25 October 2026
NATO has announced that Ukraine has joined the Security Cooperation Support Partnership of the NATO Support and Procurement Agency.
The partnership gives Ukrainian defence companies access to procurement opportunities for NATO contracts.
It also lets Ukraine's defence industry draw on the agency's expertise, knowledge and capabilities.
The stated aim is to strengthen Ukraine's defence industrial base and deepen cooperation between Ukrainian firms and NATO member countries.
It is described as the first initiative of its kind organised by a NATO body since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Agency:
NATO Support and Procurement Agency
Partnership:
Security Cooperation Support Partnership
Why it matters for exams: NATO's structure, its agencies and its relationship with Ukraine are standing questions in international relations.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Procurement Procurement — The process by which an organisation buys goods and services under contract.
25 October 2026
The World Health Organization has published a 56-page standards document titled Priority indicators to monitor the impact of heat exposure on maternal, newborn and child health.
The indicators were identified by the World Health Organization together with the World Meteorological Organization, UNICEF and UNFPA.
They fall into four domains: routine maternal, newborn and child health monitoring; public health and surveillance systems; climate and health monitoring; and measures of heat exposure.
The document proposes core and additional indicators so that countries can address their own contexts, and gives guidance on analysing health indicators together with heat exposure data.
Its stated reason is that important gaps remain in the ability to monitor and respond to the effects of heat on mothers, newborns and children.
The work is published by the department of Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Child, Adolescent and Ageing Health.
Pages:
56
Domains:
Four
Partners:
WHO, WMO, UNICEF and UNFPA
Why it matters for exams: Which UN agencies produce a given set of indicators is exactly the kind of fact an examiner asks about reports.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
UNFPA United Nations Population Fund — The UN agency for reproductive health and population matters.
Indicator Indicator — A measurable figure used to track a condition over time.
25 October 2026
The World Food Prize for 2026 has gone to Huub Lelieveld, a Dutch scientist honoured for six decades of work in food safety research, advocacy and institution-building.
The award was presented at the opening ceremony of the Borlaug International Dialogue at Des Moines, Iowa.
FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said at the ceremony that food that makes people sick does not feed them.
Unsafe food affects an estimated 866 million people.
In low and middle income countries alone it costs about 110 billion dollars a year in lost productivity and medical expenses.
More than 1,000 participants from over 60 countries and 600 organizations attended, including four agriculture ministers and past laureates.
Laureate:
Huub Lelieveld
Venue:
Des Moines, Iowa
People affected by unsafe food:
An estimated 866 million
Why it matters for exams: The World Food Prize, the Borlaug Dialogue and the FAO's leadership are standard awards and institutions questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Borlaug International Dialogue Borlaug International Dialogue — The annual conference held alongside the World Food Prize, named after Norman Borlaug.
25 October 2026
The Alliance for Hydromet Development held its 2026 Annual Meeting in Lagos, Nigeria, from 13 to 15 October 2026, the first time it met in Africa.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency, under Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, hosted the meeting.
The Alliance was launched in 2019 to coordinate investment in weather, water and climate services and to strengthen National Meteorological and Hydrological Services.
Africa accounts for about 30 per cent of the global deficit in basic weather and climate observations.
Nigeria has moved from receiving technical support to peer-reviewing hydromet diagnostics for Burkina Faso, Liberia and Somalia.
The meeting set three priorities for 2027 and 2028: mobilising and coordinating investment, strengthening national institutions and sustainability, and advancing public-private engagement and innovation.
Meeting:
Lagos, Nigeria, 13 to 15 October 2026
Alliance launched:
2019
Africa's share of the observation deficit:
About 30 per cent
Why it matters for exams: The World Meteorological Organization, its membership and the observation gap in Africa are standard environment questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Hydromet Hydrological and meteorological services — The combined work of weather forecasting and water measurement.
NMHS National Meteorological and Hydrological Service — A country's official weather and water agency.
25 October 2026
The Federal Reserve Board has released the results of the 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances, a survey of American families' assets, debts, income and banking.
The survey has been conducted every three years since 1989 and is carried out for the Board by NORC at the University of Chicago, using randomly selected participants from 119 geographic areas.
