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fb7777.ph Find the links between the words to win today's game of Connections. Looking for Thursday’s Connections hints and answers instead? You can find them here: Hey, everyone! I hope this has been a terrific holiday week for you. And for essential workers and anyone else who hasn’t been able to take the time off, I trust that things have gone as smoothly as possible. Before we get started, I’ve started a discussion group for Connections and this column on Discord . You can chat about each game (and other topics) with me and other folks. I’m always interested to find out how other people approach the game, so join us! It’s fun. It’s also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare(!) occasions that I mess something up. Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Friday, December 27, are coming right up. Blockbuster Musical ‘Wicked’ Gets Digital Streaming Premiere Date Google User Data Purge Underway—What You Need To Know Dark Web Facial ID Farm Warning—Hackers Build Identity Fraud Database How To Play Connections Connections is a free, popular New York Times daily word game. You get a new puzzle at midnight every day. You can play on the NYT website or Games app. You’re presented with a grid of 16 words. Your task is to arrange them into four groups of four by figuring out the links between them. The groups could be things like items you can click, names for research study participants or words preceded by a body part. There’s only one solution for each puzzle, and you’ll need to be careful when it comes to words that might fit into more than one category. You can shuffle the words to perhaps help you see links between them. Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to figure out, blue and green fall in the middle, and the purple group is usually the most difficult one. The purple group often involves wordplay. Select four words you think go together and press Submit. If you make a guess and you’re incorrect, you’ll lose a life. If you’re close to having a correct group, you might see a message telling you that you’re one word away from getting it right, but you’ll still need to figure out which one to swap. If you make four mistakes, it’s game over. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen with the help of some hints, and, if you’re really struggling, today’s Connections answers. As with Wordle and other similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends on social media and group chats. If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the publication’s Connections archive. This includes every previous game of Connections , so you can go back and play any of those that you have missed. Aside from the first 60 games or so, you should be able to find my hints for each grid via Google if you need them! Just click here and add the date of the game for which you need clues or the answers to the search query. What Are Today’s Connections Hints? Scroll slowly! Just after the hints for each of today’s Connections groups, I’ll reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you which words go into them. Today’s 16 words are... And the hints for today’s Connections groups are: What Are Today’s Connections Groups? Need some extra help? Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory. Today’s Connections groups are... What Are Today’s Connections Answers? Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers. This is your final warning! Today’s Connections answers are... I got a perfect game today. That took me up to five wins in a row. Here’s how I fared: 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟦🟦 I’m starting to worry that there’s a very difficult game right around the corner, because this was the third relatively easy game in a row for me. I spotted both the greens and the yellows as I was writing out the word list. There wasn’t really anything to go with UNICORN and PHOENIX in terms of mythical creatures, so I wasn’t too worried about running into a red herring here. That was two groups taken care of pretty swiftly. I figured at first that PHOENIX and WASHINGTON might have something to do with U.S. cities, but the purples clicked when I realized how IRONS fitted in. The actors are Jeff BRIDGES, Jeremy IRONS, Joaquin PHOENIX and Denzel WASHINGTON. I didn’t figure out the connection for the blues but it was a bit of a groaner when I saw the description pop up. The Horn of AFRICA is in the north east of the continent along the south side of the Red Sea. Fun fact: the UNICORN is the national animal of Scotland. That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the solution for Saturday’s game if you need them. P.S. Just because I’m in the mood for it, I’m going to recommend my second-favorite song of all time, behind “God Only Knows.” This song and this band changed my life in ways I won’t get into here (though I have written about one of the main reasons before ). “Everlong” is a perfect rock song. I will love it for the rest of my life. The Michel Gondry-directed video is a work of brilliance too: Have a great day! Make sure to drink enough water! Call someone you love! If you’re so inclined, please do follow my blog for more coverage of Connections and other word games and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Also, follow me on Bluesky ! It’s fun there.Canada's financial intelligence agency aiming to provide crucial info in real time

