5 THINGS FIRST Results of Karnataka bypolls today; PM Modi likely to visit Kedarnath; UP CM likely to make an announcement on Ram Mandir issue in Ayodhya; India-West Indies T20I in Lucknow; US votes in midterm elections 1. A nuclear submarine to deter "misadventure" India is now a nuclear triad — it has nuclear-capable launchers on land, in the air and in water — after its indigenous nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), INS Arihant, completed its patrol. Arihant “is an open warning for the country’s enemies, for the foes of peace: don’t try any misadventure against India,” PM Modi said. Arihant was commissioned into service last year, and after the successful sea patrol it is now considered “fully operational”. China, France, Russia, UK and the USA are also triads. Deep diver: India's other 15 submarines are diesel powered (the last of which was commissioned in 2017). In 2013, the Russian-built INS Sindhurakshak, a diesel-electric submarine, exploded and sank in Mumbai after accidentally igniting two warheads, killing 18 sailors — it was disposed ofin sea in 2017. Arihant is, however, nuclear-powered, thus allowing it to stay underwater for a longer duration — a conventional diesel submarine has to surface time to time to discharge exhaust from the generators. The submarine is powered by an 85 MW nuclear reactor and manned by a crew of nearly 100. Long-time coming: The project to build a nuclear submarine, called advanced technology vessel (ATV), has been under development since 1998, at least — DRDO, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and the Indian Navy are involved in it — and in 2009, then PM Manmohan Singh launched Arihant for sea trials. The aim was to commision it in two years. But it did not go as per plans. And when it was finally commissioned in 2017, disaster struck — a "human error'' of leaving a hatch open caused water to enter and damage the propulsion compartment. More coming: In November 2017, India secretly launched its second nuclear-powered submarine, INS Arighat, for sea trials. As per a report, the ATV project aims to have at least five nuclear-powered submarines under operation. What it can: Arihant, as mentioned earlier, is capable of launching nuclear warheads — it can carry K-15 Sagarika class nuclear missiles, with a range of 750 km, and K-4 missiles, with a range of 3,500 km. In total, the submarine can carry 30 armaments. But it cannot hold the Agni-III missile that can reach over 5,000 km. Across the border: Pakistan has no nuclear-powered submarine but has five diesel-electric submarines. China is building 8 more at a cost of around $4-5 billion for Islamabad. And China? As per a Pentagon report, it has 5 nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSN), 4 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBN), and 54 diesel-powered attack submarines. It says by 2020, "this force will likely grow to between 69 and 78 submarines". 2. What does it cost to remit $1 billion? 117 lives Human cost: The West Asian Gulf expat dream was long suspected of being a nightmare in disguise — latest data on the human cost of remittances from the region just confirmed those suspicions. 10 Indians have died daily, on an average, in the last six and half years between January 1, 2012 to about mid-2018, while for every one billion dollars in remittances from the region, 117 Indians paid the ultimate price — of their life, according to data gleaned via RTI and analysed by Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. Hazard pay: 24,570 Indian expat workers died in the six-and-half-year period and the numbers could be higher as the Indian embassies in Kuwait and UAE had declined to share data — remittances from West Asia in the six-year period from 2012 to 2017 amounted to $209.07 billion, which were almost 51% of the global remittances of $410.33 billion. Stressful life? According to a report, of the 339 deaths of Indian expats in the UAE in 2017, 65% were of those under the age of 45, largely due to heart attacks or strokes. In other countries, such as Qatar, which is preparing for the football World Cup in 2022, the deaths could be due to the large number of fatalities at construction sites, or poor labour conditions. There are over 6.5 million Indian expats living and working in the West Asian Gulf countries. 