Adjusted for inflation, median family income rose 7 per cent to $82,200 while mean income fell 6 per cent to $145,200.
Median net worth rose 2 per cent to $215,900 and mean net worth rose 7 per cent to $1.24 million.
The homeownership rate was 66 per cent and stock market participation fell from 58 per cent to 56 per cent, while median holdings among stockholders rose 36 per cent to $77,400.
The share of families whose debt payments exceed 40 per cent of income rose from 6.5 per cent to 8.6 per cent, and the summary report is titled Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025.
Median net worth:
$215,900
Median family income:
$82,200
Survey interval:
Every three years since 1989
Why it matters for exams: The Federal Reserve is the United States central bank and the difference between median and mean is a standard statistics question.
UPSCBank
In plain words
Median Median — The middle value when all values are arranged in order.
Net worth Net worth — What a family owns minus what it owes.
25 October 2026
Preparations for the Fifth International Polar Year are under way, with the intensive phase to run in 2032 and 2033 and the first project endorsement call expected in late 2026.
Preparations are led jointly by the World Meteorological Organization, the International Arctic Science Committee, the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research and the International Science Council.
The International Coordination Office will be at Tromsø in Norway, led by UiT The Arctic University of Norway with the Norwegian Polar Institute, with a budget of US$10 million over nine years starting 1 January 2027.
Regional offices are at the Korea Polar Research Institute and the Chilean Antarctic Institute, and countries are setting up national committees.
Its priorities include ice-sheet change and sea-level rise, climate feedbacks, water and food security, biodiversity and extreme events.
The initiative builds on more than 140 years of international polar cooperation, the first International Polar Year having been held in 1882 and 1883.
Intensive phase:
2032-2033
Coordination office:
Tromsø, Norway
Office budget:
US$10 million over nine years
Why it matters for exams: The International Polar Year, the Arctic and Antarctic research bodies and the first polar year of 1882 are standard science and geography questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
SCAR Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research — The international body that coordinates scientific research in Antarctica.
Cryosphere Cryosphere — All the frozen water on Earth, including ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice and snow.
25 October 2026
The World Health Organization has published the report of a mission that carried out a comprehensive integrated review of malaria, leishmaniasis, filariasis and dengue control programmes in Sri Lanka. The mission was carried out from 13 to 20 May 2024 and the report was published on 22 October 2026.
The 83-page report was issued by the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia, and the expert team of public health specialists, medical professionals and entomologists was formed in consultation with the WHO Country Office for Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Health.
Sri Lanka has eliminated polio, malaria, rubella, measles, lymphatic filariasis and leprosy as public health concerns, and malaria was declared eliminated in 2016.
Maternal mortality is 25.7 per 100,000 live births and infant mortality is 8.5 per 1,000 live births.
Dengue is endemic in all districts with recurring outbreaks and remains a major challenge, while imported malaria cases pose a risk of re-introduction.
Lymphatic filariasis persists in localized areas and cutaneous leishmaniasis is an emerging concern needing a strategic plan for prevention and treatment.
Report length:
83 pages
Malaria declared eliminated:
2016
Maternal mortality:
25.7 per 100,000 live births
Why it matters for exams: Sri Lanka's malaria elimination and the vectors of dengue and filariasis are examined in health and neighbourhood questions alike.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Endemic Endemic — Constantly present in a place at a fairly steady level.
Entomologist Entomologist — A scientist who studies insects, including disease-carrying mosquitoes.
25 October 2026
The World Food Forum 2026 closed at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome after running from 8 to 16 October 2026.
Its theme was Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow.
More than 90,000 people from 189 countries took part, with 32,000 attending in person, double the previous year, and content reaching an estimated 2.4 billion people online.
The forum held more than 200 sessions, exhibitions and side events, and the Global Youth Forum drew over 2,100 young people from 171 countries.
The From Seeds to Foods exhibition showcased 400 products, technologies and innovations.
The Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum, with 38 countries and five regional initiatives, presented a record US$20.16 billion in proposed agrifood investments.
Theme:
Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow.