Srinagar, Nov 22: Committed to enhancing digital convenience for its customers, J&K Bank has launched a Virtual ATM Facility (vATM) – a cutting-edge technology platform. MD & CEO Baldev Prakash inaugurated the innovative facility today in the presence of Director & CEO Paymart India Pvt. Ltd. Amit Narang, Bank’s Executive Director Sudhir Gupta, General Managers, IT Head (Paymart India) Suvir Chopra, DGMs and other senior officers at the Bank’s Corporate Headquarters. Bank’s Divisional Heads and Zonal Heads from Kashmir, Jammu and Rest of India also joined the inaugural ceremony through VC. Speaking on the occasion, MD & CEO Baldev Prakash said, “In today’s fast-evolving digital banking landscape, we continue to innovate in extending convenience to our customers. Launching of the Virtual ATM facility (vATM) demonstrates our strong focus on leveraging technology for financial empowerment of people especially in rural areas with no presence of ATMs or other banking channels. Developed in collaboration with Paymart, the initiative is a win-win for all the stakeholders particularly for the customers and the merchants.” “This collaboration with Paymart India Pvt. Ltd. aligns perfectly with our vision to create a more accessible and customer-centric banking ecosystem. And through these vATMs we can cater to customers near their doorsteps in the ATM-deficient locations”, he added. He, however, underscored the importance of remaining in constant touch with the customers to strengthen the mutual bond. “No technology intervention can replace the importance of being in constant touch with the customers. We have to listen to our customers and address their concerns; then only we can earn their trust and retain them”, he said. Highlighting the significance of the partnering with the Bank, Amit Narang said, “”We are delighted to partner with J&K Bank in launching the Virtual ATM facility. With mobile banking taking over, cardless and hardware-free has become a future. With India currently the world’s biggest cash economy, virtual ATMs will become an integral part of banking. The services provided by these virtual ATMs are convenient, hassle free and more importantly safe and secure.” “We have integrated with the Bank system through secure mechanism and are committed to live upto the expectations of J&K Bank, which has remarkable legacy of trust and emotional equity particularly in J&K and Ladakh”, he added. In his remarks on the occasion, ED Sudhir Gupta hailed the launch as game-changer in extending easy and secure banking facility to people living in rural areas and far from banking touch-points. “vATM is a leap forward in creating an easy, secure and cardless cash withdrawal experience for our rural customers. We need to make most of the facility and ensure its utility is taken to full effect” he said. The Bank’s Chief Digital Officer Naveed Zargar gave a detailed presentation on the features and benefits of the facility. He said that the initiative is expected to enhance Bank’s digital offerings, ensuring a seamless and secure banking experience for its diverse customer base across regions especially in ATM deficient areas. Notably, the Virtual ATM facility enables the customers to withdraw cash seamlessly through the enrolled merchants of Paymart India by generating digital tokens using the Bank’s mobile application (mPay Delight+). While enabling customers to avail cash withdrawal facility from nearby merchant locations, it also results in increased footfall at these locations translating into more business along with commission on transactions as additional earnings.

Gabriel leads No. 1 Oregon against No. 3 Penn State for Big Ten titleA fan who racially abused Arsenal player Thomas Partey in a social media post was banned from attending all games for three years on Tuesday. Charles Ogunmilade, who is Black, admitted to sending a "grossly offensive" message on X, which he claimed was satire of what a racist white person would say. He posted the offensive comment in April 2023 after Partey, a Ghana international who is Black, missed a shot during Arsenal's 3-3 draw with Southampton . The court in London was informed the post on X was reported to the police, who visited Ogunmilade's home. He said the comment was intended to be a sarcastic quote among a group of friends. "I am not a racist person," Ogunmilade said in court. While issuing his sentence, magistrate Shaoni Myer said Ogunmilade's early guilty plea, prior good character and experience of racism were taken into account. The soccer banning order also requires him to surrender his passport to police whenever the England men's national team plays an away game abroad. He was ordered to pay a fine and costs totaling £260 ($325).

