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top 5 online casino games A Kelowna group with concerns over a holiday sign in the downtown core has apparently got their wish. Each year, the Knights of Columbus put up a nativity scene display as part of the downtown Christmas decorations. The Knights go through a permitting process to do this, according to the City of Kelowna. This year, a sign saying "Keep Christ in Christmas" was part of the display, upsetting some people in the community, including the Kelowna Atheists, Skeptics, and Humanists Association (KASHA). However, the sign has since been removed. According to the city, the sign wasn't part of the permit. It was taken down on Tuesday, Dec. 10. On Monday, Dec. 9, (KASHA) expressed in a letter that it understands the nativity scene is part of Christmas symbols like "lights, festive trees, and other decorative displays." But KASHA had concerns with the "Keep Christ in Christmas" sign. "This message is not merely festive—it is political, advocating for a specific religious interpretation of the holiday," said KASHA in its letter to Black Press Media. "It may appear inoffensive and inconsequential for the city to endorse one religion so overtly. But it is important to understand that this does impact people of other faiths, and people who have no religious beliefs. It makes them feel less Canadian." Capital News has reached out to Knights of Columbus for comment.

KUWAIT: Key amendments to the Nationality Law of 1959 were published on Monday in the official gazette Kuwait Al-Youm in an Amiri decree, which means they are effective. The amendments almost entirely abolish the right of foreign women to get Kuwaiti citizenship after getting married to Kuwaiti men. Under the previous law, such women had the right to apply for citizenship after five years of marriage, provided they have children. In the past several months, the government has revoked the citizenship of more than 10,000 naturalized wives of Kuwaitis. The amendments also allow revoking the citizenship of Kuwaitis who obtained it through forgery or cheating. All relatives who had obtained citizenship through that person will also lose it. The amendments allow revoking the citizenship of any naturalized Kuwaiti convicted in a final verdict of crimes related to honor or state security crimes or for abusing the Almighty, prophets and HH the Amir. The amendments allow revoking the citizenship of naturalized Kuwaitis if they were dismissed from government jobs over honesty or honor reasons within 10 years of obtaining the citizenship. The amendments also allow authorities to revoke citizenship for national interests and the state’s external security, and also for carrying out anti-state activities. The state can use modern technology in granting citizenship or revoking it, the amendments state. The amendments treat children of Kuwaiti women married to foreigners as Kuwaitis if they maintain their stay in the country and their fathers are held by the enemy, die or divorce their mothers. As per the decree, a foreign male obtaining Kuwaiti citizenship does not entitle his foreign wife to the citizenship. However, their underage children would be treated as Kuwaitis, and they can choose their preferred nationality one year after reaching the legal age. The amendments also abolished allowing authorities to naturalize foreigners including stateless people or bedoons who or their ancestors lived in the country since 1965 and before, and maintained their stay in Kuwait. In the explanatory note, the government says it has become very difficult to trace this category of people. First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense and Interior and Chairman of the Supreme Nationality Committee Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousef Al-Sabah will hold a meeting on Wednesday with editors-in-chief of daily newspapers and heads of public welfare societies at 10:30 am at Seif Palace. The interior ministry said in a statement on Monday that the meeting aims to clarify the most prominent features of the new Kuwaiti nationality law amendments and discuss the files of dual nationals and those who acquired nationality based on fraud, false statements or incorrect certificates according to article 21, and the files of article 8 (wives of Kuwaitis). Meanwhile, the new residency law which contains tough penalties and high fines of up to five years in jail and KD 10,000 in fines is likely to be implemented in March, a top interior ministry official was quoted as saying. The new residency law was issued by an Amiri decree earlier this month, but it does not become effective until the interior ministry completes the bylaws necessary to apply the law. The new law considers trading in visas or selling residency for money as a felony instead of a misdemeanor in the previous law, director of the residency affairs detectives department Brig Mishaal Al-Shanafa told a local newspaper. The penalty for this crime has been toughened to up to five years in jail and a fine that could reach KD 10,000, said Shanafa, adding that the penalty will be added for each case. Expat workers who pay money to obtain residency are also penalized under the new law, he said. Previously, the penalty was deportation, but under the new law, they will be fined and jailed and then deported, he said. He said that during the first eight months of this year, the department has sent 26,000 expats to the deportation department. Shanafa said the new law stipulates that expat visitors can stay for three months and violators are liable for a one-year jail term and a fine between KD 1,000 and KD 2,000.