current affairs 18 October 2021 (In English)

17 October - International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Theme - Building Forward Together: Ending Persistent Poverty, Respecting all People and our Planet.

17 October - World Sight Day 2021

Theme - Love your eyes

India re-elected to UN Human Rights Council for new three year term from 2022-2024.

• India has been re-elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) with an overwhelming majority for a sixth term on October 14, 2021.
• India's new three-year term will be effective from January 2022 to December 2024.
• India got 184 votes out of 193 votes cast in the election.
• Elections were held for a total of 18 seats and 47 countries needed a minimum of 97 votes to be elected to the UN member council.

China- Russia holds naval drill "Joint Sea 2021" in Sea of Japan.

• The China and Russia joint naval exercises “Joint Sea 2021” kicked off at Russia’s Peter the Great Gulf, in the Sea of Japan, on October 14, 2021.
• The exercise will conclude on October 17, 2021.
• During combat games, the combined force would practice shooting at targets designed to mimic enemy surface ships and conduct air-defense exercises.

China launches 3 astronauts on a 6-month space station mission.

• China launched a three-person crew for a six-month mission on the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft to its space station.
• The crew plans to set a new record for the time spent in space by Chinese astronauts as China moves to complete the orbiting structure.
• It was launched by Long March-2F rocket.
• The spacecraft is expected to complete docking with the Tianhe Module within six hours.
• The mission will continue the work of the first three-person crew that has already spent 90 days on board.
• The first three-person crew performed two spacewalks and deployed a 10-metre (33-foot) mechanical arm before returning to Earth in mid-September 2021

India and US to raise $100 billion per year to fight climate change in developing countries.

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her US counterpart, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen attended the 8th US-India Economic and Financial Partnership on October 14, 2021.
• During the meeting, both countries reaffirmed their commitment to raise $100 billion annually for developing countries from public and private sector sources to combat climate change.
• The India-US Economic and Financial Partnership was launched in 2010 as a framework for strengthening the economic ties between the two countries and for building greater cooperation and economic growth in the future.
• The 8th US-India Economic and Financial Partnership was organized in Washington on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

SEBI constitutes 4-member high powered advisory committee on settlement orders.

• The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has constituted a four-member High Powered Advisory Committee on Settlement Orders and Compounding of Offenses.
• The Chairman of the committee will be Vijay C Daga, retired judge of High Court of Bombay.
• The terms of reference of the Committee will be as per Securities and Exchange Board of India (Settlement Proceedings) Regulations, 2018.