5 THINGS FIRST Happy Diwali; PM Modi at Kedarnath to review reconstruction projects; Sri Lankan Parliament suspension likely to end; US Federal Reserve meeting to signal rate hike trajectory; Apple's new iPad Pro, MacBook Air go on sale in India

1. Coalition works for Congress, BJP can't do without Modi That's one message from Karnataka bypolls which both BJP and Congress-JD(S) had termed as 'semi-finals' before 2019. The result: Congress-JD(S) alliance won 4 out of 5 seats that went to polls in Karnataka recently. By-elections were held for 3 Lok Sabha seats (Ballari, Mandya and Shivamogga) and 2 Assembly seats (Ramanagara and Jamkhandi). BJP won Shivamogga and Congress-JD(S) the rest. Around 66% of the 54.5 lakh voters had voted. The new MPs: BJP had emerged as the single largest party in the assembly elections (with 104 of 224 seats). It tried but failed to form the government. Two BJP MPs (BS Yeddyurappa and B Sreeramulu) had resigned from their seats (Shivamogga and Ballari) to become MLAs. BJP has lost one of these seats (Congress won in Bellary) and retained one. A JD(S) MP (CS Puttaraju) had resigned from Mandya after being elected as MLA. JD(S) has retained the seat. These MPs, however, face polls again next year along with the rest of the country. The new MLAs: Ramanagara seat, vacated by chief minister HD Kumaraswamy after he retained Channapatna, went to JD(S) and the Jamkhandi seat (which fell vacant on death of Congress MLA Siddu Nyamgoud) went to Congress. Advantage Congress: Regional alliances work for Congress if they have strong state leaders and political compromises can pay off. Congress' decision to leave Mandya for JD(S) was a compromise (the party has a strong presence there) that led to dissidence. However, this and the comfortable win may help reinforce the alliance, may be for 2019 too. Former chief minister Siddaramaiah of Congress, who ran the show for his party, would also come out stronger. BJP's loss: Losing Ballari, a BJP bastion since 2004, with a massive margin is a big setback for the party. Retaining Shivamogga, which was a battle of dynasties (Yeddyurappa's son vs son of former CM S Bangarappa's vs son of former CM JH Patel) was a face-saver for BJP's Yeddyurappa but the huge margin with which the opposition candidates won will set off alarm bells in the state BJP (and reinforce the need for PM Modi's campaigns to win in the state). Read the full story here

2. Is Centre's tussle with RBI about money? The allegation: The Reserve Bank of India-government standoff is over a proposal by the Finance Ministry seeking to transfer a surplus of Rs 3.6 lakh crore, more than a third of the total Rs 9.59 lakh crore reserves of the central bank, to the government. Where's the money? RBI doesn't just print money, it makes money too and there's an exotic word for it — seigniorage. It's the difference between the cost of printing currency and the value of currency. The central bank earns interest on the money it lends to banks, or the investments it makes (seigniorage income). Whose money is it? RBI currently hands over its profits earned from various activities in the form of a dividend and maintains the rest as reserves to draw from in case of financial instability of contingencies. The government wants RBI to hand over more money from its reserves to help fund its fiscal deficit. It thinks that it is too conservative in its assessment of potential risks and can do with much less reserves. RBI has consistently pushed back against the demand. What next? RBI board, which has government nominees on board, is scheduled to meet on November 19 when the (miffed) government is expected to push for 'concrete resolution' on contentious issues, the issue of reserves being one. Meanwhile, RBI's former governor, Raghuram Rajan, had some interesting advice for the feuding parties: "The RBI is something like a seat belt. As a driver, the driver being the government, it has the possibility of not putting on a seat belt but of course if you do not put on your seat belt you get into an accident and the accident can be quite severe." "The aim of the (RBI) board is to be Rahul Dravid — sensible, thoughtful and not, with due respect, Navjot Sidhu."

