3 October 2026
Ethiopia announced on 1 October 2026 that it was closing its embassy in Asmara and ordered 10 Eritrean diplomats to leave within 48 hours; Eritrea answered by cutting all diplomatic relations.
Fighting between federal forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) erupted on 23 September 2026 across Tigray, Afar and Amhara, raising fears of a return to the 2020-2022 civil war.
AFP reported on 3 October 2026 that federal forces had entered Mekelle, the Tigray capital, after residents said the TPLF had abandoned the city; AFP also noted unverified reports that the city's airport had fallen to a pro-government militia the day before.
Ethiopia also expelled an Egyptian diplomat and Egypt ordered an Ethiopian embassy official out in return; the two are at odds over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile.
The break reverses 2018, when Prime Minister Abiy restored relations with Asmara after two decades of hostility.
Eritrean diplomats ordered out:
10, within 48 hours
Fighting began:
23 September 2026
Tigray capital:
Mekelle
Why it matters for exams: Horn of Africa conflicts and the Nile dam dispute are recurring world-affairs topics.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
TPLF Tigray People's Liberation Front — The main anti-government group, based in the Tigray capital Mekelle.
GERD Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam — A hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile that Egypt fears will cut its share of Nile water.
1 October 2026
A key transit centre for patients needing Ebola treatment burned down in Kigonze camp, Ituri province, eastern DR Congo, on the evening of 29 September 2026, the UN said on 1 October.
Julien Harneis, the UN's senior Ebola response official in the DRC, said: "when we lose a centre, that means we lose capacity, we lose investment and we have to start again".
The camp sheltered some 19,000 people fleeing violence; it now lies abandoned after thousands fled following reports that soldiers had entered searching for weapons.
Ebola has spread across seven provinces since the public health emergency was declared in mid-May; this is the country's 17th outbreak.
Fighting in Ituri has also delayed the transport of laboratory samples and disrupted the transfer of confirmed patients.
Province:
Ituri
People sheltered in the camp:
some 19,000
Provinces affected by the outbreak:
seven
Why it matters for exams: Outbreaks in conflict zones and the UN's emergency health response are standard health and world-affairs topics.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
OCHA UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs — The UN aid coordination office that tracks displacement and access in the DRC.
2 October 2026
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council on 2 October 2026 that gang violence in Haiti continues to "adapt and expand".
At least 5,700 people have been confirmed killed or injured by gangs, or in operations against them, since 1 January, according to OHCHR.
Gangs have kidnapped more than 230 people and raped at least 1,000 women and girls; Türk said the real figures are likely much higher.
He welcomed the first operations of the Gang Suppression Force, mandated by the UN Security Council, but said it "remains far below the strength needed".
He called for its full, accelerated deployment with human rights safeguards built in.
Killed or injured since 1 January:
at least 5,700
People kidnapped:
more than 230
Women and girls raped:
at least 1,000
Why it matters for exams: UN-mandated security forces and Human Rights Council reporting are frequent world-affairs themes.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
OHCHR Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights — The UN body whose head, Volker Türk, briefed the Human Rights Council on Haiti.
1 October 2026
The International Labour Organization (ILO) released a preliminary assessment on 1 October 2026 of the late-August flash floods in northern Nepal.
The floods, triggered by a glacier collapse on the border with China, killed more than 1,450 people and 5,786 are still missing, according to the authorities.
The ILO estimated that some 21,400 employed people live within four kilometres of the flood footprint; tourism, agriculture, transport and small-business workers are under particular pressure.
Two overland routes, Rasuwa and Tatopani, accounted for some 22 per cent of Nepal's imports from China over the past year; Rasuwa handles nearly half of exports to China.
The ILO warned informal and daily-wage workers face the greatest risk, and that severe household income losses could raise child labour.
Killed:
more than 1,450
Still missing:
5,786
Workers within 4 km of flood footprint:
some 21,400
Why it matters for exams: Glacial-lake and glacier hazards in the Himalaya and the ILO's role are recurring geography and organisations topics.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
ILO International Labour Organization — The UN agency for labour standards and employment, headquartered in Geneva.
