What to watch for today
Cyclone Chapala hits Yemen. The giant storm, equivalent to a category 4 hurricane, is forecast to dump as much as eight times the average annual rainfall on the arid, war-torn country. Cyclones on the Arabian Peninsula are exceedingly rare.
Francois Hollande visits Beijing to promote climate talks. The French prime minister will use a state visit with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to lobby for support ahead of a high-profile climate meeting in Paris. France is attempting to secure a promise from countries to lower their carbon emission targets over time.
Updates on the eurozone and US economies. The eurozone’s flash purchasing managers’ index is due for November, with France expected to teeter on the dividing line between expansion and contraction. In the US, the Institute for Supply Management will release October manufacturing and construction data.
Earnings: Visa, Commerzbank, and Ryanair are among the companies reporting quarterly results.
While you were sleeping
Turkey returned to one-party rule. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party won a better-than-expected 49.4% of the popular vote, securing an outright parliamentary majority. The snap election came at the expense of Turkey’s largest Kurdish party, and there were violent election-day clashes in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir.
China’s premier set a 6.5% growth target for the next five years. Li Kequiang tried to ease fears about a slowdown by saying the Chinese economy was “was still increasing at an orderly pace” that it would need to achieve a “moderately prosperous” society by 2020. Separately, Chinese manufacturing activity surprised economists by contracting for the third straight month.
Japan, South Korea, and China “completely restored” trade and security ties. The neighboring rivals stuck mostly to economic issues at a trilateral summit that was halted since 2012 due to territorial disputes and historical grievances. The countries also discussed their goal of denuclearizing North Korea.
Egypt and Russia gathered clues about a downed airplane. A Russian official said the Metrojet flight carrying 244 people “broke up in midair” before crashing in the Sinai Peninsula. Both “black box” data recorders have been recovered, and officials denied ISIL’s claim that it downed the aircraft, saying it was flying much too high to be reached by shoulder-mounted missiles.
Brazil’s oil workers went on strike. The largest union at Petrobras began an open-ended work stoppage to protest proposed assets sales at the troubled state-owned oil giant. The strike affects platform, refinery, and other workers, though Petrobras insisted that oil output wasn’t affected.
Quartz obsession interlude
Olivia Goldhill on the moral dilemmas of driverless cars. “Imagine you’re in a self-driving car, heading towards a collision with a group of pedestrians. The only other option is to drive off a cliff. What should the car do?” Read more here.
Matters of debate
China’s two-child policy is just as bad. The government is still trying to make personal decisions for its citizens.
You should definitely take off your shoes inside. Forty percent of outsoles carry a drug-resistant microbe.
Bad coffee is the best coffee. Tired of ludicrously expensive hipster drinks? Try Maxwell House.
Germany’s design decisions affected the outcome of World War II. Nazi weaponry was over-engineered.
Self-perceived experts are closed-minded. They think they’ve earned the privilege.
Surprising discoveries
There are whales alive today who are older than Moby Dick. Bowheads off the coast of Alaska can survive for centuries.
Syrian rebels are using captives as human shields. They are caged in the middle of town squares, according to a well-respected human rights group.
Antarctica is adding more ice than it’s losing. A NASA study challenges the conventional wisdom, though gains may not last long.
A caffeine-free coffee shop just opened in New York. Caffeine junkies aren’t too thrilled.
Dancing with friends is good for your health. It builds social cohesion and trust.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, ancient whale tales, and un-decaffeinated coffee to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day.