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Today's edition brings a new turn in U.S.-Russia relations, a potential shake-up in the business world, and a familiar Hollywood character returning to the screen. We're also following election disputes, growing unrest overseas, and a major warning about the planet's future. From Washington to Wall Street and beyond, there's plenty worth catching up on.

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Russia has agreed to release Stephen Hubbard, an American jailed for allegedly fighting for Ukraine, Putin said during talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg, according to Russian state media. Hubbard, originally from Michigan, was 72 when he was sentenced in 2024 to almost seven years in a penal colony.

Witkoff arrived a day after talks in Oslo with Zelensky that a US official called constructive, and Zelensky said US early warnings of Russian missiles are working again. Trump urged Kyiv to make a deal, saying the US had gotten "absolutely nothing back except grief, death, tremendous monetary loss."

The Justice Department wants California to set aside ballots tied to 20,000 people it calls likely noncitizens, but an initial review by local officials suggests the list is unreliable and that some people on it had indicated they were born in the US, according to court filings on Tuesday.

Only 7,035 of the names had Los Angeles County addresses, and some were duplicates. In a county sample of 200, 38.9% of those whose birthplace was meaningfully reported said they were born in the US, which an official called strong evidence of citizenship. The state called the lawsuit "a reckless political stunt" at best.

Elon Musk said on SpaceX's earnings call Tuesday that special committees at Tesla and SpaceX are weighing a merger of the two companies, which at Tuesday's closing prices would be worth about $3.5 trillion combined. He said the committees have not agreed on terms and there is no guarantee they will.

Musk, who runs both companies, called himself a conflicted party and is not on either committee. He said a merger would make sense for their work on chips, artificial intelligence and software, but it would need the backing of a majority of Tesla's shareholders, a bar he called quite a high hurdle.

Paris and Lyon imposed fresh curfews after France's most destructive rioting in years, with officials planning a "massive" security operation ahead of new protests planned for Saturday.

Australian lawmaker Helen Haines lost both legs after being hit by a car in what authorities call a deliberate attack, and the 43-year-old accused driver appeared in court Wednesday.

Gambia will pay victims of Yahya Jammeh's rule about $2.57 million from the sale of the former ruler's Maryland mansion that the US seized as criminal proceeds.

The FBI is investigating an "incendiary device" thrown at the ICE building in downtown Atlanta on Tuesday night, though no injuries or significant damage were reported.

Pakistan arrested a man accused of selling millions of fake postage labels that cost the US Postal Service $126 million, after a Florida grand jury indicted him last month.

Trump and Vance are pitching the economy differently as the president declares a golden age while his vice president says of high gas prices “we’re working on it”.

General Motors shares sank 6.8% Tuesday despite reporting a bigger-than-expected quarterly profit and a buyback of up to $20 billion, as its full-year forecast midpoint fell short of expectations.

Hasbro jumped 11.2% after saying "Magic: The Gathering" topped $600 million in quarterly revenue for the first time, as strong earnings reports helped the Dow rally 1%.

Reliance's Jio Platforms launched what's expected to be India's largest share sale Wednesday, seeking $3.2 billion to repay loans taken to build out Mukesh Ambani's telecom network.

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Switzerland lost 5.5% of its glacier volume this year, the second-biggest decline on record, as melting ice surrenders relics like a Roman-era statuette and an ancient hunting bow.

A body clock form of depression may be common after a study found nearly a quarter of 11,380 patients met its criteria, though outside researchers call the findings preliminary.

Divers have identified a German U-boat missing for 82 years off Devon, a submarine scuttled by its crew in 1944 whose location a faulty navy log had misplaced.

LeBron James opened his record 24th season with 14 points and nine rebounds as Philadelphia beat the Knicks 106-100, spoiling New York's season opener on its home floor.

Paul George scored 38 in his Celtics debut, but Detroit came back to win 121-113 behind 22 points from Cade Cunningham in the season's opening game.

Victor Wembanyama made one of 13 shots as Oklahoma City opened its season with a 116-104 win in San Antonio behind 32 from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Nikita Kucherov tied Tampa Bay's career scoring record with a goal and two assists as the Lightning beat Vegas 6-2 for their best start since 2020-21.

Cliff Booth, Brad Pitt's Oscar-winning stuntman character, returns Nov. 25 in a Netflix spinoff directed by David Fincher, the first Tarantino script another director has helmed since 1996.

Iain Armitage says he was "the most happy" about the "Young Sheldon" series ending, telling an oral history of the sitcom he refused to "stay in that heaviness forever."

"Billions" actor Asia Kate Dillon is seeking service work after acting jobs dried up, writing that their acting work "has all but diminished" after eleven years in the industry.v

What it is: The UN Environment Program's annual emissions gap report, released Wednesday, projects 2.6 °C to 2.8 °C of warming above pre-industrial levels this century under current policies, above the 2 °C upper limit set in the 2015 Paris Agreement. If countries met all existing pledges, it projects 2.1 °C, and it says the 1.5 °C goal is now out of reach.

The detail: The report estimates global greenhouse-gas emissions in 2025 were about the same as or slightly lower than in 2024, mainly because wildfire emissions fell after record blazes the year before. It found US emissions rose sharply, the only such increase among major economies, and UN officials attribute that to higher electricity demand and administration policies on coal plants, vehicle fuel standards, and clean-energy tax credits. The US government said it does not endorse or agree with the analysis, and the administration argues the international climate system imposes unfair burdens on Americans.

Why it matters: The report says keeping warming below 2 °C would require global emissions to fall about 25% within a decade, while the plans countries have submitted would cut them by about 15%. The UN says warming is contributing to heat waves, floods, storms and wildfires.

What to watch: Governments meet at the COP31 climate summit in Antalya, Turkey, in November, and the US will not take part. The report also found clean-energy capacity has grown about three times faster than expected since 2015.

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The Brewers sold $1,000 tickets in 2015 good for any future game, yet some holders say the World Series seats they got fell short of what they were promised.

A celebrity exorcist is taking a year off from interviews with millions of views online after Denver's archbishop asked the Rev. Chad Ripperger to consider the break.

Divers off Devon have found a U-boat lost since 1944 whose 52 crew all survived its sinking and whose logged position was off by some 46 miles.

The frigate Constitution is christened in Boston (1797) · Nelson defeats a French-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar and is killed (1805) · A coal waste landslide engulfs a school in Aberfan, Wales, killing 144 people (1966) · Vietnam War protesters begin two days of demonstrations in Washington (1967) · Jack Kerouac dies in Florida at 47 (1969)

"England expects that every man will do his duty." — Horatio Nelson, 1805

That's your world in five minutes. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to share the stories that matter with someone you know.

—The Five Minute Daily Team