3. The many tongues of many Indians Tongues in cheeks: For a country that had a PM as a polyglot — P V Narasimha Rao lay claim to speaking 17 languages — it's perhaps not surprising that more young Indians, in the 15-49 age group, can speak in two or three languages, than their parents and grandparents. Overall, close to a third of India's population, aged 5 or more is bilingual, with 7% being trilingual. A different expression: The growing cosmopolitan nature of India's cities driven largely by the movement of the working age populace to different cities for professional reasons may be the reason for twice as many urban Indians — 44% — knowing two languages than their rural peers, while thrice as many city dwellers are trilingual, vis-a-vis their country cousins. Polyglot generation: Those who are about to, or have recently graduated and joined the workforce, in the 20-24 age bracket in cities, have the highest proportion of people with bilingual abilities, with more than half, or 52% speaking two languages — which interestingly, contrasts sharply with the demographics with the highest percentage of trilingual population, which is the 50-69 age group of urban men, where 20% or one in five, can utter a three sentence word in three different languages. Full story here

4. Yogi's temple (and election) journey begins by renaming Faizabad Big, bigger ... Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath finally made his 'big announcement' on Tuesday, a day after a 'high profile' meeting on Monday to discuss it. UP BJP chief had already prepared everyone last week by saying the CM had drafted a plan to ensure a Ram temple comes up in Ayodhya and he will reveal it on Diwali. That was after, RSS hinted at a 'mass agitation' like 1992. Ram Rajya in Faizabad: Yogi cleared the suspense at the Deepotsav celebrations."Ayodhya is a symbol of our pride. Ayodhya's identity is from Lord Ram. From now this district (Faizabad) will be known as Ayodhya." Vishwa Hindu Parishad had demanded that Faizabad be named Sri-Ayodhya. He also announced setting up of a new airport in Ayodhya, named after Lord Ram, and a medical college in the name of King Dashrath, father of Lord Ram, in the district. Mission 2019: UP accounts for 80 Lok Sabha seats and BJP had won 71 of them in 2014. However, unlike last elections, this year BJP has to deal with the combined might of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party. Going by the recent electoral setbacks like the three bypoll losses (Gorakhpur, Phulpur, and Kairana) earlier this year when faced with a combined SP, BSP and RLD, the situation could be difficult. That's where the focus on temple politics fits in for the party.

NEWS IN CLUES 5. Which Hollywood star's middle name is 'Akuna'? Clue 1: He's also a DJ and a hip hop and soul musician. Clue 2: In September 2015, he became the first man to ever appear on the cover of Maxim magazine. Clue 3: In March 2016, he became an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, aka OBE, for his services to drama. Scroll below for answer

6. Why Modi's next big hug will be extra special A first: PM Narendra Modi will complete his neighbourhood circuit when he travels to the Maldives for Ibrahim "Ibu" Solih's inauguration. The Maldives is the only South Asian country Modi has not yet visited, due to strenuous bilateral ties under outgoing President Abdulla Yameen. Solih invited Modi to his swearing-in when the latter called to congratulate him. The message: Modi's presence will signal not only that India wants to put the past rancour behind and support the new government, but it is also intended to serve as a vote of confidence to Inu Solih himself (a newbie though he has been in parliament for a long time). Solih's success will be a delicate game of balancing two hitherto irreconcilable politics — of Mohamed Nasheed and Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. This apart from the fact that former president Abdulla Yameen (who took Maldives closer to China) plans to remain in opposition. The purpose: India wants to reactivate all the projects that had been stalled or blocked by Yameen. The Maldives had also slowed down business approvals by Indian companies, visas for Indian workers etc. Those are expected to be reversed. Solih has also decided to review all Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects in his country. Full story here

