5 THINGS FIRST Higher interest rate on small savings effective from today; UN secretary general Antonio Guterres in India; Nobel Prizefor medicine to be announced; US to start implementing new H-1B visa rules from today; International Cricket Council begins three-day hearing on Pakistan Cricket Board's claim against India for refusing to play a bilateral series 1. A good law that can make us good people too Good law: President has given assent to a law, which will give legal protection to those who help accidents victims with emergency medical care. The Karnataka Good Samaritan and Medical Professional Bill, 2016 — India's first such law — has made the state the first to give legal protection to good samaritans through a legislation. There is no such central law but the Centre had issued a set of guidelines in 2015 following a Supreme Court order to protect the good samaritans. Bad roads: There were close to 5 lakh road accidents in the country in 2016 in which over 1.5 lakh people were killed. According to experts, at least 50% of these fatalities can be prevented if victims get medical attention within the critical first hour of the accident. However, most bystanders (74% says a study across seven cities by Save Life Foundation) are unlikely to assist an injured person on the road due to the fear of harassment by police, hospital authorities or the likelyhood court appearances. There have also been instances when bystanders were busy clicking photos of the victims instead of helping. Pedestrians beware: Indian roads are becoming deadlier for pedestrians as the number of walkers getting killed has increased steadily in the past few years. The fatalities of pedestrians have shot up from 12,330 in 2014 to 20,457 in 2017, which translates to 56 pedestrian death a day last year, despite talk by policymakers and authorities to prioritise pedestrian safety. Good people: Under the new law, the Karnataka government will provide financial help to good Samaritans and exempt them from repeated appearances at courts or police stations. Any expenses incurred in such visits will be taken care through the proposed 'Good Samaritan Fund'. Many countries have such laws with some making failure to provide first aid to a victim punishable. 2. Why a 'dead' virus has got polio-free India worried What: At least three batches of polio vaccine (containing 1.5 lakh vials) have been found contaminated with a virus strain that has been eradicated worldwide, including in India. The type 2 virus, puts at risk India's "polio-free" status as children born after April 2016 — when the type 2 virus was withdrawn — do not have immunity to this particular virus. India was officially declared "polio-free" by the World Health Organization in March 2014. Where: The contaminated vaccines, manufactured by a Ghaziabad-based firm, Biomed, were administered to children in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana. The contamination essentially means reintroducing a virus that had been eradicated into the community. How: Earlier, trivalent polio vaccines (containing virus type 1, 2 and 3) were in use but since polio eradication efforts had eliminated the type 2 wild poliovirus worldwide, governments switched to bivalent vaccines (containing only type 1 and type 2 polioviruses). In 2016, India, in line with WHO guidance, had ordered the withdrawal and destruction of all trivalent OPV stocks by April 2016. Read the full story here 3. How Rs 1 trillion of bad loans turned good Fear of law: The fear of insolvency proceedings has helped creditors, such as banks, recover Rs 1.1 lakh crore from loan defaulters, who were earlier unwilling to clear dues, with promoters of errant companies paying up to avoid losing control. The Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC) was enacted to bring rogue borrowers to book. IBC also bars promoters of companies whose loans have been classified as non-performing assets from bidding. Coming soon: So far, 977 cases have been admitted by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) where either lenders or creditors such as suppliers have sought to initiate action. The number of cases filed is almost four times higher but many are withdrawn before they are admitted as the borrower agrees to settle the dues. Public sector banks are targeting to recover around Rs 1.8 lakh crore from loan defaulters this fiscal year, which is around two-and-a-half times the amount recovered in 2017-18. Take and give: In the June quarter, three of the 12 cases where resolution took place, lenders managed to realise their entire claims. In the case of MBL Infrastructure, the recoverywas almost Rs 1,600 crore against claims of Rs 1,428 crore. At the other extreme was Orissa Manganese and Minerals, where the financial creditors managed to get Rs 310 crore of their claims that added up to Rs 5,388 crore — around 5.75% of the amount due. Read the full story here 4. Why a murder is getting linked to UP police encounters A murder: An Apple executive was gunned down last week by two policemen in Lucknow because he refused to stop his vehicle on their orders. It was late in the night and reports say the man may have been concerned about his security. Encounters: According to the state police, 64 criminals and 