7 November 2026
Israel's President Isaac Herzog has picked Gadi Eisenkot, the leader of the Yashar party and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's strongest rival, to try to form the next government after an election that left neither man with a clear path. Eisenkot, a former military chief, received the most endorsements from members of parliament, including from Arab parties whose support he has refused to take into a coalition. Netanyahu's religious-nationalist coalition lost its majority but remains the largest bloc in parliament. Under the rules, Eisenkot has 28 days to put a government together, with a possible extension of 14 days. If he fails, another candidate may try, and if that fails parliament may nominate a third; the whole process has an outer limit of about 100 days before a fresh election. The President's role in Israel is largely ceremonial, and nominating a candidate to form a coalition after an election is its main political function.
President of Israel:
Isaac Herzog
Nominee:
Gadi Eisenkot
Time to form a government:
28 days
Possible extension:
14-day extension
Party led by the nominee:
Yashar party
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are that Isaac Herzog is the President of Israel, that the President nominates the candidate to form a coalition, and that the nominee gets 28 days with a possible 14-day extension.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Knesset Knesset — The parliament of Israel, which has 120 members.
7 November 2026
Pope Leo XIV has celebrated his first Mass in Uruguay at Paris London Park in the western city of Paysandu, about 375 km from the capital, Montevideo. The Vatican said some 40,000 people attended. More than 30,000 had registered in advance, many of them travelling from neighbouring Argentina and Brazil, and the Vatican said another 10,000 turned up despite morning rain and grey skies. The head of the Roman Catholic Church urged the crowd to be bridge builders and to share the joy of their faith. In his sermon he drew on the nearby General Artigas International Bridge, which connects Uruguay and Argentina. The Mass is part of the Pope's tour of South America.
City of the Mass:
Paysandu
Attendance:
some 40,000
Capital of Uruguay:
Montevideo
Bridge in the sermon:
General Artigas International Bridge
Why it matters for exams: Montevideo is the capital of Uruguay, Paysandu is the western city where the Mass was held, and the General Artigas International Bridge links Uruguay with Argentina.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Mass Mass — The central act of worship in the Roman Catholic Church.
7 November 2026
United States Central Command says one of its aircraft struck and disabled a cargo ship that was attempting to run the naval blockade of Iran. The vessel was flagged in St. Kitts and was leaving regional waters after calling at an Iranian port. Precision munitions were used on its stern, and the crew had first been warned to clear the parts of the ship that would be hit. The command also said it is setting up a task force to stop advanced weapons and other sanctioned material moving across Iran's land borders and through the Caspian Sea. It put the effect of the months-long blockade at more than 25 billion dollars of crude oil that Iran has been kept from exporting. The Gulf of Oman joins the Arabian Sea to the Strait of Hormuz, through which a large share of seaborne oil passes. Tehran has said it would answer broadly against Gulf infrastructure, which has put states in the region on alert.
Command involved:
Central Command
Waters:
Gulf of Oman
Flag of the vessel:
St. Kitts
Sea named for the task force:
Caspian Sea
Crude exports blocked:
$25 billion
Why it matters for exams: Central Command is the United States military command for West Asia, and the Gulf of Oman, the Strait of Hormuz and the Caspian Sea are the geography an examiner tests from this story.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
CENTCOM United States Central Command — The American military command whose area covers West Asia and Central Asia.
7 November 2026
Tens of thousands of people protested across France for a fourth weekend in a row against the government, with the turnout put at more than 140,000. The demonstrations came days after an estimated 575,000 people joined a rally called by trade unions. About 70,000 security personnel were deployed around the country. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the authorities were prepared for anyone who turned to rioting or looting. Police and a section of the crowd came into conflict in the capital, Paris, although fewer people took part than in earlier weeks. Tear gas was used in Paris and in Lyon. The protests are aimed at the cost of living and at rising fuel prices.
Weekend turnout:
More than 140,000
Union rally turnout:
575,000 people
Security personnel deployed:
About 70,000
Interior Minister:
Laurent Nunez
Why it matters for exams: The Interior Minister of France is Laurent Nunez, and the trade union rally of about 575,000 and the weekend turnout of more than 140,000 are the two figures that mark the scale of the agitation.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Interior Minister Minister of the Interior — The minister in charge of policing and internal security in France.
