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bet365 sportsbook NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes rose to more records Wednesday after tech companies talked up how much of a boost they’re getting from the artificial-intelligence boom. The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to add to what’s set to be one of its best years of the millennium. It’s the 56th time the index has hit an all-time high this year after climbing in 11 of the last 12 days .

Speakers from 90 countries take part in Doha Forum Youth Edition

(All times Eastern) Schedule subject to change and/or blackouts Thursday, Dec. 5 AUTO RACING 4:25 a.m. (Friday) ESPN2 — Formula 1: Practice, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates CHAMPIONS HOCKEY LEAGUE 1 p.m. NHLN — Zurich at Berlin COLLEGE BASKETBALL (MEN’S) 6:30 p.m. FS1 — Purdue at Penn St. COLLEGE BASKETBALL (WOMEN’S) 5 p.m. ESPN2 — Kentucky at North Carolina 6 p.m. ACCN — Auburn at Virginia 7 p.m. ESPN — Texas at Notre Dame ESPN2 — Mississippi St. at NC State SECN — Boston College at Arkansas 8 p.m. ACCN — Florida at Clemson 9 p.m. ESPN — Duke at South Carolina ESPN2 — Stanford at LSU ESPNU — Alabama at California SECN — SMU at Missouri COLLEGE HOCKEY (MEN’S) 7:30 p.m. BTN — Penn St. at Ohio St. GOLF 4 a.m. GOLF — DP World Tour: The Nedbank Golf Challenge, First Round, Gary Player Country Club, Sun City, South Africa 1:30 p.m. GOLF — PGA Tour: The Hero World Challenge, First Round, Albany Golf Club, Nassau, Bahamas 4 a.m. (Friday) GOLF — DP World Tour: The Nedbank Golf Challenge, Second Round, Gary Player Country Club, Sun City, South Africa HORSE RACING Noon FS2 — NYRA: America’s Day at the Races NBA BASKETBALL 7 p.m. NBATV — Denver at Cleveland 10 p.m. NBATV — Houston at Golden State NFL FOOTBALL 8:15 p.m. PRIME VIDEO — Green Bay at Detroit SOCCER (MEN’S) 3:15 p.m. USA — Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur at Bournemouth The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive TV listings provided by LiveSportsOnTV .The National Basketball Association (NBA) is taking a first step back into the huge Chinese market with two preseason games set to take place in Macao next October, five years after the league was effectively blocked from China. The Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns will play the preseason games on October 10 and 12 at the Venetian Arena next year, while an NBA Flagship Store will also open in Macao. "Bringing preseason games to Macao will showcase the excitement of the NBA to fans in one of the world's emerging hubs for sports," NBA Deputy Commissioner and COO Mark Tatum said in a press release. "The Nets and the Suns feature an exciting mix of established and rising stars, and we look forward to engaging fans, aspiring players and the local community in Macao through these games and a variety of interactive events, youth development programs and social impact initiatives." NBA teams command a huge following in China, where basketball is wildly popular. The league has not staged a game in the country since 2019, when a tweet in support of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong from the Houston Rockets' then general manager Daryl Morey sparked a political firestorm. At the time, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver refused to punish or censor Morey – who is currently the Philadelphia 76ers' president of basketball operations – prompting ire from Beijing and leading the sports station of China's central broadcaster to stop showing the league's games for a year. Hong Kong was roiled by pro-democracy protests in 2019, which at times brought several hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets to push for democracy in the city. Like Macao, Hong Kong is considered a special administrative region of China, partly distinct from the mainland. Beijing repeatedly accused Western democratic forces of working to fuel the popular Hong Kong protests and lashed out at any support for the movement, which died out in 2020 when the capital imposed a sweeping national security law on the city. Silver said two years ago that the NBA had lost "hundreds of millions of dollars" in revenue following the fallout with China, with whom the league had shared a long-standing relationship. According to Reuters, 17 NBA teams played 28 games in China between 2004 and 2019. However, tensions between the league and the country now appear to have thawed, with a legends game featuring six former NBA stars set be held in Macao on Saturday. "We always love the opportunity to compete on the global stage and we are grateful to participate in the NBA China Games 2025," said Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks. "The Brooklyn Nets have an incredible fanbase around the globe and we can't wait to bring our love of the game directly to our fans while giving our players and coaches the opportunity to immerse themselves in a different culture." Phoenix Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein, meanwhile, added that playing in Macao is part of the team's vision to "bring the Suns to a global audience and impact fans across the world."

