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I f you’re tired of memorizing passwords, give passkeys a try. You might have noticed that many online services are now offering the option of using passkeys, a digital authentication method touted as an easier and more secure way to log in. The passkey push started gaining major momentum after Google started accepting them about 18 months ago. Passkeys are seen as eventual replacements for passwords, but if you’re still not sure what they’re all about, read on: Passkeys do away with passwords consisting of letters, numbers and symbols. Instead you are using existing biometrics like your face or fingerprints, digital patterns or PINs to access your accounts. Passkeys are made up of two parts of a code that only makes sense when they’re combined, kind of like a digital key and padlock. You keep half of the encrypted code, typically stored either in the cloud with a compatible password manager or on a physical security dongle. The other half is stored on the participating apps, services or accounts you want to access. A passkey won’t work with any website except the one it has been created for, eliminating the security risks associated with traditional passwords. That means bad actors carrying out phishing scams won’t be able to trick you into entering your details into a copycat login page for your bank. And because passkeys use cryptographic security, they also can’t brute force their way into your account by trying passwords exposed in previous data breaches or guessing them. Some 20% of the world’s top 100 websites now accept passkeys, said Andrew Shikiar, CEO of the FIDO Alliance, an industry group that developed the core authentication technology behind passkeys. Passkeys first came to the public’s attention when Apple added the technology to iOS in 2022. They got more traction after Google started using them in 2023. Now, many other companies including PayPal, Amazon, Microsoft and eBay work with passkeys. There’s a list on the FIDO Alliance website. Still, some popular sites like Facebook and Netflix haven’t started using them yet. I tried setting up passkeys for some of the major online services I use. It was fairly easy for some but confusing for others. Shikiar said his group is constantly working on ways to improve the user experience. Google users can go to myaccount.google.com and, under “How to sign in to Google,” click Passkeys and security keys. Upon reaching the setup screen, I received a prompt to create a passkey while simultaneously my password manager’s browser plug-in popped up offering to save it. I clicked to confirm, and the setup work was all done automatically. So far, pretty easy. Then, I tried adding more Google passkeys to my Windows-based work laptop and a Yubico physical security key. This time, when I got to the Google setup screen, it asked for my existing passkey to confirm my identity. But then it somehow failed to authenticate through my password manager. I tried again using other verification methods, including my Google authenticator app that I already had on my iPhone, and it eventually succeeded. Once set up, it was a breeze to sign in to some of my accounts with just a click or two. But there was some friction with my PayPal account because its passkeys don’t work on some browsers, like Firefox. When I tried to log in with my Amazon passkey, it asked for a one-time verification code from my authenticator app, which confused me because I thought passkeys were supposed to eliminate the need for multi-factor authentication. Shikiar said it depends on the site, but, in theory, the passkey already has enough protection built in. “When the primary factor’s un-phishable, other factors aren’t necessary,” he said. If you’ve lost the device containing your passkey, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s gone. That’s because the typical method to store passkeys on phones is a cloud-based password manager from Apple, Google or third-party providers. So just log back into the password manager from another phone or computer. Passkeys stored on security dongles, on the other hand, aren’t synced to the cloud so there’s no way to recover them if they’re lost. It’d be a good idea to get a second hardware key and keep it as a backup. In theory, you could delete your old passwords. Some services like Microsoft already offer this option. Shikiar says it should be a “personal preference,” because “some people may feel extremely nervous” about going passwordless. It’s fine to keep your password, but make sure there’s also multi-factor authentication set up for it, he said. Get local news delivered to your inbox!Arsenal, Man City and Bayern advance to Women's Champions League quarterfinals
