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The U.S. moved to freeze immigration from several countries after a fatal attack near the White House, setting off a far-reaching political and legal debate.

Markets climbed as investors renewed bets that the Federal Reserve may begin easing rates next year, offering a brief reprieve after weeks of volatility.

Meanwhile, a revised U.S.-backed peace framework for Ukraine is entering a critical new stage as Moscow signals conditional openness to talks.

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The U.S. government has announced a sweeping plan to “permanently pause” immigration from several “Third World countries” following a fatal attack near the White House.

The proposal would halt visa processing and sharply restrict future admissions from the designated nations, reshaping U.S. immigration flows and prompting immediate scrutiny from legal and diplomatic experts.

The full scope of the proposal emerged in new reporting on the administration’s plans to impose a long-term migration freeze.

Critics say the move could violate federal anti-discrimination laws, strain relationships with affected countries and disrupt industries that rely on migrant labor.

Supporters claim a pause is necessary to address security concerns after the attack, though officials have released few operational details.

The shift marks one of the most dramatic immigration pivots in decades, setting up what is likely to be a prolonged legal and political fight over the limits of executive power.

As agencies prepare guidance and lawmakers react, businesses and immigrant communities are bracing for months of uncertainty.

Global markets rallied after fresh signals that the U.S. Federal Reserve may begin cutting rates next year, easing pressure on equities and currencies that have been shaken by recent volatility.

Investors shifted back into risk assets, lifting stocks across Asia and Europe and boosting demand for emerging-market bonds.

Analysts say the bounce was driven by new data pointing to cooling inflation and slowing economic momentum, which encouraged traders to price in 2026 easing.

Those expectations helped fuel a broader rise across asset classes in a market rebound snapshot.

While the rally reflects growing optimism, economists warn that any unexpected shifts in inflation or employment data could trigger a reversal.

Markets also remain sensitive to geopolitical shocks and supply-chain disruptions that could reignite price pressures.

For now, the rebound offers investors some breathing room after a volatile stretch and may influence central-bank decisions heading into next year.

But with global growth uneven and rates still high, the path to a sustained recovery remains uncertain.

A revised U.S.-backed peace proposal for Ukraine is moving into a new phase as Moscow prepares to host talks on an updated peace framework.

The document, reshaped in recent days by U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators in Geneva, is now being treated by the Kremlin and Western officials as a possible starting point rather than a final deal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly signaled that the text could become a “basis” for ending the war if further changes are made.

Reporting on the plan describes provisions that would freeze front lines, cap Ukraine’s armed forces and place new limits on NATO deployments, drawing criticism from Ukrainian officials and some European governments who fear it rewards aggression.

Recent analysis of the proposals in a detailed explainer and a separate U.S. briefing highlights how far Kyiv may be asked to compromise for a ceasefire.

The stakes are high: the talks could mark the first serious pathway to halt large-scale fighting in nearly four years, but they also risk cementing Russian territorial gains and leaving Ukraine’s long-term security unresolved.

Whether the plan gains traction will depend on battlefield dynamics, domestic politics in Washington and Kyiv, and how far European allies are willing to go in backing any deal.

Residents in southern Syria report that at least 10 people were killed in an overnight cross-border raid that Syrian officials blame on Israeli forces.

The strike hit near the city of Daraa, an area where Iran-linked militias and local armed groups both operate.

The incident underscores how regional tensions remain high even as wider cease-fire diplomacy occupies headlines.

German lawmakers are preparing to sign off on about €2.9 billion in new arms contracts as part of a broader defense spending surge.

The planned deals cover drones, small arms and missile systems, and are aimed at bolstering both national capabilities and Europe’s industrial base.

The push reflects Berlin’s effort to meet ambitious spending targets agreed with NATO allies after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A new analysis of the COP30 climate summit says pledges to scale up adaptation and nature finance face major implementation hurdles.

While governments announced new funding streams and mechanisms, experts warn that fragmented rules, slow disbursement and weak tracking risk leaving vulnerable countries exposed.

The gap between headline climate pledges and on-the-ground projects remains a central geopolitical fault line.

A “cooling issue” at CME Group’s Chicago data centers forced a trading halt across major futures markets, including contracts tied to U.S. stock indexes, Treasuries and commodities.

The disruption, which began in Asia-Pacific hours, temporarily shut participants out of benchmark contracts used for hedging and price discovery.

The episode is reviving questions about operational resilience at one of the world’s most systemically important exchanges.

Global lenders are in talks to arrange roughly $38 billion in loans to finance new AI data center sites for OpenAI, according to people familiar with the deal.

The funding would back a multiyear build-out of large computing campuses to power advanced models, highlighting how AI infrastructure is becoming its own major asset class.

The scale of the proposed financing underlines both investor confidence and the capital intensity of cutting-edge AI.

Early reports from retailers suggest that Black Friday spending is off to a solid start despite higher prices and uncertainty over tariffs.

Shoppers are leaning on discounts and buy-now-pay-later services, while retailers adjust inventory and promotions to unpredictable demand.

The results will help set expectations for the rest of the holiday season and offer clues about how much strain households are feeling from inflation and borrowing costs.

The U.S. dollar is heading for its worst weekly stretch in about four months as investors increase bets that the Federal Reserve will deliver more rate cuts in 2026.