The 2025 Bull Market Roadmap: Your Key to Crypto Wealth!OTTAWA — The head of Canada's diplomatic service briefed international envoys on foreign interference last month as the intense focus on the issue across the country created confusion among some diplomats about where their work might cross the line from influence into meddling. David Morrison, the deputy minister of Global Affairs Canada, told The Canadian Press in an interview that there is a difference between interference and influence, the latter of which is the job of a diplomat. "The public inquiry and the coverage of it may have created some uncertainty," he said. "Diplomats had legitimate questions as to where we draw the line in Canada, and we tried to be very clear on that." The Liberals called a commission of inquiry into foreign interference last year following media reports and pressure from opposition parties. A final report is due by the end of January. An interim report released in May said foreign meddling by China, India, Russia or others did not affect the overall results of the 2019 and 2021 general elections. Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue said it was possible — but not certain — that outcomes in a small number of ridings were affected by interference. In his interview on Tuesday, Morrison stressed that "Canadians can have absolute confidence in the integrity of our last two general elections." During his testimony at the inquiry in October, Morrison mentioned he planned to brief diplomats about the matter, and he held that briefing on Nov. 21. Ahead of each of the last three federal elections, Global Affairs Canada sent what's called a diplomatic circular, essentially a formal notice to all accredited diplomatic missions, outlining that Ottawa expects them not to endorse or finance any political parties or groups. At the Nov. 21 briefing, Morrison told foreign diplomats that they can publicly endorse or oppose a Canadian government policy, but they can't spread disinformation to discredit a particular party or "undermine public confidence" in Canadian democracy. A slideshow shared at the briefing notes that concerns about interference since 2021 "are broader than only elections" and the "strained geopolitical context ... heightens vulnerabilities" for Canada, with its many diaspora communities. The slideshow encourages "overt engagement" with Canadians and officials, such as hosting events or taking a position on Canada's national priorities. But it says that "clandestine influence" such as influencing a nomination race or running an online disinformation campaign is out of bounds, as is "clandestine, deceptive or threatening behaviour." Also wrong would be "obfuscating foreign-state involvement in activities," funding candidates directly or through in-kind contributions, and "deception meant to manipulate individuals in Canada." Larisa Galadza, who helps run the department's democratic resilience bureau, told foreign diplomats that more public awareness of interference makes clear that it is important to avoid even the perception of crossing the line. Her speaking notes, which Morrison provided, say that Canada is "increasing our efforts to set expectations." "This briefing is an indication of how seriously we are taking this issue," Galadza's notes said. She noted that "seeking to control or unduly influence members of a diaspora community" is unacceptable, and that immigrants have the right to be vocally critical of their homeland. Her notes say diplomats can lobby an MP but cannot "convey threats or offer rewards in exchange for their support." And all of these activities, she noted, are just as unacceptable if done through proxies. Morrison said such communication is necessary, as the international agreements governing the roles of diplomats apply everywhere but aren't consistently understood. "There's a wide range of opinions as to what is influence and what is interference," he said, noting some countries see the limit of what's acceptable as measures beyond what Canadians would tolerate. "In some national contexts, interference is taken to mean monkeying around with ballot boxes," he said. Morrison said the session started by "acknowledging that the definitions were not agreed, but that this was our home turf, and we wanted to make certain everyone understood the rules" in Canada. "We made it very clear that, having now given fair warning, if accredited diplomats engage in the kinds of behaviour that we described as being outside of the lines, they could expect to hear from us." Global Affairs does not monitor the behaviour of foreign diplomats in Canada, but the department's regional teams are in frequent contact with diplomatic missions and security officials alert the department whenever they find concerning activity. Morrison said his department uses a range of approaches to have foreign states understand Canada's perspective on acceptable activity. While a formal summons gets media attention, the department can also call in an ambassador to meet with someone ranking from Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly down to a junior desk officer, based on how serious the situation is. Global Affairs Canada can expel diplomats or close embassies abroad, but it can also try making its point in an informal chat at a cocktail reception. "The essence of diplomacy is to be constantly communicating and that happens classically in diplomatic circles at social events and dinners," he said. In February, senior diplomat Weldon Epp testified to Parliament that the Justice Department and the RCMP have undertaken workshops with the Indian government, "to explain what our standards legally would be" for extraditing people to India for terrorism charges. "How India defines extremism or even terrorism does not always compute in our legal system," Weldon Epp told MPs at the time. Looking ahead to the next federal election, Morrison said he's most concerned about emboldened hostile states using artificial intelligence in their attacks. He particularly worries about deepfakes, which are spoof videos and images that can dupe people into thinking politicians said or did certain things they didn't. "The foreign interference that we have seen is continuing to evolve," he said. "Our defences against it will need to continue to evolve as well." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 4, 2024. Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press

By Lauren Hepler | CalMatters Kim Tanner didn’t expect to become a fraud detective when she filed for disability with the California Employment Development Department. But in mid-July, $3,161 vanished from her online account with the state’s new debit card contractor, Money Network, according to Tanner’s complaints to government regulators. Someone had gotten access to her online debit card account, added a new bank account and transferred out her money, all without any notifications, she wrote in the complaints. Tanner told Money Network told her it could take 90 days to investigate, and that she may or may not get a full refund, leaving her short on rent money. She turned to social media and saw similar horror stories on Reddit and Facebook. “My head exploded,” Tanner said. “This was happening to tons of people.” So she started filing complaints. First with Money Network, its parent company Fiserv and the EDD. Then with a state senator and a half-dozen financial regulators. “It just went on and on and on,” said Tanner, who got her money back via paper check about a month and a half later, after a federal agency intervened. “This needs to be investigated.” A CalMatters investigation a year ago exposed how the EDD’s unemployment system crashed during the pandemic, the result of historic job losses, years of missed warning signs and poor contractor performance. As a result, the system at first failed to stop widespread fraud, then cut off access to millions of real people who used it as a crucial lifeline. Now, even with a new payment contractor in place, concerns about fraud linger for people who rely on unemployment and disability programs run by the EDD. Multiple lawsuits and 74 federal consumer complaints about government debit cards have been filed by Californians against Money Network this year alone. The EDD and the company say the debit card fraud is smaller scale than the varied forms of fraud during the pandemic. On top of the fraud complaints, a report released Monday by the Legislative Analyst’s Office warns that lawmakers are failing to address a bigger unemployment problem: a “broken” financial model, one that threatens the whole system. California’s unemployment fund is still $20 billion in debt to the federal government after the state took out loans to cover pandemic benefits, costing taxpayers $1 billion in annual interest — more than the state spends on child welfare. Now, after years of ignoring calls to modernize the state’s 1980s-era unemployment tax code, the system is on track to lose $2 billion a year as it fails to bring in enough revenue to cover unemployment expenses, according to the report. The Legislative Analyst’s Office, which provides fiscal and policy advice to state lawmakers, says the state needs to bring unemployment taxes in line with other states to cover the deficit. “This is entirely avoidable,” said LAO policy analyst Chas Alamo. The recommendations could force a reckoning for lawmakers caught between business and labor advocates. Business groups have fought tax increases, favoring California’s current lowest-in-the-nation unemployment tax base. Labor groups argue that taxes must go up to stabilize the system. Then, they say, lawmakers should evaluate measures to expand which workers are eligible for unemployment or raise California’s $450-a-week maximum payment, which is also lower than many other states . What happens next will be one test of how legislative leaders respond to voters’ rebuke of Democratic leadership nationwide, with the Legislature’s Democratic leadership pledging to do more to make California a less expensive place to live. Meanwhile, the EDD has already secured funding for an unprecedented five-year, $1.2 billion effort called EDDNext to finally modernize the call centers, software and websites that power the state’s job safety net — a more ambitious version of past modernization efforts that crumbled during the pandemic. Whether or not history will repeat itself is complicated by unanswered questions about what went wrong at the EDD during the pandemic and how the state scrambled to recover. Former California labor chief Julie Su went on to become acting U.S. labor secretary and one of the longest-unconfirmed presidential nominees in history, thanks in part to criticism over unemployment fraud. