Haiku of the Day

On: Iceland’s Met Office stepped up monitoring of the Svínafellsheiði slope above Svínafellsjökull after instruments recorded “one to three centimetres of movement since September 23,” with the glacier’s retreat and thinning among the possible causes.Facts: Renewed movement detected above Svínafellsjökull, Iceland Review

On: World Cities Day 2026, observed globally in Fuzhou on 31 October, took the theme “Regenerating the City: Adequate Housing for All,” a goal the UN measures against as many as 3.4 billion people without adequate housing.Facts: The World Cities Day 2026 theme, the Fuzhou observance and the UN housing shortfall figure of 3.4 billion, ArchDaily

On: On 31 October the latest-news page of Kurdistan24 was led by congratulations on the channel’s 11th anniversary from the Kurdistan Region’s prime minister, Iraq’s interior and transportation ministries, the Iraqi prime minister’s media office and others.Facts: The 31 October latest-news listing, led by 11th-anniversary congratulations from officials and ministries, Kurdistan24

On: London’s National Gallery will open the largest ever exhibition of Piero della Francesca in October 2027 with around 25 pictures and manuscripts; the Hermitage’s 2018 show was “the largest to date at the time with just 11 works.”Facts: National Gallery announces largest ever Piero della Francesca exhibition, The Art Newspaper

On: The Vatican Apostolic Archives and Library handed Mongolia’s ambassador copies of 38 documents from the 13th and 14th centuries, among them papal letters sent to the Great Khaan in 1245.Facts: Mongolia receives copies of 38 rare historical documents from the Vatican Archives and Library, MONTSAME

On: The Harry Ransom Center in Austin opens Houdini’s Library for the centenary of the escapologist’s death; he grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin, which had no public library, and wrote that “the booksellers have tried to sell me many books, and have succeeded.”Facts: Houdini’s Library exhibition at the Harry Ransom Center marks the centenary of his death, The Art Newspaper

On: The V&A proposes dismantling much of its V&A Academy adult-learning programme this year, cutting around 50% of its staff, months after the Academy’s biggest-ever quarter, with spring 2026 sales above £400,000.Facts: V&A proposing significant cuts to its academy amid financial pressures, The Art Newspaper

On: Estonia’s Transport Administration found that the riverboat Caroline, which had docked at Narva’s small craft harbour for five years, is 120 centimetres longer than the port allows, because it had been measured at the waterline, and the city has since amended the port’s registration.Facts: Passenger ferry service on the Narva River at risk over vessel length, ERR News

On: Glasgow Life removed the remains of an Egyptian priest, a mummified hand, a head and a foot from display at Kelvingrove Museum, under a policy allowing human remains on show only with “documented and informed consent” from the deceased or, where appropriate, their descendants.Facts: Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Museum removes Egyptian mummies from display over consent, STV News

On: Monet’s Iris (1924 to 1925), the largest of his Iris series and never shown publicly since it was painted, sold at Sotheby’s Paris for €50m with fees against an estimate of €22m to €30m, after six potential buyers bid and a client on the phone won.Facts: Monet’s Iris sells for €50m at Sotheby’s Paris to a phone bidder, The Art Newspaper

On: A French Senate bill would widen the state’s power to designate privately owned art a national treasure, though in 2019 France blocked the export of Rembrandt’s The Standard Bearer at €165m, spent the full 30 months failing to raise the money, and watched the Dutch state buy it.Facts: Proposed French bill extending trésor national designation and pre-emption; Rembrandt case, The Art Newspaper

On: From next year Estonia’s Defense Resources Agency may suspend the driving privileges of conscripts who repeatedly ignore summonses to their medical examination, without first asking a court, a change the agency says will save the courts time.Facts: Estonia to revoke draft dodgers’ driving licences without a court order, ERR News

On: The IPCC’s 65th plenary in Addis Ababa ended without agreement on the timelines or the budget for the working groups of its seventh assessment, though delegates did agree on a process governing the use of artificial intelligence in IPCC work.Facts: IPCC plenary ends without agreement on AR7 timelines or budget but agrees an AI process, PACNEWS, Islands Business

On: In a University of Konstanz study, bioplastics buried in forest soil “were completely degraded within roughly 250 to 330 days,” while conventional HDPE plastic showed virtually no degradation.Facts: Bioplastics degrading in forest soil while HDPE did not, ScienceDaily

On: Japan’s supermarket rice averaged 2,971 yen per 5kg, under 3,000 yen, a level last seen in September 2024 and down from a peak of 4,416 yen in January 2026, and the agriculture minister called the situation “extremely difficult and simply unacceptable for farmers trying to stay in business.”Facts: Rice falls below 3,000 yen and the minister’s reaction, The Nation

On: MSCI opened a consultation on 15 October on moving Indonesia’s indexes from emerging-market to standalone status, with feedback accepted through April 30, 2027, and the next day the Jakarta Composite fell 11.57%, its largest daily decline since January 1998.Facts: MSCI consultation and the Jakarta Composite’s fall, TokenPost

On: About 99,000 homes in greater Seoul had broken ground by the second week of October, 37% of South Korea’s 2026 target of 268,000, yet the government expects 81% to 88% by the end of December.Facts: 99,000 homes break ground in greater Seoul, The Korea Times (Yonhap)

On: Bishkek’s planners found that a metro would attract too few passengers and cost about ten times as much as a tram, yet talk of a metro has resurfaced in a capital whose roads were designed for about 50,000 vehicles.Facts: Bishkek metro plans, The Times of Central Asia

On: Uzbekistan’s water ministry rejected claims that the Amu Darya is drying up, saying water continues to flow, while citing a monitoring station where discharge was about 11 percent lower than a year earlier.Facts: Uzbekistan rejects Amu Darya claims, The Times of Central Asia

On: Bangladesh’s jewellers’ association set 21-carat silver at Tk4,966 per bhori and 22-carat silver at Tk4,199, so the less pure grade now costs more.Facts: Gold and silver prices, The Business Standard

On: A federal jury in Delaware found that Arm breached its licensing agreement with Qualcomm and awarded nominal damages of $2.Facts: Jury verdict and damages, Reuters via Global Banking and Finance Review