3. TCS faces possible whitewash in class action racism suit White-out: India's biggest company by market value and the crown jewel of the Tata empire, TCS is possibly staring down the barrel against a 1000-ex employee strong class action suit alleging reverse racism by the company, who say they were fired for the colour of their skin — which is neither brown nor black, but white. Yup, that's correct — the Indian company stands accused of racism against Caucasian American workers in the US. IT figures: The trial, which commenced on Monday in a California court and is expected to take 18 days, intends to focus on the plaintiffs' claims that white engineers are 13 times more likely to be fired than South Asians, with the former employees alleging that they lost their jobs because they hadn't been assigned to any of the company's clients. Their complaint also alleges that since 2011, TCS has fired 12.6% of its non-South Asian employees, vis-a-vis less than 1% of its South Asian workforce — resulting in a workforce that's 80% South Asian, nearly seven times the 12% representation of South Asians in the U.S. IT workforce. Three's company: The law firm representing the plaintiffs is also suing Infosys and Wipro for similar discrimination, with the case certainly expected to buttress US President Donald Trump's charge against foreign companies using the work-visa programme to bring in overseas workers to the US, at the cost of hiring more Americans — though in this case, the judge has allowed the focus only on allegations about bias in firings and not hirings. Read more here X-PLAINED 4. US midterm elections The vote: Two years after electing Donald Trump as President, America votes again today. This time to elect members of the House of Representatives (their lower house like our Lok Sabha) and the Senate (their upper house like India's Rajya Sabha) - together called Congress. These elections happen every four years but fall in the middle of the president's four-year term, so they are called mid-term polls. The contest: Representatives for 435 seats in the House (majority mark 218) and 35 (of 100) seats in Senate will be chosen today. A majority in Congress gives the power to make laws or break legislative agenda of the government. The Republican Party (Trump's party) has a majority in both houses now but opinion polls show that Democrats may have an edge this time. Plus, long term trends show that the US president's party has lost on an average of 32 seats in the House and two in Senate in every mid-term election. Around 100 American-Indians are contesting too. The result: If Republicans win a majority, President Trump will get a freer hand in fulfilling his poll promises and implementing his party's legislative agenda. For example, he may finally be able to repeal Obamacare. If Democrats become the bigger party, they could frustrate Republicans' efforts. The worst case that Trump wants to avoid is the launch of impeachment proceedings against him by Democrats. What if one party wins the Senate and the other the House of Representatives? It could lead to more frequent gridlocks and government shutdowns. Midterms are also seen as referenda on the current government. Plus: Elections for 36 out of 50 state governors also happen today. Over 70% of these governor posts are held by Republicans. Governors (like chief ministers in India) hold sway over their states and having more of them in your favour can help raise funds and numbers for the big Presidential polls two years away. Read more here NEWS IN CLUES 5. Who's the only Indian to score a 100 in his 100th ODI? Clue 1: He's the only Indian batsman to score a century before lunch on the first day of a test. Clue 2: He's also been the highest run-getter in the 2004 Under-19 World Cup, and 2013 and 2017 Champions Trophy tournaments. Clue 3: He's turned out for four franchises during his entire IPL career—Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad and the now-defunct Deccan Chargers. Scroll below for answer 6. Why South Korea will be watching Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya Special Diwali: South Korea's First Lady Kim Jung-sook is in India (without her husband and the country's President Moon Jae-in though). She will be in Ayodhya today and take part in the Diwali celebrations organised by the UP government. Not just Diwali: Celebrating Diwali in the birthplace of Ram is also about South Koreans, some of whom believe that an Indian princess from Ayodhya (Suriratna, also known as Heo Hwang-ok) married a South Korean king (2,000 years ago) and started a dynasty (called Karak) whose descendantsmake up about 10% of the country's current population. A South Korean book, Samguk Yusa, mentions her as the princess of 'Ayuta' kingdom. South Koreans who believe