Good Morning! Today’s edition is 927 words, a 4-minute read.

What’s on tap: 

• Tulsa Massacre survivor passes

• Southeast Tornados

• America’s most and least affordable cities

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Editor’s Note: I’ll be taking the next few days off to celebrate Thanksgiving. The Neutral will be back in your inbox Saturday morning. Enjoy your breaks! -Adam

Big Stories

Ukraine Peace Deal

• Ukraine agreed to a US peace plan to end its three-year war with Russia, US and Ukrainian officials said Tuesday. A Ukrainian official said the country reached 'common understanding on core terms' during talks in Geneva over the weekend. The plan was reduced from 28 to 19 points after input from both sides.

• US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll held talks with a Russian delegation in Abu Dhabi on Monday and Tuesday to present the revised plan. President Trump said on Truth Social that 'only a few remaining points of disagreement' exist and instructed his envoy to meet with Putin in Moscow. The Kremlin has not revealed Russia's position.

• "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he hopes to visit the U.S. the week to finalize the deal with Trump. Overnight strikes killed seven in Kyiv and three in a Russian border city as negotiations continue.

Last Tulsa Massacre Survivor Dies

• Viola Ford Fletcher, one of the last survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, died Monday at 111. She was 7 years old when a white mob killed hundreds and destroyed Tulsa's Greenwood district, a prosperous Black community known as Black Wall Street. She spent her final years fighting for reparations.

• Fletcher testified before Congress in 2021 and joined a lawsuit seeking reparations, but the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed it in June 2024. She never received payments from the city or state. 'I could never forget the charred remains of our once-thriving community,' she wrote in her 2023 memoir.

• The two-day attack began May 31, 1921, after a newspaper published a sensationalized report about a Black man accused of assaulting a white woman. In response, white residents burned and looted homes across over 30 city blocks.

Most Populous City

• Jakarta became the world's most populous city with 42 million residents, surpassing Tokyo and Dhaka, according to a new United Nations report. The Indonesian capital jumped from 33rd place in 2018. Dhaka ranks second with 36 million and is projected to become the largest by 2050.

• Nine of the 10 most populous cities are now in Asia, with Cairo as the only exception. Nearly half of the planet's 8.2 billion people now live in cities, double the proportion from 75 years ago.

• The number of megacities with at least 10 million residents grew from eight in 1975 to 33 today, with 19 located in Asia. Los Angeles and New York City are the only US megacities.

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Quick Stories

US News

• A tornado damaged over 100 homes in northwest Houston on Monday as severe storms moved toward Alabama and Georgia, putting Birmingham and Montgomery under tornado watches ahead of Thanksgiving travel. (More)

• Trump pardoned turkeys Gobble and Waddle on Tuesday while claiming he saved last year's birds from Biden's "invalid" autopen pardon. (More)

• Doug Jones, the last Democrat elected statewide in Alabama, announced he's running for governor in 2026 and will likely face Tommy Tuberville, who beat him in 2020. (More)

World

• Canadian author Thomas King, whose award-winning books explored Indigenous injustice, learned at 82 that he has no Cherokee ancestry after genealogists found no evidence supporting his family's long-held belief. (More)

• An Italian man disguised himself as his dead mother, wearing a wig and makeup, to claim her pension for three years before suspicious officials caught him renewing her ID. (More)

• Paris prosecutors arrested four more suspects in October's $102 million Louvre heist, where thieves grabbed Napoleon's jewels in eight minutes. The loot remains missing. (More)

Business & Economy

• US stock markets closed higher on Tuesday (S&P +0.91%, Nasdaq +0.67%, Dow +1.43%). The three major averages scored their third straight winning day. (More)

• Nearly 85,000 US home sellers pulled their listings in September, up 28% from last year, as weak demand and falling prices made them unwilling to accept low offers. (More)

• Consumer confidence fell to 88.7 in November, its lowest since April, as Americans worried about finding jobs and their finances, potentially pushing the Fed toward another rate cut. (More)

Sports & Entertainment

• Ja'Kobi Gillespie hit six free throws in the final 35 seconds as No. 17 Tennessee beat No. 3 Houston 76-73, avenging last year's Elite Eight loss to the eventual national runner-up. (More)

• Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow will return Thursday against Baltimore after missing nine games with turf toe surgery, coming back nearly a month early. (More)

• Paramount will release Rush Hour 4 with Brett Ratner directing and Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker returning. (More)

Science, Health, & Tech

• The brain develops through five distinct life stages, peaking at age 32 before gradually declining after 66, according to scans of 3,802 people ages zero to 90. (More)

• Young orangutans can only learn their massive 200-plus food menu by watching others. A new study shows they can’t figure it out alone—proving their survival depends on years of shared cultural learning. (More)

• Trump launched the “Genesis Mission,” ordering federal agencies, tech firms, and universities to pool scientific data and use AI to solve big engineering, energy, and security problems. (More)

Extra Credit

Bald eagle drops a cat through a moving car’s windshield.

America’s most and least affordable cities in 2025.

Courtroom Elvis judge is forced to step down.

Thai woman found alive in coffin during cremation process.