Police say suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO killing wasn't a client of the insurerLisa Simpson once said during an episode of “The Simpsons:” What could be more exciting than the savage ballet that is pro football? On Monday night, the entire Simpsons universe gets to experience it in a way not many could have imagined. The prime-time matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys will also take place at Springfield’s Atoms Stadium as part of “The Simpsons Funday Football” alternate broadcast. The altcast will be streamed on ESPN+, Disney+, and NFL+ (on mobile devices). ESPN and ABC have the main broadcast, while ESPN2 will carry the final “ManningCast” of the regular season. The replay will be available on Disney+ for 30 days. Globally, more than 145 countries will have access to either live or on replay. “We’re such huge football fans, and the Simpsons audience and the football audience, I feel, are like the same audience of just American families and football. And the Simpsons are so much a part of the DNA of the American family and culture that for us to, like, mush them together in this crazy video game, it’s so fun,” said Matt Selman, executive producer of “The Simpsons.” While the game is the focal point, the alternate broadcast, in some ways, will resemble a three-hour episode of “The Simpsons.” It starts with Homer eating too many hot dogs and having a dream while watching football. Homer joins the Cowboys in the dream while Bart teams up with the Bengals. Lisa and Marge will be sideline reporters. “That’s the beginning of the story, and the story continues through the entire game until Homer wakes up from his dream at the end of the game. It is like a complete story, and the NFL game will happen in between. It’s just going to be an amazing presentation with tons of surprises,” said Michael “Spike” Szykowny, ESPN’s VP of edit and animation. This is the second year ESPN has done an alternate broadcast for an NFL game. It used the for last year’s Sunday morning game from London between the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars. “The Simpsons” has featured many sports-themed episodes during its 35 seasons. Even though “Homer at the Bat” remains the consensus favorite sports episode for many Simpsons fans, there have been football ones such as “Bart Star” and “Lisa The Greek.” There also was a Super Bowl-themed one after Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl 33 between Denver and Atlanta in 1999. Even though “The Simpsons” remains a staple on Fox’s prime-time schedule, it is part of the Disney family after their acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019. All 35 seasons are on Disney+. The show’s creators have worked with ESPN and the NFL to make sure the look and sound is definitely Simpsonsesque. The theme song is a mash-up of “The Simpsons” opening and “Monday Night Football’s” iconic “Heavy Action.” There have also been pre-recorded skits and bits to use during the broadcast featuring Simpson’s legendary voices Hank Azaria, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, and Yeardley Smith. The telecast will be entirely animated, with the players’ movements in sync with what is happening in real-time on the field. That is done through player-tracking data enabled by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats system and Sony’s Beyond Sports Technology. While Next Gen Stats tracks where players are on the field with a tracking chip in the shoulder pads, there is skeletal data tracking and limb tracking data — which uses 29 points per player — to get closer to the player’s movements. The other data tracking will allow Beyond Sports and Disney to add special characters to the game. For example, there might be a play where Lisa catches the ball and goes 30 yards instead of Cincinnati’s Tee Higgins. “Lisa is much smaller than the rest of the players. So, in real life, the ball would go over her head, but now, with data processing, we can take the ball and make it go exactly into her hands. So for the viewer, it still looks believable, and it all makes sense,” said Beyond Sports co-founder Nicolaas Westerhof. The other major challenge is making “The Simpsons” two-dimensional cartoon characters into 3-D simulations. Szykowny and his team worked to make that a reality over the past couple of months. “That’s a big leap of faith for them to say, hey, we trust you to make our characters 3-D and work with it. Our ESPN creative studio team has done a wonderful job,” Szykowny said. Lisa, Krusty, Nelson, Milhouse and Ralph will be with Bart and the Bengals; while Carl, Barney, Lenny and Moe join up with with Homer and the Cowboys. The broadcast will also feature ESPN personalities Stephen A. Smith, Peyton Manning and Eli Manning. ESPN’s Drew Carter, Mina Kimes and Dan Orlovsky will call the game from Bristol, Connecticut, and also be animated. They will wear Meta Quest Pro headsets to experience the game from Springfield using VR technology. For Kimes, being part of the broadcast and being an animated Simpsons character is a dream come true. She is a massive fan of the show and has a framed photo of Lisa Simpson — who she said is a personal hero and icon — as part of her backdrop when she makes appearances on ESPN NFL shows from her home in Los Angeles. “I didn’t have any input, and I didn’t see anything beforehand, so I wasn’t sure if it would look like me, but it kind of does, which is very funny,” said Kimes, who drew Simpsons characters when she was a kid. “To see the actual staff turn me into one was a dream.” Even though have