4 November 2026
The Great Unconformity is a vast erosion surface found on several continents, where very old rock lies directly under much younger rock. A new paper in the journal Nature argues that the gap was opened and then preserved by slow vertical motion of the continents themselves. The authors modelled long-wavelength dynamic topography, the gentle rise and fall of the crust caused by convection in the Earth's mantle. Their models predict long continental uplift in Neoproterozoic time and long subsidence later, for Laurentia, Baltica and North China. Uplift through Cryogenian time would have exposed the rock to heavy glacial erosion, and the later sinking buried and protected the surface. Because Laurentia is large and its edges were little deformed, the study says the surface survives best and is best documented there. The work also ties the surface to the environment just before the Cambrian explosion of animal life.
Journal:
Nature
Volume:
659
Continent where the surface is best preserved:
Laurentia
Proposed driver:
mantle convection
Why it matters for exams: Names the Great Unconformity and the mechanism now proposed for it, mantle-convection-driven dynamic topography, with Laurentia as the continent where it is best preserved, published in Nature volume 659.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Great Unconformity a widespread erosion surface separating very old rock from much younger rock — Seen on several continents and best documented in Laurentia.
4 November 2026
Direct imaging of planets around other stars needs the bright glare of the parent star to be removed from the picture. Standard methods build a model of that glare from reference images, so small shifts in the telescope between one observation and the next limit how faint a planet can be seen. A paper in the journal Nature sets out a physics-based method that models and compensates for those instrument instabilities instead. It couples a flexible physical model with multistep optimization, and uses automatic differentiation to fit millions of model parameters at once. The team demonstrated it on coronagraph observations from the James Webb Space Telescope's NIRCam instrument and reported sensitivity 2 to 15 times better than standard techniques, including the first detection of the planet 51 Eridani b at 4.3 micrometres. The authors say the framework can be carried over to ground-based and space-based observatories to come, including the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the Habitable Worlds Observatory. That would ease the very strict stability requirements such missions would otherwise need.
Journal:
Nature
Volume:
659
Telescope used for the demonstration:
James Webb Space Telescope
Instrument:
NIRCam
Computational technique:
automatic differentiation
Future observatory named:
Habitable Worlds Observatory
Why it matters for exams: Carries the James Webb Space Telescope and its NIRCam coronagraph, the technique of automatic differentiation, and the two future observatories named, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the Habitable Worlds Observatory, in Nature volume 659.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
coronagraph an instrument attachment that blocks a star's light so faint objects beside it can be seen — The method was tested on coronagraph data from NIRCam.
5 November 2026
Paraguay's President Santiago Peña announced his resignation on Thursday after the collapse of a bank he had held shares in. He said in a video message on social media that he was sorry if he had at any point failed the people, and said earlier that stepping down was to protect stability, social peace and democratic institutions. His resignation came as the lower house of Congress voted in favour of pursuing an impeachment trial, and Congress, which must approve a president's resignation, adjourned the special session called on it in favour of continuing with the impeachment process. Peña said he would appear for the Senate proceedings to exercise his right to a defence. The crisis began when Ueno Bank, a digital lender holding pensions and some other public funds, entered an insolvency process that froze all operations and left millions unable to reach their accounts; the central bank then seized it. The bank has said it has about three million customers, about 60% of Paraguay's adult population. The central bank has since been given a new president, and Congress has cleared the procedure for paying depositors back. Peña won election in 2023 for the ruling conservative Colorado Party, and Vice President Pedro Alliana is next in line for the presidency.
Country:
Paraguay
President who resigned:
Santiago Peña
Next in line for the presidency:
Pedro Alliana
Bank taken over by the central bank:
Ueno Bank
Customers of the bank:
three million
Ruling party:
Colorado Party
Why it matters for exams: Gives the office and holder, President Santiago Peña of Paraguay, his successor Vice President Pedro Alliana, the ruling Colorado Party, and the central bank takeover of Ueno Bank.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
impeachment a legislature's process for removing a holder of high office from his post — In Paraguay the lower house of Congress votes to put the president on trial.
5 November 2026
Cristiano Ronaldo has ended his international career with Portugal after 23 years in the national side. The 41-year-old leaves with 146 goals in 234 games, and his last appearance came against Wales. The announcement followed a falling out with the national coach, Jorge Jesus, over his leaving the team's training camp without permission. That earned him a sanction of 30 days, already served, and a fine of 255 euros; the coach kept him on the bench for one match and said he would not start the next, and Ronaldo went home. Portugal's football establishment thanked him for his years in the shirt and praised the part he has played in carrying the country's game abroad. He first came into the squad as a teenager under Luiz Felipe Scolari, who told him he would one day captain Portugal if he changed his attitude. His first great disappointment came at home, when Greece won the final of the European Championship at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon.
