Happy Halloween, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
South Sudan’s rebel leader returns home. After two years in exile, Riek Machar will come back to the world’s youngest country under a newly inked peace deal, which will once again make him the deputy of his bitter rival, president Salva Kiir.
The US Supreme Court hears a case involving Google. The search engine isn’t a named party in Frank v. Gaos, but it’s at the heart of the case because of a 2010 class-action lawsuit against the company. The court will decide if Google’s $8.5 million settlement should’ve been awarded to nonprofit institutions because the payout would’ve amounted to pennies for each of the 129 million class members.
Venezuelans try to beat Peru’s residency deadline. Thousands of Venezuelans are expected to enter Peru today to be eligible for temporary residency cards. Peru had moved up the deadline from the end of the year to the end of October as the number of fleeing Venezuelans surged to nearly half a million.
Brazil will hold rates steady. The country is expected to keep its benchmark interest rate at 6.5% in its first rate decision since Sunday’s presidential elections.
While you were sleeping
India unveiled the world’s tallest statue. At 182 meters (600 feet), the statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a leading independence figure who worked with Mahatma Gandhi, is twice the size of New York’s Statue of Liberty. The project was mired in controversy for years and cost $430 million.
Indonesia believes it’s located the fuselage of Lion Air flight JT610. A dive team has been deployed to coordinates located by a pinger in hopes of finding the aircraft’s black boxes after the plane crashed into the sea Monday with 189 people on board.
An Alphabet exec left after reports of sexual harassment. Rich DeVaul—a director at the company’s moonshot division X who was named in a recent New York Times report (paywall) about sexual misconduct at the company—did not receive an exit package. Google CEO Sundar Pichai also sent out an internal memo supporting employees planning a walk-out on Thursday over its handling of sexual harassment.
Pakistan freed a Christian woman on death row. The Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Asia Bibi, a mother of four who was sentenced to death in 2010 for blasphemy after she was accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad. The decision is likely to set off protests.
Notorious mobster James “Whitey” Bulger was killed in a US federal prison. The longtime Boston crime boss was found dead after being transferred to a new facility in West Virginia, where he was serving a life sentence for crimes including 11 murders. Bulger eluded police for more than 16 years before being apprehended in 2011.
The trade war chilled Chinese factory activity. China’s manufacturing sector sunk to its weakest level since July 2016. Registering 50.2 in October, the official Purchasing Managers’ Index missed expectations and was barely above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction.
Quartz Obsession interlude
Sarah Shearman on the durable, biodegradable material that’s ready to bounce back: “The spongy yet resilient substance has practical uses that date back to Ancient Egypt. But for a while, it looked like the world was turning its back on cork. These days, when low-impact, natural alternatives to plastic are in demand, it could be in line for a revival.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Twitter should kill the retweet. The feature derails healthy conversation and preys on users’ worst instincts.
Your genome is worthless. Even if hackers stole your DNA information (paywall), they couldn’t do much with the data.
Job titles are a distraction. With Elon Musk calling himself the “Nothing” of Tesla, it’s clear a C-suite title doesn’t necessarily bestow all the power.
Surprising discoveries
People all over the world are having the same nightmare. Many sufferers of sleep paralysis hallucinate a tall featureless figure who’s become known as the “Hat Man.”
The world’s largest octopus garden is 2 miles deep. Thousands of brooding octomoms are raising babies en masse off the coast of California.
Japan won’t “please please” Beatles fans. The country’s Supreme Court ruled the police won’t have to release uncensored security footage from the band’s only visit to Japan in 1966.
Paddleboarding witches took over an Oregon river. The coven was in full witch garb as they swanned down the river, some with stuffed black cats strapped to their boards.
The Paris catacombs have an underground society. “Cataphiles” do in-depth amateur explorations, often illegally, throughout the bone-filled network.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, octopus babies, and river witches 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 by Alice Truong and edited by Isabella Steger.