Pages & Numbers corrupts copy & paste

i have always routinely highlighted, copy & paste text info from emails to Pages or Numbers for document creation. this month November 2023 my Mac studio -just purchased & went online & updated software (10/15/23). now when i copy & paste -to Pages or Numbers-all i get is corrupted text which takes the form of a row of squares with ? inside. all words, letters, numbers -anything--appears as a box with ? inside.

what is going on & how can this be fixed? very angry @ Apple. Using Sonoma 14.1.1 as of 11/13/23. thanks gang!