The World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization, together with Lebanon's Ministry of Agriculture, have put out an analysis of food security in the country. It finds that more than one million people now face acute food shortages, and that the figure is expected to reach 1.15 million by the middle of 2027. The analysis points to two conflicts in under two years, loss of employment, exhausted savings, heavy household debt and rising prices of food and fuel. The World Food Programme's representative and country director in Lebanon is Allison Oman Lawi, and Lebanon's Agriculture Minister is Nizar Hani, who asked for a coordinated national response. The WFP is the food assistance arm of the United Nations and is headquartered at Rome, as is the FAO.
People facing acute food insecurity:more than 1 millionShare of the population:nearly a quarterProjected figure by mid-2027:1.15 million
Why it matters for exams: Names the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization, both headquartered at Rome, as the UN agencies behind the Lebanon food security analysis.
The Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Luke J. Lindberg, briefed the foreign ministers of the Group of Seven at their meeting in Paris. He was the only outside participant invited to brief the ministers, at the invitation of France, which holds the G7 Presidency. He set out his priorities, including an end to the use of food as a weapon, an end to attacks on humanitarian workers and an end to famine, and told ministers that conflict is the leading driver of food insecurity. He said supply chain efficiencies at the agency produced 200 million dollars in verified savings in a year, which let it reach an additional 1.2 million people each month, and that more than 266 million people worldwide face acute hunger. Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Haiti and Palestine were named as pilot operations.
People facing acute hunger:more than 266 millionVerified supply chain savings:US$200 million in a yearG7 Presidency:France
Why it matters for exams: Fixes Luke J. Lindberg as Executive Director of the World Food Programme and France as the holder of the G7 Presidency.
The European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft has started flying a series of rectangular orbits around the binary asteroid Didymos and its moonlet Dimorphos. The spacecraft fires its thrusters to turn ninety degrees on a cycle of three days and then four, so that a failed firing would carry it away from the asteroids rather than into them. It is holding a distance of about 25 to 30 kilometres and moving at roughly 12 centimetres a second around the common centre of gravity of the pair. Didymos is about 780 metres across and Dimorphos about 151 metres. Hera is the agency's first planetary defence mission and is studying the site where the American DART spacecraft struck Dimorphos and shortened its orbit by about 33 minutes. The early characterisation phase has begun, to be followed by a detailed phase using hyperbolic arcs from about 20 kilometres out, and Hera will later release two small CubeSats. Flight control is at the agency's operations centre at Darmstadt in Germany, working across 196.5 million kilometres through four 35-metre deep space antennas in Argentina, Spain and Australia.
Diameter of Didymos:about 780 mDiameter of Dimorphos:about 151 mThruster turn cycle:90 degrees every three then four days
Why it matters for exams: Names Hera as the European Space Agency's first planetary defence mission and fixes Didymos and Dimorphos as the DART impact target.
The Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, Celeste Saulo, presented the State of the Climate Update to the Leaders' Summit of the climate conference at Antalya. She said Earth's energy imbalance is at its highest since monitoring of it began in 1960, that ocean heat and sea level are at record highs, that ice is retreating and that freshwater reserves are shrinking. Carbon dioxide is more than 50 per cent above pre-industrial levels, methane has nearly tripled and nitrous oxide is up by more than a quarter, with all three still rising. For the first nine months of this year the global average temperature was about 1.47 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. She also said the number of countries with early warning systems has more than doubled in ten years, and that disaster deaths are six times lower where those systems are strong. The summit was convened by the President of Türkiye on the theme Towards a Sustainable, Resilient and Equitable Future, with Australia sharing the conference presidency.
Global average temperature, first nine months:about 1.47 degrees C above pre-industrialCarbon dioxide above pre-industrial levels:more than 50 per centSummit theme:Towards a Sustainable, Resilient and Equitable Future
Why it matters for exams: Fixes Celeste Saulo as Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization and names the State of the Climate Update as its report to the summit.
Addressing world leaders at the climate conference in Antalya, the United Nations Secretary-General asked the UN Environment Programme to draw up one worldwide rule book under which oil and gas operations would run at close to zero methane release. Methane is the second largest contributor to warming after carbon dioxide, and the oil and gas industry releases it through leaks, venting and the burning off of unwanted gas at wells. A single global standard would set out how companies must measure, report and verify what they release, which is the step that makes a cut in emissions checkable rather than merely promised. The Secretary-General told the leaders that the planet is heading towards more than 2.5 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the century, and pressed for a compact on climate justice between the countries that caused the problem and those living with it. The UN Environment Programme has its headquarters at Nairobi.
