5 THINGS FIRST Italian PM on India visit; Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj in Kuwait; Delhi court order in DDCA funds and forgery case likely; Parliamentary committee to question officials from IL&FS, LIC and SBI on the financial mess; Apple to unveil new iPad Pro and Mac 1. Staying indoors no solution to pollution Internal affairs: If you thought staying home, or keeping your doors and windows shut will help save you from the effects of outdoor air pollution, well, think again — a study by Indian Pollution Control Association (IPCA) has found that the level of pollutants inside a home or an office are one-and-a-half to over two times the maximum permissible limit, which is 60 microgrammes per cubic metre of air. Best of the worst: The national capital, Delhi, recorded its worst air quality of the season on Monday, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) touching 367, classified as very poor — a situation worsening day-by-day, as Sunday's AQI was recorded at 366. Delhi's satellite towns that comprise the NCR fare worse, as Ghaziabad reached a "severe" AQI of 430, while Gurgaon's AQI was 389, Noida's at 374 and Faridabad recorded marginally better, at 358. Fatal fate: Just in case you though poor air quality would merely lead to some breathing issues, well, here's a sobering thought — a new report by World Health Organization (WHO) says 60,987 children under five years of age died in India in 2016 for reasons linked to ambient pollution of particulate matter 2.5. More bad news: Imagery from NASA's infrared radiometer shows that there was a spike in stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana on Sunday, which is bound to adversely impact Delhi's air quality — NASA detected 2,048 fires in the region on Sunday, up from 1,289 the previous day, while just a fortnight back, around October 15, the figure was close to 200. Way out: For reducing indoor air pollution, IPCA recommends keeping indoor plants to reduce CO2 levels; improving ventilation to cut bioaerosols, ensuring there is no seepage or mould growing in walls or vents, while for reducing volatile organic compounds (VOC), ensure no sprays, deodorants or chemicals are used indoors. 2. A tragic (but unsurprising) plane crash in Indonesia A Lion Air passenger aircraft crashed into the sea soon after takeoff on Monday morning from Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta, with 189 people on board. The search and rescue effort has recovered human remains, and based on their condition, an official said they're not expecting to find any survivors — an Indian, Delhi-based Bhavye Suneja, 31, who had more than 6,000 flight hours, was the captain of the flight. An air transport official said the plane — a Boeing 737 Max 8 — was cleared to return to Jakarta after the pilot made a "return to base" request two to three minutes after taking off. It plunged into the sea about 10 minutes later. Weather conditions were normal but the aircraft had experienced a technical issue on its previous flight. The tragic accident is, however, not out of the blue considering the aviation safety record of Indonesia. Indonesian airlines were barred in 2007 from flying to Europe because of safety concerns, though several were allowed to resume services in the following decade. The ban was completely lifted in June this year. The U.S. lifted a decade-long ban in 2016. In 2014, an AirAsia flight from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore crashed into the sea, killing all 162 on board. In 1997, a Garuda Indonesia A300 flight crashed in Medan, killing 214 people. But as the Indonesian economy grew, its domestic passenger traffic tripled over the past 12 years to 97 million in 2017. Lion Air, one of the youngest airlines in the country, itself has a poor record — in 2013, one of its Boeing 737-800 jets missed the runway while landing on Bali, crashing into the sea without causing any fatalities among the 108 people on board. The Indian aviation regulator, DGCA, meanwhile, has sought the details of the crash from Boeing and the Indonesian authority as Indian carriers Jet Airways and SpiceJet have ordered the same model of planes, and some have even been inducted already. 3. J&K cops' home runs turn deadly Home & hearse: Policemen in Jammu and Kashmir going home to visit their families have become sitting ducks for fatal target practice by militants, with 40 of them being killed this year, double the number of those killed in 2017 — with Sub-Inspector Imtiyaz Ahmad Mir becoming the latest casualty on Sunday. Preferred location: Policemen whose hometowns are in the south Kashmir districts of Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian have been the worst hit and are particularly vulnerable because details about them are known to locals, including militant groups — three of them, Inspector Mohammad Ashraf Dar, Constable Fayaz Ahmad Shah and Constable Mohammad Yaqoob Shah, gunned down on the same day, on the eve of Bakr-Eid, in August. Unfamiliar terrain: Police officials say a possible solution is to post personnel from other parts of the state in south Kashmir, and transfer local policemen elsewhere — till then however, cops in the rank and file who have survived attempts on their life say they have stopped visiting their homes. 