Latest Current Affairs – October 31 2018
1. India inks $950mn deal with Russia to buy 2 frigates: Report
India has signed a $950-million deal with Russia to buy two Admiral Grigorovich-class guided-missile frigates for service in the Navy, reports said. The frigates can be used in anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare and anti-air warfare missions. Earlier, India inked a $5-billion deal to buy S-400 missile system from Russia, despite threats of US sanctions on defence trade with Russia.
2. Pankaj becomes 1st Indian to win an Asian Snooker Tour title
Nineteen-time world champion Pankaj Advani became the first Indian to win an Asian Snooker Tour event after defeating China’s Ju Reti 6-1 in the final in Jinan, China. The IBSF World Billiards and Snooker Championships are less than a fortnight away and the Indian star cueist is the defending champion in both sports.
3. Austria to withdraw from UN migration pact
Austria has announced that it is withdrawing from the United Nations’ (UN) Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration agreement which is due to be formally approved in December in Morocco. Austria said that the pact will blur the distinction between legal and illegal migration. The pact aims to boost international cooperation on migration issues.
4. PM Modi unveils world’s tallest statue measuring 600ft in Gujarat
PM Narendra Modi inaugurated Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s memorial on the leader’s 143rd birth anniversary in Gujarat’s Narmada district. Called the Statue of Unity, the bronze sculpture is the world’s tallest statue measuring 600 feet (182m) and overshadows China’s Spring Temple Buddha (153m) and USA’s Statue of Liberty (93m). The memorial was constructed in 33 months at ?2,989 crore.
5. Anupam Kher resigns as FTII chairman over commitment to US TV show
Actor Anupam Kher has resigned as Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) chairman citing his commitment to a TV show for which he has to be stationed in the US. “Given this assignment it wouldn’t be fair to me, the students and management…for me to hold a position of such responsibility and accountability,” Kher wrote in his resignation letter.
6. NASA retires 9-year-old telescope that found over 2,600 planets
NASA retired its first planet-hunting mission as the Kepler Space Telescope ran out of fuel. Launched in March 2009 into an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit, Kepler discovered over 2,600 planets outside the solar system. “Kepler wildly exceeded all our expectations and paved the way for our exploration and search for life in the solar system and beyond,” said NASA.
7. India, Italy resolve to expand defence, trade ties
India and Italy agreed to expand bilateral cooperation in areas of defence, trade and infrastructure and condemned those providing safe havens to terror groups. India invited Italian defence firms to invest under the ‘Make in India’ initiative. This is the first time that the nations agreed on broad defence production since the AgustaWestland case surfaced in 2013.
8. Chandrababu Naidu announced the Rayalaseema Steel Plant will be launched
Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu announced that the ‘Rayalaseema Steel Plant,’in Kadapa district will be launched within a month if the BJP-led NDA government failed to act. At the seventh edition of ‘Dharma Porata Deeksha,’ the Telugu Desam Party’s flagship campaign aimed at exposing the Centre’s alleged injustice to Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Naidu said the State would take up the project on its own by providing the required sops if the Narendra Modi government continued to drag its feet over the project.
9. Malala Yousafzai to be honoured by Harvard University for her work promoting girls education
Malala Yousafzai will be honored by Harvard University for her work promoting girls’ education. Harvard’s Kennedy School stated that Yousafzai will be conferred with the 2018 Gleitsman Award at a ceremony on 6th December. The Gleitsman Award provides 125,000 US dollars for activism that has improved quality of life around the world.
10. Elina Svitolina won WTA Finals in Singapore
Ukranian Tennis Player Elina Svitolina defeated Romania’s Sloane Stephens 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 and won the season-ending WTA Finals. This is the biggest title in Elina Svitolina career.
11. Worlds first sovereign Blue Bond launched by Seychelles, assisted by West Bengal
Republic of Seychelles launched the world’s first sovereign blue bond worth US$15 million to finance sustainable marine and fisheries projects. The bond was announced at the Our Ocean Conference in Bali by the Vice-President of the Republic of Seychelles, Vincent Meriton. Seychelles is the first nation to pioneer such a financing instrument.
