China’s Direct Access To An Internal TikTok Platform

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Good morning,

If you threw on a jacket before going trick-or-treating last night, you may want to keep it on. A cold front that put more than 100 million under frost and freeze warnings for Halloween from eastern Colorado to the East Coast to the South continues to chill the forecast today in many parts of the country.

The storm system, dubbed the “Manitoba Mauler,” not only brought snow to the Midwest, but for cities like Houston, Dallas and Austin, temperatures were lower on Halloween than the Christmas average. All the more reason to start replacing the spooky decorations with winter holiday versions and break out the hot cocoa.

BREAKING NEWS

The Israel Defense Forces admitted to striking the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza—an attack that Hamas said killed dozens and injured hundreds—and said it killed a senior Hamas commander and around 50 Hamas fighters in the attack. Hamas has denied that any leadership was at the refugee camp at the time of the attack, NBC News reported. The camp is the largest of the eight refugee camps in Gaza and has held refugees since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

MORE: The first foreigners began leaving the Gaza Strip through its southern border with Egypt on Wednesday, following a deal brokered by the Qatari government between Israel, Egypt and Hamas to allow foreign passport holders and gravely injured civilians to cross into Egypt.

Amid a rise in concerns about antisemitism after Hamas’ attack on Israel last month, a Cornell University student was arrested and charged Tuesday over online posts threatening Jewish students at the university. The 21-year-old engineering student allegedly posted a message on Greekrank—an online forum that focuses on fraternities and Greek life on campuses—titled “gonna shoot up 104 west”—a dining hall that serves kosher meals and is located near the Cornell Jewish Center.

TECH + INNOVATION

TikTok’s internal workplace collaboration platform was inspected by the Chinese government ahead of the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th National Congress, Forbes has learned. This is the first report revealing a direct level of access by Chinese government officials to a product that hosts some of TikTok’s most secret information, and the documents show that—at least for now—TikTok remains reliant on its parent company ByteDance’s systems, which are subject to Chinese regulatory control.

Since the Hamas attacks on October 7, Israel has called on its much-vaunted cybersecurity and surveillance industries to assist in the war on Hamas, including employing the services of often-controversial spyware companies. One focus for cybersecurity experts has been to help hack into phones and computers of the missing and the dead, four individuals from Israel’s cyber and intelligence industries told Forbes. “The entire ecosystem is devoted to the effort to gather any kind of information,” one analyst said.

BUSINESS + FINANCE

Even in 2023, only about 32% of women hold senior leadership positions in the global workforce, according to a World Economic Forum report. In our 2023 World’s Top Companies for Women list, Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista to rank the companies around the world that support women both in the workplace and outside of it.

As Tesla faces a string of lawsuits over Autopilot’s role in crashes, a jury in Southern California found its driver-assistant technology was not defective, and therefore wasn’t responsible for a 2019 crash that killed one passenger and injured two others, a win for the automaker. Tesla’s autopilot features have often been touted by CEO Elon Musk—but critics have accused the company of exaggerating its cars’ self-driving abilities.

WEALTH + ENTREPRENEURSHIP

YouTrip, a woman-led fintech startup, announced it has raised $50 million from new investor Lightspeed Venture Partners, which has backed the likes of Epic Games and OYO, bringing YouTrip’s total funding to $105.5 million. YouTrip provides its customers in Southeast Asia with a virtual and physical debit card that supports payments in over 150 currencies.

Russian oligarch Alexei Kuzmichev, who Forbes estimates is worth $6.4 billion, has been detained in France on suspicion of tax fraud, money laundering and violating sanctions. The billionaire, who the European Union considers to be one of the most influential people in Russia with “well established ties” to Putin, has not been charged but remained in custody on Tuesday, per Reuters.

MONEY + POLITICS

Senate Democrats announced plans to subpoena two GOP megadonors, including Harlan Crow, and a conservative judicial activist, seeking details about their reported role in paying for lavish gifts for conservative Supreme Court justices. In a statement on X, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee said the Supreme Court is “in an ethical crisis of its own making.”

SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT

Hoping to capitalize on the hype around the Las Vegas Sphere, Warner Bros. and virtual reality company Cosm say they are planning to begin offering immersive “shared reality” experiences where audiences will be able to watch NBA and NHL broadcasts in large dome venues with 360-degree screens meant to simulate being at the game in person. Cosm plans to open a 65,000-square-foot venue in Los Angeles in spring 2024 and a 70,000-square-foot building in Dallas later next year, each with a capacity of about 800 people within the dome.

