5 THINGS FIRST Verdict in 2007 Hyderabad twin bomb blasts that claimed 44 lives likely; Supreme Court to take up army men's AFSPA'dilution' plea; LIC Board to meet to decide modalities raising stake to 51% in debt-ridden IDBI Bank; Pakistani lawmakers to choose the country's new President; High-level EU delegationarrives to explore green businesses 1. Will India's traffic beat Bolt? Wait a little longer: You may not have to twiddle your thumbs while stuck in Delhi's traffic jam after a couple of years — that's according to the Delhi Traffic Police, which assured the Supreme Court to rid traffic congestion in the state by 2020. It plans to do so through 350 tasks, including widening of roads and reconstructing the intersections for better traffic flow (108 tasks have already been completed). Action plan: A Delhi government task force claims to have identified 77 bottlenecks in the city, categorised into: 28 highly congested, 30 congested, and 19 mildly congested corridors — the traffic police has assured the court that some of the 28 highly congested lanes would be de-congested by the end of this year. How bad is the traffic? Delhi's average off-peak traffic speed has declined 9.1% between 2010 and 2017 to 26 kmph — which is not much faster than an average elephant (25 kmph), and slower than Usain Bolt (37.6 kmph). Delhi's still better: Yet, office goers in Delhi are blessed as India's other metros move a lot slower, with the exception of Hyderabad. Delhi today, rest of India tomorrow: The steps taken in the Capital is expected to be followed by other cities in India as well, given that intelligent traffic management is one of the criteria of the smart city project, which covers 100 cities. Read the full story here 2. And now farmers are dying due to loans they haven't taken The deadly loan: A series of bank frauds committed by a gang has come to light in Tamil Nadu. A gang obtained signatures from about 170 daily wagers and agricultural workers saying they would get them 'pension'. It was only after the families started receiving demand notices (for loans of up to Rs 45 lakh) did they realise that they had been made to sign on bank loan papers. In two districts alone, the gang made away with Rs 60 crore. The deaths: A string of unreported deaths of the on-paper 'borrowers' has also come to light. At least 15 on-paper 'borrowers' have either died under mysterious circumstances or have gone missing in the last six months, but there has been no official probe into either the loan fraud, or the deaths yet. Vyapam-II: Some are calling it a Vyapam-like scam of Madhya Pradesh — an examination and recruitment process scandal involving politicians and businessmen, which also led to 'unnatural' deaths of over 20 individuals named in the scam. Read the full story here 3. Why Brazil won't mind losing its No. 1 spot to India What: India, world's biggest consumer of sugar, will overtake Brazil to become the biggest producer too. India is expected to produce over 35.5 million tonnes of sugar during crop year 2018-19 (up from 32.2 mt last year) and Brazil about 30 million tonnes (down from 38.5 mt). Bad news: We consume only about 25 mt a year and there's a glut of sugar in global markets too, which means no demand. So, India doesn't know how to handle its sugar stocks as well as the coming bumper production. And since government (and politics) decides the price and production of sugar, the loss is all yours — and farmers', who now have more sugarcane than needed by the sugar mills. Smart move: While the world doesn't need more sugar, it wants a lot of ethanol and is willing to pay for it. So, to capitalise on the demand, Brazil has diverted sugarcane to ethanol production by paying a premium of up to 40% for ethanol over sugar. It is expected to produce 31.2 billion litres of ethanol this year. India too recently updated its ethanol policy to reduce the stress on cane farmers. Full story here 4. Actually, Britain is only 1,796 km from India — but that could change Did you know that the distance between India and Britain is not a lot more than between Delhi and Mumbai? This isn't fake news. The former colonisers of India haven't gone far away, actually — the British Indian Ocean Territory is an archipelago of 55 islands spread over 54,400 sq km in the Indian Ocean. The territory comprises seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago, and has a population of around 4,000 with its own Constitution — it is one UK's 14 overseas territories. It might be British, but they don't lord over it. That population of 4,000 is largely US military personnel, and the law of the land, in reality, is American — and so is the currency, dollar. Why so? The territory was established in 1965 when around 1,500 inhabitants of the Chagos Archipelago were forcibly removed, after a deal between the US and UK to establish an American military base at the highest island there — Diego Garcia — with the rest of islands uninhabited. The archipelago, in fact, has been under the French and British control at various times in the colonial era. But now, Mauritius is challenging Britain over it at the UN's International Court of Justice. It argues that the archipelago has been part of its territory since at least the 18th century and was unlawfully taken away in 1965, three years before Mauritius gained independence from Britain. Some experts say it is an example of colonial dispossession, international unlawfulness and willing capitulation to the US — the military base has served the US in its operations in West Asia, as well as providing crucial land to instal communication devices (spying). India is backing Mauritius' claim, along with 21 other nations. Only the US, Australia and Israel are expected to support the UK. The ICJ judgement won’t be binding but will, nevertheless, be crucial. NEWS IN CLUES 5. Which ex-Goldman Sachs banker boasts a Filmfare Award? Clue 1: In 1994, he drew his first salary of Rs 1,500, interning at the Cadbury's factory at