1 November 2026
Bulgaria's presidential run-off was held on Sunday and the Iliana Iotova and Kiril Valchev ticket won it.
With 99.68 per cent of tally sheets processed, the pair stood at 57.66 per cent of the vote.
They defeated Andrey Gurov and Georgi Kandev, and Gurov said he accepts the results.
In the first round the Iotova-Valchev ticket had 34.759 per cent against 31.952 per cent for Gurov-Kandev.
Under the Central Election Commission's timetable, section election commissions establish polling-station results and send them to regional commissions, and final results must be announced within three days of the vote.
Iotova becomes the country's first elected woman president and had been serving as acting president.
She is the seventh person to hold the presidency of Bulgaria.
Run-off vote share:
57.66%
Running mate:
Kiril Valchev
Why it matters for exams: Names Bulgaria's new president, her running mate as vice-president, the run-off vote share and the Central Election Commission that declares the result.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
CEC Central Election Commission — Bulgaria's election authority, which announces final results.
1 November 2026
Italian driver Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes won the Formula One drivers' world championship at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
The race was held at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and Antonelli finished third, scoring 15 points.
He needed only a ninth-place finish to clinch the title whatever his rivals did.
At 20 years and 68 days he became the youngest world champion in the sport's history.
The previous mark belonged to Sebastian Vettel, who was 23 years and 134 days old when he won his first title in 2010.
Antonelli is also the first Italian Formula One world champion since 1953.
Max Verstappen won the race, with Lewis Hamilton second, 0.799 seconds behind.
Age at title:
20 years and 68 days
Previous record:
Sebastian Vettel, 23 years and 134 days
Circuit:
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Why it matters for exams: Records the new youngest Formula One world champion, his team and nationality, the record he broke and the circuit where he won it.
Kerala PSCUPSC
31 October 2026
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said it is working with Adamawa State to investigate two people in Yola who showed Ebola-like symptoms.
Samples from both were tested in two rounds and came back negative for Ebola.
The centre said no laboratory-confirmed Ebola case has been reported in Adamawa.
The earlier confirmed case in the Federal Capital Territory remains Nigeria's only confirmed case.
The centre stressed that a suspected case is not a confirmation, which depends on laboratory results.
Contact identification and further testing were continuing.
The statement came as the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continued.
Suspected cases:
two, both tested negative
Confirmed cases in Nigeria:
one, in the Federal Capital Territory
Why it matters for exams: Names the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention as the country's disease surveillance body and Adamawa State with its capital Yola.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
NCDC Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention — Nigeria's national public health institute for outbreak detection and response.
1 November 2026
A localised ceasefire covering Oleshky and the area around it in Ukraine's Russian-held Kherson region ended on Sunday at 10:59 pm Ukraine time.
It had run for six days and was the longest truce of the war so far, and neither side reported violations.
A Ukrainian official said Russia declined Kyiv's offer to extend it, and Kyiv's Foreign Ministry had proposed the extension.
Hundreds of residents left during the truce; Ukraine's General Staff said 167 civilians were moved from threatened parts of southern Kherson on Sunday alone, including 22 children and 21 people with limited mobility.
About 2,000 civilians were in Oleshky when the truce began.
Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin urged residents to stay away from areas near the Dnipro river.
US First Lady Melania Trump mediated the arrangement, with the involvement of Pope Leo XIV.
Duration:
six days
Civilians moved on the last day:
167
Civilians in Oleshky at the start:
about 2,000
Why it matters for exams: Fixes Oleshky in the Kherson region, the Dnipro river as the front line and the mediators of the longest local truce of the war.
Kerala PSCUPSC
1 November 2026
Ukraine's nationwide air-raid alert application sent out false messages on Sunday.
The fake alerts warned of nuclear and chemical threats in and around Kyiv, warned of possible street fighting and claimed that Russia's Oreshnik hypersonic missile had been deployed.
The Ukrainian Air Force said on Telegram that the application appeared to have been subjected to enemy influence and added that there was no radiation threat.
SPRAVDI, Ukraine's Centre for Strategic Communications, said on social media that Russia was behind the hack.
A separate alert application used only in Kyiv was working normally, city authorities said.
Early on Monday Russia's Emergencies Ministry said its own mobile application had been hit by a large cyberattack that spread false information.
The incidents came soon after the localised truce in the Kherson region ended.
Missile named in the false alert:
Oreshnik hypersonic missile
Why it matters for exams: Names SPRAVDI, Ukraine's Centre for Strategic Communications, and the Oreshnik hypersonic missile referred to in the false alerts.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
SPRAVDI Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security — The Ukrainian government body that counters disinformation.
31 October 2026
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation said a North Korean group was behind the theft of a record 6.3 billion dollars in virtual assets from the cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
The FBI named the group TraderTraitor, which it has also blamed for a 1.5 billion dollar theft from the Bybit platform.
The bureau said the stolen assets were mainly converted into Ethereum and were expected to be laundered in stages.
It asked virtual asset service providers to block the transactions and published a list of suspicious digital addresses.
Binance said it had replaced 90 per cent of the stolen amount from company funds, including a 1 billion dollar Secure Asset Fund for Users, a Bitcoin reserve, part of a Futures Insurance Fund and corporate treasury.
The remaining 10 per cent is in less liquid tokens that may take longer to buy.
Binance published a proof-of-reserves snapshot showing assets backed at a minimum one-to-one ratio.
Amount stolen:
6.3 billion dollars
Earlier theft blamed on the group:
1.5 billion dollars from Bybit
Why it matters for exams: Names the FBI as the attributing agency, TraderTraitor as the group and the Secure Asset Fund for Users that Binance drew on.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
SAFU Secure Asset Fund for Users — Binance's emergency insurance fund for user assets.
2 November 2026
New Zealand's Electoral Commission said 913,762 advance votes were cast between 26 October and 1 November, ahead of the general election on 7 November.
That is a 28 per cent increase over the same period in the 2023 election.
Saturday was the busiest day, with more than 190,000 votes issued.
About 600 voting places are open each day this week, and the number rises to more than 2,300 on election day.
Chief Electoral Officer Karl Le Quesne said voting had got off to a good start and that six more days of voting remained.
New rules introduced by the government ended enrolment 13 days before the election.
Critics argue the earlier cut-off could discourage participation.
Advance votes:
913,762
Rise over 2023:
28 per cent
Voting places on election day:
more than 2,300
Why it matters for exams: Names New Zealand's Electoral Commission and its Chief Electoral Officer, and the new rule closing enrolment 13 days before polling.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
Nigeria's disease control centre has just reported on suspected Ebola cases in Adamawa, which makes the disease itself worth knowing.
The World Health Organization says Ebola disease first occurred in 1976 in two outbreaks at once.
One was at Nzara, in what is now South Sudan; the other at Yambuku, in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Yambuku village lay near the Ebola River, and the disease is named after that river.
Six species of Orthoebolavirus have been identified so far, and three of them cause large outbreaks: Ebola virus, Sudan virus and Bundibugyo virus.
The average case fatality rate is around 50 per cent, and past outbreaks have ranged from 25 to 90 per cent.
Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are thought to be the natural hosts, and two vaccines are approved: Ervebo, and Zabdeno with Mvabea.
Average case fatality rate:
around 50%
Species identified:
Six
Why it matters for exams: The Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the three outbreak-causing species and the WHO as the publishing body are standard Health and Geography questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Orthoebolavirus Orthoebolavirus — The genus of viruses that cause Ebola disease.
Case fatality rate Case fatality rate — The share of people with a disease who die of it.