7. Is China beginning to compromise on trade? Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan said China is ready "to have discussions with the U.S. on issues of mutual concern and work for a solution on trade acceptable to both sides". The tone is certainly different from the early days of the trade dispute, one of US President Donald Trump's signature policies, when Beijing responded tit for tat. Why so? China is hurting: China's economy grew at its slowest pace in a decade in the quarter ending September. Its stock market has fallen by nearly a quarter since the highs of January. Its currency has depreciated vis-a-vis the US dollar. And investment in infrastructure, a general marker for the state of the Chinese economy, has fallen too. Its future is threatened: The US administration's tough stance on Chinese microchip industry has largely fallen under the radar, mostly because it doesn't come with a headline figure like Trump's $200 billion tariff or China's $60 billion retaliatory tariffs do. This week, the US indicted China's state-backed memory chip maker Fujian Jinhua and its Taiwanese partner for intellectual property theft from US memory chip firm, Micron. Fujian represents China's ambition to lead the technology race, rather than rely on import — memory chip and microprocessors are, after all, fundamental in any gadget. This adds to the already imposed ban on telecom giant and microprocessor maker Huawei. The US isn't winning, though: But this is not to say that Trump is winning the trade war — though he says winning it is easy. Slowing Chinese economy means lesser buying power, and China buys a lot of good. Beijing may have an export surplus with the US, but in vital industries such as aviation, it is a net buyer — by a big margin. Hence, Boeing, the US planemaker, is urging an end to the trade war. US soybean farmers have been hit as China's import has stagnated. Yet not the end... But expecting an imminent reversal of the trade dispute is unrealistic, mostly because Trump has long been a China critic and his administration is filled with high-ranking China hawks. But there are signs of a thaw. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and Defence secretary Jim Mattis are to meet their Chinese counterparts in Washington on Friday. Following that, there will be the G20 meet end of the month, when Trump could meet Xi Jinping. Meanwhile, China’s air show began on a relatively sombre note amidst trade disputes, though, China did showcase its F-35 competitor fighter jets.

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8. And the titan of T20 internationals is... Rohit Sharma. The stand-in Team India captain's whirlwind 111 not out, comprising eight boundaries and seven sixes (add three catches), in the second T20 international (T20I) against the West Indies, ensured a 71-run win for India and the series. But more importantly, perhaps, the innings asserted Sharma's legendary status in the shortest format of cricket. The most T20I hundreds: Four. Sharma went past the record of three tons by New Zealand's Colin Munro. Overall, it was the seventh T20I hundred for India with KL Rahul (2) and Suresh Raina scoring the others. Most 50+ scores in T20Is: 19. Sharma went one better than the 18 fifty-plus scores by Virat Kohli. New Zealander Martin Guptill follows with 16. Most partnership runs in T20Is: 1,268 runs from 39 partnerships. Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan became the leading pair in T20Is going past the Australian duo of David Warner and Shane Watson, who aggregated 1,154 runs from 37 partnerships. Highest T20I run-getter for India: Sharma's 2,203 runs eclipsed Kohli's 2,102 runs. Overall, he is behind Guptill (2,271). Most T20I sixes for India: 92. That's well ahead of Yuvraj SIngh's 74 maximums. Overall, only West Indian Chris Gayle and Guptill are ahead of Sharma, with 103. Match report here.