struggled this season, Selman thinks both teams have personalities that appeal to “The Simpsons” universe. “We were just so lucky also that the Cowboys are sort of like a Homer Simpson-type team, American team, and Mike McCarthy might be a Homer-type guy, one might imagine,” he said. ”And then you have Joe Burrow on the other side who is a cool young, spiky-haired, blonde bad boy -- he’s like Bart. And that fits our character archetypes so perfectly. “If Homer is mad at Bart and has a hot dog dream while watching ’Monday Night Football’, and then it’s basically McCarthy versus Burrow, Homer versus Bart, and that’s the simple father versus son strangling — Homer strangling Bart dynamic that has been part of the show for 35 years. I don’t know if that would have worked as well if it was like Titans versus Jacksonville. We would have found something. We would have made it work.” AP NFL:

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NEW YORK (AP) — The man charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was not a client of the medical insurer and may have targeted it because of its size and influence, a senior police official said Thursday. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told NBC New York in an interview Thursday that investigators have uncovered evidence that Luigi Mangione had prior knowledge UnitedHealthcare was holding its annual investor conference in New York City. Mangione also mentioned the company in a note found in his possession when he was detained by police in Pennsylvania. “We have no indication that he was ever a client of United Healthcare, but he does make mention that it is the fifth largest corporation in America, which would make it the largest healthcare organization in America. So that’s possibly why he targeted that company,” said Kenny. UnitedHealthcare is in the top 20 largest U.S. companies by market capitalization but is not the fifth largest. It is the largest U.S. health insurer. Mangione remains jailed without bail in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested Monday after being spotted at a McDonald's in the city of Altoona, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York City. His lawyer there, Thomas Dickey, has said Mangione intends to plead not guilty. Dickey also said he has yet to see evidence decisively linking his client to the crime. Mangione's arrest came five days after the caught-on-camera killing of Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel. Police say the shooter waited outside the hotel, where the health insurer was holding its investor conference, early on the morning of Dec. 4. He approached Thompson from behind and shot him before fleeing on a bicycle through Central Park. Mangione is fighting attempts to extradite him back to New York so that he can face a murder charge in Thompson's killing. A hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 30. The 26-year-old, who police say was found with a “ ghost gun ” matching shell casings found at the site of the shooting, is charged in Pennsylvania with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. Mangione is an Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family. In posts on social media, Mangione wrote about experiencing severe chronic back pain before undergoing a spinal fusion surgery in 2023. Afterward, he posted that the operation had been a success and that his pain had improved and mobility returned. He urged others to consider the same type of surgery. On Wednesday, police said investigators are looking at his writings about his health problems and his criticism of corporate America and the U.S. health care system . Kenny said in the NBC interview that Mangione's family reported him missing to San Francisco authorities in November.

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders to his inauguration next month — an unorthodox move that would fold U.S. allies and adversaries into a very American political tradition. Trump said Thursday during an appearance at the New York Stock Exchange , where he was ringing the opening bell to kick off trading for the day, that he’s been “thinking about inviting certain people to the inauguration” without referring to any specific individuals. “And some people said, ‘Wow, that’s a little risky, isn’t it?’” Trump said. “And I said, ‘Maybe it is. We’ll see. We’ll see what happens.’ But we like to take little chances.” His comments came soon after his incoming White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, confirmed during a Thursday morning appearance on “Fox & Friends” that Trump had invited Xi and other world leaders to attend his inauguration. No head of state has previously made an official visit to the U.S. for the inauguration, according to State Department historical records. The unprecedented invitations come at a moment when much of the world is bracing for what comes next when Trump and his “America First” worldview return to the White House. The president-elect has vowed to levy massive tariffs against the United States' chief economic competitor, China, as well as neighbors Canada and Mexico unless those countries do more to reduce illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs such as fentanyl into the United States. Trump's also pledged to move quickly to end Russia's nearly three-year war in Ukraine and press NATO allies who are spending less than 2% of their GDP on defense to step up or risk the United States not coming to their defense, as required by the transatlantic alliance's treaty, should they come under attack. “We’ve been talking and discussing with