The New York Mets will get a huge windfall this year from lower debt payments thanks to owner Steve Cohen’s 2021 refinancing of the bonds used to finance the construction of Citi Field. Cohen’s “willingness to support the team, and the ballpark if needed, is expected to continue as Cohen remains the wealthiest owner in the MLB and among the wealthiest owners in all of professional sports globally,” Moody’s Investors Service stated in a report last week.

TRAVEL + LIFESTYLE

Shares for JetBlue Airways fell more than 13% Tuesday, eclipsing a previous low set 12 years ago, after the airline said rising fuel prices, “staggering” weather delays and air traffic control limitations resulted in a net loss through the third quarter. JetBlue reported $2.35 billion in revenue for the third quarter, an 8% decline over the previous year, falling short of analyst projections of $2.38 billion, per CNBC.

DAILY COVER STORY

Some Apple Watches Are About To Be Banned In The U.S. What Happens Next?

TOPLINE The International Trade Commission issued an order to halt the importation of certain Apple Watches into the U.S. last week, handing a major win to medical device-maker Masimo in a years-long patent battle with the most valuable company in the world.

It’s an important bargaining chip for Masimo founder and CEO Joe Kiani, who said his company has spent upwards of $65 million related to ongoing patent and trade secret litigation with Apple over its pulse oximeter, a blood oxygen sensor that has become a selling point for premium smartwatches and fitness trackers.

The Commission sided with Masimo that Apple infringed on two patents related to the pulse oximeter, and the ban would prohibit certain Apple Watches that include the sensor from being imported into the U.S. It also includes a cease-and-desist order that stops sales of infringing products already in the country.

The import ban is now subject to a 60-day presidential review and, barring intervention by the Biden administration, is slated to go into effect on December 25. Apple said it plans to appeal the decision, which does not immediately affect Apple Watch sales.

But unless Apple can convince the Biden administration to veto the ruling in the next two months, the ban would go into effect while the appeals process plays out in federal court. A presidential veto of an International Trade Commission ruling is exceedingly rare, said John Presper, counsel at Foster, Murphy, Altman & Nickel, who isn’t involved in the litigation but represents clients before the Commission.

Kiani told Forbes he hopes the ITC decision “might speed things up” and push $2.7 trillion Apple toward a settlement agreement with its $4.2 billion market cap challenger.

WHY IT MATTERS “The case gets to the heart of a bigger strategic question for Apple: Does the company want to sell regulated healthcare products or stick with consumer products?” writes Forbes senior writer Katie Jennings.

“Analyst Horace Dediu believes Apple is firmly in the consumer tech camp and doesn’t want to deal with onerous healthcare regulations. There is a longshot chance that Apple might attempt to disable the blood oxygen function in order to comply with the Commission’s decision, but the most likely outcome is a settlement with Masimo.”

MORE The MedTech Billionaire Waging A Patent War With Apple

FACTS AND COMMENTS

A new report found taxpayers spent hundreds of millions per year on unnecessary coronary stents, small mesh tubes inserted in the body to open up weak or narrow arteries or other passages. That puts patients at risk of complications like stroke, heart attack and death:

More than one in five: The portion of coronary stents placed between 2019 and 2021 that were unnecessary

$800 million: The cost to Medicare of the unnecessary coronary stents

Every seven minutes: How often an unnecessary coronary stent is inserted into a U.S. patient

STRATEGY AND SUCCESS

How many résumés do you need to send out to land a job in 2023? For some people, it’s more than 500, illustrating how much the labor market has shifted from the days of the “Great Resignation” era as companies slow hiring. If you’re not getting traction after months of searching, it may be time to reevaluate your strategy: Take a look at your résumé, LinkedIn and social media presence, and make sure that they highlight your success and what you want to do next.

VIDEO

QUIZ

With the cost of living on the rise and the ability for some to work remotely, many Americans are looking for affordable places to live that still offer a high quality of life. A recent report named which of the following as the cheapest U.S. city to live?

A. Springfield, Illinois

B. Des Moines, Iowa

C. Sioux Falls, South Dakota

D. Lexington, Kentucky

Check your answer.

ACROSS THE NEWSROOM

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