Should the U.S. increase immigration levels for highly skilled workers?Iran said it will start easing some of the world’s tightest internet restrictions by lifting its ban on WhatsApp and Google Play — a sign that authorities want to placate domestic opponents as the Islamic Republic faces major economic and foreign-policy challenges. Earlier on Tuesday, Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace approved the lifting of blocks on “certain widely used foreign platforms” according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, which named WhatsApp and Google Play as the first two applications to be unblocked. Since the 2009 protests against the reelection of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, social media networks including Facebook, X and YouTube have been banned or restricted by authorities who’ve blamed them for facilitating protests and fomenting opposition to the state. Iran’s government has faced criticism for years from ordinary Iranians, Western governments, the United Nations and political activists for its draconian attitude toward the internet. Officials — most of whom use banned social media sites to run their own public-facing accounts — often fail to deliver on promises to reduce censorship. Instead, it’s increased significantly over the past 10 years. It’s not clear when Tuesday’s decision will come into effect. IRNA said it was reached by a unanimous vote at a council meeting attended by the head of the judiciary and reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian who’d pledged to relax internet freedoms for Iranians when he was elected in July. The move comes as the Islamic Republic, already widely unpopular at home following a nationwide 2022 uprising that was brutally suppressed, is locked in a standoff with Israel for supporting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Earlier: Iran Protests Show the Depth of Nation’s Economic, Social Pain Both groups — designated as terrorist organizations by the US and its allies — have been crippled by Israel’s military response to the October 2023 attacks by Hamas. The ouster of Bashar al-Assad in Syria has also upended Iran’s foreign policy at a time when it’s struggling to keep the lights on for industry and households amid a major fuel and natural-gas crisis. “The process of lifting cyberspace restrictions will be multistaged and ongoing, and it won’t be limited to the removal of restrictions on one or a few platforms,” IRNA said. Complete internet blackouts have often been imposed on Iranians, including during protests in November 2019 and the 2022 nationwide uprising, which prompted the US government at the time to ease restrictions on internet services to Iran, such as Elon Musk’s Starlink. The Washington-based Freedom House said Iran was among the three least free countries in the world in terms of internet access — after China and Myanmar — in its annual “Internet Freedom Scores” ranking.
The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) will, from December 22, 2024, to January 23, 2025, expand its observation of the post-election environment to monitor developments, particularly in light of challenges arising from the declaration of some parliamentary results. A total of 20 citizen observers have been recruited, trained, and deployed nationwide to that effect. The National Coordinator CODEO Mr Albert Arhin, in a press statement issued in Accra and copied the Ghanaian Times said the post-election observers will monitor the actions and engagements of key stakeholders, including the Electoral Commission (EC), political parties, the judiciary, security agencies, and civil society organisations (CSOs), among others, in the selected constituencies. “Observers will pay close attention to any electoral disputes, the conduct of political actors, and adherence to constitutional processes as Ghana prepares for the swearing-in of the President-elect on January 7, 2025, and the period after. This exercise is part of CODEO’s interventions to promote transparency, accountability, and peaceful democratic transitions in Ghana,” it said. The statement said as has been the Coalition’s practice, election observation was a continuous process that spans pre-election, election day, and post-election periods. The post-election observation seeks to ensure that the electoral space remains conducive for peace, stability, and national unity. “CODEO acknowledges ongoing challenges related to the declaration of results for some parliamentary seats and urges all stakeholders to uphold the rule of law, resolve disputes through legitimate channels, and avoid actions that may compromise the country’s peace and stability,“ the statement continued. Meanwhile, the Coalition has assured the public of its commitment to providing regular updates and findings from this observation effort, as part of its broader goal of fostering transparent and credible elections. BY TIMES REPORTER
Josh Allen passed for two touchdowns and rushed for one more as the Buffalo Bills clobbered the New York Jets 40-14 on Sunday afternoon in Orchard Park, N.Y. The Bills clinched the No. 2 seed in the AFC with the victory. Allen was showered with "M-V-P" chants after putting the game away with a pair of third-quarter touchdown passes -- a 30-yard connection with Amari Cooper and a 14-yard strike to a leaping Keon Coleman with 12 seconds left in the frame. Those scores sandwiched a 1-yard touchdown run by James Cook. Buffalo (13-3) took a 33-0 lead into the fourth quarter thanks to its 21-point third. Allen, who turned things over to backup quarterback Mitchell Trubisky for the final 15 minutes, finished with 182 yards on 16-for-27 passing. Trubisky hit Tyrell Shavers for a 69-yard TD on his first pass of the contest to make it 40-0 with 12:37 to go. It marked Shavers' first career catch. The Bills' defense was in the spotlight just as much as Allen, forcing three turnovers and racking up four sacks. Aaron Rodgers struggled under