NASA has announced the $1 million Moon Base Student Challenge, opened at a MAX POWER event at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. The multiphase competition asks student teams from United States high schools and post-secondary schools to propose designs for NASA's Moon Base, a base planned at the lunar South Pole. Six fields are open to the teams, who prepare trade studies, concept proposals and briefings: making and storing power; construction; keeping crews alive; moving about on the surface; communications networks; and the safety of astronauts. No prior specialised engineering experience is needed, and technical, vocational and academic tracks can all enter. Registration runs through the NASA STEM Gateway until 25 January 2027. NASA's Office of STEM Engagement designed the challenge with the Moon Base Program, and the Institute of Competition Sciences administers it under the NASA Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Moon Base Program manager Carlos Garcia-Galan and Office of STEM Engagement associate administrator Elaine Ho are quoted in the release.
Prize pool:$1 millionWhere the base is planned:the lunar South PoleChallenge areas:six, from power and construction to astronaut safetyLaunch venue:Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida
Why it matters for exams: NASA's Moon Base is planned at the lunar South Pole and the challenge runs through its Office of STEM Engagement - the programme, the place and the administering office are all askable facts.
The thirty-first Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has opened at Antalya on Türkiye's Mediterranean coast. Türkiye's Environment Minister Murat Kurum took over as COP31 President on the opening day. Australia's Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen oversees the negotiations under a co-presidency arrangement agreed at COP30. Nearly 200 countries are taking part and more than 90,000 people are expected, with the conference due to close on 20 November. Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, said progress is nowhere near far enough or fair enough and urged countries to move from targets to delivery. The opening day was Food, Agriculture and Health Day; food and agriculture account for roughly one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, and countries are reviewing the Sharm el-Sheikh programme on agriculture and food security. Climate finance is expected to be the hardest issue, with developing countries seeking faster access to money for adaptation.
COP31 President:Murat Kurum, Environment Minister of TürkiyeClosing date:20 NovemberExpected participants:more than 90,000
Why it matters for exams: COP31 is presided over by Türkiye's Murat Kurum with Australia's Chris Bowen leading negotiations under a co-presidency; Simon Stiell is Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change and the Sharm el-Sheikh programme covers agriculture and food security.
The World Health Organization has launched a measles-rubella vaccination campaign in southern Yemen. It targets more than 957,196 children aged 6 to 59 months across eleven governorates. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is funding the drive. The campaign will deploy 2,291 vaccination teams, of which 643 are fixed teams at health facilities and 1,648 are mobile teams working in communities. Special attention will go to recently displaced families living at displacement sites and to other underserved areas, with mobile teams reaching remote and hard-to-access communities. WHO notes that measles remains a major cause of child deaths worldwide and that rubella can cause serious birth defects. Dr Syed Jaffar Hussain, the WHO Representative in Yemen, said every child deserves protection from vaccine-preventable diseases.
Children targeted:more than 957,196Age group:6 to 59 monthsVaccination teams:2,291 (643 fixed, 1,648 mobile)
Why it matters for exams: Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is the global body that funds immunisation in poorer countries; the campaign covers children aged 6 to 59 months in eleven governorates of Yemen, whose capital is Sana'a.
The International Organization for Migration says at least 56 people died in shipwrecks over one weekend off Senegal and Greece. At least 34 died when a migrant boat overturned off north-western Senegal near Loumpoul, between Dakar and Saint-Louis, and only one survivor was rescued. At least 22 died in two separate incidents south of Crete, in boats that had left eastern Libya. In one, Greek authorities rescued 28 Sudanese migrants and recovered eight bodies; in the other, a cargo ship spotted a vessel in distress, 18 people were rescued and 14 bodies were recovered. IOM has recorded at least 454 deaths and disappearances on the Western African Atlantic Route so far this year, and says these are minimum estimates. IOM Director General Amy Pope said smuggling networks profit from desperation.
Deaths in the weekend:at least 56Deaths off Senegal:at least 34Route deaths this year:at least 454
Why it matters for exams: IOM is the UN migration agency, headed by Director General Amy Pope; the Western African Atlantic Route runs from West Africa to the Canary Islands and IOM's Missing Migrants data is cited in Geography and current affairs.