Softer economic data and calmer inflation readings have pushed traders toward riskier assets and away from the greenback.

A weaker dollar eases pressure on some emerging markets but can also fuel volatility if expectations swing back.

Fresh estimates suggest India’s economy likely maintained solid growth momentum in the July-September quarter, supported by robust domestic demand and government infrastructure spending.

Economists expect year-on-year GDP growth to come in near 7%, reinforcing India’s status as one of the fastest-growing major economies.

The numbers will factor into Reserve Bank of India decisions on whether to keep monetary policy tight or start easing next year.

Physicists have used precision lasers to slow and cool antimatter atoms to record-low temperatures, giving researchers an unprecedented chance to study how they behave under gravity and other forces.

The technique, developed at CERN, could sharpen tests of fundamental physics, including whether antimatter falls the same way as ordinary matter.

Any tiny deviation would challenge key assumptions in modern cosmology.

A new study finds that “sticky” damage to mitochondrial DNA may be a missing link in a range of age-related diseases.

Instead of simply breaking, the DNA can become tangled and fused, which disrupts energy production in cells.

Researchers say targeting this overlooked damage pathway could open up new treatments for conditions from heart disease to neurodegeneration.

Scientists analyzing extracellular vesicles in blood have identified distinctive microRNA patterns associated with schizophrenia.

The work suggests that cargo carried by these nano-sized particles could serve as a noninvasive biomarker for diagnosis or treatment response.

The findings are early but add to growing interest in blood-based tools to complement traditional psychiatric assessments.

Dak Prescott threw two touchdown passes and Malik Davis broke free for a long scoring run as Dallas outlasted Kansas City 31–28 in a Thanksgiving showdown.

The Cowboys survived two fourth-down touchdown throws by Patrick Mahomes to secure their third straight win and keep playoff hopes alive.

UEFA has fined Atletico Madrid and put the club on probation after fans directed racist abuse and Nazi salutes at Arsenal players during a Champions League match, according to an official summary.

The sanctions include financial penalties and a suspended ban on selling tickets to travelling supporters, adding pressure on clubs to police discriminatory behavior.

Japanese-born New Zealander Kazuma Kobori carded an eight-under 63 with four closing birdies to take a one-shot lead at the Australian PGA Championship, a second-round surge reported from Brisbane.

His performance pushed former champion Cameron Smith out of contention and sets up a tightly packed leaderboard heading into the weekend.

Across U.S. shops and cafes, staff are increasingly greeting customers with the phrase “welcome in”, a linguistic shift traced by marketers and linguists to hospitality training manuals and regional habits.

Supporters say it makes commercial spaces feel more like someone’s home, while critics find it grating or overly familiar.

The trend reflects how even small phrases can signal evolving expectations around service and belonging.

A new travel feature spotlights global terminals that turn into full-scale holiday destinations, with towering trees, immersive light installations and pop-up markets greeting passengers.

From European hubs to Asian gateways, some airports are betting that elaborate decorations and performances can soften delays and layovers.

The arms race in festive décor shows how competitive the travel experience has become.

At the University of Virginia, students are flocking to clubs devoted to serious cereal debates and even organized squirrel-watching, seeking lighthearted escapes from academic pressure.

Members say the deliberately “unserious” gatherings create low-stakes spaces for connection at a time of rising anxiety on campus.

The growth of such clubs hints at a broader search for community in small, whimsical rituals.

Vast swaths of Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka are reeling from a wave of floods and landslides that has left hundreds dead, displaced hundreds of thousands and shredded homes, crops and infrastructure.

On Indonesia’s Sumatra island, authorities say ongoing heavy rain and damaged roads are hampering rescue operations as they search for victims in submerged neighborhoods and collapsed hillsides, described in a field report.

In southern Thailand, officials are only now seeing the full extent of damage as waters recede in provinces where houses, roads and power lines were swallowed by floods.

Sri Lanka has been hit just as hard. Torrential downpours triggered landslides and flash floods that have killed dozens and forced the closure of schools and government offices, according to a national update.

Passenger rail lines have been suspended on some routes and rescue teams are struggling with unstable slopes and blocked roads. In Thailand, separate coverage notes that the death toll from flooding in the south has climbed sharply as officials reach previously cut-off communities and assess wrecked farmland and fisheries, with the scale captured in an impact assessment.

These disasters share common threads: extreme rainfall events supercharged by warmer oceans and air, rapid urbanization in flood-prone basins, and infrastructure that was not built for this level of stress.

Many of the hardest-hit areas feature dense, low-income neighborhoods along rivers or coasts, where residents lack savings, insurance or safe alternatives when water rises.

For governments, each storm season becomes a test of early-warning systems, drainage networks and evacuation plans that are often underfunded or unevenly enforced.

The floods arrive just days after negotiators wrapped up the COP30 climate summit, where countries struggled over how quickly to deliver promised adaptation and resilience funding.

As local officials in Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka tally losses and push to rebuild, they will be looking for whether international climate finance can move from high-level pledges to projects that actually reinforce levees, relocate the most exposed communities and modernize warning systems.

The scale and frequency of this year’s flooding suggest that, for many parts of the region, “once-in-a-century” disasters are becoming a recurring reality rather than rare exceptions.

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