27 October 2026
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has urged a swift return of inspectors to Iran, telling the United Nations General Assembly that the diplomatic basis for an agreement exists and that the return of inspectors requires a return to the negotiating table. He warned that the global non-proliferation system is becoming more fragile. Iran has sharply restricted access to its nuclear sites since the strikes of June 2025 during a twelve-day war with Israel. The agency estimated in March that just over 200 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 per cent remained at Isfahan, with more at Natanz. In September the agency's Board of Governors referred Iran's non-compliance to the United Nations Security Council, a step Tehran contests. Grossi also described the agency's work in Ukraine, where it has arranged eight localised ceasefires to repair power lines at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and has carried out 287 missions since the full-scale invasion by Russia in 2022.
Enriched uranium at Isfahan:
just over 200 kilograms at 60%
IAEA missions in Ukraine:
287 since 2022
Why it matters for exams: The IAEA, its Board of Governors, its head, and the location of Natanz and Isfahan are repeat International Relations questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency — The Vienna-based agency that verifies peaceful use of nuclear material and reports to the UN.
27 October 2026
A year after people fled El Fasher in Sudan, UN Women has reported that nine in ten of the Sudanese aid organisations it surveyed found women or girls in distress who had received no mental health, psychosocial or legal support. Anna Mutavati, UN Women regional director, said in Geneva that some people are returning but that fear of violence remains constant, and that drone attacks have increased in Blue Nile, Khartoum, West Kordofan, Gedaref and Kassala. The war in Sudan began in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which had jointly seized power in a coup in 2021.
Organisations reporting unsupported survivors:
nine in 10 surveyed
War began:
April 2023
Why it matters for exams: The two parties to the Sudan war, the year it began and Sudan's capital are standard map and current affairs questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
RSF Rapid Support Forces — A Sudanese paramilitary force fighting the national army since April 2023.
27 October 2026
United Nations agencies have warned of a fast-developing humanitarian emergency in Taiz City in Yemen, which is encircled by de facto Houthi forces fighting government troops along the west coast. The escalation between the Houthis and the Aden-based Government began in early September, ending the calm that had held since a truce in 2022. OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke said the city had been cut off for 20 days and that very little fuel, food or other supplies had reached it. The World Food Programme reports that over 800,000 people in Taiz have no access to assistance, including 600,000 who depend on aid and 200,000 women and children. Water production in the city has fallen by about half and the cost of trucked water has roughly tripled. UNICEF says more than 168,000 children were screened in Taiz this year, of whom more than 52,000 were acutely malnourished, including over 11,500 with severe acute malnutrition; it has pre-positioned nearly 8,000 cartons of ready-to-use therapeutic food in the governorate. The International Organization for Migration records about 258,679 people displaced between 7 June and 19 October 2026, mostly in Taiz and Lahj governorates, and 3,836 Yemeni nationals had arrived in Djibouti as of 17 October. At least 1,574 people have been killed and 6,939 injured in the conflict since August.
People without aid access:
over 800,000
Displaced 7 June to 19 October 2026:
258,679
Why it matters for exams: OCHA, WFP, UNICEF and IOM and what each does, and Yemen's geography, are recurring questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
OCHA Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs — The UN office that coordinates emergency relief across agencies.
27 October 2026
NASA and the United States Department of Agriculture have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to expand their cooperation in Earth observation, geospatial analytics and advanced data technologies. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and United States Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins signed the agreement on 24 October 2026 during NASA's Inspiration Tour at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The agreement supports the Department of Agriculture's data modernisation plan. Work under it may cover agricultural statistics, remote sensing science, modelling and geospatial data engineering, and the two agencies will examine how Earth observation data and analytical tools can be aligned with agricultural needs such as crop monitoring, acreage and yield estimates, and drought and disaster assessment. They will also explore new ways of managing large datasets and strengthening the department's data systems. The release does not state the agreement's duration or funding.
Signed on:
24 October 2026
Instrument:
Memorandum of Understanding
Why it matters for exams: The title of NASA's head, Administrator, and the use of remote sensing in crop estimation are durable facts.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The civilian space agency of the United States, set up in 1958.