Roughly 50,000 people have crossed from Ethiopia into the Moyale area of northern Kenya since late October after violent clashes. The International Organization for Migration and its partners are seeking urgent funding. A rapid assessment of 758 households was carried out by Kenyan authorities with support from IOM, other UN agencies and non-government organisations. It found that 96 per cent of the households surveyed had fled mainly from Ethiopia's Oromia and Somali regions, and nine in ten said their entire village had fled. Seventy-one per cent do not have enough to eat and 80 per cent say food is their most urgent need, while 44 per cent lack enough drinking water. More than half of the arrivals are children, many under five. Most are staying with relatives or host families in Moyale, while others are in schools, temporary sites or sleeping outdoors. Nomagugu Ncube, IOM Kenya Chief of Mission, said families face serious shortages of food, water and shelter.
People crossed:roughly 50,000 since late OctoberHouseholds surveyed:758Say food is the top need:80 per cent
Why it matters for exams: Moyale sits on the Ethiopia-Kenya border; the arrivals came mainly from Ethiopia's Oromia and Somali regions, and IOM led the rapid assessment with Kenyan authorities.
Heavy rain and strong winds struck Gaza from Friday night and through the weekend, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has put out an update with data to 8 November. Five people, including three children, were killed when a sand dune collapsed onto tents at the Al Berka Reservoir west of Deir Al Balah, and an infant drowned. About 1.4 million people, roughly 65 per cent of the population, live in tents or makeshift shelters. More than 6,000 family shelters were destroyed and 17,400 damaged, water reached 1.5 metres in places, and all five Gaza governorates were affected. Civil defence received 2,166 distress calls and could respond to 218. At least 55 learning spaces serving about 55,000 children were flooded, and mine action partners warned that floodwater could expose or move explosive ordnance. Humanitarian stocks of tents and tarpaulins inside Gaza are nearly exhausted, while more than 150,000 tents are stored outside, including about 117,000 held by the Egyptian Relief Committee at Al-Arish.
Shelters destroyed:more than 6,000Shelters damaged:17,400Living in tents or makeshift shelters:about 1.4 million, roughly 65 per cent
Why it matters for exams: OCHA is the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; Gaza has five governorates, and Deir Al Balah and Al-Arish in Egypt are the places named in the flood response.
At a High-Level Roundtable on Advancing Health in the Global Climate Agenda at Antalya, the World Health Organization set out how health has entered climate diplomacy. Türkiye has launched the Antalya Initiative for Health Resilience as the COP31 host. The WHO Director-General traced a chain running back through five presidencies. The Belém Health Action Plan was Brazil's contribution, and the Baku COP Presidencies Coalition for Climate and Health was set up by Azerbaijan. A first Health Day at a COP came from the United Arab Emirates, while nutrition was tied to the climate question by Egypt. Earliest of the five was the United Kingdom, whose commitments on health systems low in carbon and able to stand the climate grew into the WHO Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health. WHO asked that the Alliance, the Belém plan and the Antalya Initiative work as one system for making and reporting commitments, and that presidencies get health into negotiated text and into climate finance. Ethiopia, which will host COP32, is the next partner WHO named.
New initiative:Antalya Initiative for Health Resilience (Türkiye)Next host:Ethiopia, for COP32
Why it matters for exams: ATACH is the WHO Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health; the Belém Health Action Plan came from Brazil's presidency, the Antalya Initiative for Health Resilience from Türkiye's, and Ethiopia will host COP32.
A new report by the International Fund for Agricultural Development says El Nino could cost the global economy up to 11 trillion dollars and damage food security. The report treats El Nino as one of several overlapping climate and economic shocks hitting small-scale food producers and rural economies. It notes that global energy and fertiliser shocks raised food system costs within a single planting season, from production through transport and distribution. IFAD President Alvaro Lario said resilience is not built by investing in single interventions. Its modelling puts a number on the difference. Where a farmer is given money help on its own, insurance for instance, the drop in farm income is held back by 9.8 per cent. Bring inputs, market access and money together and that figure roughly doubles, to 18.7 per cent, which is what counts when a drought and a price shock arrive in the same season. The report recommends bundled investments that give farmers access to markets, inputs, technologies and financial services including credit and weather insurance.
Possible global cost:up to $11 trillionLoss cut by finance alone:9.8 per centLoss cut by bundled investment:18.7 per cent
Why it matters for exams: IFAD is the UN's rural poverty and agriculture fund, headed by President Alvaro Lario; its report puts El Nino's possible cost at up to 11 trillion dollars and measures bundled versus single interventions.
The United Nations Security Council met on Ukraine as strikes on the country's energy system continued. UN figures put civilian casualties in September at 328 killed and 2,105 injured, an 85 per cent rise on the same month a year earlier. In October the capital's three biggest generating plants were hit, and 600,000 people in Kyiv lost supply. The UN's warning is that millions now face a winter that is cold and dark once again. At least 43 people were killed when bombs hit an aid shelter at Komyshuvakha in the Zaporizhzhia region on 2 November. Attacks on Black Sea shipping are also threatening navigation and global food supplies. The meeting came on the eve of talks with Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, scheduled for 10 and 11 November with the United States as mediator.
