27 October 2026
Luke J. Lindberg took office as Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme, calling on donors, partners and supporters to help sustain the agency's work. He succeeds Cindy McCain, who led the agency from April 2023 to May 2026, with Carl Skau serving as Acting Executive Director since June. Lindberg previously served as Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs at the United States Department of Agriculture. The agency says as many as 266 million people faced acute hunger worldwide last year, with conflict driving the most severe crises.
Office:
Executive Director, World Food Programme
Predecessor:
Cindy McCain
People facing acute hunger:
266 million
Why it matters for exams: The head of the World Food Programme carries the title Executive Director, and the agency is headquartered at Rome.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
WFP World Food Programme — The food assistance branch of the United Nations, with headquarters at Rome.
27 October 2026
The United Nations Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia completes its two-year mandate on 31 October, ending more than three decades of UN missions in the country supporting peace, state-building and reconciliation. The Security Council decided not to renew the mandate at the request of the Somali Government, which wants greater ownership of its own peacebuilding and state-building. The mission's work passes to Somali institutions and to the UN agencies, funds and programmes already operating in the country. The Secretary-General thanked his successive Special Representatives and the mission's staff, paid tribute to UN personnel who lost their lives in Somalia, and said the country still faces political, security, humanitarian and development challenges, including Al Shabaab, the Somalia-based group affiliated to al-Qaeda.
Mission:
United Nations Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia
Mandate ends:
31 October
Decision by:
Security Council
Why it matters for exams: The United Nations Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia is the mission being wound up, and it is the Security Council that renews or ends a peace mission's mandate.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
UNTMIS United Nations Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia — The UN mission in Somalia whose two-year mandate ends on 31 October.
27 October 2026
The United Nations Secretary-General's annual report on Women, Peace and Security finds that women and girls accounted for one in four of the more than 37,000 civilians killed in armed conflict last year, double their share in 2021, and that at least 25 women and girls are killed every day in conflict settings. It says 750 million women and girls now live within 50 kilometres of an active conflict, 40 million more than in 2024 and more than at any time since 1990. The United Nations verified 9,788 cases of conflict related sexual violence in 2025, and women made up just five per cent of negotiators across 57 peace processes. UN Women Deputy Executive Director Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda presented the report at UN Headquarters in New York, and UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous said more women and girls are trapped in wars than at any point in decades.
Civilians killed:
more than 37,000
Women and girls near conflict:
750 million
Verified cases of conflict related sexual violence:
9,788
Women among negotiators:
five per cent
Why it matters for exams: The Women, Peace and Security agenda rests on Security Council Resolution 1325, and UN Women is the United Nations entity for gender equality.
Kerala PSCUPSC
27 October 2026
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine reported that Russian authorities committed war crimes and crimes against humanity by attacking civilians and vital energy infrastructure. Its three members, Erik Mose, Pablo de Greiff and Vrinda Grover, drew on the accounts of 255 people who endured winter in the Dnipro, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Zaporizhzhia and Zhytomyr oblasts, where temperatures fell to minus 21 degrees Celsius last winter. The Commission also found compelling evidence that Russian authorities recruited men trafficked from 29 countries into the armed forces, in violation of international human rights law, and called for all trafficked persons to be discharged. The Commission's members are not United Nations staff and are not paid for their work.
Commission members:
Erik Mose, Pablo de Greiff, Vrinda Grover
Witnesses relied on:
255
Countries men were trafficked from:
29
Why it matters for exams: The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine was created by the Human Rights Council, which sits at Geneva, and war crimes are tried by the International Criminal Court created by the Rome Statute.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Oblast Oblast — The name for an administrative province in Ukraine and some other countries.
27 October 2026
The World Meteorological Organization said in its Greenhouse Gas Bulletin that concentrations of carbon dioxide and other major greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached record highs in 2025, with the average global concentration of carbon dioxide at 153 per cent of the 1750 pre-industrial baseline. Methane and nitrous oxide, the second and third most important long-lived greenhouse gases caused by human activities, also hit new peaks. When the Bulletin was first published in 2004, the annual average carbon dioxide level measured by the organization's Global Atmosphere Watch network was 377.5 parts per million, against nearly 427 parts per million today. Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett said the past 11 years have been the warmest on record. The Bulletin provides data for negotiators ahead of the climate conference at Antalya in Turkiye from 9 to 20 November.
Carbon dioxide against 1750 baseline:
153 per cent
Carbon dioxide in 2004:
377.5 ppm
Monitoring network:
Global Atmosphere Watch
Next climate conference:
Antalya, Turkiye, 9 to 20 November
Why it matters for exams: The Greenhouse Gas Bulletin is published by the World Meteorological Organization using its Global Atmosphere Watch network, and the next climate Conference of the Parties, COP31, is at Antalya in Turkiye.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
ppm parts per million — The unit used for the concentration of a gas in the atmosphere.
27 October 2026
A patient in France died after being infected with Shamonda virus, the first recorded human case of the disease. The virus is mainly found in livestock, especially cattle, sheep, goats, horses and alpacas, and is thought to be spread by the bites of Culicoides midges, though the World Health Organization says further studies are needed to understand how it is transmitted. The World Organisation for Animal Health says there are no commercially available vaccines against the virus. The French health and agriculture ministries said the patient was immunocompromised and had been in an area where the virus was circulating among animals and where the midges were present, and that no health risk to the general public has been identified so far. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency is working with French authorities to establish the route of infection.
Country:
France
Suspected carrier:
Culicoides midges
Vaccine:
None commercially available
Why it matters for exams: Shamonda virus is a livestock virus spread by Culicoides midges, and the World Organisation for Animal Health is the body that sets animal health standards.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
WOAH World Organisation for Animal Health — The intergovernmental body that sets standards for animal health and reports animal disease outbreaks.