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returned home on Saturday after his meeting with Donald Trump without assurances the president-elect will back away from threatened tariffs on all products from the major American trading partner. Mr Trump called the talks “productive” but signalled no retreat from a pledge that Canada says unfairly lumps it in with Mexico over the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States. Advertisement After the leaders’ hastily arranged dinner on Friday night at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Mr Trudeau spoke of “an excellent conversation” but offered no details. Mr Trump said in a Truth Social post later on Saturday that they discussed “many important topics that will require both countries to work together to address”. Canada’s Justin Trudeau met Donald Trump during his first erm as president in 2020 (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) Advertisement For issues in need of such co-operation, Mr Trump cited fentanyl and the “drug Crisis that has decimated so many lives as a result of illegal immigration”; fair trade deals “that do not jeopardise American Workers”; and the US trade deficit with its ally to the north. Mr Trump asserted that the prime minister had made “a commitment to work with us to end this terrible devastation” of American families from fentanyl from China reaching the United States through its neighbours. The US, he said, “will no longer sit idly by as our citizens become victims to the scourge of this drug epidemic”. The Republican president-elect has threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the US from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders when he takes office in January. Advertisement US customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border last fiscal year, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border. On immigration, the US Border Patrol made 56,530 arrests at the Mexican border in October alone and 23,721 arrests at the Canadian border between October 2023 and September 2024 — and Canadian officials say they are ready to make new investments in border security. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, after speaking with Mr Trump on the telephone, said on Thursday she was confident a tariff war with Washington would be averted. At the dinner that was said to last three hours, Mr Trump said he and Mr Trudeau also discussed energy, trade and the Arctic. Advertisement An official cited defence, Ukraine, Nato, China, the Middle East, pipelines and the Group of Seven meeting in Canada next year as other issues that arose. Trump, during his first term as president, once called Trudeau “weak” and “dishonest,” but it was the prime minister who was the first G7 leader to visit Trump since the November 5 election. Canada is the top export destination for 36 US states. Nearly 2.7 billion US dollars (£2.1 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day. About 60% of US crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of US electricity imports are from Canada. Advertisement Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminium and uranium to the US and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing in for national security. Canada is one of the most trade-dependent countries in the world, and 77% of Canada’s exports go to the US.

Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose to records Tuesday after Donald Trump’s latest talk about tariffs created only some ripples on Wall Street, even if they could roil the global economy were they to take effect. The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to top the all-time high it set a couple weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 123 points, or 0.3%, to its own record set the day before, while the Nasdaq composite gained 0.6% as Microsoft and Big Tech led the way. People are also reading... 2 bucks illegally killed with crossbow in Corvallis The real reason Corvallis' Pastega Lights moved to Linn County Commentary: Gulbranson shows he should be starter in thrilling win over Cougars Head-on crash on Highway 228 kills 1, injures 2 Linn County deputy resigns during menacing case Tree farm fiasco has Corvallis homelessness under microscope More allegations against ex-OSU coach Corvallis homes in on layout options for a new government center Corvallis man gets prison for armed robbery case How is the OSU grad strike impacting students? UPDATED: Feds halt drawdown at Green Peter Reservoir after local cities complain OSU women's basketball: Ferreira brings versatility to the Beavers' lineup OSU football: Game notes for the Beavers' win over Washington State Margaret Atwood OSU event altered over threats OSU football: Preview and prediction for regular-season finale against Boise State Stock markets abroad mostly fell after President-elect Trump said he plans to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China once he takes office. But the movements were mostly modest. Stock indexes were down 0.1% in Shanghai and nearly flat in Hong Kong, while Canada’s main index edged down by less than 0.1%. Trump has often praised the use of tariffs , but investors are weighing whether his latest threat will actually become policy or is just an opening point for negotiations. For now, the market seems to be taking it more as the latter. The consequences otherwise for markets and the global economy could be painful. Unless the United States can prepare alternatives for the autos, energy products and other goods that come from Mexico, Canada and China, such tariffs would raise the price of imported items all at once and make households poorer, according to Carl Weinberg and Rubeela Farooqi, economists at High Frequency Economics. They would also hurt profit margins for U.S. companies, while raising the threat of retaliatory tariffs by other countries. And unlike tariffs in Trump’s first term, his latest proposal would affect products across the board. General Motors sank 9%, and Ford Motor fell 2.6% because