2 November 2026
The World Food Programme has begun serving hot meals to more than 400 people who left Oleshky in Ukraine's Kherson region during a short local ceasefire.
Many of them reached medical facilities in Kyiv on 31 October in poor condition.
The agency works through its Ukrainian partner, the humanitarian organisation Iskra Dobra, and the meals are to continue for an initial two weeks.
Its Executive Director Luke J. Lindberg said the evacuation gave those who left a chance to reach safety and receive the help they need.
The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said the evacuation window shows what is possible when parties put civilians first.
Since 2023 the agency has recorded 134 security incidents affecting itself and its partners, 57 of them in 2026, hitting distribution points, vehicles, warehouses and staff.
It reaches more than half a million people a month across Ukraine with food and cash assistance, and the United States funds this emergency food assistance.
Evacuees fed:
More than 400 people
Ukrainian partner:
Iskra Dobra
Security incidents since 2023:
134
People reached monthly:
More than half a million
Why it matters for exams: The World Food Programme, its Executive Director Luke J. Lindberg, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher and Oleshky in the Kherson region are the durable names; UN humanitarian agencies and their heads are regular questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
WFP World Food Programme — The food assistance agency of the United Nations, which runs emergency and school feeding operations worldwide.
2 November 2026
Portugal signed an agreement at the Greek Ministry of Defence in Athens to sell three KC-390 transport aircraft to Greece.
The deal is government to government, between the two states rather than through a commercial tender, and it is worth about 590 million euro.
The aircraft go to Greece in the Portuguese NATO configuration, together with mission equipment, support for entry into service and follow-on support.
The first aircraft is planned for 2027, with further deliveries phased in 2029 and 2031.
Portugal says the arrangement will bring its own industry an industrial return of 11 million euro per aircraft, 33 million euro in all.
Portugal will oversee production, help with acceptance and delivery, manage the operational transition and logistics support, and run initial training at Beja, which it describes as the KC-390 Training Center.
The signatories were Antonio Jose Batista, Portugal's Director-General of Armament and Defence Assets, and Major-General Ioannis Bouras of Greece's Defence Investments and Armament Directorate.
The deal builds the bilateral Defence Cooperation Agreement, in force since April 2025, into a long-term operational partnership. The KC-390 is made by Embraer.
Aircraft and number:
three KC-390 transport aircraft
Value:
about 590 million euro
Type of deal:
government to government, Portugal to Greece
Deliveries:
first in 2027, then 2029 and 2031
Industrial return to Portugal:
11 million euro per aircraft, 33 million euro in all
Training centre:
Beja, Portugal
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are that Portugal sold Greece three Embraer KC-390 transport aircraft in a government-to-government deal worth about 590 million euro, that the first delivery is planned for 2027, and that Portugal's KC-390 Training Center is at Beja.
UPSC
In plain words
KC-390 Embraer KC-390 Millennium — A military transport and tanker aircraft made by Embraer, operated by Portugal in a NATO configuration.
2 November 2026
NASA said its Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor-2 spacecraft, known as TSIS-2, has passed the tests that clear it for launch.
The spacecraft came through thermal vacuum testing at below-freezing temperatures and vacuum pressures, a mass properties test and vibration testing that simulates the shaking of a launch.
TSIS-2 will measure the intensity of sunlight reaching the top of Earth's atmosphere, both the total amount and how that energy is spread across ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared wavelengths.
It carries two instruments for that work, the Total Irradiance Monitor and the Spectral Irradiance Monitor, both developed by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado.
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems built the spacecraft, ran the testing and will operate it in orbit.
Launch is targeted for early 2027 from New Zealand on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket, into low Earth orbit.
The mission continues a record of total solar irradiance that began in 1978 and a record of spectral solar irradiance that began in 2003, and its data are meant to improve climate predictions.
Mission:
Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor-2 (TSIS-2), NASA
Instruments:
Total Irradiance Monitor and Spectral Irradiance Monitor
Launch:
early 2027, from New Zealand on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket
Orbit:
low Earth orbit
Record continued:
total solar irradiance since 1978; spectral since 2003
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the mission's name, Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor-2 (TSIS-2), its two instruments the Total Irradiance Monitor and the Spectral Irradiance Monitor, and its planned launch in early 2027 from New Zealand on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
TSIS-2 Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor-2 — A NASA spacecraft that will measure how much sunlight reaches the top of Earth's atmosphere and how it is spread across wavelengths.