27 October 2026
Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the United Nations Office for Project Services, briefed journalists in New York on Nepal's recovery after the glacier collapse of 26 August, which sent a wall of water more than 100 metres high travelling at 180 kilometres per hour and devastated 60 kilometres of valley. More than 1,500 people lost their lives and 5,600 remain missing, and some 100,000 people were affected, including more than 30,000 children. More than 100 bridges collapsed, while 13 hydropower dams and 23 schools were destroyed and about 2.2 million tonnes of debris and sediment now cover homes, schools, roads and rivers. Recovery needs are estimated at 4.8 billion dollars, equivalent to 10 per cent of Nepal's gross domestic product, and a flash appeal for 50 million dollars has raised 24.5 million dollars. Nepal, a least developed country, emits 0.08 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Recovery needs:
4.8 billion dollars
Share of Nepal's GDP:
10 per cent
Hydropower dams destroyed:
13
Nepal's share of global emissions:
0.08 per cent
Why it matters for exams: A flood caused by the sudden release of water from a glacial lake is a glacial lake outburst flood, and the United Nations Office for Project Services is the UN body that builds infrastructure in crisis zones.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
UNOPS United Nations Office for Project Services — The UN body that manages infrastructure and procurement projects in crisis and development settings.
GLOF Glacial Lake Outburst Flood — A flood caused when water is suddenly released from a lake dammed by glacier ice or moraine.
27 October 2026
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk condemned an escalation in drone strikes across Sudan which killed at least 306 people and injured hundreds more in the first three weeks of October. The UN human rights office recorded strikes on homes, markets, hospitals, displacement sites, power stations and water sources in Kordofan, Darfur, Blue Nile, Khartoum and other states, attributed to both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. Peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei visited communities affected by a strike on Amiet Market and the Todach area in Abyei, the disputed oil-rich region between Sudan and South Sudan, and were the first to reach the scene. The Security Council reaffirmed that Abyei must remain demilitarized and free of all forces except the peacekeeping mission, and called for a prompt and transparent investigation.
Deaths recorded:
at least 306
Peacekeeping mission:
United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei
Disputed region:
Abyei, between Sudan and South Sudan
Why it matters for exams: The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei is the peacekeeping mission in Abyei, the disputed region between Sudan and South Sudan, and the UN human rights office is headed by a High Commissioner.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
UNISFA United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei — The UN peacekeeping mission in the Abyei area on the Sudan-South Sudan boundary.
RSF Rapid Support Forces — A Sudanese paramilitary force that is a party to the country's conflict.
27 October 2026
NASA said astronaut and engineer Christina Koch will become the agency's acting deputy chief engineer on 1 November 2026, helping lead its engineering community and overseeing technical work and mission readiness. She replaces Katherine Van Hooser, who retires after more than 35 years at NASA and had been deputy chief engineer since 2023. Koch flew as a mission specialist on Artemis II, the crewed flight around the Moon in April 2026, and earlier spent 328 consecutive days aboard the International Space Station, a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman. She also took part in the first all-female spacewalks. With the move she becomes a management astronaut and will no longer be eligible for future spaceflight assignments.
New role:
Acting deputy chief engineer, NASA
Days aboard the International Space Station:
328 consecutive days
Predecessor:
Katherine Van Hooser
Why it matters for exams: Christina Koch holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman at 328 days and flew on Artemis II, the crewed flight around the Moon.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
27 October 2026
A study published in the journal Nature reports a palaeoproteomic analysis of hominin material from Xujiayao in China, an assemblage dated to about 199 to 138 thousand years ago. Proteomic analysis of two specimens identified 18 endogenous proteins, and the Denisova-specific COL1A2-996 mutation strongly supported their affiliation with the Denisovan lineage. The authors say shared morphological traits place Xujiayao and Harbin together with Jinniushan, Dali and Hualongdong in the same lineage. They describe Denisovans as distinctive, with a low cranial profile with near-parallel lateral walls, a massive supraorbital torus, a flat zygomaxillary region and weak prognathism, and as sharing some features with Homo erectus and others with modern humans and late Neanderthals.
Site:
Xujiayao, China
Age of assemblage:
about 199 to 138 thousand years ago
Endogenous proteins identified:
18
Journal:
Nature
Why it matters for exams: Palaeoproteomics is the study of ancient proteins, and the Denisovans are the archaic human lineage first identified from Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Hominin Hominin — The group that includes modern humans and their extinct close relatives.
27 October 2026
A study in the journal Nature introduces Pinal, a foundation model with 16 billion parameters that designs candidate proteins from natural-language descriptions of a desired function. It was trained on 1.7 billion synthetically annotated protein-text pairs, linking functional intent to protein sequence and structure. The authors applied it to four design tasks - a fluorescent protein, a polyethylene terephthalate hydrolase, an alcohol dehydrogenase and a metabolic H-protein - and observed the intended function in each case, including catalytic activity for both designed enzymes. Without iterative experimental optimisation, a designed H-protein performed 1.7-fold better than the corresponding native H-protein in a multi-enzyme carbon dioxide fixation pathway.
Model:
Pinal
Parameters:
16 billion
Training pairs:
1.7 billion protein-text pairs
Journal:
Nature
Why it matters for exams: Pinal is the 16-billion-parameter model that designs proteins from written descriptions of function, and polyethylene terephthalate hydrolases are the enzymes that break down PET plastic.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
PET Polyethylene terephthalate — A common plastic used in bottles and fibres, which some enzymes can break down.