4. Why are RBI and government unhappy with each other? It's different: Reserve Bank of India is in the news these days not for interest rates or bad loans but for the growing schism between the government and the central bank. The RBI deputy governor's speech last week brought the issue to the fore but the differences have been brewing for some time. The big disagreements this year were over: Interest rates: It began with the government unhappy with RBI for not cutting interest rates — and even raising them. However, it spilt over into regulation, something the central bank believes is its exclusive domain. What followed was a host of issues related to regulation where both the parties asserted against each other. Bad loans: RBI's February 12 circular on the classification of non-performing assets (NPAs) and norms of loan restructuring was the next flashpoint. The government saw it as overly harsh, and indeed it drove all but two state-run lenders into the red. Nirav Modi scam: Around the same time, as the Nirav Modi scam broke, the government hit out at the RBI on supervision, drawing an almost-immediate rebuttal with the RBI governor seeking more powers to oversee public sector banks so that they are at par with their private sector peers. NBFCs: The government has been insisting that RBI step in to provide relief to non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), which are grappling with a cash crunch after IL&FS defaulted on repayments. The central bank has refused to play ball. Dividends: In September, Nachiket Mor was removed from the RBI board more than two years before his term was to end without formally informing him. This irked the central bank brass. His removal was seen to be linked to his vocal opposition to the government's demand for a higher dividend. Payments regulator: A separate payments regulator has been another friction point with RBI stating its position publicly on why it did not support the move. In fact, it went to the extent of releasing its dissent note on a separate regulator on its website. Full story here Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court has initiated contempt proceedings against RBI director S Gurumurthy on his tweets against Justice S Muralidhar for quashing activist Gautam Navlakha’s house arrest order on October 1. NEWS IN CLUES 5. This former First Lady has also served as PM Clue 1: The first woman in her country's history to become Prime Minister, she has enjoyed three terms, since 1991. Clue 2: She's also the current chairperson and leader of the party founded by her husband in the late 1970s. Clue 3: Her birthday — also India's Independence Day — is a matter of controversy in her country's politics. Scroll below for answer 6. Will Japan help stabilise the rupee, again? A yen for dollar: Falling back on currency swap as a means to stabilise the depreciating rupee, India revived its currency swap agreement with Japan to the tune of $75 billion during PM Modi's visit to the country — allowing either country to exchange Japanese yen or the Indian rupee for US dollars if faced with a short-term forex crunch. Deja vu: This is not the first time that India has taken recourse to Japanese help to prop up the rupee, which has been one of Asia's worst performing currencies, depreciating more than 17% this year. India first signed an agreement in 2007 for $3 billion, which was increased to $15 billion when the agreement was renewed in 2011, and then again to $50 billion in 2013. India also has a $100 billion currency swap agreement with the fellow member countries of BRICS — Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa. Will it help? The 2013 agreement, which saw the swap amount boosted to $50 billion, witnessed the rupee appreciating 87 paise on the day the agreement was signed. However, there was no such luck on Monday as the rupee depreciated three paise despite the agreement. India and Japan also signed six agreements, including on the high-speed rail project and naval cooperation, following Modi’s talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, during which both countries also agreed to a 2+2 dialogue between the defence and foreign ministers of the countries, similar to the one India held with the US. 7. World's most powerful woman to hang up her boots 16, 17, 18... 