price for OPEC oil (it's called Asian premium) than European buyers, hasn't changed anything. Earlier this year, India proposed an oil buyer's club (on the lines of that proposed in 2005) to collectively negotiate better terms for oil but that hasn't moved much either. In 2005, too, India had held two ministerial roundtables on oil (of consumers and alternative producers) but that didn't yield any results. Will this one do the trick?

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9. How Yogi decides names of places The latest: UP cabinet approved the renaming of Allahabad to Prayagraj. "Prayag is a confluence of two rivers. Here we have a confluence of three rivers, Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati. Therefore, its name will be Prayagraj," the UP CM had said. Another possible reason, as some have pointed out, is that the city was named Allahabad by Akbar, and Mughals are not in BJP's good books. The proposal will now go to the Centre for approval. Third time lucky? This was the third attempt to change the name of the 'city of prime ministers' (at least 7 prime ministers either came from or contested from Allahabad). In 1992, the then UP chief minister had announced that he has accepted the demand of Hindu saints and formalities of renaming the city to Prayagraj would be completed soon. Then in 2001, CM Rajnath Singh's cabinet again decided to do the same but it didn't happen. After he became CM: Allahabad's new name proposal comes close on the heels of renaming the iconic Mughalsarai railway station after Bharatiya Jana Sangh co-founder Deendayal Upadhyay. The Yogi government has also approached the Centre for approval to rename three airports — those in Bareilly (to be named Nath Nagri), Agra (to be named after Deen Dayal Upadhyay) and Kanpur (to be named after freedom fighter Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi). When he was MP: As an MP from Gorakhpur, Yogi has had a habit of 'declaring' new names for places in the area. The five-time MP turned Urdu Bazaar into Hindi Bazaar, Humayunpur to Hanuman Nagar, Islampur to Ishwarpur, Mian Bazaar to Maya Bazaar and Alinagar to Aryanagar. The new names were not official though, he used to come up with them at his rallies and his supporters made sure they were used. Names don't last: How long a changed name stays also depends on politics too. In 2012, when Samajwadi Party came to power it changed the names of eight districts that were renamed by the Mayawati government in the previous term. So, Amethi once again became Amethi and Hathras reverted to Hathras. Meanwhile, Allahabad ranks 96th in a list of 111 liveable cities of India, which means its real problems are still about the basics.

10. Welcome to Earth's sixth mass extinction! Red alert: We have now entered an era in which the planet's environments will change so much that most animal and plant species will die out. We're talking 99.9% of critically endangered species and 67% of endangered species being lost within the next 100 years, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The scary part: The five other mass extinctions over the past 450 million years were caused by natural disasters. But now, human activity is exterminating mammal species say scientists from Aarhus University in Denmark. Best-case scenario: The Aarhus study says nature will need 3 million to 5 million years to get back to the level of biodiversity we have on Earth currently. And to return to the state the planet's animal kingdom was in before modern humans evolved? 5 million to 7 million years! Even then, it depends on how quickly mammals start recovering. If the extinction rate doesn't dip for another 20-100 years, expect more species to vanish, causing greater diversity loss. A case in point: One of only two remaining species from a group of mammals that once included mastodons and mammoths, the Asian elephants' chance of making it to the 22nd century is less than 33%, the study found.

PLUS The curious case of missing Nepal ambassador The mystery: Eight months after the KP Oli government took office in Kathmandu, Nepal is yet to send an ambassador to India. This is a matter of growing concern in India given Nepal, despite all the troubles between them, remains one of India's closest partners. Empty chair: The Nepal mission in New Delhi has been without an ambassador since October 2017, when former ambassador Deep Kumar Upadhyay left to run for office in the elections. The mission is currently headed by Bharat Regmi, the deputy chief of mission. The worry: The lack of movement has fuelled speculation about Oli's purported hostility to India. In recent weeks, Oli has reverted the Budi Gandaki hydropower project to China, which at $2.5 billion, is Nepal's largest. This project, slated to be built by China's Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC), reversed former PM Sher Bahadur Deuba government's decision to develop the 1200 MW project with internal resources. Nepal has also committed to speed-up the selection of BRI projects, as Oli's preference for China becomes clearer. Read the full story here

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Answer To NEWS IN CLUES Microsoft. Paul Allen, who co-founded the tech major with Bill Gates in the 1970s and later went on to become an investor, philanthropist and sports team owner, has died. He was aged 65 and died from cancer complications (non-Hodgkin's lymphoma). Gates said: "I am heartbroken by the passing of one of my oldest and dearest friends... Personal computing would not have existed without him."