both import automobiles from Mexico. Constellation Brands, which sells Modelo and other Mexican beer brands in the United States, dropped 3.3%. The value of the Mexican peso fell 1.8% against the U.S. dollar. Beyond the pain such tariffs would cause U.S. households and businesses, they could also push the Federal Reserve to slow or even halt its cuts to interest rates. The Fed had just begun easing its main interest rate from a two-decade high a couple months ago to offer support for the job market . While lower interest rates can boost the economy, they can also offer more fuel for inflation. “Many” officials at the Fed’s last meeting earlier this month said they should lower rates gradually, according to minutes of the meeting released Tuesday afternoon. The talk about tariffs overshadowed another mixed set of profit reports from U.S. retailers that answered few questions about how much more shoppers can keep spending. They’ll need to stay resilient after helping the economy avoid a recession, despite the high interest rates imposed by the Fed to get inflation under control. A report on Tuesday from the Conference Board said confidence among U.S. consumers improved in November, but not by as much as economists expected. Kohl’s tumbled 17% after its results for the latest quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations. CEO Tom Kingsbury said sales remain soft for apparel and footwear. A day earlier, Kingsbury said he plans to step down as CEO in January. Ashley Buchanan, CEO of Michaels and a retail veteran, will replace him. Best Buy fell 4.9% after likewise falling short of analysts’ expectations. Dick’s Sporting Goods topped forecasts for the latest quarter thanks to a strong back-to-school season, but its stock lost an early gain to fall 1.4%. Still, more stocks rose in the S&P 500 than fell. J.M. Smucker had one of the biggest gains and climbed 5.7% after topping analysts’ expectations for the latest quarter. CEO Mark Smucker credited strength for its Uncrustables, Meow Mix, Café Bustelo and Jif brands. Big Tech stocks also helped prop up U.S. indexes. Gains of 3.2% for Amazon and 2.2% for Microsoft were the two strongest forces lifting the S&P 500. All told, the S&P 500 rose 34.26 points to 6,021.63. The Dow gained 123.74 to 44,860.31, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 119.46 to 19,174.30. In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady following their big drop from a day before driven by relief following Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary. The yield on the 10-year Treasury inched up to 4.29% from 4.28% late Monday, but it’s still well below the 4.41% level where it ended last week. In the crypto market, bitcoin continued to pull back after topping $99,000 for the first time late last week. It’s since dipped back toward $91,000, according to CoinDesk. It’s a sharp turnaround from the bonanza that initially took over the crypto market following Trump’s election. That boom had also appeared to have spilled into some corners of the stock market. Strategists at Barclays Capital pointed to stocks of unprofitable companies, along with other areas that can be caught up in bursts of optimism by smaller-pocketed “retail” investors. AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.ZURICH (AP) — Saudi Arabia scored a major win in its campaign to attract major sports events to the kingdom when it was formally appointed as the 2034 World Cup host on Wednesday. Still, many questions remain about the tournament as well as the 2030 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with three games in South America. Here are some of the key issues that need to be answered over the next decade: Saudi Arabia proposes 15 stadiums — eight still on paper — in five cities: Eight in the capital Riyadh, four in the Red Sea port city Jeddah, and one each in Abha, Al Khobar and Neom, the planned futuristic mega-project. Each would have at least 40,000 seats for World Cup games. The opening game and final are set for a 92,000-seat venue planned in Riyadh. Some designs are vivid . In Neom, the stadium is planned 350 meters (yards) above street level and one near Riyadh is designed to be atop a 200-meter cliff with a retractable wall of LED screens. Saudi Arabia aims to host all 104 games, though there has been speculation that some games could be played in neighboring or nearby countries. Surely not in the traditional World Cup period of June-July, when temperatures in Saudi Arabia routinely exceed 40 Celsius (104 degrees). FIFA moved the Qatar-hosted World Cup to November-December 2022, though those dates were not loved by most European clubs and leagues whose seasons were interrupted. Also, that slot is complicated in 2034 by the holy month of Ramadan through mid-December and Riyadh hosting the multi-sport Asian Games. January 2034 could be a possibility even though that would be just before the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The International Olympic Committee has signaled it won’t be opposed to back-to-back major events. In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, Saudi World Cup bid official Hammad Albalawi said the precise dates of the tournament are up the world soccer body. “That’s a decision by FIFA. We stand ready to be part of this conversation. But ultimately it’s a FIFA decision together with the confederations,” Albalawi said. Giving more rights and freedoms to women in a traditionally conservative society is fundamental to Saudi messaging around the modernization program known as Vision 2030. The kingdom decided in 2017 to let women attend sports events, initially in major cities and in family zones separate from men-only sections. By 2034, at the promised pace of social reforms, female fans should not be restricted. Saudi Arabia launched a women’s professional soccer