Body asked to draft the standard:UN Environment ProgrammeSector covered:Oil and gasWarming the planet is heading towards:more than 2.5 degrees Celsius by century's end
Why it matters for exams: Names the UN Environment Programme, headquartered at Nairobi, as the body asked to write the global near-zero methane standard for oil and gas.
The European Space Agency's Euclid telescope has made public its first large batch of survey data, called DR1-Foundation. It is built from about 13 months of observing and covers 1,900 square degrees of sky. The release lists more than 900 million galaxies, over 60 million quasar candidates and roughly 1.7 million GB of data in all. It also carries what is described as the largest catalogue of strong gravitational lens candidates ever assembled. Scientists will use it to start building a 3D map of the cosmos and to study dark energy and dark matter. Even so, it covers only about 14% of the area Euclid will finally survey. The complete Data Release 1, adding weak lensing results, is due in mid-2027. Euclid was launched on 1 July 2023.
Galaxies in DR1-Foundation:more than 900 millionSky area:1,900 square degreesQuasar candidates:more than 60 millionFull DR1:mid-2027
Why it matters for exams: Euclid is ESA's dark-universe mission; who runs it, what it studies (dark energy and dark matter) and its launch year are standard science questions.
The UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) has published its quarterly report on violence for July to September. It records at least 1,167 people killed and 459 injured in the period. Gangs carried out more than 45 per cent of these incidents. More than half of the deaths and injuries occurred during security force operations against gangs. The office documented 137 kidnappings for ransom and 344 victims of sexual violence by gang members. It also recorded 44 cases of extrajudicial executions involving the Haitian National Police, up from 14 in the previous quarter. BINUH head Carlos Ruiz Massieu urged stronger protection and State presence in areas recently freed from gangs. The report asks for full deployment of the Gang Suppression Force that the Security Council has authorized.
Killed (July–September):at least 1,167Injured:459Kidnapped for ransom:137Head of BINUH:Carlos Ruiz Massieu
Why it matters for exams: BINUH, the Gang Suppression Force authorized by the Security Council, and Haiti's geography (capital Port-au-Prince, the island of Hispaniola) are recurring world-affairs facts.
Indonesia's Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka resigned on Thursday, two years into his five-year term. The Supreme Court had found no proof that his overseas schooling matched the senior secondary level that Indonesian law requires of a vice-president. A Constitutional Court ruling in October had reached the same view. President Prabowo Subianto said the resignation was accepted with a heavy heart. The outgoing deputy is the eldest son of Joko Widodo, who led the country before Prabowo. The Constitution does not call a fresh election for the post. Instead, the People's Consultative Assembly picks a successor within 60 days from two candidates the President nominates.
Resigned:Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming RakaPresident:Prabowo SubiantoDeadline to fill the post:60 days
Why it matters for exams: How Indonesia fills a vice-presidential vacancy (the People's Consultative Assembly), its leaders, and its planned new capital Nusantara are standard world-polity facts.
Democrat Scott Colom has won the US Senate seat from Mississippi, a state that has sent Republicans to the Senate for decades. He defeated the sitting Republican senator, Cindy Hyde-Smith, by fewer than 5,000 votes, taking 49.2% against her 48.7%. The result was called on Wednesday, a week after the 4 November election. Now senator-elect, he will be the first Black member of the Senate from Mississippi since Blanche Bruce, who served from 1875 to 1881. Bruce was picked by the state legislature, as senators then were; Colom was chosen directly by voters. With this seat the Democrats will hold 55 places in the 100-member Senate, while the Alaska race is still being counted.
Winner:Scott Colom (Democrat)Vote share:49.2% vs 48.7%Democratic seats in Senate:55 of 100
Why it matters for exams: The US Senate's size (100, two per state), the 17th Amendment that made senators directly elected, and firsts such as Hiram Revels are standard world-polity facts.
Midterm elections — US federal elections held halfway through a President's four-year term.
17th AmendmentSeventeenth Amendment to the US Constitution (1913) — Provided for direct popular election of US senators instead of choice by state legislatures.
The ocean liner SS United States was deliberately sunk on Wednesday off the coast of Florida to serve as the world's largest artificial reef. The sinking took place about 20 nautical miles offshore between the Destin-Fort Walton Beach area and Pensacola, without explosives. On its first voyage in 1952 the ship set a transatlantic speed record for an ocean liner that still stands. It was retired in 1969 and lay docked in Philadelphia from 1996. Okaloosa County in Florida bought it in 2024 for about $1 million. Before the sinking, fuel, wiring and other harmful materials were removed in Mobile, Alabama. The reef project cost about $13 million, paid from county tourist tax revenue.
Maiden voyage:1952Retired:1969Reef project cost:about $13 million
Why it matters for exams: Artificial reefs as marine habitat, and records such as the fastest transatlantic crossing by a liner, are common environment and general-knowledge questions.