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Good morning, it's Tuesday, Oct. 20. An alleged plot to steal OpenAI secrets may have ties to Saudi Arabia. First time reading? Join millions of insatiably curious readers. Sign up here.
Also in today's Digest: Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is out for the season with blood clots (Sports, Ent., and Cult.), Apple is reportedly releasing a touch-screen MacBook (Sci. & Tech.), why your favorite chocolate tastes different (In-Depth), and much more.
Need To Know
California Voting Crackdown
Federal officials arrested more than two dozen people in California accused of voting illegally in US elections. The crackdown comes two weeks before the US midterm elections on Nov. 3.
All of the people arrested are lawful permanent residents but not US citizens, the Justice Department says. They are on a list of more than 20,000 names the DOJ tagged as “likely” noncitizens to whom California mailed ballots this year. The DOJ last week sued the state to prevent election officials from counting those ballots until immigration status is confirmed; California says the DOJ did not provide any evidence to support the allegations.
Since 1996, 73 noncitizens have been convicted of voting illegally. The Census Bureau this year suggested upward of 24,000 voters in the 2020 election were noncitizens; see criticisms of that finding.
Saudi Bugging Suspect
Federal prosecutors yesterday asked a judge to detain a Saudi national accused of bugging OpenAI's headquarters until his trial, citing his alleged ties to Saudi royals and plans to flee the country.
The FBI arrested Abdulrahman Alfozan earlier this month on suspicion of planting an audio recording device in an executive conference room to capture proprietary information. Prosecutors say an undisclosed member of the Saudi royal family repeatedly sought to recruit the 35-year-old engineer, who joined OpenAI in 2025, to an AI venture in the kingdom. Alfozan reportedly bought one-way tickets to Saudi Arabia for his family weeks before the devices were installed. His defense says he planned to spend his roughly two-month paternity leave there. After his arrest, Saudi officials purchased new tickets for his wife and son.
Separately, Saudi Arabia postponed its flagship investment conference until 2027 following airport attacks by Iran-backed Houthis. AI was expected to feature prominently as the kingdom's AI company, HUMAIN, seeks $2.5B for data center development.
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Israeli Settler Attacks
Israeli police arrested 10 people yesterday in connection with settler violence in the occupied West Bank over the weekend. The incidents included attacks on a US citizen and European diplomats who were visiting Palestine during its annual olive harvest.
A group of settlers assaulted a Washington Post photojournalist Friday while she was working. She suffered a broken rib, four broken vertebrae, and a nearly severed finger. Settlers attacked a convoy with Belgian, French, and Polish representatives the next day, damaging a car and beating a French mayor with metal bars. Last weekend's assaults are among roughly 200 olive-harvest related attacks since the start of September, according to the United Nations. The organization also reports that five Palestinians have been killed and more than 240 wounded by Israeli forces or settlers in the occupied West Bank over the past two weeks.
Olives constitute 50%-90% of farmers’ earnings in the West Bank. See how settler violence has impacted the groves here.
🫶 Humankind: Weekslong rescue effort in Yellowstone National Park reunites family with their Jack Russell terrier mix, Luna.
In The Know
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Tampa Bay advances to World Series with win over Cleveland, will face Milwaukee (More) | Philadelphia Eagles QB Jalen Hurts will reportedly miss the rest of the NFL season due to blood clots in his lungs (More)
> Netflix reportedly fires film chief Dan Lin five days after laying off roughly 1,000 employees (More) | Jon Stewart extends contract with Paramount to continue hosting “The Daily Show” through December 2028 (More)
> Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international anchor, is leaving the network in June 2027 after 43 years; she did not give a reason for departing but revealed last October that she had resumed treatment for ovarian cancer (More)
Science & Technology
> Trump administration creates White House task force and National Institutes of Health division to advance women's health research (More) | Women globally spend 25% more of their lives in poor health or with disabilities than men (More)
> Apple announces Oct. 28 product launch event, where analysts expect the company to unveil its first touch-screen MacBook Pro (More) | iPhone Duo—Apple's first foldable phone—is back-ordered until late January (More)
> Fingerprint analysis suggests women and children helped make China's Terracotta Army sculptures, challenging the long-held assumption the work was done entirely by men (More) | Scroll for aerial view of the more than 8,000-soldier army (More)
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Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.4%, Dow -0.1%, Nasdaq +1.1%) as tech stocks climb ahead of Tesla and Meta earnings later this week (More) | China's economy outpaces forecasts, growing 4.5% year-over-year on strong exports (More)
> Elon Musk pledges SpaceX shares to every US child after Anthropic announces it will commit 5% of its shares to a public benefit fund, partly to address labor market impacts (More) | 64% of Americans say AI is developing too fast (More)
> US homebuilder sentiment hits nearly 14.5-year low amid higher mortgage rates, rising costs of building materials, and labor shortages (More) | Homebuyers cancel roughly one in seven sales last month, the highest share since the pandemic (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Ukraine says it has carried out the world's first drone evacuation of a wounded soldier (More) | See video (More)
> Independent Australian politician Helen Haines is critically wounded after being struck by a car near her office; officials arrested the driver but have not disclosed a motive as of this writing (More)
> France imposes curfew for minors in several northern cities, including Lille, as well as parts of Paris (More) | See previous write-up (More)
In-Depth
> The Chocolate Conspiracy
Grub Street | Rachel Handler. Wondering why your favorite chocolate bar has a different flavor? Your taste buds aren't deceiving you: Candy companies are altering recipes while denying the changes. (Read)
> The Surgeon Behind Sherlock Holmes
Smithsonian Magazine | Lindsey Fitzharris. Meet the Victorian doctor who inspired literature's most iconic detective by transforming medical diagnosis into captivating theater. (Read)
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Etcetera
Ranking the US' best community colleges.
Why did we start saying "Roger that"?
The world's top destinations to witness "golden hour."
Analyzing 99 cities for quality of life versus cost of living. (w/graph)
Expedition to find Amelia Earhart's plane comes up empty.
Why more young couples are saying "I do" to prenups.
Ever see a snake do a cartwheel? (scroll for video)
What retirement could look like for the "Gilmore Girls."
Meet the vampire birds who drink blood.
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Clickbait: Do we need a leap hour?
Historybook: Baseball great Mickey Mantle born (1931); Congress investigates "Reds" in Hollywood (1947); Tom Petty born (1950); President Herbert Hoover dies (1964); Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi killed (2011).
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