Background
The Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols are the treaties that set limits on how a war may be fought. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which works to develop and promote this branch of law, places them at the core of international humanitarian law. They cover people who take no part in the fighting, such as civilians, medical staff and aid workers. They also cover those who can fight no longer, among them the wounded, the sick, the shipwrecked and prisoners of war. Additional Protocols were adopted later to widen that cover. The Red Cross has produced Commentaries on each Convention and keeps updating them, so that armies and courts read the rules the same way. The stated aim of the updated Commentaries is to show the law as it is understood today. Together the Conventions and the Protocols are what people mean when they say even war has rules.
Adopted:
1949
Body that writes the Commentaries:
International Committee of the Red Cross
Why it matters for exams: The body that writes the Commentaries on the Conventions, the branch of law they form the core of, and the groups they protect are all asked.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross — The Geneva-based body that produces the Commentaries on the Conventions and works to develop and promote humanitarian law.
IHL International humanitarian law — The body of law that regulates armed conflict and tries to limit its effects.
Background
The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, shortened to UNTOC, is the main international legal instrument against crime that crosses borders. The General Assembly adopted it through resolution 55/25 of 15 November 2000. It was opened for signature at a high-level political conference held at Palermo in Italy, and it entered into force on 29 September 2003. States that join accept both that organised criminal groups are a serious threat and that they must cooperate to stop them. Three supplementary Protocols sit beside the convention, each for a particular kind of crime. One is the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, the first global legally binding instrument to define that crime. Another is the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, which gives a common definition of migrant smuggling. The third is the Firearms Protocol, on the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, their parts and ammunition.
Adopted by:
UN General Assembly resolution 55/25
Opened at:
Palermo, Italy
In force:
29 September 2003
Why it matters for exams: The expansion of UNTOC, the city where it was opened for signature and the three Protocols attached to it are standard questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
UNTOC United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime — The main global treaty against crime that crosses national borders.
Protocol Supplementary agreement to a treaty — A separate text added to a treaty to deal with one subject in detail.
Background
Most countries answer a disease outbreak through a public health agency, and that body is the UK Health Security Agency, or UKHSA. Its purpose is stated very simply: to protect people from health threats. The threats it is given are wider than infection alone, covering chemicals, radiation, the health effects of climate change and environmental hazards including air quality. The agency offers scientific and operational leadership and works with local, national and international partners to build what it calls the nation's health security capability. Because health protection is largely a devolved subject, its remit for most purposes runs to England only. It does hold some responsibilities beyond England on matters where policy has not been devolved. Health threats cross internal borders, so it works closely with the administrations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and with their own public health bodies. Its status is that of an executive agency, and the department that sponsors it is Health and Social Care.
Sponsoring department:
Department of Health and Social Care
Main remit:
England, with some United Kingdom-wide responsibilities
Why it matters for exams: International health questions compare national agencies, and this one's sponsoring department and England-only remit are the facts that distinguish it.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
UKHSA UK Health Security Agency — Britain's agency for protecting people from infectious and environmental health threats.
Executive agency Executive agency — A body that carries out work for a British government department while keeping its own identity.
Devolved subject Devolved subject — A subject on which the Welsh, Scottish or Northern Ireland administrations decide for themselves.
Background
The joint communique of the United Nations Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council, published on 2 November after their meeting of 23 October 2026, sets out where the African Union mission in Somalia stands.
The mission is the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia, known by the short form AUSSOM.
The two councils welcomed the progress made against the armed group Al-Shabaab and paid tribute to the countries that contribute troops to the mission.
They stressed that the handover must be orderly and phased, with the Federal Government of Somalia taking responsibility for the country's security.
The financing of such missions is the harder question, and the councils said that any case-by-case authorisation under Security Council resolution 2719 should use a model that is adequate, predictable and sustainable.
Resolution 2719 is the framework under which United Nations assessed contributions may be used to support African Union-led peace support operations.
The same communique dealt with eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Sudan.
For South Sudan the councils affirmed the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict, the R-ARCSS, as the basis for the transitional government's legitimacy.
Mission:
AUSSOM, in Somalia
Financing framework:
Security Council resolution 2719
Why it matters for exams: AUSSOM is the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia, and Security Council resolution 2719 is the framework for financing African Union-led peace support operations.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
AUSSOM African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia — The African Union mission that supports Somali forces against the armed group Al-Shabaab.
R-ARCSS Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan — The peace agreement that underpins South Sudan's transitional government.