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has denied CalMatters’ repeated requests for internal records from this period, citing an exemption that allows the governor to keep his communications secret if he chooses. The fraud factor During the pandemic, a wide range of fraud schemes hit the unemployment system at once. Global hackers used large-scale identity theft. Low-level social media scammers and prison inmates adopted fake names to file for benefits under emergency federal programs that waived normal identity checks. Debit card scammers cloned insecure EDD cards then run by Bank of America and drained the accounts. Millions of real California workers got caught up in the mess, state audits found. Some saw their EDD accounts flagged as suspicious due to clerical errors, communication failures or faulty fraud software. Laid-off workers saw EDD debit cards overdrawn by thousands of dollars or cut off as the bank and the state scrambled to rein in fraud. California and other states were partially let off the hook when the federal government agreed to absorb the bulk of the billions lost to fraud in emergency programs. After Bank of America pulled out of the unemployment business last year, the EDD tried to turn the page on debit card fraud by hiring Georgia finance tech company Money Network to take over. The scope and details of the current fraud that workers allege isn’t clear. State auditors and financial regulators haven’t analyzed it; lawsuits and regulatory complaints only show that money disappeared from workers’ accounts, not how it was taken. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which previously fined Bank of America $100 million over what it called “botched” pandemic unemployment payments, declined to answer questions about new complaints. The bureau’s public records show that Californians have filed 149 complaints against Money Network since 2022, when the company first started running a different state debit card program, with 101 complaints mentioning government cards. Money Network said in a statement that “only a small percentage of EDD recipients have reported suspected fraud,” and that anyone concerned should “call the number listed on the back of their card.” The EDD and Money Network also now allow direct deposit, giving people the option of skipping debit cards altogether. Since direct deposit launched in June, about 15% of new applicants have opted for debit cards, the EDD said in a statement. The agency could not immediately say how many of its hundreds of thousands of existing customers still use debit cards. “Anyone who suspects they are a victim of fraud should take steps to protect themselves and file a fraud report ,” the EDD said in a statement. Lea Bitton was still reeling from a high-risk pregnancy when it happened to her. One evening in June, the Orange County resident logged into her Money Network disability account and realized that $4,000 was missing. She relied on the EDD money to cover her family’s costs during parental leave. Someone Bitton didn’t know had hacked into her account, according to a lawsuit she filed against Money Network. Similar to Tanner’s case in Carlsbad, a new electronic transfer was set up for someone with a different name and bank account, and Bitton was never asked to authorize the change before the money disappeared. Matthew Loker, Bitton’s attorney, said the fraud appears similar to some EDD debit card fraud cases that he handled during the pandemic. “It’s deja vu a little bit,” Loker said. “It’s a difficult problem, but it shouldn’t be the consumers who are left holding the bag.” If fraud occurs once unemployment or disability money has already been transferred from the EDD to Money Network, the state’s contract says that Money Network is responsible for investigating and reimbursing clients if necessary. But some people with EDD Money Network debit cards say that it isn’t always easy to figure out how to start that process. In Los Angeles, Greg Zekowski filed for unemployment while in between film projects. He hadn’t even used his EDD Money Network debit card yet, he said, when he logged into the online account and saw several unfamiliar charges to Uber and other retailers. He called Money Network. “Their response was, ‘The problem is EDD,’” Zekowski said. So he called the EDD: “Their response was, ‘It’s all them.’” The EDD and its contractors aren’t alone. The state’s food assistance and college financial aid programs are also among the many financial systems facing mounting fraud risks. One broader challenge is how few financial institutions bid on government benefit projects. The lack of options puts more pressure on agencies working to secure debit cards and other payments, according to a 2023 report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau . “Providers may face minimal competitive pressure from program innovation, new entrants, or customer choice,” the report authors wrote, “which may exacerbate or cause the issues with fees and customer service that benefits recipients face.” A financial cliff While the EDD and the people who rely on it play whack-a-mole with fraud, California has big decisions to make about the future of the state’s job safety net. If the state continues to do nothing, the LAO projected this week, it will have no unemployment reserves and become even more reliant on loans from the federal government to weather future recessions, likely costing taxpayers billions more in interest. Or the state can bite the bullet, as many others have, and change the way it pays for unemployment. First, the LAO recommends that businesses pay a flat 1.9% unemployment tax while digging out of debt. California companies also currently only pay unemployment taxes on the first $7,000 a worker earns each year. Instead, the LAO recommends taxing employers on workers’ first $46,800 in earnings — higher than some neighbors like Nevada, but lower than Washington, Idaho and Oregon. “We understand that the scope of the recommendations that we’re putting forward in this report are significant,” said LAO analyst Ann Hollingshead. “This is just an honest reflection of the severity of the underlying problems in the system.” State legislatures last revamped unemployment taxes in 1984. And businesses are already voicing opposition to temporary tax hikes to pay down California’s deep federal debt. One bill to recalibrate how the system is paid for — raising unemployment taxes to eventually increase weekly benefits — died in committee this year. Robert Moutrie, a policy advocate for the California Chamber of Commerce, said that the business group is still reviewing the details of the LAO proposal. In the past, the Chamber has favored tightening unemployment eligibility to reduce benefit payments, labeling any form of tax increases and proposals to expand the unemployment system “ job killers .” Daniela Urban, executive director of the Sacramento Center for Workers’ Rights, said there is broad agreement on how unstable the current situation is but disagreement on where to go from here. She and other labor advocates say that unemployment is one area where California businesses have long underpaid compared to other states, and that the system has not kept up with non-traditional jobs and increasing costs of living. “We’re in a huge hole, and that’s not financially acceptable,” Urban said. “But how and when to make those changes I think is what the contention is.” In addition to the funding hole, the pandemic revealed other problems at EDD. Tech systems buckled : jammed call centers, spotty online accounts and a patchwork behind-the-scenes process for tracking unemployment claims. The agency is currently overhauling these systems with EDDNext. Last year, the agency hired Salesforce to remake the MyEDD online system that workers use to manage their accounts. It brought in Amazon Web Services to update and integrate EDD phone systems that left as many as 40 million calls a month unanswered during the pandemic. Early next year, the state will award a contract for the biggest chunk of the project — a new central system for EDD personnel to manage claims, which comes with more than 600 pages of specifications. “We are making tremendous investments in modernizing EDD and the work is going well,” the agency said in a statement.

