Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The US and South Korea start military drills. The small-scale exercises were delayed during talks with North Korea earlier this year. On Friday, Pyongyang warned it could restart development of its nuclear program if the US doesn’t end its campaign of “maximum pressure” and sanctions.
Renewed US sanctions against Iran take effect. Already suffering from a financial crisis, Iran will now feel additional pain within its energy, shipping, and banking sectors. On Friday, the US announced it will let eight countries—including Japan and India—maintain imports of crude oil from Iran.
SoftBank reports its earnings. Investors have questions for CEO Masayoshi Son (paywall) about the company’s $100 billion Vision Fund, which is backed by Saudi money. SoftBank shares sank after last month’s murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate.
Over the weekend
New Caledonia decided to remain French. The South Pacific archipelago voted against independence from its former colonizer, preserving France’s last remaining foothold in the Indo-Pacific region.
Berkshire Hathaway reported a $928 million stock buyback. Coming off a stellar third quarter in which operating profit doubled to $6.9 billion from a year earlier, Warren Buffett’s company said that in August it made its first buyback since 2012. It has around $100 billion in cash available to invest.
Qatar announced a surprise government shuffle. Among the changes, foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani will run the Qatar Investment Authority (which has about $300 billion in assets), and Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al-Thani, a brother of the emir, will head Qatar Petroleum.
Sri Lanka’s president set a date for parliament reconvening. Under pressure, Maithripala Sirisena ordered the suspended body to appear on Nov. 14. That clears the way for a vote on his abrupt Oct. 28 decision to fire elected prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replace him with Mahinda Rajapaksa, a wartime nationalist.
Obsession interlude
Stacy Conradt on the US’s rotisserie chicken renaissance: “The modern-day rotisserie renaissance—cheap birds in take-home containers at supermarkets and big-box stores—can be traced back to the early ’90s, when Boston Market (then Boston Chicken) started selling them at drive-thrus… In 2017, Americans purchased no fewer than 625 million rotisserie chickens in supermarkets.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
‘Oumuamua could be alien space junk. The suspiciously thin interstellar object doesn’t emit radio signals that indicate it’s an active probe, but it could still be alien-engineered.
No one can predict the result of US midterms. Neither polls nor pundits can accurately forecast the outcome of a political system gone haywire.
Mohammed bin Salman is reminiscent of Saddam Hussein. The US should learn from the mistake it made backing another Middle Eastern leader who rose to power unchecked.
Surprising discoveries
Indians aren’t splurging as usual this Diwali season. High fuel prices and inflation are keeping luxury goods from flying off the shelves.
A newly discovered sauropod species was way off course. Fossils of the massive dinosaurs popped up in a part of Argentina that would have been a desert at the time.
A man swam around Great Britain. In quest of a world record, Ross Edgley spent five months at sea, ate 500 bananas, and lost part of his tongue.
New iPhones cost twice as much as you think. With cases, care plans, and accessories, a $999 phone could gobble up $2,000 pretty quickly.
Extreme crunch is the new ASMR video trend. The sound of people chowing down on raw vegetables both triggers a sensory response in some people and encourages healthy eating.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, phone cases, and crunchy veggies to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android. Today’s Daily Brief was written and edited by Steve Mollman and Susan Howson.