21: Eighteen years after she took command of her party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), 64-year-old German Chancellor Angela Merkel, born on July 17, 1954, announced that she will be stepping down from the post of the party chief in December — and come 2021, when she would complete 16 years in office as the head of government, she will retire from politics. Forced out? Merkel's liberal stance of welcoming refugees from West Asia is said to have cost her party several seats in the recent regional election, with its vote down 10% from the previous election — a German state saw an increase of 10% in its crime rate between 2015 and 2016 after it had fallen by around 22% in the previous 7 years, and majority of the increase was attributable to the newcomers. Power surge: Europe's longest-serving head of state, Merkel has topped the Forbes list of 100 most powerful women a record 12 times and was ranked second twice in the magazine's list of most powerful people — the highest ranking for a woman. Merkel is often referred to as the leader of the free world since the election of Donald Trump as the US President in 2016. Read more here 8. Red Hat to make up for lost crown Good ol' days: In 1965, there was only one technology company in the top 10 of Fortune 500: International Business Machine, in the 9th spot. The company rose to 6th by 1985, and to 4th by 1990. Till about 2005 it was the largest tech company by revenue, albeit at a lower 10th spot in the 500 ranking; but the fall had only begun as by 2007 it was out of top 10, at 15, and no longer the biggest tech company, pipped by Hewlett-Packard. The bad days: Cut to 2018: The largest tech company is Apple (revenue: $229,234 m), followed by Amazon ($177,866 m), Google's parent company Alphabet ($110,855 m) and Microsoft ($89,950 m). And International Business Machine? Well, it is now simply called IBM. But the name change did not change the fortunes — the 'Big Blue' is now a small fish in the tech space, 34th in Fortune 500 with a revenue of $79,139 m. The big day: But IBM is not slouching and staring at its feet, instead is looking to the cloud. The company that gave the world mainframe computers, supercomputers, and even kickstarted the machine intelligence revolution when its Deep Blue beat chess genius Garry Kasparov in 1997 said on Sunday it is buying Red Hat, the Linux distributor, for $34 billion in the world's second-largest technology deal ever, to pursue the biggies of cloud computing business — Amazon, Microsoft and Google. Big cloud: The cloud business, where tech companies give server space and computing power to other companies, is the new cash machine. Just over 11% of Amazon's quarterly revenue is from its cloud business, Amazon Web Service, which hosts data of small stores to big firms such as Netflix — and that business has grown by nearly 46% in a quarter. Microsoft's cloud business, Azure, grew by 76%, and Google Cloud business, too, has grown. Catch up: IBM's cloud offering, though growing, is small in comparison to these giants, and recently was even overtaken by Alibaba in market share. But IBM CEO Ginni Rometty says only 20% of the companies have moved to the cloud yet — the rest 80% are there to be caught. Since most companies base their software and tech on Linux (even India's BSE, NSE and GSTIN have), IBM hopes a marriage with Red Hat will give it an edge. X-PLAINED 9. The Darbar Move What: A pre-Independence, bi-annual practice, in which the Jammu & Kashmir government functions for six months each in the two capitals of the state, Srinagar and Jammu. Why: Started in 1862, by Gulab Singh, the then Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, he shifted his capital between Srinagar in the summer and Jammu in the winter to escape extreme weather conditions in these places. Over the years, there have been voices raised against this exercise which, according to estimates, costs Rs 110 crore. Why not: Jammu as the permanent capital then? After all, the average summer temperature isn't that high. But moving the capital to Jammu would be seen as Jammu controlling the Kashmir Valley, and by extension Delhi tightening its grip over it (Jammu & Kashmir has a special status). This would upset the already tense politics in Srinagar. When: As winter sets in, the Jammu and Kashmir government is all set to start functioning from 'winter capital' Jammu, beginning November 5, for the next six months. After that, the government will function in 'summer capital' Srinagar. The Darbar Move, though, begins today. Which: A total of 55 offices and departments, including all departments of the Civil Secretariat will move 'in full', while another 53 offices will move 'in camp'. The Jammu and Kashmir High court will also move from Srinagar to Jammu. How: Hundreds of trucks will ply carrying furniture, office files, computers, and other records to the capital. As will many buses transporting Kashmir-based government employees associated with the Civil Secretariat and other departments, Srinagar-based workers as well as staffers from