Facing severe environmental degradation, including extreme drought and rapidly sinking land, Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has announced an unprecedented plan to relocate the nation's capital from Tehran to the Makran coast. This drastic move is driven by Tehran's ecological collapse, where the city of 10 million is literally sinking due to exhausted aquifers, making the coastal region a strategic and necessary new home.
SpaceX successfully launched 28 new Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit on November 24, 2025, from Vandenberg Space Force Base, significantly bolstering its global broadband network. This crucial expansion enhances Starlink's capacity and extends high-speed, low-latency internet access to various sectors worldwide, including remote and underserved regions.
Italy has made history by clinching its third consecutive Davis Cup title, defeating Spain 2-0 in a thrilling final held on home soil in Bologna. This monumental victory, secured by stellar performances from Matteo Berrettini and Flavio Cobolli despite the absence of their top-ranked players, marks Italy's fourth overall championship and their first "three-peat" since the United States achieved it over 50 years ago.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping recently reiterated Beijing's long-standing claims over Taiwan during a phone call with former U.S. President Donald Trump, asserting the island's return as an "integral part of the postwar international order." Taiwan's Premier Cho Jung-tai, however, firmly rejected "reunification" as an option, emphasizing the island's sovereignty amidst differing interpretations of the call and heightened regional tensions.
General Dan Caine, the nation's top military officer and President Donald Trump's primary military adviser, is currently visiting American troops in Puerto Rico and aboard a Navy warship in the Caribbean, underscoring an intensifying pressure campaign against Venezuela that includes evaluating potential military action. This high-profile visit coincides with a significant military buildup and "Operation Southern Spear," a comprehensive anti-drug trafficking effort targeting Venezuela, further bolstered by the designation of Venezuela's "Cartel de los Soles" as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Ethiopia's Hayli Gubbi volcano erupted on November 23, 2025, for the first time in 12,000 years, unleashing a massive ash plume 14 kilometers high and causing widespread disruption to international air travel, especially impacting flights bound for India. This significant geological event led to numerous flight cancellations by major Indian airlines and prompted aviation advisories, though the ash cloud is anticipated to clear Indian skies by Tuesday evening.
India has issued a strong diplomatic protest to China after an Indian woman from Arunachal Pradesh was allegedly detained and harassed for 18 hours at Shanghai Pudong Airport on November 21, 2025, with Chinese officials disputing her Indian passport's validity due to her birthplace. This incident, stemming from China's territorial claims over Arunachal Pradesh, prompted India to firmly assert its sovereignty and condemn the detention as a violation of international civil aviation conventions.
Scientists have achieved a groundbreaking milestone by engineering a novel nanowire platform that precisely mimics brain tissue, enabling the unprecedented study of astrocytes in their natural, three-dimensional environment. This innovative technology, developed by researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the National Research Council of Italy, promises to revolutionize our understanding of brain health and disease by allowing detailed observation of these crucial cells without altering their natural form.
The "AI trade" is dramatically transforming corporate debt markets as major technology companies embark on an unprecedented borrowing spree, issuing record volumes of bonds to finance their ambitious artificial intelligence infrastructure projects. This massive influx of AI-related debt, estimated to require hundreds of billions in capital expenditure, is raising concerns among investors about overwhelming market demand and the sustainability of such rapid debt accumulation.
An Israeli airstrike in a Beirut suburb on Sunday killed five people and wounded 28, with Israel claiming responsibility for assassinating Haytham Ali Tabatabai, Hezbollah's acting chief of staff. This attack, the first on the Lebanese capital in over five months and occurring despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire, has been declared a "red line" by Hezbollah, which is now deliberating its response.
A major series of papers in The Lancet, involving 43 international experts, reveals a global health crisis where the rapid increase in ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption is displacing fresh foods and linked to a surge in chronic health problems, impacting nearly every major organ system. Scientists are urgently calling for bold, coordinated policy action to counter significant corporate influence and shift food systems towards healthier options, as UPFs now constitute over 50% of the average diet in countries like the UK and US.
The Trump administration is reportedly preparing a new proposal to stabilize Affordable Care Act (ACA) premiums, aiming to avert significant increases anticipated for 2026 as enhanced federal subsidies are set to expire. This plan could extend ACA premium subsidies for two years while introducing new eligibility limits, addressing critical healthcare affordability concerns ahead of next year's midterm elections.