The world stands at the dawn of a “third nuclear age” in which Britain is threatened by multiple dilemmas, the head of the armed forces has warned. But alongside his stark warning of the threats facing Britain and its allies, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said there would be only a “remote chance” Russia would directly attack or invade the UK if the two countries were at war. The Chief of the Defence Staff laid out the landscape of British defence in a wide-ranging speech, after a minister warned the Army would be wiped out in as little as six months if forced to fight a war on the scale of the Ukraine conflict. The admiral cast doubt on the possibility as he gave a speech at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) defence think tank in London. He told the audience Britain needed to be “clear-eyed in our assessment” of the threats it faces, adding: “That includes recognising that there is only a remote chance of a significant direct attack or invasion by Russia on the United Kingdom, and that’s the same for the whole of Nato.” Moscow “knows the response will be overwhelming”, he added, but warned the nuclear deterrent needed to be “kept strong and strengthened”. Sir Tony added: “We are at the dawn of a third nuclear age, which is altogether more complex. It is defined by multiple and concurrent dilemmas, proliferating nuclear and disruptive technologies and the almost total absence of the security architectures that went before.” He listed the “wild threats of tactical nuclear use” by Russia, China building up its weapon stocks, Iran’s failure to co-operate with a nuclear deal, and North Korea’s “erratic behaviour” among the threats faced by the West. But Sir Tony said the UK’s nuclear arsenal is “the one part of our inventory of which Russia is most aware and has more impact on (President Vladimir) Putin than anything else”. Successive British governments had invested “substantial sums of money” in renewing nuclear submarines and warheads because of this, he added. The admiral described the deployment of thousands of North Korean soldiers on Ukraine’s border alongside Russian forces as the year’s “most extraordinary development”. He also signalled further deployments were possible, speaking of “tens of thousands more to follow as part of a new security pact with Russia”. Defence minister Alistair Carns earlier said a rate of casualties similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would lead to the army being “expended” within six to 12 months. He said it illustrated the need to “generate depth and mass rapidly in the event of a crisis”. In comments reported by Sky News, Mr Carns, a former Royal Marines colonel, said Russia was suffering losses of around 1,500 soldiers killed or injured a day. “In a war of scale – not a limited intervention, but one similar to Ukraine – our Army for example, on the current casualty rates, would be expended – as part of a broader multinational coalition – in six months to a year,” Mr Carns said in a speech at Rusi. He added: “That doesn’t mean we need a bigger Army, but it does mean you need to generate depth and mass rapidly in the event of a crisis.” Official figures show the Army had 109,245 personnel on October 1, including 25,814 volunteer reservists. Mr Carns, the minister for veterans and people, said the UK needed to “catch up with Nato allies” to place greater emphasis on the reserves. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Defence Secretary John Healey had previously spoken about “the state of the armed forces that were inherited from the previous government”. The spokesman said: “It’s why the Budget invested billions of pounds into defence, it’s why we’re undertaking a strategic defence review to ensure that we have the capabilities and the investment needed to defend this country.”

(BPT) - The holidays are almost here! It means parties and events, hustle and bustle ... and figuring out what to buy for everyone on your list. Sometimes it's hard to get inspired with great ideas that your nears and dears will love at a price you can afford, right? The good news? Inspiration + savings are covered this year. One of the top gifts of Holiday 2024 is technology, and there are a lot of deals out there right now. Done and done! Here are 5 ideas for hot tech gifts for everyone on your list. Smartphones for the family T-Mobile is running a hot deal right now. Get four new smartphones at T-Mobile — this includes Samsung Galaxy S24 and other eligible devices — and four lines for just $100/month . It doesn't get better than that! These new Galaxy phones are tech-tastic, too, with features like AI, Circle to Search with Google, which can be used to help solve math problems and translate entire pages of text in a different language, and Note Assist with Galaxy AI, which lets you focus on capturing your notes and then Note Assist will summarize, format and even translate them for you. High tech spiral notebook for students We've got to admit, this is pretty cool. The Rocketbook looks (a bit) like a regular spiral, paper notebook. Here's the high tech twist: You can take notes, capture ideas, brainstorm, draw — whatever you do on paper — on the pad, and the Rocketbook digitizes your doodles and saves to the cloud device of your choice. Then you simply wipe the pad clean and it's good to go. Look for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales at your favorite online retailer. Wrist-worthy smartwatches for athletes (or those who want to be) Everyone loves smartwatches (if you're not already tracking your sleep and heart rate, where have you been?) and the Google Pixel Watch 3 (41mm & 45mm) takes it to the next level with features for athletes or anyone who may be setting fitness goals for the coming year. The watch has workout prompts like Real Time Guidance — audio and haptic cues for when to sprint, cool down or maintain pace. It gives you the ability to program your workouts and even monitors your cadence and stride. It also has Offline Maps, with driving navigation, search and maps. Here's the deal of the century: Get it for free at T-Mobile when adding a qualifying watch line. Cute wireless keyboard for people who are all thumbs Who else is annoyed by typing email or texts or social posts on a smartphone? The Logitech Multi-Device Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard solves that problem with style! It comes in sweet colors like lavender, it's wireless, it's small and portable, and it works with just about any device. Pop it into your backpack or purse and you'll never have to thumb-out a message again. Speakers perfect for hosting and giving Have a music lover in your life or need the perfect hosting gift? T-Mobile has you covered. For a limited time, you can get the JBL Clip 5 for free when you pick up a Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 9 . The JBL Clip 5 is an ultra-portable Bluetooth speaker perfect for those on the go and the Onyx Studio 9's sleek design and booming sound will take care of all your holiday hosting needs. For more tech-tastic holiday gift inspiration, check out T-Mobile's holiday gift guide at t-mobile.com/devices/tech-gifts .

