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☆ China limits how it defines Covid deaths in official count
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Deaths that occur in patients with pre-existing illnesses are not counted as Covid-19 deaths, said Wang Guiqiang, the head of infectious disease at Peking University's No. The clarification of how China officially records Covid-19 deaths comes as cases have soared across the country amid the loosening of restrictions. "So limiting a diagnosis of death from Covid to someone with a Covid positive test and respiratory failure will very much underestimate the true death toll associated with Covid." That narrower criteria means that China's Covid-19 death toll will always be significantly lower than those of many other nations. The World Health Organization states in guidelines that "probable" Covid-19 cases and deaths where Covid-19 was a contributing factor should also be counted as Covid-19 deaths.

☆ A lawyer representing 100 ex-Twitter staff says the company's conduct has been 'incredibly egregious' since Elon Musk took over
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A lawyer filed demands for arbitration on behalf of 100 Twitter employees who lost their jobs. Since Elon Musk took over, Twitter's conduct has been "incredibly egregious," Shannon Liss-Riordan said. She added that this was just the "first wave" of arbitration demands against the company. She added that this was just the "first wave" of arbitration demands against the company. The next week Musk started laying off staff, with around half of the company's 7,500-strong workforce being cut.

☆ Inside the over 30-year friendship of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who didn't even want to meet at first but now have each other on speed dial
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Shana Lebowitz | Debanjali Bose | Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

Buffett's contributions to Gates' foundation from 2006 through 2022 total $45 billion, when taking into account the appreciation of the Berkshire stock over time. Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett, right, speaks to Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder, as they appear to speak on the Fox Business Network with Liz Claman, in Omaha, Neb., on May 8, 2017. Nati Harnik/AP"I believe this is the largest gift ever given, and thinking about it fills me with awe and gratitude and a sense of responsibility to make sure it is spent well," Gates wrote in an post on his blog, Gates Notes, in December 2022. "Our secret weapon, which should not be secret at all, is the incredible generosity of Warren Buffett."

☆ Nonstop partying, lavish spending, and sexual-harassment accusations: Inside the self-destruction of Pollen, the music startup once worth $800 million
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Melkorka Licea | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +41 min

About 400 Pollen employees were camped out in Mendocino County, California, for five straight days of partying. Two former Pollen employees told Insider that they recalled the assistant telling them about Callum's inappropriate comments at the time. (The Pollen representative said Callum and Bedi didn't date at Pollen or at any other company connected to Pollen. Out of 360 events Pollen announced over the past 12 months, 39 were canceled, the Pollen representative said. (The Pollen representative said that "out of hundreds of thousands of customers, fewer than 100 people were moderated" online.)

☆ I paid a stylist $300 to determine which colors look best on me — and I've been oozing with confidence in my work wardrobe ever since
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Jill Schildhouse | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Writer Jill Schildhouse recently did a $300 "color analysis" session to reimagine her work wardrobe. While setting up the appointment, Thurber instructed me to arrive without any makeup, because a fresh face without outside influences interfering is needed to identify your best colors. Next, she went through my entire 'winter' spectrum of 36 colors to see which were most flatteringThese are also known as my "wow" colors. Jill SchildhouseSince my color analysis, I've discovered that building a new wardrobe around my color palette and "wow" colors really simplifies shopping and getting dressed. Family and friends have asked what I'm doing differently or why I'm glowing, and wearing these "wow" colors in my social media posts has even increased engagement.

☆ I'm a lawyer who's helping laid-off Amazon and Facebook employees deal with visa issues. Here's how I advocate for them.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Taayoo Murray | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

She says laid-off visa holders can consider a self-employed visa if they want to start a business. Initially I didn't want to practice immigration law, thinking that because I'm an empath it would pull at my heartstrings all the time. I've helped many entrepreneurs, business owners, and startup founders successfully obtain an H-1B visa with their own company as their sponsor. L-1 visa holders don't have the same option as H-1B visa holders to transfer their visas to another company. That's my new mission: using my voice as an immigration lawyer to push for tangible and immediate change.