Participation:
More than 90,000 people from 189 countries
Proposed investments:
US$20.16 billion
Why it matters for exams: The FAO, its headquarters and its Hand-in-Hand initiative are frequently asked in international organisation questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Agrifood system Agrifood system — Everything involved in growing, processing, moving and eating food.
Hand-in-Hand Initiative Hand-in-Hand Initiative — An FAO programme that matches countries with investors for agriculture and rural development.
25 October 2026
Caribbean countries have been testing whether their weather warnings actually reach people and tell them what to do, under the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems Caribbean 2.0 programme.
In Saint Vincent and the Grenadines a simulated tropical storm scenario involved heavy rain, flooding, landslides, blocked roads and misinformation, and participants worked through evacuations and emergency communication.
Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines held national workshops in August 2026 on the Common Alerting Protocol and impact-based forecasting, and the Turks and Caicos Islands ran an exercise on how warnings reach the public.
Belize restored a weather radar that had failed during the hurricane season, and Jamaica is issuing map-based alerts through SmartMet and SmartAlert.
The number of countries meeting Global Basic Observing Network requirements rose from 5 to 9.
The programme supports the Early Warnings for All initiative, and related systems include the WMO Information System 2.0 and the WMO CAP Composer.
Programme:
CREWS Caribbean 2.0
Countries meeting GBON requirements:
Rose from 5 to 9
Why it matters for exams: Early Warnings for All and the Common Alerting Protocol are named global initiatives that disaster management questions use.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
CAP Common Alerting Protocol — A standard format that lets one warning be sent at once over radio, mobile and internet.
Impact-based forecasting Impact-based forecasting — Forecasting that says what the weather will do to people and property, not only what it will be.
25 October 2026
A regional learning initiative of the World Meteorological Organization has examined how weather and ocean information travels from observing and forecasting systems to maritime authorities, rescue coordinators and people at sea.
It ran as nine sessions from April to August 2026, with more than 80 participants from 11 countries, and was organised by the Expert Team on Marine Meteorology and Oceanography of WMO Regional Association III.
The initiative began for South America and was opened to Spanish-speaking countries across the Americas, with named participating members including Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru and the United States.
Participants looked at how the United States Coast Guard uses ocean and meteorological model data in its Search and Rescue Optimal Planning System to estimate drift and plan search areas.
Chile's Maritime Authority shared real cases of forecasts feeding search-and-rescue and environmental emergency decisions, and Argentina combines satellite imagery, ocean currents and meteorological data to track marine pollution.
Brazil, Chile and Peru use NAVTEX, HF and VHF radio and satellite services together to send warnings to vessels.
Sessions:
Nine, April to August 2026
Participants:
More than 80 from 11 countries
Why it matters for exams: Marine warning systems such as NAVTEX and the WMO's regional associations are asked in geography and services questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
NAVTEX Navigational Telex — An automatic radio service that prints navigational and weather warnings on ships.
Drift Drift — The movement of an object or person carried by ocean currents and wind.
25 October 2026
The World Health Organization has published a 30-page working paper titled Cupping therapy: descriptive synthesis of training.
It gives an evidence-informed overview of how cupping therapy training is reported and organised across settings within traditional, complementary and integrative medicine.
The paper draws mainly on a systematic scoping review and describes training pathways and curriculum content, competency domains and learning outcomes, approaches to delivery and assessment, trainer qualifications and training facilities, and accreditation arrangements.
Its analysis focuses mainly on cupping based on traditional Chinese medicine while acknowledging the wider diversity of cupping practices across medical systems.
The authors describe it as a descriptive and non-normative reference meant to inform policy-makers, regulators, educators, accreditors, health professionals, researchers and practitioners.
It was prepared by the Global Traditional Medicine Centre, part of the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine.
Pages:
30
Prepared by:
Global Traditional Medicine Centre
Why it matters for exams: The WHO's traditional medicine work and its global centre are asked in health governance questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Scoping review Scoping review — A structured survey of the existing literature on a topic, to map what is known.
Non-normative Non-normative — Describing practice as it is, without laying down a rule to be followed.