29 October 2026
The World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund have jointly brought out a guide for research on wasting and nutritional oedema in infants and children under five years. The document has three parts: a global research priority agenda, guidance on how evidence should be generated, and core outcome sets so that different studies report results in a comparable way. It was prepared because evidence gaps and inconsistent measurement of outcomes came to light while the 2023 WHO guideline on preventing and managing wasting and nutritional oedema was being drawn up. The guide is meant for researchers, policy makers, programme implementers and funders. It runs to 59 pages and was issued by the organization's nutrition and food safety team. Wasting means a child is too thin for its height, and nutritional oedema is swelling caused by severe malnutrition.
Components:
research priority agenda, evidence guidance, core outcome sets
Age group:
infants and children under 5 years
Pages:
59
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the two publishing agencies and the concepts: WHO and UNICEF, wasting, nutritional oedema and the 2023 WHO guideline on managing them.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Wasting Low weight for height in a child — A sign of recent and severe weight loss or poor nutrition.
UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund — The UN agency for children's health, nutrition and education.
30 October 2026
UNESCO has set out recommendations for countries of the Mercosur bloc on preventing and fighting the illicit trafficking of cultural property. They follow a regional seminar held on 6 and 7 October 2026 at Montevideo in Uruguay with the support of the UNESCO Regional Office there, bringing together officials from the culture, customs, security, prosecution, foreign affairs and museum sectors. The work rests on the 1970 Convention, which sets the international framework against the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property. At the seminar UNESCO presented a comparative study on return and restitution processes in Latin America and the Caribbean between 2015 and 2023, covering fifteen countries. Those countries reported recovering more than 37,000 cultural objects, and the study identified 357 restitution cases, of which 305 went through diplomatic channels, 116 through police action and 13 through judicial proceedings. UNESCO recommended updating legal frameworks, watching auction houses and digital platforms more closely, making databases interoperable and sharing information faster. Mercosur is also working on an agreement on the protection and recovery of cultural property within the bloc.
Restitution cases identified:
357
Objects recovered:
more than 37,000
Treaty:
1970 Convention
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the treaty and the bloc: the 1970 UNESCO Convention against illicit trafficking of cultural property, and Mercosur's work on a regional agreement on recovery.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
MERCOSUR Southern Common Market — A trade bloc of South American countries with Montevideo as its administrative seat.
Restitution Return of a cultural object to its country of origin — The process by which a trafficked object goes back to where it came from.
30 October 2026
The UN Security Council failed on 30 October to renew MINURSO, the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, whose mandate ran out on 31 October. Russia vetoed a United States draft that would have extended the mission for a year, made Morocco's autonomy plan the only basis for talks and dropped the word referendum from its name; 11 members backed it. A rival Russian draft won only three votes, with one against (the United States) and 11 abstentions; nine votes are needed to pass. MINURSO was set up by resolution 690 in 1991 and now has 155 military personnel. Morocco's royal palace called the outcome a significant development. The Polisario Front, which seeks independence for the territory, held a rally at the Smara camp near Tindouf in Algeria.
Mission:
MINURSO (UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara)
Set up by:
Security Council resolution 690 (1991)
US draft vote:
11 in favour, 1 veto (Russia), 3 abstentions
Russian draft vote:
3 in favour, 1 against, 11 abstentions
Military personnel:
155
Why it matters for exams: MINURSO, the veto power of the five permanent members and the Western Sahara dispute between Morocco and the Polisario Front are standard UN and world-affairs questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSCBank
In plain words
MINURSO United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara — UN mission created in 1991 to organise a referendum on the territory's future and monitor the ceasefire.
Veto Negative vote of a permanent member — A no vote by any of the five permanent members blocks a substantive Security Council resolution.
Polisario Front Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro — Movement seeking independence for Western Sahara, based in the Tindouf camps in Algeria.
30 October 2026
The World Health Organization published the third edition of its Catalogue of mutations in Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and their association with drug resistance on 30 October. The catalogue is a standard reference that helps laboratories read genetic changes in the TB germ and tell whether they make it resistant to a drug. This edition is built on paired whole-genome sequencing and drug susceptibility testing of more than 71 000 clinical isolates from over 75 countries. It adds stronger evidence for newer and key drugs: bedaquiline, linezolid, delamanid, pretomanid and cycloserine. The 86-page document comes from WHO's team for HIV, TB, Hepatitis and STIs. It is meant to make molecular tests for drug-resistant TB more reliable worldwide.
Edition:
3rd
Clinical isolates:
more than 71 000
Countries:
over 75
Pages:
86
Why it matters for exams: The TB bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, drug-resistant TB and drugs such as bedaquiline are frequent science and health questions; the WHO is the publisher.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Mycobacterium tuberculosis — The bacterium that causes tuberculosis, identified by Robert Koch in 1882.
Whole-genome sequencing WGS — Reading the complete DNA of an organism to find changes linked to traits such as drug resistance.
Drug susceptibility testing DST — A lab test that checks whether a germ is killed or stopped by a particular drug.
29 October 2026
Commonwealth Secretary-General Shirley Botchwey is sending a team to watch Grenada's general election, set for Thursday, 5 November. The team is led by Ian Michael Anthony, a former Chief Elections Officer of Dominica. A Secretariat group under Lindiwe Maleleka of the Electoral Support Section will support it. Before polling day the observers will meet the Parliamentary Elections Office, parties, candidates, civil society, media and security agencies. On the day they will watch the opening of polls, the voting, the close and the count. They will report their findings to the Secretary-General and leave Grenada on 7 November. The deployment falls in the same week as the Commonwealth summit, CHOGM, at St John's in Antigua and Barbuda.