Just 2% stocks pose ‘too big to fail’ threat for US marketsTrump offers a public show of support for Pete Hegseth, his embattled nominee to lead the Pentagon

Trump names David Sacks as White House AI and crypto czarPM Modi hails Indian diaspora's role in development of Kuwait, says India of future will be hub of global development

WASHINGTON — A top White House official said Wednesday at least eight U.S. telecom firms and dozens of nations were impacted by a Chinese hacking campaign. Deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger offered new details about the breadth of the sprawling Chinese hacking campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans. FILE - The American and Chinese flags wave at Genting Snow Park ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics, in Zhangjiakou, China, on Feb. 2, 2022. A top White House official on Wednesday said at least eight U.S. telecom firms and dozens of nations have been impacted by a Chinese hacking campaign. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File) Neuberger divulged the scope of the hack a day after the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued guidance intended to help root out the hackers and prevent similar cyberespionage in the future. White House officials cautioned that the number of telecommunication firms and countries impacted could grow. The U.S. believes the hackers were able to gain access to communications of senior U.S. government officials and prominent political figures through the hack, Neuberger said. “We don’t believe any classified communications has been compromised,” Neuberger added during a call with reporters. She added that Biden was briefed on the findings and the White House “made it a priority for the federal government to do everything it can to get to the bottom this.” US officials recommend encrypted messaging apps amid "Salt Typhoon" cyberattack, attributed to China, targeting AT&T, Verizon, and others. The Chinese embassy in Washington rejected the accusations that it was responsible for the hack Tuesday after the U.S. federal authorities issued new guidance. “The U.S. needs to stop its own cyberattacks against other countries and refrain from using cyber security to smear and slander China,” embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said. The embassy did not immediately respond to messages Wednesday. White House officials believe the hacking was regionally targeted and the focus was on very senior government officials. Federal authorities confirmed in October that hackers linked to China targeted the phones of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, along with people associated with Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris. The number of countries impacted by the hack is currently believed to be in the “low, couple dozen,” according to a senior administration official. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under rules set by the White House, said they believed the hacks started at least a year or two ago. The suggestions for telecom companies released Tuesday are largely technical in nature, urging encryption, centralization and consistent monitoring to deter cyber intrusions. If implemented, the security precautions could help disrupt the operation, dubbed Salt Typhoon, and make it harder for China or any other nation to mount a similar attack in the future, experts say. Trump's pick to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation Kash Patel was allegedly the target of cyberattack attempt by Iranian-backed hackers. Neuberger pointed to efforts made to beef up cybersecurity in the rail, aviation, energy and other sectors following the May 2021 ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline . “So, to prevent ongoing Salt Typhoon type intrusions by China, we believe we need to apply a similar minimum cybersecurity practice,” Neuberger said. The cyberattack by a gang of criminal hackers on the critical U.S. pipeline, which delivers about 45% of the fuel used along the Eastern Seaboard, sent ripple effects across the economy, highlighting cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the nation’s aging energy infrastructure. Colonial confirmed it paid $4.4 million to the gang of hackers who broke into its computer systems as it scrambled to get the nation's fuel pipeline back online. Picture this: You're on vacation in a city abroad, exploring museums, tasting the local cuisine, and people-watching at cafés. Everything is going perfectly until you get a series of alerts on your phone. Someone is making fraudulent charges using your credit card, sending you into a panic. How could this have happened? Cyberattacks targeting travelers are nothing new. But as travel has increased in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, so has the volume of hackers and cybercriminals preying upon tourists. Financial fraud is the most common form of cybercrime experienced by travelers, but surveillance via public Wi-Fi networks, social media hacking, and phishing scams are also common, according to a survey by ExpressVPN . Spokeo consulted cybersecurity sources and travel guides to determine some of the best ways to protect your phone while traveling, from using a VPN to managing secure passwords. Online attacks are not the only type of crime impacting travelers—physical theft of phones is also a threat. Phones have become such invaluable travel aids, housing our navigation tools, digital wallets, itineraries, and contacts, that having your phone stolen, lost, or compromised while abroad can be devastating. Meanwhile, traveling can make people uniquely vulnerable to both cyber and physical attacks due to common pitfalls like oversharing on social media and letting your guard down when it comes to taking risks online. Luckily, there are numerous precautions travelers can take to safeguard against cyberattacks and phone theft. Hackers can—and do—target public Wi-Fi networks at cafés and hotels to gain access to your personal information or install malware onto your device, particularly on unsecured networks. Travelers are especially vulnerable to these types of cybersecurity breaches because they are often more reliant on public Wi-Fi than they would be in their home countries where they have more robust phone plans. This reliance on public, unsecured networks means travelers are more likely to use those networks to perform sensitive tasks like financial transfers, meaning hackers can easily gain access to banking information or other passwords. One easy way to safeguard yourself against these breaches is to use a virtual private network, or VPN, while traveling. VPNs are apps that encrypt your data and hide your location, preventing hackers from accessing personal information. An added bonus is that VPNs allow you to access websites that may be blocked or unavailable in the country you are visiting. To use a VPN, simply download a VPN app on your phone or computer, create an account, choose a server, and connect. Pickpockets, scammers, and flagrant, snatch-your-phone-right-out-of-your-hand thieves can be found pretty much everywhere. In London, for instance, a staggering 91,000 phones were reported stolen to police in 2022 , breaking down to an average of 248 per day, according to the BBC. Whether you're visiting a crowded tourist attraction or just want peace of mind, travel experts advise taking precautions to make sure your phone isn't physically stolen or compromised while traveling. There are several antitheft options to choose from. If you want a bag that will protect your phone from theft, experts recommend looking