Lonavala, Maharashtra. Clue 2: He was among TIME magazine's 2010 list of the World's 100 Most Influential People. Clue 3: He was signed by Amazon Publishing in April this year, in a six-book, multi-million dollar deal. Scroll below for answer 6. One big election's one small price tag, cost of EVMs The Law Commission has said that over Rs 4,500 crore will be needed to buy new EVMs and paper trail machines for "imminent" simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. At present, there is a shortfall of about 12.9 lakh ballot units, 9.4 lakh control units and about 12.3 lakh VVPATs (voter verifiable paper audit trail machines or paper trail machines), if simultaneous elections are to be held in 2019, it said. One EVM, which includes a control unit (CU), a ballot unit (BU) and a VVPAT, costs about Rs 33,200. The cost of bridging the shortfall for 2019 Lok Sabha elections will add up to Rs 4,555 crore for 2019. The average shelf life of an EVM is 15 years and so at the prevailing rates, Rs 1,751.17 crore will be spent on EVMs for conduct of the second simultaneous elections in 2024 and Rs 2,017.93 crore for the third simultaneous elections in 2029 will be required for procuring EVMs. The cost for 2034 simultaneous elections will be Rs 13,981.58 crore. Read the full story here 7. So what if India's lost the Test series? Chin up! India might have surrendered the Test series in England with the 60-run loss at Southampton on Sunday. But their performances away from home is still the best among all teams, since Jan. 1, 2015. In fact, it's the only team to have register more Test wins than losses during the period. Check the England v India series page here. 8. Penny pinching UK wants 7.5 pennies from each Indian Penny for the moon: The UK government's decision to give £98 million in aid to India, spread over two years, has raised hackles of the British lawmakers, who are questioning why their government is giving aid to a country that can fund its own space programme, including a lunar probe, Chandrayaan-2, that will be launched later this year at a cost of £95.2 million. Aiding the aider: It's not just the space programme that is causing grief among British lawmakers — India's changing profile, from an aid receiver to an aid giver is also among the reasons why UK's MPs want their money stopped from coming to their former colony, even if it's just 7.5 pennies per Indian. Declining aid: India, which was once the largest recipient of UK's bilateral aid through the Department for International Development (DFID), stopped receiving financial assistancefrom 2015 as part of a change in UK's policy, a move that was widely criticised by British MPs then — though the current lot is asking why, instead of funnelling the funds to a country that's the fastest growing economy, the UK government can't fund its own services, such as the NHS. 9. Plastic in salt isn't fantastic Ban the brands? Polluting the seas is now having a detrimental effect on the everyday food you eat, and it makes no difference whether you are a vegetarian or a meat eater, or even a vegan — for the salt that is being used in the kitchen, regardless of the brand being bought, contains a significant quantity of microplastic in it, according to a study done by a two-member team from IIT Bombay. Macro problem: Microplastics are defined as small pieces of plastic, measuring less than 5 millimetre in diameter, formed by plastic's gradual degradation in the environment, especially the sea — the duo from IIT Bombay found 63.76 microgrammes (or 0.063 milligrammes) of microplastic per kilogramme of salt tested. Plastic Indians: The study further revealed that Indians, on an average, would be ingesting about 117 microgrammes (0.117 milligrammes) of microplastic annually, assuming that the average person has a daily salt intake of 5 grammes — in reality, Indians consume more than twice that amount daily, at almost 11 grammes, which means a salt consumption of 14,300 tonnes daily in the country. 10. BMW and South Koreans find each other too hot to handle #BMWphobia: Luxury could be a deathtrap, as several South Koreans have discovered at their expense, literally — 40 of the German luxury car maker's diesel vehicles have mysteriously burst into flames, prompting a recall of 106,000 cars by BMW, blacklisting of the cars by the parking lots, and a #BMWphobia trend on the social media. Fire with fire: The heat from the fire in South Korea — caused by faulty exhaust — is felt elsewhere too, with BMW forced to recall 300,000 cars across Europe. In South Korea, the police has raided its Seoul office, even though BMW apologised for the crisis, and its country head was asked to appear before the Parliament to explain the problem. Korea ain't a cakewalk: Penalties for carmakers are tougher in South Korea — Volkswagen, which was levied heavy penalties in many countries for cheating on its emission tests, was banned from selling many of its brands, including Audi, in South Korea, for over two years. YOU SHARE YOUR B'DAY WITH... Source: Various PLUS A ghost ship reappears after 9 years The mystery: A mysterious 600 ft long ship (named Sam Ratulangi PB 1600) was found drifting near the Yangon region in Myanmar last week. It had no sailors or cargo on board. The ship's location was last recorded off the Taiwan coast in 2009. The ghost: Investigations by the Myanmar Navy shows that the container ship was being towed by a tugboat to a ship-breaking yard in Bangladesh before bad weather forced the crew to abandon the ship. Investigations are still on. Follow news that matters to you in real-time. Join 3 crore news enthusiasts. GET APP Answer To NEWS IN CLUES Chetan Bhagat. On Monday, the bestselling author announced his latest novel — The Girl In Room 105 (an unlove story) — a comedy-thriller involving Delhi boy Keshav Rajpurohit and Zara, a Kashmiri Muslim girl. The book releases October 2018. Bhagat won the Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay in 2014, for Kai Po Che!