2 October 2026
A 57-centimetre fossil from Liaoning province, China, was named Norellraptor barsboldi by an international team from China, Italy and Slovakia in Nature Communications on 29 September 2026; Nature reported it on 2 October.
It is a microraptorine, a group of small meat-eating dinosaurs of about one kilogram with feathers on their limbs, living between 145 million and 100 million years ago.
The specimen shows traces of feathers on its fore and hind limbs and at the end of its tail, and was found by a local farmer.
The team found that 30% of the 194 flight-related adaptations identified in microraptorines also evolved in the bird lineage, Avialae, but not in the same order.
That adds to evidence that birds and their close relatives evolved flight several times rather than once.
Fossil length:
57 centimetres
Age range:
145 to 100 million years ago
Flight adaptations shared with birds:
30% of 194
Why it matters for exams: Fossil discoveries and the evolution of flight are common science and current-affairs questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Microraptorine Member of the dinosaur group Microraptorinae — Small feathered meat-eaters closely related to birds, with hundreds of specimens found.
Avialae The clade that includes birds — The bird lineage whose flight adaptations were compared with those of microraptorines.
2 October 2026
A study in Cochrane Evidence Synthesis and Methods, reported by Nature on 2 October 2026, questions a single clinical trial of 40 children in Iran, published in 2006.
The trial found an enormous advantage for Prozac (fluoxetine) over the antidepressant nortriptyline; no other paediatric trial found an effect size close to it.
Re-running the 2016 Lancet and 2020 Lancet Psychiatry meta-analyses without that trial made Prozac's outsized benefit disappear.
The 2021 Cochrane meta-analysis, which found only a small and unimportant advantage over placebo, had happened to leave the trial out.
The authors say guideline committees should review their recommendations, but they stop short of calling on clinicians to stop prescribing it.
Children in the trial:
40
Trial published:
2006
Meta-analyses re-run:
2016 and 2020
Why it matters for exams: Meta-analysis, evidence quality and clinical guidelines are tested in health and science papers.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Meta-analysis Statistical pooling of results from several studies — Its conclusions can swing if one trial with outlying data is included or left out.
30 September 2026
A paper in Nature by Lövestam and colleagues, published on 30 September 2026, tested whether tau protein spreads like a prion.
Prions are shape-shifting proteins that act as templates, forcing normal functional proteins into a misfolded, aggregation-prone form.
Injecting human tau fibrils into mice caused mouse tau to take on the form of the injected structures.
The result bolsters the theory that tau, a feature of neurodegenerative disorders, propagates like prions.
Other proteins linked to neurodegenerative disease, such as amyloid-beta and alpha-synuclein, are also thought to spread in a prion-like way.
Journal:
Nature
Published:
30 September 2026
Animal model:
Mice
Why it matters for exams: Prions and protein misfolding in neurodegenerative disease are standard biology and health topics.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Prion Infectious misfolded protein — A protein that templates normal copies of itself into a misfolded form.
30 September 2026
The UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) launched "Crime and Justice in a Changing World" on 30 September 2026 at the 15th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Abu Dhabi.
Homicides fell from 5.9 per 100,000 people in 2015 to 5.2 in 2023 and are projected to decline 25 per cent between 2015 and 2030 on current trends.
Latin America and the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa together account for roughly two thirds of all homicide victims.
Criminal profit is shifting to transnational markets, with networks diversifying into trafficking, migrant smuggling and natural resources; in Cambodia illicit proceeds from cybercrime and illegal gambling are estimated at $12.5 billion to $19 billion a year.
A 2025 survey of 42 countries found 57 per cent of adults had experienced a scam and 23 per cent had lost money in 12 months.
Homicide rate per 100,000:
5.9 in 2015 to 5.2 in 2023
Share of homicide victims in two regions:
roughly two thirds
Adults who experienced a scam (42-country survey):
57%
Why it matters for exams: UN reports, crime statistics and transnational organised crime are regular topics in reports and security sections.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
UNICRI UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute — A UN research body that produced the report on crime and justice trends.
30 September 2026
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, voiced concern over Malaysia's decision to return 1,476 people to Myanmar, which is in a civil war.
Deportation of Rohingya refugees began on Tuesday, 29 September 2026, according to reports.
Malaysian authorities said the process was voluntary, but UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Edem Wosornu, noted that those returned had been held in immigration detention. She said this raises serious questions about whether the decisions were genuinely free and informed, and that UNHCR had no access to the individuals.
UNHCR recognised Malaysia's sovereign responsibility to manage asylum and migration and urged robust safeguards, such as individual assessments and access to protection procedures.
It said no one should be returned to a country where they may face persecution, torture or other serious threats to their life and freedom.
People returned to Myanmar:
1,476
Agency:
UNHCR
Returns began:
29 Sep 2026
Why it matters for exams: Refugee protection and the Rohingya crisis recur in international relations and UN-system questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees — The UN agency that protects refugees and supports their rights.
Rohingya A mainly Muslim minority from Myanmar — Forced to flee Rakhine state in large numbers in 2017; over a million now live in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.
1 October 2026
The enduring radioactive legacy of US nuclear bomb testing in the Marshall Islands took centre stage at the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday, 1 October 2026.
Addressing the impact of 67 known tests conducted between 1946 and 1958, UN deputy rights chief Awa Dabo said it lives on in the bodies of Marshallese people, in "lands poisoned and communities displaced".
She said justice must be served for the people unable to return to the contaminated atolls, and that the health consequences include elevated rates of cancer.
Ms. Dabo said Marshallese communities have the right to an effective remedy, and called on US authorities to declassify information about data on radiation exposure and testing records.
The page adds that the health consequences of repeated nuclear testing were also highlighted this week at a high-level General Assembly meeting.
Known nuclear tests:
67
Testing period:
1946-1958
Speaker:
Awa Dabo, UN deputy rights chief
Why it matters for exams: Nuclear testing, the Human Rights Council and the right to remedy are recurring themes in world-affairs and human-rights questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Atoll A ring-shaped coral island — The Marshall Islands are made up of coral atolls; some contaminated ones cannot be resettled.
30 September 2026
The UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, said in an alert on 30 September 2026 that children go to bed hungry in at least one in five households in Lebanon, and that four in five households struggle to afford basic necessities.
Its report "An Enduring Nightmare" says about one in three surveyed families said their children had missed necessary healthcare, and 14 per cent said at least one child was working.
Since 2 March 2026 at least 261 children have been killed and 1,056 injured, an average of seven children killed or injured every day over six months.
UNICEF said 436 schools have been damaged or destroyed, putting around 100,000 children at risk of losing access to a classroom.
Of the more than one million people displaced within weeks of the escalation, nearly 330,000 have yet to go home, nearly six months after the 17 April ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel.
Households where children go to bed hungry:
at least 1 in 5
Children killed and injured since 2 March 2026:
261 killed, 1,056 injured
Schools damaged or destroyed:
436
Why it matters for exams: UN agency reports and humanitarian data on children in conflict feature in current-affairs and international-organisation questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund — The UN agency that works for children's rights, health and education.
Background
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was adopted on 22 March 1989 by the Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Basel, Switzerland. The Convention entered into force in 1992. The overarching objective of the Basel Convention is to protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects of hazardous wastes and other wastes requiring special consideration. Its scope of application covers a wide range of wastes defined as hazardous wastes based on their origin and/or composition and their characteristics, as well as four types of wastes defined as other wastes, which are household waste, incinerator ash, certain plastic wastes and certain electronic and electrical wastes. Based on the concept of prior informed consent, it requires that, before an export may take place, the authorities of the State of export notify the authorities of the prospective States of import and transit, providing them with detailed information on the intended movement. The movement may only proceed if and when all States concerned have given their written consent.
Date of adoption:
22 March 1989
Place of adoption:
Basel, Switzerland
Year of entry into force:
1992
Categories defined as other wastes:
four types
Governing principle for an export:
prior informed consent
Why it matters for exams: The Basel Convention's subject, its adoption at Basel and the prior informed consent rule are standard questions among the environmental conventions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
PIC Prior informed consent — The rule that a waste shipment may proceed only when every State of import and transit has given written consent.
Transboundary movement Transboundary movement of waste — The shipment of waste out of one country into or through another.
Conference of Plenipotentiaries Conference of Plenipotentiaries — A meeting of state representatives holding full powers to adopt and sign a treaty text.