for features like slash-resistant fabric, reinforced shoulder straps, hidden zippers that can be locked, and secure attachment points, like a cross-body strap or a sturdy clip. For tethers, look for those made of tear-resistant material with a reinforced clip or ring. If your phone falls into the wrong hands, there's a good chance you won't be getting it back. Out of those 91,000 phones stolen in London in 2022, only 1,915 (or about 2%) were recovered. The good news is that you can take precautions to make the loss of your phone less devastating by backing up your data before you travel. With backed-up data, you can acquire a new device and still access your photos, contacts, messages, and passwords. Moreover, if you have "Find My Device" or "Find My Phone" enabled, you can remotely wipe your stolen phone's data so the thief cannot access it. It's safest to back up your data to a hard drive and not just the cloud. That way, if you have to wipe your device, you don't accidentally erase the backup, too. In order for the previous tip on this list to work, "Find My Phone" must be turned on in advance, but remotely wiping your device isn't the only thing this feature allows you to do. The "Find My Phone" feature enables you to track your device, as long as it's turned on and not in airplane mode. This is particularly helpful if you misplaced your phone or left it somewhere since it can help you retrace your steps. While this feature won't show you the live location of a phone that has been turned off, it will show the phone's last known location. With "Find My Phone," you can also remotely lock your phone or enable "Lost Mode," which locks down the phone, suspends any in-phone payment methods, and displays contact information for returning the phone to you. If your phone was stolen, experts caution against taking matters into your own hands by chasing down the thief, since this could land you in a potentially dangerous situation and is unlikely to result in getting your phone back. Strong passwords for important accounts help protect your information while you travel, but it's just a first step. The National Cybersecurity Alliance recommends creating long, unique, and complex passwords for every account and combining them with multifactor authentication to create maximum barriers to entry. If you're worried about remembering these passwords, password managers can be a vital tool for both creating and storing strong passwords. Password managers are apps that act as secure vaults for all your passwords. Some even come with a feature that allows you to temporarily delete sensitive passwords before you travel and then easily restore them once you return. Story editing by Mia Nakaji Monnier. Additional editing by Kelly Glass. Copy editing by Tim Bruns. Photo selection by Lacy Kerrick. This story originally appeared on Spokeo and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio. Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly.By Lauren Hepler | CalMatters Kim Tanner didn’t expect to become a fraud detective when she filed for disability with the California Employment Development Department. But in mid-July, $3,161 vanished from her online account with the state’s new debit card contractor, Money Network, according to Tanner’s complaints to government regulators. Someone had gotten access to her online debit card account, added a new bank account and transferred out her money, all without any notifications, she wrote in the complaints. Tanner told Money Network told her it could take 90 days to investigate, and that she may or may not get a full refund, leaving her short on rent money. She turned to social media and saw similar horror stories on Reddit and Facebook. “My head exploded,” Tanner said. “This was happening to tons of people.” So she started filing complaints. First with Money Network, its parent company Fiserv and the EDD. Then with a state senator and a half-dozen financial regulators. “It just went on and on and on,” said Tanner, who got her money back via paper check about a month and a half later, after a federal agency intervened. “This needs to be investigated.” A CalMatters investigation a year ago exposed how the EDD’s unemployment system crashed during the pandemic, the result of historic job losses, years of missed warning signs and poor contractor performance. As a result, the system at first failed to stop widespread fraud, then cut off access to millions of real people who used it as a crucial lifeline. Now, even with a new payment contractor in place, concerns about fraud linger for people who rely on unemployment and disability programs run by the EDD. Multiple lawsuits and 74 federal consumer complaints about government debit cards have been filed by Californians against Money Network this year alone. The EDD and the company say the debit card fraud is smaller scale than the varied forms of fraud during the pandemic. On top of the fraud complaints, a report released Monday by the Legislative Analyst’s Office warns that lawmakers are failing to address a bigger unemployment problem: a “broken” financial model, one that threatens the whole system. California’s unemployment fund is still $20 billion in debt to the federal government after the state took out loans to cover pandemic benefits, costing taxpayers $1 billion in annual interest — more than the state spends on child welfare. Now, after years of ignoring calls to modernize the state’s 1980s-era unemployment tax code, the system is on track to lose $2 billion a year as it fails to bring in enough revenue to cover unemployment expenses, according to the report. The Legislative Analyst’s Office, which provides fiscal and policy advice to state lawmakers, says the state needs to bring unemployment taxes in line with other states to cover the deficit. “This is entirely avoidable,” said LAO policy analyst Chas Alamo. A person with blonde hair and wearing a black and white flower pattern blouse stands in the living room of their home while looking towards their left. A computer screen showing a subreddit with various posts by users asking questions or sharing their experiences with money fraud and identity theft. A person with blond hair can be seen in the foreground looking towards the screen. The recommendations could force a reckoning for lawmakers caught between business and labor advocates. Business groups have fought tax increases, favoring California’s current lowest-in-the-nation unemployment tax base. Labor groups argue that taxes must go up to stabilize the system. Then, they say, lawmakers should evaluate measures to expand which workers are eligible for unemployment or raise California’s $450-a-week maximum payment, which is also lower than many other states . What happens next will be one test of how legislative leaders respond to voters’ rebuke of Democratic leadership nationwide, with the Legislature’s Democratic leadership pledging to do more to make California a less expensive place to live. Meanwhile, the EDD has already secured funding for an unprecedented five-year, $1.2 billion effort called EDDNext to finally modernize the call centers, software and websites that power the state’s job safety net — a more ambitious version of past modernization efforts that crumbled during the pandemic. Whether or not history will repeat itself is complicated by unanswered questions about what went wrong at the EDD during the pandemic and how the state scrambled to recover. Former California labor chief Julie Su went on to become acting U.S. labor secretary and one of the longest-unconfirmed presidential nominees in history, thanks in part to criticism over unemployment fraud. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has denied CalMatters’ repeated requests for internal records from this period, citing an exemption that allows the governor to keep his communications secret if he chooses. During the pandemic, a wide range of fraud schemes hit the unemployment system at once. Global hackers used large-scale identity theft. Low-level social media scammers and prison inmates adopted fake names to file for benefits under emergency federal programs that waived normal identity checks. Debit card scammers cloned insecure EDD cards then run by Bank of America and drained the accounts. Millions of real California workers got caught up in the mess, state audits found. Some saw their EDD accounts flagged as suspicious due to clerical errors, communication failures or faulty fraud software. Laid-off workers saw EDD debit cards overdrawn by thousands of dollars or cut off as the bank and the state scrambled to rein in fraud. California and other states were partially let off the hook when the federal government agreed to absorb the bulk of the billions lost to fraud in emergency programs. After Bank of America pulled out of the unemployment business last year, the EDD tried to turn the page on debit card fraud by hiring Georgia finance tech company Money Network to take over. The scope and details of the current fraud that workers allege isn’t clear. State auditors and financial regulators haven’t analyzed it; lawsuits and regulatory complaints only show that money disappeared from workers’ accounts, not how it was taken. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which previously fined Bank of America $100 million over what it called “botched” pandemic unemployment payments, declined to answer questions about new complaints. The bureau’s public records show that Californians have filed 149 complaints against Money Network since 2022, when the company first started running a different state debit card program, with 101 complaints mentioning government cards. Money Network said in a statement that “only a small percentage of EDD recipients have reported suspected fraud,” and that anyone concerned should “call the number listed on the back of their card.” The EDD and Money Network also now allow direct deposit, giving people the option of skipping debit cards altogether. Since direct deposit launched in June, about 15% of new applicants have opted for debit cards, the EDD said in a statement. The agency could not immediately say how many of its hundreds of thousands of existing customers still use debit cards. “Anyone who suspects they are a victim of fraud should take steps to protect themselves and file a fraud report ,” the EDD said in a statement. A close-up view of a flyer for identity theft resources and information that sits on top on other various documentation on a desk. Lea Bitton was still reeling from a high-risk pregnancy when it happened to her. One evening in June, the Orange County resident logged into her Money Network disability account and realized that $4,000 was missing. She relied on the EDD money to cover her family’s costs during parental leave. Someone Bitton didn’t know had hacked into her account, according to a lawsuit she filed against Money Network. Similar to Tanner’s case in Carlsbad, a new electronic transfer was set up for someone with a different name and bank account, and Bitton was never asked to authorize the change before the money disappeared. Matthew Loker, Bitton’s attorney, said the fraud appears similar to some EDD debit card fraud cases that he handled during the pandemic. “It’s deja vu a little bit,” Loker said. “It’s a difficult problem, but it shouldn’t be the consumers who are left holding the bag.” If fraud occurs once unemployment or disability money has already been transferred from the EDD to Money Network, the state’s contract says that Money Network is responsible for investigating and reimbursing clients if necessary. But some people with EDD Money Network debit cards say that it isn’t always easy to figure out how to start that process. In Los Angeles, Greg Zekowski filed for unemployment while in between film projects. He hadn’t even used his EDD Money Network debit card yet, he said, when he logged into the online account and saw several unfamiliar charges to Uber and other retailers. He called Money Network. “Their response was, ‘The problem is EDD,’” Zekowski said. So he called the EDD: “Their response was, ‘It’s all them.’” The EDD and its contractors aren’t alone. The state’s food assistance and college financial aid programs are also among the many financial systems facing mounting fraud risks. One broader challenge is how few financial institutions bid on government benefit projects. The lack of options puts more pressure on agencies working to secure debit cards and other payments, according to a 2023 report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau . “Providers may face minimal competitive pressure from program innovation, new entrants, or customer choice,” the report authors wrote, “which may exacerbate or cause the issues with fees and customer service that benefits recipients face.” While the EDD and the people who rely on it play whack-a-mole with fraud, California has big decisions to make about the future of the state’s job safety net. If the state continues to do nothing, the LAO projected this week, it will have no unemployment reserves and become even more reliant on loans from the federal government to weather future recessions, likely costing taxpayers billions more in interest. Or the state can bite the bullet, as many others have, and change the way it pays for unemployment. First, the LAO recommends that businesses pay a flat 1.9% unemployment tax while digging out of debt. California companies also currently only pay unemployment taxes on the first $7,000 a worker earns each year. Instead, the LAO recommends taxing employers on workers’ first $46,800 in earnings — higher than some neighbors like Nevada, but lower than Washington, Idaho and Oregon. “We understand that the scope of the recommendations that we’re putting forward in this report are significant,” said LAO analyst Ann Hollingshead. “This is just an honest reflection of the severity of the underlying problems in the system.” State legislatures last revamped unemployment taxes in 1984. And businesses are already voicing opposition to temporary tax hikes to pay down California’s deep federal debt. One bill to recalibrate how the system is paid for — raising unemployment taxes to eventually increase weekly benefits — died in committee this year. Robert Moutrie, a policy advocate for the California Chamber of Commerce, said that the business group is still reviewing the details of the LAO proposal. In the past, the Chamber has favored tightening unemployment eligibility to reduce benefit payments, labeling any form of tax increases and proposals to expand the unemployment system “ job killers .” Daniela Urban, executive director of the Sacramento Center for Workers’ Rights, said there is broad agreement on how unstable the current situation is but disagreement on where to go from here. She and other labor advocates say that unemployment is one area where California businesses have long underpaid compared to other states, and that the system has not kept up with non-traditional jobs and increasing costs of living. “We’re in a huge hole, and that’s not financially acceptable,” Urban said. “But how and when to make those changes I think is what the contention is.” In addition to the funding hole, the pandemic revealed other problems at EDD. Tech systems buckled : jammed call centers, spotty online accounts and a patchwork behind-the-scenes process for tracking unemployment claims. The agency is currently overhauling these systems with EDDNext. Last year, the agency hired Salesforce to remake the MyEDD online system that workers use to manage their accounts. It brought in Amazon Web Services to update and integrate EDD phone systems that left as many as 40 million calls a month unanswered during the pandemic. Early next year, the state will award a contract for the biggest chunk of the project — a new central system for EDD personnel to manage claims, which comes with more than 600 pages of specifications. “We are making tremendous investments in modernizing EDD and the work is going well,” the agency said in a statement.THE use of cash has grown for the second year in a row, amid worries that more businesses are refusing to accept notes and coins. Cash was used in 19.9 per cent of all UK transactions in 2023 — up from 18.8 per cent the previous year, according to British Retail Consortium figures. 