27 October 2026
Germany has announced a contribution of 15 million euro to the Nature Investment Facility through its International Climate Initiative. The announcement was made on 26 October 2026 at the Bridging the Nature Finance Gap event held on the margins of CBD COP17 in Yerevan, Armenia, hosted by UNDP, UNESCO, UNCDF, Germany's Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and the Government of Flanders. The money will launch the facility's Africa Living Landscapes programme and scale up the Tiger Landscapes Investment Facility in South-East Asia. German Federal Minister Carsten Schneider said nature is chronically underfunded. UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo said no single actor can halt biodiversity loss alone, UNCDF Executive Secretary Pradeep Kurukulasuriya linked the funding to small businesses protecting biodiversity, and UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany described the partnership as turning global commitments into action. The work is tied to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and to landscapes that hold more than a fifth of the world's species.
Contribution:
15 million euro
Venue:
CBD COP17, Yerevan, Armenia
Why it matters for exams: The host city of CBD COP17, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the UNESCO Director-General are high-value facts.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
CBD Convention on Biological Diversity — The treaty opened at the 1992 Earth Summit whose parties meet at a Conference of the Parties.
UNCDF United Nations Capital Development Fund — A UN fund that provides capital finance for least developed countries.
27 October 2026
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is deeply concerned about closures, reported demolitions and possible displacement in Hebron in the occupied West Bank after gunmen opened fire near a military checkpoint outside the city. UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at the noon briefing in New York that the closures severely restrict Palestinians' freedom of movement, access to basic services and livelihoods. Entrances and exits to Hebron were closed and the Ibrahimi Mosque was shut, so worshippers could not hold Friday prayers. It is the fourth time in a month that Israel has imposed territory-wide restrictions. Guterres also condemned the violence caused by record numbers of attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in 2026 and reminded Israel, as the occupying power, that it must protect Palestinians and hold perpetrators accountable. Mayy El Sheikh, spokesperson for the UN human rights office in the occupied Palestinian territory, called the lockdown part of suffocating measures and said the office documented more than 160 settler attacks in the first two weeks of October 2026, involving live ammunition, arson, crop theft and damage to olive groves. The closures coincide with the olive harvest, and movement restrictions are keeping thousands of farmers from their groves.
Settler attacks documented:
more than 160 in the first two weeks of October 2026
Why it matters for exams: The office of the UN Secretary-General, the name of the UN human rights office and the location of Hebron are durable facts.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
OHCHR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights — The UN human rights office, based in Geneva.
Background
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 56 independent and equal countries, home to 2.7 billion people. It says 33 of its members are small states, including many island nations, and its values and principles are expressed in the Commonwealth Charter. Three intergovernmental organisations sit at the heart of the association: the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth Foundation and the Commonwealth of Learning. The international headquarters of the Secretariat and the Foundation are in Marlborough House on Pall Mall in London. Leaders agree priority areas of work at Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings, which happen every two years; the next such summit is hosted by Antigua and Barbuda. The Secretary-General is nominated by Commonwealth leaders and can serve a maximum of two terms of four years each, and is also the chief executive officer of the Secretariat. All member governments are represented on the Secretariat Board of Governors by their High Commissioners, and the Head of the Commonwealth holds a symbolic role that is not hereditary.
Member countries:
56
People:
2.7 billion
Small states among members:
33
Summit:
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, every two years
Why it matters for exams: The member count, the expansion of CHOGM, how often it meets and the Charter are all standard Commonwealth questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
CHOGM Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting — The summit where Commonwealth leaders agree their priority areas of work.
Commonwealth Charter the statement of Commonwealth values — The document in which the values and principles of the association are set out.
Chair-in-Office the leader of the country hosting a summit — That leader represents the Commonwealth at high level meetings for two years.
Commonwealth of Learning one of the three core organisations — It promotes open learning and distance education among member countries.
Background
ITER is an international fusion project, building its tokamak in France. As signatories to the ITER Agreement, the ITER collaboration Members are China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States. They share in the cost of project construction, operation and decommissioning, and also share in the experimental results and any intellectual property generated by the project. Europe is responsible for the largest portion of construction costs at 45.6 percent, and the remainder is shared equally by the other six at 9.1 percent each. Members contribute very little monetary contribution: nine-tenths of contributions are delivered to the ITER Organization in the form of completed components, systems or buildings, so the scientific and industrial fabric in each Member is prepared for the step after ITER. Each Member has created a Domestic Agency to fulfil its procurement responsibilities, with its own staff, its own budget and contracts directly with industry. The working language for the project is English, and taken together the Members represent three continents, approximately 40 languages, half of the world population and 73 percent of global gross domestic product.