Country he played for:
Portugal
International goals:
146 goals
Internationals played:
234 games
Age at retirement:
41-year-old
National coach at the time:
Jorge Jesus
Length of international career:
23 years
Why it matters for exams: Carries the record itself, 146 international goals in 234 games for Portugal, the length of the career at 23 years, and the coach at the end, Jorge Jesus.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
international retirement a player's decision to stop playing for his national team while he may continue at club level — Ronaldo's step applies to the Portugal national side.
Background
Virunga National Park in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reported that laboratory tests confirmed anthrax, caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, in hippopotamus carcasses found in the Semuliki River. Park officials put the toll at 28 hippos over about a month, and said they are watching the area, disposing of carcasses safely and warning nearby residents not to touch or eat animals found dead. The park was founded in 1925 and is the oldest national park in Africa. UNESCO placed it on the World Heritage List in 1979 under the natural criteria (vii), (viii) and (x). Its habitats run from swamps and steppes to the snowfields of Rwenzori at over 5,000 m, and from lava plains to savannahs on the slopes of volcanoes. Mountain gorillas live in the park and birds from Siberia spend the winter there; UNESCO's description of the property speaks of some 20,000 hippopotamuses in its rivers, while the park's own census of February 2026 put the hippo population at more than 2,700 in 171 groups. The property has also been on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 1994, and UNESCO records it in the province of North-Kivu and Orientale province.
Country:
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Inscribed:
1979, criteria (vii)(viii)(x)
On the danger list since:
1994
Hippopotamus population (park census, February 2026):
More than 2,700 in 171 groups
Why it matters for exams: The country, province and World Heritage status of Virunga National Park, the Rwenzori snowfields inside it and its place on the danger list are the facts an examiner can take from an outbreak story.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSCBank
In plain words
List of World Heritage in Danger UNESCO's register of threatened World Heritage properties — A separate UNESCO list for World Heritage properties whose values are under threat.
Background
The United States Tsunami Warning System lists the LANTEX '26 exercise for the Atlantic coasts of the United States and Canada, set for 4 November, among its exercises. The system is run by the National Weather Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, under the United States Department of Commerce. Official tsunami warning in the United States began in 1949, after the tsunami generated in the Aleutian Islands in 1946 devastated Hilo. The centre was placed beside the Honolulu Geomagnetic Observatory in Hawaii, and part of that facility is still maintained by its staff. After the Chilean earthquake and tsunami of 1960, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission set up the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in 1968, and the United States offered its Hawaii centre as the operational headquarters of that system, renaming it the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. A second observatory was built at Palmer in Alaska after the great Alaskan earthquake of 1964, and the Alaska Regional Tsunami Warning System became operational in 1967. That centre, long called the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center, was renamed the National Tsunami Warning Center in 2013.
Run by:
NOAA National Weather Service
Pacific centre:
Hawaii
National centre:
Palmer, Alaska
Warning began:
1949
Why it matters for exams: The agency that runs the United States tsunami warning centres, the states they sit in and the UNESCO commission behind the Pacific system are the durable facts behind any tsunami drill story.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSCBank
In plain words
LANTEX the Atlantic tsunami warning exercise — A periodic communications drill for the Atlantic coasts of the United States and Canada.
Background
UN Women has said it will release its main report on 10 November at the climate conference in Antalya. The report is titled Progress of the World's Women 2026, with the subtitle Gender Equality in the Age of Climate Crisis. The report asks who is driving the climate crisis, who carries its costs, and what a transition that is both green and fair would need. UN Women itself was created in July 2010 by the United Nations General Assembly, as part of the reform of the United Nations. Its full name is the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. It was formed by merging four parts of the United Nations that had worked only on women and gender: the Division for the Advancement of Women, the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, and the United Nations Development Fund for Women. Its stated jobs are to support inter-governmental bodies in framing global standards, to help member countries put those standards into practice, and to lead and co-ordinate the work of the United Nations on gender equality. Progress of the World's Women is one of its regular publications, alongside its annual reports.
Created by:
United Nations General Assembly, July 2010
Offices merged:
4
Main report:
Progress of the World's Women
Why it matters for exams: The publisher of Progress of the World's Women, UN Women's full name, the United Nations body that created it and the four offices merged into it are all drawn on in reports-and-indices questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSCBank
In plain words
UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women — One of the four bodies merged to create UN Women.
