Catalyst
Know More. Do More.
#1 - Week of Mon Nov. 5th, 2025
1. According to a recent study by the UNESCO on international literacy, the youth’s (population aged 15 to 24) ability to read and write reached 93% in 2024, reflecting the expansion of basic education from which the younger generations are benefiting.
2. Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, the two French held in Iran since May 2022, “have been released from prison,” announces Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, November 4, 2025. On October 14, 2022, they were sentenced to 20 and 17 years in prison, notably for spying for the French and Israeli intelligence services while on a tourist trip to Iran; France has always denied these accusations. They were officially the last two French citizens detained in Iran.
3. According to an article in Le Monde on same-sex couples in Korea, this October 22nd, for the first time, the South Korean population census includes a box allowing same-sex couples to identify themselves as such. The measure remains a modest step forward for LGBT+ people in a country where homosexuality provokes fierce hostility from conservative religious movements.
4. As per the BBC, in a video statement to the UN in New York, President Xi Jinping stated that China would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions across the economy by 7-10% by 2035, while "striving to do better".
5. Scientists, as reported by PBS, have detected a supermassive black hole flare that is the brightest ever observed, shining with the brilliance of 10 trillion suns. This powerful burst of light and energy is likely caused by tangled magnetic fields or disruptions in the heated gas disks that surround these black holes.