6 November 2026
The United States has put up a reward of as much as 20 million dollars, with relocation also on offer, for information on Iran's nuclear programme. What is sought takes in the programme's facilities, its equipment and the people tied to it, among them members of the scientific community. The offer runs through Rewards for Justice, a programme of the State Department, and was made public by United States Central Command. Rewards for Justice was established in 1984 within the department's national security rewards programme, which pays for information that protects American lives and interests. The department tied the offer to Iran's failure to meet safeguards obligations before the International Atomic Energy Agency, which it said has cost the agency what it calls continuity of knowledge about Iran's production and stock of key components such as centrifuges. No test was set out for what information would earn the full sum. The offer comes in the eighth month of the war, with Washington saying Tehran now wants a deal to end it.
Reward offered:
$20 million
Programme:
Rewards for Justice
Department running it:
State Department
Nuclear watchdog named:
International Atomic Energy Agency
Why it matters for exams: Rewards for Justice is the State Department's national security rewards programme, and the International Atomic Energy Agency is the body that runs safeguards inspections on nuclear material.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency — The United Nations body that applies safeguards to nuclear material and reports on compliance.
Background
IMO keeps more than 50 international conventions and agreements up to date. In the older conventions an amendment needed acceptance by a percentage of the Contracting States, usually two thirds, which held it up for years. A new amendment procedure was devised in IMO to cure that delay. Under tacit acceptance an amendment enters into force on a set date unless objections arrive from a specified number of Parties before then. An amendment to most of the Annexes of the SOLAS convention counts as accepted two years after it reaches the Contracting Governments in question. A rejection works only where more than one third of Contracting Governments object, or where the objectors own not less than 50 per cent of the gross merchant tonnage of the world. A change to that two-year period rests with the Maritime Safety Committee, subject to a minimum limit of one year. Amendments on this route enter into force within 18 to 24 months instead of waiting for enough acceptances.
The conventions and agreements maintained:
more than 50
The deemed acceptance period under SOLAS:
two years
The objection threshold:
more than one third
The tonnage threshold:
50 per cent
The time taken to enter into force:
18 to 24 months
Why it matters for exams: The tacit acceptance procedure is how amendments to SOLAS, and to MARPOL, come to bind Contracting Governments without a fresh round of ratification, which is a standing question on treaty machinery.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
The initiative route lets EU citizens ask the Commission to propose EU legislation. The group of organisers must have at least 7 EU citizens who live in 7 different EU countries. Once an initiative has been registered by the Commission, the collecting of signatures can begin. The reply on a request to register comes within 2 months, or in some cases 4 months. These organisers then need backing from at least 1 million EU citizens, with a threshold to clear in at least 7 EU countries. The collecting period runs for 12 months from a kick-off date, which must fall at the latest 6 months from registration. It is then for national authorities to check the statements of support, and they get another 3 months for that work. Within 6 months of a valid submission the Commission sets out what action it will propose, and the European Parliament can hold a public hearing.
The support needed:
at least 1 million
The countries where a threshold must be cleared:
at least 7 EU countries
The time allowed to collect:
12 months
The time the Commission takes to reply on registration:
2 months
Why it matters for exams: The thresholds of 1 million signatures and 7 EU countries, with 12 months to collect them, are the durable facts an examiner asks about the European citizens initiative.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
Each State Party has the right to ask for an on-site challenge inspection, to be conducted anywhere without delay, of any facility or location in the territory of another State Party or in any other place under the control or jurisdiction of it. A request of that kind reaches the Executive Council and the Director-General together, for processing at once. The inspection mandate is then issued by the Director-General, and the inspected State Party learns of the request not less than 12 hours before its team is due at the point of entry. The Executive Council has only 12 hours after it receives the request to stop the inspection, and it needs a three-quarter majority of all its members to do so. Neither the requesting nor the inspected State Party takes part in that vote. A refusal is open to the Council where it treats the request as frivolous, abusive or clearly beyond the scope of the Convention as described in paragraph 8. A State Party asked for clarification must answer not later than 10 days after the request. If an abuse is found, the Council looks at whether the cost of the inspection should fall on the State Party that asked for it.