4 policemen have been killed and about 500 people injured in over 1,000 police encounters in the current chief minister's tenure. Though, police say that "encounters are not part of our state policy". The question: The opposition says encounters are making UP cops trigger-happy. UP chief minister says "it was not an encounter" and the case "could be handed over to CBI, if needed". The link: In a bid to show how transparent these encounters were, the police recently invited journalists and TV crew to "watch and film a real encounter". Questions have been raised about some 'successful' encounters claimed by the police. Another report says "some members of the state (UP) police force could be implicating innocent civilians in false cases and shooting them down in staged confrontations in exchange for bribes and promotions". National Human Rights Commission got involved in at least one past police encounter. There may or may not be a direct link between the encounters and the murder but police's track record makes explaining difficult. NEWS IN CLUES 5. This country was a part of Ottoman Empire for 500 years Clue 1: The modern-day state has a majority Christian population. Clue 2: It was also part of an ancient empire that stretched all the way to India. Clue 3: During World War I, British soldiers deployed here unearthed many Bronze Age statues. Scroll below for the answer 6. Musk to pay $40 million and more for... a tweet This time last year, Musk was telling everyone how to be a great leader; cut to today the founder and face of Tesla (and The Boring Company and SpaceX... and SolarCity) is being given a tough lesson — one that costs $40m, a chairman post and plenty of pride — on how to be a decent leader. Angry bird: Tesla, the electric carmaker Musk founded and heads, is the most shorted stock in history. And Musk didn't like it, so he tweeted on August 7 that he was taking the company private, and has the required funding secured (Saudi wealth fund was rumoured to be the financier). Clipped wing: The tweet boosted Tesla's stock, hurting those who were shorting it. But nothing good lasts forever, even Tesla's battery. The peculiar mode of disseminating information of a listed company forced US' Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to open an investigation. Worse, as it turned out, the funding was not secured — the controversy (and perhaps business trouble back in Riyadh) made Saudi back out. Gravity beckons: All of that meant, the SEC investigation could cost Musk his CEO post, a lot of money, and perhaps even a bar on heading a public company for a while. Cornered, Musk reluctantly settled the case. In return he has to pay a fine of $20m; Tesla has to pay a fine of another $20m, which Musk will be paying the company in return of stock; Musk has to sign an agreement to neither "admit or deny" the guilt — that he misled investors through false a statement; and forfeit his post as chairman of the company (he will remain the CEO). The neither-admit-nor-deny clause would mean he cannot claim to have been innocent in future. All this for a tweet! X-PLAINED 7. Ring of Fire Over 800 people died due to the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami in Indonesia, with most of the damage done in the city of Palu. The 2004 tsunami that killed over a lakh, including many in Tamil Nadu in India, had also wreaked havoc in Indonesia. In fact, natural disasters are far too common in the region. The reason: The Ring of Fire. The Pacific Ring of Fire is a string of volcanoes and seismic activities, and it stretches for nearly 25,000 miles, running in the shape of a horseshoe from the southern tip of South America, alongside the west coast of North America, down through Japan, and into New Zealand. As seen here, countries such as Indonesia and Philippines are right on it. Roughly 90% of all earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire, and the ring is dotted with 75% of all active volcanoes on Earth (most active volcanoes are undersea). The region sees the boundaries of many tectonic plates (slabs of Earth's crust), and tectonic plates are constantly moving (too small to make an impact usually). But sometimes, the collision or tension between the plates are more intense, causing tremors, which when undersea causes tsunami. (The rise and fall of tectonic plate boundary displaces the water above it and causes the rolling waves that become a tsunami). That's why 80% of the world's tsunamis happen in the Ring. Being home to so many active volcanoes is another headache, as a volcano, besides the obvious damage lava does, can also cause an earthquake. Though volcanic earthquakes are less common, they did occur in 1990 in... the Philippines, on the Ring of Fire. YOU SHARE YOUR B'DAY WITH... 8. Why the world's richest oil nation is in debt Irony: Oil prices are surging, and Saudi Arabia has the second-highest crude oil reserve in the world, yet it is troubled with debt — Venezuela has more crude oil reserve and its economy is far worse. Saudi on Sunday said it expects its economic spending in 2019 to climb to $295 billion, and the revenue to rise 11% to $260.8 billion. That's a deficit of more than $30 billion. Worse, the country's public debt is around 20% of its GDP, and it is