Members:
7
European share of construction costs:
45.6 percent
Share of each other Member:
9.1 percent
Working language:
English
Why it matters for exams: Fusion is a favourite science topic, and the number of ITER Members, the Domestic Agency idea and the European share of costs are the facts asked.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Tokamak a magnetic fusion machine — A doughnut shaped chamber in which a very hot plasma is held by magnets.
Domestic Agency a procurement body of an ITER Member — The national office that contracts industry to build the parts a Member owes.
ITER Agreement the treaty that set up the project — The agreement the seven Members signed to build and run the machine together.
Background
The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946. It sits at the Peace Palace in The Hague in the Netherlands, and is the only one of the six principal organs of the United Nations not located in New York. The Court is composed of 15 judges elected to nine-year terms by the General Assembly and the Security Council. Its work has two sides: settling legal disputes submitted to it by States, and giving advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorised organs of the United Nations and its specialised agencies.
Judges:
15
Term:
Nine years
Seat:
Peace Palace, The Hague
Why it matters for exams: The seat of the International Court of Justice, its strength of 15 judges and its nine-year terms are standing questions on the UN system.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
ICJ International Court of Justice — The principal judicial organ of the United Nations, which decides disputes between States.
Background
The International Criminal Court describes itself as the world's first permanent international criminal court. It is governed by the Rome Statute, the treaty by which States join its system, and it sits at The Hague in the Netherlands. Unlike the International Court of Justice, which decides disputes between States, the International Criminal Court tries individuals. Its jurisdiction covers four crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. Investigations and prosecutions are carried out by the Office of the Prosecutor, which is an independent organ of the Court, while the judges conduct the proceedings.
Crimes within jurisdiction:
Four
Seat:
The Hague
Why it matters for exams: The Rome Statute, the seat at The Hague and the four crimes within the Court's jurisdiction are repeatedly asked.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Rome Statute Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court — The treaty that governs the International Criminal Court and which States join to become part of its system.
Background
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was adopted on 16 September 1987. It is described by the United Nations Environment Programme as one of the rare treaties to have achieved universal ratification. The Protocol controls nearly 100 man-made ozone-depleting substances, listed in its Annexes: Annex A covers CFCs and halons, Annex B other fully halogenated CFCs along with carbon tetrachloride and methyl chloroform, Annex C hydrochlorofluorocarbons, Annex E methyl bromide and Annex F hydrofluorocarbons. The Kigali Amendment was agreed at the 28th Meeting of the Parties on 15 October 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda. It added hydrofluorocarbons, which are greenhouse gases rather than ozone-depleting substances, to the list of controlled substances, and set a timeline to cut them by 80 to 85 per cent by the late 2040s.
Controlled substances:
nearly 100
Kigali Amendment target:
80-85% cut in HFCs by the late 2040s
Why it matters for exams: The Montreal Protocol's name, the Kigali Amendment and the hydrofluorocarbons it controls are standard Environment questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
ODS ozone-depleting substances — Man-made chemicals, such as CFCs, that destroy ozone molecules high in the atmosphere.
HFCs hydrofluorocarbons — Refrigerant gases that do not harm ozone but are powerful greenhouse gases.
Background
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created by the North Atlantic Treaty, also called the Washington Treaty, which the Foreign Ministers of twelve countries signed on 4 April 1949 at the Departmental Auditorium in Washington, D.C. The alliance has since grown to 32 member countries. Its headquarters is in Brussels, having earlier been located in Paris. The treaty is a collective defence pact, and the alliance's best known provision is Article 5, under which an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all.
Original signatories:
12 countries
Member countries:
32
Headquarters:
Brussels
Why it matters for exams: The Washington Treaty of 1949, Article 5 on collective defence and NATO's Brussels headquarters are standing questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization — A collective defence alliance of North American and European states.