9. Trump up the volume! It's Donald vs musicians American pop sensation Rihanna became the latest artist to send a cease-and-desist letter to Donald Trump, with the 30-year-old singer deploying legal action after her Don't Stop the Music was played at the president's rally on Sunday in Chattanooga, Tennessee. So, how discordant is Trump's relationship with musicians? Rewinding just two years back, here are some of the major ones: October 2016: Rolling Stone's Mick Jagger disapproves of Trump using the band's music at rallies. November: Elton John declines invite to perform at Trump's inauguration. December: Andrea Bocelli reportedly backs out of a performance after being approached by Trump. January 2017: Big names shun Trump's inauguration. Finally, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Jackie Evancho (an America's Got Talent finalist), 3 Doors Down and Jon Voight take the stage. February: Depeche Mode's Where's the Revolution criticises the US for electing Trump as president; Jennifer Lopez, Paris Jackson, Highly Suspect, Beyonce, A Tribe Called Quest and Katy Perry make anti-Trump statements at the 59th Grammy awards. March: Snoop Dogg's Lavender music video, showing a clown Trump being held at gunpoint, courts controversy. Trump suggests Snoop should be arrested. More flashpoints between the two emerge in the following months. April: Bruce Springsteen's That's What Makes Us Greatbrands Trump as a "con man". January 2018: Chance the Rapper and other musicians boycott Trump's first State of the Union address. July: Selena Gomez speaks out over the US-Mexico border situation. Trump's July 4 celebrations flop, featuring two American Idol finalists, and a classical pianist. August: Aerosmith's Steven Tyler sends a cease-and-desist letter for their song Livin' on the Edge being used at campaign rallies; Eminem attacks Trump on his album Kamikaze. September: Paul McCartney attacks Trump in Despite Repeated Warnings on his new album; Taylor Swift breaks her political silence to denounce Tennessee Republican candidate Marsha Blackburn and endorse two Democrats. November: Pharrell Williams sends a legal warning to Trump after he uses Happy on the day of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre; Guns N' Roses member Axl Rose slams the Trump campaign for using the band's music during rallies. And now Rihanna... Meanwhile, Americans have started voting in the critical midterm elections that mark the first major voter test of Donald Trump's presidency, with control of the Congress at stake. Stay updated here.

10. Gates's flair for drama worth $233 billion Poop profits: The business of human poop is not only life saving, but can substantially help save $233 billion, according to billionaire-turned-philanthropist, Bill Gates, who's also seeking to save lives of 500,000 infants through a reinvented toilet that converts human poop into clean, potable water and fertiliser. Drama king: Known for his dramatic flair to make a point — like releasing mosquitoes at a conference to highlight the dangers of malaria, taking care however that his insects didn't carry the malarial parasite — Gates, speaking at the Reinvented Toilet Expo in Beijing, held aloft a beaker of human excreta, which he said could contain 200 trillion rotavirus cells, 20 billion Shigella bacteria, and 100,000 parasitic worm eggs. Flush money: Gates, whose charity arm, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has pumped in $200 million in over the past seven years into sanitation research, also claimed that the reinvented toilet market could generate $6 billion a year by 2030. According to the WHO, each dollar invested in sanitation generates $5.50 in returns, globally. Read more here

PLUS And the most beautiful African woman, in India is... ...will be known tomorrow, as 15 young African women, studying in cities across India, will walk the ramp in Hyderabad, vying for the Ms Africa India title — and in the process showcasing not only the diversity of the world's second-largest continent but also driving home the point that all Africans are not Nigerians and not all Nigerians are drug peddlers and lumpens. Africans studying or working in India have often been at the receiving end of hostilities from locals, at least some of them race-related. In 2017, a young Kenyan woman was pulled out of a cab and assaulted in Greater Noida, and a few days before, a Nigerian student was beaten by a mob in a mal; in 2016, a Tanzanian woman was assaulted and stripped in Bengaluru. These young women are hoping that the first ever Ms Africa India contest — where they will be judged more on their ability to showcase their countries than on their appearance — will help reduce, if not in eliminate, the prejudice they face in India.

KEEPING TRACK Law catches up: The Enforcement Directorate has attached 11 properties worth over Rs. 56 crore of fugitive diamond jeweller Nirav Modi in Dubai in connection with its money-laundering probe in the USD 2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. A deal for oil: India is reportedly aiming to sign an initial agreement with Iran this month to settle all their oil trade in rupees through UCO Bank — previous settlement were done by SBI, but the US sanctions will affect the latter as it has offices there. Mass killing: More than 200 mass graves containing thousands of bodies have been found in areas of Iraq that were once controlled by the Islamic State (IS) group, a UN investigation has found. The graves were found in the north and western governorates of Nineveh, Kirkuk, Salahuddin and Anbar.

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Answer To NEWS IN CLUES Idris Alba. The 46-year-old British actor, who James Bond fans are campaigning to be the next person to play 007, was named the sexiest man alive on Monday by People magazine. The Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and Thor:Ragnarok star is the 33rd person to take the Sexiest Man Alive crown. Last year’s winner was country star Blake Shelton.