center for New York (4-12), completing 12 of 18 passes for 112 yards. He was picked off twice. Second-string signal-caller Tyrod Taylor broke the shutout with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson with 6:59 left in the game. The Jets proceeded to convert a two-point try to trim their deficit to 40-8. Wilson hauled in seven receptions for 66 yards and the TD. Tyler Conklin grabbed a 20-yard touchdown with 1:55 remaining to complete the scoring. Taylor ended up with 83 yards and the two TDs on 11-of-14 passing. A.J. Epenesa gave the Bills a boost just before the break, sacking Rodgers for a safety that put Buffalo up 9-0 with 2:31 remaining in the second quarter. Tyler Bass extended the Bills' lead with a 39-yard field goal as time expired in the first half. The teams combined for five penalties on the game's first drive, with a 5-yard defensive pass interference call setting Buffalo up at the Jets 1. Allen then got pushed into the end zone for his franchise-record-tying 65th rushing touchdown. --Field Level MediaNEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes fell Thursday following some potentially discouraging data on the economy . The S&P 500 slipped 0.5% for its fourth loss in the last six days. It’s a pause for the index, which has been rallying toward one of its best years of the millennium . The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 234 points, or 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.7% from its record set the day before. A report early in the morning said more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than expected. A separate update, meanwhile, showed that inflation at the wholesale level, before it reaches U.S. consumers, was hotter last month than economists expected. Neither report points to imminent disaster, but they dilute one of the hopes that’s driven the S&P 500 to 57 all-time highs so far this year : Inflation is slowing enough to convince the Federal Reserve to keep cutting interest rates, while the economy is remaining solid enough to stay out of a recession. Of the two reports, the weaker update on the job market may be the bigger deal for the market, according to Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley. A surge in egg prices may have been behind the worse-than-expected inflation numbers. “One week doesn’t negate what has been a relatively steady stream of solid labor market data, but the Fed is primed to be sensitive to any signs of a softening jobs picture,” he said. Traders are widely expecting the Fed will ease its main interest rate at its meeting next week. If they’re correct, it would be a third straight cut by the Fed after it began lowering rates in September from a two-decade high. It’s hoping to support a slowing job market after getting inflation nearly all the way down to its 2% target. Lower rates would give a boost to the economy and to prices for investments, but they could also provide more fuel for inflation. A cut next week would have the Fed following other central banks, which lowered rates on Thursday. The European Central Bank cut rates by a quarter of a percentage point, as many investors expected, and the Swiss National Bank cut its policy rate by a steeper half of a percentage point. Following its decision, Switzerland’s central bank pointed to uncertainty about how U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s victory will affect economic policies, as well as about where politics in Europe is heading. Trump has talked up tariffs and other policies that could upend global trade. He rang the bell marking the start of trading at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday to chants of “USA.” On Wall Street, Adobe fell 13.7% and was one of the heaviest weights on the market despite reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company gave forecasts for profit and revenue in its upcoming fiscal year that fell a bit shy of analysts’. Warner Bros. Discovery soared 15.4% after unveiling a new corporate structure that separates its streaming business and film studios from its traditional television business. CEO David Zaslav said the move “enhances our flexibility with potential future strategic opportunities,” raising speculation about a spinoff or sale. Kroger rose 3.2% after saying it would get back to buying back its own stock now that its attempt to merge with Albertsons is off . Kroger’s board approved a program to repurchase up to $7.5 billion of its stock, replacing an existing $1 billion authorization. All told, the S&P 500 fell 32.94 points to 6,051.25. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 234.55 to 43,914.12, and the Nasdaq composite sank 132.05 to 19,902.84. In stock markets abroad, European indexes held relatively steady following the European Central Bank’s cut to rates. Asian markets were stronger. Indexes rose 1.2% in Hong Kong and 0.8% in Shanghai as leaders met in Beijing to set economic plans and targets for the coming year. South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.6% for its third straight gain of at least 1%, as it pulls back following last week’s political turmoil where its president briefly declared martial law. In the bond market, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose to 4.33% from 4.27% late Wednesday. AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.