they trace their ancestry to the city visit a monument commemorating the princess Suriratna every year. Diwali diplomacy: During the South Korean President's visit this year, the two countries had signed an MoU for the expansion of the monument (Queen Suriratna Memorial Project). Kim's Ayodhya visit is to take part in the groundbreaking ceremony of a park dedicated to the princess. The park was first planned in 1991 and a monument built there in 2000. India and South Korea have also decided to develop Gimhae (Korean city where Karak dynasty was based) and Ayodhya (where the princess was born) as 'sister cities'. Meanwhile, Ayodhya politics is in full swing. Aimed at the 2019 polls, the UP government is busy finalising plans for the city — from bringing it on the air map of big planes, to a 151-metre Ram statue that may end up being taller than the 182-metre Statue of Unity (a 51-metre pedestal will do the trick) to a possible renaming of Faizabad-Ayodhya as Sri Ayodhya. BJP MPs, on the other hand, are busy talking up the temple issue. 7. Irony of Iran sanctions and falling oil prices Sanctions: US sanctions on Iran kicked in from Monday. It exported almost three million barrels of crude oil per day on an average. Iran reacted angrily with air defence drills with its President saying that the nation faces a 'war situation', raising tensions in West Asia. That should have driven oil prices up due to concerns over lack of supply. Instead, they fell. The global benchmark Brent crude was down 0.25% at $72.65 per barrel on Monday, Price of oil (Brent) has fallen 16% since it reached a high of $86 last month. Iranian oil: One reason is that the latest round of sanctions aren’t as harsh as the market expected. The US has granted exceptions to eight countries including big consumers like India and China, which means Iranian oil will keep flowing. Demand & supply: The fall in prices has been driven by a drop in demand due to a slowdown in the world economy. Investors also fear that trade tensions emanating from the US could reduce global oil demand further. Rising oil output from the US (875 operational oil rigs are the highest level since March 2015) and the top producers like Saudi Arabia and Russia (they have promised oil to meet any shortfall from Iran) has kept prices from rising. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) boosted oil production in October to its highest level since 2016, led by UAE and Libya. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who's termed the sanctions as the "toughest sanctions" against Iran, deflected questions on whether India and China — among the eight countries granted waiver to import crude oil from Iran — had given firm commitments on reducing their imports, with an ominous sounding statement, saying "Watch what we do. Watch as we've already taken more crude oil off the market than any time in previous history." Keep watching this space for more. 8. For 2019, India Inc's betting its money on... Advantage BJP: Bharatiya Janata Party was the biggest beneficiary of the electoral trust that raises the most money from the industry for political contributions, in fiscal 2017-18. Prudent Electoral Trust gave almost all the money it generated — Rs 144 crore of Rs 169 crore — to the ruling party. About Rs 10 crore went to the cash-strapped Congress and Rs 5 crore to Odisha's Biju Janata Dal. Prudent funding: DLF was the biggest donor to the Prudent — formerly known as Satya Electoral Trust — with Rs 52 crore, followed by the Bharti Group at Rs 33 crore, Shroff Group's UPL at Rs 22 crore and Gujarat's Torrent Group at Rs 20 crore. DCM Shriram gave Rs 13 crore, the Cadila Group, Rs 10 crore and Haldia Energy, Rs 8 crore. Close to 90% of all corporate donations to electoral trusts have gone to Prudent over the past four years. Politics & funds: The funding pattern is somewhat similar at the next rank too — the AB General Electoral Trust of the Aditya Birla Group. It gave Rs 21 crore in FY18, of which Rs 12.5 crore went to BJP, Rs 1 crore to Congress and Rs 8 crore to BJD. The Murugappa Group-backed Triumph Electoral Trust has been more equitable, giving Rs 1 crore each to BJP and Congress from its Rs 2 crore kitty. Full story here 9. How much is 'Sandpapergate' hurting Cricket Australia? That's another one down! Former Australia skipper Mark Taylor (in pic) has stepped down as a Cricket Australia (CA) board director in order to give the organisation a clean slate to repair the damage inflicted by the ball-tampering scandal and a damning review into the governing