☆ The rapid fall of Kherson, a key Ukrainian city, leaves unanswered questions
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Local residents walk past a graffiti reading "Lets bring all our people back home" in central Kherson on December 8, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. When about 100 Russian troops rolled into Kherson's Lilac Park on the morning of March 1, Oleh Shornik was one of about 20 lightly armed Ukrainian volunteers who didn't stand a chance against them. Ukraine's military was nowhere to be seen, and Russian troops in armored vehicles had easily entered the Shumensky neighborhood, opening fire and sending shrapnel flying everywhere, witnesses said. But was the doomed stand in Lilac Park a futile, early act of resistance to what became a bloody Russian occupation of Kherson? "I know very little," said Nadiia Khandusenko, recounting what few facts she knows about the death of her husband, Serhii, who also was killed in Lilac Park.

☆ Elon Musk brought his mom to a meeting with advertisers where he tweeted about Trump. He later fired an exec who didn't find the tweet funny, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk went to New York on Halloween to meet with advertisers and visit the Twitter office. He brought his mom, Maye Musk, along to the meeting where execs asked about un-banning Trump. The billionaire then tweeted a joke about Trump during the meeting. Two advertising executives from Twitter also came along, as well as Musk's friend Jason Calacanis, and Maye Musk. Horizon Media CEO, Bill Koenigsberg, told Musk that some of his clients had heard about the meeting, according to Bloomberg.

☆ I spent 8 years at my dream job on Nike's design desk. Here's why I left and what I'm leaving behind as I grow my own business.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Kristen Shenk worked as a senior designer at Nike before leaving the company in 2016. I worked in Nike Basketball for a couple of years on LeBron James' and Kobe Bryant's brands. One of the last big projects I worked on was a big innovation summit in New York in 2016. My first creative director, the one who stopped me by the printer, had done this TED Talk about leaving your dream job. But I've learned to take lessons I learned at Nike forward about creating some separation between myself and my work.

☆ Men and women asked for raises this year at the same rate, but men were more likely to get them
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Jennifer Liu | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Americans say they're handling record inflation by trying to up their income, including by asking for a raise at work. However, men were more likely to actually get a pay bump: 59% of men received a raise in the last year, compared with 52% of women, according to the survey. According to the Make It survey, women are more likely than men to be part-time workers or not employed at all. Women who ask for raises could also be getting less of a bump and make less money overall. Nearly half of women surveyed earn below $50,000, compared with about 1 in 3 men in the same income group.

☆ The Supreme Court agrees to hear a 2nd student-loan forgiveness case next year to decide millions of borrowers' fates
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Supreme Court agreed to hear a second challenge to President Joe Biden's student-debt relief. The challenge was brought by two student-loan borrowers who didn't qualify for the full amount of relief. The department took matters to the Supreme Court, asking it to make the final ruling on the legality of the debt relief. The Supreme Court earlier this month already agreed to take up a separate challenge brought by six Republican-led states that argued the loan forgiveness would hurt their states' tax revenues. The Supreme Court is expected hand down decisions in both cases by next June.

☆ 5 reasons to applaud the smart, speedy jury that convicted the Trump Organization of tax fraud
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

A Manhattan jury convicted Donald Trump's company of all 17 tax-fraud counts on Tuesday. But he would not implicate anyone named Trump — not Donald Trump, who he worked for since the 1980s. And not any of Trump's three eldest kids — Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, or Ivanka Trump, who have all served as Trump Organization executive vice presidents. Back during jury selection in late October, defense lawyers had the darnedest time finding Manhattan residents who didn't hate Donald Trump. They certainly did not look like Donald Trump's C-suite of well-paid, white-collar white men.