Jammu. Also: Security measures and other arrangements have been made to ensure smooth functioning of the offices in the state, which has witnessed a spurt in militant activities in the last few months. Reportedly, foolproof arrangements are in place at the Civil Secretariat, Raj Bhawan Jammu, other vital installations, border areas, police stations, entry points into Jammu and VIP residences. YOU SHARE YOUR B'DAY WITH... Source: Transfermarkt.com 10. Has anyone been more poorer than Lopetegui at Madrid? After Real Madrid's 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Barcelona, the noose has tightened around manager Julen Lopetegui's neck. It was never going to be easy. Real Madrid have had 14 managers before his appointment, 18 years into this century. So how does Lopetegui compare with his predecessors, in terms of days lasted as coach and win percentage at Real Madrid? From the date when they were appointed coach to the day they were given the boot, here are the tenures of Real Madrid coaches this millennium: Vicente Del Bosque: 1,315 days Carlos Queiroz: 335 days Jose Antonio Camacho: 119 days Mariano Garcia Remon: 102 days Vanderlei Luxemburgo: 340 days Juan Ramon Lopez Caro: 180 days Fabio Capello: 359 days Bernd Schuster: 529 days Juande Ramos: 175 days Manuel Pellegrini: 359 days Jose Mourinho: 1,101 days Carlo Ancelotti: 700 days Rafael Benitez: 216 days Zinedine Zidane: 879 days Julen Lopetegui: 140 days* And in terms of win percentage (that’s wins/matches X 100): Vicente Del Bosque: 54.51% Carlos Queiroz: 57.63% Jose Antonio Camacho: 66.67% Mariano Garcia Remon: 60% Vanderlei Luxemburgo: 62.22% Juan Ramon Lopez Caro: 50% Fabio Capello: 56% Bernd Schuster: 58.67% Juande Ramos: 66.67% Manuel Pellegrini: 75% Jose Mourinho: 71.91% Carlo Ancelotti: 74.79% Rafael Benitez: 68% Zinedine Zidane: 69.8% Julen Lopetegui: 42.86%* PLUS To leash or not to leash: In this Chinese city there's no question Do you have a dog? Do you take him (or her) out for a walk? Hopefully on a leash (no matter the training)? If not, bless yourself for not being a resident of China's Jinan city. The eastern Chinese city has a credit scoring system for pet owners — everyone is given a starting score of 12 but irresponsible ownership behaviour, such as not leashing one's dog, results in a deduction of three points, with a repeat offence costing 6 points and a fine of between 200 to 500 yuan (US$29 to US$72). Failing to renew one's dog licence on time results in a deduction of the entire 12 points. Owners who have 12 points deducted within two years will have their dogs confiscated by the city until the owner takes a course and passes an exam on proper dog ownership. There are incentives for good behaviour too. Sharing proper dog ownership knowledge in one's community or volunteering at a shelter adds between one to three points to the score. Since rolling out the scoring system, 1,430 Jinan dog owners have been penalised under the scheme, with 122 losing all of their points — and their dogs. Of those, 12 are still dog-less because they have not passed the test. KEEPING TRACK Ayodhya: The chances of a verdict on the Ayodhya land dispute before 2019 general elections became slimmer after the Supreme Court on Monday said the appeals will be takenup by an 'appropriate bench' in the first week of January for devising the schedule of hearing. Sri Lanka: Strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa assumed charge as Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister after the surprise sacking of his predecessor Ranil Wickremesinghe by President Maithripala Sirisena. Meanwhile, sacked minister Arjuna Ranatunga (the former cricketer) was arrested and released on bail over his role in a shooting that killed one. CBI: A Hyderabad-based businessman and co-accused in a case against meat exporter Moin Qureshi, Sathish Babu Sana, has moved the Supreme Court seeking protection against threat to his life from the agency. It was on the complaint by Sana on October 15 that CBI Director Alok Verma (now on forced leave) had ordered registration of an FIR against special director Rakesh Asthana (also on leave), DSP Devender Kumar and others. Follow news that matters to you in real-time. Join 3 crore news enthusiasts. GET APP Answer To NEWS IN CLUES Khaleda Zia. A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced the Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader to another seven years in prison on corruption charges. Long a rival to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Zia was already behind bars after being handed a five-year term in February on separate embezzlement charges. Zia, who had been celebrating her birthday on August 15 — also the National Mourning Day in Bangladesh. Add to this, the confusion over her actual date and year of birth. Zia is wife of former Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman.