24 October 2026
The United Nations celebrated its 81st anniversary on Saturday.
UN News said the day highlighted more than eight decades of work to advance peace, human rights and development around the world.
United Nations Day marks the entry into force of the UN Charter in 1945, and the day has been celebrated annually on 24 October since 1948.
UN News said the agenda has remained unchanged: settling disputes through diplomacy, combating poverty and hunger, promoting human rights and delivering lifesaving aid to people affected by conflict, disasters and displacement.
In his last message marking the day in charge of the organisation, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the United Nations stood for the idea that humanity's future depends on the ability to work together to advance peace, development and human rights.
Anniversary:
81st
Observance:
United Nations Day
Why it matters for exams: The anniversary number of the United Nations is a direct one-mark fact.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
UN United Nations — The world organisation set up after the Second World War to maintain international peace and security.
24 October 2026
Israeli forces raided towns and arrested dozens of Palestinians after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a full lockdown of the occupied West Bank.
The lockdown followed an attack in the city of Hebron that killed two Israeli soldiers.
Al Jazeera correspondents reported that at least 15 towns in the north were targeted, including Nablus, Jenin, Tubas and Qalqilya.
In Hebron, Israeli bulldozers demolished a three-storey building, and Al Jazeera reported that 200 families were displaced from the al-Jalda neighbourhood, for whom the municipality set up temporary shelters.
With the lockdown, nearly 1,000 checkpoints and gates across the West Bank were to be closed.
Towns raided:
At least 15 in the north
Checkpoints to be closed:
Nearly 1,000
Families displaced in al-Jalda:
200
Why it matters for exams: West Asia map questions turn on the names of West Bank cities and on who controls movement there.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
West Bank West Bank — The Palestinian territory west of the Jordan river, under Israeli occupation since 1967.
24 October 2026
A fire broke out on Friday evening at the Kehlsteinhaus in Bavaria, more commonly known as the Eagle's Nest.
The building on the Obersalzberg in Berchtesgaden was used as a retreat by Adolf Hitler and Nazi officials.
Police said a fire alarm went off at around 9:15 p.m. local time (1915 GMT) on Friday.
A police statement said the Kehlsteinhaus was engulfed in flames, that a suspect had been arrested and that the incident was being criminally investigated.
Firefighting operations continued despite the difficulty of reaching the location, which lies near the Austrian border.
Site:
Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle's Nest), Obersalzberg, Berchtesgaden
German state:
Bavaria
Alarm time:
Around 9:15 p.m. local time (1915 GMT)
Why it matters for exams: A named heritage site, its German state and its history in one fact - useful for geography and history links.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Kehlsteinhaus Kehlsteinhaus — A mountain-top building on the Obersalzberg in Bavaria, known in English as the Eagle's Nest.
24 October 2026
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in China on Saturday via the newly opened New Yalu River Bridge.
He reached the Chinese border city of Dandong, where China's top political adviser Wang Huning met him.
Wang conveyed President Xi Jinping's greetings and best wishes to Kim, Xinhua reported.
China and North Korea pledged to strengthen strategic communication and cooperation to safeguard their sovereignty, security and development interests, and to expand people-to-people exchanges and economic and trade cooperation through the opening of the bridge.
The four-lane bridge was completed in 2014 but remained unused for 12 years for want of connecting roads and customs facilities on the North Korean side, and opened about a week earlier.
Bridge:
New Yalu River Bridge
Chinese city reached:
Dandong
Bridge completed:
2014
Why it matters for exams: Border rivers, border cities and China-North Korea ties are frequent map and relations questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Yalu Yalu river — The river that forms much of the border between China and North Korea.
24 October 2026
United States President Donald Trump has lifted some of the tariffs imposed on Canada.
The White House said on Friday that the easing will apply to products including plywood sheets, some paper products, certain machinery and refrigeration equipment.
The changes will take effect on October 30.
The same move imposes new levies on goods including carpets, certain valves and waste products, the White House said.
The White House said the President was seeking to offset the burden to United States commerce while better serving the public interest.
Effective date:
October 30
Products eased:
Plywood sheets, some paper products, certain machinery, refrigeration equipment
New levies on:
Carpets, certain valves, waste products
Why it matters for exams: Tariff changes between large economies feed directly into economy and current affairs questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
Tariff Tariff — A tax charged on goods imported into a country.
24 October 2026
As part of a drive to streamline and simplify European Union laws, the European Commission has proposed sweeping changes to agriculture and food safety legislation.
These include a move to ease the rules controlling the use of pesticides and herbicides.
Under current European Union rules, which date back to 2011, primary pesticide components, or active substances, are granted approval only for limited periods of no more than 15 years.
The Commission's proposed revamp would allow indefinite approval of certain active substances.
The Commission says the change will make it easier for farmers to adopt more environmentally friendly options, while health and environmental experts have said the risks are too great.
Current approval limit:
No more than 15 years
Current rules date from:
2011
Proposed by:
European Commission
Why it matters for exams: European Union environmental law changes are standard international and environment questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
EU European Union — A union of European states with a single market and common laws in many fields.
24 October 2026
Japanese Foreign Ministry officials were in Moscow this week in an attempt to contact a journalist arrested in Russia's far east.
Journalist Yuki Imai was arrested on October 14 by Russia's FSB security service in the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on Sakhalin Island.
Televised footage of the arrest showed FSB officers entering his hotel room as he slept.
The correspondent for the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper faces a spying charge, with Russian authorities saying he tried to obtain information on soldiers in the region.
The Kremlin has claimed that Japan is using journalists as spies.
Journalist:
Yuki Imai
Date of arrest:
October 14
Place:
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin Island
Why it matters for exams: Island geography and Japan-Russia relations come together in one fact.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
FSB Federal Security Service — Russia's internal security and counter-intelligence service.
16 October 2026
Executive Order 14436, implementing the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, known as the Graham Act, was issued by the President of the United States on October 16, 2026.
The order records that the Graham Act was signed into law on September 18, 2026, and that it provides for sanctions on foreign persons, restrictions on persons and duties on goods imported into the United States from the Russian Federation and certain other countries.
Section 2(a) of the order increases the rate of duty on goods from the Russian Federation by 500 percent ad valorem, subject to the exceptions in section 114 of the Graham Act and the waivers issued in section 4 of the order.
Section 2(b) increases the rate of duty by 100 percent ad valorem on goods from the largest 5 importers of crude oil and natural gas that originated in the Russian Federation, if the country knowingly makes new purchases of such crude oil or natural gas on or after October 18, 2026, and section 2(c) by 100 percent ad valorem on goods from the top 5 facilitators of Russian oil sanctions evasion.
Section 115 of the Graham Act lets the President waive any such sanction, restriction or duty on submitting to the Congress a written certification that the waiver is in the national interests of the United States together with a report explaining the basis for it.
In section 4 the President waives the application of the duties provided for in sections 112 and 113 of the Graham Act and in the order, along with the sanctions and restrictions under listed sections of the Act, and states that the certifications have been submitted to the Congress; the waivers remain in effect until the President or the Secretary of State determines that further action is appropriate.
Act signed into law:
September 18, 2026
Duty increase on Russian goods:
500 percent ad valorem
Duty increase on the largest 5 buyers of Russian oil and gas:
100 percent ad valorem
Waiver clause:
Section 115 of the Graham Act
Why it matters for exams: A named United States law with exact duty rates and a waiver clause - the kind of economy and international relations fact asked with figures.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSCBank
In plain words
Ad valorem Ad valorem duty — A customs duty charged as a percentage of the value of the goods.
Graham Act Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 — A United States law providing for sanctions, restrictions and duties connected with the Russian Federation and certain other countries.
22 October 2026
A Presidential proclamation titled 'Adjusting Imports of Wind Turbines and Their Parts and Components into the United States' was issued on October 22, 2026.
The proclamation records that within the past 90 days the Secretary of Commerce transmitted a report on his investigation into the effects of imports of wind turbines and their parts and components on the national security of the United States under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended, 19 U.S.C. 1862.
The Secretary advised that wind turbines and their components and subcomponents are being imported under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security of the United States.
Among the findings recorded are that products used to generate and use wind energy rely on foreign parts carrying cybersecurity vulnerabilities that could lead to remote control access to wind turbines and cause power disruption, that they interfere with national airspace and air safety, and that they cause radar interference affecting air traffic control, weather forecasting, homeland security and national defense missions.
The proclamation itself imposes no new duty: it directs the Secretary of Commerce and the Trade Representative to pursue or continue negotiations of agreements to address the national security threat, to update the President on them with at least one update within 180 days, and to keep monitoring imports and report any circumstances indicating a need for further action under section 232.
It notes that certain wind turbine components are made of significant amounts of aluminium, steel or copper and are therefore already subject to the tariffs imposed in Proclamation 9704 of March 8, 2018 on aluminium, Proclamation 9705 of March 8, 2018 on steel and Proclamation 10962 of July 30, 2025 on copper, and that nothing in the new proclamation modifies those tariffs.
Date of proclamation:
October 22, 2026
Legal basis:
Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, 19 U.S.C. 1862
Earlier proclamations cited:
9704 on aluminum, 9705 on steel, 10962 on copper
Why it matters for exams: Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and the aluminium, steel and copper proclamations are recurring trade-law facts.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
Section 232 Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 — The United States provision that lets the President adjust imports found to threaten national security.