Archive · 10 Aug 2026
Weekly current affairs: Mecca defence pact, RBI rate, Commonwealth medals
Every week, important things happen around the world, and this was a very busy week.
Three countries — Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan — signed a promise in the city of Mecca to help each other if any one of them is attacked.
In India, the central bank, called the RBI, kept its key interest rate at 5.25 percent, so borrowing money will not get more expensive for now.
Indian athletes did very well at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, winning 39 medals and finishing fourth overall, with Australia on top.
Heavy monsoon rain caused landslides in the state of Kerala, and at least six people sadly lost their lives.
India also marked its 12th National Handloom Day, honouring weavers who make cloth by hand and remembering a famous protest from 1905 called the Swadeshi Movement.
The government approved a scheme called GOBARdhan to increase production of compressed biogas, a clean fuel, and a lake in Arunachal Pradesh became India's 101st protected Ramsar wetland.
Overseas, tens of thousands of migrants crossed into the Spanish city of Ceuta from Morocco within a few days, and more than 40 people died.
A serious Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo has killed more than 1,700 people, and health officials are struggling to keep up.
These are among the main current affairs topics that people preparing for India's UPSC exams are following this week.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement on August 7, 2026, under which an armed attack on one country will be treated as an attack on all three.
India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, kept its key repo rate unchanged at 5.25 percent on August 5 while raising its FY27 growth forecast to 6.7 percent.
India finished fourth at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow with 39 medals — 13 gold, 17 silver and nine bronze — as Australia topped the tally with 171 medals.
Exceptionally heavy rain triggered fresh landslides, mudslides and flooding across parts of Kerala on August 1, killing at least six people.
India observed its 12th National Handloom Day on August 7, recalling the 1905 Swadeshi Movement proclamation against the partition of Bengal.
- Who
- Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, along with RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra and athletes at the Commonwealth Games.
- What
- A week of major developments, including the trilateral Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, the RBI holding its repo rate at 5.25 percent, India's fourth-place Commonwealth Games finish, fresh Kerala landslides and the 12th National Handloom Day.
- When
- Mostly between August 3 and 9, 2026, with the Kerala landslides (August 1) and the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony (August 2) just before that week.
- Where
- India, Saudi Arabia (Mecca), Scotland (Glasgow), Spain (Ceuta), Morocco and eastern Congo, among other places.
- Why
- Reasons ranged from escalating tensions in West Asia and India's inflation outlook to monsoon rains and the global sporting calendar.
Sceptics
Officials and the government
Use of the money Bill route for the Supreme Court judges Bill
Sceptics
A key dissenting opinion in a 2018 Supreme Court ruling described the 'money Bill' route used for such legislation as a 'fraud on the Constitution.'
Officials and the government
The government passed the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026 as a money Bill — a route it also used in 2019 when the court's strength was raised to 34.
Cause of the Ceuta migrant surge
Sceptics
Some migration activists doubt that a recent court ruling alone explains the surge, arguing most migrants would not have been aware of the decision, and authorities say they have not pinned down a single cause.
Officials and the government
Ceuta officials link the spike to a ruling that found migrants arriving by sea cannot be immediately pushed back without due process, suggesting it changed the calculus for sea crossings.
- Mecca Joint Defence Agreement
- Signed August 7, 2026, by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan
- RBI repo rate
- Unchanged at 5.25 percent on August 5, 2026; FY27 growth forecast raised to 6.7 percent
- India at Commonwealth Games 2026
- Fourth place, 39 medals (13 gold, 17 silver, 9 bronze)
- Commonwealth Games 2026
- 23rd edition, concluded in Glasgow on August 2, 2026; Australia topped with 171 medals
- Kerala landslides
- At least 6 dead, August 1, 2026
- National Handloom Day
- 12th edition observed on August 7, 2026
- GOBARdhan scheme outlay
- Rs 23,731 crore, to run from 2026-27 to 2035-36
- Glaw Lake Ramsar designation
- India's 101st Ramsar site and Arunachal Pradesh's first