☆ Kellyanne Conway slams GOP senators who didn't stump for Herschel Walker ahead of the Senate runoff: 'Why weren't you in Georgia?'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Kellyanne Conway last week criticized GOP senators who didn't stump for Republican Herschel Walker. "Where were the other senators to say, 'I want Herschel Walker, not Raphael Warnock in the Senate with me?'" In last month's general election, Warnock edged out Walker 49.4%-48.5% statewide, which triggered a runoff as neither candidate hit the requisite 50% of the vote to declare victory. Warnock on Tuesday won the runoff over Walker 51.4%-48.6%. I don't like it because it's not Election Day, it's election season, election trimester.

☆ Defeated Georgia GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker was 'absolutely shocked' he didn't win 100% of the vote in Johnson County, where he grew up: report
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Walker was "shocked" he didn't 100% of the vote in his home county last month, per The Daily Beast. The Republican carried Johnson County 74%-26% over Warnock, but was still taken aback by the result. While Walker received 2,484 votes to Warnock's 869 votes in Johnson County in November, Kemp earned 2,504 votes compared to Abrams' 867 votes. On Tuesday, Warnock defeated Walker in the runoff 51.4%-48.6%, earning a full six-year term in the Senate and denying Republicans a much-desired win. And Warnock gained ground in Johnson County in the runoff compared to the November election, winning 967 votes (29%) to Walker's 2,419 votes (71%).

☆ Elon Musk sent an email threatening to sue Twitter staff who leak confidential information, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk sent an email threatening to sue Twitter staff who leak confidential information. He gave the employees until 5 p.m. on Saturday to sign a pledge, a source told Insider. A Twitter source also told Insider that Musk had sent the email to Twitter staff. One Twitter user quickly quipped: "Love that the email asking staffers to not leak information, got leaked." Twitter didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

In the central city of Wuhan, where the pandemic erupted in late 2019, there were more signs of life with some areas busy with commuters on Friday. "They've relaxed the measures but still, there’s nobody about," said a taxi driver surnamed Wang, who didn't want to give his full name. But there are signs the reassuring new message has still to convince many of the country's 1.4 billion people. China's current tally of 5,235 COVID-related deaths is a tiny fraction of its population of 1.4 billion, and extremely low by global standards. Some experts have warned that toll could rise above 1.5 million if the exit is too hasty.

☆ Arielle Charnas' company, Something Navy, is floundering amid dwindling sales, an employee exodus, and furious suppliers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Katie Warren | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +36 min

From the outside, it doesn't look as if Charnas' company is in trouble. Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images for Beach MagazineSeveral former employees told Insider they cut ties with Something Navy because they saw signs the company was struggling. Several current and former Something Navy employees told Insider they'd been inundated with emails since the spring from suppliers, freelancers, and models asking where their money was. In one email viewed by Insider, Scanlan told a supplier that cash was tight but promised payment was on the way. The current Something Navy employee said that based on data she'd seen, the retail locations most likely don't turn a profit.

Dec 6 (Reuters) - The protester who ran onto the field during the World Cup game between Portugal and Uruguay holding a rainbow flag has told Reuters that FIFA president Gianni Infantino intervened to ensure he was set free by Qatari authorities. "Gianni Infantino is intelligent - Falco is free, no problem in Qatar," he explained in a Zoom interview from his home in Italy. "The police from Qatar are very like gentlemen, very friendly, asked me if I wanted water, coffee, a croissant. Ferri said he was in custody for around half an hour when the FIFA president suddenly appeared. "I'm forever trying to fight for a new world, I want no war in the world.

☆ Amazon is offering customers $2 per month for letting the company monitor the traffic on their phones
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Under the company's new invite-only Ad Verification program, Amazon is tracking what ads participants saw, where they saw them, and the time of day they were viewed. Through the program, Amazon hopes to offer more personalized-ad experiences to customers that reflect what they have previously purchased, according to Amazon. The deal is part of the Amazon Shopper Panel, an invite-only program where select Amazon customers can earn $10 per month if they upload 10 eligible receipts from purchases made outside of Amazon. When pressed on its privacy concerns, an Amazon spokesperson referred Insider to its Shopper Panel FAQs and Amazon's privacy notice. Both the Facebook and Google programs were shut down in 2019 due to privacy concerns, The Verge and TechCrunch reported.