league in 2022 with players joining from clubs in Europe. They face no restrictions playing in shorts and with hair uncovered. The Saudi prohibition of alcohol is clear and understood before FIFA signs any sponsor deals for 2034. But will there be any exceptions? The alcohol issue was problematic for the World Cup in Qatar because the expectation was created that beer sales would be allowed at stadiums even before Qatar won its bid in 2010. One year later, FIFA extended a long-time deal to have Budweiser as the official World Cup beer through 2022. Qatar then backtracked on that promise three days before the first game, causing confusion and the sense of a promise broken. In Qatar, alcohol was served only at luxury suites at the stadiums. Visitors could also have a drink in some hotel bars. But Saudi Arabia has even stricter rules on alcohol — and there is no indication that will change. Albalawi noted that Saudi Arabia has successfully hosted dozens of sports events where alcohol wasn't served. “We’re creating a safe and secure family environment for fans to bring their families into our stadiums,” he said. Saudi promises to reform and enforce labor laws, and fully respect migrant workers, have been accepted by FIFA but face broad skepticism from rights groups and trade unions. A formal complaint is being investigated by the U.N.-backed International Labor Organization. Protecting the migrant workers needed to build stadiums and other tournament projects — a decade after it was a defining issue for Qatar — looms as a signature challenge for Saudi Arabia. Saudi-Israeli relations had been improving when FIFA all but gave the 2034 World Cup to the kingdom on Oct. 4 last year. Three days later Hamas attacked Israel and diplomacy got more complicated. Any soccer federation bidding to host a FIFA tournament accepts a basic principle that whichever team qualifies is welcome. That did not stop Indonesia putting up barriers last year to Israel coming for the men’s Under-20 World Cup. Indonesia does not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel which had qualified through a European tournament nine months before the issue flared. FIFA moved the entire tournament to Argentina and the Israeli team reached the semifinals. Israel played at the 1970 World Cup but has never advanced through qualifying in Europe, where it has been a member of UEFA for 30 years. Europe should have 16 places in the 48-team World Cup in Saudi Arabia. Most of the attention at the FIFA Congress on Wednesday was on the Saudi decision, but the soccer body and its members also formally approved the hosts of the 2030 World Cup — the most spread out and longest ever. One game each in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, the original host in 1930, will be played from June 8-9. The tournament resumes four days later for the other 101 games shared between Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Six countries, three continents, multiple languages and currencies. Fans traveling on planes, trains, automobiles and boats across about 14 kilometers (10 miles) of water between Spain and Morocco. The final is due on July 21, 2030 and a decision on where it will be played could cause some tension between the host countries. Morocco wants it in the world’s biggest soccer venue — the planned 115,000-seat King Hassan II Stadium in Casablanca. Spain, meanwhile, has proposed to host the final in either of the remodeled home stadiums of club giants Real Madrid or Barcelona. Associated Press writer Baraa Anwer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, contributed to this report.

Sinn Fein actively pursuing route into government, insists leader McDonaldDespite Mary Lou McDonald’s confidence around shaping a coalition without Fine Gael and Fianna Fail – the two parties that have dominated the landscape of Irish politics for a century – the pathway to government for Sinn Fein still appears challenging. With counting following Friday’s election still in the relatively early stages – after an exit poll that showed the main three parties effectively neck-and-neck – there is some way to go before the final picture emerges and the options for government formation crystalise. Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader, Simon Harris, has dismissed talk of a Sinn Fein surge and said he was “cautiously optimistic” about where his party will stand after all the votes are counted. Meanwhile, Ireland’s deputy premier and Fianna Fail leader, Micheal Martin, insisted his party has a “very clear route back to government” as he predicted seat gains. The counting process could last days because of Ireland’s complex system of proportional representation with a single transferable vote (PR-STV), where candidates are ranked by preference. The early indications have turned the focus to the tricky arithmetic of government formation, as the country’s several smaller parties and many independents potentially jockey for a place in government. Ms McDonald told reporters at the RDS count centre in Dublin that she would be “very, very actively pursuing” the potential to form a government with other parties on the left of the political spectrum. The smaller, left-leaning parties in Ireland include the Social Democrats, the Irish Labour Party, the Green Party and People Before Profit-Solidarity. Ms McDonald said her party had delivered an “incredible performance” in the election. “I think it’s fair to say that we have now confirmed that we have broken the political mould here in this state,” she said. “Two party politics is now gone. It’s consigned to the dustbin of history and that, in itself, is very significant.” She added: “I am looking to bring about a government of change, and I’m going to go and look at all formulations. “If you want my bottom line, the idea of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael for another five years, in our strong opinion, is not a good outcome for Irish society. “Obviously, I want to talk to other parties of the left and those that we share very significant policy objectives with. So I’m going to do that first and just hear their mind, hear their thinking. But be very clear, we will be very, very actively pursuing entrance into government.” In Friday night’s exit poll, Sinn Fein was predicted to take 21.1% of first-preference votes, narrowly ahead of outgoing coalition partners Fine Gael and Fianna Fail at 21% and 19.5% respectively. Prior to the election, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael both ruled out entering government with Sinn Fein. Fine Gael leader Mr Harris rejected suggestions Sinn Fein had broken new ground. He told reporters in his count centre in Greystones, Co Wicklow: “Certainly we haven’t seen a Sinn Fein surge or anything like it. “I mean, it looks likely, on the figures that we’ve seen now, fewer people, many fewer people would have voted Sinn Fein in this election than the last one. “In fact, I think they’re down by around 5% and actually the parties, particularly the two parties, the two larger parties in government, are likely to receive significant support from the electorate. So definitely, politics in Ireland has gotten much more fragmented.” He said it was too early to tell what the next government would look like. “I think anybody who makes any suggestion about who is going to be the largest party or the construct of the next government, they’re a braver person than I am,” he said. “Our electoral system dictates that there’ll be many, many transfers that will go on for hours, if not days, before we know the final computations at all. “But what I am very confident about is that my party will have a very significant role to play in the years ahead, and I’m cautiously optimistic and excited.” Fianna Fail’s Mr Martin told reporters at a count centre in Cork he was confident that the numbers exist to form a government with parties that shared his political viewpoint. Mr Martin said it “remains to be seen” whether he would return to the role of Taoiseach – a position he held between 2020 and 2022 – but he expressed confidence his party would outperform the exit poll prediction. “It’s a bit too early yet to call the exact type of government that will be formed or the composition of the next government,” he said. “But I think there are, there will be a sufficiency of seats, it seems to me, that aligns with the core principles that I articulated at the outset of this campaign and throughout the campaign, around the pro-enterprise economy, around a positively pro-European position, a government that will strongly push for home ownership and around parties that are transparently democratic in how they conduct their affairs.” Asked if it would be in a coalition with Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Social Democrats, he said that would be “racing a bit too far ahead”. The final result may dictate that if Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are to return to government, they may need more than one junior partner, or potentially the buy-in of several independent TDs. Mr Martin said it was unclear how quickly a government can be formed, as he predicted his party would gain new seats. “It will be challenging. This is not easy,” he added. The junior partner in the outgoing government – the Green Party – looks set for a bruising set of results. Green leader Roderic O’Gorman is in a fight to hold onto his seat, as are a number of party colleagues, including Media Minister Catherine Martin. “It’s clear the Green Party has not had a good day,” he said. The early counting also suggested potential trouble for Fianna Fail in Wicklow, where the party’s only candidate in the constituency, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, is considered to have a battle ahead, with the risk of losing his seat. Meanwhile, there is significant focus on independent candidate Gerard Hutch who, on Saturday evening, was sitting in fourth place in the four-seat constituency of Dublin Central. Last spring, Mr Hutch was found not guilty by the non-jury Special Criminal Court of the murder of David Byrne, in one of the first deadly attacks of the Hutch-Kinahan gangland feud. Mr Byrne, 33, died after being shot six times at a crowded boxing weigh-in event at the Regency Hotel in February 2016. A Special Criminal Court judge described Mr Hutch, 61, as the patriarchal figurehead of the Hutch criminal organisation and said he had engaged in “serious criminal conduct”. The constituency will be closely watched as other hopefuls wait to see if transfers from eliminated candidates may eventually rule him out of contention. In the constituency of Louth, the much-criticised selection of John McGahon appeared not to have paid off for Fine Gael. The party’s campaign was beset by questioning over footage entering the public domain of the candidate engaged in a fight outside a pub in 2018. The Social Democrats have a strong chance of emerging as the largest of the smaller parties. The party’s leader, Holly Cairns, was already celebrating before a single vote was counted however, having announced the birth of her baby girl on polling day.SIERRA VISTA — At Tuesday’s Sierra Vista City Council work session, Economic Development Commission member and Founding Dean of the College of Applied Science and Technology Gary Packard Jr. gave a presentation to the City Council explaining what the commission sees as the city’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) and how this compares to a previous analysis last conducted in 2018. Packard began his presentation by explaining the factors affecting the city’s future remain the same as in 2018, but some areas required a more in-depth analysis.