President Xi some things, and others, other world leaders, and I think we’re going to do very well all around,” Trump said. “We’ve been abused as a country. We’ve been badly abused from an economic standpoint, I think, and even militarily, you know, we put up all the money, they put up nothing, and then they abuse us on the economy. And we just can’t let that happen.” Xi is likely to see the invitation as too risky to accept, and the gesture from Trump may have little bearing on the increasingly competitive ties between the two nations as the White House changes hands, experts say. Danny Russel, vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Xi would not allow himself to “be reduced to the status of a mere guest celebrating the triumph of a foreign leader — the U.S. president, no less.” Still, Leavitt saw it as a plus. “This is an example of President Trump creating an open dialogue with leaders of countries that are not just our allies, but our adversaries and our competitors, too,” she said on "Fox & Friends." “We saw this in his first term. He got a lot of criticism for it, but it led to peace around this world. He is willing to talk to anyone, and he will always put America’s interest first.” Asked at a Chinese Foreign Ministry briefing Thursday about Trump's invitation, spokesperson Mao Ning responded, “I have nothing to share at present.” Leavitt did not detail which leaders beyond Xi have been invited. But Trump's decision to invite Xi, in particular, squares with his belief that foreign policy — much like a business negotiation — should be carried out with carrots and sticks to get the United States' opponents to operate closer to his administration's preferred terms. Jim Bendat, a historian and author of “Democracy’s Big Day: The Inauguration of Our President,” said he was not aware of a previous U.S. inauguration attended by a foreign head of state. “It's not necessarily a bad thing to invite foreign leaders to attend,” Bendat said. “But it sure would make more sense to invite an ally before an adversary.” Edward Frantz, a presidential historian at the University of Indianapolis, said the invitation helps Trump burnish his “dealmaker and savvy businessman” brand. “I could see why he might like the optics," Frantz said. “But from the standpoint of American values, it seems shockingly cavalier." White House officials said it was up to Trump to decide whom he invites to the inauguration. “I would just say, without doubt, it's the single most consequential bilateral relationship that the United States has in the world,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said. “It is a relationship both fraught with peril and responsibility.” It's unclear which leaders, if any, might show. A top aide to Hungarian President Viktor Orban, one of Trump's most vocal supporters on the world stage, said Thursday that Orban isn't slated to attend the inauguration. “There is no such plan, at least for the time being," said Gergely Gulyás, Orban's chief of staff. The nationalist Hungarian leader is embraced by Trump but has faced isolation in Europe as he's sought to undermine the European Union's support for Ukraine, and routinely blocked, delayed or watered down the bloc’s efforts to provide weapons and funding and to sanction Moscow for its invasion. Orban recently met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Every country's chief of mission to the United States will also be invited, according to a Trump Inaugural Committee official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Such invitations to diplomats stationed in Washington has been customary during past inaugurations. Xi, during a meeting with President Joe Biden last month in Peru, urged the United States not to start a trade war. “Make the wise choice,” Xi cautioned. “Keep exploring the right way for two major countries to get along well with each other.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also pushed back on Trump's threats, warning that such tariffs would be perilous for the U.S. economy as well. Trudeau earlier this week said Americans “are beginning to wake up to the real reality that tariffs on everything from Canada would make life a lot more expensive” and said he will retaliate if Trump goes ahead with them. Trump responded by calling Canada a state and Trudeau the governor. In addition to the tariff dispute, U.S.-China relations are strained over other issues, including what U.S. officials see as Beijing's indirect support of Russia's war on Ukraine. The Biden administration says China has supported Russia with a surge in sales of dual-use components that help keep its military industrial base afloat. U.S. officials also have expressed frustration with Beijing for not doing more to rein in North Korea's support for the Russian war. China accounts for the vast majority of North Korea’s trade. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has dispatched thousands of troops to Russia to help repel Ukrainian forces from the Kursk border region. The North Koreans also have provided Russia with artillery and other munitions, according to U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials. Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration is set to take place a day after the U.S. deadline for ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of social media giant TikTok, to sell the social media app or face a ban in the United States. Associated Press writers Didi Tang in Washington and Balint Domotor in Budapest, Hungary, contributed to this report.

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