☆ More Foreclosures, Easier Mortgages Would Help Fix America's Housing Market
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

These standards are based on factors including the borrower's financial stability and the state of the housing market and economy. Finding the right size for the credit box is much easier said than done. A tidal wave of foreclosures followed, plunging the US housing market — and the global economy — into chaos. Even just stabilizing the credit box over time could also help smooth out some of the boom-and-bust cycles that have come to define the housing market. "If we do not address this intrinsic cyclicality, the housing market will continue to experience boom-bust cycles, leaving destruction in their wake," the paper said.

☆ Proud Son endured 'longest six minutes' before Korea advanced
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Michael Church | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"It was the longest six minutes of my life, but in the circle we were really positive," said Son, who will be playing in the World Cup knockout rounds for the first time in his career. Korea's win over the Portuguese carried echoes of their 2-0 victory over Germany in Russia four years ago, which eliminated the then-defending champions. The Koreans will next take on tournament favourites Brazil on Monday with Son praising the unity within Paulo Bento's squad. "We're really, really close. I'm really grateful to those who didn't play, they could be sad but they didn't show their disappointment.

☆ Inside China's fight over the future of zero-COVID
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( David Stanway | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

After nearly three years, a significant loosening of zero-COVID measures has been signalled by senior government officials and public health experts. Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said on Thursday that China's health system had "withstood the test" of COVID, allowing further adjustments to state policies. "You can have zero-COVID, but you can't have a healthy economy, and you can have a healthy economy, but you can't have zero-COVID." Laura Yasaitis, a public health expert at the Eurasia Group think-tank who follows China's zero-COVID policies, said fear of the virus likely varied widely across the country, as well as within cities or provinces. Officials have repeatedly said that China's health system would be unable to cope with a surge in cases, with medical resources unevenly distributed across the country.

☆ Pablo Escobar was gunned down 29 years ago today — here are 3 theories about who took the Medellin kingpin's life
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

By 1993, Colombian authorities, the US government, and rival criminals were all after Pablo Escobar. "Perseguidos por Pablo Escobar," or People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar — known as Los Pepes — was made up of rival drug traffickers, paramilitaries, and others scorned by the Medellín cartel boss. His son, Juan Pablo Escobar Henao, who has changed his name to Sebastián Marroquín, has insisted that his father took his own life on that Medellín rooftop. "I have no doubt" that Pablo Escobar planned his own death, Marroquín said in a 2014 interview. The question of who killed Pablo Escobar is likely to go unresolved, probably by design.

☆ Salesforce employees say they're blindsided by Bret Taylor's departure as Marc Benioff swears he'll get him back: 'don't think you're gonna somehow get out of this alive because you're not'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Matthew Lynley | Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Salesforce co-CEO and heir apparent Bret Taylor announced he is leaving the company. Benioff wasn't alone: many at the company were blindsided by the departure with no notice given, employees and others close to the company told Insider. At Salesforce, Taylor oversaw the $27.7 billion acquisition of Slack as COO and the launch of its real-time customer analytics tool, Genie, as co-CEO. "Just when Benioff thought he had his succession plan all figured out Taylor steps down," a recent former employee told Insider. Multiple people close to the company told Insider that Salesforce's "bench" was thin, though Benioff heavily complimented Taylor's team when asked about a potential replacement on the earnings call.

☆ 911 dispatchers say skiers are accidentally setting off Apple's new crash-detection technology without realizing, triggering emergency calls
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Emergency dispatchers in a Utah county told local news that they're seeing more accidental 911 calls from skiers. Dispatchers told KSL.com the calls are from Apple devices with a new crash-detection feature. Apple's crash-detection technology sends users a message with an alarm sound if it detects a crash. Even with accidental triggering of the technology, the report highlights that dispatchers still view the crash-detection technology as a positive, and recommend people keep it turned on. The crash-detection feature has also set off accidental 911 calls for users who were riding roller coasters, The Wall Street Journal reported in October.

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