Civilians killed in September:328Civilians injured in September:2,105Left without power in Kyiv:600,000
Why it matters for exams: The UN Security Council is the organ charged with international peace and security; the figures of 328 civilians killed and 2,105 injured in a month, and the Komyshuvakha strike in Zaporizhzhia, are the durable facts here.
A new report from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) puts the possible cost of El Niño to the world economy at as much as $11 trillion. IFAD, the UN agency that works on rural poverty in developing countries, released it on Monday. It sees El Niño as one shock among many, climatic and economic, that are piling up on small-scale food producers. It notes that energy and fertiliser shocks in 2026 raised costs across food systems within a single planting season. IFAD wants bundled investments that link farmers to markets, inputs, technology and finance, including credit and weather insurance. In its modelling, financial support alone, such as insurance, trims farm-income losses by 9.8 per cent; a package of inputs, markets and finance trims them by 18.7 per cent. IFAD President Alvaro Lario said resilience comes from connecting investments rather than funding single interventions.
Possible cost of El Niño:$11 trillionLoss cut by financial support alone:9.8 per centLoss cut by bundled investments:18.7 per cent
Why it matters for exams: IFAD, the UN agency on rural poverty, and its reports on climate shocks such as El Niño are standard UN-agency questions in UPSC and bank exams.
Ana Brnabic, outgoing speaker of the Serbian parliament, said on Sunday that the National Assembly chosen last month will first sit on November 17. In the October 25 election, the Student List won 140 of the 250 seats, an absolute majority. The alliance led by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of former President Aleksandar Vucic won 103 seats, and lists of national minorities took the other seven. The final results report was approved by the Republic Electoral Commission on November 5. Until a speaker is elected, the oldest member, Stojan Radenovic, will chair the session. Once the Assembly is constituted, it has up to 90 days to elect a new government. The Student List grew out of protests after a railway station canopy collapsed in November 2024, killing 16 people.
Student List seats:140Total seats:250Time to elect a government:90 days
Why it matters for exams: A new majority in a European parliament, the name and size of that legislature and the country's capital are standard world-affairs questions.
The 2026 Booker Prize has gone to The End of Everything, by the British writer M John Harrison. At 81, he is the oldest winner in the history of the prize. The award was announced on Monday at a ceremony at Old Billingsgate in London, and it carries £50,000. The book, his 13th, takes place in a Britain of the near future after a catastrophe, where a beach scavenger named Phillip Tennent finds strange objects left by beings called the iGhetti. Many critics read it as an allegory for artificial intelligence, though Harrison has said the 2008 financial crisis sparked the plot. He was chosen from 163 submissions, cut to a longlist of 13 and a shortlist of six. Harrison coined the term New Weird for a strand of speculative fiction, and this was his first Booker nomination.
Winning novel:The End of EverythingPrize money:£50,000Submissions:163 submissions
Why it matters for exams: The Booker Prize, its latest winner and winning novel, and records such as the oldest winner are among the most asked awards questions.
This background note explains the numbers behind the COP31 climate talks that have opened at Antalya. Global greenhouse gas emissions in 2025 reached 54.1 billion tonnes, 0.7 per cent higher than 2024 and 68.5 per cent above 1990, according to data from the European Commission's Joint Research Centre and the International Energy Agency. Emissions stood at about 23 billion tonnes in 1970. Carbon dioxide made up 73.8 per cent of the 2025 total, methane 17.6 per cent, nitrous oxide 5.3 per cent and fluorinated gases 3.3 per cent. By sector, power generation accounted for nearly 30 per cent, industry 21 per cent, transport 16 per cent, agriculture 12 per cent, extraction of coal, oil and gas 11 per cent, buildings 6.6 per cent and waste 3.6 per cent. China was the largest emitter at almost 16 billion tonnes, or 29.5 per cent, followed by the United States at 6.02 billion tonnes, or 11.1 per cent. On cumulative carbon dioxide since the mid-eighteenth century, the Global Carbon Budget puts the United States at 23.5 per cent and China at 15.4 per cent.
Total emissions in 2025:54.1 billion tonnesShare of carbon dioxide:73.8 per centLargest emitter:China, 29.5 per cent
Why it matters for exams: The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission and the International Energy Agency are the sources for annual emissions data, while the Global Carbon Budget gives cumulative carbon dioxide; power generation is the largest emitting sector.