Background
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International Ski and Snowboard Federation issued a joint report from Geneva on weather and climate services for ski resorts. WMO is the authoritative voice in the United Nations system on the state of the Earth's atmosphere, its link with land and oceans, and the water resources that follow from it. It has 194 Members, made up of 188 Member States and 6 Territories that run their own weather services. Its Members work through their National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, and WMO sets the rules for the free exchange of weather data in real time or close to it. Four kinds of body make it up: the World Meteorological Congress, an Executive Council, six Regional Associations and two Technical Commissions. The two commissions are the Infrastructure Commission and the Services Commission. A Secretariat with four regional offices supports all of this work.
Members:
194 (188 Member States and 6 Territories)
Regional Associations:
six
Technical Commissions:
two
Headquarters:
Geneva, Switzerland
Why it matters for exams: WMO's membership figure, its four main bodies and the national weather services it works through are standard questions whenever a WMO report is in the news.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSCBank
In plain words
NMHS National Meteorological and Hydrological Service — The weather and water service each WMO Member runs at home; India's is the India Meteorological Department.
Background
A status report on the Global Ocean Observing System was released on 5 November, setting out what the system now measures and where it still falls short. The Global Ocean Observing System, known as GOOS, is led by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. Its operational centre is called OceanOPS, which is supported jointly by the World Meteorological Organization and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. OceanOPS helps put the observing system in place and keeps watch on how the observing networks are performing. At present 67 countries take physical and biogeochemical measurements at sea, through the 17 GOOS networks that OceanOPS monitors, and satellites add readings from space. Those observations feed weather forecasting, climate monitoring, coastal risk management and biodiversity work. The report says observing capacity is spread unevenly, and that better long-term coverage is needed in the Southern Ocean, the polar regions, the deep ocean and many coastal areas, especially in developing countries and small island developing states.
Led by:
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO
Operational centre:
OceanOPS
Observing networks:
17
Contributing countries:
67
Why it matters for exams: Which UNESCO commission leads GOOS, the name of its operational centre, the two organisations behind that centre and the number of its observing networks are the durable facts here.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSCBank
In plain words
OceanOPS the operational centre of the Global Ocean Observing System — It is supported jointly by the World Meteorological Organization and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
Background
The International Court of Justice announced on 3 November that it will deliver its judgment on Thursday 19 November at 10 in the morning in The Gambia's case against Myanmar. The Gambia instituted the proceedings on 11 November 2019, and eleven other States have since intervened. The dispute is brought under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and the basis of the Court's jurisdiction is Article IX of it, the clause that allows a dispute between parties to that treaty to be put before the Court. An earlier judgment of 22 July 2022 on preliminary objections held that the Court could hear the claim and that the claim was admissible. The public sittings, including the hearings on the merits that ended in January, were held at the Peace Palace. Witness affidavits and a written statement by an expert were also filed by the parties.
Jurisdiction clause:
Article IX of the Convention
Application filed:
11 November 2019
Intervening States:
11
Sittings held at:
Peace Palace
Why it matters for exams: Article IX of the Genocide Convention as the jurisdiction clause, the Peace Palace as the seat of the Court's sittings and the fact that only States appear in such cases are the durable points behind this case.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSCBank
In plain words
Preliminary objections objections to the Court hearing a case at all — A respondent State can argue that the Court has no jurisdiction or that the claim is inadmissible before the merits are reached.
Background
The SKA Observatory, SKAO for short, is an intergovernmental organisation that brings together nations from around the world, and its two radio telescopes are being built now. Its stated mission is to build and run cutting-edge radio telescopes, to change what is known about the Universe, and to bring gains to society by working across borders. Its Global Headquarters are in the United Kingdom, on the Jodrell Bank site in Cheshire, beside the Jodrell Bank Observatory and Centre for Engagement of the University of Manchester, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Once in operation it will be a single global observatory running two telescopes on three continents for its Member States and partners. The SKA-Low telescope is in Australia, where its Science Operations Centre is at Perth and its Engineering Operations Centre at Geraldton in Western Australia. The SKA-Mid telescope is in South Africa, with the Science Operations Centre at Cape Town and the Engineering Operations Centre at Klerefontein near Carnarvon in the Northern Cape province. The two telescopes are made up of hundreds of dishes and thousands of antennas respectively, and each is supported by a Science Operations Centre and an Engineering Operations Centre in its host country.
Status:
intergovernmental organisation
Global Headquarters:
Jodrell Bank
Telescope in Australia:
SKA-Low
Telescope in South Africa:
SKA-Mid
Why it matters for exams: What SKAO is, where its headquarters sit, and which of its two telescopes is in Australia and which in South Africa are the facts a paper can ask about the largest radio astronomy project being built.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSCBank
In plain words
Science Operations Centre the centre that runs observations — Each SKAO telescope has one, alongside an Engineering Operations Centre, in its host country.