3 Use of cash is growing - amid concerns businesses are refusing to accept notes and coins Credit: Getty The increase is a shift from a long-running trend of people switching to digital payments and debit cards. The BRC credited the rise to the cost-of-living crisis — with many people finding it easier to budget their outgoings in physical cash. The Treasury Select Committee is examining if there should be rules to force businesses to accept cash, amid a rise in the number of outlets that have already switched to contactless only. There are growing concerns they exclude many vulnerable people. A submission to the inquiry by VISA found that in 2019 over 15 per cent of people with an income under £10,000 a year relied completely on cash to pay for goods and services, compared with less than 2.5 per cent of all higher income groups READ MORE BUSINESS NEWS NO MORR COSTS Morrisons boss blasts Budget 'avalanche' amid warnings of higher prices BUDGET FALLOUT 'I wouldn't trust govt to do my shopping', fumes AO World boss on tax raid But there are also warnings that cash-only businesses such as nail bars and car washes are fuelling modern slavery and illegal immigration. Bas Javid, director general of immigration enforcement at the Home Office, said at the weekend some businesses rejected card payments to disguise illegal working. The Select Committee yesterday heard that physical cash is essential for victims and survivors of economic and domestic abuse. Deidre Cartwright, of Surviving Economic Abuse, told MPs: “It’s a means for them to escape an abuser — especially when that abuser can track them through a bank account.” Most read in Business NO MORR COSTS Morrisons boss blasts Budget 'avalanche' amid warnings of higher prices REYNOLD'S VOW Food will not be on table in any trade deal talks with US, says Business Sec FAST FOOD Tesco ramps up speedy deliveries so customers can get orders in just 20 minutes REEVES SLAMMED Chancellor’s business tax raid will 'add up to 15p to price of a pint' Concerns have also been raised about a growing number of council car parks that only accept payments made using unreliable phone apps . Ron Delnevo, of the Payment Choice Alliance, told the hearing: “I know older friends who’ve stopped going to places because they couldn’t park without an app.” Millions on low-incomes to get cost of living payments as Rachel Reeves reveals £1billion Autumn Budget boost Cash debate By Dame Meg Hillier SHOULD there be rules to force certain businesses and services to always accept physical cash? My committee heard from a carer to a wife with MS, who relies on cash to put money aside for bills. A supermarket worker told of the difficulty partially sighted customers have paying digitally at checkouts. Charity Mencap stressed how people with learning disabilities often use cash to guard from card scams. But corner shops have argued they should make their own decisions, and stress the cost of handling cash. The previous Government said no to rules for cash. We are yet to hear if this Government feels the same. NUKE KID ON THE BLOCK 3 First nuclear reactor for a generation is fitted to British power station, Hinkley Point A 500-ton steel reactor was fitted into Britain’s first nuclear power station in 30 years yesterday. The 42ft reactor pressure vessel was installed at Hinkley Point C in Somerset, which EDF says will generate power for three million homes . The project, which is due to start generating power in 2029, has been hampered by political wrangling, Covid and supply chain problems. The delayed start has caused concerns about Britain’s energy security. EDF and Centrica yesterday said they will keep four ageing nuclear power stations running to ensure there is a low blackout risk. Chris O’Shea, chief executive of Centrica, said: “Power generation that doesn’t depend on the sun shining and the wind blowing is essential to keeping the lights on.” B&M SICK AS A DOG BURBERRY has launched legal action against B&M in a trademark dispute. B&M had sold “Furberry” branded pet items, including dog bowls, toys, blankets, mats and beds this year. The items featured a print with red, white and black checks on a beige background, strikingly similar to Burberry’s famous check print. It says the discount chain was falsely representing its goods as Burberry, Sky News reported. OZ CALL FOR MINE GIANT RIO 3 Rio Tinto has come under fresh attack from an activist investor Credit: Getty MINING giant Rio Tinto has come under fresh attack from an activist investor pushing it to scrap its main London listing and focus on Australia instead. Palliser Capital yesterday published an open letter to Rio Tinto’s board arguing the dual-listed structure has been a “failure for shareholders”. The UK hedge fund, which has a £197million stake in the miner, urged it to follow BHP and drop its dual listing. The loss of Rio Tinto would be a big blow to the London Stock Exchange and many pension tracker funds would be forced to sell stock if it was no longer in the FTSE 100. The Exchange is in crisis after facing the worst exodus of firms in 14 years, with 45 companies removed from the market in takeovers, according to Bloomberg. The value of the UK PLC market is shrinking because there have not been any big listings to replace the losses. PETROL 'AT PEAK' BRITAIN has hit “peak petrol” and the number of cars needing to be filled up at the pumps will almost halve over the next decade, says a report. Auto Trader estimates there were 18.7million petrol cars this year, but that will slump to 11.1million by 2034. It predicts a “seismic shift” towards electric vehicles as they become cheaper, from 1.25million EVs to 13.7million in the next decade. It expects the share of EVs to rise to 23 per cent next year, below the Government’s eco-mandate of 28 per cent. Budget gloom THE services industry has almost ground to a halt since the Budget, with firms hiking prices and freezing hiring and investment to cover costs, a survey found. Read more on the Scottish Sun DECEMBER MISERY Scots face blizzards and travel chaos as weather map reveals 75mph storm CHOC OFF Mums fume at Poundland’s ‘rotten’ advent calendar they thought was ‘for dogs’ Business confidence has slumped to its lowest in two years, the influential S&P UK services purchasing managers index revealed yesterday. S&P Global's Tim Moore said: “Worries about the impact of policies in the Budget were widely reported as leading to a gloomier assessment of investment prospects and the broader UK economic outlook.”

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