The notice to the inspected State Party:
not less than 12 hours
The window for the Council to refuse:
not later than 12 hours
The vote needed to refuse:
three-quarter majority
The deadline to answer a clarification request:
10 days
Why it matters for exams: The challenge inspection route, with its 12-hour notice and the three-quarter majority needed to refuse it, is the enforcement machinery an examiner asks about when the chemical weapons ban comes up.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf exists to settle one narrow question. Under the Convention a coastal State fixes the outer limits of its continental shelf where it runs beyond 200 nautical miles, on the basis of the recommendation that the Commission makes. The provisions that govern the Commission sit in Annex II to the Convention itself. In article 3 of that Annex its functions are to consider data submitted by coastal States and to make recommendations in accordance with article 76. The Commission also gives scientific and technical advice where the coastal State asks for it during preparation of the data. Under article 76(8) a limit set on the basis of these recommendations is final and binding. The Commission sits at United Nations Headquarters in New York, and its sessions need the approval of the General Assembly, given in its yearly resolution on oceans and on the law of the sea. Under its own Rules of Procedure, Rule 23 keeps the meetings of the Commission and of its subcommissions in private unless it rules otherwise. The recommendations of the Commission do not prejudice how a boundary between States with opposite or adjacent coasts is delimited.
The distance beyond which it acts:
200 nautical miles
The status of a limit set on its recommendation:
final and binding
The rule that keeps its meetings private:
Rule 23
The part of the Convention that governs it:
Annex II
Why it matters for exams: The rule that a shelf limit fixed on a recommendation of the Commission is final and binding, while the recommendation does not prejudice the boundary between neighbours, is the durable fact behind questions on the continental shelf.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
Dispute settlement is the central pillar of the trading rules the WTO administers. A dispute begins when one member adopts a trade policy measure that another treats as breaking the WTO agreements. The first ruling in a case comes from a panel, and the full membership then endorses it. Appeals are possible on points of law. In the agreed timetable consultations take about 60 days, the panel is set up in 45 days, and the final panel report reaches the parties in 6 months. A case that runs its full course to a first ruling should not normally take more than about one year, and 15 months if the case is appealed. The losing side can no longer block a ruling, because a ruling now stands unless there is a consensus to reject it. The agreement behind all of this is called the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes, a text usually shortened to its initials.
The consultation stage:
60 days
The stage for setting up a panel:
45 days
The final panel report to the parties:
6 months
The total without an appeal:
1 year
The appeals report stage:
60-90 days
Why it matters for exams: The route from consultations to a panel and then to an appeal, and the rule that a ruling stands unless there is a consensus to reject it, is the durable fact behind every world trade dispute question.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
The International Health Regulations (2005) are a binding international legal agreement involving 196 countries, including all the Member States of WHO itself. A public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, is an extraordinary event that carries a public health risk to other States because disease is crossing the national border of the State concerned. The Emergency Committee is drawn from international experts who advise the WHO Director-General on whether such an event exists. Members come from the IHR Experts Roster, and at least one member should be an expert nominated by the State Party in whose territory the event arises. A final determination of a PHEIC, and of the Temporary Recommendations that go with it, is made by the Director-General alone. Under the IHR (2005) a Temporary Recommendation lapses three months after it is issued, so the Committee is reconvened at least every 3 months. Emergency Committees then review whether the event still amounts to a public health emergency of international concern. The statement from each Committee meeting goes up on the WHO website.
Countries bound:
196 countries
Temporary Recommendations lapse after:
three months
Committee reconvened at least every:
3 months
Why it matters for exams: The IHR (2005) bind 196 countries and the Director-General alone makes the final determination of a PHEIC, which is the durable fact behind every world health scare question.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
The activities of ESA fall into two categories, mandatory and optional. Programmes under the General Budget, and those under the Space Science programme budget, are the mandatory ones. The mandatory side covers basic activities, among them technology research, shared technical investments and training programmes. The scale of payment for these is set by the Gross National Product (GNP) of every Member State that belongs to it. Optional programmes interest only some of the Member States, which are free to choose their level of involvement. Earth observation, telecommunications, satellite navigation and space transportation sit on the optional side. Optional contributions also pay for the International Space Station and for microgravity research. A government that stays out of an optional programme pays nothing towards it.
The two categories of activity:
mandatory and optional
The budgets on the mandatory side:
the General Budget and the Space Science programme budget
The basis of the mandatory contribution scale:
Gross National Product (GNP)
Why it matters for exams: The split between mandatory programmes funded on Gross National Product (GNP) and optional programmes each Member State chooses is the durable fact behind questions on how European space missions are paid for.
Kerala PSCUPSC