Hard Numbers: No tax for young Portuguese, Saudis fail at UN Human Rights Council, South Korean wins a Nobel, UN wants its money back, US inflation cools

0: To stem the flow of talented young people exiting the country for brighter job prospects in other countries, Portugal’s government has proposed a novel plan. Beginning in 2025, young people earning up to €28,000 ($30,600) a year would payzero income tax for their first year of work. They’d then get a 75% tax exemption from the second to the fifth year, 50% between the sixth and ninth years, and 25% in the 10th year.

7: On Wednesday,Saudi Arabia came up short in its bid to win a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, a setback for the kingdom’s bid to remake its image. The Asia-Pacific group of candidates, which included Saudi Arabia, had six candidates vying for five seats. The Saudis won 117 votes,seven fewer than the fifth-place Marshall Islands.

121: Novelist Han Kang is the121st winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature — and the first South Korean author to win the award. Kang was lauded for “her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”

58.8: A United Nations tribunal has ordered a former high-ranking official to repay the UN $58.8 million of the organization’s money which he steered towards a British businessman in crooked deals. Vitaly Vanshelboim, a 20-year veteran of the UN who is from Ukraine, is accused of receiving interest-free loans and a Mercedes, among other gifts.

2.4: US inflation fell to2.4% in September. That’s an improvement from 2.5% in August but fell short of the 2.3% analysts expected. The drop in inflation may not be enough to justify a 50 basis point rate cut when the Federal Reserve meets in November.