Election day:
5 November 2026
Team leader:
Ian Michael Anthony
Commonwealth Secretary-General:
Shirley Botchwey
Why it matters for exams: The Commonwealth Secretary-General, the CHOGM 2026 venue and Caribbean capitals such as St George's (Grenada) are common world-affairs questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
CHOGM Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting — The two-yearly summit of Commonwealth leaders; the 2026 meeting is at St John's, Antigua and Barbuda.
Commonwealth Secretariat — The intergovernmental body that serves the Commonwealth's member countries, headed by the Secretary-General.
30 October 2026
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, launched a $50 million appeal on 30 October to help nine million people get through the coming winter. The money is meant for displaced and returning families in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Syria and Lebanon. UNHCR says about 6.5 million Afghans have returned home in recent years, most of them against their will. In Syria, around 3.6 million refugees and internally displaced people have gone back since December 2024. Inside Syria, 15.6 million people still need humanitarian help. UNHCR's Dominique Hyde said the money buys heaters, blankets, warm clothes, fuel and window repairs.
Appeal:
$50 million
People to be helped:
nine million
Countries:
Afghanistan, Ukraine, Syria, Lebanon
People in need inside Syria:
15.6 million
Why it matters for exams: UNHCR, its Geneva headquarters, its two Nobel Peace Prizes and the 1951 Refugee Convention are standard international-organisation questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
UNHCR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees — The UN refugee agency, set up by the General Assembly in 1950 and based in Geneva.
Internally displaced person IDP — Someone forced from home who has not crossed an international border.
30 October 2026
Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said on 30 October that he was deeply concerned and saddened that Novaya Gazeta is being forced to close. He called the end of the respected independent Russian newspaper another devastating blow for the independent media still left in the Russian Federation. Türk said pressure on the press there has grown sharply since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, through restrictive laws, tighter State control and harassment of journalists. He recalled that the paper's reporter Anna Politkovskaya was murdered in 2006 after covering human rights violations in Chechnya. He asked the Russian authorities to allow free and open debate.
Newspaper:
Novaya Gazeta
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
Volker Türk
Reporter murdered:
Anna Politkovskaya (2006)
Why it matters for exams: The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and its holder, and the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize to Dmitry Muratov and Maria Ressa, are frequent questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
OHCHR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights — The UN office that leads human rights work, headed by the High Commissioner and based in Geneva.
Novaya Gazeta — Independent Russian newspaper known for investigative reporting.
31 October 2026
James Heenan, who heads the UN Human Rights Office in Seoul, told UN News in an interview published on 31 October that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is more cut off than at any point in its history. His team watches the country from outside and has interviewed about 1,000 people; the UN and aid agencies have had no access for five or six years. He said almost no one can enter and people cannot leave, even illegally. Heenan described forced labour that reaches the whole population, including shock brigades and schoolchildren sent to the fields. More than 20 types of smartphones are now sold there, but without internet access, and they may make surveillance easier. He also urged progress on reunions of separated Korean families, which last took place in 2018.
Official:
James Heenan, head of UN Human Rights Office in Seoul
People interviewed:
about 1,000
Smartphone types:
more than 20
Why it matters for exams: North Korea's official name and capital, and the UN human rights machinery led by the High Commissioner, are common world-affairs questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
DPRK Democratic People's Republic of Korea — The official name of North Korea, whose capital is Pyongyang.
OHCHR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights — The UN human rights office; it keeps a field office in Seoul to monitor the DPRK.
Background
This background goes with the United Nations peacekeeping and political missions that the Security Council creates and brings to an end.
Chapter V of the Charter of the United Nations, Articles 23 to 32, sets out how the Security Council is built and how it votes.
Article 23 says the Council shall consist of fifteen Members of the United Nations.
Five are named in the Article as permanent members, and the General Assembly elects ten other Members as non-permanent members.
A non-permanent member is elected for a term of two years and is not eligible for immediate re-election.
Each member of the Council has one vote.
A decision on a procedural question needs the affirmative vote of nine members; on all other matters it needs the affirmative vote of nine members including the concurring votes of the permanent members.
The Charter also gives the Council primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.
Total members:
Fifteen
Non-permanent members:
Ten, elected by the General Assembly
Term of a non-permanent member:
Two years, no immediate re-election
Charter chapter:
Chapter V, Articles 23 to 32
Why it matters for exams: Fifteen members, a two-year non-permanent term and the nine-vote rule with the permanent members' concurrence are the most asked Security Council facts.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
UN Charter Charter of the United Nations — The founding treaty of the United Nations, which sets out the powers of its organs.
Background
This background goes with news from the Vatican, whose Holy See sits at the United Nations without being a member of it.
The United Nations lists two non-member States that have a standing invitation to take part as Observers in the sessions and the work of the General Assembly.
They are the Holy See and the State of Palestine.
Each of them maintains a Permanent Observer Mission at United Nations Headquarters.
The Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations represents the Holy See there.
Palestine was accorded non-Member Observer State status by General Assembly resolution A/RES/67/19 of 29 November 2012.
Addresses and contact details of these missions are kept in the United Nations Blue Book.
An Observer may take part in the work of the Assembly but is not a Member State of the United Nations.
Non-member Observer States:
Holy See and State of Palestine
Resolution on Palestine's status:
A/RES/67/19 of 29 November 2012
Directory of missions:
The UN Blue Book
Why it matters for exams: The Holy See and the State of Palestine as the UN's two non-member Observer States, and resolution A/RES/67/19, are asked facts.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Permanent Observer Permanent Observer — A State or organisation that may take part in the General Assembly's work without being a Member State.