body. The 54-year-old becomes the latest top figure to exit the embattled organisation. Taylor, who served 13 years on the board, was touted as a potential successor to David Peever, who was forced to quit as the CA chairman last week. So, how many heads have rolled so far? Captain Steven Smith replaced by Tim Paine Coach Darren Lehmann replaced by Justin Langer CA CEO James Sutherland replaced by Kevin Roberts CA chairman David Peever replaced by Earl Eddings (interim) Mark Taylor resigns as CA board director Team-performance boss Pat Howard to exit next year Full story here 10. Dear Mr Nihalani. As you snip, so you reap! Former Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief Pahlaj Nihalani — of the 94 cuts-to-Udta Punjab and trim-that-kissing-scene-from-James Bond's Spectre fame — has moved the Bombay High Court against the board for suggesting approximately 20 cuts in his upcoming production Rangeela Raja, starring Govinda. Among the scenes and dialogues to be trimmed: A sequence where the heroine asks the hero what he'd like as gurudakshina, the latter says Eklavya cut his thumb and gave it to his guru, to which she tells him that he can cut her lips. Not only is Nihalani crying foul over the cuts in Rangeela(which apparently violate CBFC guidelines), he's trained his guns on current board chief Prasoon Joshi as well — going as far to suggest that the latter be sacked, given that "he is always travelling and doesn't sit in office". He also pointed to Aamir Khan and Joshi's bonhomie resulting in Thugs of Hindostan being reviewed earlier than Rangeela, despite the Aamir-starrer applying 20 days later. Notorious for compelling film makers to edit, mute and shorten dialogues and scenes which he found unfit for universal viewing, while okaying sex comedies like Mastizaade and Kya Kool Hain Hum 3 at the same time, Nihalani's tumultuous and controversy-filled tenure came to an end August 2017. Bottomline: What goes around comes around. YOU SHARE YOUR B'DAY WITH... Source: IMDB PLUS A literary gold mine Acclaimed writer Haruki Murakami — of books such as Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore and Men Without Women — will donate his drafts, personal music, translation work, and more to be archived at his alma mater, the Waseda University in Tokyo. The archive project emerged earlier this year when Murakami offered to donate his collection of materials, which has grown so much over the past 40 years that he was running out of storage space at his home and office. "I have no children to take care of them and I didn't want those resources to be scattered and lost when I die," he said. "I'm grateful that I can keep them in an archive." But this is Murakami's archive and thus is not just about storage. The university is hoping the collection can inspire many writers. Initial archives would include drafts of Norwegian Wood that he Murakami by hand on notebooks while travelling in Europe, as well as his own translations of novels written by his favourite authors including Raymond Carver, J.D. Salinger and Scott Fitzgerald. "I hope it would be a place for cultural exchanges with positive and open atmosphere," Murakami said. KEEPING TRACK The Pakistani lawyer who helped free Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who had been sentenced to death in Pakistan for blasphemy, has fled to the Netherlands, a Dutch Christian rights group said on Monday. The lawyer, Saiful Mulook, left Pakistan on Saturday, the rights group said. The "black box" data recorder from the crashed Lion Air aircraft shows its airspeed indicator malfunctioned on its last four flights, investigators said Monday, raising further questions on Indonesia's poor air safety record (Read more here in story No.2). 2,300 police personnel, including armed commandos and women constables above the age of 50, put on a security stranglehold at the Ayyappa Temple, Sabarimala as the shrine reopened for a two-day ritualistic prayer ceremony. No woman in the age group of 10-50 were spotted near the temple; the SC had outlawed the ban on women of menstruating age from entering the temple. Follow news that matters to you in real-time. Join 3 crore news enthusiasts. GET APP Answer To NEWS IN CLUES Shikhar Dhawan. Sunrisers Hyderabad have traded the "unsettled" batsman to Delhi Daredevils in a move that will see the Team India opener play for the IPL franchise of his home city after 10 years. In exchange for the 32-year-old, Delhi have released allrounder Vijay Shankar, spinner Shahbaz Nadeem and Abhishek Sharma to Sunrisers.