expected to climb further as the government looks to wean away from oil dependence by investing in infrastructure and more. The reason for Saudi debt, in simple terms: Being in business doesn't necessarily teach you economics. Since the discovery of oil, Saudi has splurged on infrastructure (buildings, highways, ports), military, and foreign aid (as a policy tool and to spread its idea of Islam). Its military spending is behind only the US and China. These expenditure has only increased every year, whereas the price of oil fluctuates... Which means in the years of low oil price, Saudi takes a big hit (the reason why it is reluctant to pump more oil, which would thus reduce the price). Another reason for the weak financials? The monarchy. Aramco, the oil company behind the country's wealth, is controlled by the House of Saud, the royal family, and thus has to pay its masters dividends (to a shareholder) and tax (to the government), plus some royalty. Hence, Saudi Prince's attempt for an IPO of Aramco (which would have raised money for its expenditure), failed, despite reducing the tax on the company from 85% (!) to 50%, though retaining the 20% royalty. All of this means, one of the richest countries is now talking austerity. 9. The window to secretly fund a political party opens today The secret fund: Fancy a political party? Line up at one of State Bank of India's 29 specified branches and you can fund it without anyone knowing about it. Electoral bonds (they were supposed to be alternative to cash donations and bring transparency to political funding) go on sale for the fifth time from today till October 10. The first sale in March had made political parties richer by Rs 222 crore. The idea: Till last year, donations to political parties below Rs 20,000 could be anonymous but that limit is now down to Rs 2000. To reduce cash donations, electoral bonds were introduced in January this year that would allow cashless donations to political parties. The names of the buyers of these bonds were kept a secret to protect them from politics over their donation. The reality: Political donations made through electoral bonds don't have to be declared to the Election Commission. This anonymity provided to donors and receivers ensures that we do not know who buys these bonds and which political parties get it. Banks, however, know the identity of the buyers. So, some have alleged that the government in power can easily find out who bought the bonds and if it was donated to its party or not. 10. And India's favourite animal is... Animal farm: The 20th livestock Census for counting the number and kind of animals that households and companies own begins today. The first such count was done in 1919 and the last one in 2012, which put the total livestock population at 512.05 million and poultry population at 729.2 million. For the first time, a breed-wise count will be done. Loved & unloved: While the numbers will change, the trend is unlikely to change much for most animals. Between 1951 and 2012, while the donkey population decreased by 75%, the number of mules went up by over 200%. Horse population too went down from 45 lakh in 1951 to just over 6 lakh in 2012. The number of goats quadrupled but the sheep population grew only by two-thirds. Growth in the number of buffaloes (at 150%) was way faster than cows (23%). Camel numbers went down from 6 lakh in 1951 to 4 lakh in 2012. Why: Decline in the population of 'beasts of burden' is obvious — vehicles taking over the transport of goods. Buffaloes have ruled India's livestock market because of the demand for milk (buffaloes remain productive for 10-15 lactation seasons compared to just three for cows) as well as meat. Meanwhile, the Madhya Pradesh chief minister has in a way declared cow his favourite animal. He wants a full-fledged independent ministry for the protection of cows. Details here PLUS A dogged mission for peace Perhaps what men can't, dogs can achieve. North Korea's Kim Jong-un, it has been revealed, has sent his South Korean counterpart a pair of white North Korean Pungsan dogs as a gift, the latest sign of a dramatic thaw in relations between the rivals. FYI: Pungsans are native medium-sized hunting dogs found in the peninsula, and is designated as a North Korean "natural monument" animal. The dogs passed through the heavily fortified demilitarised zone (DMZ) and the truce village of Panmunjom into South Korea on Thursday. Kim crossed at the same place to meet Moon for the first time in April this year. The two will live with South Korea's First Dog, Tori, who became the first shelter dog to take up residence at the South Korean presidential compound. Moon, an animal lover, adopted the black mixed breed Tori in July last year. Let’s hope the Pungsans will take to Tori... for the good of the Earth and Moon. Follow news that matters to you in real-time. Join 3 crore news enthusiasts. GET APP Answer To NEWS IN CLUES Macedonia. The tiny nation voted on Sunday in a referendum on whether the name of the country to the Republic of North Macedonia. Macedonia’s name is opposed by its southern neighbour Greece, as it too has a province of the same